TAG SALE COSMOLOGY

Good Finds Pt 1 - Fantasy Closet

A few weeks back I had a highly productive shopping excursion with Fionnuala in Northampton, MA. We found many fine items and enjoyed ourselves immensely, and just when we thought we were done, we popped into one last store - Ultra Gal. It looked like a not-too-interesting modern hippie/belly dancer type joint, and I wanted to check out the earrings. But lo and behold, beneath the main floor was housed the Fantasy Closet - 3 basement floors packed with wild and weird costumes. It was literally my wildest dream. I tried on about 30 items while Fionnuala patiently rested her weary feet. I was completely revitalized and bubbly as a result of this treasure trove. There was no one down there at all and I could basically try on everything out in the aisle. Eventually one gal did come down with her guy friend but they didn’t interfere with my fantasy. I had to really narrow it down to only a few items, and even then I ended up spending 80-something dollars. Not bad when you consider the quality of the finds.

At any rate, after taking photos of my new duds, I was inspired to start a Flickr Set called Good Finds - so see what else I got and look out for future additions.

Marnie Weber

Lately I’ve really been enjoying the work of Marnie Weber. I saw her show Variations on a Western Song at Fredericks and Freiser last year and was really into her eerie characters - masked women (some of whom seemed to be portrayed by men) wandering around, playing instruments, and causing a ruckus onscreen while also staring out from collages in odd poses. Later, I read an article about her in Craft Magazine which was centered around the fact that she makes her own costumes. I really appreciate the way she brings the costumes, performance, sculpture, and video together in her work, as it’s something that I strive to do in mine too.

Check out this video of her performing Milkmaid with The Spirit Girls in October 2005:

Also check out the new show at Fredericks and Freiser opening May 1st - my studiomate Justin Craun.

The Rite of Spring - Julie Atlas Muz

Woah, just ran into this excerpt from Julie Atlas Muz’s performance at the 2004 Whitney Biennial. I’m really dying to know what happened next!

More videos by MuzHERE.

More Troubadour on MNN Cable Access!

The friendly folks at Manhattan Neighborhood Network liked my video Troubadour enough to give it its own time slot. It ran this past Wednesday and will play again this Sunday April 27th at 10 pm, and again on Thursday May 8th at 10 pm. After these scheduled time slots the video will also be played as a filler between other scheduled shows on the network. Strange but cool, eh?

You can watch it on TV in Manhattan - Time Warner #34/ RCN #82 - or streamling live worldwide at www.mnn.org. To watch it on my mac, I went to mmn.org and scrolled down on the left to Watch MNN Live. I then chose “mms” for 34/82.

Check out Troubadour and my other videos on youtube.

Metalmags Photos by Luke Stettner

The two photos pictured below are the fruits of a photo shoot with Luke Stettner that took place in my studio a couple weeks back. Both feature original costumes, including my handmade white alien wig. Dare I say that I actually have some publicity photos now? Perhaps this state of readiness will lure media attention far and wide. If not, I’ll still have some great portraits to hold and to cherish.

beamz featuring Quiet Reverie

My friend Jon Bennett just sent me this awesome promotional video for Sharper Image’s new beamz ™ Music Performance System. Herein we are treated to several scenarios for use and enjoyment of this futuristic product. One character dons sunglasses (inside, mind you) in order to become a one-man rock band, while another partakes in Quiet Reverie in his blue-lit bachelor den (note the leather massager/recliner in the background). Family Fun is also portrayed, though I’m not convinced of the kid’s interest. Finally, we see a woman spastically tossing her hands between the towers, with the message that Everyone Sounds Great as if all women are charmingly unmusical.

I guess what determines where this thing falls on the spectrum between total cheeseball and future cool depends on its functionality. The video seems to suggest that it’s all pre-programmed midi voices that are simply triggered by movement within the beams/z. One youtube viewer wondered this too, and a Sharper Image representative responded in the thread:

The answer depends on the definition of ‘pre-sets’. Yes, the product has voices and samples assigned to each beam, but the music itself is generated algorithmically by the beamz software. The user’s playing technique determines when and how much of the sounds/melody stream is triggered thus creating a potentially different arrangement with each use.

