Saturday Playlist

pic: thelineofbestfit.com

Brian Jonestown Massacre: 3 Albums

 Started with Strung Out in Heaven. My favorite kind of poprock. I wish more people loved him. He’s prolific and schitzophrenic and has swagger and sadness.

Songs like “Love” “Wisdom” or “Maybe Tomorrow” are simple, like most BJM songs. There’s a sweetness mixed with wisdom and then complete blotto lyrics like calling a rival “shit for brains.” Classy.

He’s into instruments. Banjo’s and tambourines aren’t uncommon in the grungy hippie rock he produces.

pic: farm1.static.flickr

Moved on to My Bloody Underground.

Piano is as good as anything in a Polanski movie on songs like “We Are the Niggers of the World.” And the orgy that is “Who Cares Why”—dontcha wish you were in a New Year’s Eve firedance while this is being conceived? It’s sooo communal.

I also like the unprofessionalism that goes with most BJM. If it sounds like it was recorded in a garage, there’s a good chance that it was. For anyone who has seen Dig!, you know BJM fluctuates wildly between rock star hedonism and full on gutterville. The music’s no different, except it’s all good. It just ebbs and flows from beauty and melody to anger and distortion in the span of two or three tracks.

pic: punkglobe.com

Kept it going. Listened to Tepid Peppermint Wonderland next. The first track, “All Around You” is tongue-in-cheek and druggy and Monkee’d. You have to admit Anton is a weird wicked genius, just screaming and cackling through the song.

“Open Heart Surgery” reminds me of my cousin Boop’s recordings. Sad melancholy pop 90s smile :)

“It Girl” is Lee Hazlewood meets Raveonettes.

from their Myspace

pic: ascap.com

Moved on to Delegate.

This was a Richmond rock band in the mid 2000’s who were so amazing. They played Norfolk a lot. They opened for Franz Ferdinand at the 930 in DC. We hung out at SXSW once. The first song is “And the Lights Just Flickered Out.” So did they, which is a bummer.

“If tears were years then I’d be dead by now.” The way Darren sang this in “Modern Man” melts my ears a little. Sad I only have this recording. I remember the way the sounds hit you from all angles at their live shows, especially the smaller ones at places like Belmont or Backstage Café.

The falsetto’s in “All My Alibis” are some of the best you’ll hear. There’s a Smiths or Cure misery to it wrapped in swirly Snow Patrol-ey clouds.

from their Myspace

In keeping with the DIY spirit, I went to Children of Spy out of Murfreesboro TN. They'll be playing Winston's here on July 15.

IMMEDIATELY--INSTANTANEOUSLY-I thought Eagles of Death Metal. This quickly swerved south...like Neko Case South. I like it for the car. Need a few more songs to see if I might like it live.

A few minutes later: Not 100% in love. Must say, if you like this, Winston's Cafe couldn't be a more perfect venue for this band. Unless we could get some sweet outside picnic & wine indie action going on--because that would, in fact, be better.. Another place I'd dig these guys would be at 6pm Saturday at Bonarroo. I dug Bright Eyes that way.

And I realize....Murfreesboro is by Bonnarioo--it's the nearet town. I keep hearing new bands all the time out of there. I just saw Glossary (also from there) open for Lucero last month at Jewmom. And I hear more and more people speak positively about it. I've been there a handful of times and thought it was nice.

In livin la vida local this week, I thought a lot about the goods and bads of Norfolk. I shant be travellin' soon, but I did wiki Murfreesboro and it sounded up and coming. Kudos to Winston's for booking them and all the other super DIY bands trying their hardest. Here's Hannah & Jesse's take on the best venue in Chesapeake.

They get a solid B- with added sweet tea (peach schnapps optional).

pic: amdoc.org

Then went to Johnny Cash. Learned the words to "The One on the Right is on the Left." This was, ironically, the second most prevelent theme of my week after the aforementioned "livin' tha local life." Thanks Art/Everywhere and Cooch. You both made me pace, laugh out loud, and drink. No matter it was for different reasons.

HILARIOUS! Better lyrics than "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die." Click the link for the full, but here's a sample from the chorus:

They were long on musical ability
Folks thought they would go far

But political incompatibility led to their downfall

Well, the one on the right was on the left

And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle

And the guy in the rear was a Methodist

 

pic: farm3.static.flickr.com

 

On to tonight's local scene: Today the Moon Tomorrow the Sun are back and I am stokey-stoked. Click here for my thoughts from last fall's AltDaily.

 

Still riding a good culture wave between Phoenix and Art/Everywhere, I think The Boot tonight is indie pop dance dessert.

