Bathroom Graffiti 2007

Recommended Listening

photo by Lisa Jane Persky

Jason Webley
and his great merch deals :
1. You can get all 5 of Jason Webley's albums - including the new CD, The Cost of Living - for just $40.
2. You can also pick any CD on his label and any design and size of Jason Webley T-Shirt for just $22.
3. Or you can choose any three albums on his label for $25.
HIT IT at: www.jasonwebley.com
Cool.

BREASTS and BEASTS, MEN and METAL and ME!

Check out this ambitious undertaking for your Halloween pleasure.
Scum of The Earth, Type O Negative, Penny Layne, and yours truly.
Rock Confidential 's Editor and creator Jesse Capps interviews me here .
BOO!
Photo for Miami Herald circa 1960's Woolworth

The Spirit Moved Me

"HIDEOUS BEYOND BELIEF...with an INHUMAN CRAVING!" was the tagline for Curtis Harrington's best known cult classic, Queen of Blood (1966); strangely it could have been applied to his fellow avant-gardist and occult celebrity Kenneth Anger when he made an appearance at Harrington's burial service last month.

Head over to my article at Fortean Times Magazine or pick up the latest issue (#227) for the rest of the story.

Kissology 2. Lick it Up.

I'm thrilled to tell you that the Kissology 2 DVD anthology has hit the stores and with the exception of the conspicuously absent ANIMALIZE seems to be the package Fans of Kiss have been waiting for. Included in the box is their Kult Klassic camp-fest KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978) (TV) ...aka Attack of the Phantoms ...aka KISS in Attack of the Phantoms. I'm in it. I was asked to do commentary but it was at the last minute and we weren't able to work it out in time so here are ten comments for those of you who want info:

1. It was my second gig as a newcomer to Hollywood.
2. I had just moved from New York with my Blondie boyfriend and my black leather jacket.
3. I was into the whole CBGB's scene so Ramones not Kiss were on my radar.
4. Liked the idea of Kiss and Kiss Fans as a phenomenon.
5. Wanted to be in the movie most of all because Gordon Hessler (dir.) had also directed The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (full of supercool Ray Harryhausen work).
6. The boots and the black leather jacket that I wear in KMPTP were my own.
7. The costume designer asked me if I would mind if they studded the back of my jacket with a lightning bolt. (Cool).
8. At Magic Mountain where we shot the exteriors it was 104 degrees most of the time. Black leather is cool, not air conditioned.
9. I only got to meet Gene. The other guys weren't around when I was filming.
10. I cannot be counted among the throngs who have supposedly slept with him.

Questions, anyone?
I have one: Am I the first girl (or guy, for that matter) to wear a cockring on National Television?
(It was attached to the shoulder of my leather jacket and no one at Standards and Practices ever seemed to notice.)

John Edwards does Weho

The John Edwards Event Yesterday (Thursday) at Republic Restaurant.
If elected, John Edwards does solemnly pledge to do the Constitutional thing,
REGARDLESS of race, gender, or sexual orientation.







Admirer poses with autograph.

Don't fall asleep.

Surviving Snack Food Recall, Headbutts and Buttheads

Well, I think we're out of the woods on this one (see post below).

There is no evidence of Salmonella Poisoning in our household.

There is Scooter Pardoning, or I should say, sentence commuting.
If that didn't get you gagging, there is another example of fraught decision making by Barack Obama who yesterday said, just vote 'em out.
If we forgive the current administration for malevolent high crimes and misdemeanors that make Nixon look practically benevolent, if we can impeach Bill Clinton for lying about oral sex, but not impeach Bush/Cheney/Rove for the gutting of our constitution or a war that has killed thousands, broken our budget and was predicated on a lie, then we must all be on crack.
If you want to get straight again, here's a rehab: Hullabaloo

I ATE THE WHOLE THING

I chose Veggie Booty for a snack today. It's billed like alot of snacks as a "natural" treat. It has things in it that are supposedly good for you that have been reduced to something puffy with a bit of crunch and very little flavor save for salt. Not a bad thing, really. I rarely eat Veggie Booty but I like it and today I ate the whole bag, up to but not including the actual bag, with the exception of a couple of pieces. Those were offered to my boyfriend who has always been against the idea of kale and practically any other vegetable and has a special hatred that he reserves for broccoli.

