Noir Pictures

Slipper Rabbits

2009-11-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

"Kiss Meets The Phantom." I meet Podkisst!

2009-10-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

I did this interview and had a blast with good people (Gary and Ken) at PODKISST. From their website: "This was… without a doubt… the funniest, raunchiest, and sexiest PodKISSt interview we’ve done so far! Definitely NOT for kids!!! You will NEVER watch this movie the same way again!!! And if you’re a KISS fan, you owe it to yourself to check out the AMAZING t-shirt Lisa’s offering through ebay (click the link below). It’s the ULTIMATE shirt for any KISS Army member, and for anyone who loves “Phantom of the Park” as much as we do! Download for your listening pleasure: http://bit.ly/2rRRjH

CLICK HERE to buy my Dirty Dee T-Shirt

The Best Show on WFMU Inspires Me

2009-07-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I start a new photo project on my own every couple of years. I've just started my latest, shooting a community of people I've (mostly) only heard on the radio. I hope you'll enjoy the pictures and the people as much as I have and do. The full description and the first photograph is up on my website www.lisajaneperskyphoto.com. and hey, sign the guest book while you're there. Thanks all and thanks Tom Scharpling, LJP

P.S. Anybody ever hear or hear of SOD?

Are You Fan Enough?

2008-09-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Kissology/Phantom/Dirty Dee fans;

You read my story HERE. Now buy this shirt.
Artist Rick von Dehl came up with this cool design.

Dirty Dee Beefy T's come in black with design in white on the front.

"Chopper don't hurt nobody less he wants to."
Order may take up to 4 weeks.

Order on Ebay beginning August 17th 2009

Search: Dirty Dee Tee

Iggy Pop is the sweet, mushy center of Rock

2006-10-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

I don’t know how old Iggy is. It never mattered with him. He’s just always Iggy. He knows when to turn over. How to perfectly roast. No changing with the wind. Original. (Even in the Varvatos ads-have you seen them?) I like that about The Igster. Everybody wants to sound smart, and he is, but Iggy doesn’t have the compulsion to knock you dead with his intelligence. Not when he says "Admiral Dozier is a Bull Dozer" or; "I’ve got a pain in my neck-what the hell-what the heck." He's not compromising the genre, he's constantly reminding us of the bottom line.

Here's what it was like at the Astrodome in 1981 where I was lucky enough to get the backstage pass while visiting Gary (who was playing with Iggy at the time). No Pictures. Just this shot at recollecting:

When you get your gig opening for the Rolling Stones to a capacity crowd in a massive venue you don’t want to have to get medical service. The crowd wanted their "Tattoo You" tour. Iggy, their hometown boy, was the automatic scape-goat for or at least seventy-thousand Motor City Stones stoners. They started yelling at him to get off the stage from the minute he walked out. They started chucking stuff, threw everything they had. Emptied their pockets of all but the chump change. They'd spent their real money on the tickets and the beer. By the end, he was bleeding and cut and so was the drummer.

Everybody filed offstage past Keith Richards’ first class gurney with the full set up for any emergency, for just in case the fossil blanched and fell. Keith Richards, such a fragile flower. The Rolling Bones, even back then.

When we get to the dressing room Iggy takes a pillow off of the couch, gently slips it out of it’s case, tells the roadie to run to the stage and put everything the audience threw in there and bring it back. And when he does, Iggy turns the lights up full dumps it out in the middle of the room. It's a rock 'n' roll still-life of bottle caps, rocks, bullets, glass, syringes, half-eaten Snickers and other food crap. Iggy’s ecstatic, electric, dancing, elastic, got a lust for life.
Then he splits the booty with everyone in the room, gives out presents. That’s how I got my knife with two blades that says Dedicated to Paper Industry Products. Just before walking on stage for the second night's performance at the Silverdome, Iggy put on a single pair of sheer-to-waist black panty hose purchased earlier at 7-11. He got the full attention of the crowd. This time he threw them. Now- that’s "...like hypnotizing chickens"

He has a rare genius for purity of expression, seeming impervious to adversity.
He's a rock 'n roll poster-child love-in. Imperturbable. Original. Age is no factor.

If you want to read what is probably the greatest Rock'n'Roll Gig Rider ever written check out Iggy's at The Smoking Gun.Publish

The Automobile May Die but the Road Goes On Forever

2009-06-02T11:14:00.001-07:00

I laugh and cry more as I get older. Irony is harder to ignore. That's what usually sets me off. I first noticed this amped emotional onset a couple of years ago during the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup . It was more than likely the 15th time I'd seen it. Just before the famous mirror scene, Harpo (dressed as Groucho) gets the combination to the safe. When he's found the safe he begins to work the dial but it's NOT the safe. During this particular viewing, my laughter morphed unexpectedly into tears. I had a mortal moment. I thought; what if I never get to see this again? I've never been too distant from thoughts of my own mortality but in this instant the idea both crushed and connected me to my self.

When life is sweet, it's hard to imagine that any alternative is going to be as good--and life is sweet for most of us in many moments regardless of the hardship, struggle, difficulty, cruelty we each endure. Having cheated death a few times, I've proved to myself how much I value staying alive. I think I value most what connects us to one another.

