Donning trenchcoats and various noir-esque hats, then leaving them behind our screen, The Naked Girls again dared to reveal both our bodies and full unadulterated flesh..! Oh, we left the hats on.

“In a stormy Balkan country, a land of violent politics and passion, where an American millionaire has gone very far astray…”

I  focused on Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op stories. The Continental Op is “Cooler-than-cool, an ungentle man you will never forget..” (as advertised on the back cover of my copy of the 1967 Dell paperback, when Lillian Hellman held the copyright to his works – which is a bit of a controversy on its own.)  I read “This King Business”, a story from The Big Knockover.

I wanted to keep Hammett humanized, however, in order to make sure his “poetry of violence” didn’t totally overshadow the man who is buried at Arlington National Cemetary, a veteran of two World Wars, and was blacklisted as a result of  McCarthyism in the 1950′s. His grave reads Samuel D Hammett — Dashiell was his mother’s maiden name.

To address this,  I read a few of his personal quotes, such as “Feed the Lettuce to the bunny and eat the bunny.” ha!

Lillian Hellman wrote the intro to the copy I own (bought in one of my favourite but sadly defunct used bookstores, in Duluth, Minnesota).  Hellman described an era when “Dash” was broke and in NYC.  Hammett had burned through all his money on items such an an expensive crossbow, and was living on a small advance for The Thin Man. She describes the care and pride he put into his work at this time. He stopped drinking and partying, and locked himself in a run down hotel to write. She also describes how everyone wanted to be liked by him. He was the guy who the guards called “sir” in jail. He was that guy.

Also during our Pulp fiction brunch, held on a Sunday noon-time hour, we played a game called “Judge A Book By Its Cover”. We splayed out all the books we had collected on our reading table and let our guests — we had a grand old time with this! — choose a few, then we opened to a random page and began to read. That for me is one of the delightful aspects of this type of collection of books.

I read Asimov’s Choice: Astronauts & Androids (1977). Co-edited by George H. Shithers! I was thrilled, intrigued! THE Isaac Asimov, from the Golden Age of Science Fiction! Co-editor associated with Weird Tales ! As I told the audience, upon reading this, now perhaps I have gained interest in becoming a science professor, (yes, in one of my many lives..). The passage I was prescribed to read had to do with a big build-up to….. helium! …and we all know that it’s one of the more scintillating elements.  I have a few guesses as where they were going with this.

Now I’m starting to miss Carl Sagan. (only kidding..- just making sure you’re not asleep).

Well, lovers of literature and public reading, I must go. Here’s some Recommended Reading Related to our topic:

–M. G. Braun’s counterspy adventures with Al (Alex) Glenne — and friends! — exploring everywhere from the coast of Sudan to Atlantis (also one of my pet subjects!!) ! Francophiles can read them in French, and if not, there are a bunch of English translations…). Hey, if you decide to subscribe to our book club I am REALLY taking an interest in them…

–  I also found “From Surrealism to Less-Exquisite Cadavers”, which explores the French Roman Noir, written by Michelle Emanuel, a modern language expert at Ole Miss.!! You go girl!!!!

—Ian Fleming’s Thrilling Cities — Adventure-charged visits to sinful cities such as Tokyo, Naples, Hong Kong, Chicago, and Macao!!!

Oh, yes, and speaking of film, where I started with this blog—Join us on Fri, Feb. 5th for The Naked Girls Go To The Movies!!!

We read A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, for December’s Naked Girls Reading. We read it together,  one by one.  We shared the book and told the story. Possibly this public reading would have been shocking but hopefully heartwarming to C. Dickens himself. Ah, even the cops were there for our reading event.. more on that in Greta’s Blog.

Anyway, this tale was a popular hit right away, but poor Charles lost money on it that first year or so, because it was “pirated” in January 1844, after being published in December 1843…Dec. 19th… Wonder what day of the week that was?  He paid for the printing out of his own pocket, accepting a percentage instead of an advance. I thought that was interesting, seeing how it panned out in terms of popularity, what with the whole debacle of the piracy issue. Anyway, he began reading it in public, often, about 10 years after it was published. We are carrying on the tradition.

Reading it prompted me to grab my copy of The Old Curiosity Shop, a curiosity itself I keep on my desk. It is a dusty Penquin Edition printed in the UK in 1972! I won’t even go into the eroticism I feel for reading and touching old delicious paperbacks…Ok, I did. I imagine (I hope!) many of you choose the books you want to read by the tactile benefits of how they are bound, how the paper may feel, the typeset, or how old (or new?) they are? Yes?

I digress, but bear with me, it comes around. (We had a beautiful edition of A Christmas Carol, btw…!).