Despite all its drawbacks, I probably would feel pretty cool waving my hands around with this thing. I mean, you know, ironically cool.

Dance Solo - 1994

I started incorporating dance and choreography into my live act lately so I’ve been going through my old dance tapes for inspiration. As a teenager I was really into dancing and fantasized about being a dancer. When I was 16 I performed a solo at Dance Arts Centre in Bristol, CT, where I took dance classes for several years. This was during a period when I was really pushing to try to become a better dancer, and the solo felt very special to me.

The song is “Winter” by Tori Amos, choreographed by Mark Simpson.

A few months after this recital I went away to summer art camp (Center for Creative Youth in Middletown, CT) for creative writing, and the experiences I had there altered my trajectory. Most of CCY’s influences were positive though there was one negative situation that sticks in my head. Within the camp we had a talent show and I signed up to perform a dance solo in it. It wasn’t the dance pictured here but I think another that I had choreographed to Sinead O’Connor’s song Just Like You Said It Would Be. I wore a blue costume that was kind of flowy and similar to the one worn here and felt pretty good about it. But afterward a guy I was friends with, whose opinion I thought highly of, was critical of it (the dance or the costume or both I can’t recall) and suggested that it was dorky or corny. Looking back on that incident, I can see that it had a powerful influence on me and caused me to be self-conscious about this type of emotional non-funky dancing. Only recently have I really started to break back through that and get over this weird stigma I put on dance.

A few months ago, in preparation to create a dance for my song Mother’s Arms, I dragged a huge mirror into my studio. I originally intended to return it to the hallway where it previously sat but ended up hanging on to it. Since it has been there I’ve found myself dancing and stretching in front of it fairly often, and I’m really enjoying that. I’ve always liked having mirrors in my studio but felt a bit self-conscious about it being potentially narcissistic. But I’m realizing now that I spent a lot of time during my formative years in the dance studio with its mirrored walls and I developed a kind of relationship with my reflection that was informative without being vain. I’m sick of feeling self-conscious about looking in the mirror.

At any rate, watching these old tapes was very encouraging and heartening, and it brought back the warm feelings I had for my teachers and friends at Dance Arts Centre. Jill, where are you??

Handmade Future/Retro Earrings

I’ve recently been making 60s, 70s, and 80s-inspired earrings out of leather, plastic, and yarn. I made earrings as a kid - one memorable pair was made of paint-spattered paper and another a painted toy car tire cut in half - so this is a fun return to my roots (a common theme for me lately).

Anyone know of a good adhesive to use with leather and plastic? I’ve tried several glues and cements but nothing seems to hold really well.

Pictured below: a mint green pair of earrings made to match the dress from the previous post.

These are made of silver leather, clear plastic, and silver bedazzler studs. I used this see-thru plastic in multiple pairs to create the illusion of floating shapes on the skin and neck.

See more pairs HERE.

And speaking of earrings, my friend Carrie Yee has been making jewelry too! See her designs at Specimen Jewelry. Click on “Collection” on the right for pics.

Bedazzle It

I got a Bedazzler for Christmas and it has quickly become my favorite new toy. So when I was fixing up this dress and contemplating adding some gold Bedazzler studs, I wanted to try out some ideas before committing them to fabric. Try it! I put a small image of a gold Bedazzler stud HERE. To use it, simply use the magic wand tool in Photoshop to select the black background and delete or clear it. You can then drag the stud onto your image, resize it, and copy the layer as many times as necessary to create your design. Adjust color for silver. aww yeah!

Three New Videos

Awesome Music Videos Vol. 1 was a DVD I made that I had intended to give out to friends as a holiday gift. But as pages flew off the proverbial day calendar in a time-traveling frenzy, I gave up this notion of meeting my Christmas deadline. Then came New Year’s, Chinese New Year, and Valentine’s Day. At least I got it done before St. Patrick’s Day!

At any rate, it’s a compilation of music videos that I deem to be awesome. I play veejay, introducing the DVD and performing skits with Collin Cunningham. And now I’m putting the skits online despite their lack of context clues. Enjoy!

Alien Lounge Scene

Are You Experienced?

Untitled (HANDS)