Watch the ccn video here! She's not leaving her apartment without a fight.
Living with Legends
Hotel Chelsea Blog
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I guess it should come as no surprise to fans of the Chelsea Hotel that the recently departed Eartha Kitt had close friends at the Chelsea Hotel. Jazz.com writer Arnold Jay Smith recalls talking to Ms. Kitt at former resident George Kleinsinger’s memorial service at Judson Memorial Church. Smith had earlier met Kitt at Kleinsinger’s apartment and they both fondly recalled Kleinsinger’s famous menagerie which Smith remembers included birds, monkeys, reptiles and a kola bear. We’ve never heard the one about the kola bear before but it sounds like it would be right at home in the Chelsea. We kinda doubt that Kleinsinger or Eartha Kitt for that matter would find the Chelsea Hotel so welcoming these days.
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The Chelsea community was saddened by the recent passing of one of its legends: artist, sculptor, and filmmaker Doris Chase. Doris moved into the Chelsea in 1972, after raising a family and divorcing her husband, and lived here for 30 years, though she split her time between New York and her native Seattle. Doris is most famous for her abstract sculptures, especially her nesting ovals and arches, including two large public works in Seattle : the 15-foot “Changing Form” at Kerry
Park overlooking the city, and the 17-foot “Moon Gates” at Seattle Center.
Though perhaps her most famous film is 1985’s “By Herself: Table for One,” starring Geraldine Page, Doris is undoubtedly most well know around the Chelsea for her film “The Chelsea,” from the early 90s, when free spirits still roamed these halls. Doris was the subject of a book, “Doris Chase, Artist in Motion: From Painting and Sculpture to Video Art,” by art historian Patricia Failing.
Doris died of a combination of Alzheimer’s and a series of strokes, though she reportedly kept her good humor until the end. She is survived by two sons and their families. The hearts of the members of the Chelsea community, her other family, go out to them. -
Here’s an account of a dinner party thrown by Chelsea Hotel legend Arnold Weinstein (30-plus years in residence), Broadway librettist (“Red Eye of Love”) and famous Bon Vivant, known and loved by many at the hotel. It seems Arnold’s dinner parties must have been quite memorable, because poet Jascha Kessler still recalls this one. But then, it seems to have ruined Kessler’s life, as he feels he was rudely deprived of the Yale Younger Poets Award by a diabolical anti-Semitic,
homosexual plot—or something of the sort—hatched between fellow diners W.H Auden and the eventual winner, John Ashbery (who if I’m not mistaken still lives in the Chelsea neighborhood). Too bad Arnold is not around to comment on the controversy, as I’m sure he would have had something to say about it, but he passed away, sadly, in 2005, his friends celebrating his life with a memorial show at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Well, no doubt a fine time (or at least an interesting time) was had by all! — Ed Hamilton (Photo: Opera News — Bill Balcom, Arnold Weinstein and Arthur Miller at work in the Chelsea Hotel on the opera based on Miller's play, " View From the Bridge."
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Twas the Night Before Rents Due
Twas the night before rents due, and through the Chelsea Hotel
Not a crackhead was stirring, nor the tourist clientele.
But the Shapshak still hung by the fireplace downstairs,
In the hope that Stanley would soon be back here.
New Management was coiled up all snug on their Meds,
While plans for a Legends Cafe fizzled in their petty little heads.
And Marlene in her crotchless, with Elder in a Santa's cap
Planned to blame this bloke Tilley – from the Hard Rock, or some crap.
Then from out on West 23rd there arose some rude patter;
I jumped up from my bed when I heard the glass shatter.
And to my uncluttered balcony I made a mad dash,
Half assuming it was Star Lounge's Bridge and Tunnel trash.
Half right was I, and the Goons from the basement
Watched idly as Hip-Hoppers smashed one another’s faces.
Then what with my world weary eyes did I see
But an ambulance, more flashing lights, and the NYPD.
But next morning when the hammers began, I’d really had enough,
I choked as my little apartment filled up with toxic dust.
More rapid than beagles the building inspectors, they came,
And they swore, and shouted, and called the culprits by name!
"Now Elder! now, Tilley! now, Tamasar and McLaughlin!
Remember Born! And Drukier! And Glennon and Bernstein!
You're wrecked this landmark joint! With your presumption and gall!
Now get away! Move away! Stay away all!"
- a resident….
