I do not know the provenance of this photo, unfortunately. I tried using TinEye,
to no avail. Anyhow, it makes me inordinately happy to see such a tiny snake
(and his giant friend, the berry.) Sometimes we see these guys in the garden.

Mysterious snake appears in painting of Queen Elizabeth I
Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Mlle. Verhext!

The Little Horn Speakers: I require these. No, but really. $1850, though! Hurts.

Child-headed whiplash-tail Blengins, courtesy of Mr. Darger.

Go peer at my tumblr mosaic viewer!
It’s an ingenious Japanese site I discovered through the equally ingenious
Journey Round My Skull. Kind of solves the problem I have with tumblr
regarding organization and searchability. You can click on any image
and jump to it (or re-blog it, if you’re looking at someone else’s mosaic.)
I can play with it endlessly! Thank you to whoever created this tiny wonder.

More delicious tidbits to peruse:

✶ Go check out the art of Nicomi Nix Turner and her store, Specimen Jar why don’t you?

✶ Many thanks to Miss Anya (Clever Nettle) for dazzling me
with Tim Walker’s gorgeous Lady Gray spread from this month’s
Vogue Italia. It it very happy-making indeed.

✶ Edward Gorey collection at the Ransom Center Field trip, anyone? I don’t take advantage of this place enough.
It is a repository for some truly mind-blowing collections. Must to go!

✶ A wonderful International Women’s Day collage from boywhocameback

✶ The Math Behind Geometric Hallucinations – Uncoiling the spiral: Maths and hallucinations

✶ Style Icon: Cayce Pollard from William Gibson’s “Pattern Recognition”
from NOGOODFORME.COM, which is my latest happy discovery.
From the very excellent piece, by Kat Asharya:

“Reading Pattern Recognition is a great experience on many levels.
While it divided some of the Gibson faithful who missed the futuristic setting
and the cyberpunk attitude of his other novels (oh, fanboys!), it’s also one of
the few novels I’ve read that really got into the heart on how technology and
the Internet really shape people’s emotional lives and experience, not to mention
grappled intelligently with a post-9/11 landscape. (It’s also awesome when a dude
in a kind of dudecentric genre like sci-fi writes really incredible female characters
that are defined by their abilities, intellect and emotional lives rather than by their
plot convenience and exploited sexuality. William Gibson, you effin’ rock.”

Hear, hear! This makes me hungry to re-read the book!

Related posts:

✶ Snakes + Leather

✶ Flotsam and Jetsam

(Photo by David Sledge)

(Photograph by K. K. Arora)
People wade through a cloud of colored powder while celebrating the Hindu festival
of Holi at Nand Gaon in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

(Photograph by Jayanta Shaw)
A girl with a colored face reacts as she is drenched during Holi celebrations in Kolkata.

(Photograph by Utpal Baruah)
Men smeared with facepaint and colored powder pose for a picture
during Holi in the northeastern Indian city of Guwahati.
(I love the man in the middle’s gaze. His face is straight from an ancient tapestry.)

(Photograph by Babu)
Girls smeared with colored powder are splashed with colored water
as they celebrate Holi in the southern Indian city of Chennai.

(Photograph by K. K. Arora)
Artists dressed as Hindu Lord Krishna (left) and his consort Radha are showered
with rose petals during Holi celebrations in the northern Indian city of Mathura.
(Isn’t this the best? Lord Krishna’s bored to tears, and Radha’s totally annoyed
by the proliferation of petals. Hilarious! I want to be showered in rose petals!)

(Photograph by Krishnendu Halder)
A child rests inside tomato pulp as part of the celebration of Holi in Hyderabad.
(I also now want to take a tomato pulp bath now, because this kid looks so blissed out!)

Found on Boing Boing: Springtime in Bollywood (Holi He!)
More:
✷ A gray day for Phagwah in NYC – really wonderful, go see!

✷ Even Gala Darling got splashed with color!

✷ Dogseat’s New York Phagwah set on Flickr

✷ I suggest you play this song, and dance around right now! – Festival of Colors – The Creatures

Quick, quick – some tasty tidbits for you & you & you!
I’ve been a bit under the weather still, and all I want
to do is sleep and listen to this over and over:

★ Dark Dark Dark – Bright Bright Bright
I saw them play in New Orleans, and they hypnotized
a whole room of us rowdy kids with their beautiful songs.
We all sat in rapt silence and listened, and then for the
last song Nona sang “This Woman’s Work”, one of my
most favorite Kate Bush songs and we all freaked out
and sang along and it was so incredible, my heart exploded.
Get their new album! You can listen to it first, and it will ensnare you!

