Blurbage for the Zacharia Juggernaut

Check it out! Pull quote! That's my second, after the DVD jacket for Matthew Barney's The Order: From Cremaster 3. Watch out Peter Travers! Now how do I collect my royalties on this?

LiTTLEROCK opens at the Laemmle Sunset 5 tomorrow night! Tickets are available online. The cast and crew will be in attendance for the 8 pm screenings on Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd for a Q and A afterwards.

Thanks to Mr. Jimmy for the heads-up!

Faüxmish LP Cover Collages in Progress

And there's 94 more where they come from!

Faüxmish LP Release Party and Debut Public Performance!

Friday, September 2 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm

Human Resources
410 Cottage Home St in Chinatown, 90012
Los Angeles, CA

Please join Faüxmish to celebrate the release of their debut LP & CD ‘F for Ache’ and to witness the band's debut public performance. This will also be the ONLY OPPORTUNITY to view the entire run of the limited edition of 100 collaborative collage LP covers created by the band members! The LPs, limited CD version, and other merchandise will be available for purchase.

$5 donation at the door

Faüxmish is an experimental power trio featuring Marnie Weber, Dani Tull, & Doug Harvey.

Faüxmish is a Los Angeles art-rock supergroup that came together over a shared engagement with American spiritual sects who remove themselves from established social norms and create their own culture as outsiders.

Taking as their motto “Simplicity Through Noise,” Faüxmish have developed a practice rooted in improvisational ensemble playing using electric guitars (played with rubber mallets and other extended as well as traditional techniques) and vintage synthesizers, in various combinations of three.

Initially conceived as a ‘wall of sound,’ the group’s music rapidly developed a complex and idiosyncratic audio vocabulary drawing on the members’ widely divergent individual musical backgrounds, which range from noise to prog, post-punk to film scores, and 90s alt-rock to improvisational audio collage. The results range from dreamy ambient soundscapes to theatrical rock songs.

Redacted Records is proud to announce ‘F for Ache’ -- the debut release by Faüxmish. The album is being released in two different limited edition configurations
– a 12” vinyl LP in a numbered edition of 100, with a hand-silkscreened cover and a unique collaborative collage on each back cover, created by the three band members. The LP also contains one track unavailable on the CD version.
– a limited CD edition of 500, with covers individually personalized by the band members, and featuring a wealth of integrated bonus tracks.

They Should've Tackled Jacob Two-two

Now there's a songfest waiting to happen! I actually met Jerry Lieber once, at what was perhaps the nadir of his career -- the 1983 premiere of his and Stoller's musical adaptation of Mordecai Richler's 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz' at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. I was a mere usher, and drunk to boot -- but I had been a little obsessed with these guys' songcraft, and had been mixing their stuff in with John Cage and Suicide on my Saturday night radio show at CJSR. I told them, and they were gracious, but plainly very anxious with the production at hand -- which in fact turned out to be disastrous, and one of the most legendary fiascos in Canadian theatre history. I think it was even called 'Duddy!'

Above Mordecai Richler

Chain Slaw Skip Diving

Whew! Just finished marathon three-day deinstall of Chain Letter. Many stories and interesting photos to come, possibly in print-on-demand book form. My favorite moment came on on the second day. The scruffy but amiable gent pictured here is noted LA performance artist Skip Arnold, whose contribution -- after standing in line for a couple of hours -- was to remove and leave his Austrian cowboy boots. He arrived in his socks to retrieve them, but they had been in the F1 space, which had been deinstalled the day before -- like many, Skip hadn't got the email with the revised deinstallation times.

We searched through the stuff Christian and I had rescued, and looked through the scraps left in F1 to no avail. Skip wasn't too distraught, but wanted to check the dumpster. We thought the dumpster had been emptied, but in fact the art had just been buried by black bags full of oozing restaurant garbage. Hooray! And there, very close to the top, were Skip's boots. He shook them off, slipped them on, and strode off into the west. God bless you, Mr. Skippy! And thanks for contributing to the magic that was Chain Letter!

Photo by Christian Cummings

Olfactory Consolation Prizes

Spent the day in San Pedro at the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW) sanctioned NW2 K9 Nose Work® Trial in hopes that Chloe would become the first whippet to achieve that level of olfactory sophistication. Alas, it was not to be. After a sensational performance on the first element -- the container search -- she dawdled distractedly over the vehicle search, looking around at the audience before finally getting down to the task at hand after two and half minutes. Close call! Then the interior room searches, which apparently went well, though there was no room for spectators.

