Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Remembering Virgil Thomson 11/25/1896 - 9/30/89

Composer Virgil Thomson was a long time resident of the Hotel Chelsea.  He resided here from 1934 until he died in 1989.

Out in Berkeley, CA, The Mark Morris Dancers are performing "Four Saints in Three Acts," which is set to a score composed by Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein.   

Interviews from the Chelsea:
"The Saint Theresa Incident," from Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle.

Reflections of an American Composer

Hotel Chelsea -- The Last Years  (From: http://www.schirmer.com/composers/thomson/essay3.html

In 1934 Thomson became a resident at the Hotel Chelsea in New York, a Victorian building that opened in 1884. Many literary people -- Arthur Miller, Dylan Thomas, Thomas Wolfe, Tennessee Williams -- have lived there. Despite its regal elegance, it always had a slightly randy, seedy appearance.

Entering his apartment on the 9th floor, you walked into a past era which was very European, and which left contemporary obstreperous New York far below. Every object in it was a significant part of his history and revealed the cultural milieu of a man whose life for more than half a century was spent interacting with the international avant-garde, particularly the Paris of the 1920s. The enormous sitting room, because of pictures hung on its red and blue walls, made the apartment seem larger than it was. Book cases contained works of his friends old and new -- first editions of Stein, Cocteau, Cummings, Joyce, Gide, Faulkner, William Carlos Williams, James Merrill, Edward Albee, and Truman Capote. Photographs, periodicals of the 20s, paintings and sculpture by Maurice Grosser, Jean Arp, Florine Stettenheimer, Leonid Berman, Christian Berard, Yves Tanguy, Paul Tchelitchew, every one an irreplaceable visual memoir of a lasting friendship. A grand piano, a fireplace, his favorite armchair, and a large cupboard dominated the room. Conspicuous on the top of the cupboard was a set of Vuitton luggage. This was both a pretentious display of vanity and a constant reminder of his hasty retreat from France with Man Ray in 1940. That's all he could manage to take with him.

New York Times Obituary.

OK, So I Don't Watch Martha

And here's what I missed, Chelsea resident Nicolaia Rips, appeared on a cooking segment with Martha last week.  Nicolaia is the daughter of author Michael Rips.  Here's full coverage in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Tourists Have More Fun

1.  What do you do? I'm a manager in a 2nd hand record store (www.beanos.co.uk)
2.  When did you stay at the Chelsea? Last November for 2 nights to celebrate my birthday.
3.  Why did you choose to stay at the Chelsea? Because of it's musical history & I was paying tribute to Dee Dee Ramone!
4.  What was the best/worst thing that happened to you at the Chelsea? Just the whole experience was amazing...from 1st walking into the lobby to wandering round checking out the art.

5.  Would you stay at the Chelsea again? Most definitely!

Scandals Are Good for Business

From the Sept 27, 2005 issue of USA Today. The article features various hotels that have endured thanks to the buzz generated by long ago scandals.

•New York's Hotel Chelsea, where punk icon Sid Vicious allegedly stabbed his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, to death in October 1978 in Room 100. (The former Sex Pistol was charged with homicide but died three months later from a heroin overdose.)

Some guests still request Room 100, "strangely enough," says longtime managing director Stanley Bard. It isn't available, however, because the room became part of a larger suite in a renovation 20 or so years ago.

Bard prefers to talk about other notables — Bob Dylan, Madonna, Leonard Cohen and Allen Ginsburg — who have checked in. As for the Sid and Nancy episode, "I'm not happy about it, but you can't control these things," he says.

The Year of the Chelsea?

Even though they've been nominated multiple times previously The Sex Pistols and Patti Smith Group are candidates once again for induction into the 2006 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  We'll keep our fingers crossed this year.  The public doesn't get a chance to vote, but The Cleveland Plain Dealer provides a reader's survey at http://www.cleveland.com/rockhall/

Other Hotel Chelsea Music Highlights:

Patti Smith's thinks that Bob Dylan's best song is Changing of the Guards.

A museum dedicated to the Ramones recently opened in Berlin.

Ryan Adams has a new CD, Jacksonville City Nights.

Chelsea Sound Stage continued

                                        Naked Models
     On a more positive note, many times I’ve arrived home to find naked models cavorting in the stairwells.  So the presence of the film crews has its upside, though I would feel like a lecher if I stood there watching such a spectacle for any length of time.  Sometimes, though, it can’t be avoided.  One time there was a naked girl right in front of my door.  There were three guys, one with a camera, standing over the girl, who lay prone in the corner of the corridor.  About twenty years old, the girl was quite pretty, with dark brown hair, slim, with a good body.  She had on dark make-up to make her look like a vampire, though she was sprinkled in glitter too, and so I didn’t know quite what to make of her: a glittery, naked Goth girl.  My jaw dropped and I just stood there gawking like an idiot.