Tonight, upon returning home and checking my email, I happened to notice a small headline that would call out to me under any circumstances. I did not guess the close personal nature of the story. The headline is this: Popular Snack Food Pulled From Shelves. Surprise! It's Veggie Booty.
Salmonella is at hand or perhaps elsewhere inside the body, or maybe not at all but it sent me to the trash for the bag. I read the bag for no particular reason. Robert at Robert's American Gourmet says if I dump out the rest of the contents and send the empty bag back, I can get a rebate. The FDA and the CDC say Robert's is recalling ALL SIZES AND ALL LOTS. I don't know what frightens me more, the possibility of getting Salmonella or the possibility that my boyfriend may one day know that he ate--no, that I FED him broccoli.

Location, location, location.

Miles from no/some/anywhere.
Speaking of locations, far more accessible is my
new photo website at:
www.lisajaneperskyphoto.com
I'm just getting started and will be adding/subtracting/updating as time allows.
All photos will also be for sale via paypal and I can be contacted through the website.

ZOMBIE ALERT

Okay, enough already, I'm weighing in on this Paris Hilton travesty. My advice to Ms. Hilton last week would have been along the lines of "Take it like a man." Serve out your sentence with dignity and hope that you've finally learned something of value and set a good example for someone else (hordes of young fans, perhaps). The Sheriff, Ms. Hilton, her parents, her publicists and whatever other too-many-cooks handlers she is surrounded by have blown that opportunity. That was an opportunity to make her look good and maybe they think that would be bad. Maybe it's opposite decade. Or maybe no one but Judge Sauer is thinking at all. A friend of mine rubbed me the wrong way when he argued that Ms. Hilton is a "private citizen just like the rest of us and therefore should get to go home to serve out her sentence". First of all, SHE IS NOT. She is one of the least private citizens ever, taking gross tonnage of cash for simply appearing (with no talent whatsoever) at events and parties. This is her job; to be a public person. If a someone like this, who is spread before us on a daily basis by every form of media even when she's not misbehaving isn't an example, then no one is. That doesn't mean she has to set an exemplary one but one hopes she will (that one being me but not me alone, I hope) I would love for Ms. Hilton would grow up and stop getting stoned and driving. I would suggest going back to school and taking a Philosophy class or acquiring a hobby like macrame or even a skill like turning a lathe, or how about maturity, grace, good taste, charitable work, law, math, chess. The best thing I can say about the person that the public knows to be Paris Hilton, is that she is overexposed and underdeveloped--as in not having taken advantage of any opportunity to develop a life that has meaning. That alone will drive a person to cocktails and drugs. She doesn't seem to be thoughtful or well-spoken and she doesn't even play the ukelele. She could use a little ukelele (and all ukeleles are little). The one time I have ever seen Ms. Hilton in person surprised me. She is so tiny that she looked two-dimensional. Her dress hung off of her in spite of its size two-ness. She looked exactly like a paper doll. She was with a handsome and similarly tiny young man. They could not have looked less engaged with one another or their surroundings. They didn't look tired. They looked bored, meaning-less. West Hollywood straight people of this certain age have a distinct "Dawn of the Dead" quality. Once Paris was boomeranged back into the slammer, I heard this from a male anchor on a local newsradio station; he suggested that throwing her back was merciless, was a case of "reverse racism". Yes, he said it, I swear to Buddha. He continued to bite the shoe leather, saying that mean people "just wanted her to stay in jail because she is pretty and rich." Clearly this guy has swapped his brain for his ass. I want equal justice for everyone and we're talking about someone driving under the influence. Not just once, not twice, but three times---that we know of. One of the times---that we know of--the Sheriff stopped her but then let her go. And I don't wanna hear about "even Martha Stewart got to go home to serve out her sentence". The reason people have their licenses suspended and then go on to be arrested for continuing to drive under the influence even after they've had their license suspended is because they pose a threat to society. That's you and me, people. The greatest threat being---DOES ANYBODY OUT THERE VALUE THEIR LIVES?--bodily injury and/or death. GO LOOK AT THIS WEBSITE and I'm almost certain you will see the good sense of letting someone/anyone this disrespectful of others cool their heels in the slammer for a while. Why on earth shouldn't there be a consequence of incarceration at a judges discretion in this matter? And further,why should it make any difference if the incarceration is of someone who is famous? They may consequently have an influence on others due to their super "public work". Look, they already cut her numerous breaks and its not like she got "sent up the river to the Big House" or thrown in the snake pit. That anyone thinks there wasn't room for her in the Special Persons Least Offensive Pokey is a farce. It's never reassuring to know or be reminded that our judges and our Sheriff's department are at odds with one another, either.
Now my advice to Ms. Hilton is this: While you sit in stir and even beyond, exercise your mind. Don't fall asleep and be replaced in the night by your Zombie doppelganger again. You still have an opportunity to live a meaningful life. That's what you probably crave. Don't cry for mommy and daddy, they're the ones who screwed you. Your parents should have taught you that actions have consequences and that we still live in a society full of people who believe in equal justice under the law (look it up). They should have taught you that it's bad to endanger the lives of others just because you want a hamburger. Because they did not do their job and therefore you do not take your life or the lives of other peeps seriously, it's up to the judge to have to teach you. We (and I include you) pay him and the sheriff to protect us from Zombie drunk drivers and other people who commit crimes. Drunk Driving, Driving While Impaired, Drugged Driving are crimes. (Are you listening, Lindsay Lohan?) YOU COULD HAVE KILLED SOMEBODY. It would have been your fault. GO LOOK AT THIS WEBSITE. There's meaningful work for you over there. It's not your fault that we live in a culture that will pay millions of dollars to a girl or boy for not doing anything particularly worthwhile. That's bad. It's bad not to do good things with that kind of earned income. It's bad to give people the idea that consequences aren't for everyone. Consequence is a universal law, shared by all things. It's not bad to suffer the consequences of your own actions. It's how we acquire real knowledge and real knowledge is meaningful. It's bad to make dumb headlines that cover up what's really going on. What's really going on is bad. It's not just you. If you think you might continue to get high in the future, hire a driver who is sober and remember to tip well.
The idea that we shouldn't suffer the consequences of our actions is a weird human conceit that seems to have gone viral. Look at the current administration. A fish rots from the head down. Do I smell a giant croaker?

