Von is moving to New York City this weekend! Good for him, sad for us. Last night a few gathered at zuzu to dance and say au revoir to our favorite little man. So long! It was fun.
I went to Hartford Saturday evening for my best boy Ross Fredella's thesis show at Hartford Art School, my alma mater. Beautiful! It was also the first time in over a year that every original Lord of Oxford Street were together under one roof. At long last! Phil flew out from LA with our other friend Trevor, Matt came up from Brooklyn and Jamie and I down from Boston. Catching up was overdue. The rare bond between us that's been stretched across a country enjoyed one good night to reinforce the fibers of our friendship.
Ross's show of photographs is totally beautiful, full of nuanced formal grace and a here-and-now moodiness. The show, called The Present, is about travel, light, observation and composing the environment around you into a 2-D flatland. There he provides a few planned exits from relentless monotony for brief, hard-won moments of personal freedom and pleasure. In his pictures I sense the desire for beauty (often made possible via structured composition) constantly competing with an overwhelming anxiety (caused perhaps by the constraints, demands, repetitive annoyances of life structures and systems), which allows quite a cerebral viewing experience for me. He is one of the most talented, aesthetic people I know, and a devoted friend. He's going to do great work.
It was occasion for celebration, and that we did. It was nice have these many good reasons to be back in Hartford, the love-hate of my young life.
WELL, Melanie is on spring break this week and Mandy is an adult with a lot of free time so they both came up to Boston for a weekend visit, and Rachel was here too for a bit. These bitches are the REAL BITCHES. We drank a ton of wine at Ellen's house and screamed a lot about spring break. It rained a little bit but Melanie wore short skirts and tees anyway. Inebriated mind over sobering matter. Weekend activities included dinner party, dance party at Uhuru Afrika - All Asia, chat roulette, sexting, sexy iPhotobooth photo-shoots, shit talk, sex talk, intellectual gathering, me spilling red wine on a stranger's white sweater, not caring, etc.
They ought to come back. Whatever I'm going to see them this weekend again in Hartford for Ross Fredella's senior thesis exhibition at Hartford Art School and the much anticipated Oxford Street Manse family reunion. YES. NOSTALGIA BEER BONER JAMS ALL NIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT. KEEP IT MOVIN'.
Forgive me WPU fans, I have been partying I just haven't been blogging about it. I'm sorry to keep all 3 or 4 of you not up to date. I've been preoccupied by minor anxieties nagging at my resolve, coming in from several different directions that I can't seem to explain away. I don't know what it is, but it's been like a steady breeze I wish would just stop.
Regardless, which is the right attitude, here's a quick recap: I spent Friday night at a pop-up gallery opening in Somerville, curated by Pennie Taylor. She gathered the work of three artists into a tidy little show called "Troubling Reality." Two photographers, Gary Duehr, Ethan Moses and performance artist Ben Aron. Ethan Moses's works were shot in 3-D which is why everyone is wearing such festive eyewear. Brian spun soca and dancehall records which inspired a brief dance party. Afterward, heavy drinking commenced next door at the Independent with Brian, Moises, Pennie, Ike and everybody else.
The rest of the weekend was largely uneventful, save for a lovely little dinner party at Abby's house in Cambridge during an absolutely drenched Saturday night.
Tuesday night, went over to Zuzu which was fun as expected. DJ Nomadik, an old-school, well established Boston R&B DJ guested side by side with Leah V and D'hana. Cute twinks, dykes in every direction. Nightlife lives.
