BORN FREE

One of my side projects is a BAND. This is ongoing. Ongoing with a seven year break here and there (17). BODY DOUBLE is in the studio. We're jamming in the studio. We are hemorrhaging cash (i love it when ppl say that. it's very 90s..it's like: "he was on a steady diet of fillintheblank', 'he was on a steady diet of fugazi' & so forth.

speaking of fugazi (awesome) M.I.A.!!!
they have awsm in common! yah! (awsm. new vanity license plate).

i finally got around to watching her latest video. oh ya. that kicks *SS on 'telephone'. it makes 'telephone' look like a mcdonald's commercial/hallmark card/tarantino knock-off of a knock-off.

D-Listed:

Oh, M.I.A. where have you and your ******** tongue been all my life? I just want to miniaturize myself so that I can sit on M.I.A.'s bottom lip and give her words of cuntery a quick hug before they come flying out of her mouth.

Last month, the ever-so-crazy M.I.A. flicked Lady Gaga's urethra when she said she "isn't progressive." And in a new interview with The New York Times, M.I.A. once again yanked at Gaga's tuck with this:

“With our video, we were really copying ‘Telephone'. Both our videos are road movies. We kill people, and they kill people. They start out in a prison, and we start out in a squat, hunting people down...... I can’t talk about Gaga anymore. All I’ll say is, it’s upsetting when babies say ga-ga now. It used to be innocent. Now, they’re calling her name.

You can’t really say that Gaga is culturally a change. Madonna was truly unique."

Here is BORN FREE. If you haven't watched it (like me. i've been busy with my book)..just to warn you: it's super heavy.

She is a total genius.

I totally would've gone to Grace Zabriskie's book launch for her new book called POEMS. She is also awsm.

things are great. Everyone is being really nice to me. thanks for popping by!

xoxo

I JUST LIKE TO LOOK AT THE PICTURES

Up Above: those are some selves and you know it: Bette Davis when she was so, so young..a different self of her later self (Hi. All About Eve. One of my all-time favourite movies.There is a book called All About All About Eve which I need to read), Jerri Blank/Amy Sedaris, and...one of the flower children from my very old book from the turn-of-the-century.
"Jerri" is another Brooke N. masterpiece.

Robert Dayton's Karaoke Klarification:

Roxy Music- Virginia Plain, Stories- Brother Louie, Bee Gees-Lonely days.

Thank goodness I know! The Brother Louie song he did was killer. Random strangers started dancing. Robert is so great at setting a mood in a room.

(I think there is going to be some krazy karaoke actiono this Sunday. It's a long weekend which makes no difference in my life except that everyone else goes all crazy. so yes. that does affect my life cos usually i'm running for the hills on these occasions).

I just spent the last 12 hours working on my website. As per my 'tweet', it was like teaching Jerri Blank how to read at age 48. Sort of. Jason instructed me. I think he was impressed? I was learning faster than that. It was only a glimmer of Jerri trying to spell 'cat'. A flash. Okay so I'm ready to do your website now. Okay not. Like: ZERO TIME. I think I asked J-dogg a YEAR ago to help me with my website. That's how long it's been. I think the only way it could've been done is if..guess what? I do it myself. Do-it-myself with instructor standing behind me telling me what to do every step of the way.

Ya..iweb! that's it! This is total barebones and the home page is a f'n mess. We had to start somewhere. This is a work-in-progress and I seem to do this often enuff in public. Work. Half Getting There.

Oh so here are the BAREBONES:

http://sonjaahlers.com

I was at Conan the Barbarian's for about 12 hours working on this. The working was disrupted often b/c of intermittent 'career counselling' going on. We were doing a work trade.

I'm a perfectionist so please dont laugh at the website. I just had to get SOMETHING UP. It looks like I'll be working on it for awhile. But finally. How liberating. I can do this myself.

It needs alot alotta work.

Newsflash of the week: i'm hoping hope hope this happens but Marisa Meltzer may pass on "The Selves" to TAVI. It's funny. I dont read Tavi's blog very often b/c i dont have alot of time but hers is one i definitely like to check and yes. she's a genius. A Pez collector with a Gerhard Richter book on her shelf (I once saw one of his paintings in the real and wept). She ceases to amaze. i think she was listening to obscure Irish folk songs a coupla months back. doesn't really end, does it? Those 'sick as hell' Gap wedges she just posted..ya i was cruising around looking for those. as in: WANT. (i cant seem to locate my KORK-EASE w/ all my constant moving & shuffling so these could suffice?) So ya. weird. She just did a huge post on Sassy's and 2 days ago i FINALLY got my hands on 'How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter To The Greatest Teen Magazine Of All Time'. COS u know it changed mine! Interesting parallels. Universe can unite sometimes. Okay..all the time. New New Age. I'm about ready to pass out. I thank Tavi for photographing the pages b/c that's what I really need to look at right now.

can i possibly be any more of a late bloomer? possibly?

