Steffani Martin (1940-2024) RIP

It is with sadness that I have to say goodbye to my long-time friend Steffani Martin who left us September 1, 2024. I knew Steff for over 50 years. She was a profound thinker and was extremely funny with a quick wit. Whenever I called on her to take on a role as a co-conspirator in one of my performances, she was always there for me. She appeared in the Fat Squad portraying a “fat client” when I hoaxed David Hartman on Good Morning America in 1986.

In 1990, she played a telephone receptionist for both Comacocoon and Hair Today, LTD., launched simultaneously from the same apartment, and she appeared on Italy’s RAI TV coverage of the two performances. In 1995, she played a computer technician in the Solomon Project, my hoax about AI replacing the American judicial system, a fabrication that CNN fell for hook, line and sinker.

In real life, among other endeavors, she was a college administrator and later a pioneer supporting equal rights for women, particularly in the field of pornography. She was sought-after as a spokesperson on porn made specifically for women by women. Steff deserves a long and colorful obit to laud her many accomplishments, as well as a book about her life.

Joey Skaggs on Film

JOEY SKAGGS SATIRE AND ART ACTIVISM,
1960s TO THE PRESENT AND BEYOND

A new series of short oral history films,
produced and directed by Judy Drosd and Joey Skaggs


ART OF THE PRANK, THE MOVIE:
Andrea Marini’s award winning feature documentary about
New York artist and activist Joey Skaggs


This “sticky” post will be here for a while. Scroll down for other posts.


Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies, New Book

Cartoonist Stan Mack, a man with an uncanny sense of the ironic, has a new book coming out June 11, 2024, published by Fantagraphics. It chronicles his much revered Village Voice comic strip called Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies, which appeared weekly from 1974 to 1995. It’s a beautiful book that appropriately pays homage to his insight and talent. The book is available for pre-order here.

Columnist and author Joe Enright just published this wonderful interview with Stan: Tales of New York – an interview with cartoonist Stan Mack, Red Hook Star-Revue, April 9, 2024.

“Joey Skaggs: The Solomon Project” to screen at Miami Web Fest May 2, 2024

“Joey Skaggs: The Solomon Project” (16:22) will screen at Miami Web Fest

Thursday, May 2, 2024 as part of Screening Block #1
10:00 am to 12:30 pm
NYFA, 420 Lincoln Rd., #300, Screening Room 321
Miami Beach, FL
Tickets are here.

Where innovation meets the unthinkable!

In 1995, Dr. Joseph Bonuso, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), announced that he, along with 150 computer scientists and attorneys specializing in artificial intelligence, had developed a solution to the crisis of American jurisprudence, They were poised to radically revamp the entire judicial system using a distributed program running on a set of super computers that could deliberate on evidence and render swift, unassailable equal justice for all, putting judges in the back seat and relegating juries to history.

This is the tenth film in the oral history series “Joey Skaggs Satire and Art Activism oral history series“.

The Earlville Opera House, Still Standing After All These Years

In 1971, Joey Skaggs saved a derelict opera house that was about to be torn down in Earlville New York. Today, 50+ years later, it is a thriving cultural centerpiece for Central New York. WBNG Channel 12 News covers its remarkable journey.


Earlville Opera House brings arts and culture to Chenango County for past 50 years, by Autriya Maneshni, WBNG Channel 12 News, November 20, 2023

The Earlville Opera House brings about 15 performers to Chenango County every year

EARLVILLE, NY (WBNG) — The tale of the Earlville Opera House is one of perseverance. It’s about how a group of volunteers came together to save an abandoned building from the wrecking ball.

In 1887, the opera house was housed in an old Baptist church. That structure burned down. After a second structure was built, half of that building also burned down a couple of years after it was built. The third reconstructed opera house was beloved in the community and this one felt indestructible. However, the building closed its doors in the 1950s due to the evolution of technology.

In 1971, the opera house was threatened to be demolished. With this threat looming on the horizon, it felt as though the opera house would disappear from Earlville for good. A young artist and social activist named Joey Skaggs decided this wasn’t going to happen. “If I hadn’t come along and decided to save it, it wouldn’t be there. It would be a parking lot,” said Skaggs. Read the rest of the article and watch the video here.