Elizabeth McGrath's cute and creepy creations -- especially my "Bloodbath McGrath" jacket-turned-canvas,
(Photograph by Debbi Rotkowitz)
office supplies, cadaverous glamour, glossolalia: speaking in tongues, Gothic Lolitas, the harsh beauty of Omahyra, the way carpet looks after it’s been vaccuumed, ganguro girls, Boudicca, intense conversations in unexpected locations, full-blown fantastical lies (as long as they're recognized for what they are), the first time a hardback book is opened, the scent of well-aged paper, Los Angeles’s gorgeous nuclear sunsets, Viktor ampersand Rolf, raw emotions in the early morning a.m.s, Lily Cole, voodoo charms, secrets whispered in the shuddering remains of candlelight, lucid dreams, dark themes in bright colors, outlines of the body, spontaneous runway, Lisa Cant, warped humor, fluxus, creating alternate realities, surrealism and dada, whimsy, iced lattes, butoh, The West Memphis Three, underground 'zines (particularly Butt, Faggo, K48, Useless, and The Salivation Army),
Swindle Quarterly, lifetime friendships, collecting obscure books and music, the semicolon, whacked-out Japanese inventions (my all-time favorite being the wrist-band portable bidet "fashion accessory"), my actual bidet installed by that wonderful William Mills, thunderstorms, cobalt blue, mosaics, silicone-enhanced body parts blown beyond human recognition, the excitement of getting to know someone new that I actually want to get to know, excessive pleats in fabrics, recycled rubber, the lost art of the postcard, the warped timbe of ventriloquist dummies, unearthing underground movies like secret treasures, the performance art of public spectacles, letters sealed with candle wax, secret admirer notes embellished with doodles and scrawls, the simple power of language, inflection, the visual art of Jerome Caja, the mystery of Austin Osman Spare, the wit of Oscar Wilde, embossed leather, tactile plaid, being drunk on olfactory pleasures, complete sensory overload, an honest hug, decadent desserts, glistening sugar cookies, lips sticky with marmelade, a warped sense of humor, shockily beautiful confessions, flamboyance, poetic prose, haunting words that send my blood rushing, heavily-flocked wallpaper, the gift of small-press publications, storylines told by maps in the wrists, shoulders, arms,
Debra Shaw, a love like blood, the taste of scars, memories of emotions I poured into an oboe, my inability to speak through an instrument’s strings, secret playhouses in the woods, crystalmethamphetamania-- my long lost love, creating not just an invisible friend but a heavily-embellished realm, losing myself in daydreams and loving it, tomorrow’s intoxicating unknown, metallic pens, cala lillies, flowers constructed from metal and other less-than-ephemeral objects, peripheral visions, stilletos and u.f.o.s, brash beauty, late nights calmed by a soft refrigerator hum, soft spots on infant’s heads, concocting new phrases, random road trips and the serendipity of transit, journals, teenage "slam" books, the terrifyingly lean prose of Dennis Cooper, gorgeous physical imperfections, Gia Carmangi and other fabulous disasters,
the catwalk-stalk of Kristen McMenamy, voices rough around the edges from cigarettes or screams, John Galliano, the voice of Steve-o from Jackass fame,the vicious motherfucker midnights curled up waitin’ in Sparrow 13 Laughingwand’s words, beverages with lush and exotic names, the mysterious genius of David Lynch, hillbilly antiques, emotional exuberance and decay, deep-fried dill pickles with creamy Ranch dressing, limited editions, the adorable sass of riot grrls and female revolutionaries, hand-sewn chapbooks, art bands, cold marble, spiral staircases, Mark Ryden, the things to learn from someone younger and from someone older, found objects, thrift store chic, Shawna Kenney’s enthusiasm, Darren Stein's prolific outpourings, Gaultier cologne, fugitive poetry, secret societies, slang, intimate spoken word events, the rustle of upholstery and heavy fabrics, smoky eyes, the wonder of glue stick, clavicles like bow strings, the rip of cotton, restitch/resew/repackage/revolt, Lisa Gerrard’s voice, laying on museum floors with my eyes closed, listening to the click and clack of passerby’s shoes, Michelle Tea’s street wit and urban girl brilliance, spontaneous photo shoots, the crackle of clove cigarettes, Dodie Bellamy's experiments in form, climbing shrubs and strangling vines, the splendor of syl-la-bles, Ozark outcasts, sombnambulism, searching for meaning and the beauty of searching,
Rockin' Insaniac Black-Belt Custom Creations Each And Every Damn Chance I Get:
Case In Point: Creepsuela Switchletto custom wear...our tricked-out contribution to the filming/final show with the original cast of the play "Forever Plaid." All three of us amped-up on adrenaline with a chaser of hubris, a smirk curling into a smile...visual interpretations of a kiss ending in a bite.
