ArtCall Diary - Entry 5/25/2000
Here on ArtCall Island
The days were becoming a blur as not having a car took its' toll. It felt
like we were marooned on Gilligan's Island without Mary Anne or like sitting
on 'the throne' and getting out a monster dump.
Wednesday afternoon was spent getting headquarters into usable shape and
doing laundry, there was a slight down time crunch as the dryer ran cool.
CBGB's 313 Gallery was the spot to hang my clean hat at the 7:00pm to 9:00pm
opening of low-brow art. This show wasn't as packed as usual, even
with the Rob
Brezsny's (of Real Astrology) Brag or Bitch session in the basement.
We kept looking around for low-brow lead and star painter Ron
English to appear, later we learned that the busy artist had two openings
on the same date.
There were plenty of unrecognizably recognizable folks there. This being
the case, I grabbed a spot in the VIP loft above all the proceedings until
'one of the usual suspects' came along for questioning. The Aussie artist,
Graham Osborne reported that he was working out of Ron English's building
in New Jersey and that sadly, Ethan Phillips had died a couple of years
back. I was glad to see Graham as I'd missed him.
John Gernand ( the SIR equipment rental guy) showed up. Talking about Johns,
another John also turned up in the form of John Terhorst. Terhorst is best
known from his days in the rave East Village grunge group the head-banging,
bring on the evolution and drop your pants and cry Reverb Motherfuckers.
John has been at Pratt Institute teaching art and studying library sciences,
when
Nickelodion snatched him up to do computer archiving for the TV show
Blues
Clues. There was some sort of air hockey game going on at the Chelsea
Piers and off went the Johns to catch the breeze.
Out in ArtCall land
things were going fuzzy for Paul
Kostabi and his Toshiba 3030 satellite laptop over at Follin
Gallery. During the CBGB show, I'd made arrangements to later call
my editor around 10-ish, at 10:03pm the call from Paul came in, "I can't
post my paintings to Ebay today!" We at the ArtCall have pretty
good rates ($0.00) for emergencies. So I lied to my editor and said I had
forgotten what time we were supposed to meet and spent the time listening
to Paul insult my computer "I wouldn't use yours if you paid me."
So
finally it was off to Ray's News and Candy Stand
on Avenue A to read Page Six, get a coffee and hear the latest dish
on Ray's rent situation. Ray's lease officially runs out July 31st. Landlord,
Richard Leshko has refused to renegotiate the lease. Ray is even prepared
to take a whopping 66% increase just to save his store and continue making
egg creams. With all of that digested, it was off to ArtCall headquarters
and to dream about being marooned on an island with Ginger and what tomorrow
would bring.
Thursday dawned with a hint of rain, I grabbed the umbrella and met Calmx
on the way to the Gershwin Hotel art opening. No sooner had we arrived,
than out popped Brooklyn's own son and artist, Richard Milone. He's over
at the Gemini Club in the East Village, Fridays and Saturdays. You'll get
a complete rundown on him and the Gemini Club in a later ArtCall Diary
entry. It seemed as though a gear was missing at the Gershwin Hollywood
Glamfest, despite the attendance of special guest painter Tina Louise,
the actress who played Ginger on Gilligian's Island. Bob Dombrowski had
the answer to the dilemma, "There's another show going on on 31 St.
It's the 'Revelations' show." Usually two high powered shows do not
open against each other so we decided to drop by the Greeley Square Gallery
on 32 W. 31st Street, to see what all the fuss was about.
Greeley Square was mobbed with A- listers. I could drop names forever -
Billy Name, Dana Frank, Lenny Kravitz, Kelly Brill, Quentin Crisp, Stephan
Lupino, Billy Idol, Brian Ferry, Didi Ramone, Andy Warhol w/Brillo Boxes,
Iggy, Marcia Resnick, John Belushi, Abbie Hoffman, Roy Shatt, Marilyn Monroe,
James Dean, DiMagg, Chris Stein, Debbie Harry, Annie Sprinkle, Bill Stone,
Madonna circa 1979, Michael Douglas, Betsey Johnson, Bela and Boris, Jimi
and Jello - the names and the photographers and the stars went on and on.
We tried to get our hands on a pricelist but they were in high demand and
there weren't enough to be had.
The
place was rediculously jammed. I went off to the fire escape for a smoke
and tried to put some names to some of the folks in attendance. Help came
from Toni Capello, who works at the gallery, she gave me a special tour
of the Roy Shatt James Dean Portfolio. The prints were hauntingly
beautiful. We also noticed the Jacob Mikkelsen photo of John Waters entitled
...12
assholes and a dirty foot. Calmx continually tried to get a seat in
the chair pictured below, but never made it as it was just in too high
a demand. Tina Louise stopped by for a bit, long enough for us to get the
shot at the top of this article. She loved Marilyn in Rain Hat photographed
by Roy Shatt. "I've never seen anything so beautiful," Miss
Louise commented.
We made our way back to the Gershwin knowing that we could catch the rest
of the Greeley Square crowd at the post-opening buffet at Marylou's. Dr.
Powernozzle was giving perfomances 'that sucked really good' in the Gershwin
lobby. Willoughby Sharp had ensconced himself deep into a corner at the
Gershwin Bar and was frolicking the night away. Jamie Lavender put in an
exploratory appearance. So did Hiroya, one of the painters in the Gershwin
exhibit, who had painted his suit for the occasion. Even Miss Louise reappeared
at the Gershwin Gallery bash before we all doddled on down to Marylou's.
A steady stream of hungry gallery-goers gathered for the feast. We finally
got the name of the ArtCall girl-of-the-day, Emily. Emily is around 6'
6" tall and a standout girl. We wonder what kind of a (art) share she is
gonna turn in (considering her dinner mate and all). A sumptuous repast
was had by all, all under the watchful eye of Caroyl
Labarge. It was then time to go off to editingland as work just had
to be done before "The Wide-Open Cabaret", next
posting we will spill all the gory details of Matthew Courtney's 'little'
affair at ABC No Rio Gallery on Rivington Street, Katkitty's
krashing NYC 3D camera, the 'new' LAII's and the sweet Steinway sound of
Mark
Kostabi.
Jottings: Lower East Side Festival of the Arts at Theater for the New
City, 10 St. and First Avenue, Sunday.
photos ©carol
braddock aka red ed and calmx
Permission of Gershwin Hotel Gallery, CBGB's 313 Gallery,
and Greeley Sq. Gallery
artwork©tina louise, ron english, anthony ausgang,
bokov, annie sprinkle
ArtCall Archives
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