About Me
Saturtay, May 30, 2009, Animal Train Happening presents, our final party ever: The Circus: DJ sets by Mr. Jonathan Toubin and special guest Jon Spencer, live music by Preacher and the Knife, live music/performance by Raul de Nieves’ Try Cry, performance by Hula Hoop Harlot Melissa Anne, escape and contortion acts by Jared the Conjurer, go go dancing by The Marmaladies, visuals by Mighty Robot AV Squad, décor by Live With Animals, Glasslands Gallery (289 Kent btw S. 1st and S. 2nd, Williamsburg, Brooklyn), 10pm – 4am, $7:
Now its time to say goodbye. Animal Train, a collaboration between New York Night Train and Live With Animals have put on nine wild and revolutionary subcultural multimedia theme dance parties featuring DJs, performance, projections, and dance in an entirely informally formalist environment designed, constructed, and lit entirely by local artists. We've taken you deep below the ocean floor, back to prehistoric times, into Warhol’s factory, to the French Revolution, and a number of other fantastic places and times with guests linking many generations of underground culture: legends like Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV), Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Ian Svenonius (Make-Up, Nation of Ulysses, etc), Kid Congo Powers (Cramps, Bad Seeds, Gun Club), and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), and emerging musical talent like Golden Triangle, Ghost Exits, Pterodactyl, S-S-S-Spectres, and Puddin’ Tang. Jonathan and Vashti, still very much friends, have decided to discontinue the party not because of any ill-will, etc. but rather because this an undertaking of this magnitude requires more time and effort than either of us possess at this point. When we started, Jonathan's DJ career and Vashti's lifestyle as a touring and recording musician (Golden Triangle), were not yet even glimmers in either of our eyes, and now, two years down the road, our schedules have become far too busy to pull this off with any kind of frequency. The good news however is that we decided not to go out with a whimper - but, in the grandiose Animal Train fashion, of course, with a bang!
While we regret to inform you of our parting, we are, however, thrilled to announce our tenth and final and best party, The Circus. This theme, selected by Vashti to reflect the fact that this event has been a literal and figurative circus since we began, is not very ambiguous. Expect a big top with lots of cotton candy, balloons, and much more than three rings of action. The dance party will be presided over by Mr. Jonathan Toubin and his extra-special guest DJ Jon Spencer (yes! thee legendary - he of Heavy Trash, Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, Pussy Galore, etc. fame. How often does this sharp-dressed legend DJ?). We will feature live music by NYC’s most darkly dynamic and intensely rhythmic new band Preacher and the Knife and up-and-coming visual/performance artist Raul De Nieves ’ new theatrical musical act Try Cry Try and performances by Hula Hoop Harlot Melissa Anne and both an escape and contortion act by the Jared the Conjurer of Vicious Vaudeville and Evil Burlesque, plus, as always go go dancing by the gorgeous Marmaladies (the three lovely ladies of Golden Triangle!), live projections and other visuals by Mighty Robot AV Squad and décor by Live With Animals Gallery . The party stretches from 10pm – 4am (get there early for the bands and stay late for the dance party! The cover is only $7. And, as always, expect surprises... Step right up and prepare to get in the tent!
ANIMAL TRAIN HAPPENING!!!
A partnership between New York Night Train zine/label and Live With Animals art gallery at Glasslands, Animal Train is DJs, performance, projections, and dance in an entirely informally formalist environment designed, constructed, and lit entirely by local artists. Our event is a deliberate bras d’ honneur in the face of the mediocre, unimaginative, and economically exclusionary day-to-day mechanics of 21st Century New York art, music, and nightlife in general. And fun is still priority #1...
Currently, our cast includes:
- Jonathan from New York Night Train - house DJ, conceptualist, event organizer, musical co-ordinator, and promoter
- Vashti from Live With Animals - visual and performance art co-ordinator, chief artist and designer, ladder climber, and Marmalady
- The Marmaladies - sexy, stylish, and soulful go go gals of Golden Triangle fame
- The Mighty Robot AV Squad - wall-to-wall projections both ambient and representational
- Mikilandia Productions - daring, subversive, playful performance art
- Cam'ron Michel - resident artist, printer, technical co-ordinator, handyman, daredevil, and logistical advisor
- Ivan Sunshine - lighting
- Different musical guests and guest DJs every month who don't spin the typical contemporary dance music genres
Our parties thus far:
November 22, 2008: Candyland
- decor: glowing gumdrops, giant lollypops, huge candycanes, and edible candy of all shapes and sizes
- costume: candy stripes and wonka
- guest DJ: Josh Styles (Smashed! Blocked!), William (Radio Heartbeat), Claudia (Babyshakes)
- musical guest: Shellshag
- performance: Hula-Hoop Harlot Melissa Anne
June 21, 2008: Get Down Galore on the Ocean Floor
- decor: deep sea fauna and flora, fish, and mythical underwater creatures
- costume: mermaids, neptune, etc
- guest DJ: Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers)
- musical guest: MC Trachiotomy and Snake and Jet's Amazing Bullit Band (Copenhagen)
#8: April 26, 2008 - Prehistoric Party
- decor: volcanoes, dinosaurs, boulders, etc.
