o what a night!

my dear friend of many many years sandra vista suggested while at my galleRoy event a couple weeks ago that we meet at exenes opening at western project. exene cervenka and john doe were/are the heart and soul of the famous and influential los angeles punk band x. x played at the amphitheater two nights ago and i am told burned the house down. they still have it. i met exene more years ago than any of us care to admit when she gave a reading of her poetry with henry rollins of black flag. we met in passing with gavin dillard the naked poet and others and i have followed her career/side projects since her early days.

sandra is a good artist, a career artist, a woman's artist, and a good teacher. her work documents her life in a beautiful and non-sentimental way. i have known her since before she was sandra vista and we always have a great time when we are together. and she throws the most interesting dinner parties!

sandra was bringing two friends and dc and i were meeting them at the gallery. exene and the other artist wayne white put together a great show. very real and resonant work of which im sure there will be great reviews.

dc and i were there before sandra and visited with suzanne an old friend of exenes about trips to india and morocco. the gallery was hot and became stuffy with more and more people so we spent most of the time in the back alley drinking. it was pleasant.

sandra and her friends june and carol arrived a little later and carol turned out to be carole caroompas the performance artist of japanese folding screen fame. we drank and visited with people and took short trips into the gallery to look at the art again. tulsa the editor of artillery who didnt show up at galleRoy two weeks ago was there and didnt remember me even when i said i was a friend of the world famous laura london. how could anyone ever forget me? she took a photograph of dc and carole caroompas and me for the next issue of the magazine but you know how that stuff turns out.

later in the evening i spotted phranc our favorite jewish lesbian folk singer talking to exene. i hadnt seen phranc with a ph and a hard c since the early eighties at the mercury arts center in long beach. the last i remember phranc and i and a couple other people were sitting on the sidewalk of fourth street outside the mercury arts center at 3 am singing this land is your land accompanied by her acoustic guitar. we visited for a few minutes and she said she was performing and rereleasing her old albums. she looked really good.

dc and i wanted to eat dinner at tender greens but they dont serve hard alcohol so we all went to rush so carole caroompas could have a martini. and thus the performance art for the evening began.

somehow the bartender didnt know how to make a martini; somehow the chef didnt know how to cook short ribs; somehow the waitor didnt know how to bring sidedishes; many things were sent back including the bill. twice. but the coup de gras of the performance was when carole caroompas locked herself in the bathroom stall and crawled under the door to escape much to the horror of the bathroom attendent. she came back to the table with her story of trauma dipping her fingers into a glass of water to wash her elbows. dc gave her lotion to rub on herself after the table bath.

sandra called the evening and the curtain fell. we left rush and dc and i made it home thankful for a quiet ride. o what a night!

the naked poet

charles rosenberg, dj at the standard hotel, nutritionist and gardener, vintage clothing and decorative arts expert, and friend... was perusing a used bookstore when he happened on a copy of the naked poet by gavin dillard and, for obvious reasons, peaked inside. he was greeted by four lines of my poetry. and bought the copy for me. i have not seen or even heard from gavin in years and years. but having once seen him, you have been spoiled to look on anything else. gavin and i met at a reception for exene cervenka (x) back in the eighties... she was reading poetry at an underground los angeles club, henry rollins was there also... it was quite the scene! gavin and i became attractive friends ~ he attracted to my (unclaimed) talent, i attracted to his (undeniable) beauty. we planned several projects together (child harold at the zoo ~ my writing, his drawings ~ was one) but nothing ever manifested ~ his backers were more fronters. he wrote me often from various places but our lives crossed less and less as the years passed. the naked poet was published in 1989 with a dedication to christopher isherwood (who liked one of gavins ditties, but then who didnt?) and four lines from my lost book, flowers of ecstasy, to launch it. he made a spectacular splash (emphasis on spectacle since he always gave his readings in the nude) and brought people who had never read a poem to poetry readings. it may be they have still not read a poem... but they bought his book. and one of those ended up in charles rosenbergs handy hands this many years later. and now into mine. what a walk down amnesia lane! charles rosenberg is one of those people who knows everyone who is cool and knows every cool thing that is happening in town. and he knows me! he is quite a journalistic writer and reviewer and has worked for many respected magazines. we have tried many the vegetarian restaurant together and enjoyed company and conversation. the low point of our relationship happened when he was writing for los angeles magazine and my meditation class was named the chattiest meditation class in la (which it may be). he did not write it ~ his cunt editor did, changing his succint prose about my esoteric class without his knowlege. the high point of our relationship was having cocktails one evening at the standard hotel while he played music. my friend millie was there too. we were all dressed. but it was sheer poetry.

to see my poetry: http://royanthonyshabla.com