This is where David Lynch comes in. I like David Lynch. I like his movies and I like his weather report. I liked his Angriest Dog In The World and I like what he's done with his practice of Transcendental Meditation. I like the road he's on. Those of you who know my photographs, especially the Lonescapes, know I love the road. The road is process, not destination. America is often thought of in regard to it's love affair with the automobile but for most of us the car ain't jack without the road and the road goes on forever.

Personal stories have always moved me. Whether a person's story is expressed through their art or in conversation, there is always something unique and something universal, human. When you have time, please look into what's going on here. I think there's going to be a lot of magic in this very real collaboration: INTERVIEW PROJECT Shared via AddThis

Another Somewhat Satisfied Kindle Customer

2009-05-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

I'm like anyone who loves gadgets, art, reading and a social life. Make what you want of the order.
I want them to come together in a portable format that lives forever.
That's an order some bright entrepreneurial upstart of a start-up should be able to take on, right? All you have to do is blend the features that are out there on several individual devices into one earth shattering K.O. of customer satisfaction. Take the groovy stuff from the iphone (which is just about everything but definitely not the phone) and mix with Kindle 2 and laptop. Okay, maybe the forever part is too much to ask for just yet. If you're a company that's doing this, please keep me in your loop.

BUT:

if none of you Upstart Startups are out there listening/creating my monster winner of a device then Jeff B., Michael D., get together. This one's for you:

Dear Kindle Laboratory and Dell -

I can't wait for some groovy laptop (no names, please), and the kindle 2 to mate. With all the great features of the parents, they'd make a beautiful kid that will also entice younger buyers.

Give us the size and weight of the kindle 2 with a screen that would take up more of the face.

The option of backlight or none (reading books with no backlight is esp. good after looking at a backlit screen all day at work.)

Looks count: (choice of skins, font, color, etc.)

More: battery, books Wi-Fi-surfspeed of light, baby!
All the cool apps that now go mostly to iphone users.
While I'm asking: HELP SAVE OUR NEWSPAPERS. You know you can do it with this hybrid.

C'mon. Let us buy it for some reasonable folding green.

I mean, it's not like you're crossing an elephant with a housecat.

Is it?

Sincerely,

Your mostly loyal customer

P.S. You know this really is what the people want.

Here's more evidence and wish lists: http://ddimick.typepad.com/dennis_dimicks_blog/2009/04/next-platform-iphonekindle-hybrid.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_kindle.php

More stuff about Kindle and Newspapers:
http://www.poynteronline.org/column.asp?id=131&aid=163397
http://www.flypmedia.com/issues/30/#3/1

Bea Nice

2009-04-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

Friends of mine have heard my Bea Arthur impression. It’s me saying “Good Morning, Everybody” in an exhausted tone, my lowest register. That’s what she would say first thing as she arrived on the set of The Golden Girls during my short stay of one episode.

I played her daughter (Kate Zbornak) who was about to be married off. She never said another thing the rest of any day unless it was to give a directorial note. I got one as she opened the set’s front door to greet me/my character and moved in for a hug; “Don’t put your arms around my neck.” I made sure not to get another.

People always ask the same question about any celebrity I work with; “Is she/he nice?” I’ve asked it myself. In this case I would have to say no. We have no real right to want the people we admire to be approachable but it certainly makes working with them a lot easier. I’ve known perfectly despicable people who could be worked with. In those cases, people aren’t usually doing their best work-especially if it’s supposed to be comedy. I always hated those “trust exercises” in acting class but the point didn’t go unappreciated.

In Bea Arthur’s defense, I was just one more actress in a long line of guest cast members who drifted through the many pioneering shows she starred in. Situation comedy never being my strong suit, I probably wasn’t even a very good guest-cast member. But it wasn't just me. As far as I could tell, everyone got short shrift and a few got shorter. At the very least she had a lack of patience or compassion for anyone on the set. I spent time wondering what it would take to find her good side. I spent time making sure I didn’t cover it up with a downstage hugging arm. I made sure my deodorant was working, my breath was sweet.

Maybe she was going through menopause. Maybe her dog (if she had one) had died that week. Maybe it was a one-off. Maybe she was cheerful and gay the rest of the time. She may have felt my reticence toward her. In a later episode, Dorothy’s daughter was played by another actress. That actress and I have never compared notes. Maybe I was just unavailable for that episode.

I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking of her or my Golden Girls experience. Her coldness made it hard to be my best. It created dis-ease, was the beginning of my inability to feel good about myself in the business of acting. I admired her brilliant and hilarious work in spite of her manners, my experience. I’ve just always been a sensitive plant.

The Health Crisis/SPEAK UP!

2009-07-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

THIS IS WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST:

It's going to look like the Middle Ages again with no middle class and poor people dropping dead in the streets, the rich living in their walled-off fiefdoms apart from the horror, sending their minions down to "acquire" the property of the dead for free. Civilization is getting far less civilized all over the world. You may, if you have the stomach for it, notice it everywhere you look outside of your own home-which you may be losing.

For any civilization to thrive, it's people must thrive (particularly women and children). There's plenty of historical and scientific evidence to back this up. You don't need me to give it to you.

NOW IS THE TIME TO SPEAK OUT.

I don’t know what you all do for health coverage but it’s time to get as involved in the debate as you can. Call, write, petition your representatives now.

