La Vie Boheme Forever

I've blogged about the concept of "bohemia" before, a gathering or community of unconventional people, ususally artists, who live and support and love one another.

When the musical Rent came out in 1996, it glamorized and popularized the concept of NYC (especially the Lower East Side) as a great bohemian landscape, a place where people could congregate and let their various freak flags fly. Of course, the musical, set in the early 1990s, was about how bohemia was also being pushed out of NYC by the forces of money and gentrification, the coldly impersonal disrupting the highly personal.

But just like NYC is not just a city but a state of mind (hence this blog) bohemia exists in the imagination as much as in concrete and steel, and the flesh and bones of its denizens. Even as  bohemia has been shoved out and marginalized in modern NYC, its has and will always exist in the minds and souls of those who consider themselves unconventional, artistic, different, weird, outlandish, etc. etc. etc. As this article from 1992 demonstrates, bohemia exists within anyone who considers himself or herself a bohemian.

Bohemia is everywhere and will live forever.

La vie boheme is more like la boheme vivra pour toujours (although that's obviously a bit of a mouthful for a song title or refrain).

Le Mort Boheme?

Allow me to draw your attention to two very bizarre magazine articles from this week.

First, you must read this interview with Lou Reed from this week's New York magazine. You know what a big fan I am of his music -- he's a living legend, one of the most influential musicians in rock n' roll history, and a New York icon -- but ... wow! He's got some thin skin! In this interview, he's promoting a new show called "New York Shuffle" that he's hosting on Sirius Satellite radio. When the interviewer asks a question that Lou Reed doesn't like, he goes off on the interviewer in a very Lou Reedish way.

Second, the always opinionated Christopher Hitchens posted this article on the Vanity Fair website, "Last Call, Bohemia." Mr Hitchens bemoans the gentrification of the West Village and how "Bohemia" in this town is dying. It's a very nostalgic article and he makes a good point about how when major cities loose their artsy, edgy, hipster neighborhoods -- or Bohemias -- the city as a whole suffers. I agree. A city is not great just because it has lots of people and big buildings and the opportunities to strike it rich, but because the human spirit is unleashed to imagine, create, discover, reform, revise, recognize etc. etc. etc. Sadly, if the Bohemians cannot afford to live here, than an important part of our city's spirit dies. Unfortunately I think Mr Hitchens is a little late to what I'll call the "gentrification wariness" party. The West Village hasn't really been Bohemia since, oh, about 1989. For that, you need to leave Manhattan and go to neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Sunnyside, even go to the Bronx and Staten Island. Bohemia is not dead in NYC, it's just ... relocated.

Review: "The Winter's Tale" at RSC

Recently I had the pleasure of seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company's production The Winters Tale. The RSC has come over from Stratford-Upon-Avon, England and taken up residence this summer at the Park Avenue Armory, transforming it into a Globe-like, Renaissance-style theater. Not only was it a pleasure to see some of the best Shakespearean actors in the world perform the Bard's work, but it was also amazing to see it as it used to be originally performed right here in NYC.

The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's best if not most widely known plays. It's surprising because  it is also one of his sweetest and most accessible. 

Long story short: The King of Sicilia, Leontes, suspects his guest, the King of Bohemia, Polixenes, of impregnating his wife Hermione. Despite Polixenes and Hermion's protestation, Leontes imprisons his wife and forces Polixeneso flee home. Hermione eventually gives birth to a daughter that Leontes demands be abandoned. Overcome with grief, Hermione dies and Leontes, now humbled and seeing the error of his ways, vows to spend his life in atonement.

Meanwhile, the daughter has been rescued, taken to Bohemia, and raised by shepherds. Sixteen years later she has grown into a beautiful woman named Perdita and Polixenes's son has fallen in love with her, much to the King's dissaproval. I won't give away the rest but, needless to say, secrets and lies are revealead and love conquers all.

The Winter's Tale is an usual play because it is about, of all things, human nature and how it can deceive. How the irrationality of jealousy and bitterness can take hold of us and cause us to make bad decisions that hurt others. As the notes of this play in the program indicate, "This ... is a humanist drama of morality and how it fares when powerful people's emotions smash the fabric of connections that keep society's balance." There are no bad people in this play, only deeply confused ones.

