Mary Van Notes

Saturday, March 20th will be a big day.  I’ll be waking up bright and early to head over to Fremont with a couple friends of mine who are sharing a table at the Craft Happy indie-craft showcase.  If you’re in the Bay Area, please come over and visit us!  There will be all kinds of craftsters there, and I’ll have all my MVN zines on hand, as well as a pretty awesome MVN custom craft that I’ll be busting my buns to make up until the very last minute.

And then that evening I’ll be heading out to Swankety Swank.   I was asked to model for issue 2 of SwankSpeak! a zine which will be available that night.  It’s an event full of art, fashion, magic, tarot, music, you name it!  This is the flier for the event, a photo of me by the fantastic Eartha Goodwin:

7pm-11pm at Swankety Swank, 289 Divisadero St.
Check out the event details here.  And I hope to God one of the outfits I wore for the shoot is still available, because I hella want that shit!

And after that, I plan on drinking it up with Ameen Belbahri, celebrating his birthday.  End a big day with an ice cold pint of brew with some awesome people.  Yes, indeed.  It’ll be a good day.

Four months later and I finally get around to finish editing the last of the Pumpkin Penis Tour vids.  This one features comedians Brent Weinbach and Sean Patton.  I loved New Orleans so much.  I hope to go back real soon.

Laura Weinbach of Foxtails Brigade plays “Long Day” in my room.  Buy her 7 inch at www.foxtailsbrigade.com

I read this post over at Star St. Germain’s blog This Is Star.   Gabrielle’s last poem is so beautiful, I had to share it here.  Thank you, Star, for posting this.  All images and content re-posted with permission from Star St. Germain:

Gabrielle Bou­liane was a video­g­ra­pher and poet, who I met nearly a decade ago, back when I was very much involved in Slam Poetry.
She recently lost her bat­tle with can­cer.
She was a vision­ary, a friend, and a force of nature.
I wish I had known her better.

I did this illus­tra­tion of her because most of the pic­tures I’ve been see­ing of her in other posts of this sort didn’t really cap­ture her the way I knew her.
To me, Gabrielle will always be in bunny ears–or a cow­boy hat.
She is peer­ing at me from behind a cam­era, or through a Live­Jour­nal icon.
She is cap­tur­ing something–when every­one else is too busy watching.

I am post­ing this poem of hers, because I think all of you should read it, whether you knew her or not.

When you hear that I have died, think of this.

Think of cool nights breezes while you walk to meet your friends for a beer on a Thurs­day. Think of wak­ing up in flan­nel sheets on a snowy morn­ing and kiss­ing some­one you love. Think of hung-over diner break­fasts and the best cup of cof­fee in the world. Think of the sound of tires on seamed high­ways while you travel, think of French kiss­ing and leather jack­ets and push-up bras and bour­bon, think of the joy of hard work with friends. Then think of me.

Not sad, not the melan­choly soli­tude of empty skies, but the full days and crowded bars and signed con­tracts, a smile too big for my face, remem­ber I said I stay busy enough to fit three lives into one. When you hear that I have died, know that I want laugh­ter, and danc­ing, real danc­ing, to music that makes you move with­out think­ing, you’re wear­ing boots and jeans and a great t-shirt and won­der­ing if the girl at the edge thinks you’re cute. And you moth­er­fuck­ers had best DANCE, none of this bull­shit rock-nod hands-in-the-pockets shoegazer non­sense, no, make an ass out of your­self, feel your hips, kick off the high heels and sway on the shoul­der of a stranger, when I die, you’d bet­ter be laugh­ing your ass off on side­walks, eat­ing deli­ciously unhealthy food, drink­ing shots and tip­ping your bar­tender well no mat­ter how much money you make.

And Adam has to read the poem he wrote, and Laura, and June, and Scott Car­pen­ter has to play “Don’t Go Away, Chloe”, no fuck that, every musi­cian I’ve ever made out with or video­taped or road-tripped with has to play, so drink some cof­fee, baby, it’s gonna be a long night. When you hear that I have died, the best thing you can do is to get laid that night with a com­fort­able stranger, use my story to get their sym­pa­thy, and when you kiss them for the first time, think of me then.

When you hear that I have died, and you will, remem­ber your best revenge is to live well, take risks, save up money and chase your per­fect hap­pi­ness. Beat the sys­tem and learn to make your art really sup­port you, craft into some­thing your audi­ence can’t live with­out. Then make the world an even slightly bet­ter place — stop throw­ing your cig­a­rettes on the ground, vote in the next elec­tion, graf­fiti your life on the eyes of the hungry.

