Rocky Mountain

Tonight, the tv show Glee will debut its Rocky Horror Picture Show episode. I love love love Rocky. Unfortunately, a few months ago, I tried to introduce some friend to it and it didn't go well. This being Halloween and all (aka, the Holy Grail of Rocky weeks--and my favorite days of the year), I'm chalking the experience up to Norfolk and returning to my love of all the glam and gloom in the film.

I've never seen Glee, but I know about it. It's got good ratings and people in cubicles talk it up. The real, real reason I know about it, though, is because I went to high school with one of its stars, Jayma Mays. When you're from Appalachia and everyone knows everyone, when someone becomes famous, everyone knows about it.

So, I happen to know this: Jayma loves Rocky Horror. In drama class, it was danced to regularly. She even used "Toucha Touch Me" as her audition song for Glee. This is rad. I'm not normally a namedropper and fame doesn't impress me. You know what does impress me? People working hard and doing their thing and getting recognition for it. And having fun. Looks like she's accomplishing all that.

Here's a sneak peek of tonight's episode.

Here's an interview with Jayma about all things Rocky. 

Saturday Playlist

Started at 8 am, after two hours sleep. Whew!

Got a sweet opportunity to be in the ODU Homecoming Parade, which was awesome. Above is Chris E. Barb, our Undead Michael Jackson at next Friday's Zombie Prom at Taphouse. He danced MJ through the whole thing! I got two hours or so of Michael...it was awesome. I thought I'd get burned out on the same rotation of songs, but I didn't. 

I like MJ, but never called myself a "fan." The more time I've spent planning this show and time with Chris has made me realize more and more of the merits of his entire performance--well beyond music, incorporating dance (obviously), costume, vocal nuance, effects, production, and on and on. It's not that I didn't already know these things, it's that I didn't add them all up. The media hype of the trainwreck that was this guy...I never did it. 

Not sure I regret it, but am stoked--stoked--to see Chris E. Barb this Friday and to have a great MJ night.

Relaxed for a while. Yelled at Hannah for playing "Radar Love." Enjoyed that people are boycotting the  silence at Taphouse's patio by bringing iPhones and enjoying their own music on speaker. It's fun. 

BEIRUT. pic: ZME Music via NME

Jesse turned Adam & I onto a band called Beirut. Nice, nice. I'm liking the non-mainstream musical instrument renaissance that's been happening around me this past year or so. It's refreshing.

Went to Attucks Theater for the end of Discovery Music Series' Paul Thorn show. I was unfamiliar with his music, but he's the first musician I've seen in a long time whose merch made me know what he sounded like from scratch. He had great merch, including individual EP's sealed with red wax. It was iconoclastic and DIY...kind of like a lot of us in Norfolk are right now.

Grateful Dead interlude (via cassette---that's right---cassette!!). Realized one of my friend's actually has legit Dead shows. Twas rad.

Went to Taphouse for Ben Phelps. Goods outweighed bads. Badass Badass saxophone player (speaking of the non-guitar/bass band revolution). Some solid jams.

Tired.

Drove home to Modest Mouse on CD (several CD's set to shuffle--not a specific album). Modest Mouse is my favorite. Don't care if people found out about them or not. They're good. They touch me. I have good, great, and spectacular memories of them throughout the years.

Got home and Adam's playing my old Squire. Sitting here listening now.

SURVIVE NORFOLK

pic: John Cachero

Last night.

I helped make this happen. I am proud of that.

Squeezeboxed

Jason Webley played The Taphouse Saturday night. I had interviewed him earlier in the week and was excited to hear it all go down live and loud. The show (unfortunately) was the night after Winefest, which I had the opportunity to attend for free (meaning I was tipsy-toodles when getting to the venue).  Despite drinking all day, arriving to the gig over two hours early, and sitting through opening band Momentary Prophets (who were great--lead singer Jake Hull can wail and I cannot wait to see him perform again), I somehow had the energy to get over to the dancefloor.

For all intents and purposes, the squeezebox is not my favorite instrument. I have nothing against it; it just doesn't scream rock to me. However, Webley's gypsy folky punky groovefest isn't at all what one thinks when hearing the word "accordian." I enjoyed every last minute of it. And I was proud of Norfolk and its ability to get out to something like this en masse.  The Taphouse is a gem in our community & we owe them major grats on some of the shows they book. Alas, I was dead on my feet by midnight and left a little after, missing Webley's signature singalong nightcap. I'm sure it was rad.

Stockley'd

Death Bird in the Cage

Stockley Gardens Art Festival was this weekend. It's twice per year, bringing lots of mediums to our little Ghent park, along with music and food and community building. Here are some pics of my favorite artist of the day, Milenko Katic.

 Fear

Art from Intuition

He is represented by 2 Art Studios in Afton, VA. His work is dark and abstract, but includes surprising and happy bursts of sky blue or images of horses or other "freedoms." He reminds me somewhat of Stanley Donwood, whom I wrote about not too long ago (he's Radiohead's artist).

Getting Better All the Time

If you read my blog at all, you'll know my favorite actor is James Franco and I'm also pretty obsessed with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. And now, it may be that Franco is going to play Mapplethorpe in a biopic. I am practically having heart palpitations just thinking about it.

Enjoy some sweet Franco pics in the meantime:

Chalkdust Torture

I got some photos of the Fall Chalking of Ghent published on AltDaily. Werd.

Stream of Consciousness?