★ I can’t stop looking at these images from Chile’s catastrophe:
The Big Picture – Earthquake in Chile
After Katrina, I think a lot about how tenuous our situation
is on this planet, and how fragile our homes are. So much
that we take for granted in our day to day can be totally
destroyed literally overnight when the Earth decides to
flex her muscles. What more is to come? I fear the worst.

★ How about some good news? Hollis Hawthorne woke up
from her coma! She’s a good friend of a lot of my friends,
and everyone is super-overjoyed that she’s regained
consciousness after her horrible motorbike wreck in rural
India. Please send good thoughts for her full recovery!
Mer wrote a wonderful article at Coilhouse back when this
all went down, with lots of great pictures of Miss Hollis:
Performer/Cyclist Hollis Hawthorne Needs Our Help

★ Miss Tamera wrote the most wonderful, eloquent article about
personal style, and the vicissitudes of the trendy, and fashion’s
horrible new homogeneity. This is a subject I’ve been thinking
about a lot, and talking about with Tam and other friends, but
she really, really nailed it here. So worth reading, even if
(or especially) you couldn’t give two hoots about fashion.
read it: & they’re all made out of ticky tacky

“In my world, clothing is about plumage & creativity [...]
What I love about clothing is creating places, characters, ideas.
Time travel, the past and the future! I love the idea that fashion can
be feminist, that we don’t have to wear what’s created for us if we
don’t want to! We can take it back, refuse to fit into ideals, use clothing
as a tool to break glass ceilings in the workplace. We can get married
in black, wear metal spikes on our shoes, vote with our dollars by
shopping only vintage! I like the fact that I can be a different person
every day if I want to.”

I couldn’t agree more!

★ Meanwhile, Miss Gala Darling knocked my sock off with this gem
of an article, or more MANIFESTO! I think this would be really good
to print out, post up and read often. Again, such important words
for ladies to absorb. I’m so grateful to my bad-ass friends for
writing and sharing such powerful thoughts and messages.
Also, can I just say how excited I am that Gala will be here
for SXSW in just a matter of what, 14 days? We will dance
and sing and frolic! It’s actually going to be a typhoon of
lovelies, actually! I’ll finally get to meet Anja Verdugo and
Molly Crabapple! Not to mention Chad (Mon Petit Fantome)
and possibly even a Tamera? Fingers crossed!
I think Austin will never be the same after
this horde of fabulous fancies gets done with her!
Read this now, I command ye:
Empty Bellies Do Not Beget Genius

★ A Lucky Bounce
There’s a good article in Offbeat magazine this week about New Orleans
Bounce music. It’s exciting to be helping bring bounce to Austin! I love
seeing all my ladies twerkin’ it! We so much fun at the Bounce Benefit
for Gay Bi Gay Gay last week. Vockah Redu was unreal. So exquisite!

In lieu of a good video that really shows how awesome Vockah’s
stage show is, here’s Sissy Nobby’s latest. Inspiring, y’all!
I’m workin’ on one day having a magic booty that can do things
like what you see here. Practice makes perfect!

Since I’m on a New Orleans roll tonight (every night?)
here’s Sweet Emma + “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jellyroll”

Also, this old newsreel documentary from the 1920’s with photography
and animations illustrating old New Orleans, the Crescent City, at work and at play.
(Many thanks for these videos to Miss Christy Kane!)

Last but not least, here’s a little bedtime story for you,
from Neil Gaiman – Cinnamon.
Goodnight!
(p.s. I love you!)

Poor frozen disco ball! I bought it for 3 dollars at a garage sale.
It’s a big one, and has lost most of the mirrors and has been
repaired with duct tape (?) and silver glitter. Pathetic, really.

Wee effalent wishing for a wooly mammoth coat.

Princess Grrizelda frolicking in her first snowfall!

Our back garden dusted in powdered sugar. I know that this is commonplace
for any of you living up north, but we Texans are like little children when it
snows. We like to marvel at it and take lots of pictures, because many of us
have only ever seen it a handful of times. I stared out the window all day,
hypnotized by the flurries. White bees and icy crystals. Heavenly.