“Can I help you?” one of the guys said.

“Uh, pardon me,” I said.  “I need to get into my apartment.”

“No problem,” he said. One of the other guys helped the girl to her feet and they all three moved aside.  When I closed my door I heard them gather back around my door to continue the shoot.  Just another day in the Chelsea.  Copyright 2006 Ed Hamilton  (Next Week:  Hollywood Knocks on My Door)
Click here to read more Slice of Life features.

All Tomorrow's Parties - Sept 26 - Oct 2

Monday, September 26th
It's Banned Books week.  Included on the list of the top 100 banned books of the last 10 years is Madonna's Sex (photographed in room 822).  Sex comes in at number 19 on the list.  Read a banned book!

Thursday, September 29th, 8:00 - 11:00 p.m.
"Norman's Big Night Out."  A simmering cocktail of Vaudeville, Vegas, Classic Burlesque, English Music Hall and all the pleasures of the Past & Present, Alive and Kicking in Downtown Manhattan.  Featuring this week Norman's All Time Favorite Beauties: Miss Heather von Domhoff, Miss Saturn, and Miss Amelia, who resembles Sheena Queen of the Jungle, except she's much prettier.   Everybody pays $10.00.
Scenic, 25 Avenue B (Between 2nd & 3rd), Showtime 9:00 sharp.


Friday - Sunday, September 30th - October 2nd

If the Hotel Chelsea doesn't have enough literary events to keep you hopping this week, go ahead, be a traitor and see how the other half lives.  The Dorothy Parker Festival is in full swing at the recently sold for $74 million, fancy pants Algonquin.  Just so we won't feel left out, the event organizer Kevin Fitzpatrick points to some connections between Mrs. Parker and the men of the Chelsea.

Friday, September 30th
Celebrate the live of Virgil Thomson, who died on this date in 1989.  Stay home, listen to music and prepare coq au vin.  Here's the recipe, handed down from Virgil to Gerald Busby and now to you! (Photo from Rita Barros' book, Chelsea Hotel)

Cut up the chicken into eights.
Braise chicken with a rendering of beef suet.
Add a cup of shallots and a cup of your best Burgundy.
Simmer until done.
Serve with the rest of the Burgundy.

Saturday, October 1st, 8:30 p.m.
Catch the premiere of Richard Daniel's "Telling Tales," an evening of solo dance, duets, and a quintet.  The fourth section is a new, commissioned score featuring a composition by Hotel Chelsea resident, Gerald Busby.
Danspace Project 131 E. 10th St., NY

Sunday, October 2nd, 12:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Last chance to view Hotel Chelsea resident/painter Hawk Alfredson's exhibit at the Silk Mill.
540 39th Street, Union City, New Jersey

Literary Hotel Envy

While other hotels are mere Chelsea wannabes, the Algonquin can give the Chelsea a run for her money in the literary department.  The Algonquin was home to literary great, Dorothy Parker. The seventh annual Dorothy Parker festival happens next week, and festival organizer Kevin Fitzpatrick has written an overview of Parker's encounters with the men of the Chelsea:

"Dorothy Parker was a resident of the Algonquin and Plaza hotels, but probably never at the Chelsea. Her residences extended as far south in Manhattan as 44th Street.  But she did venture downtown; indeed her tattoo was inked in a village shop; her friends Edmund Wilson, James Thurber, Andy White and Franklin P. Adams all lived below 23rd Street.  However, she did have a connection with at least four Chelsea Hotel all-star writers.

Thomas Wolfe -- Thomas Wolfe visited Mrs. Parker in Hollywood in September 1935.  "Dorothy Parker seems to like me," he told editor Max Perkins, "Swears she does, and last night told a room full of people that I was built on a heroic scale and that there was no one like me.  Maybe the old girl is laughing at me behind my back and making wicked jokes about me but I think she meant what she said.  She and her young husband are living in a magnificent imitation Colonial house...and the liquor and hospitality flows like the Mississippi -- I am going there again this afternoon."

Vladimir Nabokov -- In October 1958 Mrs. Parker tipped her pen to Nabokov upon the U.S. publication of Lolita.  She was a sometimes book critic for Esquire magazine, her last regular writing assignment.  "I do not think that Lolita is a filthy book," she wrote.  "I cannot regard it as pornography, either sheer, unrestrained, or any other kind.  It is the engrossing, anguished story of a man, a man of taste and culture, who can love only little girls..an anguished book, but sometimes wildly funny, as in the saga of his travels across and around the United States with her."

Arthur Miller -- The National Institue of Arts and Letters inducted Dorothy Parker into its memberhsip in 1958.  IT was the great literary achievement of her career.  She was also invited to Columbia University, where playwright Arthur Miller was speaking.  Mrs. Parker wanted to attend, not so much as to meet the great man of the theater, but to get an audience with his new wife, Marilyn Monroe.