On the Road On the Screen

They're making it into a movie. Hopefully it doesn't suck, as it means a lot to me and many others. Kids who are going to see it because Bella from Twilight is in it kind of makes me nervous.

This is Sam Riley. He will play Sal Paradise (aka Jack Keruoac).

This is Garrett Hedlund. I couldn't find a non-douchey picture of him, which means I'm not thrilled he's playing Dean Moriarty (aka Neal Cassady).

This is Kristen Stewart.  She bites her lip a lot.

Behind the Lens

I just rented Black, White + Gray, which likes to market itself as the documentary on curator Sam Wagstaff's relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and poet/musician Patti Smith. This is up front at Naro I'm sure due to the success of Patti's Just Kids, which I wrote about this past winter and is in my top favorite books of all time. This documentary says that's what it's about.

It isn't.

Sam by Robert

It's complimentary mainly to Sam, showing us how important his contributions to art have been. He is the one responsible for bringing photography to us in a way that isn't simply documentary, but emotive, passionate, and alive. He is absolutely the person all photography fans owe your thanks to. He made it okay for galleries to show.

pic: Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ's Flickr

He made it art.

pic: diaphotography.files.wordpress.com

Prior to Sam's amassing the insane collection of historical and modern photography (a collection that ended up being the Getty's), he worked in fine art, curating paint and sculpture mediums. He started getting more interested in photos. The onset of his relationship (partnership would not really be the correct word) with Robert changed directions for the older, richer, more educated Sam, resulting in the merging of worlds

pic: Divya Srinivasan/New Yorker

Robert's art in the beginning was shocking to many. My favorite outlook comes from Patti Smith's Just Kids, when she lovingly and eloquently--girlishly, even--recounts Robert's overwhelming need to produce art as well as immerse himself in all the sensations surrounding his subjects. He had a need to shock because that would ensure his success. There was no alternative to being an artist and no alternative to a certain dark side he wanted to document. She didn't always understand his art, but always understood he was an artist and none of this could be helped. Sam liked to call him "my shy pornographer."

Though Robert's art can easily be described as perverse, there is no doubt he had a very talented eye. Had Sam and Robert not linked up, I'm not sure either of them would have been as prestigious in the photography world. Robert needed Sam's money to promote his art. Sam needed Robert's venomous inspiration to urge him further into collecting and promoting the medium as a whole.

"This book is about pleasure, the pleasure of looking and the pleasure of seeing, like watching people dancing through an open window. They seem a little mad at first until you realize they hear the song that you are watching."

This is entire text of A Book of Photographs, Sam's coffee table book.

Andy by Robert

The film discusses how in the 1970s, Sam purchased a photograph of a shell for $10,000, the highest amount ever paid for a photograph at the time. Everyone thought this was the pinnacle, that the photography market couldn't go any higher. According to Wikipedia, that record now stands at $3.34 million. Ironically, Robert Mapplethorpe makes the top ten list as of 2010 with his photograph of Andy Warhol, which sold for over $600,000 in 2006.

Sam by Robert

Patti by Sam

Patti says she felt Sam's life was a purgatory, where he had to move among different strata, be different people, always hoping to get to his personal paradise in the end.

Tragedy of AIDS struck them both down. Sam died first, and left his entire art collection and most of his money to Robert. Two years later, when Robert died, he had sold a large lot off to Christie's for a huge profit. His estate established the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation with these funds, with an initial mandate of furthering the recognition of photography as an art form of the same importance as painting and sculpture. During the last weeks of his life, he added the second mandate of supporting medical research in the area of AIDS and HIV infection.

Patti is mentioned on the Foundation's website. Sam is not.

Cyclones

I have this Coney Island state of mind. Wherever I look, whatever I find, it's nothing if not second rate to a Nathan's and a ride on rickety wooden cars overlooking hope and madness and never hate.---jESiO

 

As I blog from time to time, Coney Island is one of my muses. Photographer Bruce Gilden spent the 1970s and 1980s there taking pictures which are now going to be on exhibit at the Amador Gallery in NYC. Wish I was there. Instead, below are a few more of my favorite pics from his collection.

 

List Makin'

 

Saw that Myspace had a little survey to name the top ten videos of all time and surprise, surprise, MJ took #1. I created a little poll of my own on FB and MJ won there too. As this blog is about music and art, what better than music videos to showcase the best of both worlds? Adam and I sat around and discussed his and my faves:

Adam's (in no particular order):

Radiohead/House of Cards: Undeniably amazing. Not enough people are aware of this work. As Stereogum said when this first debuted, "Why just talk in maths when you can fully manifest in them?" For non-nerds, this translates into the simple fact that this video did not use camera or light, but instead with 3D plotting.

Metallica/Unforgiven: Sure. Not bad. Not in my top.

