Search results for: “root of twinkle”
-
root addendum
widows walk at spicer mansion 1992 
delta of venus at the greenman collective nye 1993 
lotus at beebee dairy 1994 
greenman collective before band rehearsal 1995 
jumbalaya at depot house last show august 1996 
outside the depot house last show august 1996 
greenman collective last show 11 september 1996 
portersville live at the mystic disc arts festival august 1998 all photos by michelle gemma
35mm film that i developed and printed at the greenman collective darkroom at taugwonk spur, and later in the darkroom in my backyard in mystic.
check out the root of twinkle volume 6 issue one summer 2020 here on portfire, plus the back issues to see more photographs of mystic life. -
PORTERSVILLE & GREENMANVILLE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 AT 5:45 PM
Mystic River Park
Join us for this special presentation on the unique history, arts, and culture of Mystic during the 1990s at Mystic River Park featuring the local artists, writers, and musicians who were there: Matthew Tarbox, Arden Levine, Michelle Gemma, Stephen Chupaska, and djshecky.
Matthew Tarbox, co-editor of Hozomeen Press, will present. Hozomeen Press published over 30 magazines and poetry chapbooks throughout the 1990s in Mystic. He will show the audience the Mason’s Stoup process, and how the originals were also used as promotional material.
Arden Levine, poet, author, literary editor and urban planner. Originally from Washington, DC and now living and working in New York City, she was saturated in Mystic and New London culture during her years as a Connecticut College student. She will be reading new work, including poems from her recent collection Ladies’ Abecedary (Harbor Editions, 2021), and discussing how the various art forms of female identity-assertion in the 1990s (from pop music to photography to politics) influence her approach to writing in the current moment.
Michelle Gemma, owner of Mystic Army Navy in Downtown Mystic. She became a fine art photographer and contributed to the iconic Mason’s Stoup and the Root of Twinkle, as well as being a founding member of Greenman Collective, where she housed her darkroom throughout the 1990s. She will discuss the impact of the Root of Twinkle on the Mystic art scene, and read from her forthcoming photography book, and show her most recent artistic creation: WEATHERALL- a music video which highlights the dance culture in Mystic in the 1990s.
Stephen Chupaska, writer, reporter, and producer. A member of The Day reporting staff from 2004 to 2011 and a former radio host, Stephen covered arts, culture, and politics in Southeastern Connecticut and San Diego, CA after growing up in the New London and Mystic music scene in the 1990s, including spending hours in front of the bins at Mystic Disc. Now a resident of New York City working as a communications professional, Stephen has developed and performed live storytelling (featured on Netflix and NPR) exploring the humor of ‘90s young adulthood.
djshecky, one of the house DJs at the famed Mystic dancehall “Mars Hall”, which is featured tonight in the “Weatherall” video production helmed by Michelle Gemma. He hosted a weekly radio show “Radio Post” on WCNI from 1990-1996, honing his layered style of mixing up to six sources into one cohesive mix. In addition, he has produced demo recordings for local bands at his Centraal Studio since 1997, spanning hip-hop, electronica, art rock, and indie rock bands from Mystic.
This event is free and open to the public.
Date:
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Time:
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Contact:
Michelle Gemma 860-536-1877 mgemmaphoto@gmail.com
Location:
Mystic River Park
http://www.eventkeeper.com/mars/xpages/xp_newpopevent.cfm -
10th Anniversary of PortFire!
Ten years ago, back in July 2011, we transitioned from a website called Mystic Music Archive to PortFire here. The Mystic Music Archive was a repository we created for some local Mystic and New London, Connecticut music from the 80s, 90s, and new releases.
To progress beyond just music – to expand to all the diverse artists inspiring us – we moved all of the albums and songs over to a new site – named PortFire after “the fuze or torch that lights rockets and fireworks” (yeah, a bit ambitious!) – and aimed to also begin including photography, writing, visual arts (especially collage), and new music from beyond just southeastern Connecticut.
We organized and worked to expand PortFire as a free zone for artists to post their recent work, following the DIY ethos of Hozomeen Press and other zines like Root of Twinkle from the 80s and 90s; but our campaign to expand eventually fell flat and only a few dedicated artists, especially Michelle Gemma, and Ellery Twining, published prodigiously to our free platform.
As an architect and editor of PortFire, I certainly wasn’t aggressive nor charismatic enough to smartly ‘market’ PortFire: no ads, no fees, not interested in profits, no baiting for page views, no social media strategies, no gimmicks – just not interested in any of that – which is perhaps to our detriment in many ways – arts and artists benefit from publicity. So please let us know if you have any ideas for us publicizing ourselves in a better way.
We exist for fellow artists to publish and speak and react to each other’s work, so we inspire each other and push each other’s art forward.
We will definitely keep running this site for the artists producing new work and publishing here (I still hope to rejoin those ranks!), as well as to host older music and zines for those who are curious, nostalgic, or want to hear the beautiful 17 Relics, Seratonin, or Low–Beam (and more!) – over ten fabulous independent bands can be found under the Music tab at the top of our site.
So, it really is hard to believe it has been ten years – while reminiscing and looking through the site this past week, I was surprised to rediscover the amount of inspiring content here – check out the right side of our main page, the Artist Collections, Tags, Search Bar, Archives in the lower right, and just feel free to explore – and thank you all so much for contributing and checking in over all these years –
If you’d like to publish your work here, please let us know at editors@portfire.org
Here is the first post that PortFire ever put up, to test the new site, about ten years ago – enjoy!
-
Depot House (from the 4 Roosevelt zine “Chez Depot”)
The Depot was an answer when we most desperately needed it.
Mystic itself was going though an enormous change. The recession of the late 80’s/early 90’s was a new wrinkle in the fabric of American life. Mystic had always been a town where most kids were able to go to college, and then were expected to move away to more prosperous places. For those of us coming of age at the time, there were no prosperous places to relocate to. Almost all of my friends who were accepted at prestigious institutions ended up graduating from UConn, or other state schools, as the paradigm shifted. Home was to be the haven, and we decided to build it to our own specifications. This was a Mystic first, having a community of young artists stay in their hometown to build a dream. But we really didn’t have any other choice.
This aesthetic allowed an atmosphere of possibilty. With the Depot existing , Mystic folk could return home to a real world, and Mystic kids could begin to think that there was an alternative to leaving town. The construct of this new actuality was the courant of its time. We called it “Post”.
As in -“Post Everything”- a way to destroy the cultural constrictions of art by using language as a weapon as well as a defining prayer. Music as communique toward a level that would have symbiotic relationships flourish into audiences. The written word that demanded to be the spoken word, with Hozomeen Press, Fuse,The Root of Twinkle, and Albert Kausch’s poetry series at the Packer helping to drive that momentum. “Post” was the realization of a common goal. And yet, beyond this cultural currency, it was simply being in that house- and making it work- that liberated us.
My most lasting memory of the Depot is the summer of 1992, when we were clinging to each other in an effort to not have to move back home. Matt Hamilton rented the closet under the stairs for $50 a month. The rest of the original members were paying $106 per month to reside there. The Greenman Collective was being built at the same time. We were as dependent on each other as we would ever be in our lifetimes. And that was exactly what we were trying to create.
This became the common thread winding its way through the lives of the Depot members. How do we all coexist? What were the parameters? How would commitment to discipline be attained?