arts october 28, 2009 the paper page 15

by Sean Bandfi eld Would you identify place? One of the common com- kids feel good about themselves. STAFF HARDCOREBEQUE [Crunkcore] as a movement It could be jealousy. Seeing plaints about Crunkcore is the When you’re writing a or a scene? a band that’s getting that suc- superfi ciality of its lyrics. Dah- song and when you release Dahvie Vanity is a shad- It’s a movement, because cessful so fast… vie explains that his message something, are you making ow character and an all right there’s a bunch to listeners is, an effort to give the fans what guy. Dressed in black lace and of people, it’s “Live it up, they want? spiked platform boots, with not just a trend. love it up…just Yeah. I really try to push my red-fl are hair, he could only People really party on.” I ask music to where I don’t com- front the techno-scream proj- live their lives him if such a pletely change, but I’m giving ect known as Blood On The like this. message is vir- what the fans want. Dance Floor. His band scorches What’s the tuous. What the fans want – is earth with brokenCYDE on the lifestyle? Just be safe. that what’s best for them? Crunk Kids Tour, which cuts The Crunk You’ve got to When you were a kid and and burns across our nation as movement is be smart. you wanted to eat cookies these words are put to paper. I more like, “We The one for dinner, and your parents recently sat him down to talk just want to song you wouldn’t let you…if your par- about the crucial things: vanity, party and have didn’t per- ents, you know, were there to virtue, Crunkcore, cookies. a good time” form tonight do what you wanted and to and things was “Bitches give you what you were look- Let’s talk about your birth like that. But Get Stitches.” ing for, then you would’ve eat- certifi cate. If we were to look I don’t like to Lyrically, you en cookies for dinner. at that document, what would put myself in a say, “Stop But then cookies would get the name be on it? trend or a cate- the hate, con- old! It would be the same old Dahvie Vanity: Well, my gory. I’m super gratulate,” damn cookies! real name is Jesús David Torres. universal. and, “You can But the principle is… is And what year? How do talk your shit, what the fans want what’s 1984. I’m twenty-fi ve. you think you you’re only best for them? So why the name Dahvie fi t into this? making me Totally. Vanity? Well, of famous.” Who Really? Well, “Dahvie” is “David” course we’ve are you talk- The thing is, I’m always in Spanish - “David” is my got the techno ing to? evolving…I think every Blood middle name…“Vanity” kind dance beats I’m talking On The Dance Floor record has of came through my obsession going on, but I to all the haters. progressively changed and even with mirrors. Everywhere I’d do a little bit of That song is to gotten better. So, you know, we go, I’d always look at my own hip-hop. We’re make people are going to change. But, like, refl ection. kind of like the feel good about we’re not going to change to I’d like you to talk about random Goth themselves… where they can’t recognize us. your image and where vanity kids of this tour to let everyone Where do you see this fi ts into that. - but we’re not know that, if scene going? Other people express their Goth. someone is go- I think it is going to get big- art form through music or litera- Oppo- ing to hate you, ger. It is going to change…It’s ture or things like that. I express nents of Crunk- fuck ‘em. still new, it’s still young, and my art form through visual, you core have been If someone it’s still developing, so I think it know…I’m really huge into notably vocal makes you fa- still has a longevity… You don’t Visual Kei and Harajuku and about their mous by talk- want to just be a trend. What Gothic Lolita and things like disdain. Buddy ing hate about you want to do is you want to that, so that’s where a lot of my Nielson, front- you, is that a become a timeless act…You image came from. I’m obsessed man of the pop- good kind of want to be remembered. with Japanese magazines and ular and scene fame? Is that Do you think you’re going the 80’s and things like that… respected post- the kind of to be remembered? and vampires. hardcore band fame that you Of course. Absolutely. When I see someone who Senses Fail, want? Whether the fetal entity that has a very stark image or is took time out I don’t nec- is Crunkcore will become a leg- very stand-out, part of me has of his shows essarily want endary revolution or a forgot- to wonder – is it all about at- to lambast fame, it kind of ten accident is long from de- tention? brokenCYDE, just happens… termined. It combines the most No, it’s about the music. who, without But it’s the old grating elements of Screamo I’ve always been like this. I’ve Buddy’s con- saying - every with the most abject traits of always been obsessed with Ed- sent, were put publicity is Crunk, birthing a devil child ward Scissorhands