Friday, October 26, 2001
'While I'm at it, let me counter the folks who are urging us to stop whining about gay rights because everything but the war must go on the back burner at a time like this (as if gay rights got top priority before). Well, sorry, but I feel that now, more than ever, we must assert what makes our great country different from the tyrannies we're fighting against. There's no "right time" to shut up about freedom-and now that gays have been deemed integral to the heroic forefront of recent events, it's all the more appropriate, especially since some of the rights we've been fighting for (giving blood and joining the armed forces) would help the war effort!' Miss Michael Musto being ever so La Dolce

Popaganda celebrates the art and subversion of Ron English. Attend Pop Roast to celebrate Ron English Art Exhibition and book release party. Hey Hey spoken words by my favorite Todd Colby a.k.a. (Jack Cheddar) You can listen to Colby's 'Stiff Prick' here. Colby makes sport of words, definitely for people who HATE poetry crap. He is all jello, chemicals, animals, candy coated switchblades. Oh, and four poems.

The Tate Modern has always been one of my favorite gutsy museums. The building itself formerly the Bankside Power Station was redesigned for its present use by Swiss architects Herzog and de Mueron. No big surprise the structure itself has been awarded Tony Blair's award for Better Public Building. Sure, Turbine Hall makes a grand entrance but check out the rest of the digs yourself. Oh, don't miss their section on Surrealism.
10:46 AM :

Thursday, October 25, 2001
I am 67% punk as in punk like Sid punk fucking cock! I am the sexy punk. Fuck Everything. Punk enough not too care, but horny enough to worry about image!
9:41 PM :

Neo Homo is an excellent new site filled with savvy commentary, ideas and so much fine hypertext you'll probably get carpal tunnel syndrome. Streaming audio allows for site browsing comfort, Nina Hagen and Richard Hell are personal favorites. Mr. Brent also spins Neohomo77 a flashback to weblogging circa 1977, check out the brilliant 'Dynamite Magazine' inspired graphics and entries; 'I joined the Kristy and Jimmy McNichol Fan club'!

I forgot to mention Downtown 81, Fashion-photographer Bertoglio's portrait of the sprawling New York art scene circa 1981, originally titled New York Beat, this was kept from our screens for the best part of 20 years when much of the archive footage was thought to have been lost. The film stars then unknown 19yr.old Jean Michel Basquiat painter, musician and poet. Downtown 81 tracks Jean in a 24-hour period after his release from the hospital following an unnamed malady. He finds himself locked out of his apartment due to failure to pay the rent and subsequently wanders about town hoping to sell a painting to earn rent money. Bumping into friends and acquaintances we peek into the lives of performers, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, James White and the Blacks, DNA, Tuxedo Moon, and Japan's own 'Plastics'. Debbie Harry appears as a princess turned into a bag lady, she seeks a kiss to regain her original form perhaps downtown punk goddess? Charming and raw portrait of Manhattan in the good/bad old days. Written by Glenn O'Brien, produced by Maripol, the art director and stylist. Basquiat from the Times article Feb.10,1985. and an index of images.

Dear sweet Jesus, is that an iPod in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
4:15 PM :

Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Give me a can of Sprite, that fizzy little pop, set me up with a sugar high and let me loose on the keyboard. Eating the last of the summer tomatoes, orange, yellow and green peppers with kosher salt, drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and basil. Wanting some Animelle Con Carciofi E Piselli or some Tagliolini Gratinati con Piselli e Prosciutto, say that all in one breath. Sitting around in trashed football sanitaries and gray hoody, I ought not to stare out the window, the neighbors might think that I'm catatonic...whaaaa zombie land attack now. Warm fuzzy exhaustion from a bomber boy set of 21s at the gym, handing off the weights to my workout partner whose shit eating grin spurs me on to finish my reps resulting in a nice case of the shakes since so much blood is forced into my arms. Grrrr! Secretly motivated by images of porn, the usual muscle stuff but pretending to focus and dig deep. Home now and glad that it has been sunny and warm today, unlike the usual rainy Octobers. I've been swamped, not that I feel like confessing that life has been a 'bitch' lately, oh no, I won't really. What's to complain about? I can hear the little mafioso voice in my head saying; 'you you forgetabout it' and therefore I will. I'm figuring out that the majority of my adult life is about time, time constraints. Why is it when you don't have any time to do the things you love to do, you have to 'find' time and doing those things you feel obliged or hate to do is like 'doing' time. Ahhh but what am I worrying about. Passing a small house near campus the entire front lawn covered with plastic pink flamingoes, a giant sign reading; 'Happy 90th Birthday Irene!' Damn, that's a long life and even better that she is going to find a yard full of plastic creatures, not bad. Ancient Orange canceled their show last week, I mean Agent Orange. Was it nerves over traveling? Well, that's so very un punk like. I think their new CD is titled: 'Grandpa Gets A Casket.' The good news is that Stereo-Total will be playing at the Ballroom, and International chanteuse Varla Jean Merman will be performing her very worst on Oct. 25-28.

Laugh at freakishly entertaining Masturbation Horror Stories-Savage Love.

'When you're born, you're version 1.0. But every time you're given a new technology you're given a significant upgrade, so we learn to speak and go to 2.0, then you learn your irregular verbs and it's version 2.1 and so on...With every significant upgrade, some new aspect of your personality which you might never have known existed is manifested.' Douglas Coupland spots trendism, fuck-ups, bio-tech, software versions, ISM and an off an cuff mention of zeitgeist, anyone? I'll take authors for 500 Alex. Not that I'm a huge fan of Douglas Coupland, just 'sort of'. I've read everyone of his books so perhaps, I'm more of a 'reader' of Coupland-he's got great ideas. I never really felt 'defined' by Generation X, I never really had the resourcefulness to be so aimless...but this concept of building our own culture by reacting to the one around us, it's so very POP, so Popism in the Warhol 60s, so Blam, so Bling Bling. Coupland's new book 'All Families Are Psychotic' should be retitled 'Disfunction Junction' or as one reviewer puts it; 'When Bad Things Happen To Bad People.' Brilliant of Coupland to opt out of Southern California as a back drop, instead he takes aim at the broiling pop culture junk-scape of Florida. More 'new' school Coupland than 'old' school, he is currently working on a 'micro' novel in Japanese which is to be distributed via mobile phones.

Lou Reed sets the twilight reeling. Lou Reed is NOT dead. Lou Reed is transformer, Coney Island baby, white light messin' with my mind, dirty street busload of faith, wild side but this Halloween is different Lou Reed of the Trouble w/Classicists Lou Reed, yea, that one, has a weblog/diary choose Hi-Fi or Lo-Fi.
5:49 PM :