The Skunkeye Consumer Guide
tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-6991
2006-09-12T20:13:29-04:00
TypePad
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-12781697
2006-09-12T20:13:29-04:00
2006-09-12T20:13:29-04:00
The prolific, some call neo-Fassbinder, François Ozon has an admirable commitment to putting a film out every year. The results have been recently delightfully varied, ranging from the buoyant but silly murder mystery comedy musical, 8 Femmes, a celebration of...
Skunkeye
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<h1 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The prolific, some call neo-Fassbinder, </span><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><span face="Verdana">François Ozon </span></span></strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">has an admirable commitment to putting a film out every year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The results have been recently delightfully varied, ranging from the buoyant but silly murder mystery comedy musical, <em>8 Femmes</em>, a celebration of several generations of French actresses (a cast including Catherine Deneuve, Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuelle Beart, Issabelle Huppert, and the amazing legend Danielle Darrieux) and the female canon of French pop music, to the starker <em>Sous La Sable</em> (<em>Under the Sand</em>), a showcase for the brilliant Charlotte Rampling, whose pungent and poignant subdued theatricality is put to good use throughout the heightened and grueling melodrama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My particular favorite has been <em>5X2</em>, mostly because it showcases the brilliant Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, and illustrates wonderfully, in reverse, the unraveling of a relationship, a sort of neo <em>Les</em> <em>Parapluies du Cherbourg</em> – only<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>featuring mature talent (yikes, I’m no longer in my twenties!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Ruth Rendall/Patricia Highsmith influenced languid thriller <em>Swimming Pool</em>, from two years ago, also showcased Rampling, and Ozon’s longtime "Edie Sedgwick," Ludvine Sagnier. Ozon’s influences are an exercise in campiness, I suppose - Douglas Sirk, Hitchcock, Warhol, and the other usual suspects- but the young director executes and assimilates these points of references and delivers a highly original, and fully-realised, point of view masterfully. In an age when the Nouvelle Vague and the Italian new wave directors have passed their prime or left us, it is heartening for me that we still have vital and inventive auteurs like <strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">François Ozon – and his spiritual big brother, Pedro Almodovar – to keep us going to and loving the cinema.<h1 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><span face="Verdana"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">I recently experienced Ozon’s latest (Stateside at least), <em>Le Temps qui Reste</em> (<em>Time to Leave</em>). The film features the exhilarating Melville Poupod, as a self-indulgent photographer who discovers he has terminal cancer, and is forced to navigate his life and its closure amongst his dysfunctional family relationships (Jeanne Moreau plays his sympathetic but flawed grandmother!!! Actually, she just plays herself but it is wonderful nonetheless…) and of course his own departure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My fave Valeria Bruni Tedeschi is uncanny in her understated but significant role in the film, which adds to the appeal for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And the inevitable death scene – and, no, I’m not being morbid – on a crowded European beach not unlike those I visited in my youth, both is a nod to and surpasses the poignancy and poetry of the closing tableaux<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>of Visconti’s <em>Death in Venice</em>.</span></strong></span></h1>
<h1 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Highly recommended…</span></h1></span></strong></span></h1></div>
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-12285991
2006-08-20T00:14:36-04:00
2006-08-20T00:14:36-04:00
Um, I guess I’m back from my unscheduled and rather unproductive sabbatical from this space. This afternoon I suddenly had the strong urge to blog – prompted by an elevating of mood having seen the latest from Francoise Ozon and...
Skunkeye
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Um, I guess I’m back from my unscheduled and rather unproductive sabbatical from this space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This afternoon I suddenly had the strong urge to blog – prompted by an elevating of mood having seen the latest from <strong>Francoise Ozon</strong> and a lost, restored classic by <strong>Lucchino Visconti</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Its not that the thought of updating hasn’t crossed my mind over the last few months, but I figured other folk were doing much better jobs with their sites and also I have come to the realization that I’m more apt to contribute – when I’m just <em>surging</em> to express and vent and define myself – during those times when I’m chained to a desk and have to look busy in an uncomfortable work environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And I’ve been feeling recently that there’s really not much that I can say…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Which I haven’t been all year, picking up freelance work here and there and going to school, but as friends and family can attest, I’ve certainly been living in my own planet these days.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Life in DC has been an overwhelming fug as of late for me – and the oppressive summers we get here do nothing to add to my enthusiasm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This state has been lifted periodically by welcomed houseguests here at Casa Skunkeye – including a blessed reunion with the notorious <strong>Kitty Go</strong> – and frequent sojourns to the Beach House, as well as great times in Baltimore and Philly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’ve also been the neighborhood lunatic alley gardener – and sadly I haven’t taken any pictures – my area was looking spectacular until June when those crazy, endless rains hit, to recover after a lot of hard work only to be stunted by housemate neglect when I was out of town, drought and blazing heat, and now the new school of teenage rats, whose rampages and destruction are clearly in defiance of their better informed parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I did manage to swing one dinner large dinner party using vegetables that I grew – tomatoes, squash, basil, cilantro – and the roses for the most part are doing fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>See, I’ve been a total bore lately!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">And, seriously, I haven’t bought any new music lately and it really has been a crap period for film, so it’s not like I had all that much to write about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">However, in a nutshell, and to get up-to-date (I’m a bit compulsive about marking significant cultural experiences, having updated my calendar/diary religiously for years – a habit I acquired from my grandmother):</p>
<ul type="disc" style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><strong>The Hirshhorn</strong>- the recent Hiroshi Sugimoto (and partnering show at the Freer/Sackler) and ongoing Anselm Keifer retrospectives have been absolutely sublime- spiritual, almost – and reflect the institution’s pre-eminence as the most relevant place for art in DC.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">I’m so grateful the<strong> National Portrait Gallery/Museum of American Art </strong>has finally re-opened after nearly a decade of renovations!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>What, it’s been about a month and half now… visited nearly a dozen times already; by myself, with guests, and for the amazing William Christenberry opening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Visitors need to schedule a whole day to explore this treasure and resource!</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Olivier Assayas’ swan-song to ex-wife and star Maggie Cheung, <strong>Clean</strong>, hit all the right chords with me…</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">I have the best secret <strong>crack sandwich</strong> – um, Vietnamese <em>banh mi</em> – dealer in changing Chinatown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The <em>pho</em> is top-rate too and the prices are absolutely third world comparable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Email me for details.