Typo Of The Week: The Shelves

"I'm trying to find the words to describe this girl/WITHOUT BEING DISRESPECTFUL"

i'm super embarrassed to like THIS SONG...(if u hit that link, dont watch the video. it's smut. it will rot your brain). I first heard it in Whitehorse on the car radio while Ben and I were @ Raven Recycling. You drive your sh*t down there and you sort it yourself. I love it (except when it's 30-below). So that stupid song came on and i'm all: What's this? (said in interest piqued question).

I heard it yesterday while I was picking up a few things in Kensington Market..even pretended to shop for some camo(flage) but was secretly just listening to that STUPID SONG.

the lyrics are out.of.hand.
out of control..of the hand.

so THEN! out of the blue, Elisa karaokes IT that last nite. I had a lil mini freakout/laughing my head OFF..DAMN GIRL she did a good job. it's sooooo much better when a ladychick sings it. Naturally.OBVS. It should only be sung by a feemail.

dude's trying to be 'respectful' in his song and with his lyrics but ya right. falls so very, very short. Nice try.
I've been texting Elisa all day: DAMN GIRL. hahahahaha.

Robert 'Genius' Dayton performed two Roxy Music songs...old ones. Pajamarama. Obviously Awesome.

I've been watching season 2 of UNITED STATES OF TARA. I do very much like that show. They are referencing SYBIL even more so...Tara is trying to do her REAL ART now...and a character played by Viola Davis said:

YOU MAKE ART WITH ALL OF YOUR SELVES.

I thought that to be so great. Tara, again has dissociative identity disorder (aka DID). This is the new term. Schizophrenia was taken back years ago. So yes, Tara makes art with all of her selves. Ya! Sometimes I'm just on the money! Usually i'm so far ahead i'm behind. Maybe I just slowed down. It must be all the MIRE. It must be the molasses.

BTW, doesn't most of the world suffer from this? Identity crises? That's what I thought.

PS I want to send my book to Diablo Cody. I guess i could send her a twitter message. She's still one of the more interesting people to follow on Twitta. She's funny. She's WITH CHILD.

Speaking of funny..i was cruising around last nite in a ratty pink rabbit fur jacket pulled spontaneously out elisa rose's closet...i can feel the screaming rabbits thru the layers. this is not good. i have funny feelings about fur and if it's THERE it's THERE and all you can do it pay RESPECT TO IT...but sometimes..i can feel it..and what happened..before.

Oh yea! I posted THE SELVES on Etsy so it is up for sale through me directly. This way you get a signed copy and an inside look at my world class perfect wrap job and maybe I'll throw in a few other things. AND you can see your name all done up in my HANDSCRIPT. Damn girl! YAH! YOU KNOW that buying a book directly from me is the best way to go if you are an individual person..from one friend to the next. If you are store, you go the distro route.

PS the PAN PIPE is from my old boyfriend Mike Gabel. He says he is obsessed with panpipes right now and has discovered all these panpipe cover tune compilations. wtf? He just performed his Hot Breath Karaoke routine at the Tate Modern....one of my zines was lying around there as well (yes, on the floor of the Tate Modern...that's: zine). Thanks to Caitlin Jones and the Western Front!
For more information on this project NO SOUL FOR SALE, read THIS.

Installation @ Magic Pony

Let's Start! O good. The entrance way is papered. I prefer if no one watches me work. I also wear headphones to block out all sound. There is very little documentation of me working and it's either total consternation on my face or the back of my head while I face the wall.
Surveying the room. Those are my lavender boots..getting more and more destroyed as the days go by (thanks Toronto!) Vinyl not on the wall yet. Let's make it final/put it on vinyl! (just one of my song lyrics)
WHERE to start? it's best to lay everything out and assess. Synopsis: go the lady route/etsy and COLOUR BLOCK. That's Stevie Nicks with banger hair doing ballet. Probably my two favourite things together at last. Can u see her?
see..laying out. fortunately there is the awesome wood slab on wheels in the Magic Pony gallery (so that i may spread out).
The other view of The Slab
There's that cat!
That cat gets mileage. Perhaps she is watching down on alla this.
Kristin Weckworth modelling a new Barbapapa apron! She has the best last name. EPIC.
I'm really into the floor.