In my case, even though I've been paying into a plan for 32 years (and barely used it), Screen Actor's Guild/Producers Health Plan is squeezing me out of their policy by jacking the amounts I need to make per year for coverage. The amounts are impossible to make if you aren’t in the top tier. If you are in the top tier (which is probably less than 10% of SAG) you’re covered. If you don’t make the minimum, they kick you to COBRA, which you’re allowed to try to pay for for 36 months. It costs appx. 4500.00 for 6 months. I’m not making it, folks. Are you?

Because producers no longer pay a living wage to any but the big stars, most of us either never get any or lose our coverage altogether. Hey, SAG members, correct me if I’m wrong. The rest of you, tell me and your Reps. your story.

Thanks, Ronnie Meckler for drawing my attention to this article. Check it out: Ex Executive accuses insurance giant of 'purging' customers.

Rain is Good/Photos From the High Line

2009-06-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up in the 1970’s, Washington St./10^th Avenue from Gansevoort stretching north to 17^th was derelict and devoid of life but for the meat packing plants in the daytime and a few sex bars at night. The High Line, an old elevated rail was mostly useful for the shade it provided on a hot summer day. In spite of that shade, parts of cow rotted beneath and for all the time we spent on the streets we stayed clear of there. I do have nostalgia for people, events and places of the period but this is halved by my memory of the very real squalor and decrepitude most of us experienced daily--and (as a charming offshoot of that poverty) an assault I suffered on a street nearby.

I first heard there was a movement to make the High Line into a legitimate people place several years ago. Given the difficulty of making and implementing any big idea in any big city, I can’t say I had high hopes. Now that I’ve experienced it, I feel a bit guilty about my meager expectation.

The realization of this ambitious plan is life-changing for New York. High Line designers James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio & Renfro pay more than architectural lip-service to the origins and surroundings of the place they embrace every aspect and give it new life. Leftover decay (minus the stench) is glamorized and incorporated into it. The lightly fragrant plantings, the furnishings, the paving all integrate gracefully into sweeping views, what was before, is now and ever shall be.

Oh sure, a few people will come along and ruin it for everyone with tagging, battery or perhaps a drunken suicide or two, but in spite of them, New York has more than a lovely new park or tourist attraction, it has reclaimed a part of it’s history, re-invented a neighborhood, provided an experience, and built a peaceful monument to what hundreds of people can do together for the good old-fashioned enjoyment of all.

Congratulations to Robert Hammond and Joshua David who first created a community-based group called Friends of the High Line to promote the idea of turning it into an elevated park, the City of New York who threw weight and 50 million smackers behind it, Andre Balazs, who opened the Standard Hotel that straddles the line at W. 13^th St. and thousands of people who donated their time and money to complete this phase (which cost 152 million).

If you are inspired by this project (or my pix), please donate, volunteer or show support in any way that suits you: The High Line

What Rodney Bingenheimer Said

2009-06-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

So the other night, I see Rodney at Canters. He took up his usual booth. Since I have a long time acquaintanceship with the Mayor, I stopped by the table, old Hollywood style. I tell him people have been coming to my blog lately searching out the following phrase which goes something like this:
What does Rodney think of the movie Mayor of Sunset Strip?
Given that query and the fact that the interview we did so many years back gets a lot of hits, maybe I should blog a few of his thoughts on the movie.
This is what he said about it:
"They made it look like I live in a closet. I have a big apartment. When they showed the front of my building they got a bum from somewhere and paid him to lie out in front for the shot. I don't like it. I've had a great life, a happy life. I used to be friends with Kim Fowley. We were friends. I don't talk to him anymore. I don't talk to Chris Carter, either. Every time you see me there's this sad violin music. The DVD has some extra stuff, some happier stuff, but you have to look for it." That's the gist. Every silver lining has a cloud. Here's one of the things that bugged me. The movie is called, as you know, THE MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP but they never tell you how Rodney got that name. Seems like a no-brainer that the filmakers would want to 'splain that, does it not? Anyway, if you want to know, read the interview Rodney did with me for the L.A. Weekly back in 1979.

Inner Space

2009-06-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

This show is on my MUST SEE list. It's at Winkleman Gallery which is one of my favorite spaces. I hope you can make it there, too. Here's the Review from the New York Times' Ken Johnson:

EVE SUSSMAN AND RUFUS CORPORATION

‘White on White: The Pilot (just like being there)’

Winkleman

637 West 27th Street, Chelsea

Through June 20

Remember the space race? In the 1960s, going to the Moon and beyond was a galvanizing fantasy for millions of Americans and Russians. Now it seems a quaint artifact of a more innocent and gullible time.

In this vein, Eve Sussman and her collaborators, who go by the name Rufus Corporation, have constructed an evocative think piece: a meticulously detailed re-creation of the office of the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to go into space and to orbit Earth. After Gagarin’s death in 1968, the Soviets made his office a museum, which Ms. Sussman visited, photographed and simulated so faithfully that it looks as if the real thing — including chairs, a desk, telephones, memorabilia and fake daylight coming through sheer white curtains from a false window — had been teleported to Chelsea.

Besides being an impressive feat of realism, the installation, which looks more antique than modern to a contemporary eye, invites meditation on the aspirations and disappointments of technological progress. The title, “White on White,” refers to the proto-Minimalist, all-white painting by Kasimir Malevich, and, by extension, to the once seemingly unlimited and now apparently stymied possibilities of human evolution.

