crossfire

C

R

O

S

S

F

I

R

E

POPshop Saloon Series #1 | CROSSFIRE

Edited by Joseph A. W. Quintela

Copyright © 2011 by Joseph A. W. Quintela

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-0-9838418-1-4

Published by Deadly Chaps | Call Death COLLECT

New York, NY 2011

DCcollectCF|1|

Book Concept by Joseph A. W. Quintela

http://www.deadlychaps.com

CROSSFIRE | 1

POPshop Saloon?

CROSSFIRE?

POPshop Saloon is an interactive, inter-art event series produced by

Prudence Groube and featuring live poetry performances curated by Joseph

A. W. Quintela. The driving principle behind the series is to erode the barriers

between artist and audience as well as those that so often divide the various

disciplines of the arts. Begun in the summer of 2011, POPshop Saloon first

took residence in the KGB Bar’s infamous Red Room where the space was

whimsically transformed in the spirit of pop-up shops but moments before

the beginning of each show.

The first event in the POPshop Saloon series, CROSSFIRE was conceived as

an evening that would place poets, visual artists, actors, and musicians in a

crossfire of words shot out by the audience, forcing them to produce live

works and performances using the constraint of the given word set. At the

evening’s outset, a 10’ by 5’ canvas was erected along one wall, as the room

was strewn with word-generating prompts in the form of comment cards,

newspaper flowers, and fortune cookies. Minutes later, as the audience

arrived to mingle and sip infused whiskeys, they were also encouraged to

use the prompts to provide words to three poets working on the canvas.

While one poet painted out the given words, the other two used them to

begin composing and adding lines of poetry. An artist decorated around

their work weaving the poetry and words together with elegant swaths of

black paint. Meanwhile, actors and musicians roamed the room recording

words, listening in on conversations, and examining the canvas to inspire

impromptu performances. About an hour later, as the canvas began to fill,

these performances began with a vibraphone set, followed by hip hop and

vocal performances, an impromptu dramatic monologue, and a jazz-

inspired reading of the canvas itself. The evening culminated in the

auctioning of the canvas with proceeds benefiting New York Cares.

2 | CROSSFIRE

CROSSFIRE | 3

C

R

O

S

S

F

I

R

E

Part I | Setting the Stage

4 | CROSSFIRE

Bouquet of Printed Flowers | Photo Courtesy of

Prudence Groube

Prudence Groube’s often whimsical creations at

Mimachan Studios provided inspiration for the

various prompts and decorations that drove the

evening’s artistic festivities. Newspaper flowers

affixed to green bamboo sticks were folded at her

studio and later arranged around the Red Room.

The words upon them would be used by the

audience to add to the canvas.

CROSSFIRE | 5

Empty Canvas with Paint and

Brushes | Photo Courtesy of

Erin Barbour

Artist, Puja LadiJungle, and

poets, Joseph A. W. Quintela,

Mariana Luna, and Niel Rosen-

talis agreed to use only black

paint on the white canvas to

preserve a page-like feel.

6 | CROSSFIRE

Vibraphone with Flowers, Hanging |

Photo Courtesy of Erin Barbour

A veteran of performances in the

New York Subway tunnels,

musician, Erin Barbour, was

unfazed by the prospect of playing

for a raucous crowd. This fact

wouldn’t make lugging her

Vibraphone up two flights of narrow

stairs into the Red Room any less

harrowing.

CROSSFIRE | 7

POPshop Preparations | Photo

Courtesy of Erin Barbour

Though Quintela had worked or

performed individually with both

Luna and Rosentalis prior to the

performance, they had never before

worked all three together or with

LadiJungle. As excitement built

amongst the quartet they realized

there were a few last minute details

to discuss: like how not to step or

paint on one another while sharing a

canvas.

8 | CROSSFIRE

Infusion | Photo Courtesy

of Erin Barbour

An expert of both pickling

and mixology, Groube

created infused whiskeys

with various types of fruit to relax the atmosphere and get the creative juices flowing in both the audience

and the artists. Needless to say, they were a popular part of the evening’s festivities.

CROSSFIRE | 9

Set a Stage, Srike a Pose | Photo Courtesy of Erin

Barbour

With the room staged and just a few seconds

remaining before the audience will be allowed into

the theater space, LadiJungle, Quintela, and Groube

pose for a quick snapshot.

10 | CROSSFIRE

Stepping into the Crossfire | Photo


The audience was an integral part of

the project’s palette, so anticipation

built both inside the theater and

outside as the guests begin to arrive.

At 10:30, with the room completely

staged in a mere half hour, the doors

swung open and an excited audience

took their first steps into the

CROSSFIRE.

