Puttering about this afternoon, we came across this jewel in the video archive. Though previously posted, it's worth a second pass. An ode to former colleague Steve Cipoletto, it summoned wistful tears of laughter because he was hilarious company and because he's long gone. Mind you, Steve's not dead, he just lives in Palm Springs.
And if you knew Steve, the locale is as perfect as it is absurd. This is a man who was known to regularly chase a tin of sardines with a shot of espresso each morning at the shop, stage-dive at Ramones shows, and regularly copy Old Masters' etchings in the evenings. In one sense, he seemed too ragged and urban raw to end up in a resort town. Then again, legend has it that Palm Springs is peopled with many unlikely types, so I guess he fits right in. Either way, we really miss him.
This video was taken during an installation in Hong Kong. At the end, he quips that he'll retire to Hollywood. He was prescient. A year later he bid farewell, we wept, and he strode into the desert to lounge by pools in the county next door.
