Mark Allen

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Comments Off on Jim & I descending a cherry picker while making evening plans, Catskill, NY, 8/16/10

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New York Craigslist > Manhattan > Personals > Men Seeking Men: So much sadness and loneliness… I drink for a reason – 37…

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Hey New Yorkers, join me in the heart of the West Village on Wednesday, July 21st, 6PM at Cornelia St. Cafe (29 Cornelia St., between W 4th & Bleecker) where I’ll be sharing the stage with Greg Walloch (Studio 360, F**k the Disabled!), Pseu Braun (WFMU, WNYC) and Jason Wachtelhausen (AdBusters, Wired) as part of the cozy Cornelia St. Cafe Summer Storytelling Festival. These are all fellow friends and assorted shadowy characters, so I’m really excited about creating an evening of entertainment with this talented bunch (in a snazzy, downtown space). Remember: unforgettable isn’t always pretty, so come by! Should definitely be a fun, friendly, summer night (and reservations are recommended… so pick up the horn and let ’em know you’re coming!) All info is here.

UPDATE: Show went totally great! Thanks to co-performers Greg, Pseu and Jason who tore up the place, and friends old and new who came out… a great night! 🙂

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In case you’re missing it, I can’t shut up. Particularly on Twitter, where I post all kinds of things, several times a day… sometimes several times an hour. And you don’t have to be on Twitter to follow me on it. There’s also a relentless stream of photos on Twitpic, and videos on Twitvid.

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_MarkAllen‎: Is there anything hotter than this? http://tinyurl.com/yc25bqc
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:27:03 AM

_MarkAllen‎: I have a seriously unbalanced John Denver obsession… spontaneously watched 1st half oh OH GOD! in the middle of night last night. Bliss.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:30:30 AM

_MarkAllen‎: John Denver’s music is too big to be appreciated by folk purists, but not ridiculous enough to be camp. He’s like The Carpenters.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:38:38 AM

_MarkAllen‎: Lyrically he’s hopeless: “The children & the flowers are our sisters & our brothers, their laughter & their loveliness could clear a cloudy day.”
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:42:40 AM

_MarkAllen‎: The man had a killer dress sense. But like a homogenized version of a killer dress sense. Hard to pinpoint.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:43:52 AM

_MarkAllen‎: Is it possible to delve deeeeeeep into mediocrity? John Denver did.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:44:23 AM

_MarkAllen‎: Farewell Andromeda and Aiere are masterpieces, if you don’t count his sublime GHV1, which has re-recorded version of the songs it shares.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:46:10 AM

_MarkAllen‎: “The Eagle & the Hawk” is as transcendent a song as Sonic Youth’s “Expressway To Your Skull.”
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:48:41 AM

_MarkAllen‎: But where Sonic Youth’s “Expressway to Your Skull” = Glenn Branca, John Denver’s “Eagle & the Hawk” = more like Bernard Herrmann.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:51:57 AM

_MarkAllen‎: Not surprisingly, John Denver has an enormous following in Japan. He’s almost like a cult over there. I’m sure his blond features help.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:53:04 AM

_MarkAllen‎: John Fahey is more respected than John Denver, but Fahey’s death didn’t spawn an entire chapter in Blanche Knott’s “Truly Tasteless Jokes.”
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 9:56:48 AM

_MarkAllen‎: John Denver was hypnotized by nature, but could only create “elevator music.” A paradox.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 10:19:18 AM

_MarkAllen‎: John Denver’s music has too much male energy to ever enjoy a hipster resurrection, like the Carpenters enjoyed. The gays don’t like him.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 10:23:50 AM

_MarkAllen‎: There a great made-for-TV movie called TAKE ME HOME: THE JOHN DENVER STORY starring Chad Lowe. Recommended. More about Annie Denver though.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 10:27:40 AM

_MarkAllen‎: TAKE ME HOME really portrays Denver’s struggle w/being renowned for “canned country” & his addiction to nature, which bordered on unhealthy.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 10:31:26 AM

_MarkAllen‎: There’s an inherent synthetic quality to everything John Denver did. It’s like country music made by brilliant robots.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 11:40:39 AM

_MarkAllen‎: Like Madonna, beneath the multiple masks of John Denver’s work lays nothing but the work ethic. Inspiration is referenced, never channeled.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 11:46:38 AM

_MarkAllen‎: John Denver’s death sealed his legacy at the last possible minute.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 10:32:18 AM

_MarkAllen‎: If he were still alive today he’d probably be an Al Gore-ish, lefty political type… tethered to the global warming cause no doubt.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 10:35:11 AM

_MarkAllen‎: @_coye Another wave of John Denver obsessiveness took hold of me at 2AM last night. This is the hangover.
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 10:59:51 AM

_MarkAllen‎: I’ve been up for 36 hours smoking peyote and listening to dusty John Denver & the Muppets LPs. Where’s MY intervention?
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23, 2010 11:52:15 AM

_MarkAllen‎: @divideconquer thinks my John Denver obsession may relate 2 fact he looks like another of my obsessions: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/Loganlifeclock.jpg …good eye!‎
#johndenver via twitter for iPhone, Feb 23 2010 7:41:24 PM

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Thomas Haustein at Bahnhof Zoo in 2010 (photo: Steve Ryan), and in 1981 (Christiane F.)