The Old Curiosity Shop begins with the words…”Night is generally my time for walking.” The images and feeling of restlessness and observation in just the first pages of this book cut to the core for me. I love the writing of Charles D. — The oddball characters, the juicy juicy descriptions of life in the moment. And, in A Christmas Carol, which we read with zest (I think..!)…one of the most profound tales of reflection. By force, no less.

Mr. Dickens.. (I’m having a really hard time deciding how to refer to him….it’s late…) Anyway, he seems to like “walking at night” descriptions. You must know David Copperfield, who has some great streetlights with which he is quite friendly.  So I guess I’m coming around to the greatest night walk of all, the one we take on Christmas Eve, ghosts, chains, and all, in A Christmas Carol. Hey, it’s a ghost story and a morality tale….ahhh.

See you next month for the ultimate hangover brunch…Pulp Fiction Brunch– Sunday, January 3rd. You can see what we look like in the morning.!

Halloween, and the month of October in general, always causes me to — I don’t know. See ghosts. It’s weird. Summer is over, and the change makes me think about..I know it sounds scripted, but, really… the paranormal. Therefore, the readings I chose this month were all takes on that feeling.

I read “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He has a sad and interesting biography and was a visionary in many different ways, plus had interesting and intense relationships with his peers (I have a nice selection for you next month from one of them). He wrote Kubla Khan. He wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He and a friend imagined an ideal democratic community in America which Coleridge coined “Pantisocracy.” No, I’m not shitting you.

He even looked at real estate in Pennsylvania, on the banks of the Susqehanna and gathered up about 12 men who needed to then procure, well, wives, to start the scheme. It didn’t happen, and he later became a conservative in politics, albeit a very philosophical one.

Anyway, the mariner’s story is one of the most iconic and haunting poems I’ve ever read.

“It is an ancient Mariner

And he stoppeth one of three.”……

“He holds them with his skinny hand

“There was a ship,” quoth he.

Oh, you must read it, or re-read it. The whole bit about him grabbing the wedding guest, stopping one of three, with his scary skinny hands, his glittering eye–  oh, the whole poem slays me and that is just the beginning.

Nick Cave’s new book, “The Death of Bunny Munro,” caused me to ponder the Halloween theme because of his description of the internal chaos in the mind of his protagonist, Bunny Munro. The experience of loss of, um, sexual enjoyment and being completely displaced within the act certainly seemed like a bit of a nightmare to me. Especially in someone who thinks about it all the time, in a depraved, fascinating way….the self-reflexivity found in this character really grabbed me. Very sick, very funny.

Michelle and I traded lines to tell the beginning of the story of Lizzie and Laura in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market.” This narrative poem is luscious, and scary, and describes the forbidden in a way that has stuck with me always.

Oh, and I opted to “dress” with elements of some of  the iconic Man Ray photographs I love….I think it worked. I have to thank Karin Stone for helping me realize this.! Thanks!

Yikes, I really hope that the getting the creeps feelings go away. I had a good time reading this month, but I think we let something loose. I guess that’s the point.

My intro pick was “Me and My Body”, a book for children. It is also for adults who might want to brush up on their knowledge of how our body works, inside and out,in all of its anatomical glory.  I think this choice worked out well. We all need to know what’s going on inside, too, right. In simple language. Although isn’t the correct English “My body and I”??  “My body and Me?”

The fun of having all the “Who Wants to be a Naked Girl?” girls was the stunning diversity of their reading styles and choices. Plus I got to see their bodies. The words they read sometimes were in different  languages besides English (such as Spanish and Serbian -and you know the whole mouth and tongue is employed differently in every language…) They also mined some literature for both children and adults.  Suess and Shel Silverstein, in particular.  We heard a 60′s Sears clothing catalog  description translated into Spanish. (I requested that one…enabling my fetish of vintage magazines, catalogs, language and naked girls all at once).

Send over comments with what struck you during this very special Naked Girls Reading, and why.

]]> http://nakeddominique.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/i-want-to-be-a-naked-girl/feed/ 0 dominiquetrixx http://nakeddominique.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/summertime-is-contemplative-what-is-naked-time/ http://nakeddominique.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/summertime-is-contemplative-what-is-naked-time/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:52:35 +0000 dominiquetrixx http://nakeddominique.wordpress.com/?p=17 ]]> Summertime is an evocative word for me.

Our Naked Girls Reading Events in May and June were getting hotter and hotter (fetish?), but also more chilled out (incidental?). I think our audiences are becoming more rapt and intrigued, and coming back to see us each month to consider what’s happening.  We’re creating a continuity.  We have a truly unique moment, and a singular memory for each event, together as audience and performers/people. We like to believe our nakedness is an attraction for everyone.  A singular attraction.  Well, we knew that going into it. That’s an attraction for us, obviously.