O. Henry -- The first literary prize Dorothy Parker was awarded was the O.Henry award for best short story of the year, in 1929.  It was for her gem "Big Blond" -- a semi-autobiographical novella of love and loss.  Parker and O. Henry had another connection through New York World columnist Franklin P. Adams, a member of the Algonquin Round Table and mentor to Parker.   Adams and O. Henry (William Sydeny Porter) collaborated on a play.

Moving Day for Ethan

The Divine Movers van parked in front of the Chelsea is being filled with the contents from Ethan Hawke's apartment.  In true Chelsea spirit, the elevators have been malfunctioning all day.  Moving is always such a bitch.  This can only mean one thing.  Soon, a very nice apartment will be available!

Fashion Week Wrap-Up

Hotel Chelsea resident fashionista Sally Singer reviews the collections:

Michael Kor --  "He took a Madame X silhouette and did something new with it," said Sally Singer, Vogue's fashion news director. "There were lots of pieces that can be worn by all sorts of women across this country. He showed a range of strengths: a jersey gown with a touch of lace, that black metallic gown with ure and crunch. He can do a great bikini and do a great eyelet so that a full skirt doesn't look too immature."

Gwen Stefani --  "Gwen has a certain style that is entirely her own, and a logical extension of her enthusiasm," says Sally Singer, Vogue's fashion news and features director. "She has a stylist and a fashion designer in her as well as an original point of view."

Vera Wang --  "She's connected with the moment very well," observes Sally Singer, Vogue's fashion news director. "Women's fashion right now isn't about conveying power and promotion and fabulosity, it's about lifestyle clothes, clothes you wear to work, wear them out and pick up your kids in them. ... It's now about a seamless transition between professional life and family life. Vera lives that life."

Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, & Narciso Rodriguez --   "The new look is flattering, if a bit youthful, Singer said. But beware - higher waists usually mean mid-calf skirt lengths. "   ``That doesn't really flatter many women,'' Singer said.

Eggleston's Favorite Place, Almost

Recently, famed photographer William Eggleston sat down in El Quixote, the Hotel's bar, to give an interview to The New Yorker. He refers to the Chelsea as his favorite place, almost. 

“It’s my favorite place, almost,” he said of the Chelsea. “We go way back.” He pointed toward an interior entrance to the restaurant. “See those double doors ? They only open one way now, so that if you go out of here into the lobby you have to go out to the street to get in again. Back in the days, the hotel was full of undesirable people.” Like who? “Me and the Sex Pistols.”

Eggleston was one of the first fine-art photographers to use color in his work.  Much of his work depicts the American South.  One of his more famous portfolios features work from the 1970s when he was hanging out with Warhol Superstar, Viva in the Chelsea Hotel.

Dumpster Dining

                                         Chelsea Sound Stage Continued
     The good news is, the older guys who are actually in charge of these film crews are usually polite and respectful, and if you approach them with a problem they’ll usually take your concerns seriously--although you don’t see them all that much and I sometimes feel they are using the young Spielbergs to do their dirty work.  The film crews will set up shop right in front of a door, apparently oblivious to the fact that people live behind them and will eventually need to get out.  They yell and carry on, and run noisy machinery and blow the fuses.  Their activities drove the Japanese artist Hiroya crazy, raving mad, and since the desk staff knew this—due to his incessant complaining--they made sure to send as many crews as possible to our floor.

            One thing that all the crews inevitably do is to set up their lunch buffets on the trash bin.  Bizarre, I know.  Nearly inconceivable, I realize.  But sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.  “Don’t you know that that’s the trash bin?” I asked a sleepy-eyed hipster one time.  “There could be roaches crawling out of there, or even mice.”  He just shrugged his shoulders, as if the matter didn’t interest him.  (I think the general feeling among them—somewhat justified, I must admit--is that all the permanent residents are crazy.)  I didn’t mention that people threw cat shit and dirty diapers in there too.  The only thing I can think of is maybe they’ve neglected to bring tables and the trash bin is the only flat surface around, which they then turn to in desperation.  In any event, this weird practice never fails to crack me up, and I always make sure to take out my trash at least once or twice while a crew is on our floor.  “Hey! Hey!” somebody always yells, “That’s our food there!” as I open the lid to deposit my waste, careful not to disturb the steaming platters of delicacies.  (Who’s crazy now, by the way?  The Chelsea insanity is catching.)