The fashist style fiend within me can't get enough of these moments, little doses of lush imagery and high drama I replay in my mind yet find myself jonesing for increasingly more. I want to take it farther, beyond the parameters. I want to be smothered with embellishments, to be slaughtered by complex fabric combinations that, upon sight, can take out an entire room out in one fell swoop...I want to surpass the perilous apex of outerwear, reduce Liberace's 250-lb Swarovski crystal cape to a relic of the past referred to as "Awww...that's cute" in the same condescending tones utilized when one stumbles upon a Commodore 64...
Oh yeah, but...there's still a few other things I've got an affinity for: namely,
Amy Sedaris as Jerri Blank (and Amy Sedaris as Amy Sedaris!), revelatory documentaries, people who start their own religions, re-built boards by terrorist artists, transgendered warriors, The Guerrilla Girls, temples, Nick Capra and his filthy fuckin' sexy mouth, deafening silence, the oxymoron, mocking gender and sexual identity labels, sock puppets, the secret splendor of the afterlife, Pierre and Gilles’ dreamscape photographs I want to fall into, aural soundscapes, the ambulatory madness of Leigh Bowery, paraphernalia with secret compartments, houses with hidden passageways, the rhythm of waves slapping the sand, gaudily impractical fake nails, female female-impersonators, real girls in unreal wigs, anyone rocking the bikini-and-heels look down the boulevard in broad daylight, couture creations, Vivienne Westwood, toying with color combinations, containers inside of containers inside of containers, bordello grime, stolen kisses, hearty laughter, the multi-faceted world of Jared Gold, temporary breath sculptures frozen in winter air, the shimmer of medical instruments, the penetrative sight of a syringe, walls painted anything but beige or white, the thwacking sound of latex, Kozy Shack brand rice pudding, indecisive drizzle, nonsensical piddle, toxic clouds of hairspray, "hair hoppers," murky black and white 8 MM prints, full-blown cross-processed hyper-real color, onomatopoeia, hurricanes, the gorgeous sound of glass breaking, romance pitched beyond the margins, the sepia-toned tint of nostalgia, drug-free things that inspire me to create, the alienesque gorgeousness of Maria Carla Boscono, cute butts, hardware stores, being taken off guard, my bad-ass Tarina Tarantino belt, that unsuspected email from you you you you you...
Over-indulging in Pinkberry While Rockin' CUSTOM JARED GOLD COUTURE With The Genius Designer In Tow...
(April 2007)
But, MORE THAN ANYTHING,
Spending Quality Time With Friends I Both Love And Trust Implicitly
(Pictured Above With Darren Stein, May 2007)
"FRIENDS ARE THE FAMILY WE CHOOSE."
