“I may be as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best. .”
-- Walt Whitman

FUN WITH E-MAIL + JULY 22, 2010

From: Genung Anne <annegenung@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:35:21 -0500
To: <slade8484@aol.com>
Subject: Re: hello

you making lobster mac for dinner???

On Jul 22, 2010, at 2:47 PM, slade8484@aol.com wrote:
No. They don't go on sale until sat plus we spent enough money last night. I'm sure you will find something to make.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

From: Genung Anne <annegenung@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:49:19 -0500
To: <slade8484@aol.com>
Subject: Re: hello

i can make a fist

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ESPANA, THE YANKEES, & ALMOST IN THE MAIL + JULY 14, 2010

Holy moly the world rejoiced ESPANA!!!!!!!!!! when I was drinking margaritas and eating Mexican food at Matt's El Rancho the other night. I kept dashing to view the tiny bar TV amongst all of the waiters & kitchen staff. Amazing. Awesome. Fabulous.

Now if only futbol could solve their economy.
And what handsome men. Insanity.

The All Star Game is on television as I type and David Ortiz got the loudest boo's and it warmed my little coal heart. On a sad not though, George Steinbrenner died this morning.

now I steal from the new york times

Steinbrenner was difficult to say the least and he made all of those white trashy ballplayers cut their hair.
He was the owner forever, 37 years, which means that I have never known a Yankees team that was not his.
Made me very sad.
GBGS: God Bless George Steinbrenner. I know that Daniela has questions & cocktails for you.

On the side of things that are truly grand is that these gosh darn Save the Dates are done and will hopefully hit the mail next week. What a big to-do and what a pain to have people simply give you a basic home address.

A package of four postcards delivered in a vellum envelope. I will have to take a photo when they are properly packaged, but am thus far very happy with the way they have turned out.

I am now attempting to comp out the basic pages of the wedding website, as I want that completely functional and fleshed out by the time Save the Dates are received in the mail. I love Slade Madden very much but am eager to have all of these details wrapped up and over sometime in the near future.

Many more postcards to come. And miles to go before I sleep.

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SAVE THE DATES OF MANY KINDS + JUNE 15, 2010

Finally finished the Save the Date for Daniela's memorial in the fall and I think that I have made some serious progress on Save the Dates for my wedding, which makes me weak in the kees and nervous to send to my mother. She may hate everything. I guess that I don't really want to publish them until I have them successfully printed and then sent.

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CACTUS CHAIR/BEST TATTOOS + MAY 27, 2010

I don't sleep well these days. I am out like a light at 9 and awake at 4 am like nothing crazy is going on at all. So I look at things and man oh man it's finds like these two that make me ecstatically happy.

If I should live until I am one hundred and two I shall never ever want to own anything as much as I want these cactus chairs. Outstanding. They are a reference to a Mexican designer living in Europe. How fabulous is that?!
The pink is SO pink and the green is so textural UGH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. By Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers at Designersblock. She and I could be best friends. She's brilliant. And maybe she would give me free chairs.

And then I found the tattoo work of Amanda Wachob who is out of NYC. I hesitate to call all tattoo-ists ' artists', but this gal is so unreal and so painterly...

She makes me wish that I had more skin and parents that would never know and a man that wasn't totally against tattoos. Maybe she can just draw on me with washable markers. But how awesome is that damn fish tattoo???

(Images stolen from designsponge.com, core77.com and amandawachobtattoo.com)

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WEBSITE MANIA + MAY 20, 2010

I am off and running with a whole mess of stuff and am hoping that somehow everything becomes successful and that people are impressed and happy. Hard work ahead.

Need to ween myself off of coffee because its killing me. And I shouldn't have had all of those shrimp enchiladas.

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SADDEST DAY EVER + APRIL 24, 2010

I am getting tired of this. Of my friends dying. And not aquaintances, not anyone I despise-- MY FRIENDS. Maybe this means that getting into trouble gets you killed. Laughing gives you tumors. A challenge to a good time.

Can you even belive it about Daniela? I can't. I'm motherfucking STUNNED.

