School picture day! 7th grade. For real.

You see, we met when I was 13 and she was 11. The setting: a manky teenage boy’s bedroom in the trashiest
trailer in our neighborhood. I was in the middle of having my first kiss with a chubby boy who I agreed to try
making out with on basis of the fact that he had Robert Smith hair (sort of). The soundtrack: The Glove – Blue Sunshine.
With song titles like “Punish Me With Kisses” and “Mouth to Mouth“, it really couldn’t have been much more apt. I was much
more captivated with the album (it took me years to track it down and hear it again! Still a major favorite.) than I was
with the kissing. I think I was a little stoned, and all I could think about was giant pink slugs undulating. ¡El Grosso Maximo!
At the sound of the door creaking open, we wriggled apart, and through a veil of shaggy bangs that I thought hid my awesome
coke-bottle glasses (they totally, uh, didn’t.) I spied a feral wolf-child. A sullen cherub with a nimbus of golden curls that glowed
in the blacklight bulb. She stomped in all tough in plaid skater shorts and monkey boots. We eyed each other, and I think both
realized instantly that we were saved. Literally, in so many ways. We say it all the time, but it doesn’t make it any less true
that if we hadn’t stumbled across each other at that time in our lives, that both of us would have probably ended up dead
or worse. How fate decided to bless us by having our parents find houses right down the street from each other made up
(a bit) for all the other ways she decided to completely fuck us up. Soon, we were spending every free moment together,
hanging out in burned-out, abandoned houses after school and sneaking out of our bedroom windows to smoke pilfered
ciggies and wander around. Eventually we were dressing up like baby hooker vampires and cadging rides to nightclubs
and yet somehow made it back in our beds every night before 4am and go to school in the morning. We were wild, bad
little Lolitas, and it’s a goddamn miracle that we made it out of adolescence so (relatively) unscathed. Amazing, really.

I can’t find the picture of us as baby vampires, so instead here’s us dazed + starry-eyed after modeling in our first fashion show
at the very first New Bohemia, when it was over on Duval. Back in the day, man. We were such babies! Children! What.

Pea on St. Valentine’s Day back in our old place on Royal + Mandeville.
Observe her emu claw diadem and scars from Cupid’s arrows. Heartbreaker!

Sweet valentines. I am grateful to say that this girl was my very first lover, and who better to be initiated into
the mysteries of love than the person you love most in the world, your best friend and partner in crime?
We were lucky. We are lucky. She has taught me so much in these past (holy shit) 19 years…

Queen Marie, still from Pastrisetimania. – “Cake Sits, a fetishistic photo series.”

CYGNUS OLOR
This video is a collaboration between Dana Sherwood and The Black Forest Fancies
An incorrigible collector with an eye for the exotic captures a swan girl and holds her captive in a confectionary cabin

For the past few years, Pandora was working with the Dream Community in Taiwan,
living in rural villages, and working with the inhabitants to build large scale puppets and stage colorful parades.

I’ll let the beautiful Princess of the Puyuma tell you about it in her own words:
In this year overburdened by impossible goodbyes, I’d simply forgotten to miss Taiwan.
I’ve taken the double life summer dive headfirst into color I never can suffer at home.
The electric magenta hibiscus, relentless fuchsia and indigo of tree climbing orchids.
Tropical shades that sear the retina when viewed at midday and emanate neon through
thunderstorm gray. We have such colors in the swamps where I’ve nestled. We’ve the
requisite cruelty of the hot house garrote, anesthetized in narcotic notes of jasmine and datura.
But here these colors throb with mountains’ magic, erupting from black rock and vapour like Boschian
airships suspended in battle – a mesozoic sex display, the glow of which recalls the natal moments when
this magma formed landscape was molten. The timeless beauty of the mountains underlining indignity
of the cinderblock cityscapes, alive with devouring mold. Tree and trellis spangled with giant spiders,
Giger aliens spinning omens, and all we monstrous spinners on display.

Our parade work this year concerns the rediscovery and celebration of Taiwan’s aboriginal cultures.
There are 14 active and politically recognized tribes in Taiwan today, each with their own unique language,
mythology and cultural practices. There are at least a dozen more unrecognized tribes whose organization is
decentralized, as reflected in the death or morbidity of their language and dispersal of their genetic strains.
Archeological research suggests that the ancestors of the current tribes have been living on this island since 8000
years before Chinese immigration began in the 17th century. They have an ethnic identity that is distinct from the
Asian mainland but now comprise only 2 percent of Taiwan’s population, the majority of the population being
ethnically and linguistically Chinese. From the beginning of recorded history the aboriginal peoples have experienced
economic and military conflict with a global menagerie of covetous colonizers: western and northern Europeans,
north and south Americans, the Japanese, who came armed with the anvil of archeology. They staged digs and
opened museums, nailed bare asses into grey woolen writing desks in a thousand thatch roofed classrooms.
Turning practice into history as they systematically laid the – timeless – life of the village to waste.
A clock forever counting circles round the irrevocable bootprints of modernity.