Music
Gangway, Tokyo Police Club, Blood Red Shoes, Lily Allen, MGMT, Maritime, Radical Face, Crystal Castles, Chris Garneau, Justice, The Kaiser Chiefs, Amy Winehouse, Destroyer, Sol Seppy, New Buffalo, Birds Fled From Me, Ronderlin, Diplo, Collection d'Arnell-Andrea, OneRepublic, Jeniferever, Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton, Differnet, Ivy Queen, White Rose Movement, Blonde Redhead, As Tall As Lions, Snow Patrol, Anti-Social Music + The Gena Rowlands Band, Junior Boys, Traci Lords, The Horrors, Blacklist, Hole, Final Fantasy, Placebo, New Young Pony Club, The Soft Pink Truth, Au Revoir Simone, This Is Goodbye, Robots in Disguise, PlanningToRock, Scream Club, Q Boy, Metric, My Robot Friend, The Presets, Neko Case, The Knife, Zero 7, Fort Minor, Men Women and Children, The Violets, Imogen Heap, Sebastien Tellier, The Montgolfier Brothers, cLOUDDEAD, Irfan, Ulrich Schnauss, Bishop Allen, lcd soundsystem, On!Air!Library!, John Vanderslice, She Wants Revenge, TCH, Dr. Shock and the Deathray Ballet, The Dresden Dolls, Daylight's For The Birds,
Strawberry Switchblade, Keane, The Long Winters, Ponce De Leon, Blanche, The Veils, Mighty Six Ninety, Robbie D, Jer Ber Jones, Audio Bullys, My Violent Ego, Astrud Gilberto, Annie, Pulseprogramming, Mira Calix, Bloc Party, Susumu Yokota, Boards of Canada, Kronos Quartet, John Foxx, CocoRosie, The Arcade Fire, Melotron, Interpol, Testface, Hot Hot Heat, Cleen, The Rorschach Garden, Ninja High School, Whitey, Nancy Fortune, Client, The Start, Sow, EXP, Screaming For Emily, Nada Surf, Vitalic, Bannlust, Ellen Allien, Modest Mouse, The Dandy Warhols, Jill Tracy, Death in June, Candi Staton, Skinny Puppy, The Stills, Frou Frou, Zeromancer, Phoenix, The Smiths, Morrissey, Mum, Stoa, Richard X, Soma, Future Sound of London, Ivy, Clare Fader & The Vaudevillains, Shinjuku Thief, Nature & Organisation, Diamanda Galas, Katastrophe, Dead Can Dance, Gene, Bertrand Burgalat, Dirty Sanchez, The All Seeing I, Scissor Sisters, Until December, Tiger Lillies, Visage, Tracey Thorn, Deadlee, Siouxsie, The Creatures, Secret Frequency Crew, Hey Willpower, Antony & The Johnsons, Screaming for Emily, Everything But The Girl, VNV Nation, Coil, Rose McDowall, Current 93,
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Tre Lux, Christian Death, Le Tigre, X, Gitane Demone, Adult., Lisa Gerrard, Apoptygma Berzerk, Cocteau Twins, Johnny Dangerous, The The, Lydia Lunch, Missy Elliot, The Joggers, Portion Control, Meat Beat Manifesto, Chicks on Speed, Sigur Ros, Virgin Prunes, Peter Murphy, Princess Tinymeat, Gangway, Royksopp, The Lotus Eaters, Severed Heads, Switchblade Symphony, Beastie Boys, Clan of Xymox, Minty, Postal Service, Billie Holiday, Lamb, The Centimeters, Lil' Kim, Dead or Alive, Maria Callas, Haujobb, In The Nursery, Miss Kittin, Johnny Cash, My Bloody Valentine, Add N to X, Coldplay,
Vampire Weekend, Slowdive, Snake River Conspiracy, Apoptygma Bezerk, Wolfsheim, Miss Derringer, The Magnetic Fields, Erik Friedlander, Scarling., Q Lazzarus, The Clash, My Favorite, Pulseprogramming, And Also the Trees, Muse, John Zorn, Franz Ferdinand, Artist Unknown, Annie Lennox, Swayzak, Plushgun, Pylon, OutKast, Trisomie 21, Wire, Virgin Prunes, Peaches, Tear Garden, Glass Candy, The Twin, Fact 22, Ladyfuzz, Neuroticfish, Ladytron, The Go! Team, A Tribe Called Quest, remixes by LA Riots!, tunes spun by DJ DRC, DJ Gilles, AnaRexia, Liz O, Job Leatherette and Larry Tee
Movies
Hilary Goldberg's new short "In The Spotlight" -- especially since I'm mothafuckin' IN IT! It's just begun the festival rounds...hope to see you at one of the screenings!
SOME MERCH IS ALREADY AVAILABLE...(posters, greeting cards, magnets, etc.)
