textilesnyc-blog

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How fascinating a concept: no direction, no rules, just create whatever you feel. I spent three years working with mentally-ill and developmentally-disabled individuals from extended care facilities throughout the Columbus, Ohio area and never came across an analogous program.

Not that everyone I worked with was a budding Henry Darger, but whether or not great "art" is created is but a fringe benefit here. As much as anything, the residents I worked with suffered from boredom. Souzou gives residents a personal project which they can devote as much time as they choose to creating something meaningful to themselves, "art" or not.

I would love to know if anything like this (the program, not the exhibit) is going on in the United States.

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Henri Cartier-Bresson

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apropos of nothing, I give you old slides, the kind you inserted one-by-one in an old personal viewer...whatever those were called.

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LCD Soundsystem - Camp Bisco 9

This photo was taken in 2010 during LCD Soundsystem's farewell tour. It was a year prior to their final run in NYC, but it was widely known at the time that each tour stop would be the band's last. Although I'll forever regret missing their ultimate marathon concert at Madison Square Garden, seeing the band play in their native New York State was a special experience. I attended Lollapalooza alone in 2007, but I was able to share this Bisco performance with some close friends, which made "All My Friends" all the more poignant. I'm aware of how the song has assumed the status as a certain type of indie-kid's wedding staple, how it has become our "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," but cliches exist for a reason. Man, that was a special night.

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LCD Soundsystem - Lollapalooza 2007

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Daft Punk - Lollapalooza 2007

Yep, I was there.

It's easy to forget just how over the top the Alive 2007 tour was back then, considering how one could probably have seen wall-to-wall performances of the same ilk at Ultra last weekend. The gigantic pyramid set piece and intricately-choreographed lighting sequences were unlike anything operating on that level at the time. I'm not saying we had yet to discover the light show--I'm aware of Pink Floyd--but Alive 2007 was a revelation.

Of course, it's not just about the presentation. Amon Tobin's ISAM, which I caught at Moogfest 2011, was a feat of creativity and design, but sounded murky and disjointed. On Alive 2007 tour, Daft Punk seamlessly mashed-up their greatest hits into something altogether new and exciting. And then, aside from the underrated Tron: Legacy OST, nothing for six years. Needless to say, I'm stoked for the new record.

Did I mention I was there? And that LCD Soundsystem played the preceding set on the opposite stage? And how they definitely played "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House?" Because all of that happened. And I was there.

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no words, just watch

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"The film had its first showing at the White House in March of 1936 and its official opening, after several private showings, at the Mayflower Hotel on May 10, 1936. The event was sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art and also included the showing of several foreign documentaries including excerpts from The Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl."

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still from The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936)

Released at the tail end of the Dust Bowl, The Plow That Broke The Plains attempts to make sense of the agricultural catastrophe that terrorized the Great Plains during the 1930s. Interestingly, the film was sponsored by the United States government to help raise awareness of the New Deal. Perhaps it succeeds in painting a picture of the dire economic circumstances for which the New Deal was intended to combat, but I don't recall the narrator explaining the ins and outs of Social Security or any other nascent government welfare program.

I think this film falls under the category of "look what havoc mankind has wrought," but one still comes away feeling slightly sympathetic to the families who determinedly weathered the storm. It relies less on statistics and more on powerful images of cracked dirt landscapes and run-down farm machinery, and (of course) the tired visage of the beleaguered farmer.

The video is old enough that it is now publicly available to watch on YouTube.

Check it out.

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This was a real thing someone called "B.J. Starr" wrote

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"I once made the flower scene with a pair of lesbian lovelies who could get hetero kicks only on acid and Gregorian chants."

"A Music Lover's Guide To Seduction" - B.J. Starr

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"Remember [The Intellectual Girl is] hip to highbrow music, so don't try to impress her by pretending you know more about it than you really do."

"A Music Lover's Guide To Seduction" - B.J. Starr

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"It is my belief, based on many successful experiments, that the twin joys of music and sex can be pleasurably exploited by any stud who takes the trouble to study them a little"

"A Music Lover's Guide To Seduction" - B.J. Starr

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...is that Cropped Out managed to book him, while the Grammys couldn't even get him to answer an email.

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I remember cliques of teenagers sitting on bleachers all day waiting for this set. Some arrived early with their parents to buy tickets, only to return later in the day. While the idea of Lil B meshes well with the philosophy of Cropped Out, he was the only hip-hop artist on the bill, and you could certainly tell who was there specifically to see him. At the same time, something like $20 for a #rare Lil B live show is a steal. And everyone got into it. Looking like a cross between a prize fighter before a title bout and E.T. trying to phone home, Lil B absolutely shut down Cropped Out that night.

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...when I find that something works, it means that I have to change direction

Josef Koudelka

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I Should Probably Call My Folks

Her: What do you tweet about? I've never been/known kids into it

Me: A stranger who follows me on twitter knows me better than my parents