+(cropped.jpg)
OPENING NIGHT
Straddling parallel universes. The work of shamans,
diplomats, ambassadors, and quite often, it seems artists.
Perhaps, probably, certainly, everyone spans and breaches
certain gaps within their own lives. I think of the students I worked with at
the Hispanic Liaison, whose parents had spent their formative years/lives in a
culture in many ways unrecognizable from the one that they the students were
now being forced to negotiate, translate, reconcile. This is both the beauty
and challenge of our modern world, perhaps always has been, for the traveling, multifaceted human…
All this is to say that the evening of May 10th was looking to be one of
the crazier nights in artistic career/life yet…
In some ways, my two world sphere’s were threatening to
collide on the evening of May 10th. And as they swung past one another in the
course that night, it would take some deft maneuvering to navigate between
them, and not get crushed, or pulled apart, as attached to both as I am…
How to be in two places at once?
For tonight was Opening night
RUBBISH 2 RUNWAY’s opening night and ‘trashion’ show,
and also
and also
ZamBamBooGee's long anticipated performance at Bynum Front Porch Music Series.
Typically, I was attempting to FIND A WAY, SOMEway, SOMEhow, to do both...
Crazy day/crazy night
Most of my day was spent at Frank Gallery, trying to finnish securing the dress as best I could.
It was satisfying to finally see the thing all fastened together (a couple hours before the runway!).
I snapped this picture on the twilight of the runway, which would very soon be alit with bursting flash bulbs and our gorgeous models sporting our creations.
+(cropped.jpg)
Before I carried Fobidden Fruit Dress upstairs, for preperations for the model fitting and photo shoot, I thought to take her outside for a quick walk and photoshoot on the promenade.
.jpg)
photos by Edie Cohn
Then it was upstairs, where I used a few spare minutes to a 'ceremonial anointment', or shine up the rubber parts of the dress.
photos thanks to Edie Cohn.
Then I rushed downstairs, to capture Nicole's star arrival, which, when it came, she was wearing very well...
She looked so good in what she was already wearing, I kept wishing we could skip the Fruit Salad..
But alas, the show must go on.
So my mom and Nicole and I managed to get the dress on Nicole, thanks to some dressing rooms generously donated by the vintage thrift store next door.
Then came make up time.
And finally, the photo shoot, deftly orchestrated by FRANK pool of excellent photographers.
It was at this point that I had to make my departure, bid my trusty accomplices farewell, and dash across the county line down to Bynum, NC
When I got there, I was struck that the energy of the scene could not have been more different!
I had nimbly woven my way through and finally out of a tightly pressurized micro climate of buzzing urgency; honking with dense model traffic, and then dense car traffic.
And when I opened my door, and stepped out of my space shuttle, I could have fallen over, for the pressure difference. (I’m lucky I didn’t get the bends!).
The sense calm in the placid air was almost astounding. I walked up to the stage, where my
A separate universe, only 15 miles down the road!..
So tranquil and placid in Sleepy Bynum, a field of soft luminous green, a chorus of insects chirping.
As we played out our set, at a certain moment, my being was struck by an image on Nicole, making her way down the runway, photo flashes bursting around her like fireworks, and felt distinctly connected to them, across time and space, from across our small galaxy.
While part of me wished I could be there, enough of me felt like I was.
And seeing a curious mayfly alight on my shimmering ride cymbal (inspecting, perhaps,this strange rippled pool of bronze water that had visited its environment) and hopping (undeterred) when I gave it a demonstrative tap, I recognized my own joy to be here.
A few special friends gathered there, to enjoy the gentle ambience of Bynum’s ‘Front Porch’, infused with a little ZamBamBoogie in their woogie, and maybe even (I like to think) recognize my big duel purposed evening. Someone later said they heard we ‘killed Bynum’ the other night. I don’t know if that’s the word I would have used, but we did play a good, hard solid set (inspite of being a very important man down- Bruce sick with high fever). And it seemed evident that the good people of Bynum, seated in rows of folding white chairs, quietly, somewhat solomnly recognized and appreciated what we delivered to them that night.
After we finally had broken down and packed up all of the gear, I made a little pilgrimage down to the river. A ceremonial dip was just the thing to cap off the night, the day, the week, the months.. How refreshing it was!
Many thanks are in order for this impossible evening to work:
A huge thanks to Diane and Scotty and Jenne and Liz Todesco, for helping me to get in to set up drums early (which eventually Scotty did himself, bless him!).
Thanks also to the rest of the band (soundman Geo De Socio included), for being so cool and flexible about it all). Bynum Front Porch was great to work with as always, as well.
And of course, a huge thanks to the excellent staff at FRANK GALLERY for being very flexible and accomodating, and for putting on a helluva a show.
And of course, thank you to Nicole, for so bravely and expertly modeling the dress that evening.
It was such a thrill to see you working that dress.
And thanks to my Ma, Edie, for being an excellent support assistant in the process, and for documenting the evening. As I furiously buffed and polished the rubber straps of the dress before the show, and looked down and saw my Mom sprawled out on the carpet, camera snapping up at me, I was reminded once again that I might quite possibly have the coolest mom in the world..
