i can haz a new blog?
yes i can. and it’s here
i’m trying to phase out my livejournals and go a bit more profesh. i’ve already posted a few entries to the new home. http://www.notkeren.com/writing
check it
White Diamonds
Today is my friend Leti’s birthday party. In honor of the choice in Greenpoint venue, The Diamond, we christened Elizabeth Taylor patron saint and called it “White Diamonds.” You know, “These have always brought me luck” 80′s perfume. Everyone is being told to wear white. There will be white decorations and foods (fancy cake, cupcakes, snacks of all varietals) and diamond themed art and streamers. To top it off, James is setting up a DIY photo booth. Oh, and the whole night will be coupled with a black light, so it will look epic.
I. Can’t. Wait.
I am making a mix of late 80′s / 90′s party jams (Crystal Waters, Dandy Warhols, En Vogue, L’trimm, Harvey Danger, Dee-Lite). I am mostly looking forward to reliving 1990 talent show and gym class synchronized dance numbers to “Cannonball” and “Gonna Make You Sweat”
sisterly collaboration
My youngest sister and I recently collaborated on a short film inspired by Namuth’s film “Jackson Pollock ’51.” Of course, ours is far more childlike. Especially because it features whimsical imagery which informs my work and my awkward hand drawing and painting to the tune of Saint Vincent and Vampire Weekend.
(You may also notice that this piece recently became the basis for my first Vans sneaker.)
Hope you enjoy this small peak into my artistic process!
The Hamptons
this weekend, james and i drove to south hampton to stay at a free crash pad courtesy of earnest sewn. i’d never been to any east coast vacation “destination” but now i’m totally curious to go to montauk and newport. 40 million dollar homes? $250,000 a month summer rentals? members only beaches? it sounds so douchey but it was fascinating and not surprisingly, really beautiful.
i found a bouquet of balloons at an intersection and we took photos in front of 10 foot high manicured hedges and ran around gleefully. after a day at the beach, strolling down main street, and mushroom burgers, we headed to cat’s apartment.
the kids were too tired to go out. so, with sheal and will in tow, we headed to 7-eleven and bought the most epic 7th-grade spread and ordered the worst movie of all time on pay-per-view (27 dresses) and did jello shots. it was super fun.
receipt:
3 charleston chews
1 bag of sourpatch kids
3 glasses of wine (for me)
2 sparks black
3 mikes hard lemonades in a can
1 pizza combos
1 pint of cookie dough icecream
1 sour patch kids
1 incredible hulk big culp (which inspired the party pix)
2 packs of batteries for our inflatable mattress
1 slim jim
1 pack of bubble gum
1 push pop
total count: INSANE
Seattle
I am back from Seattle and in the thick of getting my life together. After a red eye flight, Leti and I headed to dinner at Cafe Orlin and then the richest ice cream ever at Chinatown Ice Cream company. I like how their “exotic” flavors are rocky road but the “standard” are lychee and red bean and probably almond cookie.
Scheduled a dentist appointment via a yelp review. I can’t tell if this is a horrible idea, but I don’t have health insurance so i figure I have the whole city to choose from. My last venture with 1800-Dentist ended in total disaster. The office was disgusting and falling apart with stained ceiling and carpet and my hygienist didn’t talk to me and instead held up signs written in a child’s scratching that said “I’ve lost my voice. I am weirdo dude” and then commands like “spit” which he’d then point to. It was nerve wracking, not comical!
Back to Seattle:
I ended up finding a way to Sub Pop 20 via my hotel’s complimentary shuttle service. I wish I had known about it earlier and saved the headache. The Foals were great, even if they seemed to be having equipment problems. The next day as I stood in line to get a coffee and scone they were all standing in front of me. I wanted to say something, but I refrained.
The art I did for Boost Mobile was all over the Sub Pop event, but the favorite image I gave them for a cut out figure (the only one that consisted of my idea, not one they suggested) they cut. So I will present you with the two rejects. Keep in mind, the faces would have been cut out holes.