This production is splendid. The actors are not famous but rather journeymen (and women) actors steeped in the Shakespearean tradition. Greg Hicks is a haunting and haunted Leontes, Kelly Hunter plays Hermione as a raw nerve of love and fear, and Darrell D'Silva is a tortured, overwhelmed Polixenes. The entire cast is wonderful and they project such energy and such love for the Bard's words, that it's hard not to be hypnotized. 

The RSC is in town until the middle of August so, if you can make it, you should go. They are doing several other Shakespeare plays and, if they're anything like The Winter's Tale, you'll definately want to check one out.  

Billyburg Comes of Age

In NYC, like in all thriving cities, the issue of gentrification is a non-stop debate. 

On the one hand there are those who love it when new people move in and new businesses open in areas that were once blighted or down on their luck. There is nothing better, in their view, of the old being made new again, of a neighborhoods being rediscovered and made livable again. On the other hand, however, there are those who fear that the new arrivals are throwing out the old timers, raising rents and prices across the board, and making it too expenses for residents of modest means to stay in the neighborhoods they love and have lived in for years.

This is one of those urban issues that will never be settled and debated for as long as cities exist.

Take the case of Williamsburg. The small neighborhood on the edge of Brooklyn used to be for decades -- neigh centuries -- an industrial mecca of factories. Then, as the factories closed, they were converted into apartments where artists who were priced out of Manhattan fled to. In the last few years, as the neighborhood became "hip" and "trendy", as the artists made it cool (like Soho before it), the rich people came. They started shelling out big buck to live in huge condos and now the financial squeeze is on the residents of what some have called "the last Bohemia."

It used to be that you could afford to starve in the East Village but that hasn't been true for almost twenty years. For the last decade, people could afford to starve in Williamsburg -- but that, sadly, seems to be coming to an end.

You should listen to this interview last week from WNYC with a man named Robert Anasi who has actually written a book about this very subject -- about how Williamsburg has transformed from industrial pit to Bohemia to wealthy playground. 

It is a cautionary tale about the direction this city is going in -- and everyone should hear it.

Et in Bohemia Ergo

NYC is the epicenter of wealth, glamour, culture, and power but it has also long been something else -- the capital of Bohemian American.
This city has always attracted the freaks and the funky, the artists and the thinkers, the dreamers and the strivers, and the weirdos who just want to "hang." Long before any place -- New Orleans, San Francisco, Austin or Portland, Oregon -- challenged us for the place where la vie Boheme thrived, this city, more than any other, was where Bohemians flocked.
Not all Bohemians are created equal, of course. Roughly categorized, Bohemians broke down into the following:

• Nouveau: bohemians with money who attempt to join traditional bohemianism with contemporary culture
• Gypsy: the expatriate types, they create their own Gypsy ideal of nirvana wherever they go
• Beat: also drifters, but non-materialist and art-focused
• Zen: "post-beat," focus on spirituality rather than art
• Dandy: no money, but try to appear as if they have it by buying and displaying expensive or rare items – such as brands of alcohol

Today, NYC is less friendly to traditional Bohemians (except for the Nouveau). But these two articles, one about the late Andy Warhol, another about the Chelsea Hotel, seek to put the Bohemian experience in NYC into some context and how this city might, just might, be able to retain its spirit in the era of the gentrification onslaught.

http://observer.com/2017/02/make-america-bohemian-again/

http://www.villagevoice.com/arts/thirty-years-after-his-death-andy-warhols-spirit-is-still-very-much-alive-9695838

Keep NYC weird!

Hooray for Gritty NYC in Hollywood

The Oscars were last night and two prominent NYC natives won big awards -- Manhattan's own Lady Gaga for her song from A Star is Born and Brooklynite Spike Lee for his screenplay for BlackkKlansman.

Always nice to see Gotham make its gritty presence known at the ultimate West Coast confab.