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Just in case you haven’t noticed, there are now brand new shiny security cameras on all wings of the hotel. So be sure to fix your hair and put on your make-up before you take out the
trash! And don’t try stepping out into the hall for a smoke, or they might just turn on the sprinklers! But hey, we all want to be famous here, don’t we? It’ll be like we’re all actors on a new, hip HBO sitcom! The kind with partial nudity and lots and lots of cursing.
What’s that you say, happy Chelsea campers? Oh, don’t be so paranoid! Of course these weren’t installed to intimidate us. It’s not like this is some sort of Hard Rock Hotel in Oceania or the maximum security wing of Rikers or something. The management reportedly told staff members that the cameras were installed to prevent guests from stealing the flat screen TVs, and of course there’s no reason to doubt their word. The devious guests (those in the more expensive rooms, obviously, so maybe they thought they were owed a refund) had reportedly been able to smuggle the TVs past the cameras in the stairwell. This should stop the thieving scum dead in their tracks, since of course they will be sure to drag the TVs out into the hall before concealing them.
Several new cameras have also been installed in the lobby and in front of the hotel, though security personnel will carry remote controls to turn them off in the event of real trouble—such as an assault on a resident.
Let me reiterate before any of you chowderheads get the wrong idea: the world famous haven of the arts and Rebel Mecca, welcoming to free spirits and deviants of all stripe who come to breath our refreshing air of openness and unbounded creativity, is not being turned into a police state. If anything, management has not gone far enough, since there are no cameras pointed down the little corridors. Yesterday I was almost overcome by the urge to dance to the bathroom in my underwear, but what’s the point, since the camera is all the way out in the main hall! — Ed Hamilton -
It seems that our fellow SRO tenants, the folks at the Riverview Hotel—to whom we lovingly bequeathed Glennon “Gigi” Travis —are getting a taste of what happens when you let these
scoundrels get their hands on a Certificate of No Harassment: rampant construction resulting in rat infestation and no heat or running water. (And of course rude behavior, though that’s a given where Gigi is concerned.) It’s this sort of construction that’s designed to get rid of the remaining holdouts at the Riverview, and as such constitutes a form of harassment in itself. Think of what the Chelsea would be like if what was happening on one wing of our second floor – harassment targeting one outspoken tenant — were happening on several floors at once!
Congratulations are in order, however, to the folks of the Riverview for taking it to the streets, protesting—fittingly and somewhat hilariously—in front of the celebrity hash house, the Waverly Inn and in front of Born & Drukier's Bowery Hotel. Why should these real estate profiteers be allowed to hobnob with the hoi polloi when real New Yorkers have to come home to the living hell they’ve created? Why not let Leo and Gwyneth know where their money is going? We could probably take a page from their book and pay a visit to minority shareholder Marlene Krauss’s favorite eatery. I, for one, would relish the opportunity to lob a loogie or two into her watercress soup. An extra helping of the Special Sauce for you Marlene! — Ed Hamilton (Photo: curbed.com) -
Scott Walker documentarian speaks to Chelsea Hotel resident Mia Hanson on the eve of the long-
awaited U.S. debut of his film, 30 Century Man. (portrait by Mia Hanson)
It's been a very busy year for filmmaker Stephen Kijak. He's back home in NYC just long enough to oversee the weeklong IFC screenings of 30 Century Man, his 2007 documentary on 60's pop icon turned musical enigma Scott Walker. Anyone actively following the cutting edge of Modern music will be familiar with Scott Walker's creative evolution from his chart-topping days with the Walker Brothers to his mysterious chameleon-like turn as a highly perfectionistic singer-songwriter of dark, beautiful and challenging "operettas". Buried forever are the approachable lovelorn anthems such as the 1966 Walker Brothers hit "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". The singer's current presence in music occupies a space in which only Walker resides. Few other composers can evoke such a polarity of emotional opinion as Scott Walker as he constructs sonic form out of punched meat sounds and bleating donkey calls. Few other working composers are as brilliant and uncompromising, leaving both David Bowie (executive producer of 30 Century Man) and Brian Eno speechless and grasping for superlatives on film when attempting to describe their awe of Walker's scope and talent.
30 Century Man has been winning praise at film festivals in Hong Kong, London, Sydney and Berlin (just to name a few!) while delighting Walker enthusiasts along the way with the gift of illuminating just what it might be like in the very private world of this musical enigma whose persona has been self- exiled in secrecy for decades.