CROSSFIRE | 11

C

R

O

S

S

F

I

R

E

Part II | Stepping into the Crossfire

12 | CROSSFIRE

Prompt Card (Front) |

Photo Courtesy of

Joseph A. W. Quintela

Prompt Cards were

strewn throughout the

Red Room. As audience

members arrived they

were guided through

the room by Groube, as

Quintela answered

questions and received words at the canvas. Meanwhile, LadiJungle, Luna, and Rosentalis began to paint.

Two giant sketchbooks of exquisite corpse, a word and picture parlor game favored by the Surrealist

movement, serves as added entertainment for the audience as the canvas started to fill with words,

poems, and designs.

CROSSFIRE | 13

Prompt Card (Back) |

Photo Courtesy of

Joseph A. W. Quintela

Early words to be

painted on the canvas

include: holiday, too,

soon, park, madness,

dead, center, and sky.

The poet’s trade roles

as they receive more

words to work with.

Using only these, one of

the poets writes a short

snippet of lines that

reads:

Too soon,

to the mad sky.

Too soon,

to the park.

Too soon,

to the dead.

Too soon.

14 | CROSSFIRE

Flower Picking | Photo Courtesy

of Erin Barbour

Groube guides an audience

member through the process of

picking newsprint flowers to

contribute to the canvas.

CROSSFIRE | 15

Collateral Wordage | Photo Courtesy of

Erin Barbour

As the canvas begins to fill with the

words provided by the audience, the

poets have a greater pool from which

to compose their lines of poetry.

Quintela begins to use small words

that are contained within larger words

and the practice is soon used by all

three poets to expand their available

palette. Still, verbs remain scarce--a

fact that markedly influences the lines

written and highlights the role of the

audience as both constraint and

inspiration.

16 | CROSSFIRE

Word : Art | Photo Courtesy

of Don Quixote

The poets use both paint and

markers to vary the size and

texture of their written work

as LadiJungle builds the

visual impact of the canvas

with her textile-like designs.

With every inch beginning to

fill, the quartet starts to write

and paint over previous

sections suggesting a sudden

emergence of a graffiti

aesthetic within the

composition of art and

poetry.

CROSSFIRE | 17

Taking Note | Photo Courtesy of Erin Barbour

While the canvas is being painted, actor and

playwright, Mike Houston roams the room

listening in on conversations and gathering

material for an impromptu monologue that

will be the culmination of the live, interactive

performances later in the evening.

18 | CROSSFIRE

CROSSFIRE | 19

C

R

O

S

S

F

I

R

E

Part III | Inter-Acted (Performance)

20 | CROSSFIRE

Dance of the Mallets |

Photo Courtesy of Scott

Villalobos

Barbour kicked off the

performances with a

three song set played on

her vibraphone. The

dance of her mallets

perfectly mimicked the

crossfire of words that

had just filled the Red

Room and the audience

reacted with thunderous

applause.

CROSSFIRE | 21

Rapid (Cross) Fire | Photo Courtesy of Erin Barbour

Hip hop artist, James Sykes, used a prompt card to ignite his lyrical flow

and encouraged the audience to shout out words from the canvas as he

continued, incorporating them into his verse to their delight. Sykes’ shout

out to an absent Irish friend, Katie Sheahan, would later provide inspiration

for the next show in the POPshop series.

22 | CROSSFIRE

“The Words” in Three Parts | Photo Courtesy of

Molly Rydzel

Pulled from the talent-laden audience by

surprise, Molly Rydzel (playwright), Matt

Bechtold (actor), and Jen Jayden

(singer/songwriter) give an impromptu recital

of words chosen from the canvas.

CROSSFIRE | 23

Canvas Reading | Photo Courtesy of

Scott Villalobos

The “Canvas Reading” challenged several

notions of a traditional poetry reading. By

necessity, the poets read with their backs

to the audience, reading both complete

sections and individual words as they

were inspired by the canvas and each

other. Portions of the reading verged on

the nonsensical, as pure rhythmic and

aural elements dominated the poet’s

attention, calling into question the

function and definition of the words

provided by the audience. At other times,

the poets were able to insert commentary into their interpretation of the work. “Tasty girls downstairs,”

read Quintela, in reference to the KGB bar located beneath the Red Room Theater. “Capitalism

Downstairs,” responded Rosentalis a few moments later, to the delight of the audience.

24 | CROSSFIRE

Canvas Reading (Transcript)

Vindictive

Rabbit toss

Sky to girl girl

Motor cycle thorough

Where where where

you where right I want right

where

Where where you is where

Park

Is the want

Or where of

Snitches

You

Brinkmanship

Thorough

Fire crotch

Girl

Icky icky

Grass ragu flower

Green bitchin Tuesday

Green bitcin Tuesday

Harry Potter

Weather

Sky blue skill

Rhythm makes green dreams

Tuesday makes a thought

Thorough

Thorough

Café Voltaire

Café roses

Café goose

Café green

Café dungerees

Café inconceivable

Café Toulouse Lautrec

Cafe

Holiday holiday holiday holiday

holiday holiday holiday

Or holiday or inspired cock or

indictive….