This is a surprising and intriguing turn for Ms. Sussman, who is known for her cinematic re-creation of “Las Meninas” by Velázquez and modern film version of the story “The Rape of the Sabine Women.” She plans to use the Gagarin office as a set for a futuristic film noir. That should be something to look forward to. KEN JOHNSON

Unfortunate name; Bangkok.

2009-06-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

What was he thinking? Both heads tied together? Really? It disturbs me. This morning when I heard Carradine was found dead in Bangkok, I thought it might be a sex thing but I stopped myself. Why so cynical, I thought? Not every old white male who goes to Bangkok goes there to have freaky sex. Some guys just go there to see "The Giant Swing" (yes, the actual name of one of Bangkok's main tourist attractions) or to make a movie, RIGHT? Imagine my disappointment. I'm not one of those people who loves to be right, grasshopper. This makes me really blue, but I'm damn sure not going to suffocate.

Carradine Death Was Accidental

4 June 2009 3:05 PM, PDT

David Carradine died during a sex game that went wrong, according to sources in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was found dead on Thursday.

Carradine's body was discovered in a hotel suite and local reports suggested he committed suicide.

He was discovered by a maid, naked and hanged, but the suggestions his death had a sexual twist were strongly disputed by the star's close friend, attorney Vicki Roberts, and his manager Chuck Binder, who insisted he died of natural causes.

But a statement from Carradine's representative now indicates the actor died during a sex act.

The spokesperson tells TMZ.com, "We can confirm 100 per cent that he never would have committed suicide. It was an accidental death. Everybody is in shock."

Rumours Carradine died attempting auto-erotic asphyxiation - where victims achieve heightened sexual pleasure by restricting their air supply - are backed up by a quote a Bangkok police officer gave to British newspaper The Sun.

The cop tells reporters, "A rope was attached to his neck and also to his penis".

Rocker Michael Hutchence was rumoured to have died attempting the same sex act in a Sydney, Australia hotel room back in 1997 - although his death was officially declared a suicide.

Carradine was in Thailand to shoot new movie Stretch. He was 72.

That's Shoo Biz:

2009-04-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

Look, just because we age doesn't mean we're dead. The business I've been in for more than half my life will try to break you then kill you. Let me count the ways--but not right now. Right now, I'm posting this press release from Harlan Ellison regarding his recent law suit.
Read this as a favor to yourself--and not just because it's great writing:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ELLISON SUES STAR TREK

Harlan Ellison, multiple award-winning writer of the famed teleplay for the original Star Trek episode, City on the Edge of Forever, sued Paramount on March 13, 2009 for failing to account to, or pay, Mr. Ellison for the merchandising, publishing, or any other exploitations, of the famous teleplay, from inception to date. The suit also names the Writers Guild of America and alleges the WGA failed to act on Ellison’s behalf after numerous requests.

Ellison’s City on the Edge of Forever (the memorable episode starring Joan Collins as salvation sister Edith Keeler, the woman Kirk loved and watched die; remember?) continues, 35 years after its original NBC airing, to receive critical accolades, and has become legendary as one of the all-time money-making commercial favorites: it won the coveted Writers Guild award for year’s best teleplay; it won the “Hugo” award of the World Science Fiction Convention; it was ranked as one of the “100 Greatest Television Episodes of All Time” by TV Guide in 1997 as part of its 50 year survey; it was “One of the 100 Most Memorable Moments in Television History” in the 29 June 1996 nationwide survey; and as recently as its 20-26 April 2002 issue, TV Guide celebrated Star Trek’s 35^th anniversary featuring, of the hundreds of episodes since its debut, its 35 Greatest Moments!

Harlan Ellison’s City on the Edge of Forever was #2.

Mr. Ellison’s attorney, John H. Carmichael, points out that the 1960 collective bargaining agreement between the WGA and the Producers, as amended in 1966, assures to the writers of individual teleplays “a piece of the pie.” Specifically, Mr. Carmichael states, “Writers under that WGA agreement are supposed to get 25% of the revenue from the licensing of publication rights. From Dollar One. Here, Paramount licensed its sister-corporation Simon & Schuster, through its Pocket Books division, the right to publish a knock-off trilogy of paperbacks – the ‘Crucible’ series – novels based on City, using Ellison’s unique elements: plot, specific non-Trek characters, prominently including The Guardian of Forever, singular conceptual uses of time travel, the sense of tragedy that propels the story, the mood and venue of the story in the 1930s Great Depression, and at the stories’ heart, pivotally, whether Edith Keeler lives or dies. Not merely minor points or window dressing or name-changes. No, they are the body, heart, and guts of Mr. Ellison’s original creation – the best story Star Trek ever told.

