Celebrity Junk Drawers and Fish Rodeo

JunkThief knew he just couldn't let the show Celebrity Junk Drawer at 111 Minna Gallery come and go without dropping in and paying homage and was glad to know that ever dapper and witty Bryce Digdug was interested in going. (Halfway there, JunkThief realized that he'd forgotten to write down the address but managed to find it by dumb luck.) Upon arriving for the gallery's "art happy hour" imagine the horror as the doorman checked the IDs of the mainly 20-something crowd but waved Bryce and JunkThief in despondently and told them to put away their wallets! Though the velvet rope outside was a bit much, those horse heads made them feel as if this were "21." Or "Twin-tea-one" as the true inner circle call it. (JunkThief still lunches there when in Manhattan and feels the need to dish dirt with old chum Lee Radziwell who loves to recount stories of her 1967 TV appearance in the title role of Laura.)

Since it was a free show and Bryce and JunkThief didn't imbibe except for the sights, they really couldn't afford to complain about the music volume level and young 'ins blocking the view, oblivious to the fact that this was a, uh, you know, gallery and not just another bar. While disappointing that there were only 7-8 of Mecier's works on display, the ones there were great fun. Kathy Griffin against a backdrop of Clay Aiken was a particular treat. Mecier also does great things with keys as a medium. However, there are even more over here on Mecier's site. It was too bad that the show doesn't include Charo, Carol Channing or Morgan Fairchild.

Regardless, Mecier's work is really clever and often stunning and made from real junk -- matchbooks, curlers, pencils, food package, gum wrappers, you name it. And he doesn't seem to ever resort to painting the junk but grouping the found objects to create ranges of one shade.

Having Bryce captive for a while, JunkThief had to ask about that dapper gentleman in his Frappr photo on the right. Well, it's not really Bryce, we're sorry to reveal (though Bryce has been known to hang out with the yacht club crowd) but someone at the Louisiana "fish rodeo". Most of us have never heard of such an animal, but apparently that's where embattled Louisiana Senator David Vitter met one of his madams. Only in Louisiana, apparently.

Speaking of Frappr photos, Bryce pointed out the curious shot of the young man from Morocco offering his phone number on the right. JunkThief doesn't know a way to get rid of a photo once it's on there. The bigger question is, do you think that's his thumb or (as Bryce thinks) is he showing...oh, we don't want to go there.


UPDATE: Call it irony, call it kismet that this entry was posted hours before the announcement of Tammy Fae (yes, the second image with the dog) leaving the living. In case it's been a while since you hear it, here is a portion of her classic "The Ballad of Jim and Tammy Fae"