East Village Beat: Fly and Her Peops
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ART Johan Nobell BOOKS Brian Evenson, Truong Tran MUSIC The Feverfew, Kimya’s Off the Sauce Party BOOG CITY POETRY Boone, Gordon, Meng, Veglahn A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER FROM A GROUP OF ARTISTS AND WRITERS BASED IN AND AROUND NEW YORK CITY’S EAST VILLAGE ISSUE 22 FEBRUARY 2005 FREE East Village Beat: Fly and Her Peops BY PAULETTE POWELL They are hanging eye candy, while her raw “punk rock kids,” as am enchanted. The elfin waif, with her puckish punk music stings my ears. Her work has a she lovingly refers aura, hands me a soynog with a splash of visual voice and a vocal scream serving to to them. They came I Bailey’s Irish Cream. Her mere presence document not just her life but also those of over for Sunday makes me comfortable at the Homestead on her subjects—everyday people, street people, baking cookies day. East Sixth Street, an East Village legend and famous people, and fellow artists. Through They are pretty things art commune. Fly is her name, an artist’s artist these images of truth she has captured the and very excited who works in paint, pen and ink, music, and essence of passion, anger, sadness, illness, to spend time with performance. and pain. These very human stories have their “mum.” Fly I asked Fly when and where she created her recently been put into a wonderful collection introduces me to first work of art. She smiles warmly and her eyes of life testimonials, Peops: Portraits & Stories of three cartoonists— sparkle. “I was five years old and my parents People, published by Soft Skull Press. Ketchup, 18; her threw a New Year’s Eve party. My father, well I feel as though I have found an old friend, best friend and known for his homemade brew, would feed it to and I have. Fly is a familiar image from my collaborator, Nick, early ’90s bohemian East Village 18; and Sophie, ‘I want you to know Fly saved my life. I existence, and we were recently 23—and Michael, was an intern at Soft Skull and she came reacquainted at a party our mutual 23, who is a writer. in one day, and we became friends. I was artist pals Kelli Bickman and Lee Ketchup and Nick under a lot of pressure in college, and, Harvey threw. They describe Fly as show me their recent “the heart of the East Village,” and work Teen Lobo-tomy: finally, I couldn’t handle it. It was too looking close you soon understand a Zine About The expensive, and I found myself homeless. and agree. Fly has a way of bringing Institutional-ization I didn’t know what to do. Fly did. She people together and creating of Youth. It is part hooked me up with my best friends, and I an ethereal, healing energy that autobiograph-ical, had a place to stay.’ mystically hangs in the air. and will include other Fly was born and raised a kids’ works and words Canadian Navy brat, spending her about being forcibly me [we giggle]. I was so happy, and all of my early days in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was a institutionalized and parents’ friends were happy and dancing. I took good student, but different. She never felt she having their rights a spool of red thread and started weaving in and fit in until she became somewhat of a celebrity taken away. out of the dancing people, tying them together, at 15 by joining, and excelling on, her school’s “These kids until they were all tangled close in my red web. rowing team. “All of a sudden instead of being are great, they are They loved it! It was the hit of the party, and now a misfit, I became a cool kid with an easy pass good kids, not into that I think about it, it was my first work of art. I to hang out with the popular kids.” She won drugs or any real knew what I was then. I never let an allowance a bronze medal on the Canadian lightweight problems,” says Fly. “It go by without taking my 20 cents and purchasing rowing team at 17. “I wasn’t large enough was all about parents an art pad and pencils. I was lucky to know what to be a heavyweight, although I was strong trying to control and conform, not wanting to Fly retreats to the kitchen to finish making I was at such an early age.” enough, and that ended my athletic career.” understand and allowing them to be who they her healthy honey oatmeal treats. My eyes I scan her paintings, portraits, and cartoons. Fly and I are soon joined by her adopted are—artists.” Please see POWELL page 5 school. He explained, “After that, I was up and running. Of John Fisk, 1946-2004 course the process of becoming an individual is complicated eclectic mix of commentary, music, and poetry. for everybody but