“But even as flagrant in evidence as is this case, Paramount has gone tabula rasa. Paramount will not respond to any alleged Guild requests for an accounting. Not just for the books, but for much City-related merchandise, such as a Hallmark Christmas ornament of the “talking” Guardian of Forever actually using lines Ellison wrote for his script – obvious re-uses of Ellison’s singular creation, for which he should be compensated. Paramount will not send statements; Paramount will not admit anyone is owed anything; and even when the WGA requests an accounting, they are blown off with – ‘we’ll get back to you,’ which they don’t. And the WGA seems routinely to accept such cavalier non-responsiveness without a fight. Paramount will not permit examination, and will not open the books; perhaps for fear of loosing a Super-Accountant/Pandora on them, who will open holes in their duplicity. But the WGA is clearly unwilling to take action on Mr. Ellison’s behalf, and so we must seek intervention of the Federal Courts to ensure that the principles of the collective bargaining agreement are upheld. Mr. Ellison is singularly reluctant to sue his own labor union, of which he has been a 47-year member, a valued public spokesman, and where he has twice served on its Board of Directors. In this fractious matter, Mr. Ellison is only asking for one U.S. Dollar from his Guild. But he wants a judicial determination as to whether the WGA is doing what its stated purpose has been since day-one! To fight and negotiate for him and other writers. To obtain misappropriated, withheld, hidden earnings, no matter how minuscule or difficult to retrieve – but HIS, nonetheless. These are intended, true, benefits from earlier WGA bargaining agreements. But after waiting patiently either for the Guild to move against dismissive Paramount, or for Paramount to have a brain-flare of honesty or integrity, these huge sums due continue to be dumped into the studio’s ever-hungry maw. Mr. Ellison wants every penny of his long ago agreed-upon share of the revenue from Paramount’s relentless Trek exploitations, which have been unbelievably, financially remunerative in demonstrable measure as a result of Mr. Ellison’s significant contribution to the original Star Trek series.” Carmichael highlights: LA Times, 28 July 2007: “Paramount DVD sampler collects favorite episodes from all five Star Trek TV series.” The one starring Captain Kirk, Wm. Shatner’s pick as his favorite, is Ellison’s City on the Edge of Forever. (And see Ellison’s “Pay the Writer”–299,000 hits during the recent strike.)

Says Mr. Ellison of the suit: “To quote Gandhi: ‘First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.’

“And please make sure to remember, at the moment some Studio mouthpiece calls me a mooch, and says I’m only pursuing this legal retribution to get into their ‘deep pockets,’ tell’m Ellison snarled back, ‘F- - - -in’-A damn skippy!’ I’m no hypocrite. It ain’t about the ‘principle,’ friend, its about the MONEY! Pay Me! Am I doing this for other writers, for Mom (still dead), and apple pie? Hell no! I’m doing it for the 35-year-long disrespect and the money!

“The arrogance, the pompous dismissive imperial manner of those who ‘have more important things to worry about,’ who’ll have their assistant get back to you, who don’t actually read or create, who merely ‘take’ meetings, and shuffle papers – much of which is paper money denied to those who actually did the manual labor of creating those dreams – they refuse even to notice...until you jam a Federal lawsuit in their eye. To hell with all that obfuscation and phony flag-waving: they got my money. Pay me and pay off all the other writers from whom you’ve made hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars...from OUR labors...just so you can float your fat asses in warm Bahamian waters.

“The Trek fans who know my City screenplay understand just exactly why I’m bare-fangs-of-Adamantium about this.”

When Mr. Ellison calmed down, he continued, soberly, “They maintain fortresses staffed and insulated with corporate and legal Black Legions whose ability to speak fluent bullshit is the ramadoola of gyrating, gibbering numbers via which they cling to every dollar. And when you aren’t getting paid for the marvels you helped bring forth -- fine, hard, careful artifacts that are making others pig-rich -- at some point any sane person knows he has three, and only three choices: the first is to sit around dinner parties and ceaselessly whine over your sushi about how they screwed you, boo hoo, but you can’t beef about it Out There in the World or they’ll blacklist you; the second is to pick up an Uzi somewhere, crash your SUV through a Studio gate, and just run amok; and the third, last, choice is this one – to act like an adult, to take ‘em on in Federal Court and to make the greedy, amoral bastards blink blood out of their eyes. What they do is tantamount to common street-thug robbery... just add the pig-rich Madoff-style smoothyguts attorneys.

“And I learned today that the Actors Guild is having to fight, right now, just to maintain the very concept of residuals as part of their agreement with the Producers. So I am happy as a centipede-with-track-shoes that this infamous behavior, arrogantly ignored for too damned long, is timed to call attention to the degree to which the creative cadres in this business are getting parboiled and served up in a dog-dish! The part of this imbroglio that truly dismays me, is that my once-tough, beloved Guild – my UNION – that got massively screwed when it let the Alliance scare the slacker-gen dolts into thinking not losing a job meant ‘just bend over and grin,’ – if one’s own damn Guild won’t help you, – when you’ve entreated them for months – then hell, you’ve got no choice but to raise the skull and crossbones, hone the edge of your demon attorney, and just start cutting off noggins and nuts.

“Cowardice is like parrot fever in this town; I think there are writers and other artists who revel in being bitch-slapped, in being pilfered on a regular basis, as if they were artistic trailer-trash! And if the WGAw isn’t going to watch my back – and I’ve been their loyal hit-man, pit bull, and go-to guy for 47 years – I dread the possibility that the timorous Guild won’t raise the bloody axe for other artists, writers, actors...saner and less pissed-off than I. So you can tell’em I’m coming!”

There were flecks of blood on Mr. Ellison’s otherwise charming face.

Contact: John H. Carmichael, Esq.

