First Signs of Life in the Desert Outside of Las Vegas
Kevin Paul Giordano06.19.09
If you’ve ever driven to Vegas on a wild itch to burn some money, raise hell, or…cough…take the family for a good wholesome time, you may have witnessed the grandeur of some of the sites that surround it, the desert in all its glory at sunset, the jackrabbits, cacti and purple silhouettes of mountains, or a little project from the Depression days known as the Hoover Dam. Vegas teems with desperation, and so does that which surrounds it. Here’s a story from Kevin Paul Giordano, art by Danny Jock.
Provocateurs and Participants – a review of Acting Out: Social Experiments in Video at the ICA Boston
Julie Perini06.17.09
Artist Julie Perini describes the current exhibition at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Acting Out: Social Experiments in Video as one “sidestepping the moral responsibility of academia,” as 5 international artists: Yael Bartana, Johanna Billing, Phil Collins, Javier Tellez, and Artur Zmijewski act as rogue sociologists who “freely borrow from the methods and conventions of fiction and documentary filmmaking while deploying their own hybrid strategies.” These works are complex aesthetically and tackle the politics of the body, both from the individual and global perspective. They beg not only physical engagement from their players, but intense attention from their viewers. If you are in New England this summer don’t miss it.
Talk Show 26 with Aimee Bender, David Leavitt, Dennis Lehane, Sam Lipsyte, Peter Rock, Dana Spiotta, A.J. Verdelle
Jaime Clarke06.16.09
Long before buying a record myself, there were a couple of LPs I took on as my own (besides Urban Chipmunk, Tom T. Hall and yes, Peter Rock, the K-Tel stuff); 1) the first Kiss LP I convinced my dad to buy around the time their solo albums were coming out, and 2) Funkadelic’s One Nation Under A Groove (that was the one that folded out with the naked lady on the inside right?). Well I was obsessed with the art, the nakedness, the makeup (in Kiss’s case) as much as the music, and while not always a good rule of thumb (think Insane Clown Posse) often if the art or makeup is wild, then the music (your ass) follows. Here in Talk Show 26, host Jaime Clarke chats with authors Aimee Bender, David Leavitt, Dennis Lehane, Sam Lipsyte, Peter Rock, Dana Spiotta, and A.J. Verdelle about their first favorite albums. Art by Danny Jock. -CM
Music: Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Casey McKinney06.14.09
You know when you get 5 choices in those little Facebook best of quizzes (well maybe you don’t, maybe you are too busy listening to music, or…
100 Percent Handsome
Robyn Weisman06.14.09
"Did you get my profile?" I get in an email and a couple of surprise chats, and I’m like oh hell I am so behind with Ms. Weisman because the other piece she sent in was like 25 pages and I am thinking – profile, oh no, it could be longer – and I’m about ready for adderol therapy, but then breathe and then fall into that tunnel, you know that vortex of clarity and focus that means something’s good and realize we have a bona fide gem of hallucinatory gonzo style profilage on Fanzine’s hands, lizards and all, but just a taste now, like a lemon biscuit for tea. And heck I have a half chihuahua thing too, a dog, albeit!…but so you have to read this…NOW!
Bury My Heart at Tataouine
Brian Joseph Davis06.11.09
Who here recalls Westworld? – in which a robotic Yul Brenner made the bald-guy-in-cowboy-hat look hip long before today’s slew of Hair Club, Stetson-glued-on, Nashville stars? Well, that’s neither here nor there for this story, except that it’s a loosely cloaked sci-fi western. Brian Joseph Davis, author of the novels I, Tanya and Portable Altamont, and one of the editors at the esteemed lit site Joyland, puts Star Wars fanatics into a faux journalistic, Jodorowsky style western that’s dry and crisp like a fine Chianti washing down a spaghetti shoot-em-up. Enjoy a taste here. Art by Danny Jock.
Book: Dennis Cooper: Ugly Man
Casey McKinney06.10.09
Author Dennis Cooper was in the states briefly from Paris, reading from his first book with Harper Perennial, a collection of short fiction called…
Oh Calvin! A Belmont Postmortem
Pete Hausler06.07.09
Yeah the Gods were right. Hubris got the best of Borel in the 2009 Belmont.
(HH) Hamlet House – A Play In Progress
Thom Donovan06.07.09
Lilac Co and St. John’s Theater program have been engaging in a work in progress titled (HH) hamlet house that was performed last week at the Warsaw theater in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Thom Donovan was there and reviews here the play written and directed by Sean Lewis and featuring Lewis, Elisa Matula, Seth Powers, and John Morena. It’s an inventive take on Shakespeare that has Hamlet played by two, doubling characters, an Ophelia forefronted, some merry prankstering and an invite for audience participation that is unique and welcomed. If you missed this showing, read up and then see the next one!
OH, CALVIN! I FEAR YE HAVE ANGERED THE RACING GODS: Why Saturday’s Belmont Stakes is More Than a Two-Horse Race
Pete Hausler06.04.09
[Update: yep, Borel finished 3rd, jumped for the lead early on the long track. Another Bird, Summer Bird Wins, read Pete’s Postmortem here]. The ancient greeks warned against betting this way – swearing on one’s own abilities with excessive pride. It’s a trait known as the big H and has nothing to do with horses (it’s the humans that are teeming with Hubris). If you don’t like Calvin Borel, you likely don’t have a heart, but if you think he may end up the first jockey to have his own "jockey triple crown," (winning the big three on different horses) a prize up till now relegated to the horses themselves, then you’re either just reading the odds right, or tempting fate along with the quite boastful (and favorite) Cajun. Careful with those bets this Saturday, read Pete Hausler’s piece here beforehand (other tips included). Art by Danny Jock
