Rumi Missabu (picture above by Christelle de Castro) is one of the few surviving members of San Francisco’s gender-bending performance groupe The Cockettes. Fans of the troupe will know her especially from her hilarious performance as the “rebellious elevator girl” Maxine in the legendary Cockette movie “Elevator Girls in Bondage” from 1972 (picture (c) David Wise) – the film was re-released on DVD two years ago and can be ordered directly from Rumi by sending an email to cocketterumi@gmail.com ($27.95 incl. shipping/handling).
Today the Oakland based artist owns a huge archive of the group’s work and aside from her job as the official Cockettes archivist is still a very active performer: In 2009 she has been starring in the successful stage production “Pearls over Shang-Hai” at the Hypnodrome Theatre, San Francisco, in which she played the “Madame Gin Sling” (see video below by Ben Wa). She has also recently appeared in couple of independent movies such as “The Glitter Emergency” by Paul Festa, “Uncle Bob” by Robert Oppel and the Cockettes documentary “Children of the Cockettes” by Ben Wa.
Rumis most current project is the video to “Interior”, the new single by NYC duo Mirror Mirror (new album “Interior” due August 16), which is another proof that she is still an exciting performer.
In an interview with Opening Ceremony which was published on their website just a few days ago, Rumi has also announced that she will be touring New York this October, supported by artists such as Jean Franco and French singer François Chaignaud. The interview also features a couple of really nice pictures of the artist from the last few years, so go check it out.
I unfortunately missed to inform you guys about the presentation of Jon Davies‘s book “Thrash” about the Warhol / Morrissey film that took place at Arsenal cinema yesterday – I had found out about the nice little event hosted by Marc Siegel only a few hours before it started. Davies ist a writer, curator and queer film theorist from Toronto and is not only in Berlin to promote his book, but also to present films by queer video artist Colin Campbell (1942-2001), which will be shown at Berlinale today and tomorrow (Mai 3+4). The program of the screening series “People Like Us: The Gossip of Colin Campbell” can be found on the Arsenal Hompage, as well as a little introduction to the artist and the focus of the screenings. You should also check out this extensive website dedicated to Campbell and his work for more background information about this artist who’s still quite unknown in Europe. Here’s a snippet of his film “The Woman From Malibu” from 1976, which will be shown today at 7:15.
Alexis Blair Penney is a drag artist from San Francisco, where he is especially know as the host of “High Fantasy”, a weekly party at the legendary drag bar Aunt Charlie’s Lounge. He also runs a blog called SORE I featured here a while ago, on which he regularly posts pictures of his live and of drunk folks performing and having a good time at his party. (One of the contributers of the blog used to be Penney’s friend Seth Bogart). After I already stumbled over a couple of rather crappy, but artistically promising YouTube videos of a live performance of Penney in a club in Los Angeles a while ago, I’m happy to annouce that he now his first official single out: “Lonely Sea” is a beautiful housey tune with a Chrystal Waters beat produced by Nick Weiss (Teengirl Fantasy, H.U.N.X) and just got a gorgeous video by Justin Kelly. Here it is:
Other intriguing films include: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 by Göran Hugo Olsson, Sweden/USA We Were Here by David Weissman, USA Die Jungs vom Bahnhof Zoo (Rent Boys) by Rosa von Praunheim, Germany House Of Shame / Chantal All Night Long by Johanna Jackie Baier, Germany
Hard Ton are Max and Mauro, a duo from Venice that manages to melt together three decades of dance music: While in their tracks they mix disco and italo disco with nineties house and chicago house, singer Max’ outfits and his stage appearance make you instantly think of queer icons such as Divine, Leigh Bovery and even Rob Halford (Judas Priest). The guys have recently gotten a lot of attention for the cover of their “Selfish”-E.P. – a remake of Grace Jones’ “Island Life” album cover (remember?). For PICK 5 they have put together a nice collection of their favourite webclips. But see yourself…
1. Phyllis Nelson – I Like You
“It’s the perfext party track… since 1985″
2. Stefano e Bene Feat. Hard Ton – “Why Your Love”
“This is our lastest collaboration. Stefano & Bene are not Italians but they love italo disco. You probably know them by another nickname… but we should keep it a secret.”
