Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Harry Smith Film Added To National Film Registry

Twenty-five motion pictures were recently added to the National Film Registry to be preserved for all times.  One of the new additions was Harry Smith's abstract animation, EARLY ABSTRACTIONS #1, 5, 7, 10 (1939-56). A total of 450 films have now been added to the registry.  YOu can get a bit of a flavor of Smith's work from this compilation  "Early Abstractions" (1946-57), Pt. 1

Patti Smith: New Year's Eve at the Bowery Ballroom

For the first time ever Patti Smith performed "Dream of Life," the only record she ever made with her late husband Fred Smith.

Arthur Weinstein: Silk Screened Andy’s Mao, Survived the Stench of Charles James’ Apartment

Arthur Weinstein is a photographer and artist who has recently been producing some impressive large silk screens of cultural icons such as Roy Cohn and George Gershwin.  If you ever visit the Chelsea, you simply must see his large scale mobile on the tenth floor.  Night time is best when it’s lit up by spotlights.  In the year or so it’s been up, the mobile has already become one of the major attractions of the hotel; it’s becoming hard to imagine the skylight without it.  Arthur is an intense man with a full head of coal dark hair and a brilliant, deadpan sense of humor.  We didn’t get to ask him too many questions before he just started talking, discoursing knowledgeably and at length on several subjects at once (art, movies, artists, silkscreening techniques, night clubs, and the art business), as I scribbled furiously to get it all down. (Photo: Arthur's mobile)

D: How long have you been married to Colleen? Thirty years.  The love of my life.  We got married at City Hall.  My dad was the witness.  I used to be a fashion photographer.  Most fashion photographers either look like an orangutan, or they’re gay.  I’m not gay.

D: How long have you lived at the Chelsea? I lived here twice.  The first time I moved in here I was a kid.  There was a constant stream of fashion models coming through here.  Agencies like Ford and Wilhelmina sent girls.  No matter how beautiful a girl is, they have to find out if she’s photogenic.  When we moved in [famous fashion designer] Charles James had the apartment across from us and it stunk to high heaven, like you wouldn’t believe.  He had a dog with a thing on it’s head.  We were in 611 then.  I used to blast music and Stanley Bard would come into my apartment and tell me to turn it down.  He never said anything to James.

D: Tell us about your art. The most important thing for an artist is to have flair.  [Arthur leads us into the next room to show us an impressive large abstract by a painter named Chris Davis.]  This guy is a great artist and he couldn’t sell this painting for $1500. How do you make money in art?  People will give me a deposit on a painting, say $2000, but then they never pick up the painting, and never pay the rest.  If you’d pay $2000 you’d think you’d be serious, wouldn’t you?  Would you pay all that money and then not buy the painting?  Would you even pay $20?

E: No, I might give you $5 to get rid of you, but $20 is really pushing it. Exactly.

D: So did you give the guy his deposit back?
Come on!  Look at me.  What are the chances of getting any money back from me?  The guy didn’t even bother to ask.

D: How'd you get into silk screening? My father finally said get out of my house so I got my first apartment.  I got a job at Panographic and worked there while I was going through school.  I did all the silk screening for Pace Gallery.  [Arthur talks at length on his silk screening technique, showing us various examples of his work.]

D: Did you know Andy Warhol? Andy used to love my wife, Coleen.  But he was a cheap bastard, and he never said two words to me.  Have you seen the big Mao in the Warhol show at the Gagosian annex on 21^st Street?  I silk screened it. (Photo: Arthur's myspace page)

D: I used to be roommates with Victoria Ruskin, Micky Ruskin’s daughter.  Did you know Micky? I didn’t care for Micky Ruskin.  He was cantankerous, and he never would let me in his club.

D: Who are some of your influences? [Arthur shows us a large photograph of Gordon Parks, hanging in his studio workshop.]  Morris Lane, the guy who took that photo, put me on the phone one time with Gordon Parks.  Now Gordon Parks is one of my idols, so I was really nervous.  He has a brilliant voice, but I could tell the only thing on his mind was, “Oh my God, what does this guy want?”  So I said, “Mr. Parks, I’m a big fan.  Could I take that picture and do a silk screen of it?”  And I could tell he was so relieved that that was all it was.  He said, “Oh, go ahead.  Sure thing.  No problem.”

Finally, Arthur got sick of talking to us, so he called his friend Artie (proprietor of the Organized Crime Museum), who lives across the hall, and took us over to Artie’s apartment and left us in his care.  On the way across the hall Arthur explained that the reason he went into art was that: “There’s all these assholes out there trying to give you orders, and the only one I want to take orders from is me.”

The artist Arthur Weinstein in his studio discussing a Lucas Samaras silkscreen.

  Visiting supermodels pose beside of Arthur's silkscreen.

Dashiell Takes a Tour of the Chelsea

     A couple of weeks ago we took Dashiell, who writes the column “The New Guy” for Gawker, on a tour of the hotel.  We showed him the Stairwell of Death and various interesting paintings, as he recounts in his column. 

