Soho News

It was miserable out this weekend which was honestly kind of perfect. Everyone’s been out out out. Frieze week bla bla. Yesterday I got damp fulfilling Shopify orders and scrolled 1940s dresses for a summer wedding.

Today I’m on a flight to London. I was not expecting the safety instructional video to be period-drama themed. Okayyy whoever’s creative director of British Airways. Someone could write a dissertation on the lifestylification of airplane safety comms. In middle school one of my prized possessions was a vinyl zip bag printed with an airplane-safety-illustrations pattern. On a panel a couple years ago, Stanley Stellar said during the 70s the real cruising signifier was this particular airline flight bag.

In London, I’m cutting the proverbial ribbon on a Whitney Review display at Selfridges, the 117-year-old department store. Part of a MagCulture pop-up. Everyone wants them some indie magazines right now. The big bookseller monopoly in Canada (Chapters/Indigo) has in the works a magazine newsstand at select locations.

Friday, I’m headed to Pittsburgh to host a program of readings, videos, and performances inside a Marianne Vitale installation. Molly Soda, Charlie Markbreiter Maya 69, Mani Mekala, Precious Okoyomon, S&M, and the legend Lisa Carver are all part of the show.

The week after in New York I organized with Cristine Brache two screenings of Star 80 with conversations about the tragically murdered Playmate (and poet!!) Dorothy Stratten and a larger examination of women and the image economy. June 1 we’re hosting Allie Rowbottom and Lili Anolik; June 5 Alissa Bennett and Gabrielle Richardson.

Releasing a new issue almost makes me blackout. It’s hard to remember what else I did this month or what I did before the relief of the launch.

This week anyway: Thursday before the rain, I went to the Kitchen benefit and then Friday a friend’s wedding at the Soho loft that used to house the Kitchen (1973 to 1986, before it moved to an ice storage house in Chelsea). The newlyweds are converting part of what’s been since the mid-80s a family gallery at 59 Wooster into their apartment. A return to live/work Soho for Mr and Mrs Pietro Alexander.

We had the Whitney Review launch last Sunday an eight-minute walk away at another Soho loft where Summer Guthery and Francesca Sonaro have launched times. In the fall OCD Gallery is moving into the same building. I used to dogsit in Soho and it was so dead at night. Almost spooky. Maybe not so much anymore, or soon!

I’ve been making more vertical content (see here for PIN–UP and Cultured). The genre writer-translates-to-video. I love video and am happy to get back to it but do feel a bit of deja vu. Remember everyone needed to make video to feed Facebook right before the platform was evacuated.

Over the rainy weekend I decided to try Gilded Age. The beaux arts architect Stanford White is a presence in the first episodes (as far as I’ve gotten) though so far no indicators he was a predator who used elaborate and whimsical decor like mirrored rooms and velvet indoor swings as an infrastructure of seduction in his rape and conquest of teenage girls.

The thing I was not expecting about Gilded Age and which I’m especially appreciating as I’m in my host committee era is that it’s basically about the social politics of nonprofits.

Speaking of, I’m on the committee for two charitable fetes the next weeks: June 3 is a Carol Bove and Everybody.World T-shirt fundraiser for homeless LGBTQ+ youth. June 10 is the New York Sign Museum’s inaugural summer benefit. If you’ve been waiting for a sign, this one’s as good as any.

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