I feel bitchy silly stupid. I miss her. I can't believe that she'll never meet Slade or my big ass dogs. I'll never get to show her that I can now do laundy AND cook dinner. She would be impressed, somehow take credit. It would have been fun, fun jabs, fun bits- we'd get drunk, say how good to see one another...
She will never know any of it at all and I just can't believe that I never heard from her again.

She was kind of my hero. I have spent years now feigning her strength, her stoic manhattan maneater-ness.
She taught me almost everything I know, that Daniela.
She knew almost all of my secrets. And taught me how to drink like a man.
Daniela kicked the shit out of anything in her way and was tough and had connections. I never ever thought that this girl wouldn't kick it.

We lived together for a long time and magically met over tequila. Coolest girl I've ever known. Hope she left a guide behind. She came out years later to a crowd who wasn't shocked and who was excited for her. She was always surrounded by the greatest smartest artiest most accepting and eager sophisticated people. Everyone loved her and she was so smart and funny and grand.

I'm going to start to forget her is really what it means. And then will I speak of her like I knew her when we were small.
Because she died when she was not so big.

One night in Manhattan- I think that we were 18 and 19- I ran to the girls room and returned to my father drunkenly explaining to Daniela that Kenny Rogers explains everything that you need to know in life in 'The Gambler.' 'Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...'
She too was included in the madness. We all just adored her.

heartbroken

"I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best
I can't keep track of each falled robin
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
That's all
I dont think of you that often" xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

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WORKS IN PROGRESS + APRIL 21, 2010

Tired girl I am, but no matter. I make, I make, I make. New paintings in my color studies series to surface soon. I will sleep when I am good and dead I suppose, whichever may come first.

I am getting paint everywhere. Including up my nose. All over my forehead. On my sheets, walls and dishes.

I'm thinking about these paintings all of the time including asleep.

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TEN THINGS EN ESPAÑOL + MARCH 31, 2010

UNO: Galletitas de la Suerte : Fortune Cookies

My favorite chica and I ordered Chinese from Chinatown Downtown and it was delicious, just as I knew it would be. We had some wonton soups and the chef's special beef that was so darn good that it called to us as we watched white trash TV. We opened our fortune cookies, making sure to first eat a bite before reading the fortunes (as is lucky custom). I cannot for the life of me remember what her's was, but I saved mine because it made me furious.

My fortune was EN ESPAÑOL.

I have never been given a fortune in a foreign language though I am usually excited to very badly articulate the Chinese word on the back, aided by the easy phonetic spelling underneath, and to glance at my lucky lottery numbers, none of which I ever use, as I never play the lottery.

But this fortune EN ESPAÑOL had no Chinese word on the back, no phonetic translation, no corny lottery numbers. It was simply the worst cheapest ghetto-est fortune cookie ever. Even the fortune cookies that have mysteriously NO fortune inside seem more magical and special that this one. I felt like I got the bootleg cookie, the one that they picked up at the Dollar Store in the barrio. I just don't trust that cookie and maybe I don't trust a restaurant that wants to distribute said cookies.

"Él es mi mejor amigo."
This of course translates to 'He is my best friend."

What kind of crazy ass cookie is this?? Who the hell is HE?? Is this cookie referring to God or Jesus and suggesting that we are best friends??
Are there other cookies floating that insinuate that we are all strangers?
Why doesn't this cookie know that this is Austin and I don't have to have religious hooey shoved down my throat? Did they bring this cookie in from a Catholic county to mock me, to incite a riot?

I miss cookies that told me about lucky days to come and suggested 07, 18, 19, 32, 45, 47.

On the grand upside, this post has forced me to learn how to type a proper Spanish alphabet. So how 'bout them apples? Now I will be able to type correctly in the aftermath of la revolución.

DOS: La Muerte de McQueen, Lagerfeld, Moda : The Death of McQueen, Lagerfeld, Fashion

I have to say that Alexander McQueen's suicide 5/6 wks ago broke my heart. I loved him dearly. He was naughty and ballsy and amazing and artistic and well-done. His work was like no one else's and I remember tearing up magazines to hold on to the images of his insane evening gowns.



The image above and left is a David LaChapelle that may have run in Vogue or W-- cannot now remember which, but do know that I was a senior in high school when it ran.
Insanely sad. I was bummed. What an unfathomable loss to fashion. Huge.

