Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Once Again, No Stars at Star Lounge

The New York Press's blog reports on the premier party for "The Cake Eaters," which was held last night in the Star Lounge in the basement of the Chelsea Hotel.  By all accounts, it was just about as star filled as the premier party for "Factory Girl."   Perhaps this also explains all of the uneaten cupcakes that were left on the street outside of the hotel this morning!

Star Lounge in the Chelsea Hotel's basement. The party was a total bust: no real star power, lots of hangers-on (didn't realize that large, obnoxious floral prints was the choice of both the scenesters as well as the out of towners). We gorged on some of the cupcakes (get it? cake eaters?), tried to talk to Mary Stuart (Masterson) but were blocked by the over-protective publicist and, then, left.

All Tomorrow's Parties: April 30 - May 6, 2007

Monday, April 30, 1:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Since there's not enough art hanging on the wall's of the Chelsea Hotel you might want to venture down to Tribeca to check out the Toast art walk.  The studios of more than 100 artists are open to the public.  Yesterday we checked out Scotto Mycklebust's studio.  It was worth the climb up five flights of stairs.
TOAST ART WALK

Tuesday, May 1, 8:30 p.m.
In the '70s and '80s, the relationship between legendary curator Sam Wagstaff, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and musician/poet Patti Smith was at the epicenter of New York's revolutionary art scene. "Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe," features interviews with Smith and a bevy of art world luminaries including Dominick Dunne, Richard Tuttle, Eugenia Parry and Ralph Gibson.
Pace Shimmel Center, One Pace Plaza, NY NY

Wednesday, May 2, 8:00 p.m.
Poetry Reading and projections by Ira Cohen with music by Tony Conrad and Mahasiddhi. $12.00
Swiss Institute, 495 Broadway, NY NY

Wednesday, May 2, 8:00 p.m.
The Living Theatre presents Kenneth Brown's "The Brig." This is the first production in the Theatre's new space. "The Brig," was first presented at The Living Theatre at 14th St. and Sixth Avenue in 1963.  Wednesday is pay-what-you-can night.  No reservations.
The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton Street, NY NY   

Thursday, May 3, 10:30 p.m.
Susanne Bartsch and Kenny Kenny say goodbye to Tuesday and hello to Thursday with Kino 41. Kino 41 starlets: Amanda Leopore, Lady Fag, Moondust, Furey and Andre J. Cine Sounds & Show:  TBD .  Life is Like a Movie. Stop by every Thursday for your close up.
135 West 41st, NY NY

Friday May 4, 12:30 a.m.
If you're a fan of zombie movies, and who isn't, don't miss "Mulberry Street." It's a debut film by Jim Mickle and it's part of the Tribeca Film Festival. (Disclosure: Director's step mom is a friend of the bloggers. She even contributed a post once upon a time.)
AMC Village IV, Theatre 2,

Saturday, May 5, Various Times
In 1979, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude proposed one of the largest public art installations in history: a “golden river” of 7,500 fabric-paneled gates in Central Park . Transcending controversy, it was finally completed in 2005. Antonio Ferrera and Albert Maysles’ film, "The Gates," chronicles the artists’ 26-year commitment to transform the winter darkness of the park into a garden of light and color.
Various Venues

Saturday, May 5, 3:00 p.m.
Talk on the Wild Side - Leee Black Childers and Tony Zanetta recalling Andy Warhol's play PORK, which opened 36 years ago tonight at La MaMa.  Leee Black Childers and Tony Zanetta recall Andy Warhol's play PORK which opened 36 years ago tonight at LaMaMa etc and how the Ridiculous Theatre Community of actors and "superstars" of the late 60's and early 70's effected the evolution of Glitter, Glam and Punk Rock. PORK was based on tape-recorded telephone conversations between Andy Warhol and Brigid Berlin about her family's private life. Her mother Honey Berlin, a Fifth Avenue socialite who included the Duke of Windsor amongst her close friends, was livid when she found out about the play by reading a review of it in the New York Times.  The play ran for two weeks.
La Mama, 74A East 4th St. NY, NY

Sunday, May 6, 10:00 a.m.
Property from the 1977 Andy Warhol movie, "Bad," will be sold at auction.  This includes the entire contents of the estate in Riverdale, N.Y. that served as the set for the film.
Stamford Auction, 24 Harbor View Avenue, Stamford, CT

Gerald Busby Shares His Secrets

UPDATE -- The date for the recital of Gerald's music has changed to Monday, May 7, 6:00 - 7:30.