and things on tour with good publicity. that is therefore twice as base like that. I kind of became my his band. I ask Couldn’t I as either - for it to survive its obsession with things like that. Dahvie about say the same criticism would be a feat alone. “Crunkcore” is a young the backlash. thing about However, despite the current term – groups have started to I think Hitler? Hit- gauntlet, these bands are selling combine the throat shredding people just ler’s really tickets. But unless they want to vocals of screamo with the elec- need to grow famous. He’s join Disco in its shamed crypt, tronic beats and subject matter up and be ma- really famous the Crunk Kids will have to of crunk. brokenCYDE is the ture about it. for being re- hone their sound and deepen notorious archetype of this em- They’re making it worse…I What about Buddy from ally bad. their message. As it is, their bryonic pattern. While Blood sing in one of my songs, “Haters Senses Fail? Would you say But I think most of my fame grave has already been marked, On The Dance Floor isn’t as make you famous.” Whether it’s that he’s jealous? is not from me being bad. I and whether they know it or not, overtly crunked as some other good publicity or bad public- I think there’s a lot of un- didn’t kill six million Jews. they’re the fastest ones digging. groups, the strong parallels be- ity…it’s advertising. Let them necessary hate. I’m not here to That’s true. And forgive tween them and others in the hate. bash Senses Fail…I like those the allusion. To hear the full interview, movement allows the band to Well why do you think guys…but it’s like…let’s just I think I saved a thousand check out fupaper.wordpress.com be included alongside the cat- they’re hating in the fi rst all get along. kids. I think I made a thousand egory. page 16 the paper october 28, 2009

by Nick Murray Detroit. Soon after returning, in New Orleans, came this way, STAFF ‘MERKIN he set out again, this time down the car running opposite his pri- to Savannah. Later that year, or subjects. In the thirty-seventh of the Frank embarked on his longest Ultimately, this exhibition, eighty-three photographs that run. Beginning in Indianapolis celebrating the fi ftieth anniver- comprise Robert Frank’s 1958 he traveled west, making it as sary of the publishing of The book The Americans, the pho- far north as Butte, before travel- Americans, is not just about tographer stands in front of a ing down to San Francisco and photography but about his- screen door in McClellanville, along the Pacifi c coast. When he tory—how we write it, what it South Carolina. His fi gure, cam- reached Los Angeles, he turned means, and what it says about us era raised, blocks the incoming back and headed toward per- today. In one sense, the pictures sun, and through his silhouette haps the most American city in seem to come from a different we can see into the room behind the country—Las Vegas—then world. The clothes, the cars, the door. It’s an empty barber- made his way to his conclusion and just about everything seems shop. Are dated, and those li- Halloween around these parts can be dangerous. the paper is even the quor bot- no feardozer, no--we’d love to personally install a kitten shower idea of tles or hair (that’s a shower head that pelts kittens) in each of your residenc- a cross- products es so that you could hide from the cold, unmerciful realities of country sitting on the outdoors. But goshdarnit, Fordham, there comes a time when attempt to the win- kitten showers just don’t do justice to the Truth. Because there fi nd the dowsill? are so few kitten showers in the world. I’ve gone off on a tangent essence A less about kitten showers, but what I’m really trying to say is that of Amer- subtle pho- … when a kitten is fl ying towards your naked unwashed trunk, ica has tographer you don’t have time to think about things like, “hmm, I wonder become would whether gang initiation week is a hoax…” played have be- I’m not sure if it is. But you might as well play it safe. out, partly gun or Here are some ideas on how to due to the ended perfection Still Have Fun Even Without Getting Stabbed his book Frank and This Halloween… with this Kerouac picture, achieved ham-fi stedly acknowledging its in Florida. in their trips. On the other hand, 542 West 27th Street symbolism, but Frank places it Earlier this year, the Na- Frank took these pictures only New York NY, 10001 in the middle of the collection. tional Gallery of Art organized fi fty years ago. Does time really Blood Manor can make your Texas Chainsaw Massacre Here, it conjures up a range of an exhibition chronicling this march this fast? Apparently, it dreams come true without leaving the Empire State. Located at emotions. Although the door’s trip, and at present the exhibit does; although, as the saying W 27th and 10th Ave, the haunted house is chock-a-block with refl ection makes the image fair- resides at