      The obvious question, which I heard the writer Jordan Atkinson ask a group of the young film hipsters one time, is, “Can’t you rent a Hollywood sound stage for this?”  They made no response, but for one thing, they get tax breaks for shooting in New York.  Besides that, they want the bohemian cache of the old hotel, and, in general, it’s a fun place to hang out.  (They’ve opted to make “art” that sells, but they still want to think of themselves as starving artists, since that’s way cooler than selling out.)  It’s OK, though; Stanley is hopefully charging them out the ass so he can keep the rents of the real artists low.  He also likes the attention people pay to the hotel, and maybe it’s good advertising too.  And perhaps some of young hipsters will stay on as guests or even residents, and, even as they join us in growing increasingly detached from reality, at least eventually learn not to eat their food out of the trash. Copyright 2006 Ed Hamilton (Next Week: Naked Models – The Upside of Film Crews)

All Tomorrow's Parties September 19 - September 25

Monday, September 19th, 8:00 p.m.
“Lolita at Fifty,” writers intimately familiar with Nabokov’s masterpiece—Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Teheran), Alfred Appel (The Annotated Lolita), and Stacy Schiff (Véra, the biography of Nabokov’s wife)—discuss the famous work created by former Chelsea Hotel resident, Nabokov. Lolita's publisher, Maurice Girodias, also lived at the Chelsea.
Columbia’s Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway, at 116th St. $15

Tuesday, September 20th, 8:00 p.m.
"Bukowski from Beyond," an evening of poetry, prose, and other works by fomer Hotel Chelsea guest, Charles Bukowski, has been extended.
Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NY NY

Thursday, September 22nd
Go to P.J. Clarke's and have a drink to commemorate the anniversary of the death of novelist Charles Jackson.  Sadly, on Sept. 22nd, 1968, Charles Jackson, at the age of 65, took an overdose of sleeping pills in the Chelsea Hotel. In addition to the bestselling "The Lost Weekend," Jackson's works include: The Fall of Valor – (1945) – This story of a failing marriage deals with the issue of homosexuality; The Outer Edges – (1948) – A brutal and senseless murder is committed by a mentally deficient man; Earthly Creatures -- (1953) Short story collection;“The Sunnier Side” – (1959) Short story collection; A Second Hand Life – (1967) – Recounts the life of a sexually obsessed woman.

Friday & Saturday, September 23rd & 24th, 8:00 p.m.
"Resident Alien" is a moving monologue delivered by Quentin Crisp as he waits for lunch guests.
Set in Crisp’s famously filthy one-room New York apartment at the Chelsea Hotel, 91-year old Crisp has an opinion on everything – style, homosexuality, marriage, loneliness, the Internet, and Princess Diana.
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
14 Castle Street in Great Barrington, MASS

The Lost Weekend

Sunday, September 18th, 4:00 p.m.  The Museum of Moving Images screens "The Lost Weekend."  "The Lost Weekend," stars Ray Milland and Jane Wyman and is based on the bestselling, autobiographical novel by former Hotel Chelsea resident Charles Jackson.

"The Lost Weekend," is the story of Don Birnman, who has the good fortune of getting a short story published in The Atlantic Monthly at the age of 19.  Don takes that to be a sign that he should quit college and move to NY and become a writer.  Unable to write another story, Don succumbs to writer’s block/alcoholism, familiar maladies here at the Hotel Chelsea.  After all, the Do Not Disturb signs here at the Chelsea read “Don’t Bother Me!” I’m writing the next great American novel.”

Two women are infatuated with Don:  his long suffering girlfriend (Time Magazine editor Henry Luce’s gal Friday) Helen St. James, and Gloria, the hooker who hangs out in P.J. Clarke's, Don’s favorite bar. (Unfortunately, they never show the inside of the men’s room, which I hear from reliable sources had the mother of all urinals before the bar was yupscaled a few years ago).  In classic Edith Head style, both women are exquisitely attired.  Gloria makes her entrance in a black sheath with a sexy, see-through, lacy top, and we first see Helen St. James at the Opera in a leopard skin coat.

Don goes for a quick drink at P.J. Clarke’s at 55th & 3^rd.  One drinks turns to two and then the next thing you know he's on a bender that ends with him trying to pawn his typewriter up and down Third Avenue. When he can't find a pawnshop open, he borrows money from Gloria, but at least she gets to keep her clothes.  He pawns Helen’s Leopard Skin Coat.

Suffering from DT’s near the end of the bender, Don consults the bartender at P.J. Clarke’s about how his proposed autobiographical novel should end, the bartender advises Don that the character should kill himself.  He helpfully recommends several options: either get his gun out of hoc, or, if he doesn’t have enough money for that spend $1 for a trip to the top of the Empire State building and jump.

The movie won four Oscars.  Actor (Ray Milland); Director (Billy Wilder); Best Motion Picture; and Screenwriting.  Nothing for Edith Head this time.  She wasn’t even nominated. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Sadly, on Sept 22, 1968, Charles Jackson, at the age of 65, took an overdose of sleeping pills in the Chelsea Hotel.