I printed out hundreds of pages from the book while i was working on it. I'm a recycler since birth but I eased up on my strict Recycling Regime while i was slaving away..of course i keep everything so what you see here are those rejected sheets. Wasting paper. Wasting inks. But not really cos i made this from the detritus.
I'm obsessed with cheesecloth right now. Two words that shouldn't go together. C.C is so beautiful. I am in love with it. Hundreds of threads barely held together. Feels like nothing. I was draping it over furniture...like ergonomic office chair (aka hideous to look at).Unveiling the Veil. "That Was My Veil" by PJ Harvey & John Parish. A rare track I've been overlistening to. Back to C.Cloth... thrilling to toss over those pages on the floor. I topped it off with a pinky silver glitter. More thrills. (wait. nothing i do is tossed. i probably spent an hour carefully laying it over and adjusting/re-adjusting).
details. boots. walking.
Hard to see, right? That's the veil abstracting/diffusing.

Jerri Blank...by bwookie nechvatel.
On the other wall! a dtl here of random dimes. The queen side face up. decided to move up to dimes. i usually work with pennies. funny. i missed the pennies. almost ran out to get more and add to the other side of this wall collage but i was running out time and my gummy stuff to affix them to the wall. I am very into change.
No veil. If i ever get married, i'll wear a cheesecloth veil. Pfffffffffffft!
Other side...META meta collage. Metatarsal.




Kind of an inverted triangle. working downwards. I need to go back and take more detail shots b/c i was working with the light and placing 'shiny things'/metallics/glitter under those hot lights and this isn't documented. That was my favourite part.
but just to let you know i've been doing something. just to let myself know i've been doing something.

I like installation work. I've been making them since i was three years old.
I'm going to make an appointment to see the dentist now.
xo

Nikki's Selves/Madonna Shoe

found this on Tumblr. I love this beautiful extraction of The Selves by Nikki. It is precisely (one of) the reason why i do any of this..so others can find themselves in the work i put out there...a blank screen for the reader's/viewer's projection:

Childhood, pop culture and the feminine. Holly Hobby. Babies. Kittens. Princess Diana. The Olsen twins. Sexuality. Violence. Collage. Scrapbooking. Fuzzy things. Cuddling. Subjectivity. Legibility / Illegibility.

“she will not be difficult to work with. When her

baby vomits gently over a purple Balenciaga

dress she apologizes by doesn’t fuss”

Gender, as in female. Cat’s cradle. The invention of childhood. It Is The Future. Feminazi. Nighties. Whitesnake. Drew Barrymore. Cri de Couer. Honey. Quilting. The Angel in the House. Pussy Willow said “Meow!” Degrassi Junior High. Romance Novels. My other car is a Broom. Love’s Baby Soft: Because innocence is sexier than you think. Queens. Crying. What’s her problem? The killing of the Unicorn.

I gotta stop being a bitch.

Birds. Lace. Cherry Blossoms. Hamsters. Protection. Softness.

Mothers

and their

Adult Children

Healing

Ourselves

the other with freedom but no respect. But economics abhors a vac-

uum and the whore class—which over time grew to include strip-

pers, peep-sho

It was somebody else’s idea of ourselves.

not quite

The

Weekend

Witch

self-

control

She’s had enough.

-Nikki

Thank you, Nikki!

As for "Madonna Shoe"...all those watercolours are by my favourite leading lady rendering Brooke Nechvatel. And since we're talking in turquoise...I'll leave you with 'Union City Blue' by Blondie...'re-arrange my mind/in turquoise/union city blue'

probably my favourite Blondie song. But. Then there's Dreaming

I'm going to ride the bike around the lake now. I'll dunk my head while I'm @ it.
thanks for being here!
s

New favourite hilarious blog by Serena McCarroll. WHATTA DEAL!
i'm not into the 'food deals' cos i'm in toronto right now and i'm combatting the pollution/noise/chaos by eating pristinely....but it's all hilarious and the photos are grrrrrreat.
i think it's important for everyone to seek out deals. i know it's a lil bit of work but if we all work together on this, we can do it! Stick it to the man! I know this blog is toronto-centric RE deals, but think if each city had a 'whatta deal' blog! (PS and yes. i understand the extreme naivete of that wishfulness. i do understand how the capitalist system works. It is in the shape of a pyramid).