the Metropolitan Mu- goes, the more things change, hanging corpses, escaped mental patients, and zombie strippers ly complex, one is struck by its seum of Art. Looking In: Robert the more they stay the same. eager to chase you down the weaving black halls. While the sparseness, all the while trying Frank’s The Americans com- Somehow, Frank captured this. sights and sounds may cause you to scream, cry, and pee your to assemble the sections into a piles not only vintage prints of He shows a society moving for- pants (we won’t tell anyone), you defi nitely won’t get stabbed coherent image. The chair is ward—new buildings, new at Blood Manor because, as was so helpfully described by empty, the house behind does machines, new cars—but not “ftwizz” on Yahoo Answers, “people could get majorly injured not look very inviting, and the necessarily progressing, as the and that would lead to lawsuits.” Tickets are 25$ at bloodmanor. closest thing to a person is the wide-eyed black man looking com. photographer’s black shadow. out from that trolley window 7% chance of getting stabbed Twelve pictures later, Frank reminds us. shows us an equally lonely pho- And then, what does The tograph of a Detroit assembly Americans mean today, after 6th Avenue South of Spring Street & above Canal line. The picture’s many work- 9/11? For better or for worse, Interested in witnessing tens of thousands of people parade ers fi ll the gaps left between that event lies in the back of down Sixth Ave in crazy costumes or would you yourself like machines, wires, and raw ma- our minds as we make our way to parade down Sixth Ave in a crazy costume? Then head to the terial. The grain of the photo- through these eighty-three 36th Annual Village Halloween Parade this Saturday evening. graph has the same distorting photographs. Considering In addition to the costumes, the parade’s two million specta- effect as the screen door in the this, is it okay to feel nostalgic tors are treated to: Dozens of live bands! Troupes of dancers McClellanville picture. Not one for these photographs? Surely, and circus performers! A fl eet of giant rod puppets! Hell, it was worker’s face is visible. In this Frank does not give us much named “Greatest Event on Earth” by Festivals International for sense, it is fi tting that the title is to feel nostalgic about or any- October 31. Fun and, ever importantly, free, the Village Parade not “Workers on an Assembly thing even close to sentimen- should be your choice for public lewdness this Halloween. Line,” but, sardonically, simply tal, but there is still something 35% chance of getting stabbed “Assembly Line.” beautiful about many of the The short version of the images. Perhaps this feeing story behind The Americans does not come from a long- 210 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 is this: in early 1955, Robert all the photographs, but also ing to rekindle the bygone era I know everybody wants to dress up like the Mario Bros. Frank, with recommendations ephemera, including the Gug- but the desire to go back to it or some sort of “sexy” something-or-rather and go out and get from respected photographers, genheim application rough and do the last fi fty years right. completely sham-wowed, but if you’re at all interested in any including Walker Evans, Ed- drafts he wrote with Evans, con- No Vietnam, no assassinations, sort of traditional festive activity, head over just a few miles ward Steichen, and Alexey tact sheets, and working prints. no George W. Bush, but better northwest to Sleepy Hollow in Westchester country Friday, Brodovitch, won a fellowship The contact sheets reveal much conditions and wages for the October 30th, for their annual haunted hayride. Learn about the from the John Simon Gug- about Frank’s method and ver- workers on that Detroit assem- history of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman on a three genheim Foundation to travel satility. At times he was studi- bly line and true equality for the hour tour of the beautiful lower Hudson Valley. Gates open at across the country taking pho- ous, at one point circling a cov- man in the trolley. When you 6PM at Sleepy Hollow High School and the ride will be from tographs of “what one natural- ered car in Long Beach trying to look at Frank’s pictures, you 7PM until 10PM. However—Freshmen be warned—you have ized American fi nds to see in the fi nd the angle that would reveal want these things so badly it al- to be at least 10 to ride by yourself, and I’m not sure whether United States that signifi es the the subject’s poignancy, while most hurts. Hopefully, they will they’re talking about actual age or mental age. kind of civilization born here other shots came from a more be here to welcome the book’s the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of you getting and spreading elsewhere.” He freewheeling style, pictures of- one-hundredth anniversary, at stabbed. started the journey’s fi rst leg al- ten taken regardless of the view- which point a new generation most immediately, driving from fi nder. The book’s most famous will again marvel at this won- his home in New York City to image, a segregated trolley car derful work. october 28, 2009 the paper page 17

