Sep

Dazed, Demimonde and Dancing

Weeee. The doc gave me a short supply of Zyrtec until my preferred Allegra arrives in the mail. Zyrtec always makes me dazed and I feel like I’m floating. No heavy machinery for me. It works great for allergies, but I can’t take it regularly.

Much of today was rest and zoning out. As it got later in the afternoon, my head cleared and I decided to venture out for Low Life at the Howl! Festival. The festival is named in honor of the groundbreaking poem Howl! by Allen Ginsberg and produced every summer. It celebrates the East Village and Lower East Side’s role as a preeminent locus of culture.

I first saw Miz Metro, The Trashion Dancers, and Room 404 Media. Her voice reminded me of Gwen Stefani’s “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.”. 404 did visual media alongside the other two on stage. The dancers were doing very athletic movements and were obviously having a lot of fun.

The highlight for me was Low Life. Its a production at this year’s festival done by the Jackie Factory crew. They are most famous for the JACKIE 60 party throughout the 90s. It ran for 10 years, had over 550 themed weekly editions of JACKIE 60 and ended on top. I made the opportunity to go to one in, I think, 1996 with the theme being the french fetish photographer “Molaire”. I could have the name wrong; its 11 years ago. Someday, I document the hilarious and wonderful story of the tues of the Jackie 60 party starting with me calling a telephone number to get the theme. Meanwhile, if you see me in person, ask me and I’ll gladly tell you the story in person.

Low Life was fun. Easily 150 people were in the audience and included nightlife luminaries from 90s and today. I saw my friends Spot, Desi, and Brendan. Johny Dynell was upstage overseeing everything. Hattie Hathaway and Paul Alexander were MCs. I stayed for the first part of the show and saw the following performers: Dirty Martini, Sweetie, Trina Rose, Miss Delirium Tremens, Acid Betty, Robert La Fossee w/ his Broadway B’Hoyz, and Voltaire.

About 6:30pm, I left to head down to Battery Park. The River to River festival is still going and tonight the Joyce Theater and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council present the Paul Taylor Dance Company; one of the best dance troupes in New York! A borrowed summary from a River to River press release:

Tonight features the work of one of modern dance’s most celebrated artists with over 50 years of dance-making. Audiences will have the opportunity to see one of The Joyceâ€™s 25th Anniversary Commissions with the New York premiere of De SueÃ±os (â€œOf Dreamsâ€), a surrealistic dreamscape referencing Mexican culture and folklore as the Day of the Dead and the Deer Dance. In Polaris (1976), the choreography of the first section is repeated step for step in the second, but performed by different dancers, to different music and with different lighting â€“ the results are fascinating. The program is completed by Company B (1991), set to hits of the Andrews Sisters, is a distillation of 1940s Americana tempered by the shadows of GIs dying in World War II.

I called my friend Paul, a modern dancer, to come join me. The performance was stellar. I got a great seat center stage maybe 12 “rows” back. It was lawn general admission so I couldn’t see the dancer’s feet, but the rest was clear. I got almost 400 pictures. A few are linked here, I’ll upload more later as I toss the poor ones.

After the performance I needed to decide whether to go to Blowoff or take a quick roundtrip ride on the Staten Island Ferry. I’m still not well and didn’t have the energy to go out to a late night party. So, Paul and I took the ferry ride. It was my first time on it. There are clear views of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and the New York skyline. I intend to visit Ellis Island soon so check for any Phurrough’s that came across the ocean. Its very likely the spelling will be wonky so it’ll be a hunt.

I did want to go to Blowoff tonight. My friend, Andy, was doing the PR for it. It was an alt-rock and electronic music show with Richard Morel and Bob Mould; they both host and DJ a musical smackdown featuring their meaty signature mix of indie rock, electro and house. So says my friend.

I remember Morel for his fantastic song “True (the Faggot Is You)” back in 1999. I heard it both in afterhour clubs and also got it on Deep Dish’s mix CD Yoshiesque from 2000; its towards the end of Disc 2. “True” is a great song with an echo-trippy funky sound as if you were dancing to it in a tunnel with a big smile on your face.