Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Rumors Persist: Is Elder Giving Marlene All of the Information?

Our readers responded enthusiastically yesterday to news that the Empire of Harvard MBA Doctor  Marlene Krauss may be on the rocks.  In particular, one comment mentioned:

"Marlene Krauss was at the Chelsea Hotel YESTERDAY. She was in the lobby with David Elder reviewing spreadsheets and other documents. From what I overheard she was unhappy that information was not being "reported up" in a timely fashion."
 
While Marlene's physical arrival at the Hotel came as a great shock to us (did anyone hear the trumpets?), this observer unintentionally corroborates something we've heard from multiple sources for a very long time:  the rumor that David Elder -- along with BD Hotels, Tilley and now Tamasar -- have been willfully withholding information about the daily operations and profitability of the Chelsea from Harvard MBA and President of the 23rd Street Corporation Doctor Marlene Krauss.  Could this indeed be true?
 
The rumors say specifically that Elder and his incompetent managerial Band of Brothers past and present hate dealing with Her Majesty Marlene Krauss so much that when asked by their staff if they should pass on said information to Marlene -- or copy her on emails -- that they are told, "No, Marlene doesn't need to know about that.  We can handle it without her."
 
And, while other sources in the financial community opine that dealing with The Plumber's Daughter is "like surgery without anesthesia" (to quote one), it gives us great pause to think that Marlene's latest discovery, budding hotelier David Elder is more business savvy than the killer Krauss.
 
Apparently, the voices say, that David Elder is quite pleased that Marlene will not be bringing in another manager as he enjoys playing with his large staff as King of the Castle.  Indeed, rumors say that Elder himself was happy with BD's ouster as well as Tilley's dubious "resignation" as he reportedly felt that they got "too much attention".  (An affidavit of Glennon "Gigi" Travis confirms this as well).
 
We've lastly heard that David Elder and Arnold Tamasar are having a lovely honeymoon presently as Elder simply "can't get enough" of Tamasar's treacly ass-kissing and that they have mutually agreed that Elder can be the top.  ("If he'll wash, Arnie will wipe"). 
 
If we were Marlene, we would intervene and look at the books ourselves.  And quickly.  Is there a forensic accountant in the house?  -- New Kid on the Blog

Can Things Get Much Worse for Chelsea Hotel Minority Shareholder Marlene Krauss?

She had two accounts with Bernie Madoff. Scott Griffin has inked a deal to write her biography.  And the Chelsea Hotel Cash Cow is now producing at the rate of $89.00 per night with a reported 30% occupancy.   (Stanley used to get a top price of $700 a night at 100% occupancy).  Well, it turns out YES IT CAN get worse -- much worse:  the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) has sent Marlene word that KBL Healthcare III, her venture capital SPAC company, is in danger of being delisted as a  tradeable commodity (i.e. booted from the Exchange).  Turns out Harvard MBA Doctor Marlene Krauss hasn't held a KBL shareholders meeting in a year.  Why not?  She certainly hasn't been too busy at Summer Infant following her prompt resignation at their plunging stock price and Lord knows she's been totally absent here at the Chelsea Hotel, thus giving her plenty of leisure time to pay attention to the troubles of KBL (more later).  Although here, she has managed to burn through three or four security firms, two managers, and more law firms than I can shake a stick at.  Then there's that little matter of all of those tenants who have lawsuits against the Hotel - don't bother Marlene with details!  Guess it's no surprise Harvard MBA Doctor Marlene Krauss forgot to hold that KBL shareholder meeting -- after all, when was the last time she had a shareholder's meeting here? (Photo:  Google)

Deep Throat’s Photos of Bob Dylan Room Destruction

As promised here are some of the revealing photos provided by "Deep Throat" showing the extensive destruction of  Bob Dylan’s room.  The first photo on this page is of the fire place destruction.  The next two photos show where the wall was torn down.  The last photo on this page is a picture of the apartment when the wall was standing.
Click through to page two to view the photo of the plans which show the wall removed and which of course are not the same as the plans filed with the DOB.    Notice the two photos of the plans.  The first one (1) is what  we have altered to show the location of the wall that was illegally demolished.  The second photo is the actual photo sent to us by "Deep Throat". Note the wall separates the bedroom and the living room.  

