Lots of kids out trick-or-treating on our street tonight. I would say we had well over 200 over them between 6 and 8, when we finally ran out of goodies. There were plenty of delightful constumes. I particularly enjoyed the kid in the bushy bear suit! Of course, there were also those who just don't get it and make no effort at all, but that isn't going to change. Lots of fun.
lots of hallowe'en decorating action happening around Anchovy Headquarters...nothin this fancy though. via mookie
For music history buffs and banjo pickers everywhere....
The other day I made a comment on the Gnostic World of Candy Minx on the post entitled "Does Art Live in Syriana", which contains an interview with curator David Moos. My comment took aim at the bizarre sight of a gallery full of people with sound sticks stuck to their heads at the Warhol exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Tuffy P. was reading yesterday's Globe this afternoon and pointed me to an excellent column by Karen von Hahn, called Museo-tainment. She writes, "At the same time that the guide makes a museum more accessible to its audience, it also manages to dominate the converstaion between the viewer and the art, while virtually eliminating interaction between viewers." As well, she writes about a most scary situation, a "soundwalk" at the Louvre, narrated by an actor from the movie version of The Da Vinci Code, for only 10 euros.
Apparently, Karen von Hahn had a similar experience to me and Tuffy P at the Warhol show: "What turned out to be more chilling than the show was watching distracted crowds wandering past the works, not looking at them, or speaking to one another, deperately trying to understand the visuals via clunky cellphones pressed to one ear." In the case of the Warhol exhibition, it seemed to me that there was what seemed to be a desperation to add to the already packaged exhibition at the AGO. I have no idea what Mr. Cronenberg said in his canned blurb, because I chose to experience the show without the sound stick on my ear.
This isn't just happening in art museums. Not so long ago, on visits to Memphis and Nashville music museums, we found some institutions were set up to be specifically geared to experiencing through similar listening devices. You stand in front of an exhibit, listen to the blurb or the song snippet, then dutifully move to the next exhibit. I'm not against receiving additional information at museums. Once in a while, I even appreciate an old fashioned human tour guide (like the one we had at the Gibson Guitar factory while in Memphis).
As a painter, I'm happy for my work to interact with an audience all by itself. I don't feel the need to explain my work to anyone, and I hope that people bring their own life experiences to the work, and find their way in any way they can - and if some people aren't interested, well that's OK too. Curators have an intrinsic need to mess with this experience. They take work and put it in context and suggest certain ways of looking at it. I'm OK with that, as long as they do so at a distance. The soundsticks are over-the-top. In the comments to the Moos interview, Minx says, "Curators are in the business of preserving imagination. And artists are in the business of using imagination." When Tuffy and I were in Sintra, Portugal recently we came across an interesting comment from painter Francis Bacon: "Art should deepen the mystery." Nuff said.
Some asshole has gone around Ward 17 spraying out the face of Alejandra Bravo on dozens of election signs. I saw it this morning along Davenport, on my way to accordion lessons, and Tuffy P and I saw a bunch along Caledonia as well. We have some good people running for Councillor in our ward, and they should be shown some respect. I hope the jerk who did this gets caught and exposed.
I know that many readers of this blog are hip to that fantastic blog The Gnostic World of Candy Minx. For those who are not, this is a good time to head on over there, because Candy has posted an interview with David Moos, curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario. The Art Gallery of Ontario is a large public gallery in Toronto. To Moos, this gallery means: "We Bring Art and People Together and boldly declare Art Matters". Well, good goal. I'd like to know if my readers agree the AGO has been achieving this. For those who live in the Toronto area, is the Art Gallery of Ontario relevant to you? Are you compelled to visit often? Do the shows there get you charged up?
Be sure to read Candy's interview with Moos, and tell her what you think.
I cruised on over to Diddywah tonight and got my first taste of Abner Jay One Man Band. I clicked on the mp3 link to Cocaine Blues and was knocked off my feet into the ditch. Crawling out, I clicked on The Backbone of America is a Mule and Cotton. Oh My God...... Go check this guy out.