Today as ever looms the ubiquitous spectre of lady China, face-shifting parasite sister to the all-too-proximal north.
These colonial viruses have redefined the island with almost comic regularity, invasions so frequent that they echo the
seasonal tracks of typhoon – violently resurfacing the patterns of life and landscape with language shifts and cultural
(re)assimilation. In keeping with the common plight of indigenous peoples the world over, Taiwanese aboriginals face
steep social barriers rooted in prejudice and exclusion: unemployment, substandard state provision for healthcare and
education, squalid housing and farming conditions, staggering rates of alcoholism and drug addiction. Since the 1980s
efforts have been undertaken on the part of the surviving tribes toward a revival of ethnic identity.
These include incorporating elements of their culture into commercial and artistic endeavors, pop music and pageantry.
That’s where we parade makers figure in. Putting craft through its paces and the spinners on display.

Falling in love with an enameled sewing machine. I mean, wouldn’t you?

The Mudlark Confectionary a cabinet of curious conceptions.

Dolls of The Mudlark Confectionary

Saint Dymphna
These days though, Pandora owns and operates the Mudlark Public Theatre in New Orleans upper Ninth Ward
neighborhood and is the artistic director of that space’s resident company, The Mudlark Puppeteers and co-founder
of the Black Forest Fancies Ltd. She makes puppets, dolls, sets and stories. She is a weaver of magic webs.

A puppet from The Black Wallows Foundling Hospital.

So here’s the deal, in her own words:
In the month of June I had the extreme pleasure of working as a craftswoman on an installation of my dear friend Mark Dion’s
design for a site on a National Tourist Road in Norway. The piece will be located at the top of a mountain, near a glacier
in the incomparably beautiful area of Ardal. A number of world-reknowned artists have been selected by the Norwegian
Tourist Bureau to contribute work to such sites. Notable among these is the last work of the brilliant metal artist Louise Bourgeois,
which is a memorial to the victims of the witch-burnings at Vardo Island, in the North of Norway.

I am constantly at work and seeking future opportunities. I now, a month after completing my contribution to the piece in Norway, still
haven’t even the vaguest clue as to when I will be paid. None of us do. Even Mark, with his esteemed reputation and integrality to the
completion of the project next year, has been given what can only be called ‘the serious, red-tape runaround.’ At first we were told simply
to be patient, that everything was being done in its proper order. The latest word is that all payments are on hold until the end of the
Norwegian Summer holidays – at some time in August. While the bureaucrats summer in sunnier climes, our invoices are evidently on some
Kafka-esque nightmare ride through the gears of a grim machine of the very old garde, and as in Kafka, there is no indication as to where
or when the ride might terminate. In short, I budgeted my life around money I have no access to for the indefinite future.
I have been unavailable for all other work in this period and consequently find myself at a pretty serious financial impasse.
I have had to cancel many plans, the most poignant being a visit to my hometown of Austin, TX to visit my oldest friends and
light candles at my parents’ memorials in honor of my 30th birthday, which is July 22nd.
I am hoping to sell some of my past-works, mostly hand sculpted art-dolls, to offset the deficit.
– Pandora Gastelum

If you’d like to help, please take a look at some of her work over at The Mudlark Confectionary,
and be on the lookout for her handmade art dolls for sale soon on etsy under mudlarkconfectionary
(we’re working on getting her shop up, but in the meantime, let me know if you have any questions
about purchasing pieces!) She has gifted me a new dolly for my every birthday for years, and each
one is perfect and comes intact with their very own soul. I treasure them enormously.

(Photo by Petra Arnold)
Happy birthday, star of the sea, poppy petal princess, peach-pie pea-pod, sweet sister, dearheart!

I found these amazing images over at Mlle. Chromium Dumb Belle’s lovely blog –
thank you to Mlle. Ghoul and Mlle. Avril-Violette for your help in identifying provenance!

“La Belle et le Bête, circa 1940. Tirage argentique d’époque”
(The others are Leonor Fini –
André Pieyre de Mandiargues – Masques de Leonor Fini
Paris, La Parade Éditions André Bonne, 1951

We move like cagey tigers
We couldn’t get closer than this
The way we walk
The way we talk
The way we stalk
The way we kiss

We slip through the streets
While everyone sleeps
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter
We bite and scratch and scream all night
Let’s go and
Throw all the songs we know
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I’ll show you in spring
It’s a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats…

We’re so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty
Oh you know that I’d do anything for you
We should have each other to tea huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up by the fire
And sleep for awhile
It’s the grooviest thing
It’s the perfect dream…

Hand in hand
Is the only way to land
And always the right way round
Not broken in pieces
Like hated little meeces…

I must admit, ever since Lundi Gras, I’ve been itching to do more crazy cat make-up!
It feels so right, somehow! These shots are from the 7 Minutes ‘Til Heaven Party in New Orleans:

(photos by Glitter Guts)

Me an’ my brother form another mother, Rusty Lazer!

It’s probably not surprising that after seeing the musical Cats at a very impressionable age
that I became fascinated with leotards-as-clothing, and that I still sing “Memory” (loudly!) in the shower.
In fact, maybe I shouldn’t admit that I was incredibly titillated at the part where all the cat-dancers come
into the audience and get all purry and fondly. Was that just me? Does that make me… A furry?!
Oh well!

Another big inspiration is Soo Catwoman!
I remember loving her most of all, poring over pictures of The Bromley Contingent in
Greil Marcus’ Lipstick Traces when I was just a wee thing. Free admission to anyone with
genuine Catwoman hair! I always wanted it, but was never brave enough! You do it!