The kale and arugula got sugared, but they should be fine.

Mister frog and his pansy cohorts were not so pleased. Shivering and crumpled!

These johnny-jump-ups did just that — popping up incongruously in the
tomato bed. I hope they emerge unscathed as well – we desperately need
a bit of color outside! I am so tired of this cold and drear. Springtime, ahoy!

The irises seem to think it’s time, too. Cross your fingers for the last of winter!

See also:
Snow Maidens

I was so bummed to miss Poux, especially since it meant not being given
one of the much-coveted commemorative handmade glass medallions,
a grand Poux-doubloon if you will. Lucky stars for me! My dear friend
Forest had kept one warm and close to his heart for me. Good thing
I went out Ash Wednesday, eh? So here are my treasures, which oddly
enough I never cared about collecting until the hurricane blew me west.

Typical Poux antics. I believe this is some sort of trebuchet, no?

Randall and Drew in their amazing ensembles. They make me so happy.

Tanya Solomon (aka Dr. Flummox) is a great clown. Not the bad kind. The good kind. Really!

Liser is the big bad wolf and little red riding hood simultaneously. It happens.

Ratty and Oops were the King and Queen of Poux!
This year they won their crowns again (yes, the
naked knife-fight!) and continue to reign triumphant!

Myrtle von Damitz III, odalisque-ing out with Drew’s giant neon head.

Laron + Kelvin, two of my favorite NOLA/NYC darlings.

Jock is the leader of the 9th Ward Marching Band, a gentleman and a great dancer.

Haley Lou Haden has a stick ‘em tattoo of toast, and I love her.

Hungry for more Lundi Gras Poux?
★ Here’s more photos from Lundi Gras 2009, just for you!
★ Lundi Gras Valentine
★ Lundi Gras (A pictorial essay on the nature of debauchery)
★ Vicissitudes from Cradle
★ Voila les petites creatures musicales qui se cachent dans les fleurs!

Me and Darby Rose. I love this one so much.

Colin is the king of my heart.

Now, that’s what I call a mohawk. This girl ain’t messin’ around with no faux-hawks!

Something about this pretty lady reminds me of Natasha Khan. Do you see it?

Miss Vu, the resplendent frittilary.

Francesca, sleek and lovely

La Bella Franziska!

Miss Allyson Garro and her sweet fellow Greg.

Winovino were amazing – when our sound went out, they kept the party
going by playing acoustically until we got it all sorted. Total heroes.

Dominique Vyborny did beautiful aerial dance on the silks!

I love this sad face so much. This is how I feel about the Disko ending!

My dear friend Janette, confectioner extraordinaire created for me
this incredible birthday cake. I wish I could explain to you how delicious
it was, but honestly it left me bereft of words adequate to convey the
marvel of that perfect icing, those triple layers, the plump berries!
Totally divine. Janette is (well, partly) responsible for my calipygian
rump, as she has some amazing home-baked cookies or cakes
almost every time I see her! They are totally impossible to resist.

This fancy duckie was one of my very first birthday surprises, from my
friend Charity. I’m going to somehow attach her to my head for Easter!

Colin made me this sweet gumdrop tree, got me those gorgeous flowers
and both Tam Dao and Passage D’enfer! Can you believe it? He’s the best.

Sur le birthdee table: gorgeous roses from Steve + Emily and branch
shaped beeswax candles I bought last year at Tale of the Yak in Berkeley.

Pandora created this heartbreakingly beautiful St. Agnes doll for me
(better pictures soon, promise!) She carries a sword and a lamb,
and wears a glorious halo. Her tender breastplate can be lifted to reveal…

Her gorgeous innards! A sacred, saintly heart – and the tinest, most perfect
doll uterus and ovaries you’ll ever see! Before I received her, I had the
strangest dream: that my incisions had re-opened, the scars and stitches
dissolved, and my belly lay flayed open. I could see my uterus winking
at me through the opening: a grey pearl of dread at being so vulnerable.
I thought, “I had better call my doctor and tell him what’s happened..”

My sweet sweet Chad (aka. Mon Petit Fantome!)
sent me an incredible parcel filled with the very best loot
(details later!) Isn’t that doll the prettiest? You must go check
out Chad’s new Big Cartel shop – I want every single thing in it!