 

 

Who Is The Chelsea Hotel's “Deep Throat”?

We received this anonymous tip on the illegal construction activity in Bob Dylan’s room back on Saturday, December 6.  It’s pretty clear that the sender has intimate knowledge both of what went on in the permit application process and the construction itself.   Anyone have any guesses as to who the Chelsea Hotel “Deep Throat” may be, and why he/she chose to send this information to the blog?   If so, add your guesses to the comments section or send them to [email protected].  Our “Deep Throat” also sent along some very revealing photos.  And, I’m sure that we’re not the only media outlet to have received such a tip. 
     The Chelsea Hotel “Deep Throat” seems to be reliable. One of “Deep Throat's” statements was subsequently confirmed when former Chelsea Hotel manager Andrew Tilley was quoted on Jan. 4 in The Independent of London and other sources (NY Post Dec 9) as saying he ordered the wall to be torn down because it was unsafe.    

Here's the e-mail:

Count you as a friend and lets face it I've got enough problems now....got some info for you - shows the complete violation of the "certificate of no harm" and the "renovation" permits for room 211.  Some of the photos are repeats but there are clear shots of the wall lines demonstrating the extensive demolition. More importantly there are a couple of pictures of the plans taped to the wall which reveal the original intent of the management. You get the idea I'm sure; they applied for a minimal permit - kitchen and bath only - but their intent was to gut the historic place - which they knew they couldn't get approval for - at least not easily....so they apply for one thing but do another...but how to catch and prove their original intent? As in court they would claim the walls just fell down in their aged and poorly maintained condition (putting the blame on former management as usual) or maybe they would say they didn't change the layout of the famous apt., no of course not why it was already like that, why that must have been former management, we just did the kitchen and bath, as in the permits. How to catch them in their lies? Ah hah, the plans, the architectural plans affixed to the wall above the fireplace they demolished, the existence of these plans proves that management ALWAYS INTENDED TO VIOLATE THE PERMITS, EVEN BEFORE THE APPLIED FOR THEM. Which, and with your legal mind, I am sure you are starting to chuckle, amusingly enough means they are guilty of fraud, in making a false application to the NYC Dept of buildings, and to the court in their challenge to the stop work order. This means their attorneys have knowingly lied to the court. Grounds for disbarment. Funny.

And we haven't even gotten to the illegal alteration of the C of O.

We're Agog! Scott Griffin Inks Deal to Write Biography of Minority Shareholder Marlene Krauss

        Last week producer and tenant activist Scott Griffin signed a publishing deal to write what promises to be a "definitive, tell-all" biography of venture capitalist and Chelsea Hotel minority shareholder, Marlene Krauss.  ""My pitch was 'It's Scarface meets Yentl, with a hint of Coal Miner's Daughter,'"  Griffin said over cocktails at Elaine's.     

"For nearly two years now, I've had half the world calling me with all of their stories about Marlene" -- incredible stuff, Griffin said -- "and agent friends have been trying to get me to write a book for years.  But nothing ever seriously took hold of my imagination.  Then, a few weeks ago, I couldn't sleep and I was reading a copy of the speech Marlene supposedly made at her father's funeral, and I mean, it's very, very, moving stuff, so I thought, you know, why not?  Let's do it.  So I made the call."  
     The book promises drama galore, Griffin said.  "I mean, you have to hand it to the woman, it's a gripping story:  an immigrant plumber's daughter in the Bronx, through good grades and determination, climbs the icy ladder of the Ivy League to dominate the medical profession AND outshark the sharks of Wall Street -- all as a woman in a man's world -- only to possibly lose her entire fortune to Bernie Madoff!  Or did she? 
     It could be a rags to riches to rags classic.  But that's the exciting part of writing about a living person -- she gets to choose the ending!  Will Marlene come out on top or not?  It's Shakespearean, really.  Most importantly, though, is that you understand her humanity and not just her ambition.  But I know everyone secretly wants the Kitty Kelly stuff since that's what sells books."  
     The publisher, Amour Livres, said, "Scott Griffin knows dealmaking and the psychology of stars inside and out and is in a strong position to understand groundbreaking multihyphenate Marlene Krauss.  We think this will be an explosive, essential book for the holidays and are very excited to be working with his team."
       While Griffin said he'd love to turn this around quickly for a fall release, he says he intends to be thorough.  "Let's get real, it took me and my staff three weeks just to read all her SEC filings."
       And, while Griffin declined to reveal the amount of his advance, he has pledged to donate any and all proceeds from the book to a legal defense fund for Chelsea Hotel tenants facing eviction under Krauss's regime.
      "It's a small but respectable sum in keeping with Marlene's growing public persona.  But if it can help a needy person keep a roof over their head, then that's a good thing."
      So, if you, or anyone you know, would like to contact Scott with information on Marlene Krauss -- photos, stories, letters or emails -- you can write him at [email protected]. 
      Stay tuned, curious-minded Bohemians, for further updates. -- Ed Hamilton

