Poor Morrissey! It’s so mind-numbingly boring in Texas. He can’t wait to get back to the Chelsea. Yeah, we feel for you Morrissey. But wait, do my eyes deceive me!? He seems to be saying that the Chelsea is insignificant!
What, Morrissey, you’re such a big, fat, scary celebrity that even huge, ten story buildings pale into insignificance next to the grandiose brilliance of your bloated form? Even the fabled Chelsea!?
Hey Morrissey, you can kiss our collective ass. Kiss the ass of the Chelsea, Morrissey. What is the ass of the Chelsea anyway? Must be located somewhere in the basement. Hey, maybe it’s Serena’s! I’d like to nominate Serena’s for the title of Ass of the Chelsea. (Although, now that I think of it, there’s probably a lot of competition for that title!)
Don’t worry Morrissey, I’m just kidding. We all love you here. Since your letter is dated January 16, 1981, I feel confident you have repented of your sin of false pride by this time. You can come back to the Chelsea and play a concert for us anytime. I’ll see if there are any dates open at Serena’s. — Ed Hamilton (Many thanks to Artie Nash for sending over the copy of Morrissey’s letter.)
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Tuesday, Jan. 2, 8:00
"(Amanda Duarte Isn’t) Famous: A Gay Fantasia on Themes of Fame, the Middle East Conflict, Classic Bone Structure and Other Subjects With Which I Have Limited to No Experience" Written and Performed by Amanda Duarte, Directed by Ben Kerrick.
The PIT, 154 W 29th St, New York, NY 10001
Tuesday, Jan. 2, 10:30 p.m.
Susanne Bartsch & Kenny Kenny invite you to Room Service Tuesdays. Hosting service: Amanda Lepore, Astro, Kim Aviance, Ladyfag. Moondust, Theodora, Richie Rich and Furey. Music Service: Alexander Technique. Sounds in the Strip Tease Lounge: Michael Cavadias aka lily of the valley Show: Dirty Martini35 East 21st St., Between Park & Broadway
Thursday, Jan. 4, 11:00 a.m.
Gerald Busby’s bi-weekly Internet radio show, Collaborations, can be heard on www.tribecaradio.net. Gerald has featured many Hotel Chelsea residents on his show. So tune in, he’s certain to have an interesting guest on board.Friday, Jan. 5, 1:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Photography and the Self: The Legacy of F. Holland Day. This exhibition includes prints from the Museum’s permanent collection that reflect various types of self-portrayal from the 1960s to the
present, and one work that foreshadows them all–F. Holland Day’s The Seven Words, 1898. Day’s bold depiction of himself as Christ provides a reminder of an aspect of the history of photography in the United States that was obscured by the long shadow of Modernism. Artists such as Charles Ray, Francesca Woodman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, Lyle Ashton Harris, and others have continued this tradition while forging new territory by using their own bodies as an integral part of their art.
Whitney Museum of Fine Art until March 11 (945 Madison Ave. at 75th Street, 212-570-3633)
Saturday, Jan. 6,
WOMANIZER, a group exhibition of dangerous females featuring Julie Atlas Muz, Kembra Pfahler, E.V. Day, Breyer P-Orridge, Vaginal Crème Davis, Bambi, and Liz Renay. Horror, hedonism, pandrogyny and pussies will all figure prominently, as these challenging artists show sculpture, video, photography, and exploring couture.
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In the early 70s, PBS broadcast the first reality series, An American Family. It told the story of the William C. Loud family from Santa Barbara, California. Their eldest son Lance, who lived at the Chelsea Hotel and hung out with Warhol "superstar" Holly Woodlawn, and was an openly and unapologetically gay young man. This is one of several clips from the series now available on youtube.com. The Loud family and their friends party on New Years Eve.
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The Winston Giles Orchestra is here to help you ring in the New Year Chelsea Hotel style.
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Better late than never. You’ve finally finished all of that shopping. Relax and let BlairWear show you
how to make a bow because decorating the package is the most important part of the gift giving ritual. -
Even though the Chelsea Hotel was good enough for Edie Sedgwick it wasn’t good enough to host the book launch party for "Edie: Girl on Fire". Instead, the party was held at the Gramercy Park Hotel, an "elegant and refined setting served as a modern day Max’s Kansas City…" Where is the modern day Edie to set fire to that fancy hotel?
