Invasion pt 2.

CHICAGO!!!

The revolving door of visitors to Chicago kept on swinging round and round and the good, good times kept rolling on making this April the absolute tits. Anyway in a one week, Mark and Pavan were in from New York for Whiskey Fest (more on that later) and then Regan the Strong-Armed-Ruler popped down from Bingo via Milwaukee (Spirit Animal Passover) to take in the sites and sounds of our grand city. During these monumental seven days I over indulged on friendship, spirits, food, the NBA playoffs (attending the opening game of the Bulls-Pacers series with Mark in his dads baller-ass seats), Art, Music (got a free ticket to Arcade Fire), and dancing. Needless to say I love my friends and feel very blessed to be so free, despite not being chosen.


ART!!!

Sooo...yeah, it turns out this next exhibit that I'm going to talk about WAS at the Art Institute, but expired the first of May. The show was compromised of three groups of pieces by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, who are photographers, sculptors, installation arts, and film makers extrodiare. Before I get to talking about the components of the exhibit specifically, I just want to talk and think about what it means for Visual Artists to work in a pair as a single unit. Usually artist prefer to work alone, being in complete control of their creative processes, and of course soaking up all the credit and acclaim themselves, individually. Clearly artists do not operate in a vacuum and have to work with their subjects and the tools of their media, but I think it's really swell that these two successful artists do what they do together and I found myself wondering about what their roles were in each of their works and how the created what they did together. So Fischli/Weiss are sort of surreal conceptual pseudo-dadaists, who take mundane everyday objects and arrange them to make their art in an delicate balance of chaos and order. In the sausage photographs Fischli/Weiss take objects found in the average swiss fridge and compose them in a manner to create typical tableaus, such as a beauty pageant or people shopping for rugs. Or in the quiet afternoon, the artist create and photograph sculptures of found objects arranged in a manner that defy gravity and our typical sense of space and composition, that look as though they have the sustainability of a snowflake. And finally in an installation called, questions, the artists project phrases of self doubt or witty observation temporary on the walls of a pitch dark room, creating what may be a representation of the constellation of thought of people passing each other in a public space or an homage to the human ability to repress unproductive thought.




WHISKEY!!!

MUSIC!!!

After much deliberation, hemming and hawing, and general consternation, I award 2010's silver medal to Halycon Digest by Deerhunter. Really, this year, there were a lot of competitors, who really brought their a-games, and my top two could have gone either way. But, there can only be one champion, and sorry to say, Deerhunter, you should have played it cooler. But second place is pretty darn good in my book. So this concept album is supposed to be about how optimistic people cast all of their memories, even the bad ones, in a good light-each song representative of a gilded retrospective. The results are tremendous, PSYCH rock at its best-transcendental soundscapes that hit you in the heart, gut, and balls (if you have them). Really, I can not say enough about how this album sounds, other than imagine the way your happiest memory sounds, convoluted as it may be. Check it out...

Invasion pt 1.

CHICAGO!!!


So have not really had a chance to travel this month, mostly because I have had a slew of visitors come my way. My DC dudes, Dana and Tim, and their boy, Dante drove out for the Cubs home opener, which the the Cubs lost in typical Cubby fashion (leading the whole game only to give the go ahead runs up on a grandslam in the end). The timing was not exactly awesome in that I had to work a majority of the days they were here, but we still got some quality time in-I showed em my favorite places to eat and drink (Rootstock, Skylark, M Burger, Smallbar, Rainbo Club, and Club Foot), looked at some art, and walked around downtown a good bit. In the end Tim got to bring home, like 10 cases of Old Style (which for some perverse reason he loves the taste of), so all in all, I
will consider their trip a success for them, and stuff.



ART!!!

