(1980) Volume 3, Number 3

              volume 3 number 3 cavellini comes to california cavellini's arrival from italy was an event in itself even the customs officials wanted to know who was coming in from where since they had never seen such a motley group await ing the arrival of any foreign guest let alone the greatest all had stickers on costumes adorned some others wore cavel lini masks which were xerox replicas of his face tied around each head what a motley crew indeed and then he arrived not the least tired available for photographs even bringing along his own photographer ken damy who was assigned the documentation of the trip as well as the filming of ex cerpts in order to create a film called cavellini in california choreographed by madeline bibi behren-brigham the arrival worked efficiently the group all assembled on the motorized cable car which had been rented for the occa sion driven by an artist too as the car left the airport cavellini did not see the scenic part of san francisco until he got to north beach but there we picked up other artists along the way then across the golden gate bridge on a very cold damp foggy day to the other side to take pictures and toast each other with california white wine a chinese dinner ended the evening before taking cavellini and his photographer to the mansion an old restored victorian hotel which was to be his address for a few days in san francisco artists started arriving from new york arkansas in fact russell butler traveled three days on the train to get to california for the dada festival and cavellini was indeed flattered artists came from montreal and vancouver from all parts of california as well during his short stay in san francisco and for two weeks i became cavellini's english-speaking voice except for a few hours substitition by some italian-speaking women we were interviewed for newspapers interviewed on video for a group of students performed on video for la mamelle inter viewed for independent video companies the philosophy the art the thoughts of cavellini became mine he was wined and dined given parties and honored with a welcome sign in postcard palace and a display blessed with good wea ther after the gloomy and cold arrival day california turned on for cavellini the ride to ukiah was beautiful with northern california showing its rich landscape rolling hills cascades roses and much more checking in at the palace hotel cavellini was assigned the honeymoon suite which was the finest suite of rooms in the hotel there a chair created by buster cleve land was decked in stickers for his delight after a very few minutes of rest he began to draw portraits of anna banana and buster cleveland as samples for what he wanted to do to raise money for mendo dada and later for l.a dada he was good quick and right to the point in his profile portraits may 1980 and he knew it but what irony no one can really describe the entrance into the saturday afternoon club a staid conservative fixture in the commu nity who knew cavellini so well but where ladies met to drink tea every saturday afternoon tables went on forever decked with fresh flowers linen tablecloths formal waiters and soon crowds of people these people were from the community of ukiah who came to dine with cavellini a name they had become familiar with over the previous three years but only now would they come to know the man gac went around to all the tables with me greeting each one with a warm handshake and a beguiling smile he had a grace of a prince and you could tell the impression he made the feast went slowly and well armed with bottles of good california wine which was consumed with great joy by the 200 strong who came to dine the feast was prepared by four ukiah young cooks and served with finesse by artists and friends of mendo dada the vibes everyone felt and when cavellini was asked to say a few words he told them that if america has trouble with the elections this year they can call on him to run for president and he had all the votes of ukiah in his lap that night the rest of the evening was spent in improvisational per formance hosted by anna banana and buster cleveland and there was magic in the air everyone had no more than five minutes and for some strange reason the performances were tight powerful and forceful mingling sound poetry and ac tion humor and drama and nothing was planned anna and buster served as remarkable m.cs throughout and issn 0160-0699