Around lunchtime while waiting for the dirt samples to arrive, when the humidity and heat was excerable, I was asked, “We need to know … for ummm … ummm… the police … you know … they want to know if there’s any … ummm because you know tomorrow is uh …”, “Liu-si?”, I said. “Ah, yes! … if there is anything that ummm… for example alot of red, or flags … or if anything could be seen as … uh … you know …”. “Well”, I said, “There’s nothing of the sort, but I’m sure if they look hard enough they will be able to find whatever they are looking for”. Lucky I cut the Carrie tanker-truck of pigs blood scene. And it’s nice to know the law enforcement agencies care about art.

Several hours later just after a monster storm rolled through, we were all there doing the usual production day/technical rehearsal/dress rehearsal stuff. Park19 has enough lights to keep Motorhead happy, but here it gets very weird: they are all strapped to the grid with those plastic quick-ties, and they have no plugs, having been hard-wired together. Which made it a real shit-fight when I wanted three turned off.

The power to the entire area had to be turned off, then someone (quite shitted at me for getting in the way of his dinner) had to get up the ladder with a pair of wire-cutters, sever the cables to the lamps and cover the exposed ends with electrical tape. I suggested removing the lamp globe, but was told that was more difficult and dangerous.

But with the sound set up, the lights kinda shaping the space – plenty of Robert Plant Backlight Special – and everyone dripping sweat, we roared through a couple of runs of what is one of my stranger works. It keeps getting longer, up to around 22 minutes now, which is fine, coz everyone always speeds up when there’s an audience. The best thing is that it looks really good in the gallery.

Actually alot of it’s been very good, though time-consuming. Shopping for costumes, accessories, and props has been a scream. Every day for the last week, I’ve been lurking in Liuxing Qianxian, Hengbao Guangchang, Nuren Jie, and any other mall I could find. I can say with confidence I know where to shop in this town. The dancers – now down to two (I lost one a week) – have been an absolute joy, Park19 rock hard, and lots of others have been awesome.

So, here’s some pictures from bitches dress rehearsal. Yes, all the expected Frances stuff is there: turntable, trashy costumes, satanic death metal, noose, Goya etchings, and best of all, they remain frozen in that position for a good 30 seconds.

Bitches. On tonight at Park19. Free beer.