Nothing in Life is Free: Your Rent Can Be Raised To Pay for Repairs

If you are one of the tenants who is considering getting apartment repairs from management,  a word to the wise: the cost of these repairs may be added to your rent.  According to the DHCR website for substantial increase of services, replacement of furnishings or equipment and improvements to your apartment, including demolition and removal, the landlord can add 1/40^th of the cost of the improvements including the installation costs to your rent each month.  (For example if a repair was $10,000 the amount of your increase per month would be $250.00) This increase in your rent will be permanent.  In other words even after you finish paying for the repairs you will still have to pay the increase.  This is in addition to any other legal increases to your rent.

Even if the amount of repairs is small landlords have been known to turn in receipts to the DHCR claiming that they spent much more money than they did.  Then you have to go to court and file an overcharge claim.

You may want to think twice before you vacate your apartment.  A common trick that landlords have played in the past is to get the tenant to vacate the apartment “temporarily” in order for them to carry out repairs and then to change the lock, forcing the tenant to sue to reclaim the apartment. 

The Bring Back the Bards Revolution: Now Televised on Myspace

Hip, Hip, Hooray!  We’ve finally got some online help in our struggle for the soul of the Chelsea.  Tenant activist Arthur Nash, long at the forefront of the campaign to restore the Bards to their management role at the Chelsea Hotel, has just unveiled his new myspace page.  Titled, unsurprisingly, Bring Back the Bards, the site has tons of photos and video from the early stages of the battle to the more recent, ongoing, assault on the rooftop gardens.  Highlights include: photos of the recent eviction of the 75-year old man (we can’t wait to see the video!), and tons of photos and videos of the illegal destruction of Bob Dylan’s room.  This is a site not to be missed, because it is being updated frequently.  Videos related to the destruction of the roof gardens are the latest addition, and Arthur is filming and uploading them as we speak.  You can get to the site by going to Myspace.com/BringBacktheBards.  -- Ed Hamilton

World Premiere: The Secret Life of Fish by Gerald Busby

Chelsea Hotel Residents: Join the Resistance!

Don’t let yourselves be evicted.  All across the US people are taking their financial destinies back from the banks and corporations that sought to possess them.  There’s a lot more involved in the concept of ownership of a building than meets the eye.  Just because a building owner says shut your mouth and pay, doesn’t mean you have to meekly give in.  There is a social contract involved, and the owners of this and other buildings are breeching that contract.  We have struggled to create the community of the Chelsea Hotel and we own a piece of this building too and have a say in what goes on here.  Join a growing nationwide civil disobedience campaign which will kick off on Thursday in  New York and other cities.  You won’t be the only ones chaining yourselves to your radiators, and Police are becoming more and more hesitant to evict someone for conditions caused by the excessive greed of the rich property owners.  Also, as part of the campaign, if you are being evicted, a network of people will show up at your door to create a barricade and help prevent the eviction. -- Ed Hamilton

 

Activism at the Chelsea Hotel Pt. II: William Dean Howells, Employed Literary Realism as a Tool for Change

Continuing her series of articles on the history of social activism at the Chelsea Hotel, Sherrill Tippins, author of the upcoming Dream Palace, a history of the Chelsea, writes:

