Oh, is this what you were referring to as the high road? Thanks for proving my point; funny how you didn't wanna talk about it until sombody called you on YOUR shit....

Dean, I didn't want to talk about it until you put forward assertions as fact that were inaccurate. I don't know how correcting what has become a public record is now tantamount to mudslinging. But perhaps you'd rather not respond to the substance of my post because you might have to reconsider what you've said and consider apologizing yourself. Perhaps you and James should form the House of Won't Back Down. There's something to be said for listening when someone takes time to offer a considered response to something you've said. Of course, if you're more interested in perpetuating your version of events, I guess it pays not to listen.

In honor of National Poetry Month:

Salon de Unisex
Flexes its pecs

In under one year
So strong and so dear

The music! The DJ's!
The lights! The shows!

No wonder the chirren keep goin' and goin'!

A rift.
A spat.
A tear in the fabric
Is cruel and nasty
And hurts to the quick.

The world Herself
Is often catty and mean
But when push comes to shove
It isn't a scream

That takes care of our tribes
Or that basks in our glows

It's the pat on the back
It's the smile, the "Hello."

I love you Mr. Joe.

Right back at you, Barbara Jean. Honestly, this topic is so captivating I couldn't wait to get home tonight and catch up. It's better than Page Six!

Welcome to the Motherboards, Dean. As you can tell, the mud is quite warm.

ok earl since i do not know you i will only respond to what you have written and i will try to be as objective as possible.

Yes James has a hot temper. But if you have an artist on stage who is driving the audience out of the club, of course you do NOT give him an encore! You're responsibility is to the party and to the club, not to coddling the egos of your artists. That was highly irresponsible as a promoter; no wonder james was so angry. It seems possible to me that your judgement may have been impaired by your heavy consumption of alcohol that evening. And you are also right in that no one but you can decide if you're an alcoholic.

But I didn't call you an alcoholic, i called you a lush, which was quite evident on the night in question.

I also agree with you that James should not have yelled at you in front of the patrons. But i do not agree with you that yelling is abuse; partners yell and argue all the time especially in loud clubs. And when James confronted you with what, according to your posting, seems like very justifiable anger, you responded by throwing a drink in his face. That is not arguing, that is assault.

I know neither one of you is perfect; but when James has made mistakes working with me in the past he has always been quick to apologize and take full responsibility. You're right that i had no idea what this fight was about until you just told me, and the only side i've heard is yours. But now that i've heard it, i have to say, speaking strictly as a promoter, after reading this i don't feel James owes you an apology at all. I like to party as much as anybody, dude, But I DON'T DO IT WHEN I'M WORKING! for you to be getting shitfaced when you need to be making responsible decisions is completely unacceptable.

If this is the way you want to conduct yourself professionally then it's you're choice to do so; but you are the only one responsible for your behavior so don't go blaming other people the next time a business partner who used to be your friend kicks the shit out of you for doing something stupid and irresponsible.

If you took offense at the rehab remark then i apologize, but nothing you've told me has convinced me that you shouldn't give it some serious consideration. I'm not saying that to insult you, I'm saying it because it would make you a better promoter. Obviously I have nothing against you personally since I have no idea who ou are, but i can say with certainty that i would not want to work with you. You seem to have a very hard time taking responsibility for your own problems. And again, i am saying this not as James' friend but as another promoter.

The "Fuck You" part of your posting is something I can only laugh at since I already wrote that song twenty years ago. I hope you didn't expect to offend me by quoting my own lyrics

I sincerely wish you well and hope that you have learned something from this experience that will keep it from happening again. Good luck, Earl.

OH SHIT! Is it national poetry month again already? I haven't even started putting up the decorations!

Hey Dean. Welcum to the Motherboards. What a great addition you make here.

OK, I'm going to weigh in. Since I & my performance represented, as Penny Arcade put it, "the pivot point", I feel the entitlement, if not the responsibility, to speak.

There's a lot of rehashing of events and tooting of horns going on in here, and I don't mind making my own clarion clarification: The energy and response in the (packed) room throughout my performance was resoundingly positive. It is possible that two people left to go fuck or puke into their purses, but I didn't see them. When I stepped off of the stage and Earl asked the audience if they wanted more, there was a unanimous, raucous, unambiguously affirmative collective cheer. I have spent enough of my life in places that I wasn't wanted. I do not bother with them at this point.

So I did my encore. But in this drama of The Fall of Unisex, I am not a principal. In fact, I'm not even getting my own curtain call"”I have to come out holding hands with the thrown drink, the champagne bucket of gasoline and the loogie fired from James' mouth. The four of us are all just stepping on each other's toes and grinning nervously and there's no way we're going to be cheered back for another bow or asked to reprise our roles when the show goes to Broadway. The fact that James made my encore into a point of contention had less to do with me, my performance, the crowd, the fly on the wall, the big dipper-- or my personal relationship to James, for that matter-- as it did James and Earl's increasingly divergent aesthetic goals for the party-- and their tendency to squabble.