The Cure – The Lovecats (Top Of the Pops, 29th December 1983)

This version by Tricky is killer – can’t wait to dance to it…

Clip from The Mighty Boosh…
Goodnight, moon! See you at Lovecats…

Drea + I

1.What is Exquisite Corpse all about?
Exquisite Corpse is a night for modern surrealists and old-school goths to dance, socialize and explore.
We take pleasure in creating an elegant temporary autonomous zone where ideas and flirtations can be exchanged.
The name refers to the Surrealist parlour game, (which we always play at the party) and is meant to evoke the gothic
style of dressing beautifully undead. It’s also a reference to a fascinating book by Mark Nelson and Sarah Hudson Bayliss,
which draws connections between the Surrealists and the famous Black Dahlia Murder. Film noir, ghastly crimes, bizarre art,
and a penchant for the macabre all lend themselves well to the theme.

2. What inspired you to create this event?
When I lived in New Orleans, my friends and I decided to start a monthly Dada Ball called Cabaret Revoltaire.
We saw it as a continuation of the movements begun by our disgruntled European forbears – their movement also
came about as a response to the insanity and futility of war and industrialized culture. In post-9/11 America, we
watched with horror the knee-jerk patriotism that presaged the war in Iraq, and knew we needed an outlet for our
feelings of helplessness and frustration. Cabaret Revoltaire was an experimental surrealist extravaganza, a combination
of art opening and intentionally chaotic salon featuring visual and performance art, experimental music and installation,
pranks, invisible theater, inexplicable fashion, participatory painting, and interactive hijinks of all sorts. Inspired by the Dada,
Surrealist and Situationist movements, our goals were to revive and expand on the good work of the artists and writers that
came before us, to achieve consciousness expansion, to engage collaborative art, interactive (rather than passive) social
experiments, full-contact participation and the abolition of the “audience”.

Dougie

3. What is your interest in surrealism, and what is its connection to this event?
I’ve long held a great respect and fondness for the work of the Surrealists and Symbolists.
These artists were delving deep into the human subconscious, and were determined to unearth
and express our strangest dreams, no matter how dark or nonsensical they might seem. They
understood that the most profound wisdom can come from these hidden places.

Davey + Penny

Teddy Baker & pal

David + Iana

Javi + Chia

4. What sort of experiences is Exquisite Corpse trying to engender?
Mainly, we just want people to come and have a lovely time. This event is sort of a low-key continuation
of those giant Dada parties we did back in NOLA, with a healthy helping of darkness and mystery thrown in.
I want people to feel free to participate, and be involved in creating the atmosphere. The concept is basically this:
imagine if David Lynch had a Goth night in the Black Lodge. Except that it’s at the Swan Dive, which is even more
magical, really. It’s such a special venue, and we’re so excited to be doing Exquisite Corpse there – I can’t really
imagine it working anywhere else. The music, and the whole gothic aspect was really thrown in as a mash-up,
because I’ve been wanting to do both nights for a long time, and it seemed like it might work to just toss them in together.
I’ve felt a real lack of the kind of goth/new-wave night like the kind I used to love going to back in the day. That scene kind
of died or faded away, but I feel like the time is ripe to bring it back, and play the kind of music we never really get to here
in clubs anymore. The focus is really on a specific pantheon and era of bands that created a sound that was dark, mysterious
and magical. It was before industrial music and EBM took over, with a much more aggressive, stompy, masculine vibe.
I do enjoy many aspects of that music, but there are also plenty of great nights where you can hear that stuff.
“Music for Witches” does indicate a more feminine leaning, an appreciation for mysticism, dramatics, and romance.
The music has a different tempo – it’s a slower, heavier beat. It’s sexy without being super aggro. It also creates a space
for new music that works beautifully with our theme, like witch-house and drag. Musicians like Karin Dreijer Andersson of
Fever Ray and The Knife, and the mysterious IAMAMIWHOAMI definitely have a place at Exquisite Corpse – they are
both doing really gorgeous and adventurous work. This isn’t a rigid retro night – it’s about creating a certain ambiance,
which might include a Nina Simone song played right after Einstürzende Neubauten. Our patron saint is Siouxsie Sioux –
(or I suppose she’s our queen, since she’s quite alive) a strong, unapologetic, punk sorceress.

Lau of RECSPEC

As far as performers go, I’m really opening the floor to people who want an environment to express themselves –
especially when what they’ve got to share doesn’t really fit in anywhere else. This could be dance, sound installation,
art, writing, a game – but the key is that it must be interactive. There’s no announcer, no stage, no audience. It’s more
of a happening. I love the idea of a salon (not the getting your hair-did kind!), but as a place to exchange ideas, and
even to workshop your creative process. I love performance art when it just happens unexpectedly. Announcing it tends
to kill it. It’s always better when you just catch it happening out of the corner of your eye and wonder if you might be losing
your mind, or dreaming. This is definitely the kind of space where anything might happen. At the debut, recent Austin transplant
Sassy Delure dazzled us with a dance performance that involved her portraying three very different and very strange characters in quick succession. It was truly amazing. Laurel Barickman of RECSPEC does an incredible projection installation that totally creates the tone of the night, as well as providing some pretty bizarre and exciting eye candy. Images from films like “Night of the Hunter” and Japanese cult favorite “Hausu” seemed to sync up perfectly with the set from DJ Pasht who is a powerful witch and goth club turntable veteran. Devaki Knowles of Funloving Photos sets up her photobooth, so we always end up with lots of beautiful photos of our big-haired, eye-linered guests. People dress up extravagantly for this event, and definitely take a lot of delight in digging out and donning their widow’s weeds and pointy boots. It’s fun, and we aren’t taking ourselves (or anything much) too seriously. This isn’t the kind of party where you’re going to get looked up and down for what you’re wearing, and then nobody talks to each other. Thankfully, we live in Texas – where even the goths and art-snobs are super-friendly (and fairly goofy).