somehow, somewhere in there, I found my Through his duties as broadcast consultant Fisk amassed self. And thankfully my parents had a theory of child rearing a remarkable collection of contemporary poetry recordings, that had nothing to do with telling a kid what to do.” made distinctive due to the Poetry Project’s de facto mission Fisk will be greatly missed. He simply enjoyed listening of presenting as many emerging writers as established ones. to and reading poetry. He was an extremely loyal friend. Along the way, Fisk also recorded Allen Ginsberg’s workshops Thankfully, his spirit will continue to inspire future generations at Brooklyn College. through the wealth of material that he left behind. Last year when Fisk began to experience difficulty walking he was given the cane that steadied the gait of Allen Ginsberg and filmmaker and musicologist Harry Smith before him, a literal transfer of a countercultural baton. Fisk knew everybody— Chuck Stebelton Vincent “the Chin” Gigante, poet Bob Kaufman, Yippie! Party Chicago co-founder Abbie Hoffman, and Patti Smith—but he never The Nineties name-dropped. The connections were revealed anecdotally while swapping life stories. It was precisely Fisk’s discretion, generosity, and modesty, peppered by his confidence of Between 1929 and 1941 intellect, that made him such a desirable companion. Friends without changes, without an Ars surrounded him right up until the moment he passed away. Fisk was a great mentor because he was open to turned to summer and all information. His knowledge was free of prejudice, rooted in sold to the little peeps as pets Greg Greg Fuchs photo continual learning. Fisk especially loved music, philosophy, poetry, and politics. One area of his apartment was stacked between 1939 and 1951 BY GREG FUCHS floor to ceiling with books, compact discs, and tapes. Aside often hardens, so windows snow ohn Fisk died quietly in his Lower East Side apartment on this wall was situated Fisk’s mission control center: television, collective desires to collect and share December 20, 2004, after a yearlong encounter with radio, and the ergonomic Aeron chair where he read, Jbone cancer. Fisk was the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s received the news, and digressed. between 1949 and 1961 Church’s broadcast consultant for over 20 years, directing John Coletti and I recorded Fisk last April telling a brief twenty eight leap years ago the audio of all events, from readings by quietly powerful history of his life. I waited to listen to the tape until the day thirty head of lamb, sheep poets like Bernadette Mayer to multimedia extravaganzas after he died. I cried. Even in the throes of pain and under coordinated by producers like Hal Wilner. Fisk was known the influence of pain relievers, Fisk was articulate and sharp. between 1929 and 1941 for many years during the 1970s and 1980s as the host of He shared a significant moment in his adolescence. After between 1959 and 1971 Digressions, a WBAI 99.5 FM program that aired every touring a prep school with his father, who wanted Fisk to go Sunday night into Monday morning, where he weaved an to Princeton, he decided that he did not want to attend the BOOG CITY Issue 22, February 2005, free PRINTED MATTER editor/publisher David A. Kirschenbaum Poe Folk around fuck reengage the poet’s adult voice: [email protected] The Wavering Knife its ideas, The Wavering Knife is a collection that Brian Evenson skillfully questions certainty by using the glamour, word fuck sparingly it is like no other word he copy editor FC2 revelations, and horrors of madness. —EUGENE LIM remembers learning it from a kid in the Joe Bates he spiritual location in Brian Evenson’s latest effort, The Wavering Knife, vacillates A Sort of Homecoming Most refreshing is Tran’s casual art editor Tbetween Berlin and the boonies, the story Within the Margin use of the word fuck. No poet at collection having a roughly equal ratio between Truong Tran Brenda Iijima the ‘dare i say fuck’ moment seems “hick” and “kraut” themes. Stories with the former, Apogee Press to utter fuck, shroud it against a like “Barcode Jesus” and “Promisekeepers,” offer ruong Tran recently won the Poetry Center backdrop of pure lyrical elegance, east village editor hilarious satires of religious hypocrisy, alpha-male Book Award for his dust and conscience Paulette Powell tribal organization, and herdish consumerism T(Apogee Press, 2002) and his previous and have it hold poetic merit like [email protected] (although making fun of fundamentalism and work includes a children’s book, Going Home Tran attempts. Wal-Mart may arguably be too easy).