Book Launch

Launch of Pola-Reds

I am about to travel to San Francisco for the SF Punk Homecoming, a two-day event featuring punk bands from back in the day, performance and spoken word, and an art show. Pola-Reds will be for sale, while on view in the art show are digital prints of a triptych of images from the book and a triptych featuring friends Don Vinil, singer for the Offs, Debora Iyall, singer for Romeo Void, and boyfriend Martin. Pola-Reds: Confections from the Edge is currently being sold at Elliott Bay Book Company and Rare Medium Gallery in Seattle, WA and Nationale in Portland, OR. Look for more locations as the days roll on. I am planning my Seattle book launch for Oct. 29.

Two pics that Debora Iyall took of me on the floor of Christine "Teen" Anthony's apartment. In the second pic, the images that I took of Debora are up in the right corner. The Polaroids were taken in early 1978, not long after Debora and I met on the San Francisco Muni bus due to her interest in my at-that-time salmon hair color. I recall that Debora asked about how to go 'bout finding apartments in the City, as she was just moving to SF. I mentioned the one place I relied on, the student wallboard at the San Francisco Art Institute. "That's where I'm going, too!," she screamed, and so began Debora's role as muse and friend.

incentives in progress

for the Kickstarter incentives, I wanted to make an original work for anyone who posted even the lowest amount; I'd want something in return for a few bucks. I have a postcard collection that began in the Seventies in my travels across country, from Dallas to San Francisco initially, then SF to New York and to Massachusetts, from Dallas through Baltimore to Western Massachusetts, then back to San Francisco. Postcards have better views than my rudimentary photography capabilities could ever imagine. For a time I fantasized about doing my own American travel series, writing the texts on the back of the card, taking the pics.... So making a postcard for the incentives began as a way to use up some of the collected cards. I made the initial circle markings with water-based pen, then came upon the notion to spray paint the cards red. The use of a triangle came from a FaceBook posting of Edward of Nervous Gender's about the markings used to denote different types of degenerates. While I've marched under the pink triangle for decades, I liked that the red stood for general undesirables, as I recall.

A Huge Thank You to my Kickstarter Backers

Thanks to those who pledged support to my Kickstarter project: Will and the Durans, Nate Muller, Bruce Fugett Jillian & Jessica Johnston, Brian Machinski, Matt Embry & Nina, Robin McDaniel, Kelly Fultz, Suzanne Schlossberg, Mary Glassanos & George, Sally Bailey, Gay City Health Project, Gregory Kent, John Jenkins, Melissa Harris, Katrina Dance, Marie Thibeault, June Owens, Mark Johnson, Ben Johns, Bill Jacobson, Theresa Halsell, Adrian Duran, Julie Olsen, Harrison Evans, Matt Booth, Matt Heckert, Kent Young, Carrie Pickett, Jeanne Sickel, Keith Barland, David Webb, Liise Berre, Deb Bigelow, Judy Gittelsohn, Lucian Burg, Julia Shure, Candis Wheat, Don Waddington, Noel Geileghem, Ben & Deena Newton, Katerina Lamola, Andrew Colver, Larry & Judy Winne, Becky Smith, Liz, Jack Fischer, Ray-Mel Cornelius, Shelley Casper, Laurie Skildum, Ruth Johnston, Kathy Penick, Eric Walters, Terry Lindow, Jocelyn Muller, Debora Iyall, Douglas Kennedy, Jill Haddaway, Chris and Michael Villanueva, Sarah Muller, Heidi Gray, Jackie An, Duncan Scott Scrymgeour, Bjoern Gruetzmacher, Clint DeKoekkeok, Charlie Logan, Katherine Johnston, Jessica Logan & Ryan Hoffman, Judi Parks, Danny Sanchez, Bill Arnold, Mike Hays, Erik Walters, David Webb

So You Want That You Were a Rock and Roll Star

Adding a new incentive to the Kickstarter project: drawings on 45 paper protective sleeves, ink, paint and marker on paper, 18cm square (7.15" x 7.15"); insert: drawing, paint and ink on paper, size varies

Imposture

Reading in Picturing Ourselves: Photography and Autobiography (Linda Haverty Rugg, 1997) how attentive Samuel Clemens was to building the identity of Mark Twain through photographs--images that seem to supply the viewer w an uncensored look at the author,Twain writing, the viewer invited into the bedroom, an autobiography dictated to an employee, often with another assistant in attendance. Clemens/Twain was concerned about others passing themselves off as Mark Twain, fakes of an already imaginary character. The author notes the concept of 'imposture': "the act or practice of deceiving by means of an assumed character or name". I felt I was embarked on a level of imposture throughout this time, as I assumed the name Jack, my given middle name, moving away from the bland Jim but unwilling to go the route of most gay men I knew in San Francisco using full first names: James, Robert, and the like. I resonate with wanting to hold onto my creation--I kept these images of some stranger trying to be me beneath the bed in a box. Like Clemens, I purport to allow you to get to know me, inviting you into my bedroom where previously on the camera and myself engaged in conversation. By revealing my Polaroid images, I invite you to hang out in the flat after some great gig at 330 Grove or the Mabuhay Gardens. Imagine we talk about the events of the day: Anita Bryant and the Briggs Initiative, the sad end of Nancy Spungeon, or the sad state of punk rock and new wave in general.