From our blogging perch in the stairwell we have learned that the book has a glaring omission. While it has ample quotes from Rene Richard it doesn’t have any pictures of Edie’s former co-star. Come on, Rene was book hot in 1965 and starred along side Edie in "Kitchen" and "The Andy Warhol Story." So reprint that book!
The article about the book party goes on to report that Edie… "pretty much directed all of the Warhol films that she was in…" That’s a surprise to us we didn’t think anybody directed any of Warhols’ films. We thougth he just turned the camera on and let it run. -
Fans of Patti Smith are hosting a birthday party for the singer tonight at the Bowery Poetry Club. Confirmed performers include: Christine Goodman, Poez, and The Bass Player from Hand Job.
The Bowery Poetry Club is located at 308 Bowery, New York, NY. 10:00 p.m.The Metropolitan Museum of Art is showing A Child’s Christmas in Wales (26 min.) The film features Dylan Thomas reading his holiday story. Times are: 12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m., 2:00 p.m.–2:45 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.–4:45 p.m. The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. Free with Museum admission. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is located at 1000 Fifth Ave., NY NY
As usual, Patti Smith will be playing at the Bowery Ballroom on New Years Eve and the show is sold out. However, you can listen live on SIRIUS Satellite radio.
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Delaware/Cree/French artist and elder Alec Montroy, passed away on Dec. 4, 2006. He was 88 years
old. Alec was a figurative painter who worked in the European style of Pointillism painters. He loved art and life and especially New York City. Montroy lived for many years at the Chelsea Hotel. In an interview published in TALKING STICKS Native Arts Quarterly Alec talked briefly about his time at the Chelsea. (Thanks to Rachel Cohen for the link.)You lived for many years in a hotel known for its creative artists in residence, the Chelsea Hotel. How did you come to be one of the artists living there?
My first wife died and my two kids were off to school. I was left rattling around in a house. So the Chelsea Hotel had a name for artists and quite a history. It had very good little kitchenettes. So I got in there. You see here I have a painting of the lobby of the Chelsea Hotel, well, that was my home. It was during the days when they had ashtrays in the lobby. I lived there about 20 years before Anna and I moved here to Queens. There were many good people there and many a story.
When I pass away this art is left…If you can leave a painting it will help somebody.- Alec Montroy, August, 2005.
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I read on curbed.com that the penthouse/architectural abomination atop the old McBurney Y is finally up for sale. Flippers and speculators need not apply, as we don’t take kindly to your type in these here parts. But if you have a sincere desire to live in Chelsea, this 12,900 sq. ft. space can be
yours for the bargain basement price of $7.4 million. This seems like a lot less than what similar places were going for in the building in recent years, but this is probably due more to a softening of the market, rather than to a growing realization that the building is not quite what it’s cracked up to be.If you choose to take advantage of this deal, welcome to the neighborhood! Rest assured that you will be resented by both the common rabble of the streets, and by your rich neighbors as well. By us commoners, because you will have appropriated our beloved community institution. By your rich neighbors because they believed when they moved in that they would have the use of the roof. I’m sure to some of you jet-setting high-rollers this will make the property even more appealing, which is a good thing for the developer, as otherwise you could surely find something better on Park Avenue or in Tribeca.
Of course, in the ad for the place, they pledge to spend $120,000 to renovate the basement corridor—er, excuse me, the “lobby”—and to put in a doorman (wouldn’t you think they would have one already?!) Am I paranoid in suspecting that something is wrong with this picture when that’s the first thing they mention in the ad? My advice: get it in writing.
And by the way, how are you going to like spending all that money and then having to throw your dinner parties in a building with a huge, gaudy “Jag” ad on the side. Classy, eh! (Ed Hamilton) -
Once again, a reader from Tennessee comes through with a holiday card for us. She writes, "Aha I found your card today. Is it iconography of the birth of a god? Or is it entertainment? It’s yard work for sure."