ELLISON v. CBS-PARAMOUNT, Inc.

WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA

U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

CASE #: CV09-1777, filed March 13, 2009

JUDGE: The Honorable Christina A. Snyder

True Happiness

2009-03-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

There are two ways of being happy: We may either diminish our wants or augment our means - either will do - the result in the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which happens to be the easiest. If you are idle or sick or poor, however hard it may be to diminish your wants, it will be harder to augment your means. If you are active and prosperous or young and in good health, it may be easier for you to augment your means than to diminish your wants. But if you are wise, you will do both at the same time, young or old, rich or poor, sick or well; and if you are very wise you will do both in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

Secret Message in Lincoln's Watch

2009-03-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

I love this story but I can't help but wonder why there
is no mention of the largest inscription which reads:
Jeff. Davis. Was Jonathan Dillon alluding to Jefferson
Davis? If so, how and why. In the articles I've read,
there is no mention of that part of the inscription.
Do they think that's a signature of another watch-
maker? That would be an odd coincidence.

Just interesting to note.

Anyone have any ideas or knowledge regarding this?

This is the Press Release from The Smithsonian National Museum of American History website:


March 10, 2009

Smithsonian Uncovers Secret Message Inside Abraham Lincoln’s Watch

Inscription inside Lincoln's watch

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History announced it has found a “secret” message engraved in President Abraham Lincoln’s watch by a watchmaker who was repairing it in 1861 when news of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Washington, D.C.

In an interview with The New York Times April 30, 1906, 84-year-old Jonathan Dillon recalled that he was working for M.W. Galt and Co. on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, where he was repairing Lincoln’s watch. The owner of the shop announced that the first shot of the Civil War had been fired. Dillon reported that he unscrewed the dial of the watch, and with a sharp instrument wrote on the metal beneath: “The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try.” He then signed and dated the inscription and closed the dial. Dillon told The New York Times in 1906 that to his knowledge, no one ever saw the inscription.

After being contacted by Dillon’s great-great-grandson, Doug Stiles of Waukegan, Ill., the museum agreed to remove the dial to see if the watchmaker’s message was inside.

The museum did find a message inscribed on the brass underside of the movement. The wording was slightly different from Dillon’s own recollection. The actual engraving says:
Jonathan Dillon
April 13-1861
Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked
by the rebels on the above
date J Dillon
April 13-1861
Washington
thank God we have a government
Jonth Dillon

Other markings of one or more watchmakers also appear on the watch.

“Lincoln never knew of the message he carried in his pocket,” said Brent D. Glass, director of the National Museum of American History. “It’s a personal side of history about an ordinary watchman being inspired to record something for posterity.”

During the 18th and 19th centuries, professional watchmakers often recorded their work inside a watch, and it would typically only be seen by another watchmaker. This inscription remained hidden behind the dial for almost 150 years.

Lincoln purchased the watch in the 1850s from George Chatterton, a Springfield, Ill., jeweler. Though Lincoln was not outwardly vain, the fine gold watch was a symbol of his success as a prominent Illinois lawyer. In the 19th century, men wore their watches in their clothing pockets. It was not until after World War I that wristwatches became more popular for use by men. The watch came to the museum in 1958 as a gift from Lincoln Isham, Abraham Lincoln’s great-grandson.

Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States in November 1860. In January 1861, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and was followed by the secession of six more states before Lincoln’s March 1861 inauguration. On April 12, 1861, the Civil War began with shots fired at Fort Sumter.

# # #

Note to editors: The images have been photographed and filmed and are available by calling the museum’s Office of Public Affairs.

And Now, A Message for actors about "New Media"

2008-12-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

Carry the word. Carry your card. Carry a picket sign if necessary.

This from the Screen Actor's Guild website:

The value professional actors hold in new media will be determined by the activism and solidarity of SAG members today. Solidarity, leverage and position begin by insisting on the basic protections of a union contract whenever you work in new media.

Act as though your future depends on it.

BOO! Hoo...R.I.P. Forrest J. Ackerman

2008-12-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

See this Art

2008-10-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Greg Colson's plates for "Hollywood Bowl"

This year, I've been working with Aardvark Letterpress where we started a Fine Art Editions division. Aardvark is a historic letterpress business in L.A. well-known to anyone who is particular about the quality of their invitations and stationery.
The first series of prints specifically created for the new division; Los Angeles Loteria I was introduced this summer in a very, very reasonably priced medium sized edition. It's a unique and diverse project with some awe-inspiring artists, some of whom were asked by me to contribute, including; Andre Miripolsky, Dan McCleary, Sammy Harkham, Greg Colson, Ed Wexler. This group of beautiful, thoughtful, narrative works of art should disabuse anyone of the notion that Los Angeles is all tinsel.
Prints are available individually for a remarkable (believe me) one-time only price of $300.00 or as a suite. Art is still a good investment and even if I hadn't spent myself on the project, I'd spend the bucks to buy it. The prices go up to $375.00 per print in January. Your purchase will also help us to complete the next series.
I manage the blog, too. Check it and all of the other wonderful artists and their works and let us know what you think.
Los Angeles Loteria I will be on exhibition at the Bridge Gallery in L.A.'s City Hall from November 25 to December 29th sponsored by Council President Eric Garcetti.

www.aardvarkletterpressfinearteditions.com

Dan McCleary signs "La Calavera"

Today will be breathtaking:

2008-11-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

"Bugs" Moran

2008-10-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

I bought a folder of news bureau photos a while back and this one was included. There is a slightly different version available elsewhere on the internet but this one was shot a mili-second or two before or after and is in the clear of a shadow. This picture was taken 78 years ago.