New Yorkers, in fact, have a long history of migrating to -- and ultimately conquering -- Hollywood. My favorite movie in this genre is the 1991 Coen Brothers' classic Barton Fink. Inspired by the life of Clifford Odets, it's about a socialist playwright moving to Hollywood and entering a hallucinatory nightmare in his hotel room. The best part of the movie is, early on, when Barton meets with the eccentric head of the studio that's just hired him. He declares, "I mean I'm from New York myself, well, Minsk, if you want to go all the way back." Brilliant line. 

One hotel that many New York travellers Hollywood stayed back in the day was the Garden of Allah where folks like Humphrey Bogart and Robert Benchley lived and partied. It's long gone but had a storied history, and New Yorkers found a little bit of gritty bohemia in La La Land.

And talking about grity and NYC and the movies, there's perhaps no NYC movie grittier than the 1979 cult classic The Warriors. A violent, crazy dystopian nightmare of NYC in the 1970s, it's now 40 years old and seems like a it was made less in a different time than on another planet. This chronicle about the making of the movie is fascinating to read. 

Hollywood would be boring if it didn't have a little bit of NYC grit. 

Interview: Lisa Cintrice on Her Adventures in Early ‘80s NYC

Forty years ago, New York City was a very different place. Dirty, dangerous, crazy, and too much fun for anyone’s good, this city was a cauldron of depravity, culture, and craziness. You didn’t live in NYC back then, you survived it – and no one survived it or had more fun in it than Lisa Cintrice.

A great beauty from Long Island and Queens, Lisa endured a rough childhood and made it to NYC, falling quickly into the adult film and club scene. She lived in the heart of Funky Town, a sexy and wild Bohemia, a time and place that has become mythic – although, as she makes clear, it came at a price.

Eventually, Lisa moved away and changed her life.

Lisa was kind enough to answer some questions about her life in early 1980s NYC, and she has some wild stories! She tells us about her early life, a memorable stunt she pulled off in Times Square, a unique record she holds, why she eventually left NYC – and also gives us the best advice about what all of us should do to get a great workout.

Briefly, tell us about your life. Who is Lisa Cintrice?

So Lisa Cintrice was an 18-year old adult actress who worked on 9 adult films and got a lot of publicity from how I got out of the army. I led a sheltered life as Lisa Vanasco and I ended up living the high life in NYC as a young adult actress known as Lisa Cintrice.

In 1981, still a very young woman, you enlisted in the Army but then, before shipping off, managed to get out of it in a way that literally made headlines - and got you TV. It’s a great “Only in New York” story. Even though I’m sure you’ve told it many times, please do share it here if you don’t mind.

So when I was 16 my dad went to federal prison and I got pregnant and married a man that was 26. I was very sheltered and naive. He became abusive very quickly so I left when I was 17.

At that point I had no direction in my life so I joined the army. I had 10 months before I shipped out. My husband's sister knew what happened, actually, she saw him punch me and pulled him off me. 

She asked if she could photograph me to send to her friend who worked with Oui magazine. I ended up getting a layout in Oui, and Peter Wolf took me under his wing and I ended up doing an adult film.

I went to my recruiter to tell him I was doing porn and wanted out of the army. I was told I had to go and I was also told not to link the army to my porn career.

Well, once I told Peter what the army said, he came up with an idea to get me out. Peter Wolf and Richard Milner did a press release where I was going to strip out of an army uniform in front of the army recruiting station in Times Square so that’s what I did.

I also was in every newspaper and magazine in NYC. I was going to be discharged but then I went on the Tom Snyder show. After Tom Snyder the army said if I stopped doing talk shows I would get a general discharge that turned honorable so I got out.

Truly, “Only in New York!” What was early 1980s NYC like for you? Did you find it scary, exciting, both?

I grew up in Queens and Levittown so the city was fascinating to me. I went to the city to shoot the Oui layout and literally never went home.

I ended up moving in with Tiffany Clark, Fred Lincoln, and Jean Silver. It was one big party to me intertwined with filming adult films. I honestly don't know how I survived.