We use this as a tool to lure you into our world of appreciation and love and hunger for poetry, literature, beauty, (both physical and metaphysical), comedy, literary figures and ideas, personalities and motivations. The way a writer’s words sound when we read them aloud…Learning more and more and enjoying the material we compile each NGR.

Everyone in our audience is realizing how passionate and serious we are about this, our readings, our handpicked choices. (and my handpicked 60′s Playboy girls that I love to show you!). We share them and look for feedback.  For those who have attended, and those who will, the aesthetics of NGR is hard to define in words. Ironically, because that is much of what we share.

We are having personal explorations and disclosures,we are laughing, we are being serious, and since we do choose to clothe ourselves only in shoes, jewelry, headpieces, and words, I think it’s a contrast once you are here between nudity as an incidental and nudity with our chosen accessory as a fetish.

Those of you attending are as much a part of the chemistry that I described above. Now that we’ve been successfully running Naked Girls for almost 6 months it’s time I had to reflect not just on the topics I choose each month but on the whole experience.

Ok, regulars. We love to see you at your candlelit tables, drinking wine or beer, or water. We see everyone and you have to be here to know how broad and diverse our audience is.

So, those that we see each month, or a few times, or those who attended even once, or who aspire to attend,  please send over your comments on what you feel about it, why we are here, why you attend. You challenge us, excite us , and keep us going! We love to talk to you afterward in person, too, and you’ve left us with great feedback.  See you soon. Over ice cream.
Hey, Can I have an editor??

The Stooges, one of the most fucked up,  beautiful fuckin’ experiences to hit the stage were described in Please Kill Me, rock testimony compiled by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, so I read a bit of history surrounding their first NYC show.  It bit me like a dog, those stories. check out the book if you haven’t already, you’ll see what I mean. 

I couldn’t forget my femme fatale of the month, so I also read some words in there about Nico and what it was (maybe) like to fuck her , be in the Fun House, and have her serve you wine and curry.

Hmmm, Michelle L’amour and I role played. Britney and Madonna, Dre and Snoop. Who knew we could rap and be naked at the same time. And do other things. Oh, hope you didn’t miss it.

I didn’t resist reading Adonais to nod to the Stones. If you don’t know what I mean, stay away from the pool. It’s rock and roll history.

Thanks to Eddie “King” Roeser  of Urge Overkill who is a friend of the Naked Girls. Hey, he’s not stupid. Ticket to L.A., Stull, Honesty Files. He rocked our little world and look up those songs if you don’t know them and put them in yr goddamn MP3 player, rocker.

Hey, don’t take our vinyl away so fast. If you want to put words on our bodies, maybe we’ll let you on June 12th.  As always, requests welcome.

I read Margaret Wise Brown’s Little Pussycat to you, and it seemed to go over well, so thanks for enjoying. Those illustrations are priceless. To lend to that, Michelle read Ms M. Wise Brown’s Goodnight, Moon, and, as she reported, it was moving as all hell. (Well, maybe she didn’t use those exact words). It was beautiful.

Astrid turned out to be everyone’s fave Playgirl this month. That’s cool. I guess tan lines aren’t that popular, no one seemed to love Ms. Jo Collins.  I, personally, think tan lines rock.

I was proud to read Edward Hirsch’s I Wish I Could Paint You.

Thanks for supporting our nude and wonderful ventures, and, hey, any requests for the ROCK, well, I’ll listen. See you soon.

There are a lot of people who consider things like empowerment. Our Courtesan theme challenged whether the servant is the master. Thanks, all, for considering all the possibilities.

With the selections I made, I tried to demonstrate a couple sides of power.

In The Passion Flower Hotel, by Rosalind Erskine, the list of charges for services the girls constructed seemed to connote power. The one who sets the price has the power, right? 

Oui magazine! Did our lovely lady, Leah, lose her power by posing and letting those crazy writers up in the Oui HQ grasp at straws and compare her to Sherman’s attacks? Whoa! Hey, now that’s power.

I’d love to hear what you think, Midnight Cowboys. Is it or isn’t it?  I’d love to hear what you think, all the wonderful women I saw and met the night we began our Naked Reading. 

Sometimes I also think that we were just enjoying the power of a beautiful tableau of Naked Ladies, and the simple aesthetic of it all, and the power of a roomful of people relaxing and reacting, and watching. We watched you, too. 

I’m always trying to decide what to read at bedtime. I have about a million magazines, books, newspapers, and, well, glasses of water on my bedside table. Actually, much of it is piled on the floor. Our next theme, of course, is BedTime Stories. I’ll surprise you. Send over your faves in the meantime! I’ll write again with something random when you least expect it, but goodnight for now!

These are two different quotes, and whoever can name the authors will be my best friend! (Well, not really, but you’ll make me very happy!)

Stay tuned right here for my blog.