Seattle
i landed in seattle very late last night and ended up on vans’ dime in the cutest slickest hotel that oddly has a klaxons cd as suggested listening in the cd player. it’s called hotel max and i wish i was here sharing it! traveling is more fun with a friend.
i am here for the final leg of the “sneaker tour” but a day early because i was mistaken and thought the 20th anniversary sub pop event started on friday. i’ll be exploring but it feels sort of strange to be in a city alone and without a map.
saturday i head to nordstroms and finish my big plexi-painting and then someone wins the raffle and takes it home.
i am currently trying to scam a ride to the sub pop event so i can see no age, the foals, and wolf parade. boost mobile (the sponsor) hooked me up with vip tix since i made those cut-out-face figures for the event. thing is, the show is like 10 miles outside of the city and i don’t see a train that goes there.
hitchiking? craigslist? teh internets? halp plz
new muxtape
i just made a new muxtape which features cassie’s band the vivian girls and some new bands, 90′s music, old disco and new wave treats.
teenartemis.muxtape.com
bows and arrows
Danny Elfman & Mystic Knights Of Oingo Boingo – Through The Intestines
Family Fodder – Savoir Faire
Trophy – Slow Flight
A Tribe Called Quest – Award Tour
Brother Ali – Truth Is (clean)
The Black Ghosts – Repitition
Smashing Pumkins – 1979
Lykke Li – Little bit
Vivian Girls – Tell the World
Abe Vigoda – Dead City/Waste Wilderness
Lene Lovich – Lucky Number
1ere (premiere) Classe – Pouppee Flash
last muxtape playlist:
notkeren.muxtape.com
melody day
Jacques Dutronc – Et moi, et moi, et moi
The Motions – Everything (That’s Mine)
Foals – Balloons
Tokyo Police Club – Nature of the Experiment
Dislocation Dance – It’s So Difficult
Jim Noir – My Patch
White Williams – Headlines
Suicide – Shadazz
Broadcast – Black cat
St. Vincent – Now, Now
Young Marble Giants – Final Day
Menomena – Cough Coughing
i also just stumbled upon the boost mobile blog while looking for their seattle event. i didn’t realize they displayed my art huge and interviewed bands in front of it during sxsw. pretty cool.
vans sneaker tour
Monday, I returned from a ten day west coast “business trip.” James and I headed to San Francisco and So Cal to promote my signature Vans sneaker that came out on June first. Vans had me painting on plexi, drawing on and signing sneakers at Nordstroms in each city.
In between each event we met each other’s family, hit up Laguna Beach, Malibu, and Zuma beach, walked around various neighborhoods in San Francisco, Sausalito, Santa Monica, and LA, ate blackened tofu mushroom burgers at Taco Chulo and went on a mini shopping spree at vintage and stores in Berkeley. I even saw my aunt and cousins I hadn’t seen since 1992. It was awesome!
Come July 11th I’ll be back on the road, but this time to Seattle. Anyone live there? I don’t know a soul.
Hands Up
i’ve been combing through the internet looking for images to draw. there are several large scale paintings on the horizon and i’m not the most adept at drawing hands without reference. while organizing, i noticed a trend…
Date Nite
James keeps taking me on epic dates. First, it was surprise tickets to see Hamlet in Central Park, and Sunday it was tickets for Breathless at the MOMA. Afterwards, we stopped by the Olafur Eliasson exhibit; a total visual mind-fuck. I snapped these photos. totally “ipod”, no?
While Rebecca was hanging out with the whole Project Runway gang (including Heidi Klum, Christian Siriano, Austin Scarlett, and Tim Gunn) Leti and I were on the 13th floor of an apartment building in the West Village celebrating a book launch for some book about psychedelic 60′s crashpads. Complete with Oakley from the Rondelles / The Witnesses playing guitar and peace sign cookies, champagne cocktails, and a slew of people who probably pranced around naked, high on LSD, with flowers in the hair. Circa 1968.
