Fruit. Tea. Jewelry. Sushi. Words. Word games. DIY everything. Archaisms. The 80's. Fabulous people. Fabulous hair. Facial hair. Astrology. Religion. Obscure never-run films. Obscure seldom-used words. Obscure rarely-read authors whose reputations I will galvanize in my dissertation. Charles Brockden Brown. George Lippard. Paschal Beverly Randolph. Pauline Hopkins. Spiritualism. Rosicrucianism. Dead languages. Post-mortem images. Germany. Russia. Taxidermy art. Outsider art. Performance art. Transient art. A good play. The perfect fuck. Live music. Melville. Libraries. Archives. All the zoos of material culture. Secret temples. Putting my entire face into the eating of a mango. Exquisite perfumes. A really fine cheese. Shoes. Cats. Hiking, more of a sanity requirement than an interest. Hoodoo. Bright orange. Bright pink. Bees.
Khufu ... you've got some explaining to do, mister
OK this box drives me nuts so I thought I’d mix things up by compiling a list of the ten best shows I’ve ever seen. It was REALLY tough, because a lot of my fave artists suck live and a lot of musicians with so-so recordings have stunned me on stage. I stuck to big(ger) name bands even though some of my fave shows have happened in community centers, warehouses, and living rooms. Like the time the Bad Samaritans played my Mom’s backyard and the singer stripped down to a pair of ill-fitting underoos and a black lace thong – damn!
1) Fugazi at the Palladium. Six dollars. Best show ever.
2) The Legendary Pink Dots at the Roxy
3) Gary Numan at the Palace. He hadn’t played the states in 16 years and Marilyn Manson came out and sang “Down in the Park†with him but let Gary have all the applause.
4) Radiohead and the Beta Band at the Santa Barbara Bowl a few days after my college graduation. Beautiful venue and they played “Fake Plastic Trees.â€
5) Bikini Kill at the Gilman. Got to meet Kathleen. Riot Grrrl dream come true.
6) Wire at the El Rey
7) Rasputina at the Troubadour
8) Kraftwerk at the Greek
9) Diamanda Galas at Royce Hall. Fucking unreal. Two-thirds of the audience left because it was so intense.
10) Mr. Bungle and the Kids of Widney High at the House of Blues only because of the sheer horror of it all. As I watched someone with cerebral-palsy sing a goofy song to drunk assholes, a guy behind me yelled “we’re all going to hell†and that pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter. Then during Mr. Bungle I got led out of the club by plain-clothes security for taking two measly pictures. When they tried to take my film my brother said, “there’s pictures of my Dad’s funeral on that roll†(my Dad’s still alive). My brother argued with them and eventually slapped the manager while I proceeded to steal one of their pseudo folk-art signs. Then we ran like hell. Up yours, House of Rules.
Vertov's "Man With a Movie Camera." Oh. my. god.
Now that I've seen the Mighty Boosh ... I think it rates as the best TV show of all time.
Recent acquistions: "Voluptuous Panic," the erotic world of Weimar Berlin ... sehr sexisch!
Anais Nin