Cancan, Go-Go, Ballroom & Belly Dancing. Burlesque, Sideshows, State Fairs, Carnivals, Vaudeville, Circus, Trapeze Arts, Human & Animal Oddities. Things Stored In Formaldehyde, Pyrotechnics...ASSORTED RAZZAMATAZZ.
Art and Art-like Products, Record Players, Maps, Hand Puppets, Birds, Teeth, Trains, Sewing, Print Making, Industrial Letterpress, Book Making, Antiques, Taxidermy, Snowglobes, Old Pictures, Prayer Cards...and Squirrels - especially stuffed squirrels put in funny poses like playing cards or drinking beer. Hula Hoops. Satin Ribbons & Sundresses. The Drive-In and The Tasty Freeze. Walking & Roadtrips. Coney Island & Niagara Falls. Imperfection, Mystery, Sweetness, Nostalgia - as a Disease or Psychological Disorder. I really didn't feel sick, but now that they've said something...I think I have a fever.
I'd like to meet:
People who make things. People who keep the show on the road. Pastie twirlers, sword swallowers, glass walkers, plate spinners, fire eaters, contortionists, dancing girls, ramblers, gamblers, four-eyes, snaggle tooths, hillbillies, hobos, singin' cowboys, vampires, record collectors, crafty beavers, print makers, everyday outsider artist types. Sweet and tender hooligans. The unhip, the misfits, the crazies and the displaced. Anyone with a Mayfield Brown Cow or a Grape NEHI to spare. The sweetest bittersweets - human honey...the ones who pull me along with them by my insides...
Music:
Calliopes, Pump Organs, Accordion - Tango, Flamenco, Klezmer, Eastern European Gypsy, Middle Eastern, Sicilian Funeral Music, Alabama Ghost Country, Church Music. Edison records...The hiss of 78s on the old Victrola and the crackle of 45s on the Zenith. The little birds and crickets outside my house. Train Whistles - But if it's a man whistling, Andrew Bird & Elvis whistle best. I love Jonathan Richman, Whiskeytown and The Old 97's. I like the Jazz alot - The Charlie Parker and the Miles Davis. Minor Chords, Rockabilly, Hillbilly, Garage, 60's Girl Groups, Blues. Chuck Berry, Hank Williams Sr., Morrissey, 16 Horsepower, The Replacements. Slim Harpo, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Muddy Waters. Faces, Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones. Gill Landry and Beats Anitque rarely leave my cd player for more than 24 hours. JERRY LEE LEWIS, Beirut & Tom Waits...
...and The Left Banke is the most underrated band ever.
Movies:
All Fellini's movies especially "8 1/2" - Any movie with MARCELLO MASTROIANNI...
John Waters, 60's & 70's BOLLYWOOD! R.E.M.'s TOURFILM and The Godfather I & II- over and over and over and over and over...and over.
Television:
There's a 6" black & white that sits on my kitchen table, it gets 4 channels. It's rarely turned on - watch Dave or Conan late at night sometimes. Taxi was the greatest show ever. Laugh-In, Lawrence Welk, HULLABALOO, Hee-Haw, Soul Train, Fame. I often go to The Belcourt Theatre with a bag full of quarters and watch Scopitones on the machine...
Books:
James Agee & Albert Camus. The World Atlas, Birds of North America, Freaks & Fire: The Underground Reinvention of Circus, The Andy Warhol Diaries, Hank Williams: Snapshots From The Lost Highway...
My favorite book is Hobo by Eddy Joe Cotton. I suppose my second favorite will be his next one. If he'd ever get to it... WILL YOU GET TO IT ALREADY?!
Heroes:
EL VEZ, Mary Huff of Southern Culture On The Skids, Kevin Bradley at Yee-Haw Industries, Sophia Loren, The dancers at The Crazy Horse in Paris & their lighting guy, All people involved with promoting and maintaining Coney Island. Those wild and sweet Yard Dogs...