Tonight's Party -- Drunken, Careening, Writers

Thursday, September 15th, 7:00 p.m.
Chelsea author Ed Hamilton reads as part of the Drunken! Careening! Writers! series at KGB Bar.  For a fine example of Hamilton's drunken prose visit Modern Drunkard magazine. Other readers include Thaddeus Rutkowski and Kathleen Warnock.
KGB Bar
85 East 4th St., NY NY (4th at 2nd Ave.)
The L Magazine's "Pick of the Day"

It's All About Zaldy

Beloved by fashion editors, but bought by no one, or so the article says.

Zaldy is interviewed in his fashionably, shabby Hotel Chelsea, studio-apartment where he has lived from 12 - 14 years.

Chelsea Hotel, 1981

In 1981, 'Arena,' a British TV program, ran a profile of the Chelsea Hotel which focused on place and atmosphere.  In celebration of Arena's 30th birthday, the Chelsea Hotel show was replayed last Saturday.  Blogger Stephen, caught the show and provides us with highlights.

"It also featured Jobraith at a piano singing a fantastic song about New York City (why wasn't he a bigger star?), a dancer dressed as a snake making snake-like movements in the privacy of his hotel-room and appearing to worship the sun from his window, Quentin Crisp nasally spouting some well practiced vignette, and Nico insisting that SHE made the hotel famous because 'all the others are dead' (and presumably not in a position to dispute) and then singing 'Chelsea Girls'... and so on and so forth."

Here is a link to two MP3s from the documentary, which feature Jobraith.

Dreams Come True

According to writer Jose Padua, Dan & Mary, two characters in his novel in progress, Undercover Angel, are based on people who did move to New York and score an apartment in the Chelsea Hotel. You can read a longer excerpt on his blog.

"...Mary and her boyfriend, Dan Thompson, were both from Charleston, South Carolina and met when they were in college there. Mary—a tall, slim woman who dressed like a mod Londoner from the sixties—didn’t look at all like a southerner. When I first met her I was astounded to hear the slow Southern drawl that seemed to float from her mouth when she spoke. On the other hand, her boyfriend, Dan, looked exactly like I thought a Southerner should look: tall and paunchy and dangling a thick beard from the bottom of his face. I knew as soon as I saw him that he was also one of those people who needed at least two six packs of beer to make it through the day..."

"...Mary and Dan’s dream was to leave Washington and move up to New York where they’d work their way up to a swank apartment in the Chelsea Hotel..."

Chelsea Sound Stage

We get lots of film crews at the Chelsea, shooting videos, TV episodes, and even big-budget Hollywood movies.  They pull up in their trailers, blocking the street so you can’t get across it, and they set up tables on the sidewalk and pile junk in front of the door, so even entering the hotel becomes something of an ordeal.  They crowd the lobby and the stairwells and tie up the elevators, holding them on one floor or another while they load them up with equipment.  At first it’s exciting, but after awhile it gets to be a nuisance.  We have to put up with a lot for the sake of art here at the Chelsea.
     But we do get to see the stars.  Lately I’ve run into David Ducovney, Robert DeNiro, Julie Delpy and Randy Quaid.  I can’t even begin to name all the famous people I’ve encountered in the elevator (Arthur Miller was the best, but then he’s a celebrity of a whole other order).  One time I was riding it down with a girl who lives on our floor, Carla, a playwright, and when we got to the lobby, the door opened, and there stood Sean Penn, surrounded by his retainers.  It was two days after he had won his Oscar for Mystic River, and Carla said, “Congratulations!”  Penn just glared at her.  As we walked through the lobby, Carla, a bit puzzled by his reaction, turned to me and said, “He did win, didn’t he?”  Madonna shot her "Sex Book" here, in one of our more beautiful rooms, but since then she hasn’t been back.  Ethan Hawke is here all the time, so who cares?
      But for the most part these crews seem to be made up of kids in their twenties: trustfunders straight out of college, arrogant, thinking the world should bow down and worship them.  This is probably the first job most of them have had in their lives.  You can tell they all fancy themselves the next Spielberg.  (Not the next Bergman or Fellini, in other words; that would be beneath them.  If they were little Bergmans or Fellinis they would probably move in.)  They think what they’re doing is of the utmost importance, even if it’s just running to the deli for a cup of coffee for Robert DeNiro, and they can be incredibly rude and disrespectful.

One time a crew was filming a scene in front of the hotel. We were all dutifully standing by—residents and passersby alike--because we were told to, and also to see whatever star they were filming appear from his trailer.  It was taking a long time, but finally they got the cameras rolling.  I spotted Sean Penn waiting in the wings, waiting for his cue.  At about that time, Magda, an elderly lady who lives in the hotel, came walking up on her cane, irritably calling out “Excuse me!  Excuse me!” as the crowd parted to let her through.

“Could you please wait a moment?!” a trucker-hatted hipster snapped.