Brooklyn Craft Fair
leti, james and i had breakfast at egg and then sauntered over to the maccaren pool for the renegade craft fair. it was no surprise there were a dozen silk screened t-shirt and poster booths, hand-stitched twee animals, necklaces made with wood or featuring icons like the octopus or keys.
what was surprising was that icons that are so played out at this point (the finch, the cupcake, the mustache, the deer) are still going strong. seriously? haven’t we reached a saturation point where things i found “cute” in 2003 and 2004 are finally dead? moveon.org people.
what would have been cooler: tie dye, string art, moroccan tiles, ancient egyptian necklaces, friendship bracelets, doll houses. actually, no, because then i’d be sick of them.
Fail-Suit
the gingham swimsuit looked so bad on me! it arrived in the mail last night and i had an impromptu fashion show and hobbled back to the bedroom and threw it in a pile in the corner. i look like a troll doll. i’m going to have to return it.
maybe i’ll just go to macy’s.
i also just renewed my lease and have now officially given up trying to find a “charming” one bedroom that james could theoretically move into. everything is overpriced, gut renovated, or doesn’t have closets or won’t allow me a portable dishwasher. who knew i had such a love for a machine that can wash my cereal bowls? i’m irrational. i guess i don’t *need* to go, so i’ll spare myself the stress. even though, literally checking out fifty apartments was stress enough.
Hot Dog Man
perhaps i should illustrate these? i have been holding onto them in my joke reference folder for years.
this illustration job rules.
i’ve been given some suggestions, but perhaps there are some really off the wall ideas out there. it’s got to be random and weird enough to encourage people to snap a photo. hit me with your best shot.
ever since the season changed, and it’s become time to wear shorts and swimsuits, i’ve been on a bit of a beauty binge. i’ve begun looking into totally vain stupid treatments i don’t need but i want to try. case in point: eyelash extensions at barneys, spray tans, or joining a gym and getting a one-off session with a personal trainer so i can figure out a fitness routine. i feel like i’ve been watching too many episodes of the hills and its seeping into my brain.
here are two swimsuits i have been feeling. when i go to la and sf in two weeks i plan on taking a dip in a pool. it’s been a year and before that it’d been four years. i’m modest and the idea of prancing around half naked scares me, so a one-piece seems ideal. i don’t know which of these i like best. it’s annoying that they’re only available at urban outfitters online.
has anyone ever done an ear candle? they are sort of crazy but awesome. i would like my hearing to improve about a million percent. although i don’t know if this happens, but i have heard….
james and i ended up taking a zipcar to beacon, new york today. totally beautiful weather coupled with a couple of hours spent in local antique stores and with the dia collection. the work (sera, richter, flavin, etc) isn’t the type i’m usually moved by, but it was nice to see some of the pieces in person and in such an epic space. later, we ended up at a huge mall in nyack, watching indiana jones.
i wish i could see the show i just did this poster for. i love yacht and mika miko make the crowd go bananas.
way into deco amethyst rings and ancient egyptian enamel jewelry lately. won these recently:
memorial weekend involved multiple bbqs and burgers everyday. now it’s time to join a gym. equinox or nyu’s “alumni” center. it all depends on where i move. which, might be nowhere. checking craigslist several times a day is beginning to wear on me.
27th Birthday
m shanghai was the perfect birthday spot. leti and rebecca supplied cupcakes from cheeks, and james supplied the big surprise: a japanese candy filled pinata. the dumplings and dinner and complimentary lychee martinis were delicious. curtis and frank and rop from the peechees djed and it was the best birthday party i could have asked for. even despite the pouring rain it was totally packed with sweaty dance machines.
Vans was about to book me flights and hotels to SF, LA, and Seattle, but I asked if I could do it myself and invoice them. I have all these jet blue points and wanna rack up free flights. Now I have to figure out which boutique hotels are options in each city.
