Sand animator Kseniya Semonova is burning up the internet thanks to this winning stint on the Ukrainian version of the Got Talent series.
If you prefer something a little less, well, heart-breaking, Kseniya does have fun with the sand as well.
The Summer Fun List is one of DJ Kelly’s more genius ideas: Sometime in late spring you make a list of all the fun things you want to do during the upcoming summer, so that the whole season doesn’t fly past without your having done anything fun at all. (This is especially useful for former Midwestern Protestants such as myself, who tend to forget that “fun” is not the same thing as “evil.” Or maybe it is, and that’s why it feels so jolly. But I don’t wanna get all philosophical about it now.) A few weeks ago I was feeling pretty unhappy about something and I drew a big X across the Summer Fun List page and wrote “KILL MYSELF” instead, but I’m sort of over that now, so I figured I’d take another look. Plus, it finally got sunny for three days in a row, and it’s starting to feel a little bit like summer at last. Here’s what’s on my SFL this year:
UConn Puppet Museum
Rosendale (more bees?)
Fireworks
Yankees game
Bruno
Musical Saw Festival
Book Arts Lounge and/or Class
Bacon Retrospective (& other art)
So far, this has not been a particularly successful SFL season. I used to try to go to one Yankees game a year, but now that tickets cost more than I make in a month, I won’t be doing that. And because of Global Economic Change, there weren’t any 4th of July fireworks anywhere near where I live: All the usual displays were canceled. So Sluggo and I went up on a hill near our house and looked down the Hudson toward New York City and saw just the tippy-top of the Macy’s fireworks—we wouldn’t see anything for two or three minutes, and then there’d be a little puff of red light, and then nothing for another couple of minutes, and then some silvery sparkles. Even though I tried as hard as I could, I wasn’t able to convince myself that it was actually “fun.” And I have been SO looking forward to this
year’s Musical Saw Festival on Saturday, July 18. I went last year, and it was truly fantastic. I heard Satie’s “Gymnopedie” performed by a musical saw and the Trinity handbell choir, and I am not kidding when I say that it was life-changing. Seriously. It was great, and weird, and great-and-weird, and I have been looking forward to going again for a whole year—and I have an unavoidable conflict that day and can’t go. But you should. It’s in Astoria, it costs only $10, and this year they’re going to try to break the Guinness World Record for “largest musical saw ensemble.” This is a musical event I sincerely recommend for any WFMU Listener, so add it to your Summer Fun List and go.
That’s the disappointments so far, but there’s been some surprise fun, too. Sluggo and I got invited to cocktails at the penthouse residence of an ambassador to the U.N., which was clearly some kind of mistake but we went anyway and had a very nice time. We also went to the “Agitprop!” Book Arts Lounge at the Center for Book Arts, where we talked about Russian constructivist advertising art with polymath poet Mr. Jeremy James Thompson and letterpressed some little flyers that say “Money is No Object.” I got to take the “Brown Bag Bindery” class, too, and built my own piercing cradle, sewing frame, and finishing press. Sylvia Alotta, the teacher, used to be an industrial designer for GM, and has come up with the most beautiful, functional, simple designs for binding equipment. She is my new hero, and almost makes me want to move to Chicago just so I could study with her there. (*Almost.*) Now I’m looking forward to the “Embroidered Bindings” Book Arts Lounge on August 14. Maybe I’ll see you there.
My friend Miss Manytitles has arranged for me to attend a free screening of Bruno with her this week, but the movie I’m really looking forward to seeing is ROBOGEISHA. Here's the trailer, so you will want to see it too. OMG, I have to see it! My Grammy Carlton used to say, “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings,” and when there are movies like Robogeisha in the world, I think she was right.
Thanks for reading my blogpost this time, and may God bless.
Current occupation: Governor of Alaska
Age: 45
Residence: Wasilla, Alaska
Little-known public official interviewed in the August 2009 issue of Runner's World magazine:
"I feel so crappy if I go more than a few days without running. I have to run. No matter how rotten I feel before or during a run, it's always worth it to me afterwards. Sweat is my sanity. A great frustration I had during the campaign was when the McCain staff wouldn't carve out time for me to go for a run. The days never went as well if I couldn't get out there and sweat. ...