So if you have not been to the Art Institute recently, go, because it is snapping the fuck off. There are currently four super-interesting (m dash?) exhibits. One of which I will talk about now and the other I will leave for my next posting. So right now the Tute is showing off Judith Neisser's private art collection. Evidently, besides being richer than god, Judith is a critic and writer with a primary focus on architecture and design, who collect contemporary international art. This shit is so fascinating to me for a number of reasons-1. you never get to see private art collections in museums. 2. You can't help but reflect on collections in general, a private collection is by it's own definition private and personal. So it's interesting to look at the artists and works that Neissler was drawn to purchase and try to figure out what this group of art works says about her personality. Did she actually like that Sol LeWitt, or did she just think it would look rad above her couch in her living room. 3. One is inspired, almost compulsively, to think about what their own private art collections would look like if money were no object; I personally would have a lot more photography and a lot less minimalism, but it's hard to incorporate photography and non-minimalistic into a coherent design, which also get you to thinking about the context arts surroundings (home vs galleries) has on art . 5. It's really cool to see some non-museum quality works by famous artists. Like, oh, that's what a pencil sketch by Gerhard Richter looks like, or, snap, a Luc Tuyman water color. Anyway, it's neat, check it out.


MUSIC!!!

So here it is, the latest installment in my top ten records of 2010, numero tres- Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti-BEFORE TODAY. Now I'm not sure if y'all are familiar with APHG, but it is a musical project that started out as Ariel Pink (low-fi home recording of songs mostly composed of found noises, from t.v. adverts to sounds created by his armpits) that, secondary to the attention of PAW TRACKS (animal collectives record label), has morphed into a full band of established super talented musicians. Before Yesterday is one of the most unique sounding works I have ever heard in my life. It's like spirit vision of thrown away scraps of late 70's early 80's outside pop. The songs are little contradictions, infectiously tight melodies created by sprawling nonsensical sounds and pitches-tied together by circular counter bass melodies and driving percussion. The album is a euphoric experience, both simple and and complex at the same time, that I encourage you all to try at least once. If you like falsetto, weird sounds, and super poppy bass, this is for you!

NYC c BR & LBJ

TRAVEL!!!

So I just got back, figuratively, from an epic weekend in NYC, celebrating the eminent union of two of my favorite people in the world, Brandon and Laurel. Now, the initial question that pops into my head when some says, oh it's a joint bachelor/bachelorette party, is, which of the couple doesn't have their own friends? In this case it was Laurel-just kidding. In this situation, with this particular couple, because they have no respect for the gender construct and have been together so long, and are so close with each others friends, they decided to do it together, destination style in the center of the universe. They rented up a an apartment in the lower east side, invited all of their loved ones (scattered around this great country), and opted to play some group bedbug roulette. Because the celebration was more than one day, and there were so many sleeping receptacles involved, it was more of a elastic group bonding experiment than anything else that might be considered organized. Needless to say, I came back loving my friends more than ever, and absolutely, can not, can not wait for this wedding.

ART!!!

So, sadly, I was not as active on the museum tip as I normally am when visiting NYC, with the hipping and the hopping, ripping and the rapping. I did manage to make it to one and got turned on to some pretty cool stuff which I will gladly share with y'all. So, because I made Pavan call in sick on that Monday, as to get some quality time in with the dude. I let Pavan pick out our museum, and, of course, he gladly selected his favorite jump, The Rubin Museum of the Himalayas. One of the exhibits going on right now (until April 11, get on it NewYorkers!), was a pretty cool collection of contemporary artists, who are influenced by Buddhist philosophy, called grain of emptiness. My favorite dude had to be this photographer/installation artist, Atta Kim. Pavan and I were lucky enough to make it to the Rubin before his Ice Sculpture of a Buddha had melted away-evidently, it started out 5 feet in height, placed on purple velvet covered pedestal in a class container. Patrons were encouraged to touch the sculpture and take the melted water home in containers for whatever purpose they saw fit (presumably for watering house plants or to be reintroduced into the universe in one way or another). What better salutation to impermanence than an ice sculpture? Anywho, I was much more into dude's photography, which included two repeated processes-long exposures or the layering or multiple images to create a new image. The long exposures, were of street scenes, shot over 8 hours- one of Indian street market, the other of Times Squares, where the foot and street traffic turns into wavy blurs relative in significance proportionally to the length of their participation in the picture. The layering pics were either portraits composed of hundreds of pictures of Tibetan Men or Women creating the prototypical representation of either subject mater; or the amalgamation of an artists works, like every Botticelli
painting ever fused into a weird color scape. Fun Stuff.