In The News (click on pic to zoom)

Poppy Day

PEACE IS NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE

Honor All Soldiers. Promote Peace.

Is this what anyone had in mind for their children?

Watch this New York Times photojournal with narration by Michael Kamber
and tell me; Are we really going to let this go on indefinitely?

Jerry Ragni 1974

At the corner of Christopher Street and 7th Avenue with playwright
H. M. Koutoukas.
Photograph by Lisa Jane Persky

my greatest regret

I’ve never learned the thing about suffering fools gladly--especially when that fool is me.

I was in a restaurant the other day to order some food for take-out. When I walked in and saw the man at the counter, I thought he looked exquisite and very friendly. But as the experience went on, I couldn’t ignore the fact that he took all the men before me, that he was friendly to them and not so much with me. I was myself. At heart, I still expect equality and do my best to live up to the standard. It was the one I grew up with in the sixties/seventies in Greenwich Village.

The Village is a place where people have gravitated or fled to in order to escape labels and/or persecution, a place where everyone who feels “different” or has been made to feel “different” can go and relax. It’s also a place where people go to bring cultural issues such as these to the forefront for debate, or a place for dilletantes to feel hip and “cutting edge”. My parents who grew up “different” in the American South got us there as soon as they could based on that premise, promise, and/or propaganda.

When I started school at P.S. 41 on 11th Street, I thought that every school was like ours. There was no point made of its being “diverse”. We took diversity for granted. If we had a nickel for every time we heard the words “melting pot” we could have financed world peace. We were made to feel proud of it, too. Not that everyone got along at every moment of every waking hour, but the disagreements and problems were human--not racial, sexual, or class-based. It worked pretty well. Because of this, it took me a while to really understand just how huge Martin Luther King’s “Dream” would be to accomplish. I thought that the rest of the country and the world was just a little bit behind. That they would catch up with us. That everyone wanted, a safe place to be different or to fit in, to share commonality and be inspired by--or at least tolerate--our differences. It still is my dream.

When I witness anyone treated unequally (and I admit: especially if that person is me), I go home and have a cry.

You must feel it, too. Has the whole human race lost its appetite and aspiration for equality, for treating others as we wish to be treated ourselves? I’m disappointed; the very least of it being that I will never be able to go back to that restaurant.

How can we both "live and let live" and agitate for change? Perhaps a gentle agitation; like a washing machine on the "delicate" setting.

