DJ Qbert
ABC NO RIO
Dansk Floede
Dansk Floede
Stumblebum Brass Band
Stumblebum Brass Band
These are the images and videos from the opening of the show that Finishing School is in at ABC NO RIO in New York on Thursday, June 19th. I landed Thursday evening, and I had to head out there right afterward.
They had the Danish punk band Dansk Floede perform at the opening, as well as Stumblebum Brass Band. Stumblebum came in the middle of the opening and performed a solid set. They opened with a cover of Nirvana's Smell Like Teen Spirit. The only other jazz band I know that have covered that song is The Bad Plus. They did it well over a decade ago now I believe on their first album, These Are The Vistas. I search on YouTube for more performances from Stumblebum Brass Band, and all I could find were videos of them on subway platforms and birthday parties. That's what I call street cred.
They had the Danish punk band Dansk Floede perform at the opening, as well as Stumblebum Brass Band. Stumblebum came in the middle of the opening and performed a solid set. They opened with a cover of Nirvana's Smell Like Teen Spirit. The only other jazz band I know that have covered that song is The Bad Plus. They did it well over a decade ago now I believe on their first album, These Are The Vistas. I search on YouTube for more performances from Stumblebum Brass Band, and all I could find were videos of them on subway platforms and birthday parties. That's what I call street cred.
I got to hang out with Dansk Floede most of the weekend since they were around for a performance on Governor's Island, where Finishing School's other show in New York is housed. Really cool people. I was happy to have had the chance to meet them. Really nice people.
Finishing School Pass/ Detect Performance
It is difficult enough watching yourself in a video, but to watch yourself doing a performance is a whole other level completely. This is the performance in front of Pass/ Detect that I did this weekend on Governor's Island for the Emergence show. The actual video you are watching is a recreation of Today It's Voluntary, a work we did at the Huntington Beach Art Center in 2002.
I went out there Thursday to represent Finishing School in a couple of shows. I got off the plane not too long ago. My flight was canceled from its original departure on Sunday because of the thunder storm. Even this morning there was an hour delay because of the weather. So I am going to try to get some much needed rest. But I have a bunch of things from New York to share. From the opening at ABC NO RIO, where we currently have some pieces up, to a couple of video footage of some incredible bands playing out there. I have not looked at the video themselves yet so I need to find out about the audio quality. But I am hoping to start posting some up late tonight or maybe tomorrow.
I went out there Thursday to represent Finishing School in a couple of shows. I got off the plane not too long ago. My flight was canceled from its original departure on Sunday because of the thunder storm. Even this morning there was an hour delay because of the weather. So I am going to try to get some much needed rest. But I have a bunch of things from New York to share. From the opening at ABC NO RIO, where we currently have some pieces up, to a couple of video footage of some incredible bands playing out there. I have not looked at the video themselves yet so I need to find out about the audio quality. But I am hoping to start posting some up late tonight or maybe tomorrow.
The Submarines/Castledoor @ The Echo
Submarines - Modern Inventions - Live @ The Echo
Castledoor - Burn the Maps - Live @ The Echo
I spent Friday the 13th at the Echo to see the Submarines perform. John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard of the Submarines were solo artists when they were introduced by a mutual friend. They became romantically involved. But after the pair moved to Los Angeles, the relationship broke up. After the breakup, they continued to write songs separately. Soon they found out that they were both writing about the breakup. They decided to work on a few of the songs and eventually got back together.
Their second full length album Honeysuckle Weeks came out in May of this year. They are so much fun live and an incredible band to watch perform.
The opening act for the night was Silverlake's own Castledoor. These people are so good that I am always left wondering why no one has signed them to a label yet. I have been a fan of this band for some time as well.
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Little Pharma
Finishing School has begun the first of many phases of our new project, Little Pharma. It is an inter-disciplinary investigation of alternative medicine as a viable antidote to some of the Big Pharma pathologies. We started a blog as a way to begin the dialog on the subject. We would like to welcome all of you to join the discussion by posting comments on it. The Little Pharma blog can be found at little-pharma.blogspot.com.
Philip-Lorca diCorcia
This is where I'll be Tuesday night.
Conversations with Artists: Philip-Lorca diCorcia
Tuesday, June 10 | 7:00 pm
In conversation with curator of photography Charlotte Cotton, the influential photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia expands on the nature and meaning of his art. LACMA's exhibition of diCorcia's photography, which opens May 25, demonstrates his long-term agendas and presents one thousand of his Polaroid pictures together for the first time.
