Money & Murder
Post Moscow Melancholy
Sitting On A Time Bomb
Neon Crux
Solar Boy
The One & Only, Michael Rade
Step Off My Steez!
I Have A Problem
Gotta Branch Out
Light Up My Box!
Warrior
Misery Is A Butterfly
Towards the end of June, in Berlin, there is a big annual street festival in Schoeneberg. It's a big boozy queer extravaganza. I wasn't able to go last year because I was at the Venice Art Biennale with Fabio, so I was really excited to check it out this year. I rode my bike over from Kreuzberg around noon and began to wander the crowded streets. It was such a beautiful day and all the queens of Berlin were out on the street, not just the queers either, I saw so many straight couples and families in the mix as well. Every bar in the neighborhood had its own tent on the street and there were lots of interesting, offbeat little booths and shops. As I was walking down Eisenacher Strasse I spotted my old roommate/fiance Patrick (whom I affectionately refer to as simply Trish.) Trish was in her regular getup sitting in a chair next to her veery unique art installation, wearing the ever present leather mask and doing a sensational job of creeping out all the passersby. Trish and I haven't really been on speaking terms since our big blowout fight last march when she sent my drunk ass packing hahaha, but being the kind and forgiving soul that I am, I decided to simply let bygones be bygones and I went over and said hello to her. I could tell Trish was a bit concerned (I did have a drink in my hand at the time and I won't damn lie; I have been known to strike without warning!) But after a few minutes she realized that I meant no harm and had long since abandoned any ill feelings that I may have harbored towards her. We sat and chatted for a while catching up on the goings on of each others lives. I told her about Moscow and all of that shadiness and she told me about her new job as a stripper ;) and all the new projects she's working on, (okay okay, she's not really a stripper, but she might as damn well be, Trish has a bangin body, for a tranny!:) It was really funny to see peoples reactions to the us; being as we were two of the biggest freaks on the block, hahaha.. Coincidentally the next booth over from Trish was occupied by the queer shaman! He was actually one of the reasons why I really wanted to come to the street festival this year, I had met him online about a year or so ago and we had been chatting periodically since then. He told me that he was going to have a booth at the Street Festival this year and that I should stop by and say hello. After realizing who he was, I waited for a while to see if he would recognize me from my picture online. He never did (or at least didn't act like he did.) So after a few drinks, I finally introduced myself to him and he was really such a gentle and nice man. He offered me a free reading and of course I accepted. He then placed his feathered native american looking shamans cap on his head and began feverishly drawing nonsensical circles on a sheet of clean white paper. That went on for about five minutes, until finally he stopped. He then told me (in so many words) that I am too lazy, (I agreed wholeheartedly) but he also said that if I were to undertake something, some sort of project, then it would be an assured success. That's really the gist of what he told me, but the way he delivered the message to me had me floored. He was so earnest in his instruction and it left me altogether astonished. After I left his booth, Trish asked me what happened. I told her the story and she paused for a moment wearing a sincere frown. Trish then told me that earlier that day while they were setting up their booths next to each other, Trish had asked the shaman if he would read her fortune. He agreed and when they sat down, he put his feathered seers cap on and took out a clean sheet of paper and drew one simple line across the sheet. He then removed his feathered cap and told Trish in a very matter of fact tone, "that is all I see." No explanation was needed. Shady, or simply honest? I'll let you be the judge...