James said he’d like to come with me, so I’m going to meet his parents and unleash him upon mine. Maybe take a drive to Mexico and stock up on some summer dresses and sandals once we have his parent’s car.
Maison 140 (Beverly Hills):
Ace hotel (Seattle):
(I think) I want to stay in the Ace Hotel and Kelly Wearstler’s designed Maison 140. Since I grew up in the Bay Area I’ve never stayed in a hotel there, nor do I know any that are cute.
Any suggestions?
I love this picture
Today I headed back to school for my first (post info session) Fulbright interview. Dean Solomon gave me some feedback about what I should include when I submit my application in July and offered a lot of encouragement. She said I have an excellent chance, which seems totally ridiculous to me. Now I have to start contacting professors at Kunstfact and researching textile designers and Swedish design history.
Parsons just asked me to participate in a “media charette” next Wednesday. I didn’t even know what that word meant when they wrote me. So I looked it up, and it’s a fancy way of saying “workshop.” I get paid to give them my take about how they can improve their “pedagogical approach” down the line. It’s sort of perfect because I have attended one million colleges (if you count summer programs).
Post-Birthday party, I’m starting work on my Ladytron music video pitch. The Black Ghosts opted to go with a different treatment, but with a bit of tweaking I think it can work for their next single. Plus, their budget is 10 not 5k, Which rules.
on a different note, I want this bed. Even if it is rather Anthropologie / shabby chic.
Current Ebay Obsessions
I am planning on moving when my lease is up July first. it feels like bad timing in a way. Just as I leave, Stuyvesant Town has added hundreds of new trees and cute street lights lining the walkways. Despite the buildings looking like sterile boxy projects, all the green has made it rather charming. Babies outnumber the elderly (actually, this makes it way too Park Slope creepy). My roommate is also really nice and never home, and my rent is what I paid in 2001.
However, I am obsessed with moving to a place with architectural details. Something where a crazy velvet couch and deco wallpaper will not feel out of place.
Current Ebay obsessions:
anything hand beaded
rompers with tie-dye and watercolor prints
rose gold and signet rings
hand-tooled leather
flapper dresses and clothing with neo-deco details
1920′s ancient egyptian inspired jewelry
liberty prints and grunge-era florals
moroccon (specifically berber) coin necklaces
heimstone, jerome dreyfus, lyell, vena cava, sigerson morrison,
Won:
Want:
it is absolutely ridiculous that i am five seconds away from being done with college at twenty six, but i guess i did drop out and not go for multiple semesters and just worked. whatever! come friday, it’s bye bye columbia university. i am in the home stretch, writing a paper comparing titian’s venus of urbino with manet’s olympia. wrapped up a 15 pager regarding richard prince and warhol with foucault’s idea on rupture and authorship. how fucking academic i am for about two weeks a year.
i’m not going to commencement, nor is my sister who graduates from hunter at the same time. it seems pointless when you know zero people in your graduating class. my family lacks all school spirit! yet are absolutely adament about education and finishing college. my mom is getting her phd and is a professor at uc berkeley and my little sister is moving to new zealand to study at peter jackson’s studio for her study abroad. it was cute that for a year or two there my dad had all four of his girls in college at the same time.
but no more!
friday i celebrate. after my birthday party, i think james and i are going to take a road trip to the south.
day glo nation
i’ve been trying to paint this image on a very large scale (roughly 3′ x 4′) and it’s not working out. i bought all these day glo pigments to combine with urethane and they’re semi-transparent and show all the errors. it’s not as forgiving as enamel. although, the transparency could be cool if used in the right way.
plus, i was told at guerra paints, these are not “color fast.” so after i finish, who knows how long until it fades.
i want the image to look like powder-coated, super slick, glowing, gilbert and george. “cool school.” “finish fetish.”
but i have no clue how to go about making this happen.