Or ringing the edge of the sky

As intangible as a clove of light

invented

Spite

Perfected

Too soon

Spite

Perfected

Dark

Too soon

Xanadu

Too soon

Black

Too soon

Black

Babylonians

Too soon

Babylonians

Too soon

Holiday

Too soon

Holiday

The sky

holiday holiday holiday holiday

holiday holiday

Lyrical

Too soon

tornado lungs dead sky too soon



Fuck

Tornado lungs dead sky too soon

Participating

Mad

Myself

CROSSFIRE | 25

Mad

Your thoughts remake

Your program snitches indictive

Proof

Proof

Make our world

Lung dead

My mind well trained going fun

Going exuberant

Any ideas?

World stew

Hairy world

The bells

Mild you keep you yes keep you

yes keep mild lunacy vermin you

yes keep you yes you keep a

program mild bites the snitches

Lunacy

Too soon

Reclusive sky

Keep icky stuff

In the town edge we keep

Icky stuff

Infinite the sci-fi circus

Stuff

The map of trains six fires into

myself

I want you where I want you

Green trains on the green flat

land

Sci-fi holiday

On the high all day

We did not invent trains

For hairy moms

For hairy moms and holiday for

hairy moms this program

inspired cock’s participation in

girls, in the last flower the

invention, Tuesday, I imagine

these, the fuck program trans-

girls is tasty downstairs

The girl reads red houses

Sisters introspective edges

Recluse

Lungs

Thorough recluse, like Tuesday

Breakmanship

Seven knoblings envour, seven

green sons

Too lyrical

Alpine

Seventy-two lyrical

Two ones

Island?

Alpine?

Too perfected

Three two one

John Wayne

Or…

Recluse

Inconceivable wrangling

Inconceivable recluse

Inconceivable center

Ooh

Tornado

Sequin sound island make our

world dark

Tasty girls downstairs

How tasty

Very wicked cocks

Very wicked cocks

Babylonian

Very wicked cocks

Ba ba lonyan

Very wicked cocks

Bab ba lo ny um

Lyrical Babylonian

Dead sky

Lyrical Babylonian hairy cock

26 | CROSSFIRE

Wicked cock Lyrical Babylonian

wicked cock

Wicked cock lyrical lyrical lyrical

Babylonian wicked wicked cock

Babylonian wicked lyrical

Captitalism

Capitalism

Something like that

Capitalism downstairs

Tornado tornado tornado tornado

tor na do tor – na – do tornado

tornado

Dead

Urges

Flatland

Perfecting

Lungs motorcycle bike inspired

Sister

Sister sister sister sister sister

sister

Six four

Girl girl

Abstract

Yet is right yet where are you

filled in the street airs is airs your

red air murks that’s red red red.

To the girl who reads red houses

Magnitude of the sun

As usual

As proof

As Espanola

Basketball

Babylonian

Basketball

Hairy bibles

Magnitude

Holiday inn

Down old raven

Flatland

Inspired Babylonian cock

It all comes back to inspired

Babylonian cock

I wrote it

I wrote it.

CROSSFIRE | 27

Inconceivable Wrangling | Photo


Groube reacts to a particularly

surprising moment of the poets’

performance.

28 | CROSSFIRE

Monologue Our of the Crossfire | Photo


The final and most challenging of the

evening performances, Mike Houston’s

monologue was inspired by snippets of

conversation that he overheard though

the course of the evening. The result

was written mere moments before

delivery and with improvisation

inserted into the performance as

necessary. The rapturous audience was

astounded by Houston’s ability to build

his character while displaying virtuoso

range in the monologue’s tone.

CROSSFIRE | 29

C

R

O

S

S

F

I

R

E

Part IV | The Crossfire(d) Canvas

30 | CROSSFIRE

CROSSFIRE | 31

Canvas Detail | Photo Courtesy of Prudence

Groube

mad Tuesday

edge holiday

endowed or

wrangling

flatland

urges

icky life

tornado lungs

dead sky

too soon

32 | CROSSFIRE


Groube

the mad, the mad

believe

participation

tasty

girl

downstairs,

capitalism downstairs.

and ideas?

worlds, too.

heavy worlds of bells, mind

you, keep you, yes,

keep you, yes, keep mild lunacy

CROSSFIRE | 33


Groube

band of thought,

lyrical growth

and steel, too

soon, too soon

the tornado saw

and make the zero

and keep, and flesh, and mild

word of proof, we bitch,

we make our proof

34 | CROSSFIRE

Canvas Detail: Signature of Puja LadiJungle | Photo

Courtesy of Prudence Groube

A: ?