Alejandra Bravo is an impressive candidate in the Councillor's race here in Ward 17 in Toronto. She is bright, articulate, passionate - she has a strong record of good work in the city - she's an infectious speaker - and she has a very bright future in Toronto politics and beyond.
I just have one problem..... I think she's on the wrong side of the St. Clair TTC right-of-way debate. She supports the construction. I would like to vote for her, but it keeps coming back to this one issue. Bravo argues that St. Clair is going to change and we have to assure that the community gets the most out of the change. Point taken, but change doesn't mean we need the raised cement monster dividing the street. If she was on the other side of this debate, I would be right behind her all the way.
So, Alejandra.... if you read this, here's your chance to try to convince me......
Before tonight's Councillor's debate, Cesar Palacio was smiling and shaking hands. If you hadn't read the Toronto Star today, you wouldn't know about the front page article I linked to in an earlier post today. However, if you expected Cesar to make a direct statement about this, you would have left disappointed. He decided to, as he said, not dignify the question with a direct answer - although the question was asked at least three times.
Cesar's literature lists some positive things he has accomplished in the ward, and he has been opposed to the street car right-of-way all along. He has a lot of support in Ward 17, although last time out, Bravo made it a race. Mr. Palacio received a direct endorsement from mayoral candidate Jane Pitfield tonight. The article in the Star must have taken a lot of wind out of his campaign, though. If the article was not true, I think he should have come out and said, look this is simply not true, and set the record straight. I didn't hear the straight answer I needed to hear tonight......
Cesar, I invite you to set the record straight here on mister anchovy....you're welcome to comment.
Cinzia Scalabrini seemed downright indifferent during the all-candidates debate in Ward 17 - in a debate that was nothing if not passionate. She showed up, but she wasn't winning any loyalty tonight.
Fred Dominelli's theme for the evening was basically, I've done good financially, and I'll do good for you too. He supported Palacio on questions relating to the charity scandal. But telling was a question he asked after the Councillor's debate, when the Catholic school trustee candidates were taking questions. He asked the candidates what their stand was on abortion. What does that have to do with a trustee job?
There was a full-house for the all candidates meeting tonight, at the Piccininni Community Centre on St. Clair. The crowd was boisterous and split between pro-St. Clair TTC right-of-way vs anti right-of way - Miller vs everyone else - Bravo vs Palacio. There were many questions, including some tough ones. The bottom picture is Mr. Sweeney, the fellow who raised the questions about the "Councillor and the Charity" that led to the Star article. He hammered home the same question, but there were no direct answers tonight.
Tuffy and our friend Teresa attended the event as well. I have to say that it was quite an interesting night - exciting, funny, preposterous, passionate...all rolled into one package. If you've never attended an all-candidates meeting, I urge you to get out to one. You get a much better idea of what the candidates are all about that you ever would from their literature, for sure.
The link is to an article splashed all over the front page of the Toronto Star today suggesting that Ward 17 Councillor Cesar Pallacio's campaign office is in a building whose mortgage is being paid by an anti-crime charity, the Police Community Partnership (PCP).
Here is a quote from the article, by John Duncanson and Laurie Monsebraaten:
"The main floor of the two-storey building, bought for the Police Community Partnership 12 Division (PCP) by a numbered company in 2002, was used by Palacio for his campaign office in the 2003 elections and has been his local ward office since".
The article goes on to allege that the charity put out less than $11k to charitable causes in 2005, but nearly 20k to mortgage payments on the building in question, located at 1697 St. Clair W. Yet the article states that PCP never operated from the building.
We decided to go to the all-candidates meeting tonight to find out more......
Information Junk pointed to a an article about Agartha, the supposed world in the centre of the Earth. This reminded me of a guy I heard on the radio years ago. My dad was with me, and we talked about the interview for some time after. This guy was planning on entering Agartha through the super-secret portal in the Arctic, cleverly hidden from external view......and he was going to do it in a mini-helicopter. But that's not all. He planned to visit with the natives as he travelled all the way across the inside of the earth, where he planned on exiting in Antarctica. He expected the natives would welcome him, and it would be a smooth trip. He didn't explain if there were special places for a mini-helicopter to fuel up, or if he was planning to pack enough fuel for the journey. Same with provisions. What if he didn't like Agarthian cooking?