I loved Unisex. I could wear anything I wanted, talk, drink, make-out. There was a fountain. It felt like my natural habitat. And part of the environment there that I loved so much was, I think, the union of the two sensibilities"”James' more spectacle-driven clubby orientation mixed with Earl's interest in fostering a community of artists and strong commitment to creating a space for exchange and experimentation.

Sadly, there was a history of dispute between the two producers around performance at Unisex and the threats lengthy performances posed to the balance of the various activities going on at the party. The fears were along the lines of : The show is moving/ will move people all to one floor, it's going to hold up the dance party that was to resume, etc.... My last song was apparently the ˜final straw'. Appropriately, it was a mash-up of "Ave Maria" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

The whole split has this quality of, as one friend put it, "Mommy and Daddy get divorced and now we have to choose one". I've tried to reject this frame and I have attended Unisex on occasions following that night. Lest I seem disloyal to Earl, I have truly gone in hopes that the community had taken on a life of its own"”that the world that had been created at Unisex would survive the division of James and Earl, and that I could still inhabit that world.

The reverberations of the violence of the night (which, while entirely alarming, has been, at this point, exaggerated and distorted wildly) have continued to create fault lines among various camps, between individuals, and within them. And I really wish we all could just make out by the fountain now.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Joseph Keckler,

What a well-orchestrated, thoughtful, and positive post. You're absolutely right--time to heal, or at least to make out by the fountain.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Cam,

Bravo to you, Joseph Keckler, for bringing a voice of love and reason to this sad and absurd conflict.

As someone who also has performed in nightclubs, my first thoughts this morning when I woke up were feelings of enormous sympathy for the artist involved, even though i didn't know who it was. Regardless of the quality of your work or the reaction of the crowd, this is an awful situation to inflict on any artist. Speaking for "The House of Won't Back Down" I just want to apologize for jumping to the conclusion that you hadn't earned that encore; the few people I spoke to about it had experienced it differently and my assessment of the situation was, admittedly, based on second-hand information.

Unfortunately I missed the show so I can't give an opinion of your work, but i spent seven years of my life devoted to promoting new artists at CBGB and so I can understand Earl wanting to support you by giving you the encore. Obviously, James and Earl have very different perceptions of what was happening in that moment; this incident is becoming the "Rashamon" of Bohemia.

At any rate, I was very happy to log in and see your posting and know that you're okay. I'm very curious now to see you perform with my own eyes and ears, as i'm sure, are many people reading this, so, ironically, this may turn out to be your big break!

I wish I could sit here and tell you that, as a performer, I've been through worse situations, but, honestly, i don't think i have! This must have been just awful for you since you have such obvious affection for James and Earl both, and for you to be labeled as the "straw that broke the camel's back" seems like a raw deal to me; this is obviously a conflict that had been escalating for sometime. You have my complete sympathy.

And, yes, the "violence" is taking-on a mythic quality far beyond the reality of the situation.
When James told me about this fight he said, "Even in my blind rage, as i was kicking him I was trying really hard not to hit any internal organs." lol When queens collide there's always more drama than damage.

But anyway, if there's anything I can do to provide any additonal comfort and support i'll, um...just be waiting over by the fountain with Cam...lemme know...

Hey Bobby! Joe I love your poem! Why don't YOU open for me at the next show?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: velvetmafiacapo,

As I have said already, I am not invested in perpetuating animosity. And, I spent the first few days after the incident completely willing to try and work with James. Dana, the manager at the Delancey, agreed to mediate. James wouldn't budge. (Of course I can't help but wonder if his obstinence was connected to the fact that keeping me off the Shortbus DVD release party put an extra $1,000 or $1,500 in his pocket.)

The time for healing certainly wasn't 15 days after the event when in an email about paying Dynasty Handbag $40, a (once again) enraged Coppola wrote "Thank you for not mentioning that the ass-kicking i gave you was charitable as i should have been kicking you in the ribs and face." This is over 2 weeks after the incident!!!

If James has any interest in healing the situation, he knows how to reach me, and it should be clear to anyone with half a brain that I am amenable to trying to work through this difficult situation. Does that mean that I think James and I can or should work together? I think that's highly unlikely. However, I think it is ludicrous to continue this standoff because if nothing else we're bound to see each other out, and we know so many of the same people. Is James not going to come and see the show I'm producing with Meow Meow at Hiro ballroom because of this absurd situation? Should Trina Rose feel like she's not able to work with me in the future because it might rankle James? Anyone who knows me knows that everything I do works to build the audience for "downtown performance" and to develop that scene. This imbroglio is at cross-purposes with those aims.

In closing, I have to refute a couple of errors that continue to get under my skin. First, James' assertion that I am not welcome at the Delancey is curious since the last voice mail I received from Dana, the manager, said, "I don't know what happened, but you're welcome to do a party here anytime." Second, it is not true that James never drank at the party. I could go into greater detail about this, but really my aim is not to tar and feather him the way that he and Dean Johnson seem content to do to me. I am merely interested in rebutting a faleshood that is being used to sanctify James in this debate.