"I went for a run at John McCain's ranch a couple of days before the debate with Joe Biden. My favorite thing in the world is to run on hot, dusty roads. I don't get enough of that in Alaska. So I was in heaven and there were plenty of hills so I knew my thighs were going to just throb and my lungs were going to burn and that's what I crave."
Palin intends to continue running because she feels a commitment.
ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn's progressive non-profit performance space, has put together the most interesting walk-a-thon we've ever heard:
You can sign up to...
* Bang a Gong for Issue with Swans co-founder and WFMU's favorite drummer, Jonathan Kane.
* Walk through the Brooklyn Botanical Garden contemplating the simulated sound of tinnitus with Anthony Coleman.
* Explore the sounds of Gowanus with Marc Ribot.
* Join a game of urban "telephone" -- the Tin Can Telewalk -- led by Marie Evelyn and WFMU DJ Kurt Gottschalk
There are 20 options to choose from, but you don't just have to pick one! You can experience them all in the disruptive We would like to run past all your walkers, opposite their direction, while screaming songs walk led by friends of the station Flaming Fire. And if you won't be able to attend, you can pledge your support to those who can.
...Speaking of ISSUE Project Room, have you heard their recent contributions to the Free Music Archive? Here's a recent highlight from James Blackshaw, live at ISSUE Project Room on March 7, 2009 excerpt (MP3)
Check out IPR on the Free Music Archive for Meg Baird's set from that night, along with IPR-curated audio from Elliott Sharp, Arthur's Landing, Stars Like Fleas, Carlos Giffoni & Okkyung Lee, Alex Waterman, Arthur Doyle, Teeth Mountain, and much more. (photo via Urban Zen Sound Meditation and Labyrinth Walk led by Eric A. Dah)
Good-bye, Nickelodeon Magazine! Home in print of many fine Cartoonist-Listeners, and former employer of little freelance writer Bronwyn C.
Goodbye, too, to Radio and Records mag, dead and dead as of yesterday.
This was scrawled on the wall of a post office I frequent. I can't say that MAIL is my biggest complaint in the world, but maybe I'm alone in that thought.
This is a picture of the bathroom at the ICA in Philadelphia. It's not my favorite image from my visit there this past weekend, it is the only picture I could take unnoticed. I tried to slyly sneak some shots in the Sun Ra exhibit, but the damn bleep of my digital camera gave me away instantly. It's an attractive bathroom, covered in wallpaper made up of vintage fashion ads. And while you are visiting this luscious WC, do check out the Sun Ra show upstairs. Last Sunday was the 85th birthday of Marshall Allen, leader of the Arkestra and May 22nd was the 95th anniversary of Sun Ra's arrival on Earth.
Sun Ra and his Arkestra lived In Germantown, on the edge of Philadelphia, for over 35 years, until his death in 1993. When I heard that the ICA was planning a Sun Ra show, I assumed it would be based on images and album art from his Philadelphia days. The title of the show, Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn and Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground 1954-58 tells a different story.
The show is lent from the collection of the Hyde Park Art Center, in Chicago, and shines a light on a formative time for Sun Ra. The preponderance of free spirited and radical philosophies embraced by black creative communities in post-war Chicago created the Sun Ra Arkestra we know today; an expression of musical experimentation, cosmic philosophies, and cultural reconfiguring. Predating the punk DIY scene by decades Sun Ra formed his own record company, El Saturn records. In addition to living communally in Philadelphia, Sun Ra and the Arkestra designed and printed many of their record covers and sold them at gigs.
The gallery's presentation of album covers and artwork is made more compelling by the screening of several films, photos, and collections of Sun Ra's unreleased music. On July 1 the mighty Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen takes the stage. July 15th a documentary made by British DJ Don Letts, Sun Ra: Brother from Another Planet will be shown. July 8 John Szwed, Author of Space is the Place lectures. Check out the ICA's website for more events.
Wow, you know, every once in a while, things really just turn out pretty awesome, like this performance from A Camp that will air tonight on Sound and Safe. Four perfectly-rendered pop songs - including a cover of Eddie Noack's weird and wonderful "Psycho" - done by my favorite singer in the world, Nina Persson, with husband Nathan Larson (of Shudder to Think) on bass, and Niclas Frisk (of Atomic Swing) on guitar.
We got some really nice HD video of the songs - check out a preview here, for the song "Love Has Left the Room."
Thanks very much to Tim Smith and Jacqueline Castel for shooting the video.
