StorePast Event
Last Address Tribute Walk: Times Square
Date:
Sunday, May 5, 2019 from 3:00pm–5:30pm
Price: FREE
Visual AIDS Event
For the seventh annual Last Address Tribute Walk, Visual AIDS Programs Director Alex Fialho led a tribute walk to the Last Addresses of five sites marked by cultural and AIDS-related histories in Times Square.
Readers, tributes and locations included:
Jaime Manrique at the last address of Reinaldo Arenas (1943–1990) (328 W. 44th St)
Samuel Delany at the former address of The Capri Theatre (738 8th Ave)
Frederick Weston at the former address of Stella’s (266 W. 47th St)
Sabrina Artel at the last address of Reza Abdoh (1963–1995) (142 W. 44th St)
Harmonica Sunbeam and Precious Ebony at the former address of Escuelita (301 W. 39th St)
The program began at AMC Empire 25 with an introduction and screening by Ira Sachs of his short film Last Address (2010) and a reading by Samuel Delany from “Times Square Red, Times Square Blue.” The Last Address Tribute Walk then moved to the streets of Times Square, honoring artists lost to AIDS at their last residential addresses, as well as former sites of community, sex, and creativity. Visiting places of cruising, housing, and care, the seventh annual Last Address Tribute Walk located social life in the midst of the AIDS crisis.
Though these may now be Lost Addresses and Last Addresses, the histories of these sites and the lives and creativity they have inspired continue to impact a new generation. At each stop, a drawing by Win Mixter and a rose were left in tribute. Through the constellation of readings and roses, drawings and doorsteps, the Last Address Tribute Walk situated community through remembrance and response.
Inspired by Ira Sachs’ film Last Address, Visual AIDS’ past Last Address Tribute Walks have revisited the former addresses of artists lost to AIDS, to remember their lives and highlight their artistic legacies, as well as sites of cultural and activist AIDS-related histories. The annual program has featured doorstep readings in tribute to over 30 artists and sites outside addresses in Chelsea, the West Village, the East Village, the Lower East Side, and the Meatpacking District.
Last Address Tribute Walk: Times Square was supported in part by the Times Square Alliance and Visual AIDS program funders.
Participant Biographies
Sabrina Artel is a performer, journalist and educator. You can find her work at: www.trailertalk.net. Coming from the NYC downtown performance scene—working for years as a collective member of the WOW Café Theatre in the East Village—Sabrina was a founding member of Reza Abdoh’s theatre company, dar a luz, and performed with him until his death. She says about The Last Address Tribute, “For Reza Abdoh always and those who resist, using their voices, bodies and art at great risk and sacrifice.”
Samuel R. Delany is a renowned novelist and critic. He is the winner of the Bill Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature, and the author of Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders. His publication Times Square Red, Times Square Blue has been republished by New York University Press this year as a 20th Anniversary Edition. His website is www.samueldelany.com
Precious Ebony is a vogue commentator from the House of Ebony. In speaking to Escuelita's influence, Precious says "My life was delicate to the bass that Escos pumped in my heart!!! Which made my love as loud as the music!"
Jaime Manrique is a Colombian-born novelist, poet, essayist, and translator. In speaking to his relationship with Reinaldo Arenas, he says “Reinaldo Arenas was my neighbor from the time he arrived in New York until the moment he took his life. I'm from Colombia, he was from Cuba. Of the many things we had in common, I think the warmest bond was our love of the Caribbean sea.”
Harmonica Sunbeam is a hostess, actor, comedian and drag performer who hosted Sunbeam Sundays for 12 years at Escuelita. It was her first weekly gig in a predominantly Latino environment that quickly accepted her with open arms.
Frederick Weston has been a Visual AIDS artist member since 1998. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Weston moved to New York to enter the world of art and fashion in the early 1970's. His work communicates the soul of a thoughtful man feeling his way through physical realities and representation in America.
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