FOOD!!!

If you are ever in Woodside, Queens, you have got to stop by this amazing Thai spot, called, SriPraPhai. Some say it's the best Thai Restaurant in NYC, which basically means, it's the best Thai Restaurant in the world, right? Anyway, checked this place out after Mark and me got absolutely demolished in bowling by Kareem and Pavan. It took us 30 minutes to decide what to order, we got like five apps and 3 entrees, and finished it all. My favorite was probably a fried watercress dish,or their papaya salad, or their dumplings, which were all made to perfection. Go in a big group and taste everything. It looks like they have really nice outdoor seating, too.

MUSIC!!!
There is light at the end of the tunnel that I can almost make out with my eyes! Number 4 on my top 10 favorite albums from 2010 is Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz. 5 years after his critically acclaimed, Come On Feel The Illinois, little Sujan decided to flip his switch, so to speak. And give up his bread and butter-banjo and trumpet, for electronic/orchestral composition in a concept album inspired by the apocalyptic artwork of schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson. I can not get enough of Steven's sweet, sweet, voice, and this album shows it off in it's various incarnations sublimely. No camp or gimmicks, I was skeptical at first, of Sufjan going electronic, but, he aggregates noise and sound, with savant skill of Lee Perry. Lyrically, The Age of Adz, is a reconciliation of existence, mental illness/wellness, and interpersonal connections lost and found-very thoughtful and less straight forward than Steven's previous works. Either you will love it or hate, hit the link and give it a try one way or another and if you get the chance, as always, give it a listen on vinyl-it always sounds better.

DRAMA CITY!!!

TRAVEL!!!

So in keeping with the travel theme of my previous post, I will talk about a couple of the many, many, almost innumerable wonderful things I got to do during my brief stay in the chocolate city. First off, big shout to my DC Fam, Pep Pep, Tim, Dana, Mario, Z, and little D- I love you all, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy hectic lives to make feel the love, too! Next time, I promise my stay will be longer.

FOOD!!!

So obviously, I had/have a lot of DC food habits, itches to scratch, so to speak, and it was with great pleasure that I did revisit some of my favorite district eateries (Leopold's, The Diner, Manny and Olga's (yeah I know), and Pete's). However, being the explorer that I am, I had to venture forth into uncharted territories, too. After much deliberation and consideration, I decided on Michael Richard's (relatively) new joint, Central. I know, I know, at this point, the idea of a fancy comfort is a little old, but really, fuck it, in my mind there are too many nuances to the genre to ever let it get played out. It being DC, the atmosphere was a little stuffy, but nothing over the top- the hostess did ask my boy if he wanted to check his backpack, with a little bit of a smirk on her face. But you know what? Hill-Billy money spends just the same as an other.

So the first great thing about Central was their beer, they are supposedly the only place in the US to have Blussner Pilsner on tap, which could mean all of shit if it were not one of the crispest, cleanest, and most refreshing pils that I have ever had. The next great thing about the place was the appetitizers. We ordered the cheese puffs-imagine the soft and moist flavor of a croissant balanced out by the dry heavy taste of gruyere cheese rolled into a little bit sized ball of greatness. As well as the pork belly confit with bbq sauce- to say these guys were succulent would be an understatement and an insult, the rich and savory flavor of the pork was slightly accented with a drizzle of zesty house made bbq sauce, so good!. The final great thing about central was their fried chicken. Now I know, not everyone loves fried chicken, it's extraordinarily fatty and some weirdos I know don't like eating meat off of a bone. But to the day I die, fried chicken, in its many incarnations, will be one of my favorite foods. This fried chicken, had Panko breading and was only lightly fried, which made the skin very light and crisp. The meat was super juicy and of the highest quality. We speculated that they might just lightly fry the skin and then throw the pieces in the oven, or vice versa, but really, who cares how magicians preform their feats, just enjoy the show, right? Summary:great beer + great apps + great fried chicken = great.





