Photo Novellas, Comic Book Librettos, Muffinhead, and One Discarded Box of 45 Records
And Some News About Past and Upcoming KHLOARIS Screenings: The Athenian Mercury, Vol. 2
Thanks for reading the 2nd Edition of The Athenian Mercury. This edition features the debut of pieces by our friend and frequent collaborator Josafat Concepcion, the artist Signori Gabardi, and composer/music historian Hefner Kliment. That these pieces are in the form of a serialized photo novella, an artistic re-imagining of a classic opera filtered through the style of a noted comic artist, and a playlist based on a (possibly fabricated?) story about a found box of 45rpm singles, respectively, is notable in that it shows the freedom from form that this newsletter can go in. While we deeply appreciate the written word, we’re just as fascinated by the fine arts, the popular arts, the melding of highbrow and lowbrow styles, music, non-verbal communication, and underused and new forms of expression. We hope that the readers of this newsletter will contact us about contributions that can also take new and unusual forms.
Future editions of this newsletter will have more works by our friend Twiggs Gorie, more volumes of Josa Concepcion’s photo novella and a special edition on censorship. Our plan is to keep this newsletter free, but to eventually allow some form of monetization to support it.
The premiere of the program “An Evening of New Punk Psychotronic Cinema” was a rousing success. A large crowd poured into Our Wicked Lady and dutifully watched (and enjoyed) the weirdest and most challenging stuff from the program, from cult to art and in between and back again.
Headliners Dylan Mars Greenberg and Josafat Concepcion hosted a live Bathtub-themed photo booth and a burlesque seance, respectively.
Dylan’s photo booth:
Josa’s burlesque team:
We also debuted our new tote bag, with rad art by Joshua Rievel. We have a few of these left, and they’re in-progress prototypes, so we have an intro price of $15. (Contact us direct for info.) Expect more bags, Athenian Mercury pins and more merch real soon.
We plan to screen this entire program a few more times in NYC and some other cities in the new year. We’ll have info on that, and the entire playlist for the program here at The Athenian Mercury and on the website.
We’re happy to announce that two of our recent productions will be playing at artist Muffinhead’s new ZTV fest. We’re big fans of Muffinhead’s work, and we’re thrilled to be involved in the inaugural events for ZTV.
We first met Muffinhead, it should be noted, when the two KHLOARIS principals produced and did animation/effects/compositing for the Nick Zedd film “The Death of Muffinhead,” with costumes by and starring the titular artiste. (Our involvement was in a pre-KHLOARIS capacity, but the film directly lead to the founding of the KHLOARIS collective. We suggest readers check out the film, where it’s exclusively hosted by the fab UbuWeb here.)
Quoth Muffinhead:
“ZTV is all about giving a platform to independent film artists and animators who need and deserve a place beyond YouTube to comfortably display their uncensored and uninhibited work.
Largely because of the pandemic, I think we're experiencing a renaissance of the low budget/self funded video artist and I'm included in that set, having picked up some editing and animation skills while in quarantine.
Right now I'm very much looking forward to the 1st ZTV Video Party on Saturday, December 23rd at ArtBarLA and the 2nd, at Barbershop Theater in Nashville on January 29th.
Next year we're looking to set a ZTV Summer Sinema Tour that will also incorporate live performance art, burlesque, Luchador Wrestling, extreme drag and live music...sort of a travelling Thunderdome for underground entertainment.”
The KHLOARIS productions of director Josafat Concepcion’s “Holy Wound” and the KHLOARIS-directed-and-animated music video for Totally Fucking Gay’s “Swallow Sperm,” featuring original art by Mike Diana, will both be featured at several ZTV events:
The online ZTV Awards Show (complete with interviews with the judges) at www.ztvfilmfest.com this Saturday, Dec. 18 at 8pm.
The 1st ZTV Screening Party will take place on Thursday, December 23rd at ARTBAR/LA: 12017 Venice Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90006
The 2nd screening will take place on Saturday, January 29, 2022 at The Barbershop Theater: 4003 Indiana Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37209
An interview by Muffinhead with frequent KHLOARIS collaborator Mike Diana will be forthcoming at the ZTV site soon as well.
-Kenneth Serenity, Editor-in-Chief, The Athenian Mercury
Greetings from Tijuana, Pt. 1
A Serialized Photo Novella
By Josafat Concepcion
Mahagonny
By Signori Gabardi
Artist’s Notes:
Il 9 marzo 1930, a Lipsia in Germania, un libretto altamente sarcastico di Bertolt Brecht fu messo in scena con musiche di Kurt Weil. La loro opera affrontava l'ascesa di una nuova città del peccato, un luogo immaginario chiamato "Mahagonny" a metà strada tra Los Angeles e il Klondike. Forgiata da fuggitivi in fuga dalle leggi della società etica, la loro città "Mahagonny" diventa una piattaforma che manifesta un'alleanza di codici morali privati della sottoclasse criminale in generale. Trinity Moses il Pugile, Jenny la Puttana, Jimmy il Boscaiolo e Begbick il Giudice, hanno tutti la loro giornata al sole. 61 anni dopo, Frank Miller ha ripreso i fili di questa storia in "Sin City". La mia rieladuzione grafica del libretto di Brecht per "Mahagonny" tenta di collegarlo alla versione di Miller. - firmato, Signori Gabardi 06.12.2021
[English trans.]
On March 9 1930, in Leipzig Germany, a highly sarcastic libretto by Bertolt Brecht was put on stage with music by Kurt Weil. Their opera addressed the rise of a new city of sin, an imaginary place called “Mahagonny” halfway between Los Angeles & the Klondike. Forged by fugitives escaping the laws of ethical society, their city “Mahagonny” becomes a platform manifesting an alliance of private moral codes of the criminal underclass at large. Trinity Moses the Boxer, Jenny the Whore, Jimmy the Lumberjack & Begbick the Judge, all have their day in the sun. 61 years later, Frank Miller picked up the threads of this story in “Sin City.” My graphic re-working of Brecht’s libretto for “Mahagonny” attempts to connect it to Miller’s rendition. - signed, Signori Gabardi 06.12.2021
604 Constitul Drive: A-Sides Only (45s Nos. 50-100)
A Playlist
By Hefner Kliment
(Editor’s Note: During his “semi-regular dig through Manhattanite’s refuse,” the mysterious “anti-composer and occassional music enthusiast” who has taken to communicating with us “found” this box of 45rpm singles. His unorganized notes are printed below.)
Who’d throw away?
Numbers 51-100, filed away and organized by number on affixed to record; totally disorganized. (Where are 1-50?)
Playlist reorganized/arranged by number.
Missing records: 57, 75, 82.
Record label logos for Liberty, Dot, Philips affixed to carrying case. Likely trimmed from discarded sleeves, pasted to case. Ripped logo with harp looks familiar, but can’t place. Guesses?
Traveled from Warminster, PA, to New York, NY, over years. Can’t decide whether for solo teenage listening, or wild teenage stomping parties (why needed numbering maybe?). Not as stomped and scratched as teenage stompers usually.
Diversity of ‘60s Top 40 radio all repped: soul, rock’n’roll, British Invasion, surf, novelty, ballads, doo wop, folk, dance, garage, bubblegum. Big label/small label. Every trend here.
Needs jukebox.
Some photos:
(Visit the KHLOARIS Spotify page here. To contact KHLOARIS, do so at production@khloaris.com. To follow us at social, we're @khloaris everywhere, but most active on Instagram, very occasionally on Twitter, and incredibly rarely even on Facebook. Our poor, neglected website is at www.khloaris.com.)