NewFest is happenin, baby!

Brooklyn Girls played at NewFest on Saturday, with the Musical Shorts program. It was really well received, people fell on the floor in seizures. Well, they whistled and stomped! (Was that just me?) Genny Pavitt and Marz Mikeo of Hooray for Goodbye joined me, as producers of the video!

It ran with some really cool other musical films and music videos including (my favorite, apart from “Brooklyn Girls”) “A Place to Visit” the video for Luff directed by Brian Gonzalez; the video about gay parents called “I’ve Got You” (director Camrin Pitts, who was there in NYC for the first time was very sweet. The musical artist was Melange Lavonne) and Fagette (Athens Boy Choir) directed by Ali Cotterill, who joined us for brunch later and who is also really sweet.
Kenny Hillman had two films in the festival as well so it was really cool to catch up with him, and Nicole Opper (whose film was playing at the same time as mine, so I’ll have to catch it later..) and Desi Del Valle, whom I always love to see. We had such a nice time. I’m looking forward to seeing Mississippi Damned and Against a Trans Narrative (dir. Jules Rosskam) on Tuesday.

Genny Pavitt, Katrina del Mar & Marz Mikeo at NewFest '09 photo by Sarah Greenwood

Ali Cotterill, Katrina del Mar & Kenny Hillman at NewFest '09 photo by Sarah Greenwood

Fighting Parking Tickets

Betsy Todd said I need to post this on my blog since it’s hilarious and sounds like a crazy, cranky, lunatic artist wrote it. Uhm…not such a far stretch.

Katrina del Mar

P.O. Box 1203

New York, NY 10276

 

Date: June 3, 2009

To: New York City Department of Finance

Parking Violations Hearing by Mail Unit

PO Box 29021 Cadman Plaza Station

Brooklyn, New York 11202-9021

 

To Whom it may Concern:

I am writing to contest two summonses numbered XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXX.

These summonses were issued not because I hadn’t renewed and displayed my registration, but because the new registration sticker wasn’t yet adhered to the glass of my windshield.

I have arthritis in my hands*, and the OLD registration sticker is very difficult to remove. In fact, I tried to remove it so I could affix the new sticker but the space between the glass and the dashboard in my vehicle is very narrow. (SEE ATTACHED PICTURES) I didn’t want to have a messy, unreadable new sticker!

I realized that I needed a special scraping tool. So I PLACED THE NEW REGISTRATION STICKER IN PLAIN VIEW ON THE DASHBOARD, until I could GET TO A HARDWARE STORE and purchase some kind of TOOL to REMOVE THE OLD REGISTRATION STICKER.

When I received these summonses, I was furious!  I am aware that the city needs money, but this seems like DELIBERATE HARASSMENT to me.

I am a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen, an artist, and long time citizen of New York City. I’ve been living here since the late 80’s.

I am also a member of the so-called ‘disappearing middle class:’ I have never been one of the wealthy elite, and I have also never collected welfare.  I do my very best to rise to the occasion; to make my way and pay my way, and in New York City, it hasn’t always been easy.

This city is a wonderful, complex, sometimes difficult place to live. Rent is expensive, food is expensive, and keeping a car is expensive. But I choose to make this place my home.

I believe that this harassing, over-fining, nickel & diming of someone who is clearly doing their best to follow the law is a reprehensible abuse of power, and it’s part of what leads people like myself to want to leave this town altogether.

PLEASE dismiss these spurious, unnecessary tickets. I have enclosed proof that I have now adhered the new sticker properly to the windshield glass, I have enclosed proof that it was necessary to not only purchase a special tool, but to also get help from a nimble, narrow-handed friend to remove the old sticker properly**.

I hope you will please dismiss this matter. I appreciate your help and your kind attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

 

 

Katrina del Mar

PLATE  NO. XXXXXXX  NY  PAS

*I do have mild arthritis in both my thumbs, so this is not a lie

**Okay, this is slightly embellished.

“Brooklyn Girls” at NewFest

 

Hooray for Goodbye "Brooklyn Girls" Video Still directed by Katrina del Mar

“Brooklyn Girls” a music video I directed for Hooray for Goodbye is playing at NewFest in NYC this weekend. June 6th @ SVA theater in Chelsea.