Some recent search terms that led to this sheltered bay:
Johnny Cash middle finger (it just never stops)
Nuclear art
Anchovy twists (is that like an instructional dance tune, do the anchovy twist?)
Vibrandoneon
Peter Max
Blisterbeetle
Hohner merengue tipico
Tommy Makem
Anchovy Drawing
Enrico Baj
Nicholas Metevier
Patychky (somebody was after the recipe)
Lady in Swing
Images of the cartoon Whoville
Icelandic Rottenfish
Check out The Underground Baker's recipe for Tuscan Oatmeal Bread.
At Anchovy Headquarters, we have a serious weakness for great bread.
John Filici teaches me piano accordion at his storefront school at College and Dufferin here in Toronto. He also taught me to play the 3-row diatonic button accordion, or what the Portuguese call "concertina". This gets a little confusing because other cultures call a different instrument a concertina. This gets even more complicated because there are different varieties of concertinas that are all quite unique.
John's school is called the Ibero American Conservatory of Music. John speaks English, Spanish, Portugese and Italian and is well versed in music from all those traditions. In my own study, I've asked to learn the various international dance forms on the accordion, such as tango, milonga, pasa doble, waltz, polka, tarantella and so on.
This is the first time Ibero American has tried advertising on the web. You can see pictures of some of the young students on the site.
I ordered up some CDs from a place on the web called CD baby, and here is the confirmation email I received today:
Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make
sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that
money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Tuesday, October 24th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
This article refers to The Periodic Table, a brilliant book, published in 1975. It contains 21 stories or pieces each named after an element and each from Mr. Levi's Life. Mr. Levi was a chemist, a middle-class Jew living in Turin who was captured by the Nazis and shipped to Auschwitz in 1943. He is also well-known for the chilling book, Survival in Auschwitz.
There are many reviews of The Periodic Table available on the web. I'm not going to write in any detail about it here. This morning, I saw a mention of the book in the morning paper, because of this designation as the best science book. I did a double-take because I had never thought of it as a science book.
If you haven't read The Periodic Table, do.
Check out the river and salmon pictures over at The Healing Room. I love rivers.
GoogleWatch via the good people at bifurcated rivets. Thanks Mister Rivets for sharing this important site. Now, since Google owns Blogger, along with most of the rest of the known universe, I wonder if any bad things will befall this humble blog after posting this.....
posted on Garlicster.
For anyone out there not hip to short ribs, here is a short article.
It turns out Short Ribs is also the name of a comic strip.
via Information Junk
I've become a loyal listener to his radio show, Theme Time Radio, on XM. The shows are smoother and more relaxed now that he has a bunch of them under his belt, and the selection of music is always excellent. It turns out Dylan has a friendly, witty and fun radio style. I found the drawing here searching Google images.
Well, Tuffy P loaded us up with Hallowe'en decorations today, so in the spirit of that upcoming dark festival I offer up this little ditty recorded by the late great Screamin Jay Hawkins, called Voodoo. This is one of my fave Hawkins cuts. Enjoy, and if you like it, please support your local weird-ass dead R&B singer.
This movement was founded by that delightful madcap Italian artist, Enrico Baj. At this time in his career, Mr. Baj painted using, what else, The Heavy Water Method.
This groovy suite of programs will compose you a boogie-woogie of your very own. Well done.
Pop on over to Let's Polka to enjoy a download featuring Freddy Fender (with most cheezy backup) singing Vaya con Dios. Also posted is the same Texas Tornados video I had posted on my blog a while back, with the Tornados singing "who were you thinking of when we were making love last night....". Two Tornados are gone now - Doug Sahm, singing with Freddy in the video, died in 1999. The two had known one another since 1958. Let's Polka also links up to an article about a moment of silence called for at the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio, Texas by Fender's old friend Flaco Jimenez (also a Texas Tornado).
