Ann Liv Young naked in 25 degrees at the Sanctuary of Hope. — Photo by Ellen Letcher.

It often seems that several interesting events cluster on the same date. This past Saturday, November 22nd, was one of those dates. I had four things I wanted to do: two art openings, a program of performances, and a music event. And they were all in the Greater Bushwick Metropolitan Area. More and more I ask myself, what’s the point of leaving Bushwick? There’s so much stuff going on in the hood now it’s getting downright confusing.

The first stop for my comrades and I was Fingered, at 255 McKibbin, for the Jason Yates opening. Fingered is the project space and loft residence of Harrison Owen, the man behind the DVD zine of the same name and Jason Yates is in the current issue. (Just in case you were wondering, Fingered is not named after the classic 1986 Richard Kern film of the same name. I asked.) Yates’ work is very outsider art with a big nod to Louis Wain in particular. The schizo-psychedelic overload of the work definitely rewards sustained viewing. And interestingly it manages to be obsessive and loose at the same time. This is worth checking out.

Lumenhouse, on Beaver St., was our next stop. The Nathan Boyer opening was in mid-swing when we got there. It’s an interesting exhibit of four videos and two paintings by an artist who currently lives in Missouri, though there’s nothing particular to Missouri in this work. The paintings made me think of Omni magazine illustrations which I loved when I was a kid. And the videos made me think of Michael Smith, on the one hand, and Jimmy Joe Roche on the other. The Lumenhouse space itself is amazing.

I would say our third stop, Sanctuary of Hope, was the social climax of the evening. Not only did we run into multiple people we knew there but the place had the same uplifting energy it had the last time I was there which was for The Revival in June. This time it was The Awakening: “a sanctification of an antinomian church.” The front of the space was decorated to suggest the outside, a weird reversal of sorts, and the audience was enthusiastically engaged in Ann Liv Young’s performance when we got there. I could not see what was going on. All I heard was psychotic feminist ranting. But as I lingered on the edge of the audience near the bar, the performance erupted from the audience at me. A woman (Ms. Young I presume) emerged from the crowd buck naked — not even wearing socks.

Channeling Iggy Pop and Lydia Lunch, she made aggressive sexual advances with her naked body at various guys and then disappeared back into the crowd. She was both scary and hot. A few minutes later there were more naked people. Let me say this: there should be more public nudity (art or otherwise). (This is another place I probably ought to mention Richard Kern. Have you ever seen his 80s films? There’s a lot of naked people freaking out and Lydia Lunch is one of them.) We also caught part of Dave Fink and Andy Janbek’s performance which also flared up in the middle of the audience. Is it a fight? Oh, no, it’s a performance. We left soon after the intermission when a group photograph of the congregation was taken in front of the church. In retrospect I wish we had stayed and watched the remaining performances.

Starr Space was our final destination. The event there was the Miami Ice Machine release party for their EP Entertained by Statues. We got there shortly after they had taken the stage and, of course, just after Vic Thrill. I somehow always manage to miss the bands I really want to see at Starr Space. This poor track record goes all the way back to the first Starr Space show — the legendary Slits. There was a decent-sized crowd there but it was nothing like last week’s amazing Triple Canopy party. Miami Ice Machine was solid. I always have fun at Starr Space and I live almost across the street from the place. You can’t beat that.