After an inordinately long break, the trial resumed with the exterior search. The chips were stacked against her, as Chloe can't detect odors around blue picnic tables-- and I'm pretty sure some of the judges were wearing undergarments after we expressly indicated that she has issues in this area, so it can't really be said to have been a "fair" trial. This is undoubtedly why she timed out, wandering around the prep school lunchyard like an extra in a zombie movie -- ruining her shot at the title. Happily, when it came time for the "debriefing" (too little too late!) it turned out she had placed 3rd in interior and 2nd in container out of 30ish dogs! So even though "Pleats Please" can not at this time add any more initials after her name, she did get these lovely rosettes. Next time we'll make them paint the picnic tables chartreuse, and ace the motherfucker!

PS: I had to take this photo with 'Photobooth' because I lost my camera. Has anyone seen my camera?

Cory's Hi Good ADR Session on youtube

Spent the afternoon at a Burbank recording studio for the ADR session for Hi Good, shot some footage for the "Making of..." doc -- but since Cory's getting all this press for LiTTLEROCK right now, I figured now's the time. Check it out on Youtube.

LACE-UP

A few shots from the Unfinished Paintings panel discussion at LACE on Sunday afternoon (11/08/07) -- in keeping with the concept, the discussion was vigorous but left a lot of questions unanswered. Mine in particular. Here we see me trying to use the "explainin' hand" technique to compell the other participants (Lily Simonson, Brad Eberhard, moi, exhibition curators Josh Aster and Kristin Calabrese) to submit to my searching interrogatives.

Despondent over my lack of success, I decide to levitate my sippy cup of vodka to demonstrate my connection to higher vibrational contexts. Kristin saw it. She told me later. Jimmy Hayward, far right, is plainly skeptical, claiming to have seen Art Pepper levitate across the bandstand at the Surf Club in 1952. Embrace Failare tee shirt by Kilduff of Van Nuys.

Defeated, I replace my protective goggles ("They're all around us and we never knew it - you can only see them with these special glasses!") as Carol Cheh (far left) hums the closing theme, Jackson Browne's Boulevard. Cuz nobody gets it like they want it to be. Next time I email my questions in advance. And I'd better get answers this time. Next time.

Photos by James Chertkow.

SASSAS Listening Party Playlist

I've had a couple of inquiries as regards my playlist for last weekend's SASSAS Listening Party, so here, as best as I can remember, it is:

Audience Induction by Damon – Teegarden & Van Winkle - Experimental Groundwork
Boogieman - Dolphin Explosion - Boogie Man
Pony People - Wounded Lion - Wounded Lion
Noon Balloon To Rangoon - Nervous Norvus - Stone Age Woo: The Zorch Sounds of...
John of the Sword - Animals & Men
Take Me Home Country Roads - Arthur Nakane & His One Man Band (I've listened to this early late 70s? self-released LP for years, and just found out the dude still plays in Little Tokyo and on the SM Pier!)
Songs Hurt Me - Marnie - Songs Hurt Me
Grassy Grass Grass - Woody Guthrie - Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child (1947)
Renaissance of Smut - Mrs. Miller - Does Her Thing (as far as I know, the only commercially released single to begin with the word "Kienholz")
Vain World Adieu - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers - Sacred Harp Singing
The Song of Mr. Phonograph - Tom Recchion - (single 78 played at 33)
Hocus Pocus – Focus - Moving Waves
All is Loneliness – Moondog - The Story of Moondog
Audience Dehypnotization by Damon – Teegarden & Van Winkle - Experimental Groundwork

Photo by Marlene Picard, Original collage LP cover by Marnie

Chain Letter Part Two Part One

Man, this whole Chain Letter thing has blown up like crazy! I have a bunch of other stuff to catch up on here, but I figure the people might want to see these photos. This is actually the second batch, as the first -- from the install -- are on another computer. These are from the opening, which was awesome.

There must have been a dozen unscheduled performance artists or more (not including the Round of Applause Parade that circulated through the entire parking lot, picking up participants as it went along, crusade style). Word in the parking lot was that this was a father and son team, rocking a minimal papier mache euro-puppet look to great effect -- here they are unmasked, digging the Keith Walsh Experience.

Many kind souls contributed additional victual provisions including a bonus beer keg (on top of the six that crippled Wayne Blank) and this inventive erotic red velvet wanker cake, which was devoured and/or demolished in rapid order.

Is it possible to take a bad picture of this show? I can't match many of these works to their artists -- we'll just have to wait for the catalog...

Last of the Evening

Blessed be the Biscuitmakers. That guy made off with Micol Hebron's birthday cake!

All Roads Lead to Faüxmish

Faüxmish's debut LP "F for Ache" is still at the pressing plant, but its artisan-tooled jacket is touring Italy as part of Michael Arata's "One Night Stand -- Italian Style" traveling exhibit. Here it is installed on the wall of the Coliseum. "I did not know men could build such things" -- Juba the Gladiator could have been speaking of the finely crafted, hand-flocked beauty of this exquisite collector's item!

Last Chance for Cut & Paste Extravaganza!