Check out this article from the Globe & Mail about the use of auto-tuning technology to clean up the pitch of singers on music recordings AND in live shows. This technology allows nearly instantaneous auto-tuning while a singer is on-stage. This is an important tool if your goal is manufacturing easily digestable product for mass distribution. Think of music for a minute as a manufacturing industry. In manufacturing, a key goal is to reduce variability, so that the product is predictably the same over and over and over and over. Scary, eh?
On one of his recordings, Utah Phillips quotes Jack Conroy as saying, "I prefer a rude vigor to a polished banality". You only need turn on the radio though to learn that polished banalities are not just the order of the day, they are monsterously successful.
This is why I have become increasingly interested in returning music to the community - playing at home, with friends, busking on the streets, on top of music played in smaller venues. As Michelle Shocked suggests in her tune, Strawberry Jam, if we all make a little home-made jam, those corporate jam factories won't be needed any more:
Saturday morning found me itching
To get on over to my grandma's kitchen
[And what you gonna do, honey]
The sweetest little berries was cooking up right
And then we'd put them in a canning jar and seal them up tight
We were making jam
[What kind?]
Strawberry jam, that's what kind
[Aw, the good kind
] Yeah, if you want the best jam
You gotta make your own
We have Smucker's, Welches, Knotts Berry Farm
But a little homemade jam never did a body no harm
A little local motion is all we need
To close down these corporate jam factories
We'll be making jam
Strawberry jam, mmmm-mm
If you want the best jam
You gotta make your own
(Make that jam Doc, show 'em how it's done)
Yeah, we have a little revolution sweeping the land
Now once more everybody's making homemade jam
So won't you call your friends up on the telephone
You invite 'em on over, you make some jam of your own
You'll be making jam
Strawberry jam
If you want the best jam
You gotta make your own
(Go on Jerry, let the jelly roll)
(Jerry's makin' jam)
(That's Mark O'Connor
He likes jam too)
[Aw yeah, as sweet as strawberry jam, honey]
(Uh-ha)
Saturday morning found me itching
To get on over to my grandma's kitchen
Where the sweetest little berries were cooking up right
And then we'd put them in a canning jar and seal them up tight
We was making jam
Strawberry jam, that's what kind
If you want the best jam
You gotta make your own
Aw, one more time
Oh, makin' that jam
Yeah, Strawberry jam
If you want the best jam
You gotta make your own
Tuffy picked up a copy of Nashville by Solomon Burke today. This recording is positioned as Mr. Burke's return to his "country roots". It features vocals by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin and Patty Loveless - and songs Tom T. Hall, George Jones, dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Kevin Welch and more. It was produced by Buddy Miller and recorded in Buddy Miller's house. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a hokey-dokey country record. It may have some country licks here and there but it is a beautiful, beautiful soul album. As soon as the record starts with Tom T. Hall's That's how I got to Memphis, you know you're into something special here. 5/5 salties.
Here is an excellent review of Nashville from Pop Matters.
I played down at St. Lawrence Market for a couple hours today. It was a strange day. My usual spot was taken, so I played in the south building for a while, then after a sandwich and a chat with an old friend, I played outdoors on the north side until I was driven in by rain. Today was sunny, warm, cold, windy, rainy, and at one point this afternoon, we had a little hail storm.
I wasn't playing at my best today - I tried out a couple new tunes and butchered them pretty badly. It was a fun day though, because there were a number of kids around, and they were dancing and playing around, really enjoying the music. I let a few kids push the buttons on my button box, while I pushed and pulled the bellows, using the bass to try to hold it together as a bit of a crazy tune. The kids had a great time, and I did too.
Baldemar Huerta AKA Freddy Fender, died this afternoon. RIP.
The first exposure I had to Mr. Fender was on a talk show, maybe Johnny Carson, when he came out full of glitter and crazy hair and sang Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. At the time, - I must have been in my early teens - I just didn't get it. Later, I discovered Texas Tornados, the Tex Mex band led by Doug Sahm, and featuring Freddy Fender, Auggie Meyers and button accordion great Flaco Jimenez. That opened my eyes to a whole genre of border music, and I began to appreciate what a great singer Freddy Fender was.
for you Toronto bloggers..... any good candidates for mayor you see? seems like pretty slim pickins.....