Tune in tonight to hear all four songs and to see all four videos. Also keep an eye on the Free Music Archive for MP3s of the set.
A Camp kicks off a North American tour at Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night. Their new album Colonia is out now.
Few bands revelled in the seedy underbelly of the American stripmall like Houston's Culturcide, a band fueled by the Boss' 80s bluejeans back pocket lint and grizzle from the bottom of a Burger King deep-fry tray; they were also purveyors of possibly the greatest holiday single ever, "Depressed Christmas" (MP3). Chelsea Whores is an exhibition by Mark Flood, an artist well-involved in that band's general orbit, running here in New York at the Zach Feuer Gallery (520 West 24th Street), from May 22 through July 10th and features his collage works and what he's termed "broken paintings" from 1979-2002 (though one recent review from Los Angeles states that all of the materials claiming to be decades old were actually made in the last two years). The refuse of American consciousness Flood chooses to deal with has included literal debris from Hurricane Ike, modified road or food service signs, and as we see left, lots of mutated iconography (one of my fave images he has made in the past has Annie Lennox on the Eurythmics' Touch LP cover being rearranged into garish Elephant Man-style paste-up). Great quote on Germany in NYC about the Chelsea Whores exhibit that makes me even more down with it: "His influence is comparable to that of the American artist Andy Warhol,
but whereas Warhol's work features talent, Flood unintentionally
devises a tedious formal vocabulary, layered with meaning and metaphor."
Expert illustrator and longtime WFMU art contributor Drew Friedman recently launched a new website featuring his fine art prints (with the help of Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon).
For those of you who may not be familiar with Drew's work, he was the creator of WFMU's semi-grotesque mascot, the Old Codger, contributed illustrations for our Crackpots & Visionaries cards, and designed a WFMU t-shirt and bumper sticker. Drew and his brother Josh Alan once guest-hosted for Kaz on WFMU in the 1980s, as well.
Dave the Spazz calls Drew "one of the funniest stipple cartoonists of the '80's and '90's is now one of the funniest illustrators of the 21st century. His work is as hypnotizing as Basil Wolverton's at his best. Drew Friedman is the Albrecht Dürer of liver spots."
Our talented (and exceedingly modest) radio compatriot Maria Levitsky (formerly heard 3-6pm Wednesday afternoons) is crafty with a camera. Her premiere NYC photographic gallery exhibit, Building Photographs, opens this evening at Deborah Berke & Partners Architects (220 5th Avenue, 7th floor) with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30. (Levitsky has previously exhibited in several Brooklyn venues and around the country.)
Dozens of black & white and experimental works can be viewed at MariaLevitsky.com. At left: Shoes on Stairs (Invisible Ascending), silver gelatin print from 2000.
Some of Maria's photos are spooky—one of many qualities I find appealing. Her works often frame scenic ruins marking time before the inevitable wrecking ball. This decaying architecture reveals few signs of life—but many signs of former lives (what Levitsky calls "evidence of disappearance").
Building Photographs runs through the summer by appointment.
Not only can you catch Dave the Spazz rubbing shoulders with Mick Collins and the Paul Green School of Rock kids tonight at BB King Blues Club in Manhattan... a few other DJs have some upcoming off-mic events this week that are worth checking out.
HotRod DJs tonight @ the Lamp Post in Jersey City (352 2nd St), 9pm-2am... Free!
Maria Levitsky
celebrates the opening of her photography show, "Building Photographs,"
at Deborah Berke & Partners Architecture Gallery (220 5th Ave, 7th
Floor) in Manhattan tomorrow evening (Thurs 5/21), 6:30 - 8:30pm.
Small Change DJs at the Down & Derby roller disco party at Studio B in Brooklyn (259 Banker St) this Saturday with DJ Ayres and Rok One, 10pm onward (RSVP here for discounted admission).
Thanks, and sorry,
Trent
On May 19th, Brooklyn's excellent non-profit performance space, ISSUE Project Room, will be celebrating their 6th year of kicking ass and taking names in the experimental music, film, literature, and art scenes (and also on the Free Music Archive).