Alright, now that the obnoxious "pushing of product" is out of the way... of course the list continues with my beloved Darren Stein's new short, "Color Me Olsen," as well as: Juno, Teeth, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Ladies and Gentlemen: The Fabulous Stains, Pic Up The Mic, Babel, The Nomi Song, Grindhouse, Children of Men, The Nines, Poltergeist, Down To The Bone, Body Double, The Last Winter, Daughters of Darkness, Smithereens, Gross Pointe Blank, Carrie, Dressed To Kill, Gypsy 83, Magnolia, The Quiet, Modesty Blaise, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, TransAmerica, The Devil Wears Prada, Dirty Pretty Things, I ‚ô• Huckabees, Bedazzled ('60s mod version starring Dudley Moore-- NOT the recent remake), The Wickerman (Also the original version), Tarnation, Maria Full of Grace, Ginger Snaps, Ann Magnuson's Vandemonium Plus, American Beauty, Legend of Leigh Bowery, The Reflecting Skin, Election, Donnie Darko, Sunset Boulevard, The Devil's Backbone, All About My Mother, Female Trouble, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story,
Jawbreaker, Angel Heart, Talk to Her, Dark Habits, The Garden, Session 9, Breaking Glass, The Shining, Salo, Clueless, Lost in Translation, Monster, Maurice, Boys Don't Cry, Paradise Lost 2, The Devil's Playground, Cookers, Irreversible, The Loved One, Forbidden Zone, The Kingdom, Liquid Sky, The Stendahl Syndrome, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Hustler White, Powder, Kill Bill 1 & 2, All About Eve, Polyester, Put The Camera On Me, Heathers, The Usual Suspects, Suspiria, Paris Is Burning, Bad Education, An Inconvenient Truth, Control, Voyage of the Rock Aliens (starring Pia Zadora and Jermaine Jackson -- cinema at its finest, truly)
ALSO, CHECK OUT MY BURGEONING VIDEO (mis)ADVENTURES OVER AT
YOUTUBE.COM/CLINTCATALYST
CLINTCATALYST.BUZZNET.COM
AND OF COURSE
I'LL BE POSTING 'EXCLUSIVE GOODIES' AT:
(Please, I mean...
Gimme time; gimme time. I'm a busy person, but I'm learning!)
Television
I used to loathe the idiot box. Now I want to write for it.
My initial inspiration was the show Six Feet Under, but these days I also dig (on-air or via the DVD catch-up game): LOST, Strangers With Candy, Dexter, Ugly Betty, Heroes, Weeds, Carnivale, Twin Peaks, Arrested Development, Project Runway, Northern Exposure, Fashion File, Freaks and Geeks, Veronica Mars, Dirty Sexy Money, Fashion Television, Deadwood, Gossip Girl, Breaking Bad, Dirt and Nip/Tuck.
If the reason I write is to communicate, why not do it through a medium that reaches millions of people rather than a handful? I mean, let's face it-- who even has the attention span to have read THIS far through my profile, anyway?
For the record, if you're one of the rare individuals who still picks up a book and cares enough to complete it, I'd love to hear from you.
Books
Invisible Monsters and Choke--Chuck Palahniuk; Wonders of the West, Lithium for Medea,Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles and The Incantation of Frida K--Kate Braverman; Permanent Midnight--Jerry Stahl; Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste and Crackpot--John Waters; Cruddy and The Good Times Are Killing Me--Lynda Barry; Running with Scissors and Dry--Augusten Burroughs; Our Lady of the Flowers--Jean Genet; Rose of No Man's Land, Valencia, Rent Girl and The Chelsea Whistle--Michelle Tea; Glamorama--Bret Easton Ellis; A Crystal Diary--Frankie Hucklenbroich; Exquisite Corpse and Swamp Foetus--Poppy Z. Brite; Frisk and Guide--Dennis Cooper; Shampoo Planet--Douglas Coupland; Ariel--Sylvia Plath; User--Bruce Benderson; Hollywood--Charles Bukowski; Dogs in Lingerie--Danielle Willis; The Catcher in the Rye--J.D. Salinger; Chelsea Girls--Eileen Myles; Ask Dr. Mueller--Cookie Mueller; The Letters of Mina Harker and Real--Dodie Bellamy; They Call Me Mad Dog!--Erika Lopez; Requiem for a Dream--Hubert Selby, Jr.; Trash and Bastard out of Carolina--Dorothy Allison; The Fuck-Up--Arthur Nersesian; I Was A Teenage Dominatrix--Shawna Kenney; Escape from Houdini Mountain--Pleasant Gehman; Perfume--Patrick Suskind; Geek Love--Katherine Dunn;
Story of My Life--Jay McInerney; The Story of Junk--Linda Yablonsky; Blue Days, Black Nights--Ron Nyswaner; The Haunted Hillbilly--Derek McCormack; Jesus Saves--Darcey Steinke; The Bitch Posse--Martha O'Connor, Dahlia Season -- Myriam Gurba, White Oleander, Paint It Black - - Janet Fitch
With some of my collection...
