"Hairpiece" was a site-specific video installation and live performance in a hair salon in Thunder Bay during October of 1989

Sweet Daddy Siki

If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. He breaks my heart and then he resurrects me. He knows what he is doing. He knows what he is projecting. He knows what he is. He recognizes the truth in work and the truth in the world. If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does.

Sweet Daddy Siki is a professional wrestler. My mother is a professional hairdresser. She finishes her studies in Austria and waits for an overseas letter. Her fiancé is in Canada. He is there with his father.

If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. He is a professional wrestler and he has white hair. He is a professional wrestler and he has a sequined cape and a bulldog black body. Saturday afternoon, my father watches the wrestling on television. Saturday afternoon, my brother and I join him. We watch Sweet Daddy Siki and he remains in my memory. Sweet Daddy Siki is the king of the undelivered throne.

If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. My mother is a licensed hairdresser who works in Canada. My mother's name is Helga. She substitutes for my grandmother during a license examination. In effect, she passes her hairdressing examination twice in Canada and once in Austria. The pines swing in the land. My grandmother's name is Emilia.

Emilia is alerted to the blasted and childish genius of the world. She is alerted to the under cries. She collapses at the salon. She loses her way home. Five explosions buckshot her corporeal link and she can no longer think the way most of us do.

If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. My father watches Sweet Daddy Siki hard at work. It is the early sixties and my father is a licensed hairdresser. He works with his mother, Emilia, and his wife, Helga. He works at Frederic's Hair Styling, a beauty salon owned by his father. My father's name is Fred. Actually, it is Fritz. My grandfather's name is Fred. Actually it is Friedrich. My name is Fred. Actually it is Friedrich. My parents call me Fritzel. Actually, my parents call me Fred.

If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. He is in Thunder Bay this week. The Sweet Daddy Siki Show is at the Shoreline Motor Hotel. He sings bluesy rock from the sixties. His son plays bass in the band. I go to see Sweet Daddy at the Shoreline. I am introduced to Sweet Daddy at the Shoreline in Thunder Bay. I ask him to come over to the Nu-Fashion Beauty Salon on Saturday at eight. I ask him to come and to speak about his white hair. I ask him to come and to perform with me.
If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. He is in Thunder Bay and he is being worked hard. He performs a matinee on Saturday and then again at nine. He is generous in sharing himself and his time. He is generous and signs a band photograph for me.

If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. My mother is twenty years older than me. The arthritis develops in her hands. If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. My grandmother loses her ability to work in a stroke of a day. If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. And about the true reason to perform, and to be.

If anybody knows about hair, Sweet Daddy does. He is at the Shoreline. He does not know if Siki is an African name. He is from Texas. The ladies in Montreal name him Sweet Daddy. He is robed. There is a constant flex to his muscle. He can do no wrong. Thunder Bay works him hard.