Check out the latest issue of Vice for my interview with long-lost German actor Thomas Haustein, who played Detlev (opposite Natja Brunkhorst, as Christiane) in Uli Edel’s sublimely moody 1981 heroin-scare biopic, Christiane F.. In the past, I’d written on WFMU’s blog about Thomas, and how he could have given such a memorable starring performance in just one classic film, and then seemingly just drop of the face of the earth. He has a lot of fans! Well, you can read how it all panned out… Detlev list lebendig!

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An audio version of my story Losing it at Universal Studios (aka; I Suffered Stendhal Syndrome at Universal Studios, Hollywood!) will be airing on NPR’s daytime program Hearing Voices this week, titled Bad Trip: Your Next Vacation, and hosted as usual by Larry Massett and Barrett Golding. This piece originally aired on All Things Considered in 2003, and was the first piece I ever recorded for NPR. A shorter version aired on ATC back then, but since super-geniuses Larry and Barrett have the master tapes, they’re airing a much longer version here (although my introduction where I explain what Stendhal syndrome is still omitted, see here).

Check the Hearing Voices website for local terrestrial stations and schedules so you can tune in on yer ole’ Bakelite Tabletop 1940’s tuner… or listen on a computer or on yer phone (I’ll post the show mp3 link as soon as it’s available).

UPDATE: Here is the audio link.

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Hey New Yorkers, join me Thursday, February 25th, as I tell a live story at Kevin Allison’s “RISK! True Tales Boldly Told!” (at 92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street, NYC, 7PM). The theme of the evening is “BLINDSIDED: Didn’t See It Coming!” I’ll be sharing the stage with Rachel Dratch, Andrea Rosen, A.D. Miles, Michelle Collins and Andy Christie… should be a wacked-out evening. This is my virgin foray into live storytelling/stand-up, so bring yer tomatoes! (haha) You can buy tickets here.

UPDATE: the Risk! audio podcast of the evening is up here or here (episode Blindsided!) Here’s also an mp3 link. I told the audience a story about the time a friend and I drove from Dallas to Austin naked during the 80’s, and I forgot about a bunch of stuff that was in my car. Went well! (the story that is) Pics of the evening can be found here, here and here.
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Check out my latest article for AfterElton.com: “Professional Bull Riding” Ropes In Gay Fans…a look at PBR’s popularity from a gay slant. Interviews with IGRA 2009 bull riding champ Wade Earp, bull riding/reality TV guy Steven Daigle, renowned gay sports author Patricia Nell Warren, IGRA President Brian Helander & and PBR’s own Flint Rasmussen…

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Comments Off on Recent Trips: Mark & Jim’s Pre-Valentine’s Day Drive to the World’s Largest Kaleidoscope, Woodstock/Mt. Tremper, NY

In 2007 Jim made a solo record called Feelings Hog. He was coming off of the informal dissolvement of his previous band, Jim & Jennie & the Pinetops, and segueing into The Blue Ribbon Mountain Boys and other collectives he plays with here in the Catskills region. Many of the bluegrass and old tyme musicians he currently works with are on this recording. All but two of the songs are written by Jim. Some are acoustic versions of old J&J&TPT audience favorites, particularly “This One’s on Me.” Jim has sort of moved-on musically, but I remember him working on this material, and recording it all in our living room in 2007… it brings brings back a lot of memories. The record has a stripped-down, demo feel (which it is) that I like. I realized there was nowhere to even hear it on the web, so I’ve put it here (a downloadable megaupload .zip file here). I’ve also provided a direct mp3 link to “I’ve Put on Makeup Since You’ve Left.” Here is a link to the back cover. The title Feelings Hog came up during a fight we had, and I accused him of being one.

Jim Krewson Feelings Hog (2007)
1. The Big Grey Store
2. This One’s on Me
3. Underage Pussyhounds
4. I’ve Put on Makeup Since You Left
5. Oh, Dinah
6. The Minivan Song
7. No Train to Stockholm
8. Gee, But You’re a Stinker
9. Luang Prabang

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Author Sam Benjamin has interviewed me about my eight year relationship with Jim. Let the dirt spill! You can find it at Sam’s site, here (kudos to Sam!)

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