The Queer Shaman
Drugs R Bad
Mistress Patricia
Numerology
Funkturm
Hangin Out @ The Strasse Fest
Just One Of The Many Reasons Why I L O V E YouTube
Kreuzberg Canal
Treptower Sculpture
We Were Meant To Be Together
Erica Lookalike
We Strike W/Out Warning
Early July saw the opening of my friend Michael's new gallery space - STYX project space. I first met Michael back in March at one of those spoken word literary events that Travis & Mario dragged me to. (haha much to the chagrin, (I think) of the hostess Lady Gaby) Actually, I think I broke one of her windows during one of my um "episodes" that night so I really can't blame her... Whatever, I'm just giving these Berlin children a little dose of some much needed realness anywayz. So that's the night I first met Michael. Actually, I don't think we really talked to each other much that night, although I would doubtful remember if we did, being as I was totally wasted. But he made an appearance/impression in my digital camera the next morning. Its funny you know, all too often I find myself piecing together the goings on of the previous night through the images retrieved from my trusty little camera. Michael was still living in London at that time and was just in Berlin for the weekend. He ended up moving here a month or so later and I met him again at one of Travis & Mario's house parties. He said he would help me fix my computer which was giving me some trouble at the time. I was very surprised, when he actually followed through and called me the next day. We started hanging out quite a bit after that. At that time he was still sort of homeless sleeping on friends couches, while he searched for his own place. He ended up finding an amazing space in an old abandoned brewery/factory in Friedrichshain. The building he lives in is fucking amazing. It's been taken over completely by a horde of fantastic creative souls. They are always holding some kind of party or art opening every week it seems. Really to be completely honest some of the best art that I've see in Berlin so far has been at the artist studios and galleries that are housed there. The atmosphere is so bohemian, it's such a vision. Michael wasted no time in preparing the space for his summer gallery project and with a little paint and varnish, it shaped up to be quite an impressive little art gallery. For the opening he had two painters, Melissa Frost and Jon Campbell. Melissa also contributed a sound installation, and the closing reception featured the performance artist Femme Facade. All the artists involved were really amazing. I was surprised also to see my friend Detlev, of the Schwules Museum make an appearance, (that queen is everywhere, I swear.)
STYX Project Opening
She's Got "The Look"
Friedrichshain Mural
Femme Facade Performance (one)
Universal Law
London-Berlin-Berlin-London
Young Love
Femme Facade Performance (two)
We Were Born This Way.
Rare Captive Occurrence
"This Isn't Meals On Wheels"
A M E R I C A
Around the same time as the STYX opening, I went with Travis, Mario & Michael to an art opening at Peres Projects. When we arrived we ran into a good friend of Travis & Mario's; the American soul/rockstar extraordinaire Snax. It was such an odd feeling to be at an art opening in a foreign country where it seemed like more than half of the people there were American expats. Peres Projects also operates a space in Los Angeles, so that might be why so many expats came out, who damn knows. My fabulous friend Miss Nina Phyxion, from my good ol' L.A. club kid days, had been asking me recently if I had met her friend Javier Peres here in Berlin. It wasn't until I came to the opening at Peres Projects that I put two and two together and realized who Nina was talking about, (I swear I can be so fucking clueless sometimes.) Her friend Javier represents my filmmaker/artist friend Bruce LaBruce and also the glamorous "it boy" artstar Terrence Koh, whom I had the opportunity to hang out with at Bruce's Otto; or, Up With Dead People premiere and after party at the Sundance Film Festival this past January. It's such a small (art) world, I swear everybody knows everybody. It's interesting though, you know cuz Los Angeles is fast gaining a reputation as an important international art capital. She's giving New York a run for her money these days. I actually sort of miss Los Angeles in a weird way, I used to have so much fun there. Even after I moved away and was living in New York, I would still come back to L.A. for a few weeks out of the year and hang out with my little posse of crazed L.A. club kids. There were about five of us back then: Andrew, Nina, Sausages (anthony) & the two Brian's; myself and Brian Lichtenberg. Sadly, I don't get to see much of my old L.A. friends these days, now that I am living in