by Mickie Meinhardt sailing through treacherous per and deep feelings. The mu- STAFF I THINK I LOVE waters to the land of the Wild sic, too, seamlessly intertwines YOU Things. As in the book, Max the magical with the emotional; In 1963, Maurice Sendak faces down the Wild Things Jonze commissioned Karen O summed up our childhoods in with his boundless child’s cour- of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to do the 10 sentences with his book, age and is appointed their king. entire soundtrack, and the result Where the Wild Things Are. However, his stay on the is- is a light-hearted, folky mix The fantastic illustrations and land lasts several days, rather full of humming, cheering, and sense of adventure appealed to than just a night, and through whistling, complimented with any child who has ever dreamed the lengthy period of time the purely instrumental, heartfelt of being ruler of an imaginary Wild Things are shown to have tracks. The backup (the band is land, and the book has been their own very real problems – formally titled “Karen O and the beloved by millions ever since. problems that seem to embody Kids”) is comprised of members Max’s own levels of confusion, of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Li- The big question was, would Summer was pretty sweet, huh? But now the leaves are fear, and sorrow. In the end, ars, Deerhunter, and the Ra- Spike Jonze, with his October- browning, withering, and dying, and there’s a chill blowing Max’s anger at his family melts conteurs, as well as a chorus of released movie adaptation, sin- across your neighborhood. People who think they have more into homesickness, and he re- children: a fantastic collection gle handedly crush what Sendak class than they actually do will break out their peacoats and turns to his worried mother and of indie, punk, and electronic so wonderfully built? scarves, myself included. All in all, you’re gonna feel pretty a slice of chocolate cake, leav- rock artists that, combined, pro- Everyone’s inner child can collegiate for a couple of weeks, before winter jams its hor- rible, icy fi nger into you and leaves you unable to do even the most basic things, like walk alllllll the way to FMH when it’s like, totally thirty below out. You better stay in and get caught up on Melrose Place. But maybe, just maybe, you realize that this is the last couple of weeks when you can trek all the way down to the city, rage your face off, and not freeze your little knickers getting there, only to sweat profusely when you arrive. So, if I were you, here’s what I’d hit up -SW

Who: Dethklok, Mastodon When: Thursday, October 29th @ 6:30 p.m. Where: Hammerstein Ballroom How Much: $35 Why: Dethklok may be the product of a late night Cartoon Net- work cartoon, but Mastodon is widely respected as being one of the best metal bands to come up in our generation, and Dethklok isn’t as shitty as them being a cartoon would make them sound. Sometimes you just want to bang your head.

Who: Justice (DJ Set) When: Thursday, October 29th @ 10 p.m. ing the entire audience in tears. duce a whimsically beautiful breathe a sigh of relief. No, Where: Webster Hall The fi lm is a far cry from soundtrack that perfectly com- Jonze did not butcher the heart- How Much: $40 the Disney/Pixar animations pliments the fi lm. felt memories of millions. He Why: Forty bucks is pricey, but the French house duo of Justice that dominate children’s fi lms, Though told from a child’s succeeded where so many have is simply amazing. They are strong recording artists, and Cross which is part of why it’s so un- simplistic outlook, the fi lm is failed and produced a book- was a good album, but Justice’s real strength is in remixing other believably moving. Kids will by no means emotionally juve- turned-movie that I could not peoples tunes (listen to their remix of “Electric Feel”)and should love it for the same reasons they nile. Yet somehow it is this as- fi nd a single fault with. Not an put on a killer DJ set. I’ll see you there. exaggeration. Where the Wild love the book – who, as a six pect, which would appear to be Things Are without a doubt year old, wouldn’t have wanted nothing but praise-worthy, that to be king of the wild things? has caused criticism. Though it lived up to its hype and fulfi lled Who: Deer Tick (as the Sex Pistols) But adults will appreciate it for is a PG-rated children’s movie, the anticipation that increased When: Halloween @ 9 p.m. the artful approach to such dark many have been asking if it was, a bit more each time the trailer Where: Brooklyn Bowl undertones: the pangs of loneli- in fact, made for