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">The Corcoran has finally gotten its shit together and <strong>redefined:Modern and Contemporary Art from the Collection</strong> is a much-needed shot in the arm for a once vital institution whose programming had become a bit Disneyland and staid in its now discarded aims for Gehry addition funding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Unemployed, freelancers, those who can tune in at 11 am weekdays, <strong>The View</strong> has been <em>muy</em> dramatic television – Viera’s defection, Star’s spectacular hubris and siwashing, and the unhinging of naively right-wing Hasselbeck has been the ultimate <em>telenova</em> experience – just don’t mess with Mama Babawawa!</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">Also, on television, <strong>Top Chef</strong> and <strong>Project Runway</strong> continue to captivate me – at least on Bravo’s reality shows the contestants actually have to use skills to <em>do</em> and <em>make</em> things…. Actually, in my crazy summer experimens to fuse Asian and Italian cuisine, I’ve perfected this Vietnamese Cilantro/Walnut recipe….</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in">I did my civic duty and served on a <strong>jury</strong> for some time recently, on a high profile and extremely nasty case, which made me both develop a new appreciation and deep cynicism about humanity at the same time – it’s an extraordinary and process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Meanwhile, we got some serious stuff going down concerning the bizarre murder which took place two weeks ago and three blocks away on Swann Street.</li></ul>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Haha, I’m running out of steam already blogging again – baby steps, <em>naman</em> – next entry, <strong>Ozon</strong> and <strong>Visconti</strong> and my re-ignited fascination with <strong>Romy Schneider</strong>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p></div>
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-10110840
2006-04-21T19:18:15-04:00
2006-04-21T19:18:15-04:00
Quick program note: I’ll be catching up on posts shortly – been enjoying a steady stream of houseguests and time away at the beach and also overwhelmed by evil taxes and home improvement projects gone terribly awry! In the interim,...
Skunkeye
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Quick program note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’ll be catching up on posts shortly – been enjoying a steady stream of houseguests and time away at the beach and also overwhelmed by evil taxes and home improvement projects gone terribly awry!</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In the interim, if the latest issue of <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Entertainment Weekly</em> is an indicator, the <a href="http://musique.france3.fr/actu/18015223-fr.php">Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited</a> English-language tribute album should be hitting US stores this upcoming Tuesday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The effort is a bit spotty – as most projects of this sort tend to be - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but worth checking out. I posted <a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/skunkeye/2006/03/_being_the_quix.html">my take</a> some time back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Also, after the jump, I’ve included the full text of a Gainsbourg article that the <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Guardian </em>ran recently (after the jump).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They gave the compilation an unenthusiastic <a href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1757565,00.html">review</a> by the way and pointed out that Gainsbourg’s oeuvre is better appreciated in his native French.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I also strongly urge readers to head over to Monsieur Guuzbourg’s place, <a href="http://www.fillessourires.blogspot.com/">Filles Sourires</a>, for his beautifully-curated series on French actresses songbirds!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Gainsbourg, je t'aime</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Death has not withered </span><country-region><place><p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">France</span></p></place></country-region><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'s love for the libidinous chain-smoker. Angelique Chrisafis on the cult of Serge</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Angelique Chrisafis </span></strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><br /></span><date month="4" day="14" year="2006"><p><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Friday April 14, 2006</span></strong></p></date><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Guardian</span></strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I just want to stand here contemplating him in silence," said the Frenchwoman slowly exhaling a thick waft of cheroot smoke towards the shrine of her hero. It was an ordinary Sunday afternoon outside 5 bis Rue Verneuil on Paris's left bank, the house where French pop legend Serge Gainsbourg once lived, in rooms painted black from floor to ceiling and with no mirrors to reflect his reptilian ugliness. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">It was here that in 1991, aged 62, his famous passion for Gitanes and alcohol finally killed him with a heart attack in his front room - 20 years earlier, when he was pulled out on a stretcher after his first heart attack, he demanded that paramedics fetch a cashmere rug from his bedroom, as the regulation red and orange blanket clashed and photographers might be outside. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">For 15 years, the graffitied tributes and poetry scrawled on the wall by fans has been growing. The multicoloured "wall of Serge" sprawls for metres along the otherwise impeccably manicured street in one of </span><city><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Paris</span></p></place></city><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'s most expensive neighbourhoods. It is bigger than any monument to Jim Morrison. An empty bottle of whisky has been neatly propped outside the front door in homage. "To our deceased poet," reads one message. "You did your work like an angel, sowing hope," "Thank you for the music," and "Serge, je t'aime." </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In </span><country-region><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Britain</span></p></place></country-region><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, Gainsbourg is remembered as the libidinous Gallic chainsmoker who at 41 seduced Jane Birkin, the 21-year-old home counties girl, into performing the 1969 heavy breathing melody Je T'aime Moi Non Plus. Deemed obscene by the </span><country-region><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Vatican</span></p></place></country-region><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> and banned by the BBC, it became the first foreign-language song to reach number one. With lines such as "Je vais, je vais et je viens/ Entre tes reins" (I come and I go between your kidneys), it stayed in the charts for 31 weeks and became a seduction classic. Rumoured to have been recorded on a tape recorder under Gainsbourg and Birkin's bed during sex, it was actually made while they stood in separate booths in a studio in Marble Arch. But that didn't stop Frankie Howerd and June Whitfield's merciless "No sex please, we're British" cover version two years later. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In </span><country-region><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">France</span></p></place></country-region><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, Gainsbourg is held up as the nation's greatest popular musician, a punning poet and provocateur who transformed chanson in a career spanning 30 years, 25 albums, numerous soundtracks, films and hundreds of songs for other singers, from his lover Brigitte Bardot to Catherine Deneuve and Vanessa Paradis. He even won the Eurovision song contest with a track he wrote for the 16-year-old France Gall. When the teenager discovered the true meaning behind another hit he wrote for her, about sucking lollipops, she never spoke to him again. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">His lyrics, on subjects from the working-class man, tributes to French poets, Frenchmen falling for underage English girls, as well as incest and farting, are published in books as poetry and studied in French universities. He ventured into jazz, disco, rap, made a rock album about Nazis (he was the son of Russian Jews made to wear the yellow star in wartime Paris) and flew to Jamaica to make a reggae album, infuriating Bob Marley, who discovered that his wife Rita had been made to sing erotic lyrics on the backing track. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">President Mitterrand said Gainsbourg "elevated song to the level of art". Jack Lang, the former culture minister, said that he "personified a certain ideal of freedom". Last month, to mark the 15th anniversary of his death, the daily newspaper Libération devoted a front page to his silhouette, French TV ran hours of footage and old interviews ranging from his declarations - "I am the new wave" - to his debauched insults of later years. Record shops in </span><city><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Paris</span></p></place></city><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> have entire walls devoted to special box sets. Soon, one French journalist observed, he will become like his old hero Jimi Hendrix, releasing more records while dead than alive. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Next month's tribute album, by fans ranging from Franz Ferdinand to Tricky and Portishead, is not the first. </span><place><placename><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Nick</span></p></placename><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></p><placename><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Cave</span></p></placename></place><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> associate Mick Harvey produced two homage albums and was the first to translate the genius of Gainsbourg's wordplay. There have been covers from Donna Summer to Jimmy Somerville, but Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited represents what the singer's English biographer Sylvie Simmons called the "cult of Serge": musicians have admitted worshipping him as much for his eccentrically debauched lifestyle as his music. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Born Lucien Ginsburg, Gainsbourg changed his name to sound more French and made it his life's work to enjoy as many women, cigarettes and drinks as possible while giving the finger to decorum. He bought a Rolls-Royce, but couldn't drive so used it as an "ashtray". He had an affair with Bardot, for whom he wrote Je T'aime, and joined her in their famous Bonnie and </span><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Clyde</span></p></place><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> duet on her TV programme, Show Bardot. Un Zeste de Limon (a wordplay on "lemon incest"), the record he made with his teenage daughter Charlotte, caused far less scandal in France than his reggae cover of the French national anthem, which sparked death threats from rightwing veterans of the Algerian war of independence and a newspaper editorial saying he should have his citizenship revoked. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Desperately conscious of his ugliness, he surrounded himself with beautiful women and indulged in his alcoholism as the caricature alter-ego he called "Gainsbarre", who liked to hijack televised interviews. He made rock'n'roll TV history when, on </span><country-region><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">France</span></p></place></country-region><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'s equivalent of the Des O'Connor show, he interrupted fellow guest Whitney Houston by announcing: "I want to fuck her." "He said he wants to buy you flowers," the host told </span><city><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Houston</span></p></place></city><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">. "Don't translate for me. I said I wanted to fuck her," he shot back. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Birkin later said that for the 13 years she lived there, she was not allowed to touch anything in his obsessively ordered house - which he called a "museum". Look Pretty and Shut Up was the title of one of his hits. He was desperate for love, and when, ageing and debauched, he appeared on a French TV show surrounded by 60 adoring children dressed as mini-Serges in jeans and white shoes and with little Gitanes in their mouths, he was said never to have been happier. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The English tribute album would probably have made him smile and crack open the whisky. A few years ago, Birkin told Le Monde that Gainsbourg got depressed when no one recognised him on the King's Road. "No one came up and asked for his autograph," she said. "So he decided to head home to </span><country-region><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">France</span></p></place></country-region><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, saying he'd rather be a king in his own kingdom than a 'little prince' elsewhere." </span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">·</span></strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited is released on May 1. Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited Exhibition is at </span><city><place><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Liberty</span></p></place></city><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, London W1, from Monday until May 31.</span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006</span></p></div>
Gene Pitney 1941 - 2006
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-9861503
2006-04-06T13:52:19-04:00
2006-04-06T13:52:19-04:00
In a town without Pitney…. Yesterday morning I was saddened to learn of Gene Pitney’s passing alone in hotel room in Cardiff while on tour, a turn of events which has received shockingly little mainstream media coverage in the US....
Skunkeye
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><img title="Pitney1a" alt="Pitney1a" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/pitney1a.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> <img title="Pitney" alt="Pitney" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/pitney.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> <img title="Gene" alt="Gene" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/gene.gif" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In a town without Pitney….</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Yesterday morning I was saddened to learn of Gene Pitney’s passing alone in hotel room in Cardiff while on tour, a turn of events which has received shockingly little mainstream media coverage in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://members.tripod.com/~colli/pitney/pitney.html">Pitney</a> is one of the greats in the American songbook – given his trademark sensibilities (vulnerable, sensitive, and searching – an outsider, complicated - not exactly the legend-making confident cock-rock appeal associated with Elvis and the recently mainstream hot Johnny Cash) it seems somewhat fitting that his departure has been virtually ignored in his home country. </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Indeed, while we still hear his better known hits like “The Man Who shot Liberty Valence” and “A Town Without Pity” on the oldies stations, appreciation for the genius of Gene – as with many of our better exports like <a href="http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Concert/2698/">Scott Walker</a>, <a href="http://www.leehazlewood.net/">Lee Hazlewood</a>, and <a href="http://www.ninasimone.com/">Nina Simone</a> - has in recent years been stronger in Europe and Asia, where a certain sensibility, artistry, and iconoclasm is more widely understood and celebrated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That <a href="http://www.antonyandthejohnsons.com/">Antony & the Johnsons</a> garnered this year’s Mercury Prize is telling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Subtle is perhaps the wrong term to describe Pitney’s music, since his delivery is decidedly melodramatic, but beneath what many would dismiss as schlock there are poignant underpinnings of yearning, heartbreak and textured readings of the human experience – perhaps sublime is a better word. </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In the early part of the last decade – at the height of David Lynchian hipness, <em>The Crying Game</em> and Lounge faddishness - Gene Pitney was championed by contemporary artists like Nick Cave, Mark Almond, and Morrissey, and I’m hoping the richness of his body of work will be re-examined and given appropriate treatment some time soon – box set, biography, biopic... anyone? </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><em>Guardian</em> UK tribute <a href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1747957,00.html">here</a>.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=34QEY7WG791X23L1MQIQSMMFZE">Town Without Pity</a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=11ZME94646UJ43EJBDLMSPC8XA">Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart</a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=383X7XRGM9QTH39UQ3RE8XCIV7">Maria Elena</a></p>
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Nikki Sudden 1956 - 2006
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-9681931
2006-03-27T17:16:34-05:00
2006-03-27T17:16:34-05:00
Sad news… the brilliant Nikki Sudden joined his late brother Epic Soundtracks in Rock & Roll Heaven this weekend after a gig in NYC. The Swell Maps were one of my favorite bands of the punk era – I listened...