Thank you to everyone that has weighed in with thoughtful and considered comments. This is a forum where communication is dominated by the written word, so articulate and reasoned posts go a long way toward advancing the "conversation."

Sincerely,
Earl

My understanding is that James has no interest in continuing this conflict, has every intention of being civil toward you in the future and has no expectation that people should be "choosing sides." He seems to have moved on, i would suggest you do the same.

No one has tarred and feathered you; you created your own problems by hurling your drink into James' face; A COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE ACTION! You accuse James of intransigence and yet you seem unable or unwilling to take responsibility for your own bad behavior. There's no reason James should have to "work through this situation with you;" your behavior is your problem, not his. The person you should be talking to is a therapist, not James. There's no reason he should ever have to deal with you again; there is a limit to what is acceptable in a conflict between two people and what is NOT. You crossed the line and got your ass kicked. Live and learn.

Thanks for your post, Dean. Your own words say more about you than I possibly could.

Best,
Earl

oh wow- this has reached new proportions of stupid. i just want to hit (sorry) some nails.

1) hattie, youre absolutely right, it was the wrong place.

2) joseph, im endlessly sorry if your feelings were hurt even a little bit. it really had nothing to do with your performance. at all.

3) thank you dean johnson for bringing my side a little bit of light.

4) earl, youre fucking deluded. i have the email where you demanded mediation from the delancey or else you would "be forced to file a police report by 2pm today". she told me that you were a fool to think you had a leg to stand on with the police. she told me that she didnt want to lose your bookings with such short notice, but that the club's owners do not want you in the club.

not that how much i made on the shortbus party matters, but i did not make anywhere near that as i had soooo many people to pay (including the performers that you sent to me from weeks and months past to be paid). i told you over and over and over that if you agreed to not drink at the party i would happily have you back. you told me that your "drinking contributed to the overall energy of the party". yes, i do drink sometimes at the party, but i am ALWAYS accountable at the end of the night, i do count outs and pay outs every single week. on so many of those weeks you were nowhere to be found (or passed out in banquette).

and you know- sending dynasty to me to collect payment for a show in NOVEMBER was obscene, it is well known (and well-trusted) that if we made money the night of the performance, that it will be shared appropriately. but to quote me sooo far out of context. my response was harsh because you insist on being "diplomatic" in every email you send out (cc'ing everyone and god), mentioning how you left the party on your own accord and how "abused" you feel- and peppering it with all the big things youre doing with all of this time youve afforded yourself- ha!

before i just felt bad about the whole thing, now i just think you are a turd.


thanks,
james

In the spirit of Mr. Joe, I'd like to find a way to keep supporting the party. It had, and, hopefully still has, a strong ability to represent a lot of great downtown performance.

The Mboards have had during its entire existence an indispensable capacity to provide the ground where intense conflicts like this can happen, progress, undergo the ritual workout that all violence does, and get to some kind of outcome on whatever terms such conflicts will.

I would only like to point out that continuing such a conflict on these boards past a certain point, should there be no actual resolution, will amount to simply taking advantage of this forum.

I think it is apparent there is almost a tinge of sweetness -even if some of it is a little malevolent- in the dialogue here now. Perhaps that should be an indication this is the time to continue the conversational grappling in a physical setting face to face, and come to at least the conclusion of a chapter.

Not to get too technical, but this topic is about the party. The party two hard working commited producers envisioned, however separate their goals may have become. The intensity of the whole conflict is a mark of how serious each takes the job of producing the particular night. But at this point I would respectfully suggest it is time to move towards ending this particular scene of the conflict.

In every abusive scenario there is a point where the two parties have gotten too close up, 'grappling' with the problem. It may be time to step back for a little space and paradoxically that space might be better found off these boards.

Its just a suggestion. I and everyone else will, I am sure, understand if there is further need to inflict AND be ambivalent through the use of the Mboards.

I liked the party a great deal. Obviously it must have been difficult to do beyond the stock impediments we all encounter producing in town in this era.

I'm thankful to have gotten so many details about the conflict. Otherwise I would not know anything about it. I would not be well equipped to make a decision whether I should continue to support the party.

I'm not speaking here to be judgemental about the conflict. Yes, thanks to Earl and James both for providing us with the party. You've done well.

Now here is a small prize. The history of the world.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: seven,

Don't listen to seven.
I love to watch bitches fight.
Everybody does.
Why don't you two ladies duke it out again and charge.
That's what I would do.
THAT would be a show!
Nobody wants to see Penny Arcade...
unless of course she's naked and wrestling Justin Bond in a baby pool filled with chocolate pudding.
Well, maybe that just me.
Anyway, I say duke it out!

Bonnie, shut up.

I hope this gets settled by the 19th 'cause I'm DJing there on the 19th and I'm going to be filling the room with love not chocolate pudding.

Take it to Short Mountain Big Guy, maybe the Faeries will get into that shit.
I say baby pool filled with chocolate pudding, James and Earl... NAKED!

Then Penny Arcade and Justin Bond!