Europe, although I should go visit Andrew now that he's living in Paris. Nina & Brian are still ruling fiercely in the L.A. fashion/art scene. I have no idea what became of Sausages, last I heard she was bumpin pussies with some amish reality star, hahaha. Anyhook, back in those days I had a sort of, um "mentor" named Gary, who has a big house with a pool, up Coldwater Canyon that I used to stay at while I was in town. Gary directed one of my favorite childhood movies "Masters Of The Universe." haha, (yes, yes, as a child of the eighties, I was of course in love with He-Man, and um, I was also pretty tight with She-Ra and her crew as well!) Anyway, as a kid, I loved the live action movie version as well. Honestly I don't know how that shit got overlooked at the Oscars, I mean really now!!! Gary was also good friends with another gay film director friend of mine named Bryan Singer (X-Men, Apt Pupil, Usual Suspects..) Gary was always out of town on business, sometimes for weeks at a time and my friends and I would always throw such big parties at his house while he was gone. It was always tough though, because of our mutual friends. We always worried that Bryan would hear about the parties and then tell Gary, but luckily for us Bryan was pretty cool about it and never said anything to Gary (actually I think he may even have shown up to one or two of them!) I'll never forget during one trip, my friend Alex Whitney had flown in from New York for the weekend for one of these parties. I was stupid enough to let Alex get in the car with Miss Snausages (who was a notorious & habitual tweaker) Homegirl was a speed freak in more ways than damn one. I'm not claiming to be an ace behind the wheel or anything, quite the opposite in fact, but I have never been so afraid driving with someone in all my life. Going ninety miles per hour and darting in and out of traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway was fucking more than petrifying! (so yeah you might say she had the need for speed! haha.) That night on our way up to the party, Nina and I drove past the Beverly Hills Hotel and saw what looked to be a very serious if not fatal car accident. We didn't realize it at the time but the unrecognizable car that was literally wrapped around a palm tree on in front on the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard was in fact Sausages car. I will never understand how it is that both he and Alex walked away from that accident without so much as a scratch! It's probably the closest thing to a miracle that I have ever witnessed in my life. I was so pissed at Sausages after that. Having to call the waspy uptight Whitney family to inform them that their son was in the hospital, or worse; dead, would not have been such an easy call for me to make, (especially since they didn't even know Alex was in Los Angeles.) So let that be a lesson kids. Avoid drugging and driving, instead give dancing and dosing a try! Safety first!
Has It Really Been Two Decades?
The Coolest Bitch In The Club!
Cuttin A Rug W/ Snaxine!
Santogold
Best Not Fuck With Me & My Crew...
Cuz We're Tuff City Kids!
We Fuck Bitches Up
& Get Fucked Up...
The Second Coolest Bitch In The Club
F I O N A
Too Cool 4 School (& Monster Ronson's)
Remember LEGOS?
Speaking of Floss Angeles and glamorous Floss Angelites, A few weeks ago, I met up for a night of dancing (&dosing) at London Calling with Travis, Mario and the oh so legendary L.A. drag queen/writer/performance artist, Miss Vaginal Davis. I don't hang out with her that often but when I do she always leaves me craving for more of her charming wit and delicious gossip. She is such a riot! Travis is quite close friends with her, so I usually see her at his house parties; but actually that isn't how I first met her. haha I'm laughing out loud now cuz this story is so very, um.. "special." When I first moved to Berlin last year, I started out staying in Schoeneberg, the main gay area of Berlin. I used to hang out sometimes at this sorta, (ok very) seedy leather bar around the corner from my friends apartment called Scheune (what can I say, I shun mediocrity.) I prefer realness over bitchy queens any day of the week. Anygay I was there hanging out in the back of the bar drinking my beer and chatting up some random dude, when all of a sudden I heard some American queen carrying on with someone at the bar, bitch was pretty much holding court (scepter in hand of coeurse.) Anyone who has met Vaginal Davis knows that girlfriend has one of those voices that just carry across the entire room, in fact that shit is probably reverberating across the globe as I write this damn sentence. That's a voice that just totally draws you in and commands your attention! I decided that I would go to take a piss first and