Tupper Saussy cont'd

I'm sure that Tupper, for whom fairness was a BIG issue, would be upset that UNCUT Magazine used my photo of him (lifted from this very blog) without crediting me as per our agreement. There are laws (and a lawyer) in place that allow me to be compensated from their, er, oversight so I am not going to sweat it. But read the small goodbye from fab/gear Mick Houghton in the June issue (pg 38) and listen to/buy The Chocolate Orchid Piano Bar
And remember, information should be free--not art.

Photo by Lisa Jane Persky

Patti Smith. WHO!

Last night in Los Angeles. The Rock that rocks: Patti.

Photo by Lisa Jane Persky

The "Booze Trial"

It must have been a big one to have had all those fancy attorneys connected to it (see below) but I don't know the details .
What interests me is this; Clarence Darrow looks so wild and youthful and he is probably 66 years old in this picture. Also and moreso, less than six months later, Leopold and Loeb killed Bobby Franks. Clarence Darrow defended the pair and prevented them from being executed with an argument that their crime was commited as a result of taking Nietzche's existentialist ideas too much to heart. His summation is here. The argument went a long way to changing public opinion regarding the death penalty.

Booze Trial

Iggy and The Stooges on Jimmy Kimmel

A fan sneaks up behind Iggy during his performance on Jimmy Kimmel tonight. See it if you can. More to come.

Photograph by Lisa Jane Persky

Where do record executives come from?

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.

Bureau photo of NY Mayor "JIMMY" WALKER

I recently purchased some old news bureau photographs.
More on this one tomorrow.
Or: You tell me. Comments?

Nashville Eats

This is where you will eat the most delightful homemade banana pudding--BUT only on weekdays.
Weekends are bp free at Elliston Place Soda Shop.

On to the next Bardo

Everything about life invites more questions than there are answers. He knew and enjoyed the challenge of that:

Tupper Saussy 1936-2007
Curious Modern

by me: Lisa Jane P.

Hollywood

Congratulations, Milena Canonero

People think it must be fun to wear all those beautiful clothes that costume designers provide actresses with. I've always loved working with the costume designer but wearing the clothes is another matter. Milena is a perfectionist and if you work with her you know that your clothes will be authentic to the period, right down to the underwear. Which brings us to Cotton Club, where Milena and I met. Imagine wearing stockings rolled up with wire bands like ladies did in the twenties. Imagine wearing them for up to eighteen hours a day. For a modern woman who loves her jeans and comfort, this takes alot of getting used to. Nevertheless, with Milena in charge, you will look and feel the part and the era day and night, which can give a tremendous boost to an actors performance. So she deserves alot of credit and the Oscar many times over. These awards are highly political. If they were a bit more democratic she would have many more. See her credits for yourself!
This is the dress Milena Canonero designed for me to wear in the scene where I come to the Cotton Club to confront my husband, Dutch Schultz (played by James Remar) about his mistress (played by Diane Lane). This is a bias-cut dress, beautifully executed by John Schneeman. At that time, bias-cut clothes had been out of fashion for many decades and very few people knew how to cut or make them. This was an amazing example of the style. The fabric and the cut gave the dress a kind of liquid movement. It is one of the few costumes I have ever wished I could have kept. You can also see that I am holding new script pages. Changes happened by the minute on that film but I always knew what I was going to be wearing and that it would be perfect for me. The photo is a production Polaroid.

Photograph of Milena Canonero by Lisa Jane Persky. All rights reserved.

Swingin' Squirrels

CLICK TO VIEW SOFTCORE SQUIRREL MOVIE

I've made a little video of some randy squirrels experiencing the rite of spring in the dead of (California) winter. It's up on youtube for anyone who is interested in animal antics. Some may say it's exploitation but HEY, these guys were using my hammock. I saw unnatural movement of the thing when I happened to glance out the window. Upon further examination, I found what you will see in the posting. I just happened to have a camera. I would advise against showing this video to children unless you want to answer more than the usual number of questions. Otherwise, only the window I took the pictures through is dirty.

Disclaimer: No animals were harmed during the making of this movie.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

image by lisa jane persky copyright 2007

Show me the "reel" Lisa Jane Persky

One of the tools of the acting trade is a "reel". Mine was made by a really terrific editor named Richard Prince. If you're looking for someone who is a great collaborator with a point of view, I recommend him. Have a look at the many moods of me along with the other fine work he has done on the Sample Reels page of his website. Click This