ART!!!

So if you happen upon DC you must, must, must visit the National Gallery of Art to check their wonderful Gauguin exhibit. It's in house until June fifth, so East Coast peoples, if you have the time and money for travel, get on the bus! Now, to be honest, I never really felt Gauguin, I always associated him with flat blotches of colors outlined in harsh dark colors, which is not an aesthetic pleasing to my eye and creepy Island women lamping around languidly with sad, sad eyes. Well after watching a very informative documentary pregame, and then reading the curretoreal comments whilst looking at his works, I've changed my mind. Dude really, really did amazing things. Gauguin wove together Christian themes and primitive motifs in an attempt to represent the universal spirit in order to show his viewers that there was no right or wrong religion (did he invent cultural relativism?). The really funny thing was by the time Gauguin made it to Tahiti, the collective effects of missionaries and alcohol, had all but erroded the Maori way of life there. The Garden-of-Eden-esque representations of Tahiti were painted from vision and not subject and all of the Religious Maori imagery was borrowed from other inspirational sources (Hindu temples, museum artifacts, ect...) and not real. I had no idea how cerebral Gauguin was, with consideration to his artistic process and intentions, I was able to overlook some of the irksome technical aspects of his work to really enjoy his opus in whole. The whole scenario made me reconsider why we enjoy what art we do enjoy, which is a topic in itself that could dissected and discussed at great length.



MUSIC!!!
Here is numero cinco on my listo of my top ten albums of 2010. Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me. I have never been able to listen to Newsom at great length, as pretty as her harp playing is, her singing voice on her previous two records grated the hell out of me and it was always one song and done for me. Ironically, I can listen to all two plus hours of her most recent album happily not only in one sitting, but on repeat. Her voice has matured past her previous squeaky and gimmicky state to a broad spectrum of tones and sounds, from soft whispers to high pitched blaring music articulations, that is nothing short of captivating. Joanna's song writing now also relies a lot less on her harp playing, and features more complex and dynamic musical composition, which makes for a very magical listening experience. Move over Mazzy Star, So Tonight That I Might See, when I need to calm down and just unwind, I have a new go-to, and, Have One on Me, is it.

Pittsburgh

Travel!!!

So now that I'm a free agent again and not spending all of my free time visiting NYC/hosting in Chicago I can go where ever my little brain tells me it wants to go. I am, right now, in the middle of a road trip, live blogging from our nation's capital, jerks, and I thought I'd give you all a little taste of my trip so far.

So Pittsburgh is one of those cities you either from, or go to college to at, or never visit (I think). But I've always been fascinated by the idea of the city of bridges (446 and counting), so decided to give it a go. I mean I can't hold the Steeler's and their dirty style of football or bathroom raping against the town where from they are from, can I? Plus anyplace where they say 'yinz' instead of 'y'all' has got to be pretty interesting...

Museums!!!

So being the art museum nerd that I am, I wanted to check out what Penciltucky's second largest city had to offer. I only had time to visit two out of three of the big boys, sorry Carnegie museum of art, I'll catch you my next time when I have the time to dip to the east end.

The first museum I went to was the Andy Warhol, which would have been amazing if I really dug on Andy Warhol. It was interesting to learn about the Artist's life (his net worth when he died was 220 million dollars), cool seeing some of his more obscure (late) paintings and drawings, rad checking his installations (watching the children play in the silver cloud room was heart warming), and gratifying to check out selections from dude's shoe and leather jacket collection. BUT, Andy Warhol's photography and film, which make up or take up about 2/5ths of he museum, is hackish at best. Sorry, subject matter alone does not make for good photos or films.