kids; it is in all was played. How Much: $5 ness and pure adolescent sorrow actuality less a kid’s movie than Jonze stuck to the plot – not Why: People either like or dislike the band Deer Tick, people that drive Max to fl ee his home. a movie about being a kid, about hard to do when the book only either like or dislike punk rock. If you like Deer Tick and punk The ideas of divorce or a distant kids’ angst and adventure and has 10 sentences – but did in- rock, you’ll probably love this show. If you dislike both Deer older sibling are ones most of us imagination all bundled into a evitably have to add some back- Tick and punk rock, you’ll probably hate this show. I dunno, it’s can identify with, and the pain wolf suit with a crown on top. ground. Max remains just Max, fi ve dollars, decide if you want it more than a chicken roll. a disgruntled young boy with no both Max and the Wild Things It’s defi nitely child-appropriate, last name. But we fi nd out that experience in looking for a though perhaps a bit scary at friend and fi nding no one there times, but the main concepts are his parents are recently divorced Who: Weezer, Matt & Kim, PT Walkley is heartwrenching: one of the fully adult – poignantly regress- and his mother is a working When: Halloween @ 6:30 p.m. fi rst questions posed of the new ing each of us to what it’s like to mom, absent during most of the Where: Hammerstein Ballroom king is, “Can you keep out all be a kid. I fi nd any criticism to day and with a new boyfriend at How Much: $38 the sadness?” to which Max re- be nothing short of condescend- night. Max has a sister named Why: Matt & Kim have been described as a darling indie duo plies, “I’ve got a sadness shield ing; fantastically woven, from Claire just on the brink of teen- so many times I believe it’s on their business cards, but they that will keep out all the loneli- costumes and setting to anima- age-dom and thus feels her- are fantastic, and, I mean, Weezer’s brand of poppy nerd-rock is ness.” Each of the Wild Things tion and soundtrack, it’s a fi lm self too old to “play with” her pretty damned infectious. Why not dress up and go out? younger brother. The combined has a distinct personality repre- that fi nally lives up to it’s ex- lack of sympathy leaves Max in senting Max’s varying internal pectations. As Max wonderfully hurt, confusion, and loneliness, problems, with Carol, the cen- and simply puts it, “Let the wild and he lashes out and runs away, tral Wild Thing, most closely rumpus start!” fi nding a boat in the woods and representing Max’s quick tem- page 18 the paper october 28, 2009 Dear Lady Gaga,

Lady Gaga how old are messaging generation. you? Where do you live? While Madonna intro- What do you look like duced sexuality into the under all those clothes? mainstream, Gaga, you For Fordham students who tire of travelling an hour plus south to enjoy the city outside the Bronx, Do you prefer gravy on introduced homosexual- the northernmost tip of Manhattan above Harlem is a neglected treasure. Inwood, Fort George / Fort your mashed potatoes or ity into the mainstream. Tyron, and Washington Heights offer quirkily winding streets; soaring hills of San Francisco propor- butter? Why don’t I even While Madonna’s “Like tions; classic, original New York architecture; a healthy dose of nature; and an expansive diversity, know your name? a Virgin” made hetero- making for an eclectic mish mash of retail and cuisine. There are so many sexuality not so taboo, In a paltry 20 minutes, the Bx12 select will take you over the University Heights Bridge to 207th (a things I do not know your “Pokerface” de-sen- Fordham Road-esque retail fi asco) and Broadway, in Inwood. You can walk north on Broadway into about you; however, I sitized the mainstream the Marble Hill section of the Bronx over the Broadway Bridge, a futuristic drawbridge which offers fear if I knew everything to LGBTQ issues. I was comfortable pedestrian access and gritty, hodge-podge views over the narrow Harlem River. about you, I would not astounded that many Mosey back down Broadway to the 215th Street Steps, one of several massive sets of concrete like you near as much. people did not know that stairs leading to the higher-elevated (and at times, wealthier) terrace of northwest Manhattan. If you’re So I beg you Lady Gaga your “Poker Face” rep- willing to make the hike up, take a stroll on the quaint pathways and hidden stairways of Isham Park. please remain a secret, resents you putting on Northern Manhattan contains endless acres of parkland, untainted woods that stubbornly resist urban because once your allure a “poker face” for your infringement, spilling foliage and ivy over stone walls and brick buildings. The manicured lawns of vanishes I fear your ce- boyfriend whilst you are Parks Central, Prospect, McCarren, etc., pale in comparison. lebrity will as well. having sex so he does Nearby, the beautiful, old single homes