Pandora + I
The best part of the last party? In the middle of the night, my very dearest darling Miss Pea
appeared, having just driven pedal to the metal all the way from New Orleans! So happymaking!

Two of Colin’s oldest and dearest friends also came (in full regalia!), so all in all,
it was a night filled with beautiful reunions of beloved friends. So very wonderful.

Some of the music we like to play, just to give you an idea:
Echo and the Bunnymen
The Glove
Gene Loves Jezebel
Love & Rockets
The Legendary Pink Dots
Bauhaus
The Creatures
Die Form
Nina Hagen
Siouxsie & The Banshees
The Cure
XMAL DEUTSCHLAND
Swans
Beach House
Bat for Lashes
The Birthday Party
Fever Ray
The Knife
Lydia Lunch
Nick Cave
Einsturzende Neubauten
COIL
Zola Jesus
L.A. Vampires
Joy Division
oOoOO
Gary Numan
Depeche Mode
Duran Duran
Tones On Tail
Indian Jewelry
Crones
Clan of Xymox
White Ring
Book of Love
Modern Witch
Strawberry Switchblade
//TENSE//
Matthew Dear
Foetus
New Order
Soft Cell
Salem
The Normal
Tuxedomoon

What? Hilarious. Obviously, the night is full of hinjinks,
and no one takes themselves too seriously. We’re not
worried about cracking our white pancake makeup!

Our latest party is nigh…
TRANARCHY!
October 2nd – 10pm until.. ?
at The ND (The Independent)
501 Brushy & East 5th

A night of dancing and performances from
drag kings, queens and everything in between!
featuring performances by:
Kings n’ Things
Miz Chlamydia Burns
Sym Prole debuting
as Merci Killingspree
Mizarre
2 Left Feet
Anthony F.
DJ Chicken Kiev
DJ Chainsaw Hammell
Will Glitterbeast & The Tranarchy Gogo Dancers!

Transformation Station from Coco Coquette
Photobooth from Fun Lovin’ Photos!
Projections by RECSPEC

$7 – Dressed to transgress!
$10 – Bored us to death…

Looking for inspiration? Look no further than the
latest incarnation of Pearls Over Shanghai!
I had the opportunity to see it while I was in
San Francisco recently, and it was such a
joy. Marvelous cast, wonderful costumes
and music – I loved every second of it.
If you get a chance, the run has been
extended through December 19th,
so go! I really cannot implore you enough,
and if this doesn’t convince you, I don’t know
what will. Really now, see here:

“Pearls Over Shanghai,” an original musical by Link Martin and
Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn, is the centerpiece of our second
annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival, and marks the 40th
anniversary of the formation of The Cockettes, a gender-bending
theatrical troupe who not only originated this show, but also exerted
a profound influence on the culture of our times, from the phenomenon
of midnight movies to glitter rock stars and their outrageous fashions.
Based loosely on John Colton’s scandalous 1926 Broadway play
“The Shanghai Gesture” (later transformed into a deliriously decadent
art deco film noir by Josef von Sternberg in 1941), “Pearls Over Shanghai”
is a comic mock-operetta about white slavery and miscegenation set in the
colorful world of 1937 Shanghai, China. Link Martin parts the bamboo curtain,
his politics swept aside by his love of the mystery and intrigue of the Orient.
Placing his story at the crossroads of good and evil, his exotic “old sin town”
is filled with singing sailors, witty whores, foolish immortals, handmaidens
and henchmen, all taking their places in streets teeming with a mix of
foreign aristocrats, opium addicts, and gangland slave-trade czars.

We had the very good fortune of stumbling upon original Cockettes
member, the legendary Rumi Missabu having a smoke and preparing
for her role as Madame Gin-Sling. What a treat! Rumi is an utter delight
– very gracious and charming, with golden talons and mighty bosoms.

The light was slowly leaching into duskiness, but I managed to get in
a few good ones. The full set is here: Cockettes – Pearls Over Shanghai

Ah, Lili Frustrata! Played by (I believe) Eric Wertz, who utterly
captivated me with the song “Apples and Wontons” So divine.

Lili’s paramour was played by a dear and long-lost friend from
New Orleans, Flynn DeMarco, who also plays a mean ukulele!

Beautiful Jean, who kindly rescued my favorite earring from the asphalt.

Shanghai hookers! Love their macquillage! Fringe beards for life!

Truly not to be missed, folks. An adorable little
old gay grampa whispered to me after the show,
“I was there for the the original Cockettes performance
of this show, and well – I thought this was even better!”
It’s true, I guess I was expecting everyone to be on acid
and ad-libbing their lines and falling off the stage (like it
used to be!) We thought it would be loads of fun, but not
necessarily good, you know? Well! They showed us, no?