            “No, you wait!” Magda said, and walked right through the scene they were filming, taking her own sweet time, I might add.  We were all very proud of the old girl that day. Ed Hamilton

(Next Week:  Dumpster Dining)

All Tomorrow's Parties - September 12 - September 18

Wednesday, September 14th, 9:00 p.m.
Tiny Ladies Extravaganza (via Lusty Lady)
Elizabeth Merrick and Rachel Kramer Bussel read along with Six  Feet's Lauren Ambrose, Molly Shannon, SNL's Amy Poehler, Jodi Lennon and McBurney YMCA  (formerly across from the Chelsea)member and comedian, Jackie Hoffman.
Mo Pitkins, 34 Avenue A, NY NY

Thursday, September 15th, 7:00 p.m.
Chelsea author Ed Hamilton reads as part of the Drunken! Careening! Writers! series at KGB Bar.  For a fine example of Hamilton's drunken prose visit Modern Drunkard magazine. Other readers include Thaddeus Rutkowski and Kathleen Warnock.
KGB Bar
85 East 4th St., NY NY

Friday, September 16th, 8:00 p.m.
Finally, the presentation of Gwen Stefani's collection signals that fashion week is over.  Chelsea resident Zaldy, whose collection was featured last week, contributes to Stefani's collection.
Roseland Ballroom

Saturday, September 17th, 12:00 - 6:00
The Kitchen/High Line Block Party
A West Chelsea street fair featuring local artists, musicians, and food.  This year, the Kitchen's block party will support the efforts to preserve the High Line.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the High Line will be as pedestrian friendly as it's Parisian counterpart.
West 19th between 10th & 11th Aves.

Naked Lunch To Be Republished

The Naked Lunch, which Burroughs worked on while living at the Hotel Chelsea is going to be released in a new edition later this year. 

The Naked Lunch is being republished, in a new edition by Burrough's biographer Barry Miles and his friend and manager James Grauerholz (the novel was first edited, with famously haphazard haste, by Kerouac, Ginsberg and Ansen in Tangiers). In December, Viking will publish Evil River, a new volume of autobiographical writings by Burroughs. And next month sees the opening at the Riflemaker gallery in London of a three-part exhibition devoted pre-eminently to Burroughs's art. How apt that the gun-loving writer should get a show in what was once an old Georgian gun shop. (Source: The Guardian, August 24, 2005)

William Bolcom Remembers Arnold

Dear Blog:

I'm too numb to go on very long about Arnold, at the Chelsea or anywhere. But Joan & I are so thankful he was there for these years (almost 20). Before that he was the Ludwig van Beethoven of New York, changing addresses so frequently I had to replace his Rolodex card several times over the years. And Amy and everyone watching out for him, saving his life, caring about him -- we couldn't be more happier that that's where he was. So here goes. Joan and I have been Chelsea Hotel denizens for nearly 10 years. Arnold rented both an apartment and an efficiency right next to it, and we'd rent the efficiency from him, keeping my old funky grand piano in the apartment. We worked together there, Joan and I would rehearse there for gigs, we'd audition singers for our operas using that funky old piano, and Scott Griffin - before he got a nice piano of his own - would pound out the sections of vocal score of our operas for Arnold, Arthur Miller, and later Robert Altman, as I'd send them to Arnold by fax. A great way to work. 45 years Arnold and I worked together. Our Cabaret Songs were written expressly for Joan and are done now by all kinds of singers from cabaret to classical -- not at the Chelsea though -- but our operas took form at the hotel, and so much else. Long may the Hotel Chelsea endure - it's an oasis in an increasingly cruel and uncaring world, for not only the arts but the human race. Wm Bolcom

Coming Soon and Not So Soon

Everywhere you look, movies about former residents and movies featuring current residents.

Set to release on September 16th, "Lord of War," features Ethan Hawke.  You can view the trailer online.

Chelsea Girls are always in fashion.  Both Nico and Edie Sedgwick are the subject of two forthcoming movies.
Plus, you'll soon be able to buy Andy Warhol inspired Levis, for about $200.00 a pair.

Factory Girl -- Sienna Miller would not have been my choice to play Edie, but it's none of my concern.

Nico: The End -- Tilda Swinton will star as Nico.  The film, written by the creators of Bladerunner, will be shot on location in London, Paris, Munich, New York, and Manchester.

Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man includes behind-the-scenes interviews and live performances from the likes of Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Martha Wainwright, Beth Orton, Linda Thompson, Teddy Thompson, Jarvis Cocker, The Handsome Family, Julie Christensen and Perla Battala, as well as a special performance of "Tower of Song" by Cohen and U2. Cohen himself reveals his trademark wry humor and soulful intensity, using his own artwork, poetry and personal collection of photographs to reflect upon his colorful past and his creative process.

