"Bare" witness to Veggie-Mama, goddess of Urban Alien Organic Garden at the Harvard Hive Alien Art Museum (etc.)! I’m still in awe that The Delusional Diva, R. Sky Palkowitz bared it all for my wild idea to use the remains of the summer garden as costume adornment on her body. And she's still in awe that she actually laid down in a plot of soil full of earthworms and insects I worked up in preparation for the winter garden.
So...it all happened when I pulled up the roots of the spent out plants. I realized I couldn’t let such beautiful forms go to waste! Something needed to honor them creatively, but also allow them to naturally compost. My mind has been on all manner of plant deities and ways to translate/morph them into human form (in a way creating my own form of a GMO). I'm developing a performance to don costume as The Queen of the Weeds on Nov 19, so it didn’t take much to make the leap for there to be also be a Veggie Mama.
It suits Sky so well, who has been a devout vegetarian for some 20 years. Gardening is an art, and certainly Sky’s endeavor in The UAO Garden reflects her spirit and honors the work that went into seeing the first season go successfully for her. And Sky is the type of bold, daring artist who really puts herself out there in the name of art.
Shocking? Well, what else would you expect from The Delusional Diva? Well, this Veggie-Mama is bound to make a future appearance and evolve over time. I'll be sure to have my own camera on hand, rather than the one I borrowed. We had a brief amount of time to do the shoot -- Sky naked in the front yard? Fortunately the aliens gave us a 15 minute span of time where nobody was around. It was simply divine. Now the garden has been "blessed" by the creation of art, and ready to plant the winter crop!
We’ll just have to see what happens next.
In-joy!
Urban Alien Gardening at the Harvard Hive Alien Art Museum (note Sky's new original alien art leg tattoo)
The cast & creators of the event "Cocteau & Colette at the Grand Véfour": Jason Jenn, Chevalier Tony Clark, R.SKY Palkowitz, & William Emboden
June 23 proved to be a highly charged evening - as the remarkable figures and friendship of Jean Cocteau and Colette were honored in a staged reading at the West Hollywood Public Meeting Room and Council Chambers. We had a packed audience and a warm round of applause. Chevalier Tony Clark, the organizing of the exhibition of Cocteau's artwork gave some opening remarks and introduced author/producer William Emboden, who gave a brief explanation behind the play.
Below are a few stills from the event. Thanks to Orit Harpaz for videography and post production pictures, and Karen Semanak and Tony Clark for their photography. All photos here are by Karen Semanak.
So just how was the Delusional Diva's roast and toast on Friday, June 24th? Here are a selection of some of the colorful pictures to hopefully curb the appetite, while people await for the much anticipated video edit to one of the most enjoyable parties yet at the Harvard Hive Alien Art Museum Animal Queendom, etc.
Scruffy might welcome you up the lighted stairwell ramp leading to the mothership and you enjoy the walls of art
Sky's girls usher you through the threshold
Where a chocolate fondue fountain could be found courtesy of...
Miracle Mike (pictured here singing his original song tribute to Sky)
Sky's pal professional jazz bass player Robert Russell provided some funk...
all night long (when he wasn't hitting on Rochelle)!
Special guests like Sky's pal John Silvers played throughout the evening
With talented folks like Maxim Valour switching instruments quite often
Rochelle got to see just how many folks celebrated her daughter's existence
With all manner of funny roasts & toasts
Surprise guests who popped in for the first time
Or whom have visited often like April Hava Shenkman
There was always much to witness
And very warm sentiments shared like the one by Orit Harpaz
And glowing comments given like the one by Adilah Barnes
While the Diva took it all in surrounded by friends like Blu and Robert
And girlfriend Ingrid explained how they met
There were many shared kisses like the one from Chip
Some from the non-human kind like Scruffy to Margarita
And lots of cake to eat!