            Apparently he wasn’t too impressed with the décor, remarking at one point that the place looked like a hospital.  “Yeah, a mental hospital,” Debbie and I both said, predictably enough.  He sat on our toilet and pretended to read Dee Dee’s Chelsea Horror Hotel.  I feel compelled to point out, it’s also the beat writer Herbert Huncke’s old bathroom—and we had a hell of a time keeping the junkies out of it, even after the old man had been dead for years.

            After that—or maybe before it, I don’t know--we decided to see if Dashiell would climb out on the fire escape and look in somebody’s room.  We told him it was Thomas Wolfe’s room or something ridiculous like that.  And sure enough he did!  There was a naked lady in there and she screamed and hid under the bed.  We’ll be sure to try this prank with other people we lead on the tour.

            At the climax of the tour we introduced Dashiell to a real live artist, Arthur Weinstein, who greeted him with a friendly, “How are ya kid?”   But once again Dashiell seemed strangely unimpressed, even after we told him that it was Arthur who had created the mobile on the tenth floor— which of course he thought was pretty cool.

            At the end of our tour we sat Dashiell down in the Vortex of Madness, otherwise known as the lobby, to see how long it would take him to lose his mind.  We figured he’d write a more interesting account of his tour that way.  Surprisingly, however, he seemed to keep his sanity.  Apparently he has an unusually resilient psyche.  Or maybe it was just because it was a Sunday and there weren’t too many certifiable nuts wandering around.

            (Oh, by the way, Dashiell, I was just kidding about the fire escape thing: that really was Thomas Wolfe’s room.  The naked lady could have been the ghost of his old mistress, Aline.  But most likely she was just a Midwestern tourist, albeit, hopefully, a live one.) -- Ed Hamilton

Morrissey Misses The Chelsea, Kinda Sorta

Poor Morrissey! It’s so mind-numbingly boring in Texas. He can’t wait to get back to the Chelsea. Yeah, we feel for you Morrissey. But wait, do my eyes deceive me!? He seems to be saying that the Chelsea is insignificant!
     What, Morrissey, you’re such a big, fat, scary celebrity that even huge, ten story buildings pale into insignificance next to the grandiose brilliance of your bloated form? Even the fabled Chelsea!?
    Hey Morrissey, you can kiss our collective ass. Kiss the ass of the Chelsea, Morrissey. What is the ass of the Chelsea anyway? Must be located somewhere in the basement. Hey, maybe it’s Serena’s! I’d like to nominate Serena’s for the title of Ass of the Chelsea. (Although, now that I think of it, there’s probably a lot of competition for that title!)
     Don’t worry Morrissey, I’m just kidding. We all love you here. Since your letter is dated January 16, 1981, I feel confident you have repented of your sin of false pride by this time. You can come back to the Chelsea and play a concert for us anytime. I’ll see if there are any dates open at Serena’s. -- Ed Hamilton (Many thanks to Artie Nash for sending over the copy of Morrissey's letter.)

All Tomorrow's Parties: January 1 - 7, 2007

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 8:00
"(Amanda Duarte Isn't) Famous: A Gay Fantasia on Themes of  Fame, the Middle East Conflict, Classic Bone Structure and Other Subjects With Which I Have Limited to No Experience" Written and Performed by Amanda Duarte, Directed by Ben Kerrick.
The PIT, 154 W 29th St, New York, NY 10001

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 10:30 p.m.
Susanne Bartsch & Kenny Kenny invite you to Room Service Tuesdays. Hosting service: Amanda Lepore, Astro, Kim Aviance, Ladyfag.  Moondust, Theodora, Richie Rich and Furey. Music Service: Alexander Technique. Sounds in the Strip Tease Lounge: Michael Cavadias aka lily of the valley Show: Dirty Martini

35 East 21st St., Between Park & Broadway

Thursday, Jan. 4, 11:00 a.m.
Gerald Busby's bi-weekly Internet radio show, Collaborations, can be heard on www.tribecaradio.net.  Gerald has featured many Hotel Chelsea residents on his show. So tune in, he's certain to have an interesting guest on board.

Friday, Jan. 5, 1:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Photography and the Self: The Legacy of F. Holland Day. This exhibition includes prints from the Museum's permanent collection that reflect various types of self-portrayal from the 1960s to the present, and one work that foreshadows them all--F. Holland Day's The Seven Words, 1898. Day's bold depiction of himself as Christ provides a reminder of an aspect of the history of photography in the United States that was obscured by the long shadow of Modernism. Artists such as Charles Ray, Francesca Woodman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, Lyle Ashton Harris, and others have continued this tradition while forging new territory by using their own bodies as an integral part of their art.
Whitney Museum of Fine Art until March 11 (945 Madison Ave. at 75th Street, 212-570-3633)

Saturday, Jan. 6,
WOMANIZER, a group exhibition of dangerous females featuring Julie Atlas Muz, Kembra Pfahler, E.V. Day, Breyer P-Orridge, Vaginal Crème Davis, Bambi, and Liz Renay. Horror, hedonism, pandrogyny and pussies will all figure prominently, as these challenging artists show sculpture, video, photography, and exploring couture.
Deitch Projects, 76 Grand Street, NY NY