Composer Gerald Busby reveals how he scored his apartment here at the Chelsea.  He had a personal recommendation from the great composer Virgil Thomson himself. How's that for a reference? Think you can top that? Come on over and tell Stanely Bard your story.  It is, afterall, harder to get into the Chelsea than into an Ivy league college -- which Gerald got into as well.  Play the video to learn why Robert Altman chose Gerald as the composer for his strange filmic masterpiece Three Women.  Don't miss the recital of Gerald's work on Sunday at 4:30 p.m., John Stevenson Gallery, 338 West 23rd St. NY NY.  If you can't make the recital, purchase Music of Gerald Busby at Amazon.

Merle Lister at the Spring Housing Forum

Earlier this week Merle Lister participated in the Spring Housing Forum sponsored by the Chelsea Tenant Action Committee.  Merle is encouraging everyone who is interested in housing rights to attend a couple of upcoming rallies. You can read more about the Forum at www.blogchelsea.com

One rally is on Wednesday, May 23 at Stuyvesant Town at 5:00 p.m. and another rally is on Saturday May 5, from 11:00 a.m – 1:00 p.m. at Middle Collegiate Church 50 E. 7^th St.  The rally is to:

1.Repeal rent destabilization & the Urstadt Law
2. Preserve Mitchell Lama and Section 8 Housing
3. Stop unfair rent increases and harassment
4. Ensure adequate state funding for NYCHA housing
5. Limit rental payments for people living with HIV/AIDS to 30% of income

Rufus Wainwright at Keno 41

Photographer Linda Troeller caught up with Rufus Wainwright last Thursday at Susanne Bartsch & Kenny Kenny's weekly dance party, Keno 41. According to Michael Musto, Wainwright made the crowd uncomfortable in a good way with his new single, "Going to a Town."  Keno 41 happens every Thrusday at 10:30 p.m. at 135 West 41st St., NY NY.  This week METRO POP MAGAZINE RELEASE PARTY (featuring fury).  Show by London based performance artist La JohnJoseph.

Patti Smith at the Bowery Ballroom

Photographer/gal about town Linda Troeller has done it again.  She caught Patti Smith's late show at the Bowery Ballroom Tuesday night. Patti's new album, Twelve, is now available.

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READING IN DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD—YIKES!

Sometimes life intervenes and we have to get to leave the Chelsea for a while.  Last week, we were in San Francisco.  Since we’re bookworms at heart we were able to hook up with some like minded folks Thursday night.  Coincidentally, Kemble Scott, editor of SoMA Literary Review, which published a story by Ed a few years ago, was reading to promote his new book, SoMa.  So we headed out to The Rickshaw Shop, a venue primarily known for punk shows.  On our way down Market Street—past all the homeless people and crack addicts (reminiscent of the bad ol’ days in New York)--we walked by a crowd of people waiting for tickets to see Iggy Pop & The Stooges.  We stopped and debated: should we try to get tickets or not?  But God only knows how much they would be—a lot, for sure.  Ultimately, we decided to go with the less expensive entertainment option. 

While we were trying to figure out which way to turn on Fell Street to get to the bar, we ran into a social worker originally from Philadelphia and she helped us out.  When we gave her the address she asked “Are you going to a punk show?”  “Do we look like people who go to punk shows?” “No, not really, she replied.”  She also warned us that we were not in a safe neighborhood and if the show went too late we should go directly to Market Street and get a cab.  Well, we’re from NYC and don’t scare easily.

