Brides of Destruction

In my office, under my desk where no one else can see, there’s a small door that leads directly into the head of Nikki Sixx. I can enter whenever I want and spend about 15 minutes at a time there, seeing everything and experiencing everything that Nikki does. After that quarter of an hour, give or take, I’m expelled by some arcane law of psycho-physics, and dropped unceremoniously by the side of Wolf Road, right by Cocca’s Motor Lodge. The drop to the curb hurts like hell each and every time, but I swear to you, for the opportunity to be Nikki Sixx for 15 minutes, I’d enter that doorway even if it first led through Robert Novak’s sigmoid colon. (Don’t ask: The anatomical throughways of telekinetic body occupation are really weird.)

At first, the 15-minute intervals seemed a little skimpy, but with further familiarity, I realized I could handle only about that increment of the thrill of being Sixx before my heart exploded—it’s actually a safety feature. And, as I became better attuned to both Sixx’s daily schedule (I had to adjust to Pacific Coast Time, and all) and his biorythms, I really feel I got a handle on the founder-bassist of Motley Crue. I mean, I think I got good at being Nikki Sixx.

This access proved professionally useful recently, when Sixx blew me off—not once but twice—for an interview to discuss his new band, the Brides of Destruction, their debut album and their tour, which kicks off at Northern Lights on Friday. First, his people told me that interviews were being rescheduled, which was fine; then, when at the appointed time I called management to be patched through to Sixx, I was told sheepishly that they couldn’t get him on the line.

Deadline approaching: It was time for the door.

Now, I can’t give you the precise details of the source of the delays—this is a family paper, after all. I’ll just mention that when I got back the first things I did were shower, eat six whole grapefruits and take an 11-hour nap. Furthermore, I can also tell you that Sixx is (I am) confident that when he (we) and the Brides—whose lineup also includes former L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, drummer Scot Coogan, and newcomer London LeGrand on the mic—hit Northern Lights, they (we) intend to shock longtime Crue fans with a new approach that is as lean as the Crue was excessive. The Brides (me and the guys) reference a gamut of punk-infused rock ranging from the U.K. to the Pacific Northwest. Evoking the Sex Pistols on one track (check the single “Shut the Fuck Up”), and Alice in Chains on another.

As (my good friend and protégé) vocalist London LeGrand said in a recent press release, “There’s so much cookie-cutter shit on the radio, but this album has a feel that’s been missing in rock for a long time.”

The Brides of Destruction will play Northern Lights (Route 146, North Country Commons, Clifton Park) tomorrow (Friday, April 30) at 7:30 PM. Amen and the Erotics will open. Tickets for the 16-and-older show are $15. For more information, call 371-0012.

—John Rodat

The Chelsea Girls

Tomorrow’s Spencertown Academy screening of Andy Warhol’s The Chelsea Girls is likely to be the most unusual local film event all year. Warhol’s legendary 1966 epic is rarely shown, and for good reason: It’s more than three hours long, and must be presented in “double projection,” that is, with two 16mm prints projected side-by-side. Oh, and each projector is showing a different reel.

Even allowing for its length and unorthodox presentation, The Chelsea Girls isn’t what one would call a typical movie. There’s no plot or editing, and only two segments are based on actual scripts; and in the scripted sections, only one actor (Mary Woronov) bothered to learn lines. The music is by Warhol’s then-house band, the Velvet Underground.

Warhol’s cinematic technique was radically primitive: He pointed his camera at people he found interesting, and let it roll until the reel ran out. As Warhol himself explained years later, “I only wanted to find great people and let them be themselves and talk about what they usually talked about, and I’d film them for a certain length of time and that would be the movie.” The result, Andrew Sarris wrote, is that “Warhol’s people are more real than real because the camera encourages their exhibitionism. They are all ‘performing’ because their lives are one long performance and their party is never over.”

So the inspired (like the sequence with Warhol “superstar” Ondine ranting and raving as the pope of Greenwich Village) is presented alongside the stupefyingly mundane. How mundane? See junkies shoot up. Look at Nico trim her bangs.

Needless to say, The Chelsea Girls isn’t to everyone’s taste. Rex Reed described it as “a three and a half hour cesspool of vulgarity and talentless confusion which is about as interesting as the inside of a toilet bowl.” But it is, undisputedly, a kind of independent cinema that is unimaginable today.

The Warhol film kicks off Spencertown Academy’s third annual documentary film festival, The Film Eye: Documents and Explorations, which runs this weekend (Friday-Saturday, April 30-May 1) and next (May 7-8). On Saturday (May 1), two politically themed films will be shown. Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is at 5 PM, and Chris Marker’s A Grin Without a Cat is at 7:30 PM. Next weekend, the program will include the classic Soviet film I Am Cuba, Gloria Rolando’s Oggun: An Eternal Presence and El Alacran, and Estela Bravo’s Fidel.

The Chelsea Girls will be shown tomorrow (Friday, April 30) at 7:30 PM at the Spencertown Academy (790 Route 203, Spencertown). Tickets are $6 for members, and $7 for nonmembers. The unrated film is not recommended for children. For more information about this and all other screenings in the series, including showtimes and ticket prices, visit www.spencertown.org or call 392-3693.

New Look

Albany Center Galleries and the funky new arts-and-literature magazine 200 Proof are collaborating tomorrow to bring us New Look, a one-night-only art show and silent auction that will benefit the gallery. In addition to the silent art auction, which features more than 70 artists, live music will be provided by Capitol Chamber Artists. Some of the visual artists whose work will be featured include Tommy Watkins, Rena K. Levitt, Danny Goodwin, Thaddeus Smith, Chip Fasciana, Laura Glazer, G.C. Haymes, Gerri Moore, Sue Gersten, Metroland contributing writers Pam Barrett-Fender and David Brickman, and Metroland contributing photographer Joe Putrock, among many others. A Taste of Albany will provide the menu for the evening, comprising a selection of dishes provided by Albany restaurants; wine and beer will also be available. So get your butts out there, eat like kings, enjoy some live music, and show your support for the local arts scene.

New Look will be held at the Albany Public Library auditorium (161 Washington Ave., Albany) tomorrow (Friday, April 30) from 6 to 10 PM. Tickets are $25; $15 for students. For more information, call 462-4775 or visit www.albanycentergalleries.com or www.200proof.org.