The second museum(s) I went to was the mattress factory, which was AMAZING!!! It was worth the visit alone to check out the curatorial spaces, a renovated multi-floored warehouse and a old Victorian house/store front. Highlights included a multi-dimensional exhibit on race and racism in contemporary Cuban art and several permanent installations. The Cuban Race exhibit offered up some of the best contemporary painting I've seen in quite some time if you get the chance check out Pedro Alvarez or Alexis Esquive, do so, you won't regret. My favorite piece of art was probably a room created by James Turrell called Pleiades. Basically a neigh pitch dark gallery, that you approach from a pitch dark ramped corridor, where if you sit and stare long enough you see what appears to be an amorphous sphere of purple and blue that glows and glimmers, shrinking when you eyes try to focus on it and enlarging when you look at it's periphery. The whole experience is major in so many ways- 1) obviously it's a great metaphor for actually finding meaning in works or art, 2) you are forced to let go of your ability to see, which is a litmus test for different personalities, in how you react to this sacrifice (I got quiet, others responded by getting loud and goofy)3. It was a great excuse to let strangers feel you up. Anyway, I can't really say enough good things about this museum, if you are ever in Pittsburgh it is a definite must.


FOOD!!!

You know a gangster had to sample the local delicacies, as they say, when in Rome, right? So everyone I asked, the two people from Pittsburgh that I actually know, recommended that I get a sandwich from the Primanti Brothers. I had the pastrami, which was fried to perfection with a piece of provolone cheese melted on top, stuffed into two choice pieces of Italian bread with greasy/salty hand cut fries and zesty vinegar based coleslaw. I don't have a digital camera, and my smart phone can not muster up the intelligence to let me upload pictures to the web (I don't think) so you will have to settle for a stock photo found on google images (thanks WEBZ!). The sandwich was delicious, I went to the original location, which is nestled in an area of town called the strip, which houses Pittsburgh's remaining food market's, which was a crucial in itself in an old worldy sort of way.




Music!!!

So I went to this crazy record store when I was in Pittsburgh- please peep this video-

It's the type of place you could dig through for days and days, finding all sorts of diamonds in the rough along your way. Also, here is my 6th best album of 2010(*footnote- little josh). It's by a group called, Twin Shadow and it's named, Forget. As I've already rambled on way too long for one blog post I will keep the review short and sweet. Imagine Morrissey-esque vocals with new-new wave musical accompaniment, boom, you got it.

I'm a Snow Man Looking for a Snow Woman.

WORDS!!!

So, When I was thinking about all my favorite albums of 2010, I could not really help but also think about the best books that I had read in the previous year as well. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell is not only choice, but also happens to be contemporary, pressed in, you guessed it, 2010! The book mostly takes place on the Island of Dejima, an artificial island created in the port of Nagasaki, where Dutch traders were allowed stay and trade with the island of Japan. If you like historical fiction and are in anyway interested in the period of Japanese seclusion or the links between trading and European imperialism this book is for you! If those things don't tickle your fancy, check it anyway, because there is tons of adventure, romance, and adventure in there for you-it is incredibly intelligently written, fun and easy to read. I hope that if you do, it will be your gateway book to some of David Mitchell's
other treasures: Ghostwritten, number9dream, Cloud Atlas, and Black Swan Green.



The Beauty of a Hermetic, Corrupt World by Ruth Franklin | The New York Review of Books

MUSIC!!!

Well here it is, my number 7 album of 2010. Now this guy didn't really make very many people's Best Of lists, but I'll chalk that up to it's late release date, it came out in mid December, which in it self is proof positive that Best Of lists should only come at a leisurely pace, lest little gems like this get over looked. Anyway, R. Kelly's, Love Letter, proves again, that when R Dot decides to actually focus on something with a majority of his attention, the sky is the limit. This record, supposedly inspired by a Sam Cooke party thrown by the Pied Piper of R and B himself here in Chicago, is an homage to classical soul. Now, I don't really hear a lot of Sam Cooke on the record, probably more Marvin Gaye circa, For You My Dear, but just the same, the record is full of the harmony, simple, but direct, catchy vocals hooks, and cheerful loving spirit that R Kelly beguiled us with at the beginning of his career. The only real downside to this jump-off, it is a reminder that I have not full filled one of my major life goals: seeing R Kelly Live in concert with someone that I am in love with. Luckily, this record is an inspiration for all those unlucky souls, like myself, that need to learn to love again.