then go over and introduce myself to this fierce diva. When I walked into the bathroom, I found what some of you might consider to be a bit shocking. There was the cutest little old man ever (and when I say little I mean little, we're talking like 4'10") I recognized him from around the "gayborhood." He is easily around 80 years old and he was crouched down in his usual spot next to the mens urinal waiting in desperate hopes that someone might have the common decency to oblige him by quenching his unrelenting thirst. (only in berlin kids) But instead of accommodating his unorthodox desires, I pulled him up and gave him a big hug. How could I not? He was so damn cute and sad and pathetic. Perhaps I saw a bit of myself in him. Sexuality absolutely fascinates me. How a person is born into this world and then ends up eighty years later in a sleazy leather bar begging strangers for their piss? How does that happen? Maybe he just likes it? Or perhaps it is simply the product of raising gay children in a society which incessantly teaches them that they are worthless human beings and exist only to be reviled, with humiliation commonplace. Humiliation is a very familiar reality to most queer youths and oddly, is perhaps clung to with a sense of nostalgia by some. Okay, sociological/psychological theories aside, make no mistake, I pass no judgement. How could I? I am far from perfect and besides, what the fuck is perfect anyways? I also understand that this is behavior that is by no means exclusive to gays. I just find it extremely fascinating and I was determined (in my drunken stupor) to get to the bottom of it. I should seriously go back to school and study sociology or psychology! So I began asking how old he was when he had his first sexual experience with piss. He told me it was while he was in the military (a youthful hazing ritual gone terribly wrong/right?) He began to recant his experiences fighting on the Nazi side of WWII. I had my arm around this sweet soft spoken old man as I sat on a bench outside the bathroom listening to him talk about the war. Just as I was asking him a question, suddenly Vaginal Davis walked in mid-sentence. Upon hearing my American accent she introduced herself and asked where I was from and what I was doing in Berlin etc.. After a while she and I were engrossed in conversation and my little geriatric buddy slipped away and resumed his crouched position next to the urinal. Upon seeing this, Vag chuckled a bit to herself and I began to explain to her that my little elderly friend had had me absolutely gripped in fascination; telling me all about his (pis)adventures in the second world war.. I told her about how I have seen this same sweet old man pay Turkish hustlers ten euros and then go into that little corner park with them on Eisenacher Strasse & Fuggertrasse, so they could slap, piss and spit in his face! Even though he obviously loves it and gets off on the humiliation. I can't help but feel a bit protective of him, I mean the dude is fucking eighty for fuck sake! What if those fools hit him too hard or something? Actually I think Miss Davis was quite amused by the whole situation, haha, Although she proceded to change the subject, telling me about how she had just relocated to Berlin from Los Angeles a few months before. She was absolutely shocked that I had never visited her website www.vaginaldavis.com (ya better believe I was on that site the very next day reading her fabulous blog!) We sat at the back of the bar sipping our drinks like two glamorous lady genders hahaha.. We gossiped about people we both know in Hollywood and of course we also gossiped about those who we don't know either:) She told me a really funny story about how a friend of hers used to work at some fancy hotel in Beverly Hills (I think it was the Beverly Wilshire) anyway, she said that in the early nineties Tom Cruise used to rent a room there under an alias and then hire latino hustlers to come up to the darkened room where a very paranoid Tom was waiting (in the closet) puns intended! The hustlers would go inside the pitch black closet, lay waste to his sphincter and then leave, no words exchanged, no faces seen, total anonymity. According to Vag, Tom wasn't exactly the cleanest kid on the block either. Apparently the closet floor required professional cleaning in order to rid itself of a certain unpleasant odor! I was cracking up laughing, I love that kind of gossip! You know the type where your almost 99% certain that it's actually true? It's all in the source, honey and bitch practically knows everyone in Hollywood, so Vag is certainly a good source. She's a damn source-erous!! Pure magic and absolute hilarity...
Light Spiral
We Have Our Own Language...
We Live Here
I'm Content With What I have...
