GROUND ZERO:
Plotting the
Art Revolution
Well, here's proof that our fetish for scribbling in notebooks and on napkins whilst imbibing our beverages-of-choice is certainly nothing new to us.
I came across this old tattered notebook and chortled to find the "minutes," as it were, of the first "art" gathering we ever had -- the first meeting after we decided we oughta convene regularly to be literary, artistic, or WHATEVER (e.g., drunk). Ya know, our quest to create our own vestigial version of the Salon/Algonquin/Pre-Raphaelites/Bohemian/etc.etc. thing.
Yup, affectation becomes us, and we duly recorded our musings that very first outing.
Although this entry is undated, other things in the notebook place the year in 1989 or 1990. We met that very first time at the cafe Ground Zero on Haight.
(It was shortly afterwards that we moved the meetings to Du Nord where our affectations and creativity did so thrive for many years.)
Those present at the first meeting were myself, Kallisti, Melusine, and Norman. As you can see, our first order of business was deciding to plot an Art Revolution. Absurditas es fortis nostrum, ya know, so you go with your strengths.
From the looks of the pages and my dim recollection, it looks like we spent the bulk of our coup trying to come up with a name for this Revolution. Yeah. We know what's what -- we always want our titles before we make a move.
So. Here, a nameless coup. Viva la Revolution!
______
The captions below the pictures are transcriptions of the handwriting since some of it gets a bit difficult to make out.
And please note: My patented "let's obfuscate that sentence there" method of handwriting had NOTHING to do with the fact Snakebites were doubtless flowing heartily that evening. Uh-huh.
(left side) I fell in love on the bus today.
(right side) THE PEANUT BUTTER REVOLUTION
No acronyms.
It's too early to be that drunk.
Your middle button's undone on your fly.
(Left side) TRENDY
Remove this word from the nation's vocabulary.
BOREDOM <--
(right side) BIG COMING
one name
Awesome Sea Creatures Dig for Buried Treasure
(left side) Revolting
Giggling Misanthrope
Revolution seeks to answer: can misanthropes change history?
(right side) They plotted the revolution
in a storefront.
CHARTERLESS REVOLUTION
* Publicize self
* Cafe hanging out
*
(right side) Non-Acronymistic Art Haus
NAH
Taste a legend.
It's not a good cup of coffee if it doesn't smell like cat piss.*
Life among the hair dying.
*that, of course, was said by Kallisti -- it's her famous quote!
(Left side) AGORAPHOBICS' EXPEDITION PARTY
(right side) Rebekah wants to write to D.
Letterman
1)
2) Revolutionary dogma
(right side) REVOLT! BOLSHEVIK! STOLICHANAYA!
Free trip
Celebrate vanity slothfulness et al.
avarice lust gluttony jealousy/envy anger
melancholia black bile
sanguine blood
yellow
green
(why there are dragons and a birthday cake drawn here, I cannot tell you. I have no idea.)
(above crude drawing of the two sides of the brain.
I kid you not. That's what it is)
COLOURS ART
(right) The human brain can perceive colours and art. Revolt, Comrade! Perceive. TRUE. art.
(yeah, yeah, we were probably piling up the
empty pint glasses around this point. The dragons were just a precursor
to this. )
(Left side) We seek to rewrite everyone's
scripts.
If the world's a stage, then the play is badly cast. [second
one is an Oscar Wilde quote]
(Right side) The prize: VELCRO
Art w/o Success
No thorns
(text vertically framing the sides) NO FRAME
OF MIND
FRAMELESS REFERENCE
(the other text) Bat's Opinion! Is
...[unintelligible]
ART FOR PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE FRAMES
Frameless Art
Frameless Reference
No Frame of Reference
Referenceless Frames
There you have it. An auspicious beginning with a Revolution memorialized in a 5"x3" spiral notebook. Very civil. We didn't even chop off anyone's head.
THAT, of course, came later.
Tra la.
Contents of the Misspent Youth pages ©2001-2003 by Mordantia Bat
Though Bat misspent her youth well, she still ended up with some change leftover. So, she plans on having a misspent dotage as well. For some more recent slices into Bat's life, see her journal/blog Extispicy.