If you’re still craving more, here’s a passel of videos to get you going:

If you still haven’t seen the Cockettes documentary, please get that sorted
out immediately! It’s very illuminating. The trailer is a bit skippy, alas.

A video of make-up stills from various performances. These are a bit old,
(the make-up’s actually far better now), but good for inspiration!

Oh, Hibiscus – resplendent in Les Ghouls!

An enjoyable snippet.

★ I love Arthur Magazine – they always turn me on to the best stuff, and write about a lot
of my favorite people, places and things that no one else seems to know about. Right now
I’m really loving this work from Mexico City artist Inés Estrada. How to find a witch in a ball
of yarn! I’ve always wondered how to do that. A very useful manual indeed! She is also
also co-editor of the bilingual comic anthology Gang Bang Bong, which looks super.
I’ve decided to commit (finally!) and stop flirting with the handful of languages that
I know enough of to be cute in. Spanish needs to get in my brain, and come out my
mouth, because I’m tired of feeling embarrassed that I can’t have a simple conversation
about dogs or the weather with my neighbors. Well, honestly, I can – but I sound like
a demented child. Not so good! What better way to learn a language than by reading
comics, or poetry? Nice to read Pablo Neruda aloud at night, and dance in front of the
mirror – or so I hear from a certain bruja who lives down the street! Cha-cha-cha!
Oh yes, and – check this great page out: Beyond Rosetta Stone – 20 free online
resources for learning a foreign language – can’t wait to delve in! ¡Estoy listo!

★ I am so taken with the work of Trine Søndergaard. What an inspiration.
They are severe, yet elfin – archaic and very modern all at once. Love!

On and Off the Walls: Trine Søndergaard’s Fano Portraits

(Thanks to Mlle. Odette O. for this, and for the following!)

“For a period of the three years Trine Søndergaard visited the Danish island of Fano
to take portraits of local women dressed up in their traditional costumes. On this northern
island, the costumes are somber, with only a dash of color. Søndergaard’s portraits are
luminous and of a simple beauty. Her subjects pose in their regalia, the background is
neutral, the light is pure, and the composition is classical.”
– Elisabeth Biondi

I once spent the 4th of July in a small village in Denmark called Skørping,
in the Rebild National Forest. Why? Well, my grandfather thought it was
interesting that they have celebrated America’s Independence Day since
1912. It’s the largest 4th of July celebration outside the U.S. and people
come from all over to sit on bleachers in the Danish summer drizzle and
listen to the Queen of Denmark. I instead went hiking in the forest, chased
some sheep, slid down a hill in the rain, and listened to the surreal sound
of the Maritime Band playing “In the Mood” and other swing hits reverberating
off of the pines. There is also a full-size reproduction of Abraham Lincoln’s
log cabin and a totem pole in the park. What? So bizarre. Anyhow, the very
best part for me was seeing the most adorable little old people in traditional
Danish folk-costumes. They look like elves! I want to dress like that when I
am old. Pointy hats with embroidered flowers and big red bows, please!

★ Ryan McGinley takes lots of pictures of androgynously beautiful young people,
cavorting naked in nature. Sounds kind of daft and done, but I really like what
he does. It’s spontaneous and mystic and makes you want to be there.
I especially like his series moonmilk, which is naked people in lovely caves.

10 Awesome Caves Of the World
★ I’ve been on a cave trip lately. There are so many I want to explore one day,
particularly this one in Croatia: “The Velebit Mountain is the home of a number
of caves named Lukina jama, Slovacka jama, Velebita and Meduza. These caves
have some of the world’s greatest subterranean spectacular vertical drops, sure to
bring a shudder in the spine. At the foot of Lukina jama there are ponds and streams
having the largest colonies of subterranean leeches.”

★ The Brooklyn based street art collective Faile has made this incredible temple
in Lisbon, that I want very badly to see in person. How wonderful it is! I love the
mish-mash of typefaces and cultural references, and it tickles me to imagine
the bewilderment of future archaeologists when they find this peculiar monument!

“Known for adapting its signature mass culture-driven iconography
to a wide array of media, from wooden boxes and window pallets
to more traditional canvas, prints, sculptures, stencils, multimedia
installation, and prayer wheels, Faile blurs the lines between commodity
and art, and ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, demonstrating a emphasis on audience
participation, a sharpened critique of consumerism, and attempts to develop
new forms of religious artifact. Situated smack right in the middle of one of
the busiest streets of Lisbon and surrounded by classical buildings with
history of its own, the temple is a giant sculptural installation that has been
2 years in the making. Shaped somewhat like a dilapidated mausoleum,
the temple has everything you can imagine from a armed warrior horse,
to Indian themed graffitis, to columns and totems inspired by pop culture.”
- From Wicked Halo

More great photos at the great Portugeuse Street Art blog Stick 2 Target also!

★ My favorite theatre company in Austin is mounting a new show in October,
which I can’t wait to see: Rubber Repertory,
in association with Salvage Vanguard Theater,
proudly presents:
BIOGRAPHY OF PHYSICAL SENSATION

“In their first new show since The Casket of Passing Fancy,
Rubber Repertory pushes the limits of audience participation
to even more fateful extremes. Each night, an audience of 40
will be given the chance to experience a human life through
actual tastes, touches, smells, and sounds. This reinvention
of the traditional biography forgoes narrative in favor of pure
physical experience, placing audience members in the center
of over a hundred pivotal moments of perception.