This Kiss Was WOW!!!
I Like Weed.
I Love Spunk.
"My Lip Gloss Be Poppin, My Lip Gloss Be Cool."
Daddy Long Legs
Bow Down Bitches!
Sparklerz...
Jesus (hearts) You!
While we're on the topic of larger than life African Americans who happen to have penises. I feel like I should shift a bit into the far more sordid realm of politics, and offer some of my own perspective regarding Barack Obama's historic candidacy for the U.S. presidency, and his decision to deliver a speech here in Berlin at the victory column on July 24th. Rather presumptuous, don't you think? First of all let me start off by saying that I agree with almost everything Obama says in his speeches, except for his health care plan (I preferred Hillary's more universal approach.) Also, Obama doesn't support complete marriage equality. He only supports civil unions. I myself have some rather radical views on marriage in general. I think that it is a dated institution, designed to enslave women and is quite unnecessary in todays society. It should be abolished for everyone. What if instead we tried educating/empowering/providing birth control freely to women (and men for that matter) rather than marrying/selling them off? cuz thats really what marriage amounts to anyway; it's a business contract. We should let women decide for themselves how, when and if they wish to reproduce. However if we must have marriage in our society then it should be completely equal for every human being, even in name and shouldn't pay any regard to either gender or sexual orientation. For the most part I agree with everything else Obama says. He definitely has some incredible speech writers working for him and he manages to deliver his speeches with a resounding eloquence that would put even the great Demosthenes to shame. However, skilled oration does not necessarily translate into an adept leader. He could in fact end up being quite the opposite. Adolf Hitler was also famous for being a great public speaker and I think we can all remember how that story ended. Okay Okay, so it's probably quite unfair to draw that kind of comparison at this stage in the game. Although one reason why we can't really make any comparisons at all when it comes to Obama is that there just really isn't all that much for him in the way of credentials. This is a man who has been on the national political scene for less than four years and now he wants to become our president? God, am I the only person who is able to see past the rhetoric? After all, words are just that. Where, I ask is the action, the results, the resume? Now some might argue that a fresh voice is exactly what the doctor ordered for Washington and perhaps that is true. I don't know, I suppose I get the sense that Obama is being groomed for this position but an unseen and elite few (perhaps they see him as the ultimate candidate to do their dirty work.) Yes, change indeed! I'm sorry but any candidate who constantly talks about "change" and yet remains a member of the CFR (council on foreign relations) is just a liar! Yes he might change things but I doubt it will be for the better, or in the long term interests of the average American for that matter. My mother used to tell me, "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is." Call me a cynic, but the fact of the matter is that the political system in Washington is so corrupted and has been for so long, that it would be virtually impossible for any one man to change it. Not even to mention that any time the American media attempts to shove something down our throats, (in this case Obama) I tend to become extremely wary of it. I just saw an interview on YouTube the other day with andother CFR member; Rupert Murdoch (aka the owner of NewsCorp/Fox News) and he was endorsing Obama! What the fuck does that tell you about the political system in America? To be perfectly honest, Obama's cult like followers creep me the fuck out. I dunno, I just don't get what all the hype is about. That being said he is certainly the lesser of the two evils, I think we can all agree that Obama is a much better option then his republican opponent John McCain. Secretly I was sort of hoping that Hillary Clinton would win the nomination, not that she is much different from Obama (save maybe her credentials for the job) lets face it though, she is CFR too. Fuck, they all are! Obama, Clinton and McCain all work for the same corrupt international banking cartels and all of them curiously remain snugly tucked in bed with the state of Israel. But Hillary Clinton has something that Obama and McCain simply do not have, and that something is a vagina! Sorry but I just trust a woman in power much more than I do a man. You might say that the notion of power corrupting, is blind to gender, and you would probably be right. But I already know that anyone seeking the office of president, who manages to make it past the primaries, has already long since been corrupted. The question is to what extent? I just think that in todays world, a woman in power would be more likely to "rule it with a soft glove" to quote the legendary Pepper Labeija; and yes I see the irony there :) Obama will win the presidency in November and after four years if he does everything that he said he would, I will be the first to eat my words. But I know that he won't, (they never do.) I simply do not trust him. He is just too good to be true. I also have to say that I hate that there is always some controversial theme that the media clings to in American presidential elections. Back in 2004 it was gay marriage. This time around it is race. Race should never be a factor at all, period. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see any minority win the presidency, as long as they were qualified. Anything but another rich, old, white, idiot, please! I hate to point this out, but with the relatively meagre resume and qualifications that Barack Obama holds, if he were a white man, charismatic or not, he would be laughed off the political stage in no time at all and that is a fact! And don't even try and come at me with those comparisons to JFK. The only thing those two share in common is that they are both elitists who went to Harvard. Yes, this is a race about race. Sadly, It is about color and not content. Originally I was supporting Ron Paul for president; old white dude or not, (he said he would abolish both the IRS and The Federal Reserve System, if elected.) Now that is some hardcore revolutionary shit! Even just to say it in public. Now that, my friends is some "change" that I can believe in. I don't even care that he's a pro lifer. After he dropped out of the race I switched to Ralph Nader, who doesn't have a shot in hell at winning, but for me it's more about supporting a movement (from the overtly fascist one party, I mean two party system in use today:) Then quite recently in fact, I heard about The Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney, she is more than qualified for the job and gets and A+ for being an outspoken critic of the official 9-11 Commission Report. She is also an anti-war and civil rights activist; plus girlfriend made the news a couple years ago as a congress woman for punching a U.S Capital building security officer. Um, so yeah homegirl pretty much won my vote on that fact alone!
Berlin Victory Column
Obama, Yo Mama!
Lets Fucking Destroy Capitalism!
Fuck Yeah!
Three Down, Five To Go...
Zury
OBAMA-RAMA
ANARCHY ANARCHY ANARCHY
Sniff, Sniff, Flash, Flash
Don't Believe The Hype!
Corporate World Police Squad
I'm Too Short...
In the weeks leading up to to the Obama speech, I made the decision to stage a protest. However upon further investigation I learned that posters and signs were prohibited from the event, (which was paid for by the Obama campaign.) So instead I painted a T-shirt in big letters that read "CHANGE WE SHOULD BE SKEPTICAL OF" on the front and "MARRIAGE EQUALITY NOW" on the back. No one in Berlin and I mean no one wanted anything to do with any type of anti-Obama protest, (my friends included.) Even though it was really less an Obama protest than an appeal for public awareness. I get very uncomfortable when people stop asking questions and just blindly follow like sheep. My actions were merely an attempt to provoke some thought into this bizarre twenty first century political process; where candidates hold cult like political rallies on foreign soil. So on the day of the speech I decided to call goddamn Trish and see if she wanted to come with me. She agreed and we met up at her place and then walked over to the Tiergarten from the there. It was unbelievably crowded and I was starting to worry that we wouldn't make it past the security checkpoint in time for the speech. They said on the news that there was something like 200,000 people in attendance although i think that number might be somewhat exaggerated. Regardless it was an unbelievably teeming media circus and when Obama appeared on stage the masses erupted into deafening applause and cheers. Some of these idiots were already crying tears of joy, before their messiah even opened his mouth speak. I was too busy dry heaving to get in on that action. As he began his speech, Obama made several references to the city of Berlin and it's war torn history. Actually, and rather tellingly, he spoke a lot about war and alliances in general and the need to strengthen our tattered military ties for the future. He spoke of hope and of course change and pretty much gave us all the usual sound bites that those of you who live in America have the pleasure of hearing over and over and over, night after night on the evening news. He spoke of the destruction of the Berlin wall and that we must continue to break down walls and barriers which divide us around the globe. I suspect that if this hypocrite is elected to office, he won't be ordering his war criminal bedfellows in the Israeli regime to destroy their West Bank wall, which is still being constructed and due to be completed in 2010. Lets be honest, this whole; say one thing and do another theme is nothing new to politics. I know that. Often the truth is found only when you read between the lines. This little snippet of the Obama speech is a pretty good example...
"Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world." ( "P R O J E C T S" being the key word here, just because you project something does not make it truth or reality.) "Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law." (um, guantanamo, abu gharib, patriot act, habeas corpus anyone? If Obama shuts down guantanamo after he's elected, then I'll shut the fuck up, but I think we all know that is not ever going to happen.) "Will we welcome immigrants from different lands and shun discrimination aganist those who don't look like us or worship like we do and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people."( again what about complete marriage equality for lesbians and gays or equal opportunities/education for minorities or um equal salaries for women in the workplace?)
Mr. Obama already knows the answers to all of the questions he posed to us in Berlin and the answer to all of them is a resounding No! There are some of you who might label me a cynic and perhaps that is true to a certain extent. I mean, It all sounds nice and comforting to think that things could change but anyone who reads the newspapers and does a bit of research, knows that in reality the truth is very different and will likely remain so, regardless of who wins the election in November. Don't believe in all this hype, cuz that's all it is. Better to keep one leg firmly planted in skepticism while the other remains teetering in cautious hope. Overall I found his speech to be very articulate, what was really interesting though was to see just how utterly captivated and entranced his audience was. Trish, being the tall and graceful slender gender that she is, was kind enough let me take turns sitting on her shoulders during the speech so that I could get some good pictures of Obama and the immense crowd. When it was all over and most of the crowd began to disperse, my homegirl Trish had to retreat back to her boudoir and get ready for a hot date she had later on that night with one of her countless admirers, but I stuck around taking and posing for pictures. I even gave a couple of interviews to the hundreds of camera crews that were in attendance from the worldwide media. I gave one rather lengthy interview to some Hungarian channel and another less lengthy interview to MTV Europe (haha i sort of barged my way in onto that one in a drunken rant about my radical political views.) I also met and began discussing Obama's speech with an older German fellow who made some very interesting and very true observations about the speech. He said to me "I was in the audience when John F. Kennedy spoke at the Rathaus Schoeneberg here in Berlin in 1963 and I was in the audience when Ronald Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987, Those men both spoke mostly of peace; while Obama spoke mostly of war." Very interesting I thought to myself. Is this simply the twenty-first century zeitgeist? Or is it perhaps an indication of what we have to look forward to? After finishing with my little political discourse and just as it was beginning to get dark, I met a photographer named George who kept following me around taking my picture (I was wearing a bit of a costume that day! hahaha) We ended up doing a bit more together than just a photo shoot, that night in the bushes of the Tiergarten park:) And the funny part is that George is from Nairobi. He is half German and half Kenyan. Damn, Two Men from Kenya in one night. I photographed the first one and the second photographed me.
Looking East
Sup, Bitches!
Elegance Has Wings
Naked Gerber Baby
Billy & Chester
GRAFRO
Gimme Some Man Power
Thanks Ben...
He-Man Wasn't My Only Childhood Crush
Glamour, Glitter And All The Like...
Nicole Ritchie's Bastard German Cousin...