Where do record executives come from?

2007-04-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Walker (not to be confused with J.J.) was Mayor of New York from 1926 until he resigned under threat of prosecution for corruption within his administration in September 1932. The photograph below is dated 8/19/32. Within a month, he had fled to Europe to avoid the possibility of jail. He had returned by the 40's and became head of Majestic Records (Louis Prima's label at that time). He died two years before the label in 1946.

The movie "Beau James" is loosely based on his life and Bob Hope stars in his only dramatic role.

The picture below is exactly the kind of photo that draws me in. For you actors out there, we know that this depicts the ultimate "trust exercise". One man stands over another with a sharp blade at his neck. The second man seems clear on the fact that he is just getting a shave. So clear, in fact that he reclines, his eyes closed, his chest serving as a table for the foam castings. His hands appear to be relaxed. There is a woman standing in the shadows of the background smiling broadly. Other delicious details include the page-a-day wall calendar, a man's straw hat, the telephone. Without knowing that this is Mayor Walker, the information in the photograph is dramatic and compelling, and then there is the story of the photograph:

"WALKER GETS A SHAVE AND GETS NICKED"
ONE OF THE TIRELESS PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO HAVE PURSUED MAYOR WALKER SINCE HIS OUSTER HEARING AT ALBANY, FOLLOWED THE MAYOR INTO A BARBERSHOP TODAY AUG. 19 FOR A FEATURE "SHOT". THE MAYOR HAD NO OBJECTION BUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S FLASH BULB EITHER DAZZLED OR UNNERVED THE BARBER; RESULT, A SLIGHT NICK IN THE MAYORAL EAR. HIS HONOR MADE LIGHT OF THE INCIDENT. HERE IS THE PICTURE. MAYOR WALKER IS BEING SHAVED BY BARBER DAN RAMUNDO IN THE (presumably here is the name of the barbershop which is not legible due to disentegration of the paper). 8/19/32

and the story behind the photograph of a man who is probably under the greatest stress of his life and career.

A memorable example of this kind of moment in photography is Stephen Shames photo of Angela Davis outside the courtroom during her trial. She looks glamorous and relaxed in spite of the pressure she had to have been experiencing. The photograph itself is full of grace and completely uncontrived. It can be seen at the Steven Kasher Gallery 521 W. 23rd St. New York through May 26th. If you have a chance, you really should see this show.

Horses sweat. Ladies "glow".

2006-10-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Debbie is perspiring.
I took this picture of Deborah Harry on the 4th floor of the Bowery loft where she and Chris Stein and Gary Valentine lived. The first floor was a Liquor Store, the second had a bedroom where C & D slept, the kitchen, a living area (where Gary slept) and the only bathroom. The 3rd floor housed their "landlord" who is well described in Gary's book. Stephen Sprouse eventually took over the 4th fl. The photo was part of a series of photos taken for the first CBGB's linked newspaper, "New York Rocker".

Debbie de Milo
8X10 Archival Digital Print
Signed:Lisa Jane Persky
$125 unframed + $10 shipping

Take a look at these two books being released this month. Gary Valentine's "New York Rocker" (My Life in The Blank Generation) and "PUNK" The Whole Story. These include some of my photos, great stories about BLONDIE and much more. Both are also listed under GOOD LOOKING in my links.

Lisa post-hosts a video:

2008-08-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

While I'm unveiling interviews by so-called children with so-called grownups here's a good one with funny bits:

The story says Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room (Toronto '69) with his tape deck and interviewed John about peace. This is a film Levitan produced using the recording as soundtrack. Director Josh Raskin has created an animated visual narrative from the pen and ink art of James (Braithwaite) and digital illustration by Alex Kurina. This is a great collaboration and includes a timeless lesson from John. Peace. Now.

The Topic of Suicide

2008-08-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Three things not for everyone:

1. Actual Suicide

2. Book about Suicide:Gary Valentine Lachman, ex of BLONDIE has written a highly readable and occasionally even amusing book on the subject of literary suicides: The Dedalus Book of Literary Suicides can be ordered from Amazon UK. Buy the book.

3. Band called Suicide: There’s a new box set release on Blast First (petite). More versions of Rocket USA than you've ever imagined.

I "discovered" Suicide for myself at Max's Kansas City sometime in 1975. I'd seen a lot by then but wasn't prepared for an act so stunningly unique and original and they've never strayed from the original seed of their expression. They've only polished, protected and perfected it.

Martin Rev (Marty Suicide) Photo: Lisa Jane Persky

Submitted for your perusal, unedited and uncompromised is my interview with Alan Suicide from NEW YORK ROCKER Issue #3 May 1976. I hadn't read it in years and it was one of my first experiences as interviewer. Obvious to me now (other than my own lack ) was that I wrote this for readers who were already acquainted with the band. But…that's how we began at NYR; writing for the initiated. It contains some eternal SUICIDE truths. Own the CD’s. See the band.

They were, and I imagine still are truly electrifying in person.