His death made everything wrong with the world and WHY would this man end his life and what will high fashion do without someone so innovative brilliant frightening arresting and then HOLY SH*T I saw the Lagerfeld movie on the cable TV. Made me crazy. Totally forgot about McQueen.

'Lagerfeld Confidential' came out in 2007 after three years of filming and is of course in French and largely in black and white (or is it that HE is so very much in black and white?) and its AMAZING and he is so intense and quite a good deal frightening. I adore his bowls & bowlfuls of rings and his bureau full of starched collars of every imaginable shape.

The most outstanding scene is one of his Chanel shows in which all of the models enter in black coats on a rotating cylindrical enormous lazy susan and the models rotate and look serious on this lazy susan and then they take their coats off to reveal the most beautiful and colorful short suits and dresses, gorgeous linings in the coats-- all the while Lagerfeld is explaining in very specific French that he gets all of his best ideas from dreams- that this one is from a dream.
"I love change. I'm attached to nothing."

Made me crazy and creative and inspired and stupid for not being/speaking French, but whatever- been there before...

(And are you familiar with BING?? I will be stealing everything from over there now. The ease of gentle modern thievery, you know.)

TRES: Bishops Arts District, Dallas : Bishops Arts District, Dallas

"Owning art, unlike seeing it in a museum, is a very primal pleasure. Having it there, close to you, something that you associate with great beauty or great emotional expression, something that you associate with a soul, or with status—is very important, it’s a very intense feeling for many people."
Tobias Meyer, head of contemporary art, Sotheby’s

A friend of mine and I went to Dallas to pick up a piece of artwork that she had purchased a million weekends ago now and I was able to see two galleries that I had never been to in a part of town that I was previously unfamiliar with. The Bishop Arts District is a super rad neighborhood that has sprung up in South Dallas, a previously unseemly destination for those of us who grew up in the city.
It kind of made me want to live in Dallas. Kind of. Except for its proximity to Dallas of course.

I had eaten at Hattie's several yrs ago across the street from Decorazon Gallery, which is a great little space that carries really interesting contemporary art. My friend bought a Rob Tarbell sculpture to accompany the amazing and huge Tarbell piece that she had previously purchased. The older piece is large large large and depicts an in motion horse that he created with smoke. Outstanding to look at as I suppose that the layers of transparent smoke give the piece a great sense of action, of movement.

I have plans to work my tail off to get represented here. LOVE it, LOVE the work.

I had heard several things about low rents and cool kids moving over the way of Bishops Arts and now I am a believer. Kind of reminded me of Brooklyn- a cute area with all of your needs within walking distance. LOVE that.

We additionally went into the space next to Neiman's Downtown, which I suppose is called the Dallas Public Arts Project. When we were there they were getting ready for Art in the District, which I guess was to motivate, excite and get people into some of these emerging contemporary galleries. Super cool.
Every Neiman's should be bookended by a gallery. Every single one.

CUATRO: Cicso's y el Tren : Cisco's and the Train

Things are really picking up again here in Austin's Eastside. I await some jerky coffee shop to replace my beloved Cisco's on the corner of 6th and Comal. Story is that it is for sale (along with the hole of a bar located directly behind it) for a cool 3.8 million dollars. It will be a very sad hungover Sunday that I am unable to fancy walk in my jammies to the corner for some migas and the best darn flour tortillas that I have ever had.

Or perhaps it will be a restaurant with delicious foreign-ish food and terrible Austin service.
As my friend Jesse told me during a delicious and yet remedial luncheon: "I get it. He's a method actor and he's playing the part of the worst waiter in town."
I guess its a good thing that Jesse didn't go all over town. Because I have been and holy moly.

I do expect our neighborhood to bounce back again being that the TRAIN now works and runs right in front of the building. HURRAH. It doesn't run late or during midday or on weekends, which is silly and more than a bit ridiculous but we will just have to work on them. And by that I mean that they will have to think it up by themselves.
We all know not to ask for much from Cap Metro. Just a tiny bit of work every few years.

But hell yeah! If you want to get on the train from early morning until just past rush hour (and not during siesta) DO IT. Here's your schedule. Woo hoo train! Its almost like I live in a major urban area.

