12/27/09 - billy childish - unknowable but certain

12/27/09 - billy childish - unknowable but certain
blackheath books - UK

blackheath books

the next-to-latest (in saying this i admit that I'm a bit behind on things) book from billy childish is a collection of 41 poems that were written in the years 2008-9.

41 poems written from the perspective of a man who, when offered an opportunity to drink lies of dislocated praise and rigged acclaim, chose instead to put down the bottle.

in the epigraph childish references fyodor doestoevsky- "an intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it's only the fool who becomes anything".

a running thread through many of childish's recent poems is that there's less value in becoming "someone" than there is in being "no one".

the 'no one' he speaks of is not a null or cipher, but an immoderate person who will exert whether broken or fit. one who can be deliberate but just as likely occasional. often times praiseworthy; but off the radar of social climbers.

12/21/09 - Of Missing Persons

While digging around the internet a couple of days ago I stumbled upon an .avi file that contained the Argentian film adaption of a David Goodis novel called "Of Missing Persons" (1956) dir. Pierre Chanal

The storyline is nothing new (love triangle between a lawyer, his controlling wife, and a blonde dancer,a faked death, a possible suicide... yeah, the usual) but some of the dialogue is loaded with hi-octane DRAMA. And the lighting/shadowplay--surreal!



Juan and his wife, Mendy


"hit me if you want. what are you waiting for"



stretchin' and smokin' in the dressing room


"it would be the biggest love test, kill me Juan"




"DRUNK"






"you think you're alive but you're only a dead guy"






"were you really expecting me, baby, to serve you dinner?"

12/12/09 - Provoke Era photography exhibition @ SFMOMA

SFMOMA - Provoke Era Exhibition

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
September 12 - December 20, 2009

The tumultuous period following World War II proved fertile ground for a generation of Japanese photographers who responded to societal upheaval by creating a new visual language dubbed "Are, Bure, Boke" — rough, blurred, and out of focus. Named for the magazine Provoke, which sought to break the rules of traditional photography, this exhibition traces how Japanese photographers responded to their country's shifting social and political atmosphere.

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So damn lucky am I that I was in San Francisco during the last week that this exhibition was open. Other than Daido Moriyama; all of these photographers of the Provoke Era are new to me.

some new favorites--


Eikoh Hosoe --- man and woman #6


Osama Kanemura --- today's japan


Ikko Narahara --- two ladies with jackie masks


Shomei Tomatsu --- protest tokyo 1969


Daido Moriyama --- light and shadow


Masahisa Fukase --- seikan ferry boat


Takuma Nakahira --- la nuit 5


from the side exhibition
Photography Now - China, Japan, Korea
September 12 - December 20, 2009


Asako Narahashi --- jonanjima #1


DoDo Jin ming --- free element


Gundala Schulze ElDowy --- arbeiter



Hiroshi Yamazaki ---sun is longing for the sea

and some old favorites


Gary Winogrand --- NY 1968


Helen Levitt --- i do not love

one of a dozen photos that appeared on a special memorium wall dedicated to the late photographer.

12/12/09 - Evangelista @ Hemlock Tavern - San Francisco

Intimate venue, low/no impact lighting, attentive audience and a great band causes one to not be not so much concerned with photo detail.

Words are well on their way. In the meantime... anything I could knock off right now would be bettered by the review that is linked after these snaps.

Pictured is Carla Bozulich (guitar, vocals) and Jherek Bischoff (guest contrabss/gtr from The Dead Science). Shakin the darkness - Tara Barnes (bass), Dominic Cramp (keyboards) and Michael Tracy (drums)











Spinning Platters review by Jason Leroy

12/12/09 - San Francisco Santarchy 2009

12:12 on 12/12 Civic Center Plaza in San Fran. = hit by a load of rain (damn, twas nearly cold enough for west coast snow). Spot the faux partridge.




Don't want to be funked by the smell of soggy santa? keep your distance and stick to the rear.

12/05/09 - Erik Friedlander's Block Ice and Propane @ the Walker

I found the visual aspects of Erik Friedlander's Block Ice + Propane solo cello program at the Walker more inspiring than the accompanying music. But seeing as no photography was allowed I only snapped one shot as he was departing after the end of his set. And woahwoah -- i liked the photo more than anything I could've come up with if I'd even tried.

Friedlander, technically, is a fantastic cellist but much of what he played this night sounded like fancy-panted, pizzicato styled banjo strum. If not for the projected still images taken by his father, Lee, and the fantastic moving images filmed by Bill Morrison the experience would've felt like being trapped inside a public television documentary. Not that different,I suppose, than the intended narrative/ family vacation travelogue that the project was centered around.

No, the show wasn't bad... just quaint and with next to no in-deep. Neither qualities that i look for in a Cello performance.

12/11/09 - "So What"??

When you come to think of it, playing or listening to music is a pure luxury, an addiction, a waste of valuable time and money for nothing more than making the patterns of sound. Yet, what would we think of a society which had no place for music, which did not allow for dancing, or for any activity not directly involved with the practical problems of survival? Obviously, such a society would be surviving to no purpose--unless it could somehow make a delight out of the "essential tasks" of farming, building, soldering, manufacturing or cooking. But in that moment the goal of survival is forgotten. The tasks are being done for their own sake, whereupon farms begin to look like gardens, sensible living-boxes sprout interesting roofs and mysterious ornaments , arms are engraved with curious patterns, carpenters take time to "finish" their work, and cooks become gourmets.

A Chinese philosophical work called "The Secret of the Golden Flower" says that "when purpose has been used to achieve purposelessness, the thing has been grasped" .

Alan Watts- The Book (copyright 1966)