Once we got to the bar we were surprised to run into Todd Zuniga, editor of Opium Magazine, whom we know from the New York literary scene.  Todd told us that he stayed at the Chelsea last fall and he and his friends shot a crazy video here.  It's somewhere in the bowels of youtube.com.  We also met a young woman, whose parents almost moved into the Chelsea in the mid-1980s, but decided that they could do better.  She remembers staying at the Chelsea briefly when she was 9 years old, in a rundown room with an old refrigerator and a hot plate.  She likened the experience to something out of “The Shining.” 

The readers that night represented an all star line up of the alternative literary scene.  Jennifer Blowdryer told about spending the day at the Crematorium, where, apparently, you can rent a little space to display your urn along with mementoes from your life.  In choosing a space one must be careful not to get stuck next to the spaces displaying tasteless tchokes (sp) such as porcelain pigs. 

Beth Lisick read a story from her book from Manic D Press: back in the 90s, when she lived in a warehouse in the mission district she arrived home from vacation to find that the pipes in the SRO above her had broken and sewage was spilling from above all over her possessions.  She freaked out thinking that all of that shit from was from the junkies, etc. living in the SRO—though really, it would have been bad enough if it was Vanderbilt or Whitney shit.

            Manuel Jimenez read a story about surfing and getting buffeted around by the waves.  To preface his reading he announced that he was the worst reader in the world—generally a mistake to say so even if it’s true—and then self-fulfilled his prophecy by chewing gum as he read, loudly smacking it in the microphone! 

Kemble Scott read a story from his book which was about a guy getting his body waxed and trimmed.  To illustrate the sound of hair ripping from a body he ripped a file folder in half.  Very effective sound effect!  We bought Scott’s book so we’d have something read on the plane back to New York.  It’s about life among the down and out in San Francisco’s infamous South of Market district, and should be of interest to anyone who is drawn to such sketchy places as the Chelsea Hotel.  I was flipping through it and came upon a cool part about a place called the Argent Hotel, with floor-to-ceiling windows to provide the ultimate in voyeuristic pleasure.  (Readers of this blog are of course aware of our fascination with the concept of the Peek-a-boo bath, but it seems in this regard the Argent may have us beat!  Has anybody else stayed there?  Let us know.)

Oh, by the way, as it ended up, we didn’t have to brave the bad neighborhood on the way back to our hotel, as Scott and his friends were nice enough to give us a ride—saving us from death, or a worse fate.  Thanks Scott.

Cream Cheese Sandwich:Comic Celebrates Her 60s Heritage

Rotund comic Stephanie Peters spotted a totally cool—no other way to describe it—gigantic psychedelic 3-D album cover of Cream’s immortal “Disraeli Gears” in the window of Dan’s Chelsea Guitars and just had to have it.  She was in town from Providence—I think that’s right—for the Last Comic Standing competition.

I was sitting up by the counter in Dan’s, interviewing him for the Chelsea Now article, and shooting the breeze with the regulars, when she walked in with her two-man entourage.  “So did you camp out overnight?” I asked.  There had been a gaggle of comics, clowns and funny men lounging up and down 23^rd street in the freezing cold weather since the afternoon before, hoping for a chance to showcase their tomfoolery for three minutes before a national TV audience.

“No, I had a private interview,” Stephanie said.  She was loud and brash—as a comic should be--but seemed like a genuinely nice person.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

“Not so well,” she said.  “One of my judges was the comic Ant, and after my first joke he butted in and said, ‘You’re not just going to tell a bunch of fat jokes, are you?’  Can you imagine the nerve of that guy?!  All he ever tells are gay jokes!”

“You should have started telling a bunch of really mean gay jokes yourself,” I said.

She ignored me.  “What a jerk!” she bellowed.  “And it was a good joke too!  You wanna hear the joke?”

We all said we did.