The 6th birthday party/benefit for ISSUE Project Room takes place at Galapagos in Dumbo Brooklyn (16 Main St), and WFMU's own Fabio will be representing on the ones and twos. Other notable highlights on the bill include:
- The Pinch of the Baboon (JG Thirlwell, Ed Pastorini, Oren Bloedow and Ben Perowsky)
- Elysian Fields
- Mountains
- members of Excepter
- “Straight and Narrow” (1970), Film screening by Tony Conrad with soundtrack by John Cale and Terry Riley
- Robot Movie by Jim Sharpe with Soundtrack by Lary Seven
On top of this, IPR will reward a prize to the person who shows up in the best Holy Mountain-inspired costume, so you know there's potential for this party to be way better than Halloween. Purchase tickets here, and you'll get $10 off if you use the promotional code fidelio - have fun!
My "Awesome Internet Images" folder has been filling up lately thanks to these sites.
Designer Logan Walters loves him some Wu Tang, but hates him some Wu Tang album cover art. And so he dipped into the history of Blue Note and is working on remaking all the Wu Tang albums in that legendary style. (Via Animal New York)
Another nice design project is Spacesick's "I Can Read Movies" series in which 70s book covers meet classic geeky films.
The University of Nebraska library offers up an online archive of government produced comic books. This includes everyone from Charlie Brown to Captain America to Wonder Woman and Superman pitching various public service announcements. But it's the lesser known projects that really grabbed my interest: WISHES & RAINBOWS, a trippy kids story from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; THE STORY OF BANKS, in which a group of hippie teens learn how to use a bank; the EC style drug scare comics HOOKED and TEEN-AGE BOOBY TRAP; and the truly lame superheroes SPROCKET MAN (he rides a ten-speed and carries a giant gear shift) and RAY CYCLE: RECYCLING SUPERHERO (he's from Connecticut). (via Slog)
If you like to make fun of your childhood self for loving
computers, Star Wars, and all things nerdy, you can put your own
photos up for all to see on Dork Yearbook.
More embarrassing than an airing of your kiddie laundry is the world of Awkward Family Photos. Take a break from Mother's Day and see what some truly uncomfortable family situations are like via the site that kicks the Olan Mills love up a notch.
The best one of all is NSFW, and therefore, after the jump....
Continue reading "Dorks, Blue-Tang, Mr Wonka, Sprocket Man, and Awkward Families" »
Lauren Luloff's current show at Horton & Co. features messy abstracts constructed from bed sheets. Luloff has managed to make abstract painting disgusting...the sheets are mountainous, hard and crusty; resembling mummified skin. The works imply a history of sweat and ooze, sheets that have been left to rot...like a homeless man's bedding, ossified with pigeon shit, abandoned underneath a bridge.
The great thing about freeform is when you don't have a cohesive post, you can just stick completely unrelated things together and if anyone calls you out on it, you can accuse them of being a colonialist fascist. Today I've got two very different mines for you to trench through. The first is the fluxus oriented youtube channel called Art Classic News. Posted below is one of their gems, footage of a 1968 Wolf Vostell installation called E.D.H.R. From a musical perspective, this clip is striking for it's protoindustrial clangor. From a multimedia perspective, this particular work was influential as one of the first appropriations of TVs in an installation setting.
I've also been spending a lot of time lately checking out classic rocksteady sounds from the You and Me on a Jamboree blog. Tons of full albums downloads from out of print roots reggae, ska and dub, mostly from the 60s and 70s. Posted below are two of mp3s from albums I've been enjoying the past few weeks. I'd especially recommend checking out the Ethiopians. Happy hunting.
Art museums have extremely finicky hours, always closed on the one day you are visiting a city far away. Starting today and running until April 26th the Newark Museum will give you no excuse as to why you can't visit: they are open 100 hours straight in honor of their 100th birthday. Admission to this great museum is free and activities are a plenty. There is a midnight flashlight tour of the Ballantine House, laser light shows and overnight films, dinosaur day, live music, early morning yoga and morning prayers at the Tibetan altar.
The Newark Museum is a gem that sometimes gets lost in the shadow of New York's mega museums. They have one of the largest collections of Tibetan art outside of Tibet, and since the 1930's have had a gorgeous consecrated Tibetan Buddhist altar, most recently renovated in the 1990's by a monk who worked on it for months, offering visitors the chance to observe his daily progress. The museum began in 1909 with an assortment of Japanese artworks, and later grew to included the Ballantine House, former home of a Ballantine Brewery heir. Like many small museums they have a collection of individual interests determined by idiosyncratic curators and local donors. For me, that is what makes a visit here so special.