Photo by Sasha Sheldon from the new
Lipstick Prophets Magazine/Catalog
A scant TWO BONES Over at www.lipstickprophets.com!
Heroes
Ones I don't know personally:
Kristen McMenamy, Alexandre of Cloak, Arkadius, Anna Piagi, Isabella Blow (R.I.P., you spell-binding creature...), Oscar Wilde, Marina Abramovic, Robert Cary-Williams, Michael Hussar, Patrik Rzepski, Diamanda Galas, Hieronymous Bosch, Amy Sedaris, Jean Genet, Karen Finley, Derek Jarman, Leigh Bowery, Sapphire, John Waters, Kate Braverman, Rochester, Erwin Olaf, John Galliano, Morrissey, Mr. Pearl, Nan Goldin, John Sex, Cookie Mueller, Salvador Dali, Jerome Caja, Jenny Saville, Alexander McQueen, Viktor ampersand Rolf, Pete Burns, Tilda Swinton, Joel Peter Witkin, Michael Clark, Pepper Labeija, Kembra Pfahler, Mark Ryden, Klaus Nomi, Lisa Gerrard, Steve Strange, Keane Etro, Al Gore, Veronica Guerin, Vampira and The Virgin Mary. Other than that: my parents, and many of my friends. (Yes, I know: I'm a big ol' slab of Velveeta. But who doesn't appreciate a good fondue now and then?)
I wouldn't be on MySpace if I didn't want to meet peeps...and it doesn't impress me how many confirmed friends you have, nor how few. We all could spend our days (and nights and days) collecting cyber"pals" in an attempt to validate our worth as individuals, but I'd rather have a few that don't require quotation marks in real life than a slew of pseudos. Some of my "Top Friends" cap their friend count at 8; others have more than 80,000. Either/Neither?
It's all cool.
In other words, it's all about perspective: I know who my true friends are, but accept requests from most people in this trailer park of the World Wide Waste of Time. I think it's an honor when someone wants to get to know me, but that doesn't mean I can keep up with the email correspondence!
No. Seriously...
I'm technologically-challenged, but am stoked to have had this page constructed by the astoundingly talented Charley Feher, a.k.a. T-Pain.. CHECK HIS SHIT OUT OVER AT MYSPACE.COM/__ (That's TWO underscores, kiddies.) Also, mad props to my pal Lake, who's made and maintained an entire site that's "About Me" for as long as I've had internet access.
MySpace is a great forum to play pretend, but if you're interested in the stuff I've actually accomplished, you can cruise over to the web address where my name is followed by a [dot] com, and ogle some of the magazine/book/CD cover/postcard shoots I did back in my heyday as a semi-professional "hanger," check out some of the styling gigs I've done, or do something truly revolutionary in this day and age...
PICK UP A BOOK
AND R E A D. is my humble first offering, and
is an anthology I co-edited with the fab Michelle Tea ♥,
Among my bibliography you'll find articles on clublife, crystal meth madness, adjective-shattering heartbreak, make-up, and the dichotomy of art/artifice.