A Former Resident Remembers Arnold

As far as the Chelsea Hotel goes, Arnold was the sage godfather of the hotel and all its sweet little freaks and geniuses. Having been there a long time, he had seen every aspect of humanity in the raw. Little could surprise him, and though he had a bemused cynicism, he was never jaded and rarely judgmental of the people around him. (Political leaders were another matter.) As a result, his friends spanned generations and temperaments, from Arthur Miller to Dee Dee Ramone to 20-something artists just starting out. If he didn’t like someone, however, he could be very blunt. His was often the dissenting opinion about someone everyone else liked, and he always turned out to be right. He was very independent and wise in that regard.

Arnold was that rare artist who did absolutely no self-promotion and avoided outside publicity too. Instead, he put that energy into his work and into his play. He always had time to play and had a great generosity of spirit, sense of mischief, and enjoyment of the world. He seemed to know everyone on 23rd street intimately, from Harry, Larry and Jerry at the Custom Art Laundry to Carlos, senior waiter at the 24 hour “Donuts” shop on the corner where we used to go for coffee sometimes. The last time I saw him, we went for fried shad roe at the Oyster Bar under Grand Central and he told me a story about spontaneously jumping a train one day to go see his friend William Eastman out west. Then he lamented that younger artists didn’t have that spirit, things had grown too business-like and people were too scheduled. I had just come from living with young artists who had that same spirit, and he was very interested in them and cheered that gypsies could still thrive in the 21st century -- outside the Chelsea Hotel, which has always been a kind of wildlife refuge for them.

He had two words taped to his computer, one an acronym of the other: Silent and Listen. He was a good listener, but thank God he only took his own advice about half the time, because he was a wonderful storyteller too. Two of his many stories can be found here.

He brought so much buoyancy, wit and optimism to the dance. It’s impossible right now to imagine the Chelsea without him."

The Chelsea Mourns

The Chelsea mourns the passing of a long time resident and the opera world mourns the loss of a great librettist, Arnold Weinstein.  Playbill's obituary, NYTime's obituary.  If you would share your tribute to Arnold with others, it would be greatly appreciated.  You can either enter a comment below or e-mail [email protected]. 

From Granta -- Arthur Miller recalls visiting with Arnold.
http://www.granta.com/extracts/1691
On a recent visit there to Arnold Weinstein with whom I have collaborated on a libretto for a new opera based on A View from the Bridge, with music by William Bolcom, I found myself sinking back, psychologically speaking, into my original warm feelings toward the hotel as of my arrival there over forty years ago. And as we discussed some business in the total chaos of his living room, which is not so much furnished as littered with collectors' items suitable for a massive Salvation Army donation, the door to the corridor swung open and without a knock a powerful maid entered, her exuberant smile and glistening black skin all aglow with some sort of triumph. And raising up over her head four rolls of toilet paper, two spiked on the fingers of each hand, she called out at the top of her joyous contralto voice, 'I didn't forget you, Arnold!' And he rose from his wobbly chair and gratefully accepted her gift. And so I instantly knew that clean facade or not, refurbished lobby notwithstanding, I was back in the Chelsea again.  Link to photo of Arnold, Arthur & William Bolcom

Interview with Arnold and William Bolcom

From Opera News, reviews of Arnold's well known works:
The Wedding of the Year,
A View from the Bridge

May 2003, William talks about Arnold's role.
Bolcom composed this extraordinary Medusa with his longtime collaborator, the writer Arnold Weinstein. Bolcom and Weinstein are as much a team as Bolcom and Morris (meaning Joan Morris, the composer’s singer wife, with whom he performs cabaret songs and the like). Weinstein came up with a brilliant libretto on the Medusa theme. As Bolcom says in his accompanying notes, “I have tried to sail my musical boat according to [Weinstein’s] laid-out course...

Personal recollections:
Bill Tchakirides was influenced by Arnold's work.

Dylan Thomas' Ghost

For the record, I don't believe in ghosts, but if they do exist, I happen to think that Dylan Thomas' ghost would rather be haunting the Chelsea than Austin University.

"Ugly, Lovely Night" is a film by Binda Singh which tells the tale of an American student who meets Thomas' ghost at Swansea University (near Thomas' birthplace). After filming in Wales, the cast and crew will shoot some scenes at Austin University in Texas, home to one of the largest collections of the writer's work.

Why go to Austin, Texas, Binda Singh?  Come on by the Chelsea, where Dylan tossed back a few before heading down to the White Horse Tavern to have 18 more whiskeys before dying.  According to Juiceenews, you can feel the ghosts walking down the halls behind you.