of red brick on 217th Street appear bizarrely plucked from a With all of this said not know that you would small Western European town. Prance back down those stairs for truly exceptional carrot cake at Carrot and done I want to con- rather be having sex with Top Pastries on 214th and Broadway. A tangle of Irish pubs await you to the south. gratulate you on your a woman. Below Inwood is the Fort George / Fort Tyron area. Cross commercial Dyckman Street to near the performance at the Na- Gaga, I love you. I take Cloisters, the Met’s satellite enclave of Medieval European art and architecture on Fort Tyron Park. tional Equality March you for what you are and Creeping up to the top of Washington Heights, tackle another epic staircase west of Broadway on 187th, in Washington D.C. You don’t judge the fact that and be rewarded at Vicky’s Coffee Shop, a classic, small-town America diner. Walk all the way west to are to be applauded for you dropped out of NYU enjoy sweeping, picturesque views of the Hudson and the GW. Enjoying the area’s intense concentra- your rendition of John Tisch School of the Arts tion of gorgeous Art Deco architecture, navigate all the way east to Yeshiva University between 186th Legend’s “Imagine “at the to become a stipper/ and 182nd. Marvel at the ornate façade of the Jewish university’s regal Zysman Hall and perhaps meet Human Rights Dinner coke addict in your stu- up with a student or so for some interreligious dialogue! and for your screaming dio apartment for a year. 181st will take care of any inexpensive retail needs. There, you’ll fi nd another point of access to the of “OBAMMMMMMA” I hope others will learn Bronx at the Washington Bridge, but rather than bus it, walk. The Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, which to take traces the old aqueduct from Westchester to midtown, crosses into Manhattan here. The High Bridge, I drew a picture of us together you at face the trail’s majestic pedestrian walkway across the Harlem River, is closed, but you can use the this value and route instead. The trail provides a lovely path between Fordham Road (entry just west of the 4 train) commend and Manhattan. you for your by Lindy Foltz activism and CHIEF COPY EDITOR talent. Yet there is still so much I do not know about you. So many questions remain un- answered, in your address to those but as I stated earlier I who participated in the would have it no other march. I do not know way. why some people in the In closing, I just want- LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, ed to say that I am being Bisexual, Transgender, you for Halloween. Yes, I and Questioning) commu- know it is gang initiation nity strongly dislike you. I week in the Bronx so I cannot even imagine why very well may be shot or they would hate you so stabbed, but I will keep much. Yes, you are fake, my head held high and FU weird, and out of this security in my speed-dial. world, but that is why And worst-case scenario I love you. Once those even if I am bloodied up A pathway under Isham Park offers views This stylish mom and pop shop across from who do not accept you it will only increase the of these curvaceous old apartments. Vicky’s carries all the necessities of life. as being fake and weird authenticity of my cos- identify with the fact tume, seeing, as you your- that you are intrinsically self were bloody during fake and weird (and that your MTV Video Music is part of your charm) Award performance. then they will love you as much as I do. Love y Amor To all those in the Kyle Alexander LGBTQ community who renounce you as our bea- con of hope I ask, would Mariah Carey storm the capital building demand- ing same-sex marriage in a revolving metallic or- bital top with matching Capri-shorts? Would Har- vey Milk wear ridiculous costumes and promote bi-sexuality on Satur- day Night Live and the VMA’s?...I think not. Gaga you are the Ma- Flocks of rooftop pigeons pepper the Plunges in elevation in northern Manhat- donna of our twitter- sky in Inwood. tan make for grand street vistas. ing, facebooking, instant october 28, 2009 the paper page 19

out of a cramped apartment the awesomeness that is Hous- Each of the hundred-or-so chairs school alum she bedded in a Marissa Caroll and into slightly-less-cramped ing Works (a non-profi t chain set up in front of the small stage North Carolina motel. A power- STAFF SPELLBOUND coffeehouses and bookstores. of bookstores and thrift shops was full, as was each step on ful looking man shared his tale I believe in telling stories. A decade later, the Moth is a dedicated to fi ghting AIDS and the staircase. I resigned myself of beating cancer but acquiring The quietest member of a Big New York Times Style Section homelessness) but had never to the corner next to the coffee “Depression, a large black crow Loud Irish Family, I’ve been worthy phenomenon and a con- actually stepped foot inside of bar, my view of the