Follow the link to some excellent cuts by Harmonica Frank Floyd over on Big Rock Candy Mountain.
Check out the strange creature links Timmer has up today..... I always wanted to meet a Yeti.
While in Portugal, I had my eyes open for traditional accordion and concertina music, and was surprised that it wasn't readily available. I've heard it is more common in the north of the country in the Minho. Certainly, the soul of Lisbon is rooted in Fado. I did find one good CD in a village called Sobreiros, just outside Mafra, at a folky-dolky miniature village (and ceramics store). The CD is called Musicas de Portugal, by Tino Costa. Mr. Costa plays the chromatic button accordion. Here is a song (for educational purposes only) from that CD, Musicas de Portugal. The dominant riff in the tune reminds me of a tune I play on my Corona II button box, called A Pita O Comboio (The Whistle of the Train). If you happen upon any of Mr. Costa's recordings, please remember to support your local Portuguese accordionist, and buy up a few CDs.
By the way, the photo is from the monastery at Tomar, once headquarters of the Knights Templar, a Christian military order from the middle ages.
You Tube occupied a peculiar grey area and got away with it because they were the little guy. Now they are part of the Google corporate conglomerate. Let's sit back and watch what happens now that it has been fed into the machine......
mister anchovy had its 30,000th visitor today! Was it you?
Here are some recent search terms that caused people to stumble headlong into my lair:
Ukrainian Cemetery Oakville Ontario
peter max painting
ikea catalog dog controversy
mister tourettes french animation
making cabbage rolls
POSTER Y EL FLACO
anchovy
johnny cash joaquin phoenix
what do anchovies eat?
graffiti by alfah
adopt an olive tree
buying brio chinotto in ottawa
lowbowe
ardis
johnny cash finger
and my personal recent fave:
Email address of people who bank with halifax bank 44 @tiscali.co.uk OR @totalise.co.uk OR @blueyonder.co.uk OR @centrica.co.uk OR @rmperf.co.uk OR @Lycos.co.uk OR @freeserve.co.uk OR @aol.co.uk OR @virgin.net OR @hotmail.co.uk OR @fsnet.co.uk OR @yahoo.co.uk " 020" -United -Kingdom
We visited several museums in the Lisbon area, including a show from the fabulous Berardo Collection at the Contemporary Art Museum in Sintra. At a certain point we realized we that we were gravitating toward the work of a painter we knew nothing about, named Joaquim Rodrigo. Rodrigo was a self-taught painter who worked between about 1940 and 1990. His paintings on the one hand remind me of the work of the American modernist Stuart Davis, but on the other hand, they are remarkably personal works, complex, poetic, and seemingly very simple. More information about Rodrigo can be found in the book Joaquim Rodrigo Time and Inscription, by Pedro Lapa, published by the Museu do Chiado in Lisboa.
There are a number of seafood restaurants near the harbour in Peniche. We had the best seafood there. We started out with fish soup. Tuffy ordered squid on a stick, and I had grilled sea bass. We didn't have the specialty of the area, which was a big pot of fish stew. It looked great (several people were having it), but it was lunchtime and the servings were too much for us.
The second best food we had was the grilled sardines in Belem.
Here is Tuffy P on the beach. We were staying up on top of that hill. It was about a 10 minute walk down to the beach....but a longer walk back because the hill was very steep. It is early evening here, and there were several people surf fishing along the beach.
We stayed in a very, very beautiful place, on a hill overlooking Foz do Arelha, the Atlantic ocean and the lovely Lagoa de Obidos (which fills and empties daily with the tides).
This guy lived with a bunch of other cats outside the walls of the fortress in Peniche. The fortress was a prison that held political prisoners right up until the mid-70s when Portugal became free of a dictatorship. There is a museum inside, and you can visit cells where political prisoners spent 20 hours each day. It is one of the saddest places I've been to, set in what is now a lovely, if sprawling, resort town.