- costume: cavemen and cavewomen
- musical guest: Pterodactyl and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
- performance: Micki Pellerano
#7: March 1, 2008 - The Party
- decor: socialist realist, flags, Eisenstein & Tziga Vertov
- costume: proletarian Party people from around the world & Castro
- guest DJs: Ian Svenonius (Weird War, Make-Up, Nation of Ulysses, etc) & Kid Congo Powers (Cramps, Gun Club, Bad Seeds, etc)
- musical guest: Services
- performance: Micki Pellerano
#6: December 1, 2007 - Quintron's Happy Garden
- decor: giant paper flowers, astroturf, bees, etc.
- costume: flowers, insects, and all things of the garden
- guest DJs: Quintron
- musical guest: Golden Triangle
- performance: "Trixie and the Treetrunks" film by Ms. Pussycat, live composition for three Drum Buddies by Quintron
#5: October 27, 2007 - Haunted Hop and Contorted Clambake
- decor: spiderwebs, skeletons, skulls, etc
- costume: zombies, skeletons, vampires, etc
- guest DJs: James Chance of the Contortions and Ron Ward of Speedball Baby
- musical guest: S-S-S-Spectres
- performance: Harry Mary
here you will find a hyper-vérité clip of James Chance, Ron Ward, and Jonathan Toubin spinning, of all things, The Contortions. Take note of the classic New York underground celebrities in the background...
#4: September 28, 2007 - Zodiac
- decor: planets, astrological animals, and holy mountains
- costume: astrological animals and celestial attire
- guest DJ: Brian DeGraw of Gang Gang Dance
- musical guest: the Ghost Exits
- performance: Micki Pellerano
#3: August 18, 2007 - The Imploding Organic Uncertain - a burlesque on/homage to Warhol's Factory
- decor: total Silver Factory 1966 - tin foil, mylar, ambient projections plus Warhol screen tests of you projected on the walls, etc.
- costume: our favorite superstars, of course
- guest DJs: Genesis P-Orridge/Lady Jaye of Psychick TV, Throbbing Gristle - who shattered the foundations of 20th century art, music, performance, and lifestyle, rewrote the book on everything, founded of entire genres of music, and continues to prolifically create supreme art and music to this day,... plus the incredible Eric Z of Mighty Robot
- musical guest: Puddin' Tang as the Velvet Underground
Seminal avant garde film maker, critic, curator, Factory regular, and all-around massive force in post-war underground cinema culture, Jonas Mikas, who employed Warhol, the Factory, and Velvet Underground as subjects in the 1960s, shot Puddin' Tang as the Velvet Underground at Animal Train and spliced it with footage of Lou Reed covering "Frankie and Johnny" live! The film can be found here
#2: July 14, 2007 - Bastille Day
- decor: we partied like 1789 a guillotine, a puppet theater, an Eiffel Tower more than a century ahead of its time, etc.
- costume: both noble and peasant fashion
- music: yeh yeh, French pop, French rock, French new wave, French electro, etc.
- guest DJs: Ian Svenonius of Make-Up, Nation of Ulysses, Weird War, etc., Jaiko Suzuki of Mon Mon Mon Amour, Maya the White Glove of Backworld, and Acja from Marquise Dancehall
- musical guest: the one and only Kid Congo Powers of Cramps, Bad Seeds, Gun Club, etc.
- performance: Micki Pellerano
June 29, 2007 - #1: Futureshock
- decor: tinfoil and mylar robots, strobe lights, and other futuristic structures
- costume: space suits and assorted homemade futuristic concoctions
- music: 1970s intergalactic funk and space disco plus early 1980s robotic electro
- guest DJs: Chris from Ghost Exits, Sean from Stay High, Nick from Viva l'American Death Ray Music, Dr. Wizzard from Sorceress
- musical guests: Stu Spasm and Diako Diakoff
