Letter to Jutta

Hey there!

Greetings from New York. Hope all is fine with you. Italy sounds amazing (even if it is filled with churches). I called Nicholas Roeg and he told me he based the character of the demon in Don’t Look Now on a little German girl he met during pre-production in Wurzberg. Her name? JUTTA OSTHUES! Coincidence? You decide! I have always wanted to go to Italy. All I have to do is meet some nice Italians here in New York so I can arrange an inexpensive tour. After Italy and Spain, I can start working on the orient.

Johannes is here and he helped me celebrate my birthday. We went to an superb French restaurant only 3 blocks from where I live. The cuisine was as good as it is in Paris. Can you believe it? Here in the East Village! Afterwards we went to the First Street Cafe. It is this tiny little club where I like to hang out. Its no bigger than Johannes’s Frankfurt apartment. We love it because the owner has a bigger place (Baby Jakes) that he believes is the real money maker. So he hardly cares about First Street at all and let’s it go to hell. The waiters never come and you can sit there all day with one cup of mint tea. At night, there is always a wonderful Folk singer or Jazz band or something playing for free. On my birthday night there was a Jazz band with a guitarist from Osaka. He sat at our table in between sets and we got to hear first hand about the music scene in Japan. They had the tiniest little DAT machine I had ever seen. The tape was as big as half a matchbook and could record sixty minutes of music.

Work is the same. I am finally getting some checks. My goal is to make it to December, reload my bank account, then ease off into part time. Sitting at the computer makes my arm and back hurt. I only can seem to get to Yoga classes three or four times a week. I really miss doing it every day. I thought after all the vacation I had I wouldn’t mind going back to work. Not true! The less you work the more you don’t want to work. I am sure you are discovering this also. Let’s travel. We have a tent. All we need is some bread and a little cheese.

I am helping a friend produce The Doll Cycle at Workhouse. I am overseeing all aspects of the production and doing some graphics, along with set dressing, staffing, publicity etc. It is a four part serialization of “The Valley of The Dolls” by Jacqueline Suzanne. We have an amazing cast of downtown all-stars (including me as one of the singing and dancing Gaucheros). The response has been overwhelming. We have a seventy seat theatre and had over 110 reservations for opening night. The second part was sold out by the following Monday. The Village Voice comes this week and I will send you the review. I am very proud of this production as the writer worked with me on Ailanthus for two years and credits me with his education in this style of working.

I have my first rehearsal for the film this Saturday. We have had several delays but now it is finally coming together.

Can you believe it? I got a call to go in and audition for Central Park West. It is one of those big cruddy TV shows I hate. But... the money is unbelievable. They got my name from a friend of mine who works in production. I don’t think I was what they were looking for. In fact. They hated me. But I was well prepared ( I got the script the day before) and did my best. Who knows. At some point they may need a singing Gauchero.

Exhibit A
Went to see the opening of The Flower of My Secret at the New York Film Festival. Almodovar, Rossy de Palma and Marissa Paredes were there. We sat right in front and afterwards they invited the audience to stay and ask questions. It was inspiring to hear how he works and learn that we share similar beliefs about how a piece can be created.

Exhibit B
Excellent exhibit in SoHo.

Exhibit C
The card I created for The Doll Cycle.

I hope you are great, that school is great, that Berlin is great and that all things are great, and that soon, very soon I will see you here in New York.

Love.