Even in Portugal, cats seemed to be attracted to us. Sheila was enjoying a tuna salad at a beach-side restaurant in Foz do Arelha the day we arrived, when this character showed up to let us know that he like tuna salad a lot.
Hi gang,
Tuffy and I arrived back in Toronto shortly after 5:00, our time. We were at the airport in Lisboa at 8:30 their time this morning. Our plane was delayed, the flight was long, and it's good to be home. We had a fabulous time in Portugal, and I have loads of pictures to share over the next few days. Right now though, I'm zonked..... time for a wee scotch and a good sleep.
Thanks Candy for looking after the joint while I was away!
The authour Cormac McCarthy wrote two passages in his novel No Country For Old Men last year. They both had the number 117 in them. This has made many readers curious. what is the significance...?
Chiguh pulled up across the street and shut off the engine. He turned off the lights and sat watching the darkened house. The green diode numerals on the radio put the time at 1:17.
When Bell got out he took a look around the lot and then walked up to the door at 117 and tried the knob.
Now, this made me curious enough last year as I read the novel. People in my book club wondered if it was passages from the bible. I tried to find dates in Plato. Some have suggested it has something to do with St,Anthony's day, on January 17th. Or the conspiracy of Jesus survuiving the cross and his children with Mary are alive and well and living in the south of France.
Imagine my surprise as I am reading his new novel, The Road, and come across this...
The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions. He got up and went to the window. Whatis it? she said. He didn't answer. He went into the bathroomand threw the lightswitch but the power was already gone. A dull rose glow in the windowglass.
Mister Anchovy has many well-read and knowledgeable visitors...I'm hoping one or some of you might have an idea of the significance of this number? HELP!!!!!!!!
Rereleased in 1995, The Wild Bunch continued to challenge the ratings system. Several countires rated the rerelease with an X. Others NC-17.
"We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us" Don Jose in The Wild Bunch.
Mister Anchovy and I had probably seen The Wild Bunch several times before it's theatrical rerelease in 1995 but we ventured out to a small theatre on College Street in our neighbourhood to see it on the big screen. What a thrill, what a ride!
Sam Peckenpah has made several of my very favourite movies of all time so when I saw a documentary on his westerns on cable I was pretty excited to follow along. The documentary Sam Peckenpah's West: The Legend of a Hollywood Renegade is narrarated by Kris Kristopherson and has several excellent interviews and many black and white stills from the movie sets. The documentary doesn't shy away from Peckanpah's legendary drinking, one shoot the directors local bar bill came to $75,000. Now that is what they mean by world class drinker! And it was the 70's.
Mostly though, the interviews from his assistant, props and co-workers as well as Billy Bob Thornton and family members, including son and sister are academic, informed and reverential towards his movies. This approach is well earned.
When The Wild Bunch was originally released in 1969 to half a dozen critics, one woman from Reader's Digest stood up after the film and asked, "Why was this movie made?" Sensing the complete revulsion of the other critics a young man stood up and began to defend the movie saying it was a masterpeice. The young man of course was a fellow rebel like Peckenpah, Roger Ebert.
The documentary gets in deep with the recurrant thems in Peckanpahs movies, especially the westerns. Peckenpah was obsessed with redemption, betrayal, illusory nature of life, trust between men and friendship, and who exactly can you trust? Always outcast, but more so borndering on old age and the push of developement his major characters are cruel savage killers who discover their humanity often doing something for somebody else before they die.
Traditional westerns have several formulas, a young stranger comes to town, is mysteriously surprisingly discovered to be related to a former hero, and the community needs him to help them. Peckenpahs strangers are old, beaten, alienated from civilization particularily the encroachment of industry, modernity and lack of open spaces into the wilderness.
For example, the trailer for Junior Bonner, starring the brilliant Steve McQuenn, says "he only had one problem, the 20th century."
For The Wild Bunch "driven to the border by the irresistible thrust of civilization were the breed that made the west wild."