If you haven't seen Elliott Hundley's amazing new collages (and sculptures and paintings) at Regen Projects II at 9016 Santa Monica Blvd, today's the last day. They're open until 6 PM, so no excuses! I'd say more, but I just finished a 5000 word essay on the work, and figured I should get the work out fast. These are some detail shots I took. Free prize to the first person who can identify the works from which they are extracted! Leave guesses in Comments.

ARATALAND! Review in Whitehot Magazine

Shana Nys Dambrot has written an excellent review of the ARATALAND! exhibit for whitehotmagazine.com, based on the idea that Henry Miller dreamed it all early last century. As art theory goes, it's more plausible than most. Thanks Hank. Thanks Shana!

"Innocenceland is the most diverse concentration, with samples from a dozen series laid out in a labyrinth of smaller rooms and corridors radiating off the building’s loading dock. The psychological purgatory of the periods and series collected in this grouping is exacerbated by sense of decentralized wandering that the layout necessitates. There’s a map but it doesn’t really help. You get separated from your group, you find yourself alone, you become anxious, and room after room is full of objects most people don’t care to be left alone with. “In the next room, which is the parlor, all the relatives are assembled. They sit in a semicircle, waiting for me to enter. They sit stiff and rigid, upholstered like the chairs. Instead of warts and wens, there is horsehair sprouting from their chins.” (HM) A small number of sculptures from 1991-93, the Little Virgins feature flickering electric candles and spokes of soiled, black and white saddle shoes, filled with wax and acquired by trading the girls for donuts, one donut per pair. They are old shoes, outgrown -- it’s not like he was waiting outside some Catholic school in a van with a box of them. He asked their parents. But he’s fine playing the role of apocryphal pervert, and the creepy ritualized religious overtones and vague menace triggered by the mere sight of little lost children’s shoes are a major clue that the entire amusement park may have been deadly serious all along. Little Virgin Dress (1993) is a child-size wall sculpture of a white lace churchgoing dress with an under-skirt blossoming of sexy plastic flowers, and doesn’t help his case in that regard. It also rewards viewers for bending slightly to look up a little girl’s dress, making them complicit in the perversion. Nervous laughter and a slight hint of alarm is a common reaction..."

Read the rest of Arataland! at Beacon Arts Building, Los Angeles here.

Sawdust City Premiere

Sawdust City tells the story of a posse of drunken reprobates who get all jiggy with the erotic dancing and the Mr. Bubble up in the Standard Hotel... oh wait, no, that was the after-afterparty. See below.

Sawdust City is actually a brilliant tragicomic holiday road movie from Wisconsin-bred Angeleno writer/director/actor David Nordstrom that premiered last night at the LA Film Festival, and will screen two more times -- Thursday, Jun 23rd 10:00pm at the Downtown Independent, and Friday, Jun 24th 3:50pm at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE 10. Click here for tickets and more info. Don't pass up this opportunity to climb on board the Small Form juggernaut!

Further descriptive text TK.

It is Begun...

New Work by Hector Romero

A selection of remarkable recent works on paper by extraordinary Brooklyn painter/drawer Hector Romero, who may be with us in LA soon. Hector's been mining this rich vein of abstraction melding into cartoonish figurative graphics and back again since we were in grad school at UCLA, and the whole Providence-centered flurry of similar work came and went without anyone picking up on this masterful strain. Now is the time! (PS - I uploaded these images larger than usual because of the amount of detail in them -- click on each one to get a larger view)

To the Limit, Silly Phase, Now Who's Crazy, Nemo, Miracles, Las Palmas, Favorite Part, Fat Lip, Early Raveen, Cult Favorites, 6 valves All works pencil or mixed media on paper, 2010

Canine Freestyle Scratchin'

To compensate for my lack of critical blogging over the course of the Spring Semester, I have posted my 3rd video to youtube -- a delightful funny animal number that will undoubtedly be the ground zero of one or more paradigm-shattering human/canine sound art collaborations. Thank you for your support.

The crowd is swelling, but there's still plenty of bacon...

Carol Cheh said I should be live blogging instead of working on my Art History Powerpoint, so...

Teenage Wasteland Party Shoot

Made it out to E 150th street off the Pearlblossom outside Palmdale last night to partake of some small form simulacral party action for the much-anticipated follow up to Mike Ott's Littlerock. And boy howdy let me tell you if fake parties aren't just as good if not better than the real thing!

Lee Lynch and Cory Zacharia in some ill-defined hostage situation. Nobody was clear about what was going on but Walter seems to approve. And it seemed to get Cory's thespian juices stirring.

Dave Nordstrom (who's Sawdust City debuts at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival between June 16 - 26) kept a tight rein on things from his luxurious production offices.

Scary Cory. Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't get any of Walter's extended whipped-cream antics in the can, so this image will have to stand as the historical documentation. There was so much more though. So much more...