SUICIDE (NYR May 1976)

Suicide Note: “The thought of suicide is a great consolation; with the help of it, one has got through many a bad night.
----F. Nietzche

A Beginners Guide to Suicide:

In this chapter, Suicide is redefined and is depicted as a great metropolitan superhero disguised as a man. Victimizing the public with new versions of an old idea, he fights the crime of boredom by making the best of what is his to use. HIS ONLY WEAPON: A.C. CURRENT.

Already imprisoned by Suicide are the long sought after diodes, electrodes, cathodes and anodes that without his guidance run rampant, wreaking havoc among our already too sensitive eyes and ears. In the controlled environs of Alan Suicide’s Fortress, great creations are born. It is these very creations which turn the aforementioned potential foes into allies.

Suicide alone is responsible for the containment of light and energy in sculptural form which is often on view at the O.K. Harris Gallery in SOHO. But it is the magical association with his sidekick and musical entrepreneur that brings our hero to Rock n Roll. A sole lavender neon tube rendering the enemy pleasant within lights the electronic and riotous keyboards belonging to Marty, whining to his whim. Suicide soon surrenders himself to the sounds, succumbs to the stare and surprises ensue. Sexual Sado-Machismo Rock.

Victims of Suicide:

Suicide has a devastating effect on everyone left in his wake. The real victims are those left to decide what will be done with the body.

LJP: Do you really hurt yourself on stage?

AS: Oh yeah, that’s cool though. Everything heals incredibly rapidly for some strange reason. I get really heavy welts on my leg, bruises and the whole trip. It does a three day number. It goes from red to blue to better. See the cuts on the face? (He indicated the lack of scarring made from a previous slice made with a safety pin.)

LJP: How do you think you affect people who come to see you?

AS: It’s like when you’re walking around feeling really unsure of yourself, you don’t believe in yourself and then you see somebody else doing the same thing you’ve been thinking about so suddenly you don’t feel so alone any longer. You start thinking maybe I’m not as crazy as I think I am. There’s another nut like you. And then you see three nuts and four nuts and five nuts doing the same thing and suddenly you’re just dull. First you thought you were crazy and then you thought Oh well I’m just a genius and then you just realize how dull you are. I think it makes people feel better to know that somebody else is not only in that same place but is showing it right up there on stage. I think it cools them out. It’s like when you get turned on to a painting or a book or a piece of musing and you’re wandering around hearing those sounds and seeing those pictures in your head and you think; Hey I better go check into the nearest loony asylum.

LJP: Did you ever do that?

AS: No. No, you ain’t getting’ me into one of those things. Never. What a bore. What a fucking bore and a waste of time. You might as well walk around in the street being crazy instead of being shut up in one of those places. That’s why I’m never going to do anything too serious. I just don’t want to have to deal with cops and all that shit. It would really be a bummer to try and kill yourself and not pull it off because you’d wake up and you’d see the overhead light and the green.

LJP: Has anyone ever tried to hurt you during a performance?

AS: Oh yeah. Sure. Everything was thrown at me; punches, chairs, bottles, cigarettes, instruments, you name it.

LJP: Did you ever get hurt?

AS: No. I just dodge it as it comes. Oh yeah, I got slow one day. I got smacked in the head.

The other night a girl came and took her shirt off for the duration of the act.

LJP: What other kinds of things happen?

AS: She once tried to split her head open. She got drunk and she was dancing and she got crazier and crazier as the gig progressed. Then she just started smashing her head against the wall and I tried to stop her. I finally thought I had her. She was on the ground. I was singing to her on the floor and she just looked……she was bleeding all over the place she’d split her head. Then she got up and she went at it again. Jumped right up and ran right into the wall. I was full of blood.

LJP: Are you always so aggressive toward your audience when you perform?

AS: Who’s aggressive? I thought I was being really cute. The ones who find me really aggressive are tho ones who finally come around to really loving it or feeling it. In the old days when we would perform, we used to be able to clear out a hundred people but now it’s the opposite. People are coming. It’s going the other way, which has just happened over the past year. Before, It was a bummer to be an artist and be in rock and roll at the same time, but it’s getting there. The scenes are pushing to hard at each other it’s ironical, I think. There’s finally an intermingling. The Heartbreakers, for instance, even though they’re not going out and looking for another scene, they are picking it up because they’re closer to it being around CBGB’S, being in that neighborhood, being around various new kinds of people. If they were aware of other things, The Heartbreakers for instance coming out and doing a fifties trip with some kind of electronics, can you imagine? That group would be the most incredible thing in the world. But they just stay into whatever their format is so they’ll just be greasers. I can only take the bands now, the way they are, for the first few minutes, then to really get off, I start fantasizing about what they could be. The truth of the matter is that everyone, including myself, is such a moron.

New Yorkers are great though…they’re the toughest and the warmest. New York is the grandest shit scene of all time. It’s like the Titanic a thousand times over; just sinking away but it’s beautiful. I could say I’m political because I do what I do. The problem with artists is that they just don’t reach a large enough audience. They can’t get their work out enough to make a really heavy change in society and if they do, it takes such a long time. I’m definitely not fucking around with what isn’t going to sell. That’s the whole trip. Being an artist is one thing but being able to take your work and sell it, that’s the real art.

----Lisa Persky