Skunkeye
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/nikki_vintage.jpg"><img class="image-full" title="Nikki_vintage" alt="Nikki_vintage" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/nikki_vintage.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> <img title="Nikki2" alt="Nikki2" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/nikki2.gif" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Sad news… the brilliant <a href="http://www.nikkisudden.com/">Nikki Sudden</a> joined his late brother <a href="http://www.epicsoundtracks.com/b2/">Epic Soundtracks </a>in Rock & Roll Heaven this weekend after a gig in NYC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Swell Maps were one of my favorite bands of the punk era – I listened to “Read About Seymour” over and over as a teen - and I have tried to follow and collect Sudden’s amazingly prolific output since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Not only an inspired musician, Sudden was a gifted and thoughtful writer as well – his <a href="http://www.nikkisudden.com/">site</a> is well worth exploring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">You can also find an array of <a href="http://www.nikkisudden.com/downloads/index.htm">Nikki Sudden downloads</a> from his myriad projects there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In a hollow age of Pete Doherty playing it up for the tabloids and various young bands cribbing the sounds of the late-seventies, it is especially poignant that we seem to be losing many of the true pioneers and iconoclasts recently – Joe Strummer and several Ramones come immediately to mind. </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I’m at a loss for time right now, so check out the <a href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-03/27.shtml#nikkisudden">Pitchfork announcement</a> after the jump.</p>
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<p></p><p>Nikki Sudden Dead at 49 Scott Plagenhoef and David Nadelle report: </p>
<p>Nikki Sudden, former co-leader of the Swell Maps and the Jacobites and an accomplished solo artist, has died at the age of 49. </p>
<p>The inspirational rock veteran, born Nicholas Godfrey, passed away Sunday in New York, where he had performed a free show billed as the "Farewell New York Bash". Sudden and his brother, Kevin Paul Godfrey (aka Epic Soundtracks), formed the first iteration of the band that eventually became known as Swell Maps in their early teens in 1972, but the group didn't issue its first single, the self-recorded, self-released "Read About Seymour", until 1978. The record sold briskly, leading the band to perform a session for John Peel. The day after it was broadcast, Rough Trade shop owner Geoff Travis stopped Sudden in the street and offered to purchase the remainder of the singles. Along with Scritti Politti and Desperate Bicycles, the Swell Maps became the embodiment of punk's DIY aesthetic, and "Read About Seymour" was one of the most successful attempts to demystify and democratize the process of creating music, turning a lack of professionalism from a hindrance into a go-for-broke virtue. Loving the manic energy of T. Rex and the sonic experimentalism of Can in equal measures, Swell Maps forged a chaotic, charming blend of pop and noise. They released two albums on Travis' Rough Trade label, A Trip to Marineville (1979) and Jane From Occupied Europe (1980), as well as a handful of singles before disbanding. </p>
<p>Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Sudden released a series of diverse but often spotty records as a solo artist and with his band the Jacobites. He worked mostly with fellow Jacobite Dave Kusworth and his brother, Epic Soundtracks, until the latter's 1997 death, and collaborated with members of R.E.M., Sonic Youth, and Wilco. Much of Sudden's work throughout this period has a languid feel, showing off a woozy, bluesy Stones and Faces influence. His solo material reveals the depths of his love for Johnny Thunders, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood but still carries the loose, freewheeling feel of his Swell Maps work. A frequent rock scribe whose writing appeared in Mojo among other publications, Sudden had nearly completed a biography of Wood at the time of his death. </p>
<p>Earlier this decade, Secretly Canadian initiated an extensive Nikki Sudden reissue campaign, releasing not only expanded versions of the two Swell Maps LPs, but upwards of a half-dozen of his post-SW works. In each case, the records were remastered and included extensive liner notes. In addition, Secretly Canadian released Sudden's underrated 2004 LP Treasure Island, which features appearances by Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan and former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. Sudden began recording in his bedroom and forged a career out of it through will and enthusiasm at a time when well-honed craft and access to a studio were considered the only routes to making music. T</p>
<p>hroughout his life, Sudden continued to forge his own destiny, carrying himself as a rock star despite his lack of mainstream success. He was proof that, in a post-punk music environment, fame and the ability to connect with listeners are relative, and that even if his heroes-- Marc Bolan, Keith Richards-- were mostly household names, large-scale success and fortune weren't necessary to inspire devotion and wonderment. "I dress and act like a star because I am one-- even if only in the eyes of a few," Sudden told Buffalo alt-weekly Art Voice. Unlike many of his punk contemporaries, Sudden continued to inspire such devotion throughout his career. </p>
<p>According to reports, he fittingly spent the final hours of his life playing a free, ramshackle, loose show, covering T. Rex and the Velvet Underground, climbing a stage to live his rock star dreams and channeling his heroes, and asking nothing from his audience in return. </p>
<p>According to Billboard.com, Sudden recently finished a new solo album, The Truth Doesn't Matter. The Jacobites will play a previously scheduled show in London on Wednesday, March 29, as a memorial for Sudden. On May 8, Overground Records will release Wastrels and Whippersnappers, a 23-song collection of early Swell Maps recordings. Compiled by Swell Maps bassist Jowe Head, the disc features all previously unreleased material, including home demos of their second single, "Dresden Style", as well as "Harmony in Your Bathroom", "Vertical Slum", "Full Moon in My Pocket", and "Blam" from A Trip to Marineville. </p></div>
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-9575944
2006-03-21T17:24:55-05:00
2006-03-21T17:24:55-05:00
I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of Jane Birkin’s latest effort, Fictions, and I must say after a few listens I’m more impressed than I thought I would be. The legendary “Mother of all Babes” has been amazingly...