Some of his films had huge critical sucess in Europe, winning many awards. I didn't really know very much about Peckepah's career and had no idea he had such a battle to get funding and producers were always trying to control him. He had a long history of rejecting authority, and in this documentary we find out where that independance and suspicion came from...where his paranoia of double crossing really had specific roots to his loss of childhood.
I would recommend this movie for both fans of Peckenpahs and for film buffs.
Westerns often draw a specific fan base. Peckanpah is really way outside that film base, his movies are universal despite the specific story lines and genre. The violence is still shocking today even after years of Scorcese, Tarantino and Brian De Palma.
Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid shows the betrayal of a friend reveals the ultimate betrayal of oneself.
I believe Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, Junior Bonner, The Wild Bunch and Ride The High Country are must see movies.
But be warned, if you are addicted to speedy plot lines, fast paced camera work and trendy fashion of contemporay movies, you will struggle to surrender to the themes hidden and outright in the body of allegorical magic.
If you think you might now like an older revisionist Western, check out this documentary and please reconsider. You are missing out on one of the worlds most brilliant film makers.
Ride The High Country: "We're gonna stick together just like we used to. When you side with a man you stick with him or else you're some kind of animal."
Now...I think I'm gonna go look for Straw Dogs, it's been a while...
There is something magnificent about the vision of a transformative experience manifesting in his characters once they have run out of options.
A different opinion. NYTs 1973.
"You don't even have to like art to make money from it; a reality check on how art funds work."
"Art funds are for people who know nothing about buying art themselves."
I find I brustle at the above quotes...but the blog this article is posted on is very interesting.
I find it fascinating to look at the contempoary art scene in India.
I haven't read all the blogs posts yet, but it has grabbed my attention, despite what I have read seeming to be a little obsessed with art sales...but they have a lot of links to art galleries. Seems to be a few comntributors and so far focusing on articles about contemporary art...hmmm...
"It was like that at the sale’s top end -- lots exceeding their estimates by substantial amounts. A Milton Avery watercolor estimated at $30,000-$50,000 went for $102,000; a Jasper Francis Cropsy Study of a Tree from 1965 estimated at $25,000-$35,000 went for $84,000; a Theodore Robinson oil sketch Portrait of Laurie (1880) estimated at $7,000-$10,000 went for $54,000. It seems to be a good time to be selling American art.
Can the same be said for contemporary art? Phillips, de Pury & Co. moved to find out with its special sale of contemporary art, dubbed "Under the Influence II," held the same day, Sept. 12, 2006. Two-thirds of the 216 lots offered found buyers (that’s 144 lots), for a total of $1,632,900 at the hammer and $1,961,490 with the auction-house premium. The total isn’t so large -- but according to Phillips, new auction records were set for 30 artists (many of them newcomers to the auction block, including several Chinese artists).
Interesting lots included George Condo’s 1987 Portrait of Jacqueline and Julian Schnabel in Matisse’s Chapel, an appropriately Schnabelesque painting of two abstracted figures done with gold leaf and brown paint, which sold for $42,000, above its high presale estimate of $30,000. "
A Shruti is an Indian drone instrument. I was wondering about posting relatives of accordiaons for Mister Anchovy while he is away exploring the cuisine of Portugal, the lucky dog. Years ago, at a meditation retreat, I played a drone instrument. It might be the only instrument I can play well. It entailed squeezing a box that looked like a very simple accordion or a tool for stoking a fire. (I can see this thing in my head, but have no idea what it is called...help me out if you can...I even tried googling but didn';t get anything for "fire stoking tool")
I had a kind of image that they may have been invented around the same time, and the musical instrument may have been discovered while actually trying to make a fire stoker thingie.
I also was thinking about meditation, which is primarily a breathing tool that may relax a persons mind, or may induce an altered state. I started wondering if meditation, and the chanting of ritual poetry like the Rig Veda or other prayers and the incorporation of a drone machine would very much help keep track of pacing a chant or a song or meditiation. So here is a little info about a sweet musical instrument, maybe the grandmama of the accordion?
I also found it fascinating that there is a genre of painting in India that is tightly linked to musical techniques and enjoyment.
