I love articles that start out by telling you that they’re not going to be any good (The Independent). That gives me an excuse to not read them. But I soldiered on through Tracey Emin’s hang-over noodlings because I wanted to see what she said about the Chelsea. And boy am I glad I did. Turns out that after a party at the Chelsea, she and her friends decided to explore the basement. God knows what they did down there, but now it’s permanently locked at night, with signs posted saying that’s the new policy. We were wondering what brought that about. Thanks for the info Tracey. But really, what the hell went on down there?
On Saturday night, my New York gallery, Lehmann Maupin, held a dinner for me. I sat next to two of my favourite men – Hamish McAlpine and Julian Schnabel. It was a really cool dinner and I stayed 
sober. Well, sober enough to go to Phil Collins’ party. (That’ s Phil Collins the artist, not Phil Collins the musician). Mad nutty party in a suite in the Chelsea Hotel. Dancing until 4.30am. The grand finale, finding ourselves lost in the basement of the hotel. It was really scary. Like a scene out of Most Haunted. But I managed to stay calm and serene among the pipes and the ghosts – that’s because I was reasonably sober. Any other time, I think I would have wet myself. That’s what people do when they are really afraid. They wet themselves. (Source: The Independent, March 17, 2006, Tracy Emin)
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My Mother Told Me I was Different: Stories from Stonewall On June 27, 1969 a routine raid on a little known Greenwich Village gay bar sparked a spontaneous series of events that forever changed the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. Who were the people in the Stonewall Bar that evening? What happened that night in the bar, on the street, and in people’s minds, and why were these events destined to change society? “My Mother Told Me I was Different: Stories from Stonewall” is the moving story of the night that changed history, as told by the people who lived it. The reading will be directed by legendary downtown director and founding pioneer of Gay and Women’s Theatre, David Gaard. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St., btwn. Stanton & Rivington St. 212-777-6028. 7 p.m. Free. (Source: Gay City News)
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We hope that Bob and Patti don’t use up all of their energy defending literary love nests in London, because we here at the Chelsea may need to call on them some day. With soulless yuppie condos springing up all around, where else but the Chelsea can future bohemians hope to compose their as yet unwritten Horses or "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands."
Musicians Bob Dylan and Patti Smith are being dragged into a fight to save one of literature’s most debauched and disreputable love nests.
The dilapidated house in Camden, north London, was the backdrop for the absinthe drinking, drug-taking and scandalous affair between the French poets Rimbaud and Verlaine who lived there in the 19th century.The home is now to be sold along with two adjoining houses, and campaigners fear it may be redeveloped to erase the house’s literary link unless a sympathetic buyer is found. Rock literati Dylan and Smith, both admirers of the poets, have been approached to give muscle to the efforts to preserve the property. (Source: Independent)
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A while back I posted that I was planning to read a book called Stuart: A Life Backwards, which I remarked was a "non-Chelsea related" title. But, Whitbread prize-winning novelist Joan Brady (Theory of War) has just written to tell me how wrong I was:
In re Alexander Masters, he is in fact the great nephew of Edgar Lee Masters, who lived at the Ch
elsea for many years. I am his mother. His father was Dexter Masters, Lee’s nephew. That is, he is not unrelated to the hotel at all. Furthermore, all three of us stayed at the Chelsea for over a month in 1970 or 1971. Alexander’s book Stuart is scheduled to come out in the US on 30 May. You will find it listed at amazon.com.
It just goes to show: everybody who’s anybody has stayed at the Chelsea. (If you’ve read Stuart, which is about a schizophrenic homeless man, you might think it’s likely that he’s lived here too. Certainly we’ve had many like him.)Anway, check out Joan Brady’s new novel, Bleedout as well.
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Part IV: Another Sort Of Hotel (Parts I, II, & III)
The old woman wore herself out early from singing all day, and went into her room and closed the door at about nine o’clock that evening. I was still pissed off about having been deprived of sleep. By this point I was so angry, in fact, that I couldn’t even write once it was quiet. As the night wore on, all I could think of was revenge. At about midnight I threw open my window and stuck my head out to see if I could see into the woman’s room. Her lights were out and there was no sound coming from within. No smell of gas either. If I had had a smoke bomb, I would have heaved it in through the woman’s window. I’ve got to remember to keep some of those suckers on hand.
I thought about dressing all in black and going over there to perform an exorcism, but I would have needed a suitable text, and I had sold off most of my books before I moved into my closet at the Chelsea.
Anyway, I had a better idea. I drained my beer for courage and headed out into the hall. I got
the fire extinguisher down off its hook, walked over to the crazy woman’s door, and banged on it good and hard. Harder than necessary. It was taking her a while to answer, so I banged some more. She appeared at the door in her bath robe, with her coat over the top of it. A blast of cold air hit me in the face."What the hell?!" she screamed, her eyes darting back and forth. "Who are you?!"
I held the fire extinguisher in one hand and the hose in the other. "I’m the exterminator," I said.
For just a moment, her face showed terror. "What?! What do you want?!"
"I’m here to spray your room."
The woman just totally went off: fucking this and fucking that. I thought she was fucking going to attack me for a minute, the way she was thrashing her arms around. I got away from her quick, almost running. The time I took to hang up the fire extinguisher probably would have given her a chance to catch me, but something must have given her pause. She just screamed; she didn’t chase.
And really, I don’t know what she had to complain about. You’d think she would have appreciated this independent confirmation for her theory. But maybe she just hated her late husband, the exterminator, so much that she couldn’t bear to be reminded of him. Poor man, at least now he’s at rest. For the second night in a row, the woman screamed long into the night.