Skunkeye
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><a href="http://www.janebirkin.net/"></a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of <a href="http://www.janebirkin.net/">Jane Birkin’s latest effort</a>, <em>Fictions</em>, and I must say after a few listens I’m more impressed than I thought I would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The legendary “<a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/skunkeye/2005/12/the_passion_of_.html">Mother of all Babes</a>” has been amazingly prolific recently and it seems just about every young artist is clamoring to work with her (who wouldn’t be?) and the results, <a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/skunkeye/2004/05/post.html">as evidenced by</a> the well-intentioned, but murky and disjointed recent French-language effort, <em>Rendez-Vous</em>, have been hit-or-miss.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><em>Fictions</em> is also a collection of collaborations (The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, Feist cohort <a href="http://www.gonzalespiano.com/">Gonzales</a>, and Beth Gibbons of Portishead, among many) and indeed the majority of the album consists of cover versions (and I’m including the Rufus Wainwright contribution which owes its hook to the Kink’s “Waterloo Sunset”); the material, however, is well-chosen and fits in marvelously with the theme of the album.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Birkin receives no writing credit on <em>Fictions</em> but the smartly-curated material does a fine job of celebrating her life journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That the story is mostly spun in her native English and contains no <a href="http://www.gainsbourg.org/vrsn2/html/links/index.html">Serge Gainsbourg</a> compositions (which is quite liberating in the much celebrated <em>anniversaire</em> of his passing) and with well-placed musical and lyrical allusions to her upbringing across the Channel - before <em>Blow-Up</em> changed her life - signifies that Birkin, if not already, has well moved on from her seminal role as erotic ingénue and muse, making a hard-earned and respectable pilgrim's progress to emerge on her own as a vital artist and is acknowledging her roots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It must be noted, however, that the inclusion of her interpretation of <em>Ravel’s Image Fantôme (Pavane Pour Une Enfante Défunte)</em> is quite telling.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Jane B’s idiosyncratic (and frankly an acquired taste) vocal chops are in fine firm – methinks the <em>Arabesque</em> tour gave her quite the workout – and she amazingly elevates tunes that would be cringe-worthy if handled with lesser taste and restraint, such as Kate Bush’s “Mother stands For Comfort.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Her informed choice of Tom Waits’s “Alice” works well in context of the through the Looking Glass and Wonderland aspects of her experiences and she does manage to pull off a credible, if not as inspired as Cassandra Wilson’s reading, jazz version of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Of course the album veers on preciousness and self-indulgence – but the Grande Dame has earned it and can pull it off.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><em>Fictions</em> <a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/skunkeye/2004/12/index.html">reminds me</a> a bit of <a href="http://www.nancysinatra.com/">Nancy Sinatra</a>’s star-studded gang bang latest a bit – that Johnny Marr’s jangling guitar makes its presence on <em>Fictions</em> echoes Morrissey’s association with Boots – but I think Jane Birkin’s album works better as a fully-realised project and a more cohesive exercise in story-telling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Jane B. - model, actress, muse, mother, songbird, keeper of the flame, tireless humanitarian - <em>sans-doubt</em> a life worth celebrating and certainly an album worth bagging!</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">From <em>Fictions</em>:</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1L1VC0P1DJW8M1BLG8E53JI5IN">Waterloo Station</a></p>
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tag:typepad.com,2003:post-9391055
2006-03-10T19:09:05-05:00
2006-03-10T19:09:05-05:00
Being the quixotic Serge geek and completist that I am, my frustrations were somewhat assuaged when I finally got my hands on the just-released and highly sought-after album homage, Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited this week. (I was actually losing sleep over...
Skunkeye
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><img title="Gainsbourgrevisited_1" alt="Gainsbourgrevisited_1" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/gainsbourgrevisited_1.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> Being the quixotic <a href="http://sergegainsbourg.artistes.universalmusic.fr/800/push/index.html">Serge</a> geek and completist that I am, my frustrations were somewhat assuaged when I finally got my hands on the just-released and highly sought-after <em>album homage</em>, <a href="http://musique.france3.fr/actu/18015223-fr.php">Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited </a>this week. (I was actually losing sleep over finding this which shows the fool that I am!) As with most tribute albums, the affair is somewhat spotty, hodge-podge and hit-or-miss, and could have benefited from the vision of a talented and focused curator like Hal Wilner or John Zorn (<strong>see number 13</strong>). The talent and collaborators are somewhat inspired but the results aren’t really. And, actually, this tribute is collection unique only in that it features exclusively English-language interpretations. Here is my appropriately self-indulgent track-by-track take: </p>
<p><strong>01. « A Song For Sorry Angel » (Franz Ferdinand & Jane Birkin)</strong> </p>
<p>Sorry, this track is B-side at best! Jane B. is one of my patron saints but the upcoming English-language album, <em>Fiction</em> (which includes collaborations with youngsters Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy, Magic Numbers, Beth Gibbons, Rufus Wainwright, Arthur H, Dominique A, Cali and others) gives me pause. Her last effort, <em>Rendez-Vous </em>was a bit of a mess and these cross-generational and cultural unions, however well-intentioned and inspired, never seem to work so well – see recent history of Francoise Hardy and Marianne Faithful projects. Too many cooks in the kitchen or something like that they say… an element which is pervasive throughout this latest Serge tribute.</p>
<p><strong>02. « I Love You (Me Either) » (Cat Power & Karen Elson)</strong> </p>
<p>This stand-out cut has been all over the internets over the last few weeks as another note in the perplexing cult of Cat Power and in anticipation of the release of <em>Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisted </em>and I must admit really is the highlight of this collection. Chan Marshall and Karen Elson-White (I want to hear more from her!) pull off the unthinkable, breathing fresh new life into an oft-covered and now terminally clichéd standard. <em>Muy</em> chemistry!</p>