Once the show begins, it’s a fast and feely ride through puberty
and pork chops, gunshots and tetherball, party whistles and old
pianos, tonsillectomies and lemon cake. In other words: life itself.”
Doesn’t that sound great? I love what they do. Oh, and if you
buy tickets now, you’ll get a special prize! It will probably be smelly!

★ Candied Corpses, And 87 Other Ancient Innovations
I desperately need Vicki Leon’s new book, How to Mellify a Corpse:
And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition.

★ I’m also craving Cockney Visionary
lavishly illustrated monograph to accompany
the Austin Osman Spare exhibition in London.
Quite beyond my range at £160, alas!

★ I did treat myself recently, when I decided
that I couldn’t live without The Fantastic Menagerie
Tarot published by The Magic Realist Press.

“Lively, humorous and utterly engaging,
The Fantastic Menagerie Tarot is based
on the illustrations of 19th century French illustrator,
J.J. Grandville. Known as the “Father of Surrealism”.
Grandville was a huge influence on artists such as
Tenniel, the first illustrator of Alice in Wonderland.
His pictures are cynical, funny, bitter and sweet –
and make for a deck that manages to be both timeless and true.”

★ I’m really adoring this very sweet and generous blog
from collectors of Western Swing 78s – they share
a lot of this really hard-to-find music, which is the
perfect soundtrack to cooking lima beans on a
hot August night. Believe me, because I know.

★ Did anyone catch the Perseid Meteor Shower the
other night? We watched a bit, though we were still
too close to civilization for it to be very dark. Still, it
was divine: we drank scotch and homemade ginger
soda and listened to the Cocteau Twins singles on
a cassette tape made from the box set, which I still
somehow do not have. Perfect celestial soundtrack!
In case you missed it, here’s a great set of images:
Perseid Meteor Shower

★ This flickr collection is just the best: Le Cirque
Advertisements for circus and theatrical acts, primarily French, circa 1885-1925.

★ Oh, and one of my favorite recent reads from this past winter,
The Crimson Petal And The White (which is about Victorian
prostitutes, hooray) is going to be made into a BBC production,
and Gillian Anderson is cast as the evil madam Mrs Castaway!
Richard E Grant (a favorite of mine ever since Withnail + I)
will play “the invasive physician” Doctor Curlew, and Romola
Garai, who I know nothing about, will play Sugar. I hope it’s good!

A new configuration from New Orleans’ own puppet darlings,
risen from the ashes of the Black Forest Fancies – The Mudlark Puppeteers
are back in Austin with two new shows. They will be performing The Six Swans
and The Nightingale at Center Stage Texas
2826 Real St. 78722

Thursday, July 29th and Friday, July 30 at 8:30 pm.
Admission $10 for adults, $5 for students, seniors and children.

We are hosting a very special party
on Saturday July 31st at 10pm
The Mudlarks present the
WORLD PREMIERE of
The Story of St Dymphna
Behold the making of the beloved martyr
and patron saint of madhouses, motherless children, and princesses in exile.
Told through rod and shadow puppetry – to a score of very black metal.
WARNING – MATURE CONTENT!
and The Six Swans – from the Brothers Grimm.
A princess braves an incredible trial to free her
brothers from a cruel witch’s curse.
Told in rod and shadow puppetry.

Also featuring the amazing Lex Land, chanteuse extraordinaire
and DJ Lina X spinning into the night for dancing under the trees!
1051 Springdale Rd – admission $6

(Pandora and Nina, post-bloodwrestling…)
The last two parties we threw for the Fancies were great successes,
with money raised for the Mudlark Theatre in New Orleans, and from
the Fish Fry for the Gulf Coast Fishermen. We threw an underpants
party, with live bloodwrestling, which was quite a hit, as you might imagine.

And before: as Dolly Parton

…and J. Lo!

Sick, as carny-barker presents the bloody spectacle, with Zibby, Frannie and Marrow wrasslin’ to the death!

Analy and Rachel tipped the pool over with their exertions!

Our donation bar was generously provided by the awesome folks at Tito’s Vodka,
with applejack cocktails that enabled and inspired much of the wrestling!

The bartenders did double time at the kissing booth.

Lovely Monika wielding sparklers in her fanciest underthings.

The lovingly cradled PBR was merely a prop to display her talent for showcasing.

Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Nightingale was brought to life by the Mudlark Puppeteers,
as a fable told through shadow puppetry and marionettes. The Emperor’s palace and garden are
the most magnificent in the world, but of  the many wonders in his vast empire, the nightingale
is best of all. The emperor never leaves his throne, so heavy is he with his own importance,
so he has never heard the beloved voice of the little bird. The nightingale is summoned to the
palace, to please the Emperor, but can nature’s beauty thrive in a gilded cage at court?

Waiting for Gumbo was hysterical. Beckett’s Godot performed by crawdads, mice and live cockroaches!

Miss Amelia, radiant and lovely, and wearing only her unmentionables!

I don’t remember this chicky’s name, but I like her Aeon Flux hair-do.

Elves, I tell you! Amanda Stone is made of elves, and don’t let nobody tell you different.

See the full set of The Black Forest Fancies Underpants Party photos here!

Fellow Austinites, these next four days are your last chance to see this incredible show!
My BFFs, the Black Forest Fancies have been staying in our garden, camped out in tents
and the trailer for two weeks, and it is testament to their sweet natures and good hearts
that we have enjoyed every minute of their stay! Not only are they adorable darlings,
but they have created a wondrous spectacle for your delectation – get yourself to the
theatre and be amazed! There’s a great review in this week’s Chronicle also, hooray!
We held a benefit for the fancies, and for the Gulf Coast Fishermen last week in our garden,
and it was so much fun, we are doing another on Friday (tomorrow!), please come if you are able!
It’s going to be a Black Forest Fancies Sweetheart Soiree + Underpants Party!

New Orleans based puppet troupe, The Black Forest Fancies are bringing their award-winning show,
“The Pomology of Sweetness and Light” to Austin’s The BLUE Theatre this June. “The Pomology of Sweetness and Light,”
follows the tale of Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman, an American folk hero whose wholesome identity is complicated by the
esoteric fact of his thwarted engagement to a ten year old girl. Legend has it Chapman ended the engagement when he
saw the girl flirt with a boy her own age. It was Chapman’s belief that every creature and action on Earth is an echo of the
realm of the ‘Spirit.’ The story is told from the child bride’s perspective. Her understanding of the world and Chapman’s
philosophy are expressed through puppet craft and acrobatics. This is a story of exceptional beings. Inspired by the
journey of the apple on the frontier, “Pomology” is an exercise in selective adaptation. Onto the backdrop of the American
Eden, The Fancies graft the figures of Dionysus and Snow White, of St. Lydwina and the Big Bad Wolf. These scenes are
interwoven with an ongoing view of the apple’s journey from precious obscurity to domestic staple on the frontier.
“Pomology” puts these fables into conversation to tell a story of misfits
seeking their place in the new world and to revive a story of forgotten love.

(This photo, and the ones below are all from Charlie Kinyon – you can see his full set from the show on Flickr.

“The Pomology of Sweetness and Light”
At Austin TX’s BLUE Theatre
916 Springdale Rd 78702
Thursday, (Tonight!) June 17
Friday, June 18
and Saturday, June 19 at 8pm
Matinee show on Sunday, June 20 at 3 pm

These last four shows are likely to sell out, so buy your advance tickets at SMART-TIX
Tickets are also available at the door.
Tickets are a suggested $15 for adults
$10 for students, children and seniors

No one will be refused for lack of funds!

Parental Advisory – Contains Adult Themes

More info here:
www.theblackforestfancies.com
www.themudlarkconfectionary.com

RSVP at the Facebook Page!

Attention New York! An amazing show is headed your
way, and you absolutely must not miss it. Trust me.
Go see this incredible piece of work, and help spread the word!
The Pomology of Sweetness and Light at Manhattan’s Theater for the New City

“New Orleans’ own “The Black Forest Fancies” are bringing
their latest work in puppet innovation to New York City.
“The Pomology of Sweetness and Light” is a large scale puppet operetta
that involves an interdisciplinary collaboration with the fields of stop-motion
animation and dance. We follow the tale of Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman,
an American folk hero whose wholesome identity is complicated by
the little-known fact of his thwarted engagement to a ten year old girl.
Legend has it Chapman ended the engagement when he saw the girl
flirt with a boy her own age… Our story is told from the child bride’s perspective.
Her understanding of the world and Chapman’s philosophy are expressed
through puppet craft and acrobatics. Our puppets range in size from 4 to 10 ft.
This is a story of exceptional beings, inspired by the journey of the apple on the frontier.
Onto the backdrop of the American Eden, we graft the figures of Dionysus and Snow White,
of St. Lydwina and the Big Bad Wolf. We put these fables into conversation to tell a story
of misfits seeking their place in the new world. Through a juxtaposition of scenes from
our collective folklore, we seek to create newly meaningful hybrids and revive a story of forgotten love.

The Black Forest Fancies
will present
The Pomology of Sweetness and Light
at Manhattan’s Theater for the New City
155 1st Ave between 9th and 10th St.

Thurs March 25th, Fri the 26th, and Sat the 27th at 8pm
Sun the 28th at 3pm

Thurs April 1st, Fri the 2nd, and Sat the 3rd at 8pm
Sun the 4th at 3pm

tickets are $20 – $15 students, seniors and groups of 5+

tickets are available at www.theaterforthenewcity.net
and by phone at:
212-254-1109

this tour is funded in part by a grant from The Jim Henson Foundation
Spread the word! Please forward this to everyone you know!
love always,
The Black Forest Fancies”

So, remember when I went to Chicago?
I’m just now finding a minute to write about all that,
so forgive the vast rewind- as per usual, I create my own
time-space continuum and all that.
I find myself in a hulking city packed with bodies
and marvel as I let myself be buffeted like a bit o’ flotsam
down the human river. So many facets of life’s vicissitudes
moving all around me. I love to get lost in that thick
stream, to wonder about lives and languages and stories.
It’s what I love most about big cities, and what would no doubt
drive me mad if I lived in one for a long time.
If you’re even a little bit empathic, it can be quite overwhelming
to be constantly surrounded by minds on all sides-
though in smaller doses, it’s a sublime delight.

This Egyptian Temple had been converted into a climate-controlled storage unit facility.
Guaranteed to keep the contents of your canopic jars fresh, and your mummified cats
perfectly preserved for all eternity. The night-watchman’s a Setian Priest, no doubt.