performers that swoops down upon my raised on tales in which the point sistent source of NPR features. the bookstore. Arriving at 7:04, surprisingly not obscured by the chest and whispers bad thoughts isn’t who won the fi ght but how I fi rst heard a recording from a only four minutes after doors large column ten feet in front of to me in the dark.” his eyes were bullets, how the Moth show on “This American had opened, I realized I would me and my hearing only slightly The hands-down winner of bar fl oor stuck to my best Sun- Life” and since have subscribed have at least ten additional min- damaged by the constant whir- the evening, though, was Adam day shoes, how my heart shook to the Moth podcast, which pro- utes to ponder what Housing ring of the espresso machine. I Wade. Wade displayed an arms- like the old apartment next to vides me with one free Moth Works was like as I stood in the even had a ladder on which to fl ailing enthusiasm for storytell- the train tracks. As someone recording per week. comfortably lean. ing, the phrases shooting out of who can hardly verbalize what I have heard tales The host tapped the his mouth like over-eager can- I ate for lunch without speaking from a Queens cop, microphone and began ex- nonballs. More than anything, in circles, getting distracted, and a Burning Man plaining Housing Works he was human; he made me care completely losing my audience, enthusiast, a Bol- and The Moth to the that he lost his sixth grade girl- the ability to lasso a crowd with lywood star, a Ma- crowd. She stated that ten friend because of a juvenile de- words is a skill I not only appre- lian reporter, an audience members, all of linquent who wanted to either a) ciate but also deeply admire. Iraq vet, and even a whom had entered to per- be his girlfriend or b) fl ush his So when I stumbled upon Fordham grad who form earlier in the evening, head in the toilet at all times. The Moth Story Slams about a thought the best would be drawn randomly This was his fi fteenth Moth year ago, I was hooked. way to improve from a hat, perform, and be win and I’m sure it will soon be The Moth is a non-profi t that his poetry (and, of graded “Olympic ice-skat- documented on adamwade.com, hosts live storytelling events, course, win over a ing style” by three teams his website displaying video of originally in NYC and now in girl) was spending an evening half-a-block long line. of judges. each of his Moth performances. major cities around the U.S. in a NYC prison. The Moth Story Slams cost The theme of the evening, I can’t highly enough recom- Poet and novelist George Dawes I vowed to attend a live $7 to attend, a fee very rea- the host announced, was Desti- mend a trip to the Moth, wheth- Green founded the Moth “to taping of The Moth as soon as sonable for almost three hours ny. Performers spoke of destiny er you are content to observe or recreate in New York the feeling I landed here at the end of Au- of unique live performance. I in disguise—romance novels brave enough to put your name of sultry summer evenings in gust. Then I forgot. I vowed to didn’t even feel confl icted as I and taxidermied deer—saving in the hat to perform. Themoth. his native Georgia where he and attend before the end of Sep- handed over my fi ve, one, and them from drug addiction and org lists all opportunities to at- a small circle of friends would tember. I forgot again. Last ten dimes. Instead, I immedi- 9/11, respectively. Three spoke tend a Story Slam each month gather to spin spellbinding tales Thursday, though, I fi nally got ately focused on the look of on the signifi cance of their and also links you to videos of on his friend Wanda’s porch.” it together enough to hop on Housing Works: the spiral stair- names defi ning their destinies past performances and where to Basically, he wanted to recreate the D train and head to Housing cases, the mahogany-paneled and one described learning what download the podcast. If you’re the loveliest of things in a town Works Bookstore and Café, the balconies, the thousands of was certainly not her destiny: a looking to check out the Moth hardly known for its loveliness. Moth’s home the third Thursday books lined up around its cav- career in sports. One man told and also aren’t going to murder Green began inviting friends of each month. I was familiar ernous walls. Already the place an elaborate, statistics-heavy, me on the subway, I’ll be head- over to his apartment to tell sto- with the area around Housing was packed. The balcony was fairly offensive story about ed back to the Slam at the Nuy- ries, and a following quickly Works (the store is located a teeming with well-dressed cou- his destiny to date fat bisexual orican in a couple weeks. Hope developed, pushing the Moth block from Broadway and La- ples fl irting over imported beer women, and a woman talked to see you there. fayette on the D) and also with and plastic cups of red wine. about a four-foot tall grade