I'm fascinated by contemporary/youth culture with the same reverence in which I hold the historical greats, and can't be bothered with fogies who compete with their progeny -- I'm all about passing the proverbial "torch," as there's just as much to learn from someone 10 years younger than me as there is someone 10 years my senior.
For anyone who wants to skip the long, here's the short of it: I'm an undermedicated, Southern-fried, sissy-fied author who believes it's better in life to choose your own labels than eschew them. I mean, really-- do you think that just because you "don't like labels" they'll go away? Think of them as something that line today's clothes that define and dress the who of the you of the moment.
Language is just another rule, another "don't" that's a delicious invitation to do.
... And shouldn't you?
I don't always sound Seussian... and I don't think karaoke is either fun or funny. Period. Oh and, a bit of advice to this country chock full of aspiring illiterate heiresses: put down the copy of US Weekly and bust your own fucking move; it's a mascara stroke past the point of embarrassment.
INDIVIDUALS I'D LOVE TO MEET...
Make-up magicians, raconteurs, rakes, graffiti geniuses, Lowbrow artists, men and women exiled for ideas pronounced heretical, sensual beings, street poets who aren't Def Poetry Jam or Nuyorican Cafe' clones, innovative designers, event coordinators, cult leaders, homohoppers, benefactors, visionaries, and complex characters overcoming some sort of adversity.
IDEALLY?
A NEW MUSE.
But uh, back to the "real life" requests... Someone who isn't emasculated by terms like "straight-acting." Someone who wants to change the world or start a new religion. Someone who couldn't tell me the rules because he or she never knew what they were, let alone follow them. Someone who edits a 'zine or has created his or her own forum. Someone who makes indie films for fun, instead of the traditional Hollywood blockbuster route. Someone who wants to collaborate on cool projects. Someone who is fueled by creation and creating, who lives searching for something more, who'd blaze cross-country on a spontaneous adventure--or at least join me on a cream-puff binge at Beard Papa.
Someone who isn't afraid of commitment:
Skip the henna tattoo; I want ink trapped beneath the third layer of my epidermis.
Give it to me full-force, or not at all.
AND OF COURSE, I'M
ALWAYS EXCITED TO MEET:
NEW F(R)IENDS WHO DIG MY THANG!
MY CURRENT
READER OF THE WEEK:
CHAUNCEY FROM SALT LAKE CITY (Who promises the balloon was that shape/location by "accident")
AS WELL AS ALTERNATE FORMS OF 'SOCIAL NETWORKING':
But wait——isn't that enough?
Alright then, how about...
..
Who I'd like to meet:
People who aren't interested in spamming my "Comments" box with advertisements for their janky-ass products! Really now. I am not interested in your band's gig at a Pizza Parlour in Pomona. I am not flying to Wisconsin to attend some "wonderful faery gathering." I do not give a shite that your song is available for download. I hate pop songs used as ring tones, and am VERY happy that you're on the verge of taking over the planet with your venture as a club kid, model (especially if you're 5'1"), or 'superstar!' However, If you think any of the aforementioned garbage is somehow a comment to *me,* I estimate your IQ is on par with steamed vegetables, and your sense of logic/reasoning the intellectual equivalent of Olestra. I mean, seriously... where'd you get the notion that my Comments' box is a community bulletin board? THAT'S precisely why you don't see *me* spamming your box with oversized ads demanding "Buy! My! Books! Now!"
On the rare occasion that I do 'Push Product,' it's for a very specific person or reason.
I am, however, supportive of my friends. If you see I've let THEM post an advertisement, that does not suddenly give you license to submit that shit to me. If you see me post a bulletin for THEM, know that it's because I'm a real friend in real life. Don't ask me to post a bulletin if we've barely had a conversation. It's just embarrassing.
I hate to sound like a snide old snatch about this matter, but guess what? This just happens to be one of the rare instances when I actually am.
BUT HEY...OTHER OPTIONS STILL EXIST.
WANNA FEEL LIKE YOU'RE REALLY EFFING IMPORTANT?
GO TO INDIA, DROP DOWN ON ALL FOURS, AND "MOO!"
Wanna know a secret? Sometimes
the order of my "Top Friends"
is based solely on the size of one's default photo...Yes, it is that serious...
