Glory Whole, the closing performance of Festival of Live Art (F.O.L.A) is best described as a total mind fuck.
You could come to love it (my vote), or you could be repulsed and try to run away. Too late once you cross the threshold.
Is everybody in? Let the ceremony begin. Lizard King may even manifest tonight.
It would appeal to certain acolytes of the esoteric. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. From self-proclaimed Beast and spiritual questor Aleister Crowley and his Thelema movement.
The dread moment does not come immediately. A mutant female creature greets you on entering, with stuff she is grabbing out of a toilet bowl.
Ahh scatological the jaded cynic might say. Well, shut yer marf an’ open yer mind.
There are three small stages laid out in a semi-circle. On two stages are people costumed as radiation blasted mutants. Sprouting soft fleshy appendages and displayed in its raw nakedness.
The Elephant Man, with his neurofibromatosis, given the bad batch of mRNA vaccines and the horror body mutations have exploded. (Maybe they were all bad, keep it a secret for now).
Greco Romank are playing this show and are dealing out the electronic weirdo sacrificial sci-fi Art Terrorist flame thrower music.
Suicide (the group) as an entry point if you like. My Life in The Bush of Ghosts (David Byrne and Brian Eno) may be better.
I say this as the trio consist of Damiam Golfinopoulos keyboards and gadgets, Billee Fee chanteuse, Mikey Sperring vocals and various instruments.
Fee has the high operatic voice.
Saw the group for the first time at the Double Whammy opening concert last year. Very much an Underground art scene trio and getting impressive word of mouth.
The key performer of Glory Whole is Copper MaeSteal.
I would describe myself as a ‘drag creature.’ I love to play with the bizarre and the disturbing as well as playing with the glamorous. I love the contradictory elements and being able to play with that in people’s perspectives – so people can see something glamorous and bizarre at the same place, or something grungy in a glamorous place.
MaeSteal commands the triangular centre between the three stages.
Sperring on one axis, without appendages, gravel voiced and sweatimg. Fee opposite him with the extra-corporeal intestines. Golfinopoulos, similarly with wild mutant guts, mans the keyboards and maintains the sonic assault.
Next to Golfo is a male model on a constantly moving treadmill. It’s not fast but he keeps up for the hour and beyond.
Elements of eroticism, depravity and a strong sense of impending horror.
MaeSteal moves between the stages and confers appendages, grotesque masks and possibly weapons to the others.
Others in the audience appear to be collaborators. Strong horror elements from Cronenberg, reminding me of the Fly re-make, and his version of Naked Lunch.
I regret taking those sweets some kind witch offered to me before the doors opened.
People look weird. Are they all in this? The satanic secret house party sequence of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
An epiphany comes. I am back at university and some friends have persuaded me to attend the Engineer’s Smoko.
This was 1979 and the time of the notorious Haka Party incident. The Engineering faculty had a reputation for being a bunch of provincial yobs from heartland New Zealand.
If it’s brown, drink it. If it moves, fuck it. if it doesn’t move, fuck it and find out why. Their coda.
A bunch of misogynistic, homophobic, racist arseholes which I loathed (I would hope it’s different today).
Many were in white boiler suits (shades of Clockwork Orange) and beer was flowing. Wine was obviously too poofy. Then they locked the doors!!
They did let me out and I felt profoundly lucky to escape that night.
Strong elements of horror as I come to Present Time. If I was on any psychedelics, there would have been overwhelming paranoia and a strong urge to escape.
We are in the Belly of the Beast. This is coming from a man who has been repeatedly in and out of all the Auckland prisons, and the police cells.
(Relax. I worked as a prison and police doctor for many years).
It all becomes tribal and cabalistic. I still don’t fully trust that some of the audience won’t turn into demons. But I get into the beat and rhythm of the performance.
The most disturbing sequence was the waterboarding of Sperring by MaeSteal. Found myself saying No! Repeatedly.
To say that Glory Whole was a catharsis is an understatement. The performers did truly conjure something they may not have had full control of.
Rev. Orange Peel
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