DIE ZAUBERSCHLOSS
2001,
Chrissi Sepe, Dave Dragos and
Chris Dillon, rehearsing in the newly
named, “Die Zauberschloss,” as
“The Drunken Artist Tribune.
When Chris fixed up the attic and invited us over, Dave immediately came up with a name for it which was “Die Zauberschloss.” It means “Magic Castle” in German. Dave said it was because the attic was shaped like a castle. I remember it also being because the magic always happened there. Chris wrote the name at the top of his wall which you can see at the very top of the photo, just left of the highest point. From that moment, we always referred to the attic as “Die Zauberschloss.” One day, when Dave and I came over for our usual hang, Chris’ friend, Meghan, was over, and she was writing the poem that started, “Skinny swim trip drip.” I couldn’t believe that she was writing on the wall, but Chris assured me that it was okay! After that, the poetry and drawings just grew and grew.
I loved going to Chris’ to hang out in the attic. As soon as we ascended the staircase, I could smell the sweet scent of candles that he had in all different shapes, some in the shapes of animals. All the candles together smelled like a mixture of chocolate and vanilla, and they reminded me of the baking I used to smell when I was a kid. In early 2001, we had to give away some of my grandmother’s living room furniture so Chris came by to take a look, and I was thrilled when he said he would take ALL the pieces because he needed more furniture for the attic. It felt like home when we sat in the attic around my grandparents’ coffee table that they’d had since I was a child. It truly was a magical time.
It was also a place for many, many philosophical conversations. Chris always had a bottle of red wine ready for us on the coffee table. He’d put on some music which Dave remembered as being anything from Shostakovitch to the Beatles. I particularly remember Chris playing the Beach Boys, a band that he loved as much as I did. Chris and I had a lot of the same tastes in music, and we both loved Prince. I was shocked when I learned that he knew about and liked this pretty obscure female musician/songwriter who I loved named Juliana Hatfield. That may have been how Dave and I met Chris, as I remember being told that one of Dave and Chris’ first conversations was Chris telling Dave that he read and enjoyed my article that was published in “Antimatters,” the official magazine of Sidewalk Café, about how I met Juliana Hatfield on the streets of Boston, Massachusetts. In the attic, we talked for hours on end about music and pretty much anything we could think of. Dave and I never wrote anything on the walls, but if spoken words could have somehow materialized from the air and onto those walls, they would have covered them a thousand times over. – Chrissi Sepe, 6.3.2021
The “Drunken Artist Tribune” play
Arlene’s Grocery
Chris, me and Dave in the attic.
March, 2001, Chris threw a party in the attic that doubled as yet another gig.
rediscovery
When David Micha decided to reclaim the attic space for a workout room, the decision of what to do about the Wall was put into focus.
Over the past 20 years or so, since relocating my studio to the ground floor of the house, the attic for me, was a seldom visited destination. When Dave began the renovation, the Wall, as a component of the room, demanded some serious thought. Would the rough-and-tumble of its countenance be too jarring for the new, sleek interior that was Dave’s goal for the space? I confess that the Wall, as an Art Installation really had not occurred to me. Its existence was something I was certainly aware of, but never was it a focus of my attention. I took it for granted, in every way possible.
As the renovation work began, my thoughts were to preserve only select graphic elements from the surface – frame them, and install them on a newly bricked surface of the Wall – creating a gallery-like aspect to the room. This idea was immediately opposed by a triumvirate of David, his mom Karen, and my significant other, Patty.