Belle

Meet Lissy Elle. She's a great photographer in all the normal ways that photographers are great. However, she's created this amazing Flickr stream called Back in Your Book that combines classic children's literature, style straight outta Modcloth, and jazzy fancypants photoshop skills unrivaled by most I've seen. I'm very excited to see what she produces next.

Peter Pan

Harry Potter

Sleeping Beauty

Drapes.

Shout out to local artist Tracey Wilder. She was just featured in Elle magazine for her innovative jewelry designs that drape and move across the body in elegant-yet-eclectic ways. Her designs were also recently featured at New York Fashion Week. Kudos!

Card Bored

pic: inhabitat.com

My friend recently moved and wondered..."what will I do with my cardboard boxes?" I didn't have the answer. However, I did have the power of Google. Here's what some other innovative folks did with theirs. It sorta reminds me of the Paper Cut Project I blogged about last December. Enjoy :)

pic: toxel.com

pic: keetsa.com

pic: levia.com

pic: dailyartmuse.com

pic: blog.craftzine.com

Blown Away

Let me introduce you to Katie Balloons. My friend Sam (an upcoming photographer in his own right) met her on the beach and, when asked what she did for a living, said something along the lines of "I'm a balloon artist."

Okaaaay. But then...She does amazing art like this:

From Balloons!! I'm so impressed.

Rave On

I'm not going to write a Raveonette's review. I love them lots and will at some point. I'm sure they've been mentioned on here during various Saturday Playlists and whatnot. I'll just say that, of all the bands I had the pleasure of working with at Sony, The Raveonette's were one of my favorite campaigns. They're great people and make great music. My old colleague, Davey Wilson, is now a pretty good photographer in NYC and has continued to work with the band.

So, here's NME's latest on them (written with more in-the-know shizz than I'm pulling from the pits of Norfolk right now). It's about how they're influencing NYC and LA pop kinda hardcore right now. Enjoy some pics, as they do it right with the image:

By Davey Wilson

pic: NY Daily News

pic: Shawn Mortensen

pic: viceland.com

pic: clashmusic.com

Perked

All photos by Richard Perkins except the Jack Keruoac by Allen Ginsberg.

Local Artiste Richard Perkins premiered a photo exhibit at A Latte Cafe on Friday night. I love his work on his blog, Parachute Full of Forks, and got more familiar with it a few months ago when I scoured his various websites to feature him as a Friday Featured Artist for AltDaily. I particularly like how he incorporates poetry and photography (he's since also been a Featured Poet at AltDaily).

Just a hipster taking pics of his hipster friends and writing around the edges...

When we put him up as a Featured Artist, some of the feedback from the online commentators was that his work was amateurish and nothing more than a hipster taking pictures of his hipster friends. Well, while this is true, does this make it any less artistic? I defended him at the time by comparing his work to an Allen Ginsberg exhibit I'd just seen in DC's National Gallery of Art. Documenting the truth of the situation and making it pretty, ugly, odd, etc--that's what art is.

The thing is, when I go to Richard's blog, the combination of all the photos together, sometimes linked with random statements written somewhere between prose and dada, I get it. It's youthful and dirty and trying and sometimes it's wrong but most of the time it's right.

So, I was excited, stoked even, to hit up A Latte last Friday to see his exhibit. Not sure what I thought upon arrival. There were a couple of awesome pictures. One big frame with a small pic--the extra space used for creative writing. I especially liked the one they used for the invite:

After a quick walk around, though, I wasn't feeling it. And I hate to say that, because I really really like his stuff. Maybe it was the framing? Or the juxtaposition that works so so well online doesn't work on real walls? Maybe A Latte just isn't the right venue, with its arts & crafts vibe and vintage bookshelves? I couldn't put a finger on it, but knew if this had been just some show I walked into without knowing about the artist, I wouldn't have dug it at all. I told Adam, "Seriously, wait til you see this stuff online, it's so much better."

What does that mean? Can art exist solely online? How can one transition the pairings of multiple pictures to solo prints that lose the core of their meaning when separated from the rest of the night they were taken? I'm not sure and I'm certainly not giving up on Richard Perkins as a photographer or as an exhibitionist in various forms of creative expression. I think this was one of his first shows, and, you know, it shows. Can't wait for the next one though.

Gatsby on Film?

pic: partyscenegg

Remake news. The Great Gatsby may be getting a Hollywood update. Hmm.. I remember seeing the 1970s version and thinking "eh." I don't see how words as magnetic as Fitzgerald's translate to the screen, no matter who works on the film.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby? I could get behind this. I'm not a Leo fan, per se, but usually find I enjoy the films he's in. He pulled off 1920s with The Aviator and seems to have a literary understanding (Basketball Diaries, Romeo & Juliet). He also has the ability to pull off the role of a guy from the wrong side of the tracks doing whatever it takes to get to the right side (Titanic). I'm not boycotting yet.

Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway? He's got that innocent-boy quality required of anyone playing the narrator to this story. I'm mainly familiar with him from Spiderman, but a quick IMDB search shows me Maguire's uber-familiar with this role, as it's the only one he's ever been cast in (The Cider House Rules, Wonderboys, Seabiscuit). I could still be down to see this.

Amanda Seyfried as Daisy Buchanan? I haven't seen anything she's been in except for Mean Girls, which was good. I know she gets good press and critics seem to like her, so I'm down. 

The best news, however, is the potential director, Baz Luhrmann (Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge). He has owned the rights to the story since 2008 and has great talent in moviemaking. He has only directed four films, and if this is his fifth, I'll be there.