Then just do me one last favor. Please. Love some­thing. Any­thing. Start with your­self, but find pas­sion in every­thing, from an apple pie to a novel, make a fam­ily, get a degree, walk what­ever path is yours with your chin up and feet planted firmly. Have the best sto­ries to tell in the old folk’s home, about life­long friend­ships and epic love affairs, about the time you lost every­thing and yet found your­self hap­pier than when you began.. and remem­ber that time we got in SO much trouble…

Poets.. remem­ber. This is the story that never ends. When one of us leaves, another walks through the door. The pages turn, the sun keeps ris­ing. All you can do in the mean­while.. is to speak for your­self. Raise your voice high, tell your story, join hands against the dark and sing our souls to the sky. Know the best in me comes from the best in you, that as you tell your story, you will be telling mine, and our lives will be linked together for­ever, and every­one who hears you will become a part of the change we make.

So when you hear that I have died..
just ….live.

–Gabrielle Bou­liane

This is her last per­for­mance in public:

Rest in peace, Gabrielle.
And to the rest of you, bunny up!

I am a Queen of Vintage!  Thank you Queens of Vintage dot com for making me Vintage Queen No. 60.  It’s an honor to be in the same company of some amazing, stylin’ and inspiring ladies.  Head over here to see the full story.

Queens of Vintage says I am a “a true style chameleon. Whether she is channeling early Sixties a la Mad Men, the psychedelic swinging years of the same decade, Forties chic or demure Fifties, Mary always looks fabulous!”

It’s completely true, I am a chameleon.  I can’t stick to one decade, or one distinct style the way others do.  I think a kid from my high school said it best when he wrote in my senior yearbook, “It’s impossible to describe you: you change too often!”  I like keeping myself and y’all on your toes. ; )

Thank you Google Images for the above pics.

I saw a call for entries for artist grants in the SF Weekly several weeks ago.  Having had my first experience applying for a grant last year, I thought, why not?  I enjoy applying for artist grants, seen as stand-up comedy is such an under-recognized art form.  I guess I just want to feel validated.  I want to be like, Yeah!  I’m an artist!

I was totally humbled and amazed to be picked as a finalist for the SF Weekly Masterminds 2010.  I was in the same group as some incredibly talented people: dancers, fashion designers, painters, sculptors, real art people!  SF Weekly wrote me up and sent an awesome photographer, Eartha L. Goodwin, to take some shots of me.  We had a lot of fun.  Here are some of those shots:

all photos by Eartha L. Goodwin

I went to Artopia, the event benefiting the grants and also celebrating the local artists/finalists.  There were 12 finalists and only 3 get the grants.  I walked in and it was pretty amazing–a lot of people.  I brought a DVD to show my video Papercuts, but I couldn’t find the lady in charge.  I walked in the gallery and each artist had their art displayed, a little plaque with their name on it and the artist’s statement.  There was no plaque for me, no space.  I didn’t feel like a part of the show.   I told my date, “Yeah, there’s no way I’m getting this thing.  I’m not even showcased here.”  We sat and cuddled up for most of the event, he said, “Let’s just get your check and leave.”  I laughed, “There’s no way I’m getting it.”

The cover of the SF Weekly (I’m one twelfth of the cover, the purple part) and my legs! photo by Hanna Quevedo via here

Me and my handsome date. photo by Hanna Quevedo via here

The editor announced the first winner.  He was introducing the next award, “And the next winner is a comedian…” WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!!?!?!?!   I couldn’t fucking believe it.   I had an instant perma-grin that lasted the rest of the evening.   I hugged the SF Weekly people and almost cried.  Wow.  It meant so much to me to be a finalist, and then to win a grant… wow.  It was such an honor.

This is what SF Weekly said about me, “Van Note’s film shorts reminded us of Andy Samberg’s digital shorts for SNL, but darker. Like all good comedians, she makes us laugh by being brutally honest. She’s crude and vulnerable at the same time. And she’s hella funny.” (from here)

So thank you, SF Weekly.  I will never forget it.  With the money I plan on living for as long as I can, truly focusing on my art.  I plan on working on my one-person show and a screenplay adaptation of my first novel. I’m stoked.

Hat, J Crew Top: Thrifted
Shoes: Bunny’s Shoes, Santa Cruz
Shorts: F21
Socks: Macy’s

Today I came to the conclusion that my personal style philosophy is that I like looking like a doll.  Plain and simple.  Today it was French 40s sailor doll.

I’ll be performing a long set of stand-up with some funny and quirky special guests:

Donny Divanian
David Hawkins
Loren Kraut

WHEN:
Friday, February 26, 2010 at 10pm

WHERE:
Dark Room Theater
2263 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.401.7987

ADMISSION:
$10 at the door
$9 in advance http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/96185

Please come out and tell your friends!

Yes, Valentine’s Day is stupid, but I can’t help appreciating cutesy vintage valentines.  This one is for all my fellow vintage-lovin’ ladies whose blogs I follow.  There are so many of you I can’t name you all, but here are some of my faves Andi B. Goode, Calivintage, Strawberry Koi, Clothes Horse, Vixen Vintage, Agent Lover. Y’all inspire me so much.  Keep rockin’ the crazy hats and killer style, ladies!

Special thanks to Anita Drieseberg for sending me this valentine. We gotta grab a beverage and go gawking over vintage hats on Haight St!