I’m crazy busy getting ready for the last Gadjo Disko, so action may be sparse
’round these parts for a short spell – but then! Mardi Gras glory will be upon us!
Mercy! Thank you to everyone for the sweet birthday wishes, I am humbled
by all the love and abundance in my life. I’m grateful for what you add to it.

Big Freedia + Katey Red – photo by Ports Bishop

“Hello from the Dirty South!

It’s Rusty Lazer (Jay to some of you!), and I’m writing a short letter for some big help!

The Bounce Music performers and promoters I work with here in New Orleans
have been invited to a showcase at this year’s South By Southwest Music Conference
in Austin to our great joy and surprise! They are all creators and originators of what we
call Bounce, which has become the music of the streets of this city over a 20 year period
of steady growth. Katey Red, DJ Jubilee, Big Freedia, Partners n’ Crime, Vockah Redu,
Magnolia Shorty and Miss Tee are all going with us and we couldn’t be happier!

For those that don’t know, Bounce Music is merely the latest unique offering from a city
that defines originality, taking its place among the many historical gifts of New Orleans.
It contains elements of everything you’ve ever heard from here before – voodoo chants,
Mardi Gras Indian songs, Jazz, R&B, Soul, Brass Bands – these are its lineage and
Bounce Music will, like its predecessors, define the music of the future of this city
and possibly much more.

All of these artists are at the top of their game, but none are wealthy, and many have
seen the fruits of their labors commercialized by hugely successful artists like Beyonce,
Lil’ Jon and more. They don’t complain, they just continue to develop the soundtrack of
our reconstruction, bring happiness to their fans and toil in virtual poverty. For a majority
here, their music is what makes some of the challenges of post-Katrina life manageable.

Unfortunately, the conference doesn’t pay for any aspect of the event for artists,
so bringing 10 rappers and just as many dancers, baton twirlers, DJ’s and more,
not to mention leaving lucrative local performances for a weekend, is nearly impossible.

We don’t need much to do this right. Hotels and travel expenses are all we’re trying to cover.
We’re asking for donations through an innovative website called Kickstarter which allows us
to provide interesting premiums to accompany your donation, but we don’t receive any money
if we don’t reach our goal of $1500 by March 1st!

You can see our Kickstarter page here, donate to our cause,
and learn more about what we call “Bounce Music” and the people who make it!
Please spread it far and wide, and if you blog please get it up if you can as soon as possible!
We’ve only got 1 month to pull off a lot!

Kickstarter – New Orleans Block Party Music goes to SXSW

Please help us out, and get some cool stuff in return.
I for one am hoping for Katey Red’s voice
on my outgoing message – stay tuned for that!

Feel free to write with any questions to rustylazer@gmail.com

Thanks everyone, and good day,
Rusty Lazer
aka
Jay Pennington”

See also:
GADJO DISKO – BALKAN BOOTY BOUNCE BLOC PARTY!

Sissy Bounce!

The Last Gadjo Disko! It’s true, darlings-

Saturday, February 6th
at La Zona Rosa
612 West 4th St.
10pm-4am
18+
$7 – $15
Dress to transgress!

With performances from:
Comintern
Wino Vino
Franziska
Sick
and
DJ Chicken Kiev
spinning 100% recycled culture:
immigrant punk – baile funk – kuduro
slavic hip-hop – disko ethnoteka

Gadjo Disko is ending because one of our glorious triumverate, Mack –
who you all know from his inimitable pizazz and fabulosity at the door,
is moving to SF! We will miss him enormously, and there’s no way it
could happen without him. The three of us (myself, Chesley and Mack)
have worked really hard to make Gadjo Disko what it is, and it’s been
an amazing experience. It breaks our hearts, too – but this is the way
it’s gotta be, at least for the time being. Hopefully we’ll be doing more
events in the future though – I can’t imagine us not putting on parties!

Can we just take a minute to revel in the glory of Mackling’s magical
tiger boots? I really need to somehow find a pair in my size. Stunning.

This was taken kind of late in the evening, after many smushings had
smudged my Peking Opera macquillage and my blue weave had been
ditched. There are fresher versions here and here though, if you prefer!

My friend Steve Brudniak is an amazing artist, as well as being a demon
on the dance-floor! Check his work out – it will blow your mind, promise.

These guys are Computer Jesus Refrigerator, and I love them.

I love this girl’s dark green eyes, and lavender hair and sparkly jewels
and well – pretty much everything about her! Who is she I wonder?