<p><strong>03. « I Just Came To Tell You That I'm Going » (Jarvis Cocker & Kid Loco)</strong> </p>
<p>Nothing special or memorable really… just go now. Mick Harvey delivered a warmer and more lovingly-produced version on his fantastic English-language Gainsbourg project, <em>Intoxicated Man</em>, some ten years ago. Also see the follow-up, <em>Pink Elephants</em>. (Nick Cave muse Anita Lane channels a brilliant Birkin). </p>
<p><strong>04. « Requiem For Anna » (Portishead)</strong> </p>
<p>Beth Gibbons and tireless keeper-of-the-Gainsbourg-flame Jane Birkin have been working together quite a bit recently. I expected more of this track, since it is lesser-known and off of one my most beloved soundtracks ever, Gainsbourg’s score for the Anna Karina vehicle, <em>Anna</em>, and also it is the first time we’ve heard Portishead play together as a group in a few years. The results are somewhat plodding and lack resonance….Beth, maybe you should stick with the Talk Talk guy. </p>
<p><strong>05. « Requiem For A Jerk » (Faultine, Brian Molko & Françoise Hardy)</strong></p>
<p>See #10. Françoise phones her bit in – at least, I hope that was the extent of her involvement. </p>
<p><strong>06. « L'hôtel » (Michael Stipe)</strong></p>
<p>I have a deep aversion to everything Michael Stipe so I’m prejudiced and it’s not fair for me even comment! The last thing I want to hear is Stipe indulging himself - get a hotel! </p>
<p><strong>07. « Au Revoir Emmanuelle » (Tricky)</strong></p>
<p>Never one of my favorite Gainsbourg numbers and this Tricky version isn’t working any magic on me. Can I say in schocking deparrture from the beloved intial soft-core classic I enjoyed as a pre-pubescent, the <em>Emmanuelle</em> franchise has taken some alarming turns - cable-channel Cinemax runs the tragically diminished <em>Emmanuelle in Outer Space</em> and with <em>Vampires</em> seemingly non-stop during their after-hours programming - the harder they come, the harder they fall...</p>
<p><strong>08. « Lola R. For Ever » (Marianne Faithfull & Sly And Robbie)</strong></p>
<p>Surprisingly, I rather like this track – maybe Marianne Faithfull should follow the trend – Willie Nelson, Sinead O’Conner - and do a dub reggae album! Fear… Only if Sly & Robbie – Gainsbourg cohorts by the way - are behind the decks though. On second thought, maybe this one track will suffice. </p>
<p><strong>09. « Boomerang 2005 » (Gonzales, Feist & Dani)</strong></p>
<p>This is a spirited and fresh romp – the rap bit works well too (I discovered MC Solar the same year Serge expired)! I have a lot of respect for Gonzales as a composer, producer and arranger and the gang seems to be having fun! Let’s take this party back on the road – sorry Feist, I love ya but if I hear <em>Mushaboom</em> one more time I’m gonna puke! </p>
<p><strong>10. « Boy Toy » (Marc Almond & Trash Palace)</strong></p>
<p>A month or two ago, a dear friend, who was die-hard industrial in the day, dragged me to a Front 242 show up the street from Casa Skunkeye at the 930 club with comped tickets. I was indifferent to the scene then and have no tolerance whatsoever for that shit. Never cared for Depeche Mode either. (Surely Marc Almond could have conjured up his inner Brel and hashed up a tune from Gainbourg’s early career!) </p>
<p><strong>11. « The Ballad Of Melody Nelson » (Placebo)</strong></p>
<p>It’s awright… a bit meandering and no real departure from the original – stick to the original vice, no placebo necessary. </p>
<p><strong>12. « Just A Man With A Job » (The Rakes)</strong></p>
<p>Mildly charming and punchy update of <em>Le Poinconneur de Lilas</em>, the lament of the ticket-taker. Bet this is what Franz Ferdinand only <em>wish</em> they had contributed. </p>
<p><strong>13. « I Call It Art » (The Kills)</strong> </p>
<p>J’adore Les Kills! This is the other standout track on the collection – the Kills’ version of <em>Chanson du Slogan </em>rivals Blonde Redhead’s mesmerizing interpretation on the far-superior tribute, <strong><em>John Zorn’s Great Jewish Music: Serge Gainsbourg</em></strong>. Yikes – was that ten years ago – that double-disc was the soundtrack for a certain doomy but romantic period for me as a struggling creative-type in NYC and featured the city's finest avant garde scensters. And if one is in the hankering for a truly inspired celebration of Serge Gainsbourg on the <em>anniversaire</em> of his passing, the collection I believe has just been re-released on the Tzadik label and is available in US stores again – highly recommended. </p>
<p><strong>14. « Those Little Things » (Carla Bruni)</strong></p>
<p>Ay, <em>ce n’est pas mal</em>… After the success of her French language debut, <em>quelqu’un m’a dit</em>, multi-lingual Bruni has been threatening an English-language album. I’ve been having nightmares of Keren Ann, but this track indicates the bluesier and earthier home-wrecking ex-model might be able to pull it off. At any rate, singing ex-models are a grand tradition in the Gainsbourg oevre and they certainly shine on this collection! Seriously, Bruni and Karen Elson might well be this generation's Mariane Faithfulls and Jane Birkins... </p>
<p>All in all, <em>Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited</em>, while vapid and barely coherent as a fully-realized “tribute” or album, is fairly enjoyable – perhaps noddingly tawdry and tacky (benefit of the doubt?) - and worth it for a few of the tracks – <em>ce petits riens </em>- but just don’t fork out import prices for this bastard baby! Then again, what <em>does</em> one do to when a musical master has passed and devotees are hungry for more? There’s always unearthing rarities and outtakes (the Gainsbourg estate has milked that one), remastering and repackaging the library (ditto), and remixing to contemporary tastes, i.e., dance and reggae (done.dun.dumb). If anything, the Gainsbourg catalogue is ripe for an endless variety of interpretation and The Man was hardly discriminating… so I’m all for bringing it on! </p>
<p>I’m feeling inspired so here are the choice cuts (available for a limited time only!): </p>
<p>The Kills « <a href="http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=08WBZSTHK3ZQ00UX4QJ19ASA7F">I Call It Art </a>» </p>
<p>Gonzales, Feist & Dani - « <a href="http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=38S3HS1UKUV4Y3O9QKDBOEBJM4">Boomerang 2005 </a>» </p>
<p>Carla Bruni -« <a href="http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0G5OJD1NJLIG72N3XW5VXHGW1X">Those Little Things </a>» </p></div>
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-9274424
2006-03-03T22:36:18-05:00
2006-03-03T22:36:18-05:00
Ay, I’ve really fallen into lazy habits… its not just this site and updating; hell, my gym is right around the corner but I keep on finding excuses not to go. I have a mini-break from classes so I’m going...