Q: with worlds we thought our make

A: center worlds are green knoblings

boots, bourbon,

airy trans-girl clue

reinvention. fresh, mild

CROSSFIRE | 35

Canvas Detail: Signature of Mariana Luna (Don

Quixote) | Photo Courtesy of Prudence Groube

mad in the perfected park

ick! ick!

brinkmanship, perfected

inspire the perfect word

the perfect girl. ick! ick!

the sky endowed, perfected

the sky wrangling, perfected

tornado tornado tornado tornado tornado



36 | CROSSFIRE

Canvas Detail: Signature

of Niel Rosentalis |

Photo Courtesy of

Prudence Groube

boom

like

boom

like

inspired

Babylon-

ian

cock

boom

like

cock…

…is the most boom kiss

like a lone baby.

CROSSFIRE | 37

Canvas Detail: Signature of

Joseph A. W. Quintela | Photo

Courtesy of Prudence Groube

we ate charisma

an instrospective

fuck. his motorcycle

lungs, his circus girl,

his alpine sky of boots

or holiday, or inspired cock, or

indictive wrangling, or the

edge, or the sky edge, or intangible cycles, or the clump of life invented

FIN | CROSSFIRE

New York | 2011

38 | CROSSFIRE

Erin Barbour represents the vibraphone

half of the vibe/marimba duo iMallet.

Matt Bechtold is an actor and barman

widely renowned for his impeccable

delivery of both these arts.

Prudence Groube is an Australian ex-pat

now living and working in New York,

where she creates the world of

Mimachan, who inhabits the space

between the seen and unseen.

Prudence’s work is in private collections

both domestically and internationally.

She has shown in Brooklyn and

Manhattan in both solo and group

shows.

(www.flickr.com/photos/mimachanstudi

os/)

Mike Houston resides in New York City,

where he has studied with Bill Esper at

the distinguished William Esper Acting

Studio. Most recently, he received the

2007 New York Innovative Theatre

Award for Outstanding Solo Performance

for his work in "The Ledge", written by

Jack Hanley.

Jen Jayden is an indie singer/songwriter

currently residing in Brooklyn. Her music

career has spanned both coasts, in

addition to a stint of singing at sea. A

2007 EP “Unpredictable” was produced

by Jeffery David and garnered beautiful

reviews. She is currently working on her

follow-up release.

Puja LadiJungle is a creator of print

graphic design, surface textile design,

paintings, silkscreens, and art books.

Selection from her portfolio can be found

on her website.

(ladijungledesigns.tumblr.com)

Mariana Luna, aka Don Quixote is into

hi-fi, lo-fi, and sci-fi. She's performed in

usual and unusual venues... Carnegie

Hall, the Juilliard School, theaters, bars,

trains, abandoned buildings... NYC,

Berlin, Canada, Iceland, Mexico, etc.

Primary media: words, film,

photography, sound/music. Primary

themes: memory/oblivion, death,

voyeurism, revolution, serial migration:

gangofbirds.com

Joseph A. W. Quintela writes. Poems.

Stories. On Post-its. Walls. Envelopes.

Cocktail napkins. Twitter, Canvas.

Anything he gets his hands on, really. He

is the senior editor of the Deadly Chaps

book series. (www.josephquintela.com)

Nathaniel Rosentalis is a senior at Sarah

Lawrence College focusing on poetry and

queer studies.

Molly Rydzel is the undisputed leader of

her apocalypse survival squad (zombie,

machine, biological, extra terrestrial) as

well as EdibleBrains Productions. EB

champions the female voice in science

fiction and horror, theater, film, and

multimedia. Molly is the author of two

plays that have been workshopped and

produced in Manhattan, and is

responsible for the online feminist

zombie phenomenon The Dead Walk in

Brooklyn I-III.

James Sykes has gone through his

rebellious periods as a young person

trying to make it out of the hood,

hustling, and working while pursuing his

ultimate goal: making music. Through

this, has emerged a confident, funny,

outspoken individual that is Kid Playboy

of the Brooklyn-based Fly Guys, Inc.

POPshop Saloon would like to thank:

Lizza Dauenhauer-Pendley and Scott

Villalobos for providing video recordings

of CROSSFIRE.

Additional Photo Credits:

Page 2 | Canvas Detail | Photo Courtesy

of Prudence Groube

Page 30 | Canvas Detail | Photo


40 | CROSSFIRE

crossfire

Documents

crossfire crossfire

crossfire of words

crossfire vibraphone

white canvas

impromptu performances

given words

live poetry performances

veteran of performances