William Dean Howells, former editor of Boston's prestigious Atlantic Monthly, stayed at the Chelsea as he was moving to New York in order to write for Harper's magazines and lead the development of American literature in New York. At the Chelsea in 1888, he read Looking Backward, the utopian novel by his Massachusetts protege, Edward Bellamy. Bellamy's vision of a Henry-George-type society in which all natural resources are owned by the state, reducing the waste of private enterprise and freeing citizens from penury, covetousness, and neglected talents, changed Howells's life.  Previously a comfortable armchair liberal, Howells became an angry activist for social justice--pushing the cause of literary realism as a tool for creating social change, writing his own realistic novels addressing the damaging issue of real estate prices in New York; the plight of factory workers in Massachusetts; the rising anger of the working class in downtown Manhattan, etc.  He embarrassed his upper-class friends with his sarcastic columns in Harper's criticizing American imperialism in Cuba and the Philippines, railing against the executions of the alleged conspirators in Chicago's Haymarket riot, and praising Tolstoy's socialist ideas. (In 1892 he also wrote a novel titled The Coast of Bohemia that captures the atmosphere of the Chelsea, and of the city's social and artistic changes, in the late 1880s.)  But in the end, Howells was unable to venture fully out of his fastidious middle-class worldview. It would take years for another shabby young protege, Stephen Crane, to persuade Howells to actually venture inside some of the miserable tenement apartments on the Lower East Side--and to show the older writer how a truly realistic New York novel like Crane's own Maggie: A Girl of the Streets really could create social change.

Jane St. Hotel Tenants Take It To The Streets

Today (Feb. 16, 2009) at 5:00 p.m. the tenants of the Jane St. Hotel will protest against their slum lords Sean Mcphearson and his sidekick Glennon "GIGI" Travis.  The Jane Street Tenants Association has extended an invitation to Chelsea Hotel tenants to join the protest.  The Jane Hotel is located at 113 Jane Street between West and Washington Streets in the West Village.  If you can't attend the protest please follow their struggle on youtube.  

Local Paper Chelsea Now Says Bring Back David Bard

You can add the community newspaper Chelsea Now to the growing chorus of voices outside of the hotel that realize that the Chelsea Hotel can only be managed by the Bard family. (The same has previously been said by hotelier Ira Drukier and actor Ethan Hawke.)  In the wake of Andrew Tilley’s shameful abdication, Chelsea Now proposes a compromise between the minority shareholders and the Chelsea Hotel ’s tenants: bring back David Bard as general manager of the Chelsea under the (hopefully limited) direction of the minority shareholders.  Chelsea Now is right in saying that tenant activists would support this compromise, and so now the only barrier seems to be minority shareholder Marlene Krauss’s perverse desire to bury the Bard family at all costs.  And costly it has been indeed for the Chelsea Hotel and its shareholders, as occupancy rates reportedly sunk to 20% or less under Tilley’s incompetent stewardship.  
         We would like to point out, however, that while Chelsea Now claims that “. . .the more outspoken tenants’ guerilla tactics have been disgraceful. . .” referring perhaps to Tilley’s unproven claim to have received panties and magazine subscriptions in the mail, the newspaper fails to mention the hotel management’s own far more reprehensible tactics, such as hiring goons to assault a tenant (David Elder admitted to this in a DHCR hearing), endangering tenants with illegal construction, and evicting tenants, including the elderly. THIS IS OUR HOME, FOLKS! There is a vast difference in kind here between the tactics of dedicated, unpaid activists (which no one would be complaining about if they hadn’t been successful) and those of management.  While Tilley may have been made uncomfortable by some tenants’ actions, I have yet to hear of anyone showing up at his home in New Jersey and attempting to turn him out into the street.  
     Nobody is trying to evict Marlene Krauss either, though it she keeps investing in ponzi schemes, she may finally come to empathize with the plight of the Chelsea  Hotel’s tenants. -- Ed Hamilton

Barbie Turns 50 in Style with Glasses by Mercura

For the fabulous occasion she has selected funky yet stylish glasses desiged by Mercura, the design company founded by the Chelsea Hotel's own Rachel Cohen and her sister Merrilee.  The Feb. 14 fashion show will feature work by 50 designers and will be shown live on www.barbie.com

