This reminds me of Edie, the Egg Lady in Pink Flamingos, whom I visited
in her thrift shop in Baltimore in the 80s - she gave me a signed photo
of herself in scanty leather gear appearing in a local night club; I
still treasure her inimitable versions of Big Girls Don't Cwy & Hey
Punk, Get off the Gwass. Madame Newlin's movie appearances remind one
very strongly of early John Waters. Ich fühle Luft von anderen Planeten,
yeah! But I do trust that "she +sang+ in ... Pierrot Lunaire" is a
misplaced euphemism. Dr Feisst is obviously less feisty than the subject
of her book. I'm more interested in Mr Moore's *Dika* - when will it be
out on DVD? The example given for "censoring nothing" in her diaries is
rather disappointing, to say the least. Something on the lines of "Mr
Sch. liked to dress up in pink tulle and dance to neo-classical
Stravinsky ballet music with fresh liver packed under his armpits" would
have been very welcome.
mj
Halvard Johnson wrote (I abbreviate):
>>
>> Her latest incarnation was as leather-clad, bright-orange-haired punk
>> rocker and occasional Elvis impersonator, belting out songs like Love
>> Songs for People Who Hate Each Other, which she wrote herself. Her
>> flamboyant image was not exactly dulled when she posed in her 70s for
>> a pinup calendar.
>>
>> She also translated Schoenberg's works from German to English, and
>> her publication of diaries she kept as his student provide some of
>> the most intimate glimpses of him.
>> In 1999, she sang in a costumed performance of Schoenberg's *Pierrot
>> Lunaire,* in her own English translation, in Lubbock, Tex.
>>
>> In her punk incarnation, Dr. Newlin appeared in horror movies
>> produced by Michael D. Moore in Richmond. In *Creep* (1995), directed
>> by Tim Ritter, her character, clad in a leather motorcycle jacket,
>> poisons baby food on a supermarket shelf.
>>
>> Dr. Feisst confessed to finding this sort of thing 'puzzling and
>> disturbing' but said she came to view it as 'all part of the package.'
>>
>> Mr. Moore also directed *Dika: Murder City�* (1995), a documentary
>> about Dr. Newlin.
>>
>> She kept a diary, which she published as a book, *Schoenberg
>> Remembered: Diaries and Recollections (1938-76),* in 1980.
>>
>> Reviewing the book in The New York Times Book Review, Joan Peyser
>> marveled at its 'absolute ingenuousness,' saying Dr. Newlin seemed to
>> have censored nothing.
>>
>> In one entry, she tells how Schoenberg, an Austrian émigré she called
>> Uncle Arnold, criticized her string-quartet style as 'too pianistic.'
>> She replied that she knew it wasn't the best writing. The entry
>> continues, 'He replied, 'No, it is not the best, nor even the second
>> best - perhaps the 50th best, yes?' '
>>
>>
>> She told The Richmond Times-Dispatch that she had always wanted to
>> have a rock band, and hers surely carried her own brand. Who but Dr.
>> Newlin could have taken the text Schoenberg used for the fourth
>> movement of his second string quartet to use as punk lyrics for
>> *Alien Baby*?
>>
--
Lorsque le ciel s'obscurcissait, ta victoire toujours, lampe des signes! La chair moins nue de se savoir écrite et partagée. (When the sky darkened, always your victory, lamp of signs! The flesh less naked for knowing itself written and shared out.) - Claude Esteban d.10 Avril 2006
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