Skunkeye
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/munichpubf.jpg"><img class="image-full" title="Munichpubf" alt="Munichpubf" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/munichpubf.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Ay, I’ve really fallen into lazy habits… its not just this site and updating; hell, my gym is right around the corner but I keep on finding excuses not to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">I have a mini-break from classes so I’m going to make an effort to get up to speed here. So to start the trickle….</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Its <a href="http://www.oscars.org/">Academy Awards</a> time again – it seems with each season I lose more interest – is it just me, or have the last few years been kind of unspectacular film-wise?</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">I’ve seen most of the nominated films, although I have yet to catch <em>Good Night and Good Luck</em> and <em>Memoirs of Geisha</em> (I had problems with the book – written by a white American male, the novel kind of had a neo-Orientalist vibe that turned me off).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Over the last two weeks, I finally made it to screenings of <em>Munich </em>and <em>Transamerica</em>. </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">I expected to be absolutely depressed by <a href="http://www.munichmovie.com/splash.html">Munich</a>– and that’s why I put off seeing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Instead I enjoyed the film immensely, which is probably not the kind of reaction one should have to a story of terrorism and violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’m afraid the deeper message was maybe a bit lost on me – <em>Munich </em>is one damn good and riveting and sexy road - heist movie – the art direction and locales, recreating the Europe, Israel, and Beirut of the mid-seventies are absolutely superb!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">And the fashion… longtime readers know I have a bit of a fetish for the style of the Europeof my early childhood!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Munich</span></em><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> also stands out because it is an ensemble piece consisting of some of contemporary world cinema’s finest players – some just making cameos, like French-Canadian hotness <u><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189887/">Marie-Josée Croze</a></u> (absolutely killer as a Dutch assassin) and the lovely and amazing Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, and others - <strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Ciarán Hinds (late as Caesar in HBO’s <em>Rome</em>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Season finale spoiler: Brutus got him.), and France’s Mathieu Kassovitz, and Yvan Attal, barely recognizable (a testament to their talent) in slightly more substantial roles. </span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">I’m horrible, I know... kinda had to suppress a bit of laughter with the final digitally re-created image of the World Trade Center towers – um, more than a bit overwrought – but <em>Munich</em> is a Spielberg production after all. Seriously, though, the film worked on many different levels and is a bit of an overlooked masterpiece. </span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Speaking of overlooking stuff, today I finally made it to see <a href="http://www.transamerica-movie.com/">Transamerica</a> – everyone has gone all gaga over Felicity Huffman’s performance. I was getting a bit of cabin fever at home with all my applications, paperwork, and taxes and decisions - not to mention trying to pull together a business plan. </span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">I swear it’s been a slow cinema period because <em>Transamerica </em>was the only somewhat appealing option and I kinda knew I would detest it. Although I think <em>Desperate Housewives </em>is the most disgustingly over-rated and gimmicky phenomena on non- reality television programming, I do appreciate Mrs. Wiliam H. Macy's work on <a href="http://sportsnight.tktv.net/">Sports Night </a>and Paul Thomas Anderson’s <em>Magnolia</em>. </span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">At any rate, I was squirming early on – the dialogue was painfully trite and I’m sure Felicity Huffman was turning in some sublime actorly-crafty work but yeeesh… the material. I’m sorry, I’m all for progressive themes in cinema but if the screenplay sucks why bother. </span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Well, I was saved by the bell so to speak – the fire alarm went off and the entire theater complex was evacuated after about a third of the film passed and right before I was going to beat the retreat and cut my losses. Fortunately I was able to get a free pass for another show at Landmark E Street. </span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><a href="http://www.stonedthemovie.com/">Stoned</a>, the <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~hobhead/">Brian Jones </a>biopic opening soon looks kinda hot and right down my alley – something to look forward to… </span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Back to the looming Academy Awards, methinks <em>Brokeback Mountain </em>will do well – best picture and director for Ang Lee definitely. Philip Seymour Hoffman will probably take home the Best Actor for <em>Capote</em> – and deservedly in my book. I’m rooting for Paul Giamatti for Best Supporting actor even though I didn’t see that boxer film (did anyone?) but over-exposed Clooney might well have the golden gloves this year. Reese Witherspoon is looking pretty strong as Best Actress for <em>Walk the Line </em>but Felicity Huffman, hot on the trail, may well walk away with the prize. Hollywood is a bit much with this liberal self-congratulatory schtick – if Oprah-sanctioned <em>Crash</em> takes over the show – talk about a contrived screenplay – I wouldn’t be surprised. Anyways, I just don’t care at this point and will probably just crash midway through the ceremonies like last year – I just hope we have a more vibrant 2006 in cinema! </span></strong></span></p></div>
tag:typepad.com,2003:post-8946785
2006-02-14T18:01:39-05:00
2006-02-14T18:01:39-05:00
Happy Valentine’s Day! My apologies for the lack of updates … its not that I’m particularly busy these days (although I am back in school now, pursuing a totally new direction, and have absolutely no idea what I am doing!)....