Tamasar says “BA” Humbug to Tenant Activist’s Message of Hope: Yet Another Tenant Forced Out By Management

On Wednesday, Man-Kinda-Sorta-In-Charge Arnold Tamasar had workers take down the letters “RD” in the room next to tenant activist Arthur Nash.  The tenant who previously lived in the room had allowed Arthur to use her windows to display part of his message in support of the return of the Bard family.  Unfortunately, the tenant was forced out by management a couple of weeks ago, as part of their program to clear the building of permanent tenants (they are concentrating on this wing of the second floor, where Bob Dylan’s room is also located).  Fortunately, management will not be able to do any demolition/renovation in the room at this time, as the building is under a DOB stop work order due to illegal construction in Dylan’s room.  -- Ed Hamilton

Activism at the Chelsea Hotel Pt. I: Architect Philip Hubert, Designed the Chelsea as an Experiment in Socialist Living

Over the course of its long history, the  Chelsea Hotel has been primarily associated with the arts.  But the hotel also boasts a proud tradition of social activism.  From Philip Hubert and William Dean Howells to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Abbie Hoffman and beyond, Chelsea Hotel residents have refused to knuckle under to the forces of oppression, choosing instead to refuse and resist, to fight back, and to struggle for the betterment of the human race.  Those of you who want the full story will have to read Sherill Tippins’ upcoming history of the Chelsea, Dream Palace.  (Fun Fact: the Chelsea may have been designed to encourage celebratory orgies!)  But in the meantime, she has been good enough to give us a preview:

First up: Philip Gengembre Hubert, Chelsea architect, child of the socialist uprisings in Paris and supporter of many of utopian proto-socialist philosopher Charles Fourier's ideas.  Fourier believed that it is society's duty to adapt itself to the desires and needs of human nature of all kinds--as opposed to the current state of affairs in which individuals are forced to conform to society's commercial and industrial requirements.  Fourier designed large palaces, called phalansteries, in which residents would choose their own work--changing their activities every two hours or so to prevent boredom--while enjoying five elegant, stimulating meals per day together, working together on elaborate opera productions, eschewing marriage, domestic chores, and individual child-raising in favor of free love, a communal kitchen and laundry, and nurseries for the children, and marking their group successes with celebratory orgies. For a phalanstery to work in harmony, Fourier believed, it must include at least 1620 people. (He later decided that 810, or even 400, people would so in a pinch if necessary.)  A group this size was likely to contain at least one of each basic type of human being. In Fourier's philansteries, every type was welcome and each type given work and an environment suitable to his or her nature--no matter what his or her age, social background, talents or interests, sexual proclivities, or moral makeup.  Only by refusing to restrict any expression of the true self could a society remain healthy and fully productive, Fourier claimed. Artists in particular needed such an enviornment in order to perform their role as members of the avant-garde, seeking out new directions for society to go.

The Chelsea's dimensions are remarkably similar, if not identical, to those of Fourier's phalansteries. (Though Fourier's were shaped like a squared-off letter "U," like traditional palaces, New York lot sizes required a folding in of the two wings toward the center, resulting in a central wing of double thickness, with an eight-foot-wide corridor running through the center.) The building is large enough to hold the minimum number of 400 people. Shared dining rooms and roof promenade were provided. The purpose was to create an atmosphere of freedom in which an American culture could begin to form. At the same time, down the street at 23rd and Park, he also built the original Lyceum, then a community theater (that is, non-commercial)--probably the first ever built in the city. Along with it, he created the Lyceum School of Drama, later to evolve into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts--the first successful drama school in the city open to all students, male and female, regardless of their ability to pay.  The theater and school stood in for Fourier's opera house, where citizens of the phalanstery worked out the stories that would define their life together.