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i made a new muxtape. this one is for may. my birthday month. moving to new apartments and studios month. tying up lose ends month. maybe directing my first music video month. i want to show you my treatment, but i think i should keep it on the down low.
here you go: http://paperhouses.muxtape.com/
Rebbecca got me in on the Yelle list the other night. Yelle is fucking cute energetic fantastic. The crowd went bonkers. Best show I’ve been to in ages.
James and I ended up heading to the Tribecca Grand and running into Sheal (who’d just djed) and then to some bizarro secret party in a meat packing district loft. Followed by five am dinner at Florent. It was a very “New York” night, filled with pretty girls in six inch heels puking on themselves on cobble stoned streets and girls sitting next to us yelling, “OMG I love Courbet– Let’s go to Sothby’s this week and check out the post impressionist works!!!” it was weird.
Muxtape
it feels like summer today. time to break out the dresses.
and like everyone else, i made a muxtape (aka an online downloadable mixtape)
http://notkeren.muxtape.com/
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everything points to nylon in the past week. my boyfriend shot this english band the ting tings for an upcoming issue (and styled them in my shirts and rebecca’s clothing), my totes are in the new issue, and they had a nine year anniversary party last night which coincided with paper magazine’s “beautiful people” issue.
leti, james, and i trekked to chelsea and it was sheer pandemonium. nobody who was on the list (vip or or pleebs) seemed to get in. we gave up, had dinner at cafeteria, and then as i hailed a cab to go home i caused a FOUR CAR ACCIDENT as the cab driver abruptly halted to pick me up and three cabs plowed into him. safe to say, we walked.
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recently i started working on a boost mobile campaign that has turned out to be super fun. i get the impression they’re re-branding their phones from being the hip hop communication of choice to that of the bangs/glasses set. which is why i come in i guess. step one in repositioning involves them sponsoring a series of indie “off center” concerts for the likes of i’m from barcelona, man man, cold war kids, sunset rubdown, and matt costa. i draw each artist and they make silkscreened show posters and t-shirts and then “phone bars” where kids can test out the products. they all take place in san francisco, new york, and la and i can’t wait to see them in real life.
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so, in between some serious work there has been some serious web surfing going on in these parts. which is bad, because it makes me lust for more clothing, even after i thought i had polished off all my needs wants post-sample sale bonanza:
the lyell dress, blouse, jacket, and cami i scored (each for 75 percent off) the philip lim dress (also 75 percent off) at jumelle… for starters.
but. no. now i want a jerome dreyfus bag, a necklace by aesa, and some lattice flats from f troupe. dying!
i will be on the canal-street hunt for a dreyfus fake, although the chances are slim. but they did make gryson fakes, so who knows!
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it was james’ birthday this weekend. his friends feted him with a brunch on sunday complete with layered nutella cake and other treats. i gave him a zipcar membership for our future road trips, and a travel-themed package of gifts from flight 001, in the west village. all the cake and cookie eating inspired me to scan some of my vintage recipe cards. i love the “men’s favorite” and “age of aquarius.” hilarious.
New Imac
i found a nearly new (bought in december) imac on ebay and bought it. saved over a grand too. it arrived two days ago and my friend just gave me the whole adobe creative suite (still trying to get lightroom, which beats iphoto hands down) and word.
oh. my. god. i love this computer so much! i keep squealing in delight. designing and making illustrations on a 24″ screen is such a pleasure. bye bye art making on a small laptop hello fancy time computer, i love you.
ps the photo is this guys
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hey, chicago kids… clue me in. my friend is writing a city guide for metropolis magazine and needs tips on cool / fancy restaurants or bars that opened in wicker park or downtown chicago in the last year.
Macy’s Gift Card
rebecca is at present, making a gigantic joint. of drugs. well, she’s sewing one.
our studio neighbor, eric elms, is creating a permanent installation for the d.c. stussy store, opening this week. he needed her to sew this huge joint that will lay alongside a pencil and switchblade, on a mousetrap. you know, “traps” in life. the whole thing is very Oldenburg. and by that i mean, awesome.
of course, i will take took a picture of myself holding it and it will end up on comically large.
speaking of oversize things, you remember this guy?
