Monday, May 30 Seattle, WA. Katherine's birthday! She requested a performance about squirrels. As it turns out, the campus of University of Washington in Seattle is currently experiencing a squirrel infestation. To honor their tenacity, Indi & I sang to the squirrels. Indi wrote a song for the occasion:

around the corner / and up in the trees / where they parted the leaves / to find the lost treasure / to bring back, back home to you / because it's your birthday, happy birthday to you...

Friday, May 27 8:00 PM. Queering Femininity Opening reception and performances at Richard Hugo House, 1634 Eleventh Avenue Seattle, WA. I performed F&F.

10:30 pm, "The Ladies Room" drag/burlesque cabaret sponsored by The Queen Bees. I performed The Belted Lady. The Jewelbox Theatre at the Rendezvous, 2322 Second Ave. Seattle, WA.

Thursday, May 26 Seattle, WA. Mad collaboration with Indi McCasey. First stop: the central Seattle Public Libary. "The dramatic glass and steel structure at 1000 Fourth Ave. in the heart of downtown Seattle was chosen to make the building open and translucent, according to Rem Koolhaas of OMA, the Dutch architectural firm that designed the building in a joint venture with LMN Architects of Seattle. Passersby on the street will be able to look in and see activity on every floor of the library."

The building is truly astounding. We walked the spiral up three floors of stacks and then found that we liked the sign that told us what the 739 books are. When we found the 739s we got interested in the first one: The Beginner's Guide to Brass Rubbing. So we collected some crayons and paper and rubbed the midnight streets of downtown Seattle.

Tabitha and Julie from the Office of Community Arts Partnerships.

Sunday, May 22 mark this day in the history books, a group of Katherine's friends (under the leadership of Erica Mott) managed to throw her a tiny birthday surprise party. I did a performative toast in the tradition of Slava Grieshishkin, who always began his toasts, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll be brief..." and then went on to toast for 15 minutes.

Wednesday, May 18 7:00 pm, 7+3+9=19, 1+9=10, 1+0=1. Therefore I did one round of the following dance: seven forward dive rolls, three forward falls, nine backward rolls. The two guys in the picture watched attentively while possibly getting high.

One is the first number used when counting and therefore it is considered to have great power; without it there would be no numbering system as we know it. Every numerical system we are aware of has had one as its initial starting point. Because one signifies the beginning of an enterprise, it is very egocentric and prefers to be the center of attention. One can be happy, loving, romantic, dynamic and charismatic, but on the downside it can be egotistical, selfish and melodramatic.

-Answers.com

Tuesday, May 17 10:00 pm, $7.39 from Fire to Water. Indi said, "I'd like there to be a trail from something that is fire to something that is water. 739 pennies are a lot of pennies. But maybe you have $7.39 in change that someone would like to pick up."

I built a fire in an old cookstove at Pratt Beach. Then I dropped $7.39 in change from my fire across the sand an into the edge of Lake Michigan. Audience members seemed intrigued by my firebuilding and by the clink of change as I crossed their paths on the pavement.

Saturday, May 14 11:30pm, Spin nightclub. These Sluts were made for Watching. A benefit for the Hellcat Hussies' Mobtown Moxie Review Tour. This evening's performance fulfilled Mr. Izzie Big's performance assignment. After Nako heroically saved my music, the performance went off and was bolstered by the support of friends and Chicago Kings veterans. Thank you to the crew of people who contributed to the making of this piece: Indi, Cox, Katherine, Anne, Jane, Nako, Jess, EJ, and Jenna.

Friday, May 13 6:00pm, Dance Center of Columbia College. Drag number coaching session with Kristen Cox (left). Kristen was simultaneously encouraging and strict. Some memorable bits of advice: "Don't rush. Let us get to know this character," "Everyone always thinks you have to take your clothes off. Forget about that," and "You need different music. I've seen drag acts ruined by the wrong music."

One (accidental) revelation about Friday's performance of work in progress: there are some performance forms that benefit from working in front of a mirror. Many of you right now are saying, "duh." But I almost never make a performance by working with a mirror. I can't say this is a terribly conscious choice, I just generally don't work that way. However in this case the mirror made this character and this piece less mysterious to me. I was also challenged by the possibilities and pitfalls of presenting a character based on my family and friends in Garneau Construction. I'm not satisfied that I did justice to both authenticity and theatricality.

Tuesday, May 10 Talkin' Back 2: Chicago Youth Respond features works made by Chicago youth who combined words and pictures to express their creative voices in workshops led by photographers and writers in programs sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Photography, After School Matters and the Office of Community Arts Partnerships Columbia College Chicago. Featuring work by students at the Academy of Arts and Technology Charter School, Beethoven Elementary School, Curie Metropolitan High School; Herzl Elementary School; Juarez Community Academy; Providence St. Mel School; Pulaski Community Academy and Sabin Magnet School.

One of the works, 1000 Words, was a collaboration between all 7 schools: pictures and text responding to Alejandro Morell's Spilled Water. I sat and counted 739 of the 1000 words. The first four words were clear black water table and the last four words were picture of the glass.

Monday, May 9 7:00 pm, Spin nightclub. Dress rehearsal for These Sluts were made for Watching (May 14).

Saturday's performance will fulfill an assignment from Mr. Izzie Big (left) of the Chicago Kings. The assignment, given in March: within the next 3 months do a male impersonation/drag act in front of an audience that incorporates a tutu and a stapler. And do it to a song from the mid 80s- mid 90s.

This assignment is one of the big stretches of HEAT:05. I have a whole new respect for the work of drag kings. I feel like I'm exploring a different art form, and trying not to insult that form. It's funny because a lot of the drag kings to whom I've spoken about this piece and my fears around it have been surprised. They say, "what are you worried about? you perform all the time." So I find myself in the position of having to articulate the unique aspects of this performance medium and really explore my own anxieties.