Miss Melanie looking incredible in her balinese mask + feng shui mirror earrings!

Cindy Sparklefingers and Jimmy Jewell = ♥

Miss Nicole Labry on her birthday! I suprised her with a big tray of wee cupcakes
and everyone sang! Earlier in the day, we surprised her with a male stripper
dressed as a cop who tried to bust up her birthday barbecue with his nightstick!

Miss Amelia Valentine looking especially sultry and lovely, oh what a woman!

Um, hello lady. You are real sexy, and I hope you don’t mind me posting
this awesome photo of you despite the wee nip slippage! Hotcha!

Corinne Loperfido + Alisan

Despite what Kangaroo Sexy says, this last Gadjo is no secret!
Spread the word far and wide! We have a fabulous new venue
with room for all, and anyone who’s never had the opportunity
to attend should jump on it! It’s going to be an amazing night!

This past weekend, in honor of my dear darling Francesca’s birthday
(and that of two other beloved Aquarian ladies, Cole + Lali!)
we ventured to the wild northern tundra of Dallas to partake of
the waters at the fabled Korean King Spa – a wonderland of truly
epic propotions, as evidenced by the gigantor silver stallion
that greets you when you walk in. Unfortunately, you can’t quite
make out his cubist testicles in this photo. This fella’s about 30 feet
tall, and his word bubble (apparently) reads “I am the KING!”

King Spa is a truly magical place, decorated with bulbous gourd sculptures
that jut out at intervals from the wall. Lots of pumpkins are arranged on shelves.
This naturalistic approach to decorating is somewhat at odds with the etched
glass partitions in the women’s spa area that depict key scenes from favorites
Simpsons episodes. The ceiling is a light sculpture of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.
It made sense to someone! Then again, when you’re being cooked in 113 degree
mugwort infused water, you cease to be picky about the decor. I actually kind of
adore it, for all its randomness. I am a big lover of saunas and bath-houses,
but I had only ever been to Russian versions before. I love to sweat in insanely
hot little rooms with total strangers, and I love being transformed into a
big buttery noodle by older Koran women in their underwear. They scrubs
me with abrasive mitts until grey eraser peelies of skin rolled off me, and then
pummeled and pounded my muscles into submission. My friend Peggy said
afterwards, “Laying there with my face smeared with raw cucumbers,
a bag tied over my head, and a big woman straddling me, I couldn’t help
but think: this should probably be a lot more expensive!” Hah!
Perhaps it is, at some of the mysterious neon-lit bordello-looking dives
in the neighborhood, with provocative names like “Hula Hand” and “Blue Star”.
King Spa is not that kind of place at all, though! No happy-endings here, folks!
It’s about $85 for the scrub and massage, but only $18 for a 24 hour pass
to the facility, which included many strange and wonderful rooms in which
to get your sweat on. It’s so very worth every penny. After about 14 hours,
I felt like I was floating, and had no desire to ever leave. I want to live there.

Apparently, it cost $50 million to build and outfit the place. There are giant
slabs of amethyst geodes embedded into the walls every which way, and
golden pyramids guarded by staunch bronze lions.

This is the aforementioned golden pyramid, and my personal favorite,
the salt igloo! I need to build one in the backyard, pronto. Total bliss!

There are these huge pink rococo Miss Piggy nightmare chairs everywhere.
Perfect for impromptu tea parties with delicious juices and traditional dishes
like sudatorium-baked eggs, bibimbab and fish eggs over rice (al-bab, mmm!)

This brave knight guards the living “elvan” stones and the many amethysts.
The horse eats only mugwort and wormwood, which there is plenty of.
I am a total Jjim-Jil-Bang convert. It’s just wrong that we don’t have a King Spa
in Austin! I would go there every day. It’s a very healing and magical place!

Tonight I read Lady Lavona’s writing on Dark Energy + Dark Matter,
and was very moved by it. Winter is a dark time for me, marked by
remembrances of dear ones passed and untenable weather.
Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of a good friend of mine:
Pandora Pumpkin (née Katherine Hastings) who was very beautiful
and amazing. I miss her so. If you would like to know more about who
she was, here are some writings about her, with many lovely pictures:

♥ In Memoriam – 2007

♥ In Memoriam – 2006

♥ Dear Pandora

♥ Dies Cinerum – Day of Ashes

July 22nd, 1975 – January 25th, 2005