A New York Love Song of an Evening

At 4 pm I get an email from Flash Rosenberg. She says, "Wanna go? My treat. 6 pm Cornelia Street. I'm one of the performers tonight." Tonight being the monthly MONOLOGUES & MADNESS (organized and hosted by the talented Tulis McCall) where 17 people each gets 4 minutes before the incredibly friendly audience of fellow readers in the cozy black and red performance space underneath the Cornelia Street Cafe.

I showered in about 4 minutes threw on the safe West Village camouflage of black sneakers, black socks, black tee shirt, and black vest. Did I mention I wore black? We hopped on a downtown 1 train and arrived on time. And there was Flash with two seats saved for us, we refused to let her treat us and paid our 7 dollars admission and got our glasses of wine. What ensued was in turns funny, sad, hilarious, moving, and totally unpredictable stories and storytelling. One piece required audience participation with Kazoos. Perfect.

We met her dear friend and dramaturg Maxine Kern. Maxine was great to talk to between sets. She and Jim between them know a lot of theatre folks. And on top of that, fun coincidence that Maxine teaches dramaturgy in the theatre masters program at Stony Brook. So of course I had to tell her that Deb and Val (who teach in the undergraduate theatre program at SB) had been huge helps to my daughter Natalie and clearly taught her the skills to get into the Actors' Theatre of Louisville intern acting program.

Flash was great. She wrote her piece earlier today! How can she possibly do that? She delivered humor, wisdom, a touch of Chaplin's sadness, Coco Channel's wardrobe on crack, and Dorothy Parker's wit spun into the electronic age. She has that great ability to turn the world upside down and get everyone to look at it that way with her, while laughing.

Flash challenged me, Jim, and Maxine to write monologues and get into the event. So we are on!

And if that wasn't fun enough we ended up sitting into the next set, thanks really to Robin Hirsch (owner of Cornelia) for letting us, with some of his delicious wheat bourbon, and this set was unbelievably terrific. We got to hear the legendary David Amram, with piano, french horn, flutes (two at a time even), play composition & surprises--beat poetry, scat and all that; Kevin Twigg, drums, glockenspiel; John de Witt, bass; Adam Amram, percussion; and John Ventimiglia, an actor reading from Jack Kerouac's Visions of Cody.

A day ago Amram was playing the huge Madison Square Garden. He told us he really loves playing small places. He wore a necklace festooned with metal stars, 5 and 6 pointed, and metal bits that could have come from brass instruments.

I now feel that my poetry readings would only be enhanced by having this top notch jazz group back me up. Our table also had the very funny and talented Carl Kissin, who had read the piece with kazoo.

I did my best to sketch the players by candle-light. Got an autograph from John Ventimiglia. Fun. Wine and spirits on a dinner of humor, heart, jazz and beat, but scant on food, left us tippy and delighted. We took a cab home. Are eating pizza. Am thinking this is why we live here. You know, this crazy city life, when it isn't maddening it is a delight.

When Flash calls, we go.

See Flash Rosenberg perform and wear her world for awhile

I have had the enormous good luck to see Flash Rosenberg perform her one woman show, at Symphony Space, "Know Flash Aloud" in the 2004 American Comic Vision Festival (overview of Flash.) And even better, get to know her. She is one of the most skilled and talented human beings I have ever met. She is so good that I left the whispery voice of "I could do that too, even better, harrumph" way behind me. That little green tic gets going when I watch a less than splendid video installation or the half digested things that pass for art in too many SoHo galleries, but with Flash, I happily realized this is the real thing, behold and enjoy. She makes you feel as if your life too is full of moments worth examining with whatever glasses her mind wears.

She tells great stories--memoir, humor and observation--in line, words, photos, costume, live on stage and in film. Put a pen in her hand and she cartoons, she's a delight with her myriad of faces and gestures drawn with lines that suggest all of life's humorous bumps and spirals. Her drawings veer into abstraction without ever losing narrative and expression. She's currently Artist-in-Residence for LIVE from the New York Public Library where she sketches a response to the heady conversations as they are happening. Upcoming LIVE from the NYPL in 2009 is here.

She is a professional photographer as well. And good, of course. She teaches too... I think whatever she does, from shopping for fruit to telling her stories on stage, she brings every audience into her smart funny world.

She is slender and favors black. She wears the kind of costume jewelry that a dramatic and beautiful woman makes elegant just by placing around her neck. A style that punctuates the woman.

Monday night she will be one of the performers for MONOLOGUES AND MADNESS downstairs at Cornelia Street Cafe here. Join me there, it'll be good.
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UPDATE:
It was fun. Many good performers and works. Some were professional writers or actors performing for the writers. Flash was terrific, despite sore throat that gave her a raspy Harvey Fierstein undertone. Did a monologue about the adult ed class she teaches at the Cooper Union "Underground Creativity: Einstein on the D Train" using photography, drawing and creative writing. Classes held in the subway, getting students to observe people. Games, like looking only at shoes and guessing what the face looks like... Am working up courage to try writing and performing a monologue myself. Flash said that was her intent in inviting us to come, get us to do it too. The event happens the first Monday night of each month.

Had dinner with a happy crowd of Flash's enthusiastic and artsy friends. Food at Cornelia St. Cafe is delicious. Company was filling.