Because Philip Hubert's cooperatives made housing so inexpensive, New Yorkers stood in line to get an apartment in one of his buildings. He made a fortune from what he called his Home Clubs.  In 1886, when the socialist reformer Henry George ran for New York mayor--backed by some of the city's wealthiest former abolitionists and other old activists--Hubert (a resident of the Chelsea at the time) became George's largest financial backer. Henry George's demand that New York's (and America's) increasingly valuable real estate and natural resources be taxed at nearly 100% as a "single tax," freeing Americans from having to pay income tax, sales tax, or any other fees that discouraged productivity, increased poverty, and encouraged damaging speculation through real estate warehousing, evictions, etc., inspired huge marches through the streets of the city in support of his plan.  He nearly won the election, but the Tammany machine managed to slip in enough votes to snatch power out of the socialists' hands.

Meanwhile, large apartment houses including Hubert's cooperatives were banned in New York--ostensibly from fear of fires or the spread of disease in such large buildings. But since hotels were not similarly restricted, the ban appeared to be at least partly designed to target the "socialist" cooperatives.  In any case, even after the ban was lifted, the true communal purpose of the cooperatives was forgotten over the decades and just the financial advantages were retained.  Hubert himself, frustrated by his inability to see his program through after 1895, moved to California, where he spent the rest of his life designing small homes and labor-saving devices for the working poor.  To the end, he considered The Chelsea his greatest creation.

Arnold Tamasar Evicts 75-Year-Old Man From Chelsea Hotel:First Act as Man-Kinda-Sorta-In-Charge

On Thursday, February 6, the police were called to escort a 75-year-old man from his room at the Chelsea Hotel.  The elderly gentleman, a regular at the hotel when Stanley was in charge, no doubt thought the same rules would apply when he checked into the hotel in January.  He had been expecting to be able to stay on indefinitely, as he had been in the past, and had actually paid his rent through to the next week.  He was on his 29^th  day in residence, when Director of Operations Arnold Tamasar swooped down on him with the cops at approximately noon, ordering the gentleman to be out by 4 PM. (Actually, it took a lot of negotiating to get this extension to 4, as Tamasar wanted the resident out immediately.)   

The police acted with professionalism and courtesy, but many of them expressed obvious disgust that they were forced to carry out this unsavory task.  One officer, incredulous, even asked Tamasar, “You’re evicting a 75-year-old man?!”

      Though Tamasar claimed to be acting within the letter, if not the spirit, of SRO laws intended to protect the most vulnerable New Yorkers from ending up on the street, it is likely that the   man was here long enough to make a claim of  permanent status.  (As Stanley said, everything they do ends up in litigation, and this will be no exception.)  In any event, with the hotel at 35% occupancy and forced to rent even the largest suites for $89 per night, how much sense does it make for Tamasar to turn up his nose at a stable tenant paying much more?  (Answer: it only makes sense if they intend to get us all out.)  
            The issue is complicated by Tamasar’s bizarre claim that the man threw a bag of orange powder, marked BIOHAZARD, from the balcony of his room, somehow managing to wing it underneath the hotel awning.  Much of Tamasar’s time, upward of two hours,  that afternoon was spent observing and audio taping myself and other concerned residents as we struggled to move the gentleman’s belongings out before the deadline.  Additionally, he wasted more time attempting to entrap the elderly gentleman into some kind of admission of guilt in this matter.  

In your face, Tilley! cocky bathroom specialist Tamasar must be saying, You were only able to evict three tenants in your whole six months on the job, and I’ve already booted one in my first week! -- Ed Hamilton (Photos provided by Arthur Nash. 1 - Tamasar and Cops, 2 - Man searches for receipts while cops discuss situation.)

Lucky, 1995-2009, Rest in Peace

Chelsea Hotel resident Mickie Esemplare's dog Lucky passed away on Friday, February 6.  Lucky was fortunate in that he spent the last 8 years of his life at the Chelsea Hotel where he had many friends of both the two-legged and four-legged variety.  Lucky hadn't been able to go out much lately as he was having trouble getting around.  He'll sure be missed by all of the denizens of the Hotel.
   

