Lawrence Welk Redux

Mr. Ghost Goes to Town

Today I watched this video (an experimental remake of part of one Lawrence Welk show) one too many times. I'm into to Lawrence Welk lately and his Alsace-Lorraine-via-North-Dakota-with-a-touch-of-Russian accent. He and his "champagne music," make me happy in an eerie detached way. This video has a kind of great moment at 00:49-1:11.

Gigantic's Mini-Monster Issue

Weird People in Masks

The Gigantic Mini-Monster Issue is live. Featured are an interview of Brian Evenson, fiction by Carmen Lau and Sasha Fletcher and two videos by Michael Nason & Brian Wilmont, and Max Juren & Jill Pangallo courtesy of Monofonus. The Gigantic Mini-Monster Issue has been written about by L Magazine.

Video still from video by Michael Nason and Brian Wilmont.

Feast of Freaks

Performa 09 Gala Dinner

Jennifer Rubell is throwing a gala dinner Friday night for the opening of Performa 09, a festival of performance art that starts Sunday. Some things at this dinner include giant chocolate covered rabbits, apple trees and honey dripping from the ceiling onto ribs. Here are some things Jennifer Rubell said about getting the meal ready--she is the niece of Steve Rubell, who owned Studio 54 where Andy Warhol went a lot:

"I’ll go over there and he and I are going to lie the bunnies in the back of his minivan and put a duvet on top of them and bring them over to the X Initiative space. We’re going to stand them up, surround them with newspaper and then Jacques is going to spray a final coat of chocolate directly on to them."

"Mr. Wickham from Cutchogue, Long Island, is now going to drive the trees in in two trucks on Thursday. He has this new plan to dig them up by the roots and then with a chainsaw cut the roots off with a chainsaw once he arrives, which I think is so great."

"The next hurdle is going to be setting up the ribs under the honey trap—and getting dressed."

More Goings On

Subjective Account

At the Rumpus, I published a subjective account of the n+1 launch party at PPOW that has this blowaway illustration by Andre da Loba.

Goings on About the Rump

James Franco's Face and Benefit Party w Care Bears on Fire

At the Rumpus, my write-up on the New Yorker Festival has been linked to by a few places like PW Morning Report, Tao Lin's blog and Vol. 1 Brooklyn, which liked my title, "James Franco's Face."

Also, save the date, the Rumpus and Tin House are having a benefit party on November 17th 2009 that's going to be a blast.


MORE THAN YOU EXPECTED, A NIGHT AT THE HIGHLINE

Rick Moody, author of Right Livelihoods, Jonathan Ames, author of The Double Life Is Twice As Good, This American Life's Starlee Kine, David Rees, author of Get Your War On, comedians Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman, HBO Def Poetry Jam star Vanessa Hidary, the Six Word Memoirists and music by kid core phenomenon Care Bears On Fire

DOORS 6:00PM, SHOW 7:00PM @THE HIGHLINE BALLROOM, 431 W. 16TH STREET

Showpage: www.highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=1183

$10, Cheap!

Photo of Care Bears on Fire by Phil Knott

Introducing Tarko

Magician David Blaine as Tarko

Tarko teleports guy on sidewalk to Japan then talks about changing races of the human race, or something...

New Yorker Fest, Goodbye

What James Franco, Neko Case and Malcolm Gladwell Had in Common

Two of my favorite events at the New Yorker Festival, which took place this weekend, were Neko Case (she performed "That Teenage Feeling" among other songs, and talked about being a "cougar") and Malcolm Gladwell who told a story about a couple of WASP anthropologists who got drunk, ritualistically, in Bolivia in the fifties, and NOT Michael Vick, as he said he would. James Franco, who spoke very slowly, was asked what it felt like to be a stoner icon. He also talked about the art project he's involved with, Erased James Franco. And his audience wore much less clothing than any other audience of the six total events I had been to. George Saunders said "Pas de Chat" 73 times, Gary Shteyngart said he was bribed with cheese in Leningrad and Jonathan Franzen was asked a "personal" question by a young woman currently attending his alma mater, Swarthmore. I'll be posting something about all of the events I saw for The Rumpus later this week.

Amarillo by Morning - Spike Jonze

Amarillo By Morning - George Strait live at the Houston Rodeo








This is one of my favorite documentaries. Spike Jonze was in Houston filming a commercial for Pepsi, Adidas or Wrangler or something and met some of these young "bull-riders" and made a short film about them.

Bourgeois Gone Bad and Skate Videos

Jockum and Oeuvre

I like Jockum Nordstrom because he "seems to...delight in depictions of bourgeois life gone strangely if not savagely wrong," and I think my favorite depictions are depictions of bourgeois life gone strangely if not savagely wrong.

I saw illustrations by Jockum Nordstrom at the MOMA today. Tomorrow, it's music videos, commercials and other "award winning" parts of the Spike Jonze "oeuvre."

Spike Jonze in NY and Monofonus in Marfa

Spike Jonze is in New York this week, and in conjunction with the release next Friday, Oct. 16, of his latest feature, Where the Wild Things Are, there're a lot of things happening in New York, including a retrospective of his work at the MOMA. To check out a full schedule, see my short piece here.

Also, this weekend, Monofonus, the record label and multimedia organization, heads to Marfa to debut its Video Series. You can read a short piece about it with some video excerpts on The Rumpus. Here's a clip "Confederate Fruit: Rebel Song," from one of its featured artists, Michael Nason.

Confederate Fruit: Rebel Song from Michael Nason on Vimeo.

Spike Jonze Week

Exclusive Where the Wild Things Are Short Film

The Vampire Attack from We Love You So on Vimeo.

Where the Wild Things Are - IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE October 16, 2009

Simulated Sex Acts on Stage

Happy Looking People Actually Angry

"Theater today, not all of it, is in your face," I said. "I'm not allowed to reach out to it."

"People are angry," said Syd. "It's related to that. Just take a look at this table. The shapes on it. Look at all these squares, triangles and circles. Fran. What would you call this dish?" Syd looked at his smoked salmon. The table was cluttered.

"I'd say it's Baroque," said Fran passing a glass of water. "Who needs all this water?"

"Fish-shaped," said Syd with an index finger at either end. He observed the dish like a math problem. "This dish is shaped like a fish."


Aside:
I like a good musical. Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and The American Ruling Class being two. Simulated sex acts on stage, when viewed while sitting next to my parents, make me wonder how they are processing these acts on stage--whether their thoughts are: in words that relate in a figurative way to what is on stage; in blank non-sexual non-conscious space equivalent to the space your mind is in when your eyes cross; or in some related but non-constructive analytical distance imposed to defend against unwilling recourse into prurient mental territory, "I wonder if I'll have the twenty-layer crepe cake or the creme brulee. If the crepe cake comes with blueberries, I'll have to order something else, or I can order the crepe cake with strawberries, unless the strawberries have at some point been frozen..."

Lipsynch and Mud Luscious

Two Views on Voice

On Saturday at BAM, saw Lipsynch--a production by Robert Lepage that's a kind of a hybrid performance: film, live music, theater, mixed media. It was nine hours well spent, except for the dinner part, where I had to find a place to eat, eat, and get back in 45 minutes. My review is up on The Rumpus.

I also recently had the opportunity to interview J.A. Tyler, the author and publisher of Mud Luscious Press, which is issuing an anthology of its mini-chapbooks in January 2010. You can read the interview here, and read excerpts from some of the recently published works, by Molly Gaudry, Ryan Call and Elizabeth Ellen here.