“OK, here it is: I’m always trying to lose weight.  I’ll try anything.  So when they came out with this new diet dog food, I figured why not, I’ll give it a shot.  So I ate the stuff for a week, and I didn’t lose any weight.  But I found myself really beginning to like the smell of ass!”

Everybody cracked up laughing.

“You see!?  Funny, right?!” Stephanie said.  “See what I mean?!”

The Disraeli Gears poster, by an artist known as 3-D Bob (a long-haired fellow who turned up the next day, wearing two ties, a black one knotted over a red one), was rather expensive, and Stephanie was undecided as to whether or not she should buy it.  Dan drug a bunch more of the 3-D works out of the back: an Allman Brothers “Eat a Peach,” a Miles Davis “Bitches Brew” and a smaller version of the Cream album, to name a few.  They were all great, but the Big Cream was by far the most spectacular.

While she was making up her mind, Stephanie entertained us with excerpts from her comedy act.  She said that one of the things she would often do on stage was to remark that she was hungry and then extract a cheese sandwich—smashed and heated, almost grilled--from her ample bosom and have a bite.  This always went over particularly well when someone from the audience would agree to share the sandwich with her!

Still undecided, Stephanie left the store to walk around for awhile, and then when she came back an hour later she had made up her mind: she would take the big one! -- Ed Hamilton

All Tomorrow's Parties: April 23 - 29, 2007

Monday, April 23,
Philip Glass, the Bill Frisell trio, the Clogs, and other perform while experimental gems -- including Harry Smith's "Abstractions" are screened. Jonas Mekas, one of the Film Maker's Cooperative's founders will accompany his own films on vocals and with the band Now We Are Here.
Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts, 172 Norfolk St., NY NY

Tuesday, April 24, 6:00, 8:30 & 10:30 
Patti Smith will perform three 30-minute concerts which will include acoustic music, spoken word performances, and in-concert surprise shows.
Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, NY NY

Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Shin-pei Tsay and Lisa Chamberlain invite one and all to raise a glass to Jane Jacobs on the first anniversary of her passing, April 25, at the White Horse. Darren Walker, VP of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Alex Washburn, the first ever Chief of Urban Design for NYC, will both talk for a few minutes.
White Horse Tavern, Hudson & West 11th St., NY NY

Wedneday, April 25, 7:00 p.m. (refreshments at 6:30 p.m.)
Chelsea Tenant Action Committee Bilingual Housing Forum. Learn how you can protect yourself from landlord harassment and more. Panelists include Benjamin Dulchin (Deputy Director for Neighborhood and Housing Development), Wassim Lone (from the Good Old Lower East Side) and Lauren George (from the Citizens Committee for New York City).  Daniel Peckham will also speak.
John Lovejoy Elliott Center, 441 West 26th St., NY NY

Thrusday, April 26, 10:30 p.m.
Susanne Bartsch and Kenny Kenny say goodbye to Tuesday and hello to Thursday with Kino 41. Kino 41 starlets: Amanda Leopore, Lady Fag, Moondust, Furey and Andre J. Cine Sounds & Show:  TBD .  Life is Like a Movie. Stop by every Thursday for your close up.
135 West 41st, NY NY

Saturday, April 28, 8:00 - 10:00
Patti Smith and Sam Shepherd will take the stage along with spoken-word poet and musician Saul Williams, Nona Appleby (aka Victoria Roberts, cartoonist for The New Yorker), and one or two other surprise guests. Pull up a chair, grab a martini from the bar, sit back, and enjoy the show.
The Bowery Ball Room, 6 Delancey, NY NY

Sunday, April 29, 4:30 p.m. - FREE
Two compositions by Gerald Busby, The Beard Songs and Speak, a saxophone quartet, is being performed by an ensemble of students from the Manhattan School of Music. Gerald Busby is best known for his film score for Robert Altman’s "3 Women," which received international critical acclaim and was issued as a DVD in the Criterion Collection of classic films. His dance score for Paul Taylor’s "Runes" has had hundreds of performances since its premier in Paris and was featured on the PBS Great Performances series, Dance in America. It is now available on the Nonesuch label. With playwright Craig Lucas, Busby wrote the opera Orpheus in Love, which premiered in New York at the Circle Repertory Company.  Gerald also hosts a radio show, "Collaborations." (Photo of Gerald is by Mia Hanson)
John Stevenson Gallery, 338 West 23rd St., NY NY