Along with lots of laughter like from Luisa who couldn't hold it in
Someday when I have more time I will explain more of the history behind this homage to cult campy movies (like John Waters) and live performers with music videos sequences for costume changes (like Varla Jean Merman) whom we so admire. And then there's the thing with the bees and our shared mythology of The Hive...but this incident was really about pesky yellow jackets, for we know that bees are beneficial and sadly endangered, but the rhyme scheme just worked better with bees!
Sky has a lot of pets - both furry, not very furry at all, and scaled. And if she could, she'd have a lot more. So when she isn't enjoying the company of her 4 cats (Djuna, Moaner, Little Baby, and Zacky the naked Sphynx), her dog (Scruffy aka Goldiscruffs of whom I am the co-parent), or her 4 foot long Iguana (Zyg), she can often be found making drawings and paintings of elephants, dolphins, turtles, and giraffes to add to the menagerie.
Here's the latest video clip from A Palkowitz Now! The Zacky & Sky Show - which briefly highlights her unique co-star and pet. More talking videos are in the works.
Also - enjoy this photo sampling of the inhabitants of R. SKY Palkowitz's Animal Queendom:
Scruffy & Zacky on the "Calling America" couch inside the Alien Theatre
A bed full of them!
Day bed relaxation with Djuna and Scruffy
PGX Fun Fact: Djuna, the black cat, is the eldest pet who used to live at Phyllis' Garage with us. Her name comes from famous lesbian author Djuna Barnes and the character in one of Anais Nin's novels. Djuna's personality has changed in the past year and she's become a more playful and energetic girl!
Scruff close up
Zyg and his dedicated mother
PGX Fun Fact: Zyg was discovered one day in a tree in the backyard - he had escaped from a neighbor who let Sky keep him. At the time he was only 9 inches long and without a tail (it can break off and grow back as a defense mechanism). And now...he's over 4 feet long! I built him an 8 foot long habitat in the living room so he had space to hang out!
In continuation of the tribute to the unusual artistic collaboration with R. Sky Palkowitz, I present some of my favorite videos like this one:
It's from the online web series Sky and I created called "A Palkowitz Now!" This one was from a performance we did together in January 2003 to a very packed audience (you'll see them sitting on the stage) as part of the Theatre of Note's Annual 24 Hour fund-raising marathon. Sky's parents, the quirky and incredible Dave & Rochelle happened to be in town visiting which made it all the more exciting. We ended up with the prime time slot for performing and had the audience totally captivated and singing along with us by the end.
A little background: I had just finished taking my very first 8 week training workshop with Rachel Rosenthal in the fall of 2002 and had presented a final piece in December called "Crazy Ungrateful Human" in which I discuss and deal with my various issues with humanity and desire to be an alien - all the while painting words on a backdrop and eventually myself. I had also just shaved my head for the first time ever on New Year's eve as part of honoring a vision/idea I had to paint my left hand and apply it to the back of my head as a sign I was guided by Art (aka the Hand of God/the Beyond/the Universe).
Sky and I talked about combining "Crazy Ungrateful Human" with her comedy routine/ character sketches into one large piece and help each other with props and costume changes. It worked out splendidly - and we even got Sky's mother Rochelle to join us onstage. We coached her (coaxed her) the night before to join us and it really propelled the piece to another level. Sky pretended to have a feel a disturbed vibration from an audience member and brought Rochelle up to talk about her issues with Dave and bees in her ceiling. It took most people by surprise - they didn't realize until the end that Rochelle was really a planned feature of our performance and had been planted in the audience so that Sky could sing the catchy "Vacuuming Bees" for the rousing finale.
It was such a wild night, and as noted at the end of the video - full of the high of being on stage, and the low of having my car broken into and Rochelle's jacket stolen. It proved to be a most memorable, "Night to Note" and definitely a highlight of our collaboration together.