Second Vans Sneaker
i need advice.
vans decided, based on the trade show sales of my first sneaker, that they want me to do a second. but, because it’s a last minute decision they are giving me zero time to decide what to do and zero time to make new art. they suggested i tweak some floral art from an old image because it’s a spring shoe. so i did.
janky quick mock up of the first round they nixed:
but then they said they actually wanted a landscape, and since i’d have no time to do a new one, could i just give them some old art? but, the work they want feels so dated. or else i’ve already used it on blood is the new black shirts that were sold at urban outfitters.
what they want:
it was drawn in 2003 and produced in silkscreen form in 2004. by the time it comes out in 2009 it will be SO OLD. and do i really want an image of a deer and an owl gracing 50,000 sneakers? no no no.
so this is what i drew last night:
i stayed up till three rushing to do a new graphic that hopefully they’ll pick instead of something old. but it really isn’t something that feels that i’m particularly proud of. is it better to give them something new and janky than old and “better”?
should i
1. just give them the deer graphic
2. give them the deer graphic and tweak it (take out the owl and deers, add some more current iconography. but really then, it’s not even the image they want)
3. force them to use the beehive image
4. force them to use the archery image
5. not care anymore
i am stressed out.
Cory Kennedy = Fail
please, for the love of god, make cory kennedy go away.
rebecca and i ended up at the karen walker fashion show (which wasn’t very good. but the gift bag was fancy time, so at least there was that) and she was sitting in the front row looking haggard, with some bruise or scab (who knows) on her face, all trashy and dirty looking, and spent the whole time texting and not looking at the clothing. and you know what? her fucking stupid inane annoying text messages were recounted today in new york magazine. WHAT? seriously? devote more space to her?
why is this girl even famous besides she boned mark hunter a bunch of times? she is unphotogenic, looks perma-stoned, and has lame style for someone who is totes loaded.
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ended up at the liz mclean “fashion show” in nolita last night. i saw no maggie or kim gordon (lies!) but i did see a lot of those lucky magazine editors. refinery29 snapped this photo. i look all puffy-faced.
vans just called me and said my sneaker has been doing so well at the tradeshows that they want me to do another sneaker for spring. yessss!
Resin was the Likely Cause of Death
i didn’t go out last night. missed both the ben cho fashion show and the opening ceremony party. instead, rebecca and i worked and worked. i held out in the studio from noon till three am (she didn’t sleep). i painted and paintstakingly cutting a few more pieces, and then covered each with resin. if they are not dry by noon i am dead. i need to research the harmful effects of using resin in a room without a ventilator (the windows and door was open. is that enough?) combined with the absence of glove and goggles. am i going to now have cancer? what about when i use enamel paint? fuck.
while she was sewing, next to all my toxic glory, she made herself a fancy silk number (grey circle skirt, pintuck blouse, with gradated silver detachable collared necklaces) for the new york magazine feature. at this moment she’s being photographed and i’m headed to cinders to drop off our work.
at 2, i’m going to try to sneak into karen walker’s show at the altman building. turns out alyssa’s kiwi husband knows her. maybe that will help our chances.
Jakob and Me and Leti Makes Three
friday night, rebecca and i stopped by catherine holstein’s party at the thompson hotel, then onto samantha pleet’s show in nolita where i saw elizabeth spiradakis, the scanlon twins, and leti and ami. we piled into a cab, after pizza at ray’s, and made it to a photo exhibit at the soho grand.
saturday morning, rebecca, james, and i caught abaete and alexandre herchovitch at the tents. we stopped by kinokuniya and picked up some cute office supplies and i bought a book by paul arden. i meant to go to a house party after, but i was so sick, i took a fifteen hour “nap.” tonight is the ben cho fashion show and the chloe / opening ceremony party that the slits are playing at. i would like to just stay in and work, but i think i’d regret it.
tomorrow, new york magazine photographs rebecca for a feature on monochrome characters of nyc. i loaned her some of my grey clothing because she doesn’t yet have a full closet’s worth. stephen merrit is also going to be featured i guess.