Bing Theater | Free, no reservationsSanta Ana Artwalk
I have not done the local scene for quite awhile I started to feel like I was neglecting The OC. So Saturday night I headed out to the Santa Ana Artwalk. I must say that OCCCA and Grand Central continue to impress me with solid shows. I love the current one up at OCCCA. I'm glad someone is doing a sexy show in Orange County. It gets way too sterile here sometimes. The OC really needs a bit more sex. Actually I want a Richard Kern-style sex show. I guess I'm thinking of his early films. And, of course, also his photographic work. Or Eric Kroll. Can someone please get on it? But it has to be in The OC.
As always, Grand Central puts up an eclectic mix. Souped Up features works from the Kustom Kulture. First I went out this week and saw the new Indiana Jones with the alien storyline, (No. Make that the post-Roswell/ Area 51/ Flying Saucer craze era Indiana Jones.) then I walked into Grand Central and was confronted by a green alien in a blue outfit covered in what looked like automotive paint. All buffed and ready to go. I quite liked it.
But I really lost my heart in the back gallery, with all those Warhol Polaroids. I'm going to see Philip-Lorca diCorcia at LACMA on Tuesday, so Polariods are all I'm thinking about right now.
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Because We Forget
Because We Forget are ongoing tactical actions that deploy marginalized, overlooked, and forgotten ideas, narratives, and objects back into public space where they can confront, question, and memorialize. Each BWF action has a web component that can be viewed at www.becauseweforget.net. This is an excerpt from Veterans Day TV, 2004.
How To Draw Manga
You know, I don't understand why everyone and their cousins now want to draw in the manga style. I am a huge fan of manga, having been a reader since I was a child living in Thailand. There were nothing else to read but manga. However, a lot of these drawings have no originality in style whatsoever. They are all copy of a copy.
Well, maybe I should not be too quick to judge. I have become a practitioner of this kind of inking now, I guess, when I do illustrations and handdrawn typography. Going away from the brush and ink technique that I used to do. But this is mainly because it is a quick way for me to get the drawings into Illustrator and color them. I almost never bother with the drawing tools in Illustrator anymore when I have to draw something by hand. I simply cheat with Live Trace. And I can get super thin lines with something like a Uniball. Not to say that I no longer use the Illustrator toolsets when I need to.
But you know what? If a pen is good enough for Robert Crumb, then it should be good enough for me.
Phone Sex
The photographer Phillip Toledano has a book coming about the phone sex industry. The book pairs portraits of workers with individual stories about their experiences working in the industry. The book does a good job demystifying those on the other end of the line. We are given short glimpses into exactly who they are.
When I heard of the project, I immediately remembered Joel Sternfeld's photograph, A Woman At A Dot-com Party, San Francisco, California, August 2000, from his 90's series "Stranger Passing". It was one of my favorite photographic series from that time. But I have always wondered why no one attempted to chronicle the stories of all those people moving into the Bay Area working in the dot-com industry. I mean, if anyone did, I have not been aware of it. The reason I am bringing this up is because Toledano DID chronicled the empty offices of those dot-com businesses that resulted from the crash in a previous series called "Bankrupt".
From a few mumbled words, a phone sex operator must weave a bespoken and finely detailed fantasy encounter. It requires a vivid imagination, acting ability, and above all, a deep understanging of the human appetite. What do we crave? What words have the maximum yield? What tone will most effectively reach into a man's trousers? When to be gentle, and when to demand fealty.Phone-sex is theatre. An artificial passion-play in real-time, directed by a skilled verbal fantasist, with only one possible conclusion.
Phone Sex
via Cool Hunting
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Game Design: Echochrome
Featuring an elegant black and white art design inspired by the works of M.C. Escher, echochrome™ is a puzzle game unlike any other. With gameplay based on optical illusions, players must utilize five simple laws of perspective to join walkways, hide dangers, and create new paths to reach the “echos,” or shadow guides. Once you’ve mastered the five laws, use them to create your own mind-bending levels to play and share with friends using the custom level editor.
Currently available exclusively on the Playstation Network for the Playstation 3 and the PSP.
Currently available exclusively on the Playstation Network for the Playstation 3 and the PSP.
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