Marlene Krauss, Harvard MBA, Falls for Ponzi Scheme

Last week the complete list of Bernie Madoff’s “victims” was released by the courts.  And low and behold, the Chelsea Hotel’s own Marlene Krauss, Chair of our board of directors, was featured in its pages, with not one, but two listings.  Unfortunately, the document doesn’t reveal the amount of money she “invested,” though maybe that will come to light at a future time.We’re sure that the money is from her own personal fund rather than that of the investors in her heath care venture capitalist firms (KBL Healthcare Corp III and KBL IV), as such would, we understand, not be quite kosher.  Though the temptation might have existed to put the KBL money in what appeared to be a higher-yield fund such as Madoff’s, we’re sure Marlene would want to do the right thing and put the approximately $350 million into a more secure fund such as treasury bonds. But what she worry?  With room rates at the Chelsea Hotel slashed to $89/night for even the most expensive suites, she’s sure to make her money back in no time.  Expressions of sympathy should take the form of personal checks, money orders, loose change, S&H Green Stamps or gently used coats, and can be sent to Mistress Marlene at her POB Box or dropped in the convenient repository at the Chelsea’s front desk.  -- Ed Hamilton

JON HASSELL’S FOURTH WORLD MUSIC RETURNS TO NEW YORK FOR A SPECIAL APPEARANCE, FEB 10.

As you read this, your body is radiating photons to the world around you.  You are in constant energy communication as you exchange photons with the people and objects within the room in which you sit. 

In the realm of the Akashic, there is always a meaning behind the Meaning.  You and I meet there everyday without ever knowing.

“Now shape-give.”

Those three words hold significant meaning for mega-influencial musician Jon Hassell as they were spoken to him in song-form by Indian raga singer Pandit Pran Nath in the early 70’s. Through the teachings of Pran Nath, a key of unusual wisdom was passed that allowed Jon to open his heartspace to hear the meaning behind the Meaning.  Pran Nath intuitively showed him that one could create a space of meaning between the musical curves of traditional note structure if one wished to seek out the means to give it shape.  With this “shape-giving” knowledge and Pran Nath as the portal to the higher mystical music he was searching to create, Hasselland his “lonely trumpet” departed from their traditional music background to that of something very unique in music- playing theMeaning of the silences between the notes. 

With the album Vernal Equinox from 1977, so began Hassell’s public musical journey into what he termed Fourth World music.  Since then, many musicians have adopted the idea, and none more so than Brian Eno who immediately contacted Hassell after hearingVernal Equinox that same year.   As a result, Possible Musics, the first of several Hassell/Eno collaborations came about.   Eno has said of Hassell’s influence: “Jon is an inventor of new forms of music- of new ideas of what music might be and how it could be made.  His work is drawn from his whole cultural experience without fear or prejudice.  Jon’s (Fourth World theory) is an optimistic, global vision that suggests not only possible musics but possible futures.”In countless interviews from the 70’s and onward, Hassell speaks freely and with precision on his auspicious Fourth World music theory as “a unified, primitive- futuristic sound combining features of World Music ethnic styles with advanced electronics.”

Perhaps it is Jon’s acknowledgement of the trumpet as “a lonely instrument” that encourages his desire to merge the trumpet so seamlessly into the very fiber of his and our sensual experiences. When played, Jon wants his trumpet to traverse those exotic faraway placesboth topographical and corporeal, to take us all with him.  Always shape-shifting, the sound of Jon’s trumpet is sometimes like a gentle north-easterly Sahara wind.  Then, other times, it is reminiscent of an elephantine cry or even an imagined quasar blip on the end of your fine-toothed comb… on another planet.   

Somehow it seems inexplicable that the otherworldly sounds ofJon Hassell’s trumpet have been silent to New York audiences for the last 20 years. Born in Memphis in 1938, Jon once called New York City home.  He lived in the Westbeth art complex in the 70’s and 80’s and joined poet/ filmmaker Ira Cohen for late-night soirees hosted by Vali Myers at the Hotel Chelsea.Western Europe, however, has lured this original to countless stages overseas in the interim.  InMay 08, Jon performed a choral work for “100 voices and chamber group” in an 11^th Century Norwich Cathedral.  Since 2005, Jon and his Maarifa Street collective have been heard in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and throughout Scandinavia to promote and perform selections from the album, Maarifa Street.  This album,Jon says, wasinspired in part by theidea of creating a “cultural alchemy” via a musical fusion of Arabic and Tibetan poetry.  Salient as well were the memories of friends now departed and the shared experience in 1985 of hearing tinkling sounds of handmade bells worn by a gamelan of wandering sheep.  With each sheep bell having a different octave or tonal texture, the creation of a gamelan orchestra from the hillsides of Deia became alive at night for his delighted earsto take in. 