Dire Straights/Money for Nothing: As we talked videos, the six year age gap between Adam and me became obvious. There was more color and weird weird weirdness in his choices (even the ones that didn't make this list) than mine. The medium was just so new. Watching this, yep, I wanted my MTV. Bad.

Peter Gabriel/Sledgehammer: For the time (1985--that's 25 years ago, btw), this video was an amazing piece of art. What's now a few hours on a computer was probably weeks and weeks of work for those three minutes on tv. The second image is an example of how it was made. Picture after picture after picture of subtle differences played together really fast. Can you say OCD?

Aha/Take On Me: Obviously. This one's on all polls taken because it deserves to be. Nuff said.

jESiO's pics (no particular order):

Soundgarden/Black Hole Sun: I remember being freaked out by this and in love with the technicolor. Grunge was fun to listen to, but it was a lot of flannel and black and white. This is my absolute favorite grunge video (even better than "Jeremy" imho). Watching the smiles and eyes get bigger and bigger, you couldn't take your eyes off of it.

Weezer/Buddy Holly: The beginning of a wonderful relationship. Weezer creates emo with a sense of great humor. I sing and laugh.

The Cars/You Might Think: I just loved this when I was a kid. The imagery has never left.

Tom Petty/Mary Jane's Last Dance: After much debate this wins over "Don't Come Around Here No More," aka "The Alice in Wonderland" video. My main reason being "DCAHNM" is a break up song, which I find nothing in Wonderland that relates to it. Good song. Good video. No cohesion into its own work of art.

So, instead we get my favorite early 1990's video where the man is obsessed with the dead bride.

The circle of influence and hilarity: I said to Adam, remember that INXS video with the lyrics on poster boards? We youtube'd it. It wasn't all that great, but I remembered it clearly having not seen it since before age 10. I remember when Van Halen came out with "Right Now." It reminded me of the INXS video, in that you were reading the entire time. This video was done much, much better.

We were looking at other Top Ten video lists and Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" made a couple. I youtube'd it, and whatdayaknow...ol' Bobby D had the idea before anyone else. Before music videos, even. This is why he rules...and I'm pretty sure that's Allen Ginsberg in the corner.

Expendibles

Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust" just became the most expensive painting ever purchased. In an auction at Christie's in New York yesterday, it was sold to an annonymous telephone bidder for $106.5 million dollars.

Wonder if they'd let Art/Everywhere use it?

Oh Romeo...

Halloween Idea #6:

Romeo and Juliet--but specifically from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from the mid 1990's. I recently saw Reduced Shakespeare play at the Wells Theatre here and we talked about the varities of this story over the years.

While I could easily do a film or soundtrack review regarding WS's R&J, I won't. I'll just say that it's my favorite R&J because of the aesthetics. I could watch it on mute.

And wings are fun to wear.

Only 6 months to go!

Saturday Playlist

pic: subinev.com

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's: "Broadripple is Burning" came on my Pandora, so then I streamed some more of them...And then bought some MP3's. I've heard of this band through my old friend Annie at ASquared Industries. Broadripple is sort of Indy's Ghent or Carytown, BTW.  I think they'd go over really well at The Boot.

They sound unique...but would probably be classified among artists like Cold War Kids, Death Cab, etc. They're airy I guess. But they've got a way to pinpoint it directly to your ear--no fluff, no filler. Honest lyrics, good playing. Basic and proper. Surprised they're not British and wouldn't be surprised if they end up there.

pic: th00.deviantart.net

Radiohead "Fake Plastic Trees" accoustic: First Radiohead song I loved, first one  I identified with Radiohead. I didn't catch on to the whole "Creep" bs until a little later. The accoustic version was initially found on the Clueless soundtrack in the early 90s...Years later, Adam played it and I sort of melted. Then Thom Yorke played it--ACCOUSTIC--at Madison Square Garden and I definitely melted--into fake plastic love :)

pic: a1.twimg.com

Phoenix: Mainly because I saw them Tuesday night and it was great. Pics/story to come soon. I was too busy to write this weekend :(

So I'm dancing around all happy to Phoenix in the morning, then later in the day, I was helping set up Art/Everywhere (story to follow on that as well), and 403 Granby, which had four installations going up, were playing Phoenix...so it must have been meant to be.

pic: toonpool.com

Covers Covers Covers. Ended the night at Hells Kitchen watching a cover band. Don't know what they were called. Don't recall them being good or bad, really...just background noise at the end of a long, gorgeous night with likeminded gorgeous people. I remember they played a Zeppelin song. Warm night, successful event, art, friends, fashion, edamame...and Zeppelin. I can think of much worse intro's to summertime.