After the brilliant “O Fantasma” (“A Fantom”), which is still one of my favourite movies ever and “Odete” (“Two Drifters”), “To Die Like A Man” is the third full-length film by Portugese director João Pedro Rodrigues. The movie about an aging drag performer struggeling with his life premiered at the Cannes film festival in spring last year and received only few attention (except for this pretty ugly review of Variety). Rordiquez describes the movie as his most feminine one, although there are no (biologically) female actors amngst his staff: “To Die Like a Man” is inspired on personal accounts from transsexuals, drag artists, doctors, and showbiz people that I interviewed during the months when I was preparing to write this story”, he explains here. “However, it was never my intention to follow these stories closely. Rather, I adjusted my writing to the demands of the fictional development of the characters, entering into dialogue with the codes of musical comedy, melodrama, and tragedy.”
The movie is shown in French cinemas since May and is (according to my personal movie information source Jan) supposed to premiere in Germany in the next few weeks. You find a longer review of the movie and an interview with Rodriques here. I also guess there will be a DVD realease pretty soon. Portugese and French speaking people as well as people who want to see the movie trailer in a higher resolution should skip the video below and click here.
In the documentary “The Legend of Leigh Bowery” from 2002 filmmaker Charles Atlas explores the life of Australian performance artist and fashion designer Leigh Bowery from his early London years to the nineties when he became the muse and subject of British painter Lucian Freud. Bowery died in 1994 from an AIDS-related illness. The video below is just a trailer, the complete version of the movie can be watched here.
I just found out accidentally that New York based performance artist Kalup Linzy (who I have already mentioned here) has given UbuWeb the permission to make his 30 minute EP “If It Don’t Fit” E.P. available online for free. The record was created by Linzy in conjunction with an exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in summer 2009. The record is devided into two parts, on the first three tracks Linzey songs over electronic beats, while the second half consists of four live tracks with a rather classical 70s soul instrumentation. Click here to get to the download page.
“I like underarm smell, but I’m not big on stinky breath. I’m okay with like, you know, a sweaty crotch or maybe one days worth of filth. I appreciate good oral hygiene.” Joel Gibb (Hidden Cameras) via BUTT Magazine
“When it comes to performance art, I am more interested in the failures then the so-called successes. I have never cared for entertaining anyone. My performances may have elements that some may find entertaining, but that’s not my main purpose. If you want pure entertainment value just go and see something like Stomp or Blue Man Group.” Vaginal Davisvia Interview Magazine
“In fact, I sniffed her like a kind of aggressive beast. And as we got closer, she actually put her tongue in my mouth. She just went for it. It was really good.” Heather Cassilsvia Out.com (and yes, the rest of the interview is interesting as well)
Hard Ton from Venice is the guy responsible for the impressive “remake” of the cover artwork of Grace Jones’ “Island Life” (I recently posted it here). The awesome omg blog just helped me finding out that the picture is the cover of his own E.P. called “Selfish” (via Gigolo Records). More of/about the “biggest disco queen of the 21st century” on her MySpace page.
The New York City Downlow is “the world’s first travelling homo disco”, a mobile venue that seems to work like a soundsystem and is run by Block9, a set and environment design team from London. If I got this right, the whole thing started at the Glastonbury Festvial of Contemporary Performance Art in 2007 where the founders of NYC Downlow hat the idea of building up at replica of a bombed-out NYC tenement as a space for parties and all sorts of drag performances that were supposed to revive the spirit of the the disco culture of the late seventies (click here for a video from 2008 to get an impression). Since last year the team of the Downlow now also runs its own radio station The Downlow Radio which allows people to listen to and download a bunch of regularly updated and sometimes pretty amazing DJ sets. This month they are doing a special promotion for Valentines Day featuring sets by Tee Cardaci, Nacho, Horse Meat Disco, Filthy Luka and Schnezzy. Click here for the website.