Luckily, Stephen Kijak is more open to discussing his craft. It is clear that the documentarian seems drawn to telling the stories of idiosynchratic characters driven by their passion for the inexplicable. In the film Cinemania, from 2002, his camera follows five film buff enthusiasts all teetering on the edge of a neurotic need to claim the dubious achievement award for who can warm the most theatre seats in NYC within a lifetime. The film mines for gold and finds it. You just can't make this stuff up. Thinking about it, it becomes more clear why Kijak would take an interest in the Hotel Chelsea, "a vital and significant cultural spot", in his own words.
One can say firsthand that Stephen knows how to stir the interests of fans to his films similarly to the way a filmmaker controls the tension and release of action within a sequence. Intrigued by Walker's brooding compositions and psychology, I have attempted to purvey a preview copy of 30 Century Man for over a year now and Kijak is very good at controlling the time and place. "Like all things in Scott's world, it will be worth the wait."
And with this week's screenings at the IFC Center in Manhattan, the time is Now.
I met up with Stephen on Wednesday at IFC for what was the first in a schedule of daily screenings up through December 23rd only. Among all the excitement of the free giveaways during the director Q and A following the film, I neglected to mention that I have rarely seen a documentary so seductive in it's approach and I felt I was genuinely led by the hand and taken inside the sometimes lovely sometimes harrowing Walker compositions. That night, Stephen confessed that his film had been held back for about a year in the U.S. due to miles of red tape: "lots of song copyright issues and American lawyers".
1."Why did you feel that a story on Scott Walker was important for you to tell at this time?"On a practical level, he was about to make a new album, so the timing was perfect – and I had been such fan for such a long time and had always tried to spread the word about his music, it was, in a way, a chance to make a cinematic mix-tape of my favorite Scott tunes and have his work communicated to a lot of people. And there's a great story there as well, the story of the evolution of a songwriter, and in that, a lot of lessons that can be learned about the creative process and creative life.2. "Scott Walker is still a bit of a mystery to his fans. Why has his mystique continued within the music industry for decades, even among his collaborators?"Because he doesn't play the pop star game. He may not be as much of a mystery as people actually think, but we're so programmed to think that musicians naturally do interviews and appear on MTV (or at least they used to!), and have this desire to be public figures, that when someone pulls away from that, especially after having achieved the level of fame he did (in the 1960's) it throws us off. Fans are greedy, we want and sometimes expect too much of an artist – so he recedes, and lets the music speak for itself.3. "You started out in journalism. 30CM and Cinemania can be looked at as psychological pursuits in a way. What do you think?"I don't really see it as psychological – I never want to be seen to be pathologising a subject – especially not with Cinemania - I see film more in psychic terms, whether its documentary or narrative, you still have to try and enter that psychic, creative space, where you try to see the actual spirit of the film, and then you try to adhere to it and give it form. And on the other side of that is the craft, where it is more journalistic – documentary filmmaking has a long histories and many traditions, and I'm just still learning my way through that. At the end of the day its about finding some sort of truth, and I look for an emotional truth that I hope reflects the subjects in a true way.4. "Besides Walker, who would be the other vocalists working today that you feel are "pushing it" or really exploring something new and authentic? "
That's a hard one, because Walker isn't just a "vocalist", he is a musician, a composer, the soundworld is total. I honestly can't think of one. I'm more inclined to look at an artist, like, say, Anselm Kiefer- someone working in the visual arts, making conceptually rigorous and seriously imposing pieces that carry a weight of myth and history in them. From Walker, I just spin off more into art like that. It's hard for me to find other music to connect to it now.
5. "Is there any one subject that you would never personally investigate via film?"
Myself. Filmmakers who turn the camera on themselves generally irritate the hell out of me. I don't want to be that confronted by ego.
6. "Do you have any words of advice for student filmmakers that might be reading this interview?"
Yes. Celebrity lasts for a minute. Art lasts for a lifetime. Trends come and go, but it's the story, vision and craft that make for good filmmaking.
7. " Lastly, I feel I should ask what is the largest misconception regarding making films today…"
That we make money doing it!
The IFC Center is located at 323 Avenue of the Americas, Manhattan. 30 Century Man shows daily through December 23rd only. Stephen Kijak in attendance for the 7:40pm shows this Friday and Saturday.
Living with Legends 