Another Chelsea Elevator Story

A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE

            Hiroya, the crazy Japanese painter, was hanging out in the lobby as usual, annoying tourists.  I said Hi to him as I came in the door and walked by him to the elevator.  The elevator was already there, so I got right on, but before the door could close, Hiroya decided he had to tell me something.  He ran after me and stuck his hand in the elevator just as it was about to close, and stood there in the door jabbering away excitedly.  “What?!” I said.  “What is it?!”  He didn’t speak very good English, and I couldn’t understand a word he was saying.

            It was then I noticed that Magda was standing behind him, trying to get on the elevator.  A dancer in her prime, Magda was now a prim, white-haired old lady in an immaculate green suit.  I saw her trying to get on, but I couldn’t get a word in edgeways.

            But it didn’t matter.  Magda was not one to be intimidated by anybody, that’s for sure.  “Excuse me!” she said loudly.  “I’m trying to get on the elevator.  Do you mind?”

            Hiroya jumped aside immediately.  “Oh, sorry! Sorry!”

            As soon as the door shut and we were on our way up, the old lady asked, “What in the world did he want from you?”  It seemed clear from her tone of voice that she despised Hiroya.

            Wanting to distance myself from him, I said, “I have no idea.”  It was the truth, after all.

            “Hmmm.  He probably wanted to show you his paintings.”

            “Yeah, that's probably it,” I said.  At this point I didn’t dare admit that he lived on my floor and that I had already bought two of his paintings.

            Then all at once Magda seemed to soften toward Hiroya—a fellow artist after all.  “Well, he's new around here,” she said.

            It’s an unspoken rule that you don’t bother the other residents with too much self-promotion.  Everybody here has their own artistic irons in the fire.

            “I'm new around here too,” I said.

            “Well, at least you don't go hawking your wares in the lobby!”

            I laughed.  “No, not yet I haven't.”

            “I suppose there's still plenty of time,” Magda said, rolling her eyes.

            Maybe.  I never did find out what Hiroya was so excited about that day.  Perhaps he had sold a painting, or accosted a celebrity who had come through the lobby.  It was probably nothing, but whatever it was, he took it with him to the grave.

Copyright 2006 Ed Hamilton

All Tomorrow's Parties - September 5 - 11

A lot of people are travelling this week, so be sure to take bohemia along.  You can find a Chelsea event anywhere.

Sept. 1st - 11th, 8:00 p.m.
"Mapplethorpe: The Opening," mime Brian Quirk uses his talents to suggest the photos and impersonate a wide variety of the attendees -- famous and not -- at Mapplethorpe's opening reception at New York's Kitchen Gallery in 1977. The show is a portrait of the artist, his art and the art scene of the time.  There are celebrities: a throaty Diana Vreeland boasting of her discovery; a disaffected and self-centered Andy Warhol; a dynamic Patti Smith, proclaiming Mapplethorpe's genius and declaiming about their life as lovers before he left her for a sugar daddy.
New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco

Thursday, September 8th,
If you are in Nashville, catch former resident, Holly Williams, grandaughter of Hank Williams, at the Cannery Ballroom.  According to Holly, "...my favorite place to write is the Chelsea Hotel in New York. Some of my favorite songs have been written there, and it's truly inspiring." Holly is on tour promoting her new cd, "The Ones We Never Knew."
Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, Tennessee

Thursday, September 8th, 8:00 p.m.
It's the one-year anniversary of Hotel Chelsea guest Susan Swan’s BookShort WHAT CASANOVA TOLD ME.  In a fitting tribute to its success, Movieola—The Short Film Channel premieres the drama on the same date this year.  Read my interview with Susan and learn why Casanova wasn't a cad. 

Saturday, September 10th, 1:00 p.m.
Fashion Week!  Chelsea Hotel resident Zaldy, has walked the catwalk for Thierrey Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier.  He currently designs the L.A.M.B. collection for Gwen Stefani in addition to his signature line.  Downtown icon and Chelsesa Hotel resident Suzanane Bartsch helps with the guet list while Zaldy recruits his Supermodel friends to walk for free.  His shows are always full of spirit.  This season Ms. Stefani will be in the front row. (Source: Fashion Windows, August 2005)
The Altman Building, 135 West 18th St.

Serena's Gets In on the Action

Unsatisfied with the original two videos produced in Europe, D.H.T.'s record label commissioned their own music video to help promote the song here. Released in two different cuts, it was shot at the historic and somewhat notorious Hotel Chelsea on 23rd Street in Manhattan, mostly in the bar located in the basement. (Source: Daily Roxette)

Click here to view the video.

More Yuppie Condos for 23rd St.

Just what we need, more yuppies moving into the neighborhood.  A 26 story glass tower is planned for a narrow property that goes through the block at 23rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.  Located at 39-41 West 23rd Street, the building will have a pool, retail space at ground level, and a rear courtyard.  No word yet on how many apartments are planned, or when construction will begin.   http://www.horizenglobal.com/redev/portfolio/horizen.html