Found out recently i use HUMOUR as a 'coping mechanism'.

Thanks to the great John Webster who sent me those pics of PAUL STANLEY (total pig) and Stevie. That's someone's 'fantasy couple'. Not mine!

Well, here's what i did all weekend

these are only detail shots. there was MORE!!
Dan Clowes' head. I thought it would be funny to turn around and take photos of people lined up for autographs/signatures. That's one of my favourite bunny collectors, Megan, getting her book signed..plus ROBERT, and Serena McCarroll to the far right. Dan Clowes is awesome. I got to shake his head..i mean hand.
Amy Lockhart and Marc Bell eating pizza. Amy entertained me all weekend. She's hilarious and has so many good stories (and good art)
Maurice Vellekoop and Elisa (my roadie (for the day)) eating pizza. Maurice was my neighbor on the right. He was also excellent. Good company all around!
oh hey it's robert dayton in goldenrod.
another favourite bunny collector. please note her handmade bunny bag full of bunnies!
TCAF! That's COMICS and ARTS.


NOW in other news:
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
i love this!!!

thanks Kristin Ponygirl for ..where did you find this Craigslist posting?

Bookstore boy - w4m (Roncesvalles)

---

Date: 2010-05-11, 11:56AM EDT

---

Sunday afternoon at Another Story.
You: Plaid-wearing, probably FtM, mid-20s guy with nice smile and maybe chest tattoo.
Me: Fancy-ish girl in fancy coat, bought greeting cards, asked about Sonja Ahlers.
Wanted to flirt/chat/something then, but was in a weird mood and didn't.

• Location: Roncesvalles
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1735318377


I spent the day working at Magic Pony getting my installation ready for the book launch. Boy! Does it work my brain/body. I dont know why. I was assembling purely on intuition (and then not. it's a lil complicated. one works by rote but then the brain has to kick in for logistics and practicality/order). I'm so tired. It's all catching up with me. Exhausted. I'm going to get lots of sleep tonight so i can INVENT something in the gallery tomorrow!

black sabbath witch

i cant wait to get to chicago!!! awesome people like....Anne Elizabeth Moore.
i think we'll all just end up in Chicago.
She's going to write a review of The Selves in Bitch Magazine. Yah!! I think Bitch will like the page in the selves that reads: I gotta stop being a bitch
in brooke's perfect watercolour print.
but we is changing to: START. scratch 'stop' replace with START.
it's really okay. look at bette davis!
(thanks LP for suggest)

i'm taking advantage of toronto's good cheap food/lazy *ss not cooking (i just got here!)...it's cheaper to eat out here. i dont do that in the yukon. it is so, so, so nice to ride the bike in the city on a sunny day in a spring dress. i've been wearing my yukon attire for long enuff. (you dont wanna know). i'm getting ready for TCAF this weekend! That comics festival is just gonna be off the hook!

i was watching 'the lovely bones' on the plane. that 'alice' cocteau twins song srsly chokes me up (hit that 2nd link. it'll blow your mind). i guess peter jackson likes elizabeth fraser (as much as i do)..b/c they used a really old C.Twins song and then a new one...the old stuff is incoherent and her newer work crystal clear. you can hear her every word. she was obscuring them before. the divide between old work and new work is vast. i can dig it. i can get to that. Some ppl prefer the older work.

i swear the handsome boy in L. Bones was holding up that black sabbath album cover..i rewound it a few times to make sure but the dumb plane video screen wasn't complying. it's the cover with the witch that i used in...the book.

i talk about the book like it was my baby. it is my baby. a lifetime of thought and nine months to make...and i dont have a pet right now (unless you count my rock) so i need a bookbaby to keep me going.

Oh..so the other 'Alice' link is from a movie called: El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive). It's from 1973. This is odd b/c 'the lovely bones' was set in 1973 too, as in also. (& my dollar bill towel has that date on it. alot of good things happened that year. dreamboat annie. people were born).

Watching a snippet of 'spirit of the beehive' makes 'lovely bones' look like a mcdonald's ad. (i mean rotten ronnie mcd's)

i love markie mark (and i liked the movie still... cos i'm like that. i love that sh*t).

xo