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>>djpaulette [back
to postcard archive menu] Priviet braktishka. Put simply, computer chicanery has been the bugbear of my life for the last few months. And counting. So many times I've powered up only to find, in my enthusiastic 'out with the old postcards in with the new' fervour, that my computer has a headache, or a virus or doesn't do that kind of thing on a Sunday because (like me) she's flipping Catholic. But what did I do? I adopted the ostrich position and tried to pretend it wasn't happening. Ignored it for weeks. But it was happening. And it got steadily worse until I relented and took my sick machine to the menders. After the humiliation of hearing a running commentary as they wiped two years of dust off the screen and two years of unidentifiable foodstuffs, hand cream, hair, eyelashes and whatever else had found its way into my grubby paws off the keys, it was easily fixed. Just needed more memory, more mammaries, debugging, jitterbugging - to be honest, I wasn't even listening or interested in what was wrong with it - I'd glazed before they'd switched her on. I just wanted her fixed so I could pay and get the Hell out of Colliers Wood - and do some work for a change. Nothing in life is ever that simple though, is it? As I powered up I had vague recollections of 'files corrupted', 'all pictures had viruses', 'we don't use aol': none of which mattered to me in the shop but as soon as I needed to email my agents' new pictures or retrieve old bookings from my old and faithful email folders it all made perfect sense and I was simultaneously and royally f****d. That was annoying enough without this random freak-out that my keyboard had now taken a liking to having: that of cursor jumping one or two lines / pages above or below where I was typing to really putting the cat among the literary pigeons. Are you feeling this? Whilst September was full of disappointments - Incognito's South African tour was cancelled due to political instability, Prague disappeared under water, South Korea followed suit and every promoter worth his nosebag took a leaf out of Arthur Daley's handbook and found more ways to wriggle out of contracts than Houdini, it was a strangely fulfilling personal month. Fire Island was just what the doctor ordered and I swam, ate, ran, slept and snored in the sea, on the beach and in the sunshine. Go on figure it out J This was followed by a few days exploring Manhattan's tourist
attractions: I took some great pictures outside the Guggenheim - but they
were corrupted L. The exhibitions were intense: Lara Walker's 'Insurrection.
Our Tools were Rudimentary Yet We Pressed On' took up about a third
of the ground floor with a light projection and cut paper silhouette installation
that immediately involves you in its slavery story. Conversely, Laurie
Anderson's 'Shrinks' shrank everything down, projecting her short
monologue onto a miniature armchair so that we became the shrink. In addition
to works from Vermeer, Picasso and Rembrandt, contemporary art by Mapplethorpe,
Nan Goldin, Sam Taylor-Wood, Sophie Calle's 'The Hotel' and Anno
Gaskell's 'Override' had me fully engaged until I had a fleeting thought
about finding a rich boyfriend there and never having to work another
day… I think that's called balance, right? I also spent a lot of
time taking some great pictures in Central Park (sorry - no show and tell,
remember!) and wondering around the Natural History Museum and Rose Centre
for Space until I felt I had become a totally comfortable tourist. October's highlight was being chosen to appear as a special guest, headlining at Montreal's Black and Blue Main Event alongside Tracy Young and Tom Stephan. You must go in 2003 in order to get the full picture. As productions go, the theme was 'humanite' and I saw an Olympic Stadium, with its own Golden Buddha, all manner of Angels, a fiery Diva, dancers, and The Human League and 25,000 clubbers of all persuasions getting lifted by the music. And yes, my friends Mat and Annik and Jean Francois were there to cheer me on. It's undeniably winter here now, so it was as good a time as any to visit Kiev, eat Borscht and throw a Paulette shaped Molotov at the decks and stage at Ultra. Like Le Queen and Black and Blue, it was truly a memorable gig but for the brown Czech vodka they kept forcing down my neck: that fine blend of creosote, nitromors and nail varnish remover with a hint of amber is probably the reason I've spent the last week in bed with a complete biological system breakdown. And that's budmo to you too! Plus it's raining elephants and rhinoceroses here, but since I've been told that it's already snowed in Canada I've realised that we haven't got it quite so bad. Yet. I'm gearing up for a busy end to the year, as I'm writing
for Dotmusic again, Kitty the website King Kendrick and
I have finally started work on this website which whilst it's still only
under construction is still getting respectable hits J - hopefully, it
should be ready by Christmas but a couple of mixes are already loaded,
so give it a try. And since I've gone and mentioned that dreaded C-Word,
here are a few tasty parties for your diaries if you're up for it! If you're not busy, keep your eyes on the stars and your
feet on the ground. Me? I'm out of here like I stole something. See you
somewhere funky, soon! [click here] for the Postcard archives
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