Still frantically rebuilding the web site. There’s a lot of work to be done. We’d made a lot of progress, David and I, but we lost the finished structure in a server meltdown last year, so I’m having to reassemble the archives and reformat everything for the new site here. I’m missing a lot, and it’s impossible to describe how hard this is going to be without David’s nagging, insistent, and very clear voice guiding me along. Laurie Anderson once said that when her father died, it was like a whole library burned down. With David, it’s a library, a circus, a school, a dime store—everything—all in flames. It’s been a melancholy few days, but the work’s gotta go on.
I worked with David for a long, long time, putting this stuff together, but there are so many missing pieces, absent narratives, and fragments that I no longer have someone around to explain. I’m going to be posting images like this as I go along, and if you’ve got any insight or memories of these events and projects, I’d love for you to share it with the me for this site, and with the rest of his circle of friends.
The pic from Cellar Door is when David was opening for Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band as “The Infirm Poet” who did his shaky voiced reading, took up a collection, and then got up and walked off stage. To keep up the pretense, David (while in the wheelchair with a blanket over his knees) had to be carried in. The performance began from the car outside in view of any audience not in the building yet. As you can imagine, this was a gigantic pain for all involved! But carrying out his ruses/performances called for complete commitment from his minion. Helping him from the rear of the wheelchair is Bob Brown, collaborator on many of David’s songs and the person who introduced David to Root Boy. Of course, that’s Edith Massey on the stairs. I’ve drawn a blank on the others. They all posed as his “nurses.”
Aleta, I’m still trying to turn it up, but there’s a great black and white video of you performing at one of David’s events, I think in 1978 or so, in Rockville or thereabouts (I’m blanking on the location, but will post when I recall.). I’ll get it up here as soon as I can track it down.
- Joe Wall
P.S. That’s Sue Lowe with the fantastic eye shadow and lipstick.
Yes, thank you Joe, that is absolutely the beautiful Susan Lowe! (These are stressful times and I should have remembered.) A video from 1978? Sounds scary.
It’s a great piece of video history. Now I just need to find the damn thing. This is what happens when you get organized–you lose everything.
- Joe