If you have an event appropriate for "All Tomorrow's Parties" send an e-mail to chelblog@yahoo.com

Kate Meyer Celebrates the Life of Master Printer Robert Blackburn

Kate Marie Meyer, a student at the University of Kansas recently wrote a comprehensive paper on the life and career of long time Chelsea resident and printmaker Robert Blackburn.  This month marks the four year anniversary of Blackburn's death and Kate has allowed us to publish an excerpt from her work. (Photo: Robert Blackburn in his workshop.)

We asked Kate why she chose to write about Bob and she explains, "I was given the opportunity to discuss Blackburn as a way to demonstrate the interconnectedness of print culture and print history for my doctoral comprehensive exams.  I was given a few questions to pick from, but that option seemed by far the most exciting.  His career  connects the Harlem Renaissance, the Arts Students League, U.L.A.E., and the Printmaking Workshop, which, while amazing, is surprisingly typical of printmakers.  Their careers seem to cross quite a few paths.  I also find the concept of master printer as fellow artistic collaborator to be both significant and frequently overlooked in the consideration of prints from the last 50 years.  (Photo: Robert Blackburn, Man with Load, 1936)

I guess the short explanation is that if a person wants to write about why prints are neat and interesting, Bob Blackburn is a great person to talk about.  I actually enjoyed writing that essay, and comprehensive exams are usually not much of a picnic!"

Robert Blackbun grew up in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance and the economic hardship of the 1930s.  While studying at the Art Students League, Blackburn was frustrated by the division between printing and printmaking, and volunteered to assist his teacher Will Barnet so that he might learn the process of printing lithographs.  With this lithographic training, Blackburn emerged as an artist-printer and opened Bob Blackburn’s Printing Workshop in 1948.  At the Printmaking Workshop, Blackburn taught classes but also provided space for artists to work together and share ideas.  He catered neither to money nor the market, and the Workshop often struggled financially.  Regardless of limited commercial recognition, by 1957 Blackburn’s reputation earned him the opportunity to print for Tatyana Grosman as she entered the world of collaborative workshops with the establishment of ULAE.  After 1963, Blackburn returned to teaching and serving as the central figure at his Printmaking Workshop.  Blackburn’s artistic concerns drive the Workshop’s continued emphasis on teaching and collaboration rather than commercial gain. The Printmaking Workshop investigates printmaking as a medium rather than a commercial opportunity.  As a non-profit organization since 1971, the Workshop’s funding and distinctively non-elitist environment attracts a racially diverse audience, particularly younger artists.

Robert Blackburn died in 2003.  By 1997 the artist and his assistants had taken steps to secure the Workshop’s future, adapting it to become a program of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts.   Additionally, Blackburn donated most of his extensive personal print collection to the Library of Congress, with smaller samplings also given to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Museo del Barrio.  The Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop’s mission today attests to its founder’s legacy, committing to “inspiring and fostering an artistic community of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity for the making of fine prints within an environment responsive to exploration, innovation and collaboration; and to promoting the global appreciation and understanding of the fine art print.”

Ron Adams, born 1934, Blackburn, 2002 color lithograph Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence Lithography Workshop Archive, 2003.0010

Adams produced Blackburn, at the Lawrence Lithography Workshop under the guidance of master printer Michael Sims.  An artist and a printer, Adams trained under master printer Ken Tyler at Gemini G.E.L., worked at Editions Press in San Francisco, then founded his own press, Hand Graphics, Ltd., in New Mexico, which he operated until 1987 when he chose to devote himself to his own art. Blackburn can be seen as a tribute from one master printer to another, who happen to be the only two African American master printers in the country. -- Kate Meyer