CINCO: Ideas Brillantes : Brilliant Ideas

I spoke with my most favorite cousin the other day (I feel like I have 100, like any true Southerner would and should, but this is the only one that I am in constant contact with and thus my most favorite...) and she told me that she hopes to import all sorts of the fabulous Spanish products that she has the unbelievable good luck to enjoy every single day of her beautiful Spanish life.

This could honestly be her huge billion dollar success story. And it of course would be a boon for us horrendously underprivileged white bread Americans who are always in need of better cleaner more divine food.
Living in Spain was no doubt the very best eating that this girl ever did.

Fabulous sardines, chorizo and manchego. Myriad olivas for assorted uses.
Wouldn't it be divine to buy divine oliva in BULK at Costco??
What if we could get Costco to sell big American-sized amounts of gourmet foods?
What if Costco and Whole Foods had a baby??
Makes me hungry just thinking about it. Such a brilliant idea- I know that she can make it happen.

SEIS: El Arte Para Todo : Art for All

I am now having prints of two works carried and sold by a local company called artmuse. They have affordable and collectible prints ranging a full spectrum of sizes, which is so cool for a multitude of reasons. Not only do I get my name and my work out there, but hopefully I will network with some more artists, possibly have some shows here in the house with other artmuse represented artists... Who knows.

The owner stopped by last week to drop off some great looking prints. I am no doubt satisfied with the outcome at this point. The paper is heavy and gorgeous and the prints are rich and deep. I would adore to see them printed huge.

It will probably lead to me collecting prints of other artists. And what a fabulous idea. Art for the masses, art for us all. Check it out here.

SIETE: Guardar Las Fechas : Save the Dates

I am getting married in a little more than a year. Why so long you ask?? Because most of my friends live somewhere else, be it NYC or Madrid and I want to have them here with me for the biggest party that I will ever throw. I have additionally done this so far in advance as to ensure that we get the venue that I want (Stubbs BBQ in the heart of ATX) and it will be our 5 year anniversary to boot.

As proper etiquette dictates, I must send out SAVE THE DATE cards so that people can in fact save the date and prepare themselves for plane tickets, hotel rooms, etc. All of this has of course led me into the world of insanely expensive stationary and I of course have an eye for the most expensive thing in the pile.

I am guessing that I will design postcards that we can easily and inexpensively have printed up very quickly. The above are just a few of the ideas that I have found and love... The idea of nuptial script just makes me want to die and we aren't having any sort of service in a church-- We are just going to be overserved at the country music venue and eat BBQ... Ain't love grand?!

I plan to draft ideas quickly for these and who knows. Maybe it will lead to something else for me. Besides a husband I mean.

OCHO: La Balada de HMcC Partes 3,4,5 : The Ballad of HMcC Parts 3, 4, 5

Oh Homeless, will you ever just take the hell off? Maybe get a girlfriend who will yell racial slurs with you- Y'all can go to Mexico. Everyone loves yelling in Mexico.

The day of New Year's Eve we watched Homeless McCrazyface pace around the Saltillo train station, his bags scattered, a large stick tied across his body like a glorious hobo ninja. He danced, ranted and practiced fight moves.
The cops that eventually showed up were privy to his usual bouts of crazy mc-cusssing and screaming, enough to merit what in the end was a group of eight officers.
Some of the officers leaned against the walls of the station and just let him rant and rave while two stealthy and brave men went around the back and eventually jumped and tackled him to the ground. He was then carried to one of the waiting cop cars and driven away.

It was like a little joke-- How many police officers does it take to take down a crazy crackhead?? A whole helluva lot.

I ignorantly thought that we'd be done with McCrazyface. I honestly believed that 2010 would be a crackhead free year for me, but alas, it was not meant to be so.

I came out of the house one evening with Slade and our dogs to quickly run them to the bathroom and turned to see HMcC seated in front of Method Hair, two doors down from our front door. I saw him and said something to the effect of "nuh uh no way no sir" and he began to scream and carry on. He got into my face and screamed and yelled and challenged me to call the police, which Slade was already in the process of doing. He told me that the girls at Method Hair were paying him for a portrait (Homeless is an artiste?? I had no idea...) and that I couldn't be messing with his business.