By Sean Kelly war journalism. fi fty years, until their transpor- and he eventually completely ful restoration under the eyes STAFF SUITCASE OF Almost as interesting as tation to the ICP in 2007. broke off contact for unknown of conservation experts and BLOW the photographs themselves is When the staff of the ICP reasons. are expected to be fi t for ex- the convoluted and roundabout learned of the correspondence The state of the fi lm re- hibition in late 2010. In their Something referred to by journey that they took to New between Professor Green and mained unknown for several preliminary appraisals of the such a cryptic and indistinct title York. The rolls of fi lm con- the Mexican fi lmmaker (who years after this mysterious ter- work, the restoration experts as ‘The Mexican Suitcase’ may tained in the Mexican Suitcase remains anonymous), they im- mination of communication be- have come across images of the conjure up images of a tattered disappeared from Capa’s Paris tween the fi lmmaker and damage done to Madrid during suitcase full of cocaine, guns studio at the beginning of the the ICP. However, when the war and the mass exodus of or some other type of delight- Second World War and were the ICP was organizing a antifascist refugees across the ful contraband. However, in the thought by Capa and his col- show of both Capa and Ta- Pyrenees to France, as well as case of a package delivered to leagues to be either destroyed ro’s work (including work images of such notable fi gures Manhattan’s ICP (International or confi scated in the Nazi oc- from the Spanish Civil of the era as Ernest Heming- Center of Photography, not In- cupation of France. However, War era), offi cials decided way and Federico Garcia Lorca. sane Clown Posse) in December in 1995, Jerald R. Green, a to give one fi nal attempt at These photographs represent of 2007, thinking this would professor at CUNY Queens obtaining the fi lm with the not only an amazing step for- just make you a culturally in- College, received a letter from hope that some of the work ward towards a better fi rsthand sensitive and vaguely racist a Mexican fi lmmaker stating could be incorporated into understanding of the Spanish (you were totally thinking that, that he had come into posses- the exhibitions. The ICP Civil War, but also a better un- weren’t you? Asshole…). In sion of the mysterious nega- enlisted the help of schol- derstanding of the history of actuality, the Mexican Suitcase tives by way of his aunt, who ar Trisha Ziff, a resident professional photography and refers to a cache of 126 rolls inherited then from her father. of Mexico City, to track photojournalism. The work of of fi lm taken by Robert Capa, Her father, Gen. Francisco down and negotiate with Robert Capa revolutionized the Gerda Taro, and David Sey- Aguilar Gonzales, was a dip- the elusive fi lmmaker. way in which military confl ict mour during the Spanish Civil lomat stationed in Marseilles After a several weeklong was brought into the public eye. war that was delivered to the during the Spanish Civil War to mediately contacted the fi lm- manhunt, Ziff fi nally located By embedding himself and his ICP (founded by Robert Capa’s aid antifascist refugees fl eeing maker, requesting the return of the fi lmmaker and began what camera in combat alongside brother, Cornell) and has been the Iberian Peninsula. Through the negatives for restoration, would turn into almost a year’s Spanish, American, and British undergoing rigorous restora- rather nebulous and shifty archiving, and exhibition pur- worth of negotiations and plead- soldiers in a number of confl icts tion for nearly two years. These means, Gen. Gonzales gained poses. Though contact was ing on the behalf of the ICP. (including the D-Day invasions photos, thought for over half a possession of the negatives, be- established, matters were left Ziff eventually convinced the in Normandy), Capa changed century to be lost, compliment lieved to have been transported open-ended, and no commit- fi lmmaker to give the work to war journalism from an obser- much of Capa’s revolutionary from Paris to Marseilles by Ca- ments were made on the part of the ICP and hand-delivered the vational science to a participa- work during the Spanish Civil pa’s friend and fellow photog- the Aguilar-Gonzales family re- packages to New York in De- tory art. Now, with the arrival War and show an important par- rapher Imre Weisz, and subse- lating to the relinquishing of the cember of 2007. of these negatives, Capa’s meth- adigm shift partially responsible quently transported them back fi lm. The fi lmmaker scheduled Since their arrival, the ods and innovation can be better for the current state of modern to his home in Mexico City. meetings with ICP representa- negatives have been undergo- understood. The fi lm stayed here for nearly tives that he never attended, ing a labor intensive and care-