TAG SALE COSMOLOGY

Stairway to Stardom

A month or two ago, my coworker Steve sent me a couple of videos of a public access show Stairway to Stardom that had been posted on youtube. Public access programming holds a special place in my heart, and this was aired in Manhattan, where I also have a video in rotation as a “filler” for weird late-night slots of dead air. I recently went back to youtube for a more in-depth survey of the show’s offerings and found it to be an enriching and engrossing research experience. Many of the acts created lasting memories in my mind, but some of those were quite unpleasant - think offensively bad stand-up comedy (and lots of it) and young boys crooning and warbling. Behold those that made the most favorable impression.

You can also find a brief NPR story on the show produced by Jennifer Sharpe. Most of the clips come from what appears to be her youtube channel, titled Sharpeworld.

Stairway to Stardom (1993) - Lola Perazzo

Stairway to Stardom (1984) - Lucille Cataldo

Stairway to Stardom (1983) - Reason to Live

Stairway to Stardom (1988) - Horowitz and Spector

Performance at U Wisconsin-Madison’s Starlight Cinema

I’m performing along with artist Shana Moulton this Thursday in Madison. In addition to some, er, classics, I’ll be performing a new piece, for which I made a new costume (see above). I have to admit - I’m pretty impressed with myself. My costumes are actually beginning to turn out as I had envisioned them!

Here are the deets:

Shana Moulton & Erica Magrey
a night of live performances

Thursday, March 26, 2009
8 pm - 915 pm
Starlight Cinema
Memorian Union: Fredric March Play Circle
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI

nyc video and performance artists shana moulton & erica magrey will each
perform individual sets and then come together for a rare, starlight-only
surprise collaboration. this is sure to be an evening of full impact head-on
collision wizardry so don’t miss it!

shana moulton will perform a piece titled “body ÷ mind + 7 = spirit.” in
this performance, shana brings her alter ego, cynthia, and her strange world
to life through an innovative use of props, costumes, live-action and
projected video. the performance weaves an abstract narrative out of
exercise equipment, carpal-tunnel therapy, goddess worship, the new-age pop
music of enigma, angela lansbury, the thousand-hand bodhisattva dance and
brian de palma’s carrie.

erica magrey will appear as her alter ego, metalmags, in a performance
titled “window.” here, a collage of personas, reflections and realizations
emerges as stories of transformation and empowerment are told through
movement, light, and sound. using performance, video, and songs, she creates
a psychedelic journey of self-discovery, engaging themes such as self-doubt,
nostalgia and personal mythology.

p.s. this event is free