"Music was considered to be of divine origin and was supposed to possess the property of evoking an ecstatic state of mind or mood, called rasa-anubhuti, in the musician as well as the listener. This conception of rasa is the basis of all art in India. The Sadhakas (practitioners) of music devised some formulas in order to capture and comprehend the divine quality of music and to evoke rasa or brahmananda. These were formulated in the form of prayers in which the conceptual form, dhyana-murti, of the raga was described. Thus the ragas were personified or deified. This fact provided a rich and expressive theme to Indian painters and it has considerably enriched the art treasure of India.
"Whether the dhyana-theory of ragas is sientific or otherwise it certainly furnished a rich source of theme for the Indian artists who painted some of the most charming and inspiring pictures representing the ragas (melodies). The two Ragamala MSS discovered in a manuscripts collection at Jammu are a part of the extensive art treasure created all over India during the period from 16th to 19th centuries. The Jammu Ragamala paintings were done expressly with the usual object of depicting their dhyana-murtis or icons in order to create the relevant rasa situation in those looking at them. According to Dr. Charak, the analyser of these sets, it is the background setting, the dhyana of the raga and mood of the nayikas or nayakas which animate the whole composition by providing scope for picturesqueness, fascinating use of colours, contours and the charm of variety and vigour, which are the chief features of the Jammu Ragamala paintings." (jacket)
[Sukhdev Singh Charak's book include History and Culture of Himalayan States.]
About ragamal painting
An example of ragamala painting
Salvaged from a former residence of Sun Ra, music critc John Corbett, compiled an archive on display in Chicago, Sun Ra's hometown.
"But what remained was a treasure trove of Sun Ra ephemera: album art, recordings, writings, ledgers, and scraps of paper like ticket stubs and gig flyers. It’s this material that forms the bulk of an astonishing exhibit that opens Sunday at the Hyde Park Art Center, “Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago’s Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-68.”
Not only was Sun Ra an artist musically, but he was an artist spiritually. He remade music and he remade his own identity. Like other slaves, he changed his government name, to reflect his spiritual and philosophical goals/beliefs. I think Sun Ra is a completely overlooked musician and although he influenced many musicians, his influence has not been fully accounted. I don't think there is an entire book written about him.
The beat generation and later the psychedelic movement adopted Sun Ra to a degree. Sun Ra was from Saturn and incorporated a spiritual philosophy into his music. In 1971, Sun Ra was an artist-in-residence with a reading list that included Egyptian Book of The Dead, The Two Babylons, The Book of Oahspe, and the study of Egyptian hieroglyphs and African American folklore. I remember at one point in the 90's that many African Americans were adorpting Egyptian motifs in their clothing and music, and the fashion statement seemed to bode a less materialistic bent in pop music, which has been short lived. Sun Ra ran his band like a commune, with ideals of magic, space travel and high self esteem for his band and for the betterment of the human condition.
Sun Ra toured with Sonic Youth near the end of his life.
He may have been one of the most visionary and profound artists to have performed. I hope this new cache of artifacts will inspire someone to write the definitive book about Sun Ra's music and philosophy.
The link above takes you to a great website. It breaks down the political personality of several public figures and leaders.
I think the description of Bush as favouring personal relationships in his governement offers an explanation of how Rove, Cheney, Rumfeild and Wolfowitz can manage to have such major effects on political decisions during Bush's terms. I think this may be another form of group dynamic which ties into Mister anchovy's post about torture, in Syria, and the R.C.M.P. and the movie Human Behaviour Experiments.
"George W. Bush's major personality strengths with reference to his
presidential campaign are the important political skills of charisma and interpersonality,
which will enable him to connect with people and retain a following and his
self-confidence in the face of adversity. His major personality-based limitations
pertaining to presidential performance include a propensity to display a superficial grasp
of complex issues, to be easily bored by routine, to act impulsively, and to favor
personal connections, friendship, and loyalty over competence in his staffing decisions
and appointments %u2013 all of which could render a Bush administration relatively
vulnerable to errors of judgment or ethical misconduct."
Interesting personality assessments of Hilary Clinton, Ralph Nader, bin Laden, Pat Buchanan.