While visiting family and friends in Los Angeles with my husband in 2006, Jon gaveme a copy of his recent album, Maarifa Street. Subsequently, the first time I heard this magnificent album I was riding the Blue Line, a commuter shuttle from downtown L.A. to Long Beach, California.  With the warm summer sun filtering through the train’s passenger window, I immediately felt myself ready for transport to lands far and away.   To this day I still relate a specific connection between Maarifa Street and the stimulating properties of the sun which induced a sort of extemporaneous daytime hallucination for me that day.  Now, consider your body warming as photons are absorbed by the atoms of your body.  And, consider Hassell’s trumpet inviting you in with soft whispering tonalities which slowly build to a rhapsody of dueling sonic textures.  

Weaving through the bliss, a vaguely disinterested female voice could be heard to repeat “doors are closing” like a mantra.  All the while, the cacaphonous chatter of hip-hop kids departing and emerging the train integrated well with the ecstatic bleating vocalizations of Dhafer Youssef which seem to move in and out of the album like a sonic mirage.  With the rays of the hot summer sun shooting it’s warmth to my skin, the coffee-colored kids turned to astral travelers ridingcolorful carpeted skateboards toPlanet Mumtaj.

JON HASSELL AT ZANKEL HALL, NYC.  FEB. 10.  8:30pm.

http://www.carnegiehall.org

SPECIAL NOTE: In April 09, Hassell and Brian Eno deliver their “Conversation Piece” at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.  This “conversational remix”, an animated juxtaposing of philosophies of life, art and music was premiered at Norway’s Punkt Festival in 08 to much acclaim. 

Today's post courtesy of Mia Hanson. (Photo by J. M. Lubrano)

Will David Bard Return to Manage the Chelsea Hotel? Marlene Krauss Says No Comment

    Hearts around the world warmed today with Marlene Krauss’ suggestion that a reconciliation with the Bard family may be possible.  Although declining to go on the record at this time, Patrick Hedlund writes   that, “Krauss said she still keeps an open dialogue with Stanley Bard…”  but would not go further at this time to confirm David Bard’s long awaited return as manager of the Chelsea hotel.  
     Needless to say, even the prospect of David Bard’s return should be cause for an international celebration and a sincere opportunity to restore the Chelsea Hotel ’s good reputation and fiscal balance.  
    As tenants, we welcome this opportunity to come together with management and get behind Marlene Krauss and David Elder to support David Bard's possible return to manage the hotel.  Marlene Krauss, we're rooting for you. (Photo: The Observer)

     

Former Chelsea Hotel Manager Andrew Tilley Sets the Record Straight

In Chris Shott’s Observer article of Feb 4^th, Andrew Tilley discusses his tenure at the Chelsea Hotel and explains why he resigned.  Read the article and draw your own conclusions.  

Chelsea Hotel Residents Denied Heat

Coldest Winter since 2004! So, Marlene Krauss, stop wasting your money on process servers and fix the fireplaces already! Oh yea, and once again, the process server is not Belkin Burden the law firm the Chelsea Hotel has been using, it was Keating & Walker.

The Sins of Former Chelsea Hotel Manager Andrew Tilley

Though he could never hope to surpass the sterling record of BD Hotel's Glennon "gigi" Travis, Andrew Tilley accomplished much in his short tenure at the Chelsea Hotel:

Testified against a tenant at a DHCR hearing,
Enforced Marlene Krauss and David Elder's plan to evict tenants,
Plotted to send Storme Delarverie to a nursing home,
Dismissed three long-term valued employees,
Failed to make tenants art-stars,
Achieved an occupany rate below 20%,
Trashed Bob Dylan's room,
Hired unnecessary security guards and installed spy cameras turning the Chelsea Hotel into a police state,
First person in 21st Century to take a job without googling employer

Alas, he never did get a chance to install those i-pod docking stations that was his only truly visionary idea.  -- Ed Hamilton