We had the pleasure of staying in the marvelous sprawling apartments of Elena Brocade,
though she was on honeymoon in Cairo until the very end of our visit. Romantical!
It was wonderful to explore her world- it is truly a wonderland of exotic plants, ostrich
feathers, intriguing books, mannequins, puppets and fancy hats. In other words, paradise.

Elena is a very talented and inspiring creature- she’s an aerial artist, amazing all with her
feats on the static trapeze, silks, and Spanish web. Strength, grace and incredible fashion sense-
all wrapped up into one sassy package of sinew, satin and sequins. We totally raided her closet,
which has a whole section devoted to nothing but jumpsuits! Her costumes are the best, ever.

Check her out! Also, if you saw Public Enemies recently, that was her looking all dusty and consumptive
and clutching at Johnny Depp’s arm after making him egg-salad sandwiches. She’s a movie star!

An amazing shop window downtown- little did I know, it was done by a
good friend of Lady Lavona’s. Infinitesimally small world we wander through.

This was glued to the wall in Elena’s kitchen. Sexy!
Appetite-stimulating! I wish I could read the whole comic.

Grandmother Wolf.

Al and Raven, (very tipsy and adorable) were our trusty guides to Chicago’s nightlife.
It was so good to hang out with these dear ones- I had missed them both enormously.
We went new-wave dancing at Neo, and it was hilarious.
Chartreuse + soda and Bauhaus. Almost like being 15 in New Orleans again!
Hunger in our bellies led us to a glowing bastion in the night, the only thing open-
(aside from that hot-dog stand where all the drunk asshats harass the hot-dog ladies.)
The Golden Nugget! It was filled with faux-art-nouveau stained glass,
southwestern themed frosted glass and grumpy waitresses!
Also, greasy blinis! Perfection. Latkes at 3am, so happy-making.

Obligatory 4am post-nightclub late-night diner bathroom photo.

Back at Elena’s the next morning we discovered some grisly evidence.

Curtains, for you

Magic doorways.

Have you ever tasted durian? Do you adopt ancestors?

I want this iridescent peachy wallpaper, please.

Elena’s sad soldier sculpture. He looks like a peat bog man to me.

This is Diana. She works at The Red Apple Polish Buffet.
She became our friend, first because of her amazing outfit and hot accent-
but then because she played good music just for us in our private room,
and was totally amenable to being kidnapped and taken to the beach.
Diana, we love you! Run away with us, and then take us to Poland with you!

The Polish toy shop, where I had to get dragged out of here, and was thus prevented
from buying heaps of faded birthday cards with kittens and indecipherable greetings.

Lukewarm Dude Puma. Need I say more?

I sat by this window, and read this book about Michael Jackson. It was strange.

Okay, next time I go to Chicago it’s going to be for more than just a couple
of days- so I need lots of suggestions for wondrous and interesting things
I need to experience there. Pony up! I love wandering around aimlessly,
but please make me a magic map of destinations. It’s such a fantastic city-
tell me your stories about it, won’t you? What must I simply not miss?

(Photo by Don Mason)

My friend Mr. Patrick Hambrecht of Flaming Fire wrote a great article
about them for Vice, which I will now quote from heavily:

“Back when Texas’s acid-punk (Butthole Surfers, Crust, Ed Hall, Helios Creed) scene
was in full swing, a lot of the musicians from those bands worked at the Texas School
for the Blind and Visually Impaired between tours, including Teresa from the Butthole Surfers,
aka that girl featured on the Slacker movie poster who tries to sell Madonna’s pap smear in the film.
And it was some of those very strange people who first discovered TJ Wade,
a pre-teen blind prodigy who could instantly play anything he heard on keyboards.

TJ would compose lofi funk soundtracks on a keyboard as MC Terroristic,
and then rap about which girls he likes and which teachers he wanted to blow up,
stuff like that. His lyrics regarding teachers were really, really mean, and very, very funny.
He also loved the Ruins, and covered a lot of their songs too.
So…some of the acid-punk pioneers/blind school employees recorded his first album
for him on the sly (because you can get fired for encouraging kids to sing about how
much they’d like to kill teachers), and soon he was getting offers from major labels
to work with musicians like Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keyes.”

(Photo by Emily Kinsolving)

Photo by Cory Ryan
TJ Wade: “I’ve always been open about [my foot fetish]. I developed one at the age of 10.
We’d play footsies with each other, and at 13, that’s when it got extreme.
I didn’t write my first foot fetish song until ’05—“Foot Party Anthem”—
and that’s what really kicked it off. A big shout out to everyone that gets it.
To those who don’t get it, they’ll get it soon. They’ll be infected with the funk
once they’ve heard us. I love feet and making music about feet,
and if it’s all right for people to dance to, that’s the most important thing.”

(Photo by Cory Ryan)

Seriously- What the foot? Go see them, if you know what’s good for you:
If you hustle, you can catch them tonight at Goodbye Blue Monday

Friday, August 7th at Union Pool with Light Asylum,
Rubber Room Rats, and Evolution Revolution – 10 pm

Saturday, August 8th at Highline Ballroom in Manhattan/Chelsea District
with Flaming Fire, Four Legged Baby, and Crime Scene – 7:00 pm