After riling up the crazy woman, I didn’t get much sleep that night. But I still felt it was worth it. I finally drifted off, chuckling to myself, near dawn.I was awakened not long after by a sharp rap at my door. It was the manager, Mr. Lovano. I don’t think the crazy woman had fingered me, but he had somehow put two and two together. "What did you do to that woman last night?" he asked. "Did you threaten her, or what?"
"Oh, hell no,” I said. “I just said I was the exterminator."
Mr. Lovano didn’t seem angry. If anything, he seemed slightly amused. Still, he shook his head in disbelief, and said, "Thanks a lot. We had just gotten her settled down."
"No problem," I said. And then, standing there in my boxer shorts, still groggy, an idea occurred to me. “You know, maybe we should get an exterminator. The mice don’t bother me so
much, but the roaches are all over the place.”“Every building in New York has roaches,” Mr. Lovano said. “Get some of those hotels.”
“What?” I said, not comprehending at all.“Those hotels. You know, some of those roach hotels.”
They got rid of the old woman when her week ran out. I was surprised: I thought she was going to be one of those who barricade themselves in their rooms and refuse to leave. We get a lot of those cases around here, people who they just keep on gassing, but who never seem to take the hint. Anyway, she went on her way to cause trouble elsewhere: hopefully, to the nuthouse, but most likely just back to the good ol’ Harold Johnson’s. (Copyright 2006 Ed Hamilton)
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Monday, March 20, 7:30 p.m.
R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, Bright Eyes, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D and Rufus Wainwright will
join peace activist Cindy Sheehan for the Bring ‘Em Home concert. The event will benefit the Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace. The evening’s guest hosts will include such celebrities as Jane Fonda, Alec Baldwin, Margaret Cho and Janeane Garofalo; while Steve Earle, Fischerspooner, Peaches and Devendra Banhart will be among the other performers. (Tickets)
Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, NY NYTuesday, March 21, 10:30 p.m.
Susanne Bartsch & Kenny Kenny present Happy Valley Tuesdays. DJ Tommie Sunshine; downstairs DJ Ryan. SHOWS: the new opera dance sensation MAGAL and The Ultra Hot UFFIE.
14 East 27th St., NY NYWednesday, March 22, 8:00 p.m.
Don’t miss this star studded Chelsea evening at the Lincoln Center. Pianist Bruce Levingston, one of
this country’s leading exponents of new music, will be joined by renowned composer/performer Philip Glass in an evocative piano duet from Mr. Glass’ Orphee. Ethan Hawke will read Mr. Glass’ setting of Allen Ginsberg’s poem Wichita Vortex Sutra.
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. $50, $35, $20 or splurge for tickets to the gala.Thursday, March 23, 8:00 p.m.
The Sam Shepard Festival kicks off at The Big Little Theatre. For the first time ever all 45 plays will be presented. Tonight, you can catch "Buried Child," for which Shepard received a Pulitzer Prize in 1979. (Photo: Sam Shepherd & Patti Smith atthe ChelseaOn stage according to a well placed reader of the blog.)
The Big Little Theatre, 141 Ridge St., NY NYIf you have a relevant event that you would like featured in "All Tomorrow’s Parties," please e-mail the information to chelblog@yahoo.com.
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Elefant singer/indie rock sex symbol Diego Garcia falls into a videotaped romp with a lolita at the famously seedy Chelsea Hotel. The debauched experience seems to set the whole band in a
mad panic, which is compounded by the realization that someone has tampered with their instruments. The obvious precursor to this gritty, yet artful b&w video is Madonna’s "Justify My Love," although "Lolita" actually outdoes it in terms of actual nudity. — watch the uncensored "Lolita" in Quicktime, Real, or Windows Media -
Hank Williams Sr.’s granddaughter and frequent Hotel Chelsea guest, Holly Williams, is reported to be
in serious condition following an automobile accident. "Holly Williams, 25, and her sister, Hillary, were going the funeral of their maternal grandfather Wednesday afternoon when the crash occurred about 45 miles from Memphis, Williams` publicist told the Memphis Commercial Appeal."How has staying in the Chelsea affected your creative development?
It makes me want to be as honest bnd raw as I possibly can. It makes me write things that I care about, and forget about what other people want. Chelsea Hotel #2 by Leonard Cohen is a brilliant song, along with many others written about that magical place.
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Currently on eBay, there are four bids on this print of a photo of mail artist Ray Johnson which was taken in George Kleinsinger’s room here at the Hotel Chelsea. Kleinsinger was the composer who wrote the music for Tubby the Tuba, though he is perhaps more famous for the menagerie of exotic animals — including snakes, monkeys, skunks, doves and turtles — he kept in his apartment on the 10th floor.We once met an elderly lady when we were drinking in El Quijote and upon hearing that we lived in the Chelsea the first thing she asked was, "Is that man with the snakes still there? I quite going to that place because of him! Everytime I got on the elevator, there he was with a snake!"
The high bid on the photo is currently $22.50.
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The Alleghan County Historical Society in Michigan is in the process of creating a display devoted to the film, Ciao Manhattan, in their old county jail which is now home to the Old Jail Museum. Scenes
from Ciao Manhattan were shot in one of the cell blocks and they are seeking any Ciao Manhattan memorabilia and/or contact from individuals who were either in the film or were involved in the making of it – or anyone else who may have information about it. Please contact Tom Fleming, President of the Alleghan County Historical Society at email address trf2916@btc-bci.com, by telephone: (269) 673-440, or by snail mail to Allegan County Historical Society, 2916 102nd Ave., Allegan, MI 49010.Tom was actually present during the filming of Ciao Manhattan. He was a deputy sheriff at the time and it was his duty to escort Paul America to the second floor cell block across the street from the jail that he was housed in. (Source: www.warholstars.org)