He began to walk away and off into the PJ's at 4th and Comal when the police showed up and began to speak with him and Slade. He was telling them that we are always threatening his life and that they should arrest us. The officers explained to him that he should leave us alone and stay out of our way and then THEY LET HIM GO.

What did the crazy man do?? Well he cruised right back up Comal and threatened us again. The man wasted no time at all and so we got right back on the phone with the police.
He was then finally arrested, but was dragging his feet and screaming and crying for the police to just kill him.
It's just so terribly disturbing. And such a scary pain in the ass.

We were given his name and his birthdate so that we can go down to the courthouse and file for a restraining order.

His name is Donald Rae Comeau and do you know the very best part?? It was his birthday the next day. Do you think that a homeless man can possibly grasp the irony of balloons when he himself is already free as a bird?? I would have baked old Crazyface a crazy cake if I had known.

NUEVE: 5 x 7 : 5 x 7

You know what's awesome? That this year I get to take part in Arthouse's 5 x 7.

Its an annual fundraiser in which hundreds of artists with Texas ties contribute works measuring 5 x 7 inches and are all auctioned off anonymously for $100 each. The works also travel through the state and some are shown in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

I have plans to make several so that I can ensure at least one in each city that the tour hits and I do hope for friends/family to attend in several cities and see if they can find which works are mine.

Its a really cool deal and I have been a fan for awhile. Very happy and lucky to get to participate.
You can go to the website here.

DIEZ: No Mas Cervezas : No More Beers

Whoo SXSW, no thank you I cannot even have one more sip. Not a single one. Please don't tell me about another THING that's just right around the corner from us. I was too overserved way too often. Like all of the time.

Slade and I waited in the longest line to see Hayes Carll at Antone's and it was completely worth it. He was fabulous and his band was a group of handsome Texas boys. (Done. Sold. What else must you bring me?!)
He didn't sing his cover of 'Magnolia Wind' which is so unreal divine and sometimes brings me to tears, but the show was sublime, if only 30 minutes or so.
I will be shocked shocked shocked if his next album doesn't sell like hotcakes. He always gets great reviews and apparently he gets a lot of great press in Germany because the whole damn audience was speaking German. What's that about?

We saw Harlem at the Fader Fort on Friday around 2pm and they were obviously still stupid no bueno drunk. They apologized for not being professional TWICE during a twenty thirty minute set. I have crushes on all of them. They were phenomenal. I will go out of my way to take a nap and see them play late night somewhere exciting around town.

Friday night we saw a GREAT hip hop show at the Scoot Inn. Slade is apparently a HUGE rap fan and he was able to really see and hear some amazing stuff that he previously hadn't encountered. Kidz in tha Hall, Pharoahe Monch, Buckshot. It was as if the DJ played a clip of every necessary hip hop song from the past 20 years. No doubt we were there awhile. Had a damn blast. We were unable to stay up late enough to see B Real. I'm guessing that he went on at 5am and I get way too sleepy for any of that nonsense.

Saturday of SXSW was surprisingly freezing ass arctic cold. I think that it was to scare off the tourists so that we can keep Austin to ourselves. But along with the freezing cold came the bar none best best best thing that I saw the whole entire weekend and they go by the name of Think About Life. I wasn't even interested at first- I was trying to drink canned beer without freezing my fat hand off.
They are a party band from Montreal and they all look like dorks and end up being the coolest darn kids in the room. I would like to be their best friend. They are fronted by a big black dude that sings with all of his might and I do not know how you cannot dance when this man orders you to. UGH. LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Wish that they would come back soon and play a show.

Yeah so what a blast. Still tired and a bit hungover. It will take a whole year for me to get enough strength back to do it again, but I love the energy and the money money money that it fills our fair city with.

NUMERO BONUS

I have been frustrated for months now with an old laptop that constantly crashes and my precious man bought me a brand new computer and its so gorgeous and fast. I plan to do much more work on all sorts of things now that I am able to get it done at lightning speed and not simply cuss and cry and wish that things were different. Because now they are different. I plan to save the world with this computer-- not really but I hope to update things more often, as I will be able to get things done in one or two sittings, as opposed to four million and countless tantrums and tears. Cheers.

~el fin~ : ~the end~