Dr. Lisa Gives a Sh*t

Yoshi Sakai is a super talented artist who is showing at my gallery, @Dog_House_Gallery for funny artists at The Brooklyn Comedy Collective. She was here all week and we sort of worked together since I have to manage working with the BCC inside of their busy space.

So it was super cool to have gotten to know her and her work process before she came on the show. Yoshie is the first artist in her family and also (first) second generation. Yoshie trained as a professur in great and Latin, but at 30 took a turn and discovered art.

Yoshie is very self-effacing, but in my fake-shrink opinion—I think shes self-effacing mostly because she cant quite grasp how successful she is at something so unusual and personal.

I also think her humility is part of the secret sauce which makes her work so good.

See Yoshie's work and more HERE

Follow Yoshie on Instagram: @yoshie_sakai_studio

Yoshie's Artist Statement:

I create characters that respond and negotiate contemporary social issues of cultural identity, gender roles, and familial and personal relationships. As a subtly transgressive undercover cultural agent, I expose the absurdities of manipulative social structure while humorously struggling and reveling in those structures as a participant.

By staging my videos within intimate installations that become psychological and imaginative playhouses, I give form to our vulnerability and evoking, sometimes, nervous laughter. My sculptures are created from found objects and composed into imaginary characters and interior sceneries grounded in both tangible and fantastical domesticity. I use tropes including East Asian soap operas, Hollywood musicals, and the wellness industry to expose the anxieties of aspiration, model minority myths, and filial piety through the lens of the longstanding, yet under-represented Japanese American community in South Los Angeles.

My ongoing project has been an East Asian/Asian American hybrid soap opera video installation series called “KOKO’s Love,” where I challenge the “model minority” myth to reveal the guise of superficial “perfection” of being a 1.5 generation Japanese American woman—the “.5” feeling of not belonging to either the first generation or the second. Loosely autobiographical, I felt it was important to write, produce, direct, and play every character as a performative process.

My work is about accessibility while nurturing human connection. I plan to focus on grandparents and the challenges within a family structure of varying generations in order to encompass a wider audience beyond “KOKO’s Love.” My work can function as a a critique of capitalism’s production of space and ways of being, while also drawing on popular forms of entertainment and media to engage diverse audiences, especially those historically devalued, ignored, and seen as burdens.

People often ask, “Why are you so happy all of the time?” and my response is “It’s better than crying.” Ultimately, in my work I would like to continue the exploration of humor as a complicated intersection where hope, happiness, anxiety, and darkness reside much like our society, a tension-filled existence of both criticality and complacency.

I had the great fortune of meeting Claire at an open mic in Bushwick. After they called my name she came up to me and asked me if I knew her parents. I did.

Claire Pelllegrino has known of me since she was born because I am a leading character in her parent's, Jean Galton and Ron Pellegrino's origin story.

I was really close to her mother bacaue we both worked for the same difficult boss at our first jobs in advertising. And I met her Dad while I was working at other agency freelance. I dated him for about 6 months. And as Claire already knows, they met at an apartment party I had. Ron and I had broken up by then and were good friends, and as was Jean and I, even though we were no longer working together. It seems like Jean and Ron were a case of love at first sight. And in my very own home.

And as I tell Claire-he traumatized me once on a date for not letting me to get off a bus in New Jersey to the bathroom. Looking back I'm glad he dissuaded me—we'd still be wandering around NJ.

Even tho I had nothing to do with shaping her now, I do take pride in her report that her parents were a good match and me cause of me. The weird thing for her I think is that even though, she's never seen me interact with her parents, I knew so m much about them. It made me so pleased to hear Claire discuss how happy and grateful for her parents doing such a great job in raising her which she describes beautifully.

Claire is a super talented comedian. Check her out on Insta! @pellegrino_claire

Sarah and I met at an open mic and then bumped into each other again on the street in Buswick. Sarah is a objectively beautiful and sexy. Dr. Lisa is curious as to what it would be like to be so attractive, grounded and self-possessed, which is her idealize version of what she would have dreamed to be like at that age-20-30s. In turn Sarah sees Lisa as a role model—someone who makes being older ok, fun even. Dr. Lisa is pleasantly surprised to find Sarah to be so pragmatic and intentional about her life goals for someone who seems as fun as Sarah. Sarah is the real role model here.

Poet, novelist, aesthete. https://stephanievalente.com/

 Stephanie Athena Valente lives in Brooklyn, NY. Her published works include Hotel Ghost, waiting for the end of the world, Little Fang, and Spell Work (Bottlecap Press & Giallo). Featured writing includes Witch Craft Magazine, Maudlin House, and Hobart. She is the associate editor at Yes, Poetry. Sometimes, she feels human. stephanievalente.com

Stephanie Valente - Internet Girlfriend

56k dial-up. Ouija boards. Crushes.

Internet Girlfriend explores the intersection of the internet, the occult, and sexuality.

These poems mirror the abyss: divination, webcamming, myth, instant messages, queerness, witchcraft—all in the name of trying to feel something.