This week’s blog makes me feel a bit like someone who's just been told, "You have a lot of explaining to do!" Indeed I plan to do my best, as I spend multiple posts to pay tribute to (and roast) the weird and wonderful woman with whom I've shared a very unorthodox artistic relationship with for many years, the one and only R. SKY Palkowitz, The Delusional Diva! All year long we are celebrating PGX, the 10th anniversary of collaborations at our first Los Angeles venue, an intimate and magical place called Phyllis' Garage. This month she also celebrates freezing time for her 2nd 39th birthday. She’ll be hosting a party where she expects people to roast her, and while I shall do my part here in the blogosphere, this video invite to the party reveals she can do a perfectly good job of roasting herself (with my editing help).
I’ve actually known Sky since 1994 and our days in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Iowa. I was an undergraduate in my second year when she arrived as a grad student working on her MFA. My first reaction to meeting her was, "Who is this wild gypsy?" At that time her long dark hair flowed like her dresses and her Eastern European ancestry stood out decorated by all the ear and nose piercings. She liked to party — and was good at finding her way into one! She enjoyed meeting people — even if it was more so she could talk about herself! She had chutzpah and said what she thought — often sharing too much information while at it! To say she made an impression on everyone in the Theatre Arts Department or the entire campus for that matter is an understatement! People either loved her and looked forward to a visit as she entertained you with the zany impressions of her parents and many accented characters or avoided her at all costs because she could be like nails on a chalkboard to the sensitive.
There be gypsy in her blood.
We first worked together in the production of HAIR, a perfect vehicle to let the freak flag fly. When she did several of her own multimedia shows I was contacted to help with or create the video design. One of my all-time favorite collaborations with her was for Alien Rhoda, her one-woman show about how her family might react if she were abducted by aliens. I shot video clips of Sky acting as her parents to be shown on a screen between segments of the show. She would crack me up behind the camera, forcing us to reshoot several times. Teeters of laughter from the unseen cameraman are to be found in practically every video shoot since (and we have since shots hundreds of hours of life-documentation in addition to the numerous other friends who have served as videographers for her over the years). While we have different perspectives and approaches toward life, we share the common admiration for art and aliens.
Sky & Jay out on the town in 2011
But the question remains, "How and why did you come to live in LA together?" Well...to put it simply: the aliens made me do it! I hadn't seen Sky since she graduated, but we reconnected via the internet. I was living in LA at the time and she was touring with the National Theatre for Children in San Francisco. I hadn't ever been to the magnificent city, so I drove up to visit with her. The reunion was infectious, and started me rethinking things when I returned to LA. While I had moved to Los Angeles to make my fortune writing mainstream movies, my heart was yearning for something a bit more experimental, a bit more edgy, a bit more off the beaten path — a writer needs experiences to write about.
I recognized that Sky had a fascinating energy about her, while tough for some people to handle, it was definitely palpable and for better or worse, quite memorable. She knows she’s an artist and she knows she’s a star. And I gravitated toward her to not only understand what made her so different and fascinating, but also to discover the unknown aspects of myself that hadn’t yet dared to crawl out of hiding. Against some of the advice of my peers (which was good advice by the way), I stepped aboard the UFO with Sky for a most unusual journey. I would indeed stray far from the original goals and aspirations that glimmered for me in LA-LA Land, but after 10 years of ups, downs, zig-zags, and loop-de-loops, I’m beginning to make sense of it all in wonderful ways and am very grateful for it!
Jay & Sky Circa 2001 at Phyllis Garage
Jay & Sky returning to Phyllis' Garage in 2011
PGX Fun Fact: When in collaboration with Sky, I often shorten my
name to Jay so it has the same number of letters and a "y" at the end or
I use the initial of my middle name (Robert) and go by Jason R. Jenn to
echo the "r" in R. SKY - all to emphasize greater connection
So come join me on this crazy ride with R. SKY Palkowitz -- several more posts in tribute/roast of the Delusional Diva to come with videos and pictures of our fabulous history together!
