Penny Arcade
Recently Alex and I went with some friends to Sydney Opera House to see Penny Arcade. Penny is a 50 something Italian-American performance artist from New York who has performed on the edge since the 60's, working with Andy Warhol and Quentin Crisp among others.
She's raunchy, outspoken, unafraid, afraid, passionate, frenetic, challenging, serious, very energetic, very versatile and very funny!
Her show, Rebellion Cabaret, was unrelentingly breathless in its pace and biting in its satire and commentary on everything from everyone's favorite US president to hippies and breasts and GLBT. Oh! And she's not afraid to have a go at herself either!
In between her performance pieces her partner, Chris Rael from the group "Church of Betty" gave us some great music with guitar, mandolin and sitar.
Alex and I were enthralled and fell in love with her. Alex really loved Chris' music too (so did I but I'm more a Patsy Cline kinda' gal). After the show we got to talk to Penny and later we emailed her and she replied. We do both hope to see her again.
The two things she said that most stuck with me were firstly when she spoke about the sad demise of "true" bohemia; how even that great bastion of bohemia, the lower east side of New York had become a bland psuedo bohemia - "Bourgois Bohemia" - like an episode of "Felicity". She quoted a young would-be bohemian she met on the streets of New York who exclaimed, "Oh! I love the cafe culture here - I go to Starbuck's everyday"! Mind you I'm rather partial to Starbuck's myself but I do know what she means!
The thing is I think that although in some way I have always kept true to some sort of bohemian notion of the world I feel that I have always been guilty of a kind of safe psuedo bourgeois bohemianism where I always tried to have the security of a regular job and a roof over my head that was under my name. Oh! well, right or wrong, that's me! I was born with an organic fear centre sewn into the core of my being!
The other thing that Penny said that really resonated with me was something she said on the radio. When asked if she didn't sometimes despair that the state of the world could never be changed for the better, she said that yes, she did despair but that what she thought was that even though each one of us probably couldn't change the wider scheme of things we could ALL change the smaller world around us - our little everyday sphere of influence. Goddess give me the strength to do that!
I do so highly recommend seeing one of Penny & Chris' performances. Well, not if you're of the Christian right or the Bush-Blair-Howard axis of evil (another of her ideas). But if you are someone who treasures truth and compassion and diversity and the incredible richness of life and people in all their difference - PLEASE DO GO AND SEE PENNY ARCADE!
I want to tell you something else about that night. My dearest Alex and I had time before the show for a quick dinner of bruchetta and pasta in a little al fresco cafe on the concourse by the harbourside. As I sat there under the awning I was overcome by the beauty of Sydney harbour at night with all the towering dark glass glinting buildings and the ferries thrumming through the steely water and the cruise ship anchored across the bay at the Rocks and all the lights like jewels and my darling gentle man beside me and around us couples bending low over their cappacinos, sharing their lives and their destinies.
Oh! Yes, I am blessed!
A parting few words of wisdom from Penny:
"If you're feeling depressed and confused, you're on the right track"!
The "Link" below will take you to Penny's website which is under construction altho' it will take you to Chris' site. But here is a little article about Penny.
She's raunchy, outspoken, unafraid, afraid, passionate, frenetic, challenging, serious, very energetic, very versatile and very funny!
Her show, Rebellion Cabaret, was unrelentingly breathless in its pace and biting in its satire and commentary on everything from everyone's favorite US president to hippies and breasts and GLBT. Oh! And she's not afraid to have a go at herself either!
In between her performance pieces her partner, Chris Rael from the group "Church of Betty" gave us some great music with guitar, mandolin and sitar.
Alex and I were enthralled and fell in love with her. Alex really loved Chris' music too (so did I but I'm more a Patsy Cline kinda' gal). After the show we got to talk to Penny and later we emailed her and she replied. We do both hope to see her again.
The two things she said that most stuck with me were firstly when she spoke about the sad demise of "true" bohemia; how even that great bastion of bohemia, the lower east side of New York had become a bland psuedo bohemia - "Bourgois Bohemia" - like an episode of "Felicity". She quoted a young would-be bohemian she met on the streets of New York who exclaimed, "Oh! I love the cafe culture here - I go to Starbuck's everyday"! Mind you I'm rather partial to Starbuck's myself but I do know what she means!
The thing is I think that although in some way I have always kept true to some sort of bohemian notion of the world I feel that I have always been guilty of a kind of safe psuedo bourgeois bohemianism where I always tried to have the security of a regular job and a roof over my head that was under my name. Oh! well, right or wrong, that's me! I was born with an organic fear centre sewn into the core of my being!
The other thing that Penny said that really resonated with me was something she said on the radio. When asked if she didn't sometimes despair that the state of the world could never be changed for the better, she said that yes, she did despair but that what she thought was that even though each one of us probably couldn't change the wider scheme of things we could ALL change the smaller world around us - our little everyday sphere of influence. Goddess give me the strength to do that!
I do so highly recommend seeing one of Penny & Chris' performances. Well, not if you're of the Christian right or the Bush-Blair-Howard axis of evil (another of her ideas). But if you are someone who treasures truth and compassion and diversity and the incredible richness of life and people in all their difference - PLEASE DO GO AND SEE PENNY ARCADE!
I want to tell you something else about that night. My dearest Alex and I had time before the show for a quick dinner of bruchetta and pasta in a little al fresco cafe on the concourse by the harbourside. As I sat there under the awning I was overcome by the beauty of Sydney harbour at night with all the towering dark glass glinting buildings and the ferries thrumming through the steely water and the cruise ship anchored across the bay at the Rocks and all the lights like jewels and my darling gentle man beside me and around us couples bending low over their cappacinos, sharing their lives and their destinies.
Oh! Yes, I am blessed!
A parting few words of wisdom from Penny:
"If you're feeling depressed and confused, you're on the right track"!
The "Link" below will take you to Penny's website which is under construction altho' it will take you to Chris' site. But here is a little article about Penny.
posted by Paula at
10:34 pm
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