Praise for Internet Girlfriend

Stephanie Valente’s Internet Girlfriend oozes with style. In an age of Y2K nostalgia, this collection of poems somehow makes the dial-up days feel glamorous while also experimenting with form in such a way that makes me excited for the future, assuming it will contain more poetry like this. These poems are a mystical time warp, a sequined occult ritual, and a lip gloss kiss stain emoji all at once. Valente writes: “please make / everything feel / opalescent // now and / forever” & that is exactly what every single poem in this collection does. — Kailey Tedesco, author of She Used to be on a Milk Carton, Lizzie, Speak, and FOREVERHAUS

Peter and his girlfriend have been together for 6 years, living together for 1/2 that time. Peter's really happy in the relationship, but doenst need to have anything change. Peter's girlfriend wants to buy an apartment with him. IS co-home ownership a red herring for a ring? Props to Peter he was open minded and willing to talk which I don’t necessarily take for granted in males. 

Peter is an excellent artist! Check out his work HERE: https://www.peterschenck.com/

Follow him HERE @pbschenck

I don't get the chance to meet people like Franklin Rossman often enough. Someone who had found a big part of his life of sharing his art to improve young people's lives who are too often overlooked by public education. Franklin shares a fascinating story of growing up and the role music played in his life which led him to the role of Regional Director, New York for Guitars Over Guns.

@franklinrossman @guitarsoverguns

Franklin Rossman Bio:

Growing up, Franklin Rossman always knew one thing—he was going to make his mark in Hip-Hop! As a kid, the Brooklyn, New York native soaked up all of the culture and sounds around him. JAY-Z, the Notorious B.I.G. and Nas helped to inspire Franklin’s musical tastes and aspirations. With that, Franklin began creating, and his first works were a series of mixtapes under the stage name, The Incomparable Shakespeare.

Franklin established himself as a talented lyricist early on with appearances on Sirius XM’s Sway In The Morning, Showoff Radio with Statik Selektah, and MTV. He’s performed alongside Hip-Hop luminaries including Slick Rick, The Lox, and has collaborated with the likes of Kool G. Rap, Sean P, and others.

In addition to music, Franklin is intimately involved in education. He developed and piloted a Hip-Hop ELA curriculum. His work explores literacy through Hip-Hop, bringing a socially and culturally relevant approach to learning across schools and community organizations. For multiple summers, in partnership with Harlem Children’s Zone, he helped coordinate literacy-based programming at Columbia University. With over a decade of experience in the classroom and the entertainment industry, Franklin remains committed to youth development.

Guitars over Guns Mission Statement:

Kids are awesome. They’re creative. They’re fearless. They’re bursting with energy and hungry for knowledge. They know how to make the most of every opportunity.

But kids from our most vulnerable communities don’t always have the chance to discover just how awesome they can be. These kids are filled with promise. They have big dreams and bold stories to tell. And yet, due to circumstances and systems beyond their control, they don’t always know that they have the freedom to choose a path of their own.

At Guitars Over Guns, we’re changing that through music, because we believe that music, combined with strong, consistent mentorship, can reshape the trajectory of a student’s life.

Accomplished painter and portrait artist and now curator! recently completed a 365 portrait a day project so we get to find out what the experience was like for her since they were all done from live subjects. Brenda is also the mother of a lovely teenage girl, Oona and it affected her too. A lot of unexpected stuff here! http://brendazlamany.com/

Max and Guillaume are two musicians from Massachusetts who work for Metro Art Collective, an organization hosting a variety of artistic events dedicated to showcasing underground local talent. As well as making their own music, they revel in the opportunity to meet and build relationships with the local artistic community.

Gulliame is a fellow RFB host-hes only 24 and hes been doing his show since April. He does his radio show with his cohost Max Randall. who today, unfortunately, had to work. Even though I've benn aware of his show,and met Max, this is the first time I've met Guillaume in person. He is studying to be an actual credentialed psychotherapist at the New School. He also has 2 part time jobs, one as a student crisis councelor and one as a substance- abuse councelor. He seems to have had a decent chilhood with some discussion around his father being a high-achieving workaholic. Guillame talks about his dad's influence in reference to how much Guillame values his relationships. At the end of the day Guiallame is concerned he is not focussing on him music enough to satisfy him and with a little digging, we find out his organization and discipline could be better. He's taken steps recently to improve so we agree to meet again in 6 months to chart his progress—stay tuned!

I met Elija Meshnick briefly at an open mic. We vibed instantly so I invited them on the show. They're a comedian, also pretty well-adjusted but still has some issues around popularity from being compared to her gregarious fraternal twin. They have ADHD issues—do they have it or not? Does a diagnosis matter? We were able to drill down and get a lot done while still having a blast!

@elijah.mesh

unyielding force of good (silly)🪲

@bigquestionsshow 11/14 🎟️👇🏻

@ratattooeee

big-questions-comedy-show.eventbrite.com

Justin Linville is a talented actor and improviser. He’s on a star improv team at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective where he works as the director of the BCC Dog House location. Justin seems to really enjoy growing up in his family and was encouraged to do what he chose to, so in fact, he’s actually pretty well adjusted. I think his being an “air force brat” and moving around a lot every few years made him a pretty chill guy — his secret weapon is his ability to handle hectic situations productively, which he did as Chris Gethard’s assistant for years as well as playing John Mulaney’s assistant on TV in “Crashing.” He’s been in a bunch of tv shows and movies too. As he’s young, he is deliberating his future….

Also WATCH Bob Denver:

Gilligan's Island: https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/gilligans-island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilligan%27s_Island

The Many Loves of Dobie Gilllis: https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-many-loves-of-dobie-gillis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Many_Loves_of_Dobie_Gillis

More about Justin

IMBD