And I'm doing something I rarely do: asking for help. So thanks to all of you who are making this piece with me--I'll try not to be too embarrassing.

Saturday, May 7 Growing a collaborator. When I see Renee (left), I like to say, would you like to make a performance with me? She always says yes. We discuss the terms. Who should be in it, where should it happen, what should we do.

On Saturday we performed The Little Birdie Song for Renee's parents, grandparents, and uncle. We did it twice: once as a warmup/refresher, once with feeling. Natalie joined us for The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We took a bow after each song.

Friday, May 6 performance assignment from ariella lake: "a seven-hundred-thirty-nine word email expressing (in whatever form) loneliness.

I started writing it while waiting for Breakbone Dance Company's show One to begin. I continued writing it on the train on the way home. I finshed it at home and got it in just under a midnight deadline.

In general I'm too busy to be lonely. I make sure of it.

There was a time when I could not get busy enough to avoid loneliness. So I just went thre. I was curious about it. I did it day in and day out, telling myself, this is what loneliness is. It felt like a challenge. Like if I could make it through to the other side I'd never worry about being lonely again. And it's true, I don't.

Left: Nicole during a lonely period, winter 1995.

Thursday, May 5 6:00 pm, Columbia College Chicago, in-class presentation to the Senior Seminar class on "Spirituality and Service."

The students made a sound performance with me using the number 739. We divided 739 by the number of participants and then each one took a metal object and struck it against another metal object for a total of 739 percussive sounds. We performed the piece in the dark, and discussed the experience afterward.

Then the students and I talked about the HEAT:05 project as an artistic approach to civic dialogue and community service.

Wednesday, May 4 #1: Intersections, 6:00-7:30 at the Chicago Cultural Center. The name of the program was "Making Your Life a Garage Sale: Reusing and Recreating Cultural Products, Ideas, and Artifacts"

We explored how film, theater, art, anthropology, and psychoanalysis contribute to the potential of cultural reuse and regeneration in our society. Introducing work from the Cultural Reuse Research Collaborative at Columbia College Chicago, we went far beyond the concept of blue bagging and tried to entice audience/participants to rethink their relationships to the castoffs, rejects, and throw-aways our culture produces. Presentations were made by Brian Shaw (Theater), Wenhwa T'sao (Film), Nicole Garneau (OCAP), Andrew Causey (Liberal Education), and Paul Camic (Liberal Education). The audience was asked to bring a non-food item to the evening's event that they planned to throw into the trash.

I made a presentation about how the HEAT:05 project aims to re-investigate, re-use, re-interperet the cultural, political, and economic phenomenon that was the 1995 Chicago heat wave disaster. The first HEAT:05 Powerpoint presentation debuted here. The audience joined me in creating a sound piece to commemorate the 739 heat wave victims. The people in the room were asked to knock something metal against something else that was metal 19 times, until we had made 739 percussions.

After the presentation Maryanne told me that during the 1995 heat wave she got in the shower and heard through the bathroom window the sounds of her neighbor discovering his father dead in their apartment.

(Above Left: Afterward, the audience was invited to go shopping from the items that had been salvaged from the trash and brought to the event. Carmello Esterrich used the coffee pot to see how he looked in the vest he picked up while Wenwha Ts'ao documented the moment.)

#2: "Gender Fusions" at the Hothouse from 9pm to 1am. A night of burlesque, kinging, queer cheer & queer color guard, they called it "a divine extravaganza of transmutation" because it was both *show* and a public community dialogue about performance, queerness, and gender. A panel of performers, faculty and staff members engaged the audience in a discussion before and after the show. The intent of "Gender Fusions" is to build bridges between performers & audience, Columbia students & faculty/staff, Columbia & the queer performance community. The hope is that the show & dialogue will help to create a stronger, more visible queer community at Columbia.

With coaching help from Charley Horse, Saucy Cockteau worked on making her piece sexier. (Left: Sweaty Saucy.)

Tuesday, May 3 8:00 Columbia College in-class performance for Leah Mayers' & Kristen's Educational Studies class. The students made a sound performance with me using the number 739. We divided 739 by the number of participants (11) and then each one took a metal object and struck it against another metal object 67 times (I did it 69 times), for a total of 739 percussive sounds. We performed the piece in the dark, and the last sound we heard was a deliberate and disturbing repetitive scrape along vents. Then everyone took a few minutes to write reflections on the piece. (Pictured: Emily and Greg).

Alexis felt the number in her body, each clang representing an individual.

Greg said our math calculated sounds for a dedication; we remember them all around us.

Leah wrote about 739 who died and 11 who lived, making a piece that reminded her of radiators clanking in the middle of winter, pent up and letting out steam.

Monday, May 2 Silverspace, 1472 N. Milwaukee. Dress rehearsal for "Gender Fusions." MC Jenna Dalgety (far left) and producer/host/performer Johnny T (left) ran a pre-show meeting/rehearsal complete with ICE BREAKER! I think in general we all need to conduct more discussions along the lines of, if you were a fruit, what would you be? (Me: pomegranate.) I performed The Belted Lady.

It was great to take a look at the performances coming up on Wednesday and have a space to give/get supportive feedback. It's been a long time since my head space has been filled with thoughts and plans about how to BE MORE SEXY. It's not that I think I'm not sexy in general, but after hearing about 50 people tell me I could stand to push that aspect of The Belted Lady, it's time to buckle down. Literally.

I performed 739 Chances, work in progress toward the adaptation of Eric Klinenberg's book, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago.