Show and tell. I make audio and video, mostly about people and their ideas (and sometimes, their music). I'm QueenJuliana on YouTube. I'm Juliana Luecking at Kill Rock Stars.
So far this year, three festivals screened my videos. Yippee! Berlin Queer Festival. Ladyfest Bonn, Germany. International Women's Day Benefit, Leeds, UK.
I ask people blunt questions, and they answer with the truth of the moment. That's what 'People are a Trip' videos are about. They are hilarous. No, poetic. Well, maybe quite philosophical. The interviews include Johanna Fateman and Kathleen Hanna of Le Tigre, Ropstyle of Semiautomatic, Madigan Shive of Bonfire Madigan, subway prophet J.R., and people on the streets of NYC. What fun!
Carlos of Love or Perish
What are fences for?
Crystle would change a few things in this country...zing!
Amos and Natalie investigate the hereafter.
Whatcha thinkin'?
Who are you? Shona tells all.
What does it mean to be a woman? Nicole is powerful.
Yes, it's Kathleen.
Lovely things, the things that go boom. Scary things, too.
..
Sue as Lucia de Lammermoor. Juliana as Arturo.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++
Want to do a video interview for 'People are a Trip'? I'd like that so much. Hm, how? First, search http://www.youtube.com/QueenJuliana to find all the videos. Find one that turns your crank? Get your camera ready.
THEN DO THIS: make a video with your answer, and post it as a response. (Ah, you like that idea!) Or pick any question and post your answer-video on YouTube, just make sure you tag it with 'QueenJuliana Kill Rock Stars'.
Here are sample questions:
1. What is one thing you know is true?
2. What’s your favorite part of the day?
3. How did the world begin?
4. What does it mean to be a woman/man/transgendered?
5. What’s your religion?
6. What happens to you after you die?
7. What did you dream last night?
8. What is your passion?
9. What are fences for?
10. Why do nations go to war?
11. If you were in charge of this country, what would you do?
12. What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in your life?
13. What is marriage?
14. What kind of music do you like?
15. Did you ever get persuaded to do something you now regret?
16. What question you would like to be asked?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++
And hey, if you're a writer - not a videomaker - pick a question and post a comment or response on YouTube, or post your eloquence right here in my comments section. I'd love that! xo qj
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++
Opera at the Met (really). My insides turn out with the beauty of the monster voices. Two Ton Boa. West African music by Oumou Sangare and Geoffrey Oryema sooths my savage breast/beast. Street performers. Friends singing to me can cool my jets.
Every damn film by Almovadar. Akira Kurosawa's 'Ran'. 'Y Tu Mama Tambien'. 'Hero'.
'City of God'. 'City of God'. Yes, 'City of God'! (I saw it 3 times because the acting and editing are incomprehensibly moving to me.) 'Run Lola Run". And, well any moment onscreen with Parker Posey, of course.
Turn off the dumbing machine, and let's go dancing.
Writers Walter Tevis, Philip Pullman, Marjane Satrapi. Um, what do you recommend? Seriously.
Sometimes, reviewers are my heroes...
REVIEW:
"Luecking is one, if not the brightest performance artists/spoken worders around, just about annihilating everyone else in the field with a quiet, biting sense of stark reality." [Groundbelly]
REVIEW:
"The first piece, 'Oh!' on Juliana Luecking's full length CD of spoken word, 'Big Broad', works well as an introduction to what follows: gritty, biting, and expressionist works, framed by erotic musings and common sense truths. As a poet, Ms. Luecking's voice represents the alleys and sidewalks, parks and boroughs of the city. What makes these poems and stories interesting is the intelligence with which they are written. What value they have for us is a functional look at lesbian culture." [Box Boy, Oya #15]
REVIEW:
"Luecking is the Mother Teresa, the Aesop, and the Lily Tomlin of punk rock." [Village Voice]