Monday, October 22, 2007

The marble of life

Lots, as usual, happening....

I got to see 2 remarkable Butoh performances by the troupe DAIRAKUDAKAN a few weeks ago at the Japan Society. After the peformance I hung around and got autographs and gave thanks to the remarkable dancers/artists. I felt like a child among heroes, like I was 12 again waiting outside MSG for Patrick Ewing, smiling. I got to meet Akaji Maro, the brilliant head of the company (google some interviews with him), and Yuko Kobayashi who in my eyes is like a young Japanese Martha Graham....











A dear old family friend was forced to move out of her apartment. I stoped by on her last day to give a hug and take some pix. She had been an artists model since she was 17, had a WWII fighter jet named after her, appeared in countless illustrated ads, and was the left cheek in Dali and my grandfather's skull of nudes collaboration... A really sweet woman, and she loves to remind me how she changed my diapers! We'll miss you Penny!!!










Just yesterday, my Brazilian friend Jwala and I headed out for a sunny adventure, and a few blocks away from my apt. we came across a beautiful dead bird on the sidewalk. It was so strange. I had never seen such a bird in the area, and at first glance thought it was fake. We brought the still warm body to Central Park and left it behind some bushes. The rest of the day was filled with typical NY adventures, the highlights included stumbeling upon an Indian street fair in Queens, and the lowlight was perhaps the new Klimt film with John Malkovitch. At the end of the night, a block from my house, on our walk home we came across another dead bird in our path. We were taken aback by the strangeness, sadness, and beauty. Again it was a small bird, the feathers of which I have never seen around these parts. His body was still warm too, and again, we brought her to Central Park and left him beneath some wild flowers. I like to look at life as if it were a poem, and these two dead birds which opened and closed our day surely was a bittersweet mystery. Today Jwala called me and said she saw them alive together, playing in the park on her walk home through the sun....I almost don't believe her, but then again.....