R Kelly- Love Letter

Interview between Will Oldham and R Kelly for Interview Magazine-MUST READ!!! (foot note: Josh Kalven).

SNOW!!!

This is a public service announcement. Despite the city of Chicago's best efforts to clear away the residual snow left over from our most recent blizzard. There still are numerous snow mounds on street corners, vast quantities of narrow passages between what can be only described as straights of snow, and hidden patches of slippery ice on every side walk and street. Please be on the look out for heinous predators that will use these aforementioned phenomena as instruments of advantage for their violent agendas . Watch the following video and be forewarned.

Outsider Photography?

IMAGES!!!





So, my Chicago peoples in the place to be. I know it's cold outside and the amassed snow from this famed city's third largest (recorded) blizzard has made getting around the city a huge pain in the ass. Fret not, because there is an absolutely amazing photography exhibit going on at my favorite place in the whole wide world, that's right, you guessed, THE CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER! Easily accessible by any means of Chicago Public Transportation or even the METRA, ensconced in other interesting cultural exposes, and best of all, FREE FREE FREE!

Long story short: this lady, Vivian Maier, took a ton of street photographs, hardly ever actually developing her negatives, and stored undeveloped and developed negatives along with a copious amount of other artifacts, she deemed worth of archiving in a storage unit, which went up for auction due to non-payment after her death in 2009. This guy, John Maloof, bought the contents of the storage unit, realized that the Photographs were actually amazing, and started developing, scanning, and printing from her negatives. So this exhibit is fascinating for many, many reasons: 1) Because she was not formally trained in the arts, we get to consider her an outsider artist (yeah an outsider street photographer!)-although blurbs about her suggest that she did avidly follow the artistic trends of her day. 2) What's more bonkers than a person spending all her free time (as a nanny, I imagine which was in scarce supply) taking pictures that she never developed? 3) Are there ethical issues with printing the artistic work of someone else and then exhibiting said work in a public forum? What happened when dude starts selling prints? Anyway, like I said major, major stuff, man. Check out more images at, dude's blog on Vivian Maier. It will make you wish women still wore fancy hats, more people hung out in the streets, and the poor could be as poor as the wanted to be with out worrying about car payments or high definition televisions.

MUSIC!!!



So here it is: Number 8 on the list of my top ten albums of 2010. Free Energy's Stuck on Nothing. Basically one of my favorite bands, Hockey Night decided to kick out 3/5s of their band (their drummers (yes they had two)and bassist) and upgrade their rhythm section with a new rhythm guitarist (their lead's big brother), bassist, and drummer. And thus transformed themselves from indie rock weirdos to indie stadium rock weirdos. Just imagine thin Lizzy guitars, nice disco bass lines, and break beat drum parts topped off with a poor man's Steve Malkmus vocals. Yep, happy, fun times!!! Check em out live if you get the chance, too, because they throw down, something nothing nice.

Sitting in the Park

IMAGES!!!



There is so much I love about this photograph, courtesy of Joel Sternfeld. Obviously the first thing that strikes the viewer is the mundane working class urban landscape disrupted by clusters of pink and white balloons protruding over a fence. The next thing one notices while looking at this image is the ominous storm clouds over head, beautiful purples, pinks, blues, grays, and whites washing together into a bright yellow break in the overcast far off the horizon, only noticeable in the upper right hand corner. Finally, after taking all the visual clues in, one appreciates, I hope, the concert of geometries exhibited in the side boards of the houses, lines of the streets, angles of the chain link fence modified with siding for privacy, the peaks of the roofs, the grid of the crosswalk...ect. The overall visual metaphor being celebrate life when you can no matter what the surrounding circumstances may be; something we all need to be reminded of from time to time.

MUSIC!!!

So this dude who I know from my WHPK days at the University of Chicago has an amazing radio show that showcases rare and obscure Chicago (regional) soul. It's called Sitting in the Park- here are his podcast thingies, listen to some of his shows on the internetz if you get the chance and if you are lucky enough to live in a part of Chicago where you can actually listen to it live, tune in to 88.5 fm on Sunday nights from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Good, good stuff.