Pattern Paintings
fashion week begins today. i’m not sure what i’ll be able to sneak into, but i’ve rsvped for some parties sponsored by daily candy and surface and who knows what else. stefan sagmeister has a show that goes up tonight at deitch and i’m heading to that in ten.
i started a new series that took my interest in islamic and scandinavian patterns and swapped out the enamel for metallic origami paper. i never had much luck with metallic paints, so i worked it out using paper and plan on coating everything with resin. my first attempts at tissue paper failed because the transparency i was going for just looked too kindergarten. the origami paper is more forgiving and i like the intensity of the color.
cutting with an x-acto is pretty simple and the whole process becomes meditative through the repetitive cut cut cuts. it’s probably somewhat like knitting except more dangerous.
i bought some concentrated pigment today at guerra paint and pigment and tomorrow i’ll mix it with urethane and see how it goes. they said it’ll be less toxic than the enamels i was using.
Beatrice Inn = Ridiculous Nite
rebecca, leti, and i began our sunday evening at sway for their smiths night. it was a ridiculous tangled mess of kids dancing and spilling drinks and we held camp in the back because it was too too crowded since it was the day before a holiday. i stumbled upon a freshly vacated table replete with bottle service and happily began making us cocktails with the bottle of belvedere. after a bit, sarvia decided we should all follow aron to beatrice inn, so we hurried, screaming at the cold, and quickly piled into two cabs, while rebecca nearly got run over as it peeled away with her body half inside.
we arrived at beatrice, finally get inside after some string-pulling, and head to the back where the kids are happily dancing to 90′s hip hop. i sit down to avoid the gaggle of drunk chain-smokers. shortly, a homely hip-hop kid sits down and introduces himself. i’m clearly not interested. so he tries (unsuccessfully but hilariously) to impress me.
hip-hop dude: hi, i’m j. mello
me: ….hi
j: do you ever watch mtv? do you ever watch fuse?
me: sometimes… why?
j: well, next time you watch mtv, you should vote for the j.mello video with dave navarro
me: huh? what’s your name?
j: j. mello
me: oh
j: have you ever heard the song “celebrate good times come on”?
me: yeah
j: that’s my dad
me: oh… that’s cool….
then he proceeded to tell me he’s flying to dallas in the morning to do some promo with paris hilton. i slinked off after entertaining him a bit and went up to some familiar kid and asked him if he had gone to nyu back in the day (he used to put up stickers in the hallways that were of him holding a 40oz and smoking). we chatted but he was not very friendly. leti then came up and asked me why i was talking to mary kate olsen’s boyfriend and i was just so confused at the way the night was turning out.
rebecca, leti and i went back to my place and had a big slumber party complete with dancing around in my underwear to the velvet underground as if it was a scene in charlie’s angels.
Vampire Weekend
i have been on a vampire weekend kick for the last couple of months. at first i wasn’t into them. jo mentioned wanting to see them in brooklyn and i passed. but now i’m kicking myself because all the hype has made it impossible for me to catch them at bowery. their two nights are sold out and i am trying to scheme my way in, but i think it’s unlikely. how did they all go to my school when i was there and we were never friends? ok, huge college, that is stupid. but no fair.
i feel a bit predictable that i’m now downloading their references, trying to see where they are plucking things. ladysmith black mambazo, paul simon’s graceland. oh the power of soulseek.