SALTA
Last week I received an invitation to a party that Trish was throwing at her flat in Schoeneberg. She throws a summer cocktail party every year with all the who's who and what's what of Berlin's queer art scene in attendance. I didn't wanna go alone so I dragged a few of my friends to come along with me. My glamorous art connoisseur/real estate developer friend Eric was in town from London. So I called him up and asked if he'd like to come along to the party with Michael, Mario & I. So on the night of the party, we brought a couple bottles of wine with us and headed over to Trish's place. I have to say that in the; just over a year or so that I have known Trish, I have seen her undergo quite a drastic, transformation in terms of style. When I first met Trish, on that fateful morning when I climbed up onto her balcony drunk off my ass. Her apartment resembled that of an elderly widow, with it's shag carpet, mauve walls and dusty mismatched furniture, plants and art work.(I wont even get into her unspeakable "wall of fame.") After we had hung out a few times, I mentioned to Trish that she might try going for a more edgy, youthful look for her apartment. When she asked my advice on what she should do. I took a rather radical approach, never thinking for a minute that she would actually listen and take heed. I told her to get rid of it all. The carpet, plants, paintings & grandma furniture and to leave only her bed and her white couch, which I later covered in black marker, (showcasing the opening paragraph of Valerie Solanas' infamous S.C.U.M. Manifesto.) Then I said that if it were my place, I would paint the entire space white; ceiling, walls and floors. If there is one thing that I love about Trish, it's that when she gets an idea in her head she gets right to work and simply does it. She's not a talker, she's a doer! Within minutes we started moving all of her belongings and ancient heirloom relics downstairs to her basement storage unit. When we were finished with that, we immediately marched over to the paint store and bought a two big buckets of white paint. The next day when I came over Trish had painted her entire flat from top to bottom with the white paint. It looked so amazing and added so much light and clarity to the space. After all that, it was a blank canvas. When I moved in with Trish, after I returned from my Madrid trip a few weeks later, in late July of last year, I stayed in her little smaller side room and one day, while I was at the art supply store getting supplies for Aldo, my boss at the time. I bought a few cans of red, blue, yellow & silver spray paint for myself and began experimenting with some tags. While I was in Madrid, I was introduced to street tagging for the first time by some street kids that I met in Huertas. I began tagging the walls in my little bedroom and Trish soon followed suit, beginning a trend that continues to this day. Haha, when we would get into our big arguments, sometimes we wouldn't talk to each other at all, but instead communicate through our tags, it's so weird now that I look back on it, but what can I say we are far from normal! So anyways, it was really funny to be back in Trish's flat and see our troubled history plastered all over the walls in disses and insults for everyone to see. It made me realize that Trish and I are much better as friends. I respect her so much more now than I did when we were living together. But to be honest, when it comes right down to it, Trish is one of the sweetest, most sincere & unpretentious people that I have ever met in my life. So it comes as so surprise to me that she is adored by so many in people in the art scene here in Berlin. She exudes a childlike simplicity that is so attractive and endearing. Traits that are in stark contrast to the often jaded and cut throat personalities that are so commonplace in the contemporary art world. This was actually my first time attending one of Trish's parties and I met so many fabulous people, The celebrated photographer Henning Von Berg was there along with a few gallerists that I recognized from around town. I also had the chance to meet one of Germany's most famous living artists, Salome. Salome has shown his paintings in more than two-hundred exhibitions throughout a career spanning more than three decades, including a show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. I sat fascinated, listening to him talk at length about his time living in New York and it's vibrant downtown, nineteen-eighties art scene. He has a studio just up the road from my flat in Kreuzberg and invited us to stop by sometime to see it. After a of couple hours my friends wanted to leave and so we headed out for a bar crawl in gay Schoeneberg. Trish's summer punch certainly packs a mean one, cuz before I knew it, I could barely walk. Somehow we managed to make it back to to Mario's flat in Moabit where I finally passed the fuck out, only to wake up the next morning with most of my body hair shaved off! I swear, my friends are SUCH bitches,hahaha!
Trish & Tenne
We Speak With Out Speaking
Where Is Paul America?
Marischka Will Kill YOU!
Triston D.R.U.G. Is Showing Berlin How It's Done.
Johannes Gets Me
F U C K I N G P R I C E L E S S
Thomas & (My Beauty), Erica!
Berlin Has The CUTEST Fucking Boys
Not EVERYTHING In Berlin Is New
Light Ribs
Kreuzberg Convent