Keep in mind I had just turned 18. Clubbing, coke, dancing at the Melody Burlesque, hanging out at Bernard’s which was across the street. Partied at Studio 54 and other clubs I don’t even remember. I had no fear. I would walk all over the city at all hours of the night not even thinking maybe it wasn't safe to be out alone at 3 AM.

I would end up in gossip columns because I was always taking my clothes off in clubs. Also spent a lot of time at Plato’s Retreat and the Hellfire Club which was an on-premise S&M club.

Those were the days!

Sounds like fun! I’m curious about two movies you made at that time: Mascara, about as NYC as any movie gets (it even has scenes on the subway), and Debbie Does Dallas 2 (a sequel to one of the most famous adult films ever). What are your memories of making those films?

I don’t remember much about Mascara. I remember I worked with Ken Yontz. He was Seka’s ex. I remember Lee Carroll and Tiffany Clark were in it. I haven't watched that one.

However, I do remember Debbie Does Dallas 2. I actually watched one scene and I will get to that.

So Bambi Woods clearly was only doing the film ‘cuz she needed money so it was obvious she didn't want to be there. I did a scene with her in a bath tub and Jean Silver and I bathed her with penis shaped glycerine soap so just imagine what we did with that soap LOL! I got the vibe that Bambi hated every minute of it.

I also had a scene with Ron Jeremy where I was supposed to give him a blow job. I told him I was going to deep throat him and he said not to do that because it was not possible and my teeth my hurt him.

Well, telling me I can’t do something is a sure way for me to do it. So I did it and that blowjob ended up in the book Only the Best by Jim Holliday which rates the best scenes in adult film. I was number 4 of the 5 best blowjobs. Number 5 was Marilyn Chambers and Ron Jeremy.

Now that is a very cool record to have! What made you move out of NYC?

I left NYC to tour with one of my movies and I was doing a lot of coke back then. I had a moment of clarity and chose to not go back to NY because I felt like it was too easy to score coke in NYC. I cut all contact with everybody I knew. I got sober, went to college, got married. I have grown kids, and I reconnected with my old crew a few months ago.

Was is hard leaving the city and the business?

It was hard at first because I didn't have job skills and I didn't want to call my family till I got my shit together which I did. Got sober, went to college, got married, had kids, and life is good.

It was difficult because of the publicity about the army and porn. The only time in my life that I was fired was from a bartending job where someone saw me in Debbie Does Dallas 2. I kept that part of my life private until recently when I finally felt ok to talk about it.

Do you ever visit the city and, if so, what do you think of NYC today? Do you miss anything about it? 

My dad died in 2016 but even though my dad moved to Los Angeles he kept a place in NY so I would go back every so often and see friends and family. I miss New York food the most.

You have a great Twitter account where you mostly chronicle your physical fitness regime. As someone who needs to get in shape, how do you get and stay motivated to exercise regularly – and what do you think makes for a great workout?

I have been lifting weights since I was 19 and I am 58 now. I posted my workouts to keep me accountable and, if it motivates someone, that's even better.

One thing about working out is the adrenaline you feel when your done training. I am addicted to how good I feel after. That feeling motivates me. I plan my workouts a week in advance so I don’t even have to figure out what I am going to do, it’s all on a list  I have good and bad days at the gym. Some days I am stronger than others.

You know you had a good workout when you feel energized. What I tell friends who want to be active is do it for 90 days and stick to the goals you choose. After 90 days it will become like brushing your teeth it will be habit. Think of it this way: there are 24 hours in a day so anyone can spare even 30 minutes to take a daily walk. Start slow and do what you like.

I love running, my husband swims, some friends bike. Do what you like so you look forward to working out. I need to follow this advice!

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about Lisa Cintrice?

I am finally at a place where can embrace my past and my future. I outed myself to most of my friends that had no idea. I have no regrets. I lived an interesting life, and if no one likes it then, oh well, life goes on.

Back in 1981 there were only about 200 people who did adult films. Now it’s really evolved where anybody can be a webcam girl. I am glad it’s getting to be more accepted. 

Lisa, you will always be accepted! Congratulations on surving so much so well, having so much fun, and creating a great life for yourself. You are truly an inspiration.

Thanks so much for talking to Mr NYC!