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Trip to NYC, part II 7/20/2003 7:10:18 AM
Cosmic Spelunker Theater's first NYC gig, Part Two. Saturday, July 12, 2003:
I wake up on the fifteenth floor on the upper west side of Manhattan. While this may be perfectly normal for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, it always feels invigorating for me. My aunt and uncle are late risers, so I take some time to stretch, read the newspaper, have tea, get started with breakfast and shower. The water is hard in Manhattan unlike the soft water to which I have become accustomed in Boston. Gerry awakes a few hours later and I have my second breakfast with her, soon afterwards, Howard joins us. We continue the evening's conversations about art and politics. After a while I get my things together and head downtown.
I take the 3 down to 42nd street and giggle at the posters for the Sesame Street parody, Avenue Q. Then I take the R to Prince Street and promptly head in the wrong direction, whereupon I find myself in what I quickly realize must be Soho because it is just like how Soho has always been described. Realizing that the club is North of Houston I make my course correction as I admire the artists selling their wares on the street. I decide to switch from my fancy kipah to my fish hat-- still with payas helixing downwards and make my way to the Bowery again.
James is already at the club. We talk about our trips and start folding paper airplanes while listening to the poet in the stage area. She is performing a series of poems about man in prison whom she loves. It appears to be something of a video taping and pen rehearsal. Some of the material is funny. Jan comes out of the bathroom and we chat a little. Lindsey serves me a very large mug of coffee. Dave, the tech guy shows up and asks me what we need. We make our lighting requests known and I disappear back stage to change into my costume and put on makeup.
When I come out, Gerry and Howard are there already. I also meet an internet pal Aleja in person for the first time. There is a mysterious woman seated in the back making eye contact with me. I have no idea who she is. Maybe the publisher of some anthology that I am in-- I did send a postcard to the press. Who knows?
James and I need to work out when Herschel is going to do his set. We have three options. Hersch shows up wearing a very snazzy shirt if I say so myself and picks the option of going on after us. He gets a kick out of my new performance persona-- he’s never seen me in white face with stripes and tights-- and shows me a children's book called "Candystore Man" which was written about him and then gives me a broadsheet of his poem "Cittee Cittee Cittee III" as a gift-- he has a celloist coming to accompany him.
James and I go on at 3:20. Our first act is a two person version of "Give & Take" in which we dropped Bill's material and altered the transitions slightly. We never did it this way before, even in rehearsals, but we pull it off well. I am a little worried that my mime argument isn't as clear as I would like, but the audience seems entertained. I see some women at the bar seemingly enjoying our show.
[Later I see it on video and I am happy for all but a the first few minutes where James and I go out of synch on the Decroux figures “Drinking from a glass in 26 moves” and “Prise et pose”]
We take a few minutes break and come back with our completely revamped version of "In Plato's Cave". James emerges as a prehistoric cave painter and I follow, using the figure of "the Egyptian Archer" that I have been developing and shoot him. We transition to yet another visual medium as James recounts his television monologue and I weave a labyrinth around him before becoming the television itself. Entering the television, James sings "Great Projector" as I swim about in my fish persona, reciting "life chews its own tail..." before plugging into a guitar amp and getting into "improvisation for Drums and Electric Guitar" James does "angels and animals" and we then do a cutup of "Wharf at Rockport" and "Myth of Creation" before our theme song of "Cosmic Spelunkers in Plato's Cave"-- then the first paper airplane improv bit in a year with "The Cosmos is..." The audience doesn't know what to do with the airplanes but they seem amused. I state "The Cosmos is Holy" and we launch into "Holy is the Underwears" followed by "Child's Trip through the Underworld", "Creator's Manifesto" and we end with "Spin Spin Spin"
I find myself taking my technique to the most extreme ends during the show. often doing near splits as I bring my torso parallel to the floor during my mime trumpet solos. There is something about performing at this place and time that makes me take it to another level.
We bow, thank the audience, and I start cleaning off my make up and changing back stage, while listening to Hersch begin his set. We were on for an hour-- longer than we ever did when Bill was with us. I take a seat in the front row after I am half way presentable and I have a great time listening to Hersch's poetry.
Afterwards, I say good bye to Aleja and thank her for coming. My Aunt tells me that she thinks I should keep doing what I am doing and never stop. The mysterious woman turns out not to be my publisher but Audrey-- another pal from cyberspace!
I also meet Steve Dalachinsky, a poet whom I've enjoyed for a few years in print. I recognize him from somewhere and he Steve teasingly explains that he’s the guy who keeps sending me notes about cutting off my payas. We hit it off immediately. He caught the Flatbush reference in “Child's Trip...” and notes that he grew up there as well and that his grandfather may have painted the ships that my grandfather built, ships that Hersch might have sailed in when he was in he navy. Steve explains that he recognizes me from a few years ago when I was foolish enough to be in Buddah's poetry circus. He declined several invitations to work with Buddah and couches his prudence in terms of his own “not being generous” then uses Buddah’s as a launch pad to riff on his irreverence to religion.
James and Jan decide to catch the train back to Boston but seem to enjoy meeting my Aunt and Uncle. I finish washing my face, say good bye to Hersch. Gerry, Howard and I have dinner at a great place on Bowery and Baynard: Great N.Y. Noodletown.
