EMLP Review- #IDES: A New York Night Out
“How many performance artists does it take to work a projector? — Four plus two to watch,” joked well-known artist and director Rob Roth. As the performers began arriving for sound check, the DJ/Sound Engineer, Ashlee Chanelle and myself scrambled to export files submitted last minute and to get familiar with the theatre’s equipment. #IDES, sponsored by Budweiser, took place at the Joria Theatre located on West 36th Street. It’s the type of space I’ve come to associate with a lot of performance art; a small, hidden space that almost come across as a secret only know to those who are in the know. The lighting choices available to the performers were limited to dim lighting or a gel covered spotlight that cast the stage area in blue.
#IDES was curated by Victor P. Corona, a professor at the FIT who studies the connection between Andy Warhol, Michael Alig and the Club Kids of the late 80s/early 90s, and Lady Gaga as well as their influences on New York nightlife and culture. His event’s lineup was comprised an interesting array of performers including Power Animal Systems, Jocelyn Saldana, author/punk musician Jennifer Blowdryer, and headliner Lady Starlight who is known popularly by the more mainstream crowd as Lady Gaga’s DJ.
Rob Roth performed his piece entitled “Craig’s Dream” where he took on the persona of a wolf-like create named Craig. Two amplifiers were used for himself and Dave Yang, the electric violinist who accompanied him. The only extra tech was the litany of effect pedals used by the violinist to express the mournful and sometimes trippy music.
Using only an iPod, an amp, and two background signers, Andrew Barrett Cox performed a charming stripped version of his song “Take Me Home (With You Tonight).” Based on the book “Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland,” the song is from his play “Clubland: The Monster Pop Party” which tells the story of party promoter Michael Alig and the NYC club scene of the 90s.
The show ended with Lady Starlight. She entered the room wearing a navy blue, nautical romper and began setting up a small rotating platform and a record player. As “A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers” by Van der Graaf Generator played Lady Starlight stood on the turning platform resembling a jewelry box ballerina. The only times she moved were to spot herself and occasionally change her pose when the lyrics called for it. Like a happy accident, the blue tinted spotlight that was used out of necessity seemed to fit her performance as she crouched while spinning and the vocalist sang “'Alone, alone,' the ghosts all call, pinpoint me in the light.”