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ever since leti’s bf michael applied for a fulbright scholarship i’ve had it on the brain. first i had considered applying to morocco, but my dad would have none of it. plus, not only do you need to know french (which i do), but you have to know arabic (which i don’t). i then got it in my head to only apply to countries where language isn’t an issue. the uk is insanely hard to get (like 1/100 are accepted) and i want to visit melboune, so i thought of australia. but i don’t think i have an angle since my art doesn’t incorporate anything that is specific to that country. i don’t really even know any australian artists that still live there aside from rinzen. i should start reading yen magazine.
really, i just want to paint dollhouses and do stained glass that incorporates my love of textiles. which leads me to scandinavia. i could apply to the home of marimekko, but instead i think i’ll apply to sweden. there’s a 23 percent acceptance rate (far higher than most places) and they don’t require you know swedish; although they encourage it. plus, i know some kids there.
i’m also going to apply for skowhegan for this summer (the deadline is fast approaching) and a marine headlands residency. i’m scared to do anything outside of a major city, since i can’t drive, but maybe it won’t be an issue. all of these applications want slides and the procedures seem daunting, but i need fire under my ass and come may i won’t know what to do with my life…. so might as well paint some place far away for free.
Groovy Groupies
i’ve been reading pamela des barres’ i’m with the band recently. it followed my attempt at reading the marianne faithful biography, which i never quite completed, because she turns into a total junkie and it just became depressing.
pamela’s makes me cringe, but the descriptions of outfits or rooms and activities she participates in i find intiguing. what’s the i ching? there was a burgundy velvet couch? what did gram parsons look like in 1968? but her endless talk about lusting after certain boys and frequent bouts of total crying, vapid observations, and constant obsessiveness frustrates me.
i may be boy crazy, but god, thankfully never to this degree. and for the most part, she sounds completely stupid. but perhaps it’s because she didn’t have this book co-written like marianne faithful did. by contrast, in hers she appears well-read and with impeccable taste. plus, her delivery is often so deadpan and frank it’s refreshing.
I Need to Get Out of This City
yesterday, i met up with rocky, a friend who recently moved back from florida, and saw demetri martin and other ‘indie’ comedians perform for free at cake shop. it was absolutely hilarious and reminded me i need to make more of an effort to do activities such as see comedy shows, attend lectures, go to art openings, visit new neighborhoods. i have been going to bars too often and even though i’ve been having a teriffic time with leti, who is generally in such good spirits and has boundless energy, i need to mix it up for the sake of my health and for other more obvious reasons.
while at pianos i ran into two old friends, one of whom it turns out is applying to a grad program in france and has been taking french classes for two years several times a week. the topic of moving to paris, middlebury, and the film persepolis came up, and then we had a nice conversation entirely in french. i am getting rusty since i never practice, and we vowed to become french pen pals even though we live in the same city.
his talk of moving away, several talks with other friends regarding fulbright grants and grad school, reminded me of my desire to get out of the city. i love being here, i probably don’t fit in anywhere else, but at the same time i feel i should leave, at least for a bit, before i become too old, too comfortable, and end up married with kids and trapped, having lived in the same place for thirty years.
a majority of my friends moved here right after college and i never had the opportunity to start fresh. i’ve lived here since 1999. justin says he’ll move to berlin in march, and while he may be full of it, his track record shows he does often just travel to far away cities and set roots. i admire his free spirit and wanderlust; although, often it seems he’s trying to find something that won’t just appear by setting foot in a new city.
nathan and i talked of moving to berlin last year and the idea of him going to vermont with me to learn french and then it was german and then he bailed and i up and went and had the most bizarre summer of my life without him. but come may, when i will no longer have any obligations to this city academically or professionally, maybe i should just take off.
i like my apartment, but i’d rather live within walking distance of my haunts, i like my friends, but really only a handful would keep me, and i love this city but what if i would love some place else and i’d never know since i made up my mind at eighteen? i realize berlin is “trendy” even played out, considering the last and only time i visited was in 2001, and maybe i’d rather spend a summer in melbourne or montreal or god, i don’t know. just anywhere. i wish i could just move to new york! all i want is the feeling of going some place for a long time when i return everything is new.
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