Skunkeye
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/bigpetti3.jpg"><img class="image-full" title="Bigpetti3" alt="Bigpetti3" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/bigpetti3.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a><strong>Happy Valentine’s Day!</strong></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">My apologies for the lack of updates … its not that I’m particularly busy these days (although I am back in school now, pursuing a totally new direction, and have absolutely no idea what I am doing!).</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Anyways, I’m still alive and kicking and have in fact been in touch with many of my blog <em>copains</em> and enjoying their sites immensely.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">After three years, I’m experiencing a bit of <em>ennui</em> with The Skunkeye Consumer Guide – maybe a redesign?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And jeez, my posts always end up so long… I’ve actually got several waiting in the wings, just screaming to be edited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As usual, I’m terribly disorganized and haphazard…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Also, I want to post more music, since mp3 blogs seem to my current fascination.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In January, the amazingly thoughtful and prolific Guuzbourg of the excellent <a href="http://www.fillessourires.blogspot.com/">Filles Sourires</a> undertook the yeoman’s feat of collecting and posting just about every version of the <a href="http://sergegainsbourg.artistes.universalmusic.fr/800/push/index.html">Serge Gainsbourg</a> and <a href="http://www.janebirkin.net/">Jane Birkin</a> classic duet, <em><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN">Je t'aime....moi non plus</span></em>. I highly recommend <a href="http://fillessourires.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_fillessourires_archive.html">checking out his archives</a>, for this collection - its really quite amazing - as well as many other treasures.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Today, Guuz posted yet another version of the infamous Gainsbourg-Birkin duet, this time from <a href="http://www.catpowerthegreatest.com/">Cat Power</a> (whose the latest, <em>The Greatest</em>, has been one of my favorite albums of the new year) and model Karen Elson - Mrs. <a href="http://www.whitestripes.com/">Jack White</a> - (who has a surprisingly nice voice – do we have another <a href="http://www.carlabruni.com/">Carla Bruni</a> here?), off of an upcoming Serge Gainsbourg <a href="http://musique.france3.fr/actu/18015223-fr.php">tribute album</a>, which looks very promising (The Kills, Franz Ferdinand, Feist, Marianne Faithfull are some of the collaborators). </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This is perhaps the most enjoyable interpretation of <em>Je t’aime</em> I’ve heard, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">and with <em>kudos</em> to <a href="http://www.fillessourires.blogspot.com/">Guuz</a> – <em>merci</em>!, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">is my Valentine’s gift to you!</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Download <strong><span style="color: #632035;"><span lang="EN" style="COLOR: #632035; mso-ansi-language: EN"><a href="http://www.bossaboogie.com/allezlesfilles/jetaime.mp3"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none">Cat Power & Karen Elson - I Love You (Je t'aime...moi non plus)</span></a></span></span><span lang="EN"> </span><u><span style="color: #993300;"><a href="http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=18VJQLBTAG09N0TV1TJOBZI55C">here</a></span></u></strong>.</p>
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tag:typepad.com,2003:post-8386474
2006-01-15T00:54:58-05:00
2006-01-15T00:54:58-05:00
In an effort to escape the fug I’ve been swallowed into lately, I made good on a promise to myself for an “art day” this Saturday. Good thing I caught Alice Neel’s Women at the National Museum of Women in...
Skunkeye
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/andyneel.jpg"><img class="image-full" title="Andyneel" alt="Andyneel" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/andyneel.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> <a href="http://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/jackiecurtisredneel.jpg"><img class="image-full" title="Jackiecurtisredneel" alt="Jackiecurtisredneel" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/jackiecurtisredneel.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> <img title="Malanganeel_1" alt="Malanganeel_1" src="https://skunkeye.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/malanganeel_1.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In an effort to escape the fug I’ve been swallowed into lately, I made good on a promise to myself for an “art day” this Saturday.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Good thing I caught <em>Alice Neel’s Women </em>at the<a href="http://nmwa.org/exhibition/detail.asp?exhibitid=131"> National Museum of Women in the Arts</a> today because this magnificent show is closing tomorrow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Yikes, I’ve been lost – <a href="http://www.aliceneel.com/">Alice Neel</a> has been one of my longtime favourite artists and , in a better state of mind, I would have been there opening day!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Alice Neel’s career spanned from the 30’s through the eighties; the artist received <a href="http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html#WPA">WPA</a> funding in the day (although she was at odds with the administrators at times) and continued to develop her singular style through the seventies (when the feminists descended upon her like harpies in carnivorous attempts to elevate and politicize her place in art history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One can tell by the garish portraits she produced at commission of her patrons during this period). </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In spirit, Neel, despite her <em>zeitgeist </em>participation in the major movements and figures of the post-war art world, was essentially a purist:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>while she amazingly brought to vivid glory, and with an impressive honesty and apt psychological insight, the ever-changing perceptions of feminity, motherhood, race, class, and family in the modern world through her work, the artist was essentially a master painter foremost and a wonderful friend and mother on top of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Neel’s work is unflinching and telling and absolutely beautiful through all her periods.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I’ll never forgot the (written) portrait of Alice Neel by <a href="http://www.ncwriters.org/services/lhof/inductees/jmitchel.htm">Joseph Mitchell</a>, which first appeared in <em>The New Yorker</em>, introduced to me by my grandmother – who, by the way shared similar convictions with and was of the same generation, as Neel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Susan Sarandon played her in the well-intentioned but flat film, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172632/">Joe Gould’s Secret</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Alice Neel is mostly known for her candid and often unflattering nude paintings of her subjects – including herself in a penultimate and honest and jarring <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aliceneel.com/g8/g8lslf80.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aliceneel.com/g8/g8lslf80.html&h=585&w=420&sz=60&tbnid=krQT-CX5_81YeM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=94&hl=en&start=4&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dalice%2Bneel%2Bself%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-36,GGLG:en">self-portrait</a>. This eccentric and iconoclastic take actually does a bit of a disservice to her textured and fascinating life, talent, and legacy as an artist. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Neel's early work is pregnant with a virtuosity of intuitive and studied painterly technique and psychological expression and the artist carried this on through a most brilliant body of work. The majority of her subjects were women - many artist and art professional cotemporaries- whom I doubt would be drawn out more vividly by a male artist. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">In Alice Neel’s later career, subjects, both men and women, were asked – though not exclusively – to pose in the raw. Her male subject’s reticence and modesty is generally quite telling through the artist’s unflinching eye and brush; in contrats her female models seem quite open to the exprience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Neel was quite forthright throughout out her career to acknowledge the (male) artistic beautification of the female form and quite a few of her paintings included in this collection reference directly renaissance masters and the machismo of the surrealist and cubists and the abstract expressionists. Neel turned the male-dominated arena on its head though - it’s the ladies who shine in her groundbreaking work, in all their empowering glory!<span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Feminist movement – and of course this was essential at the time – latched on to Neel for her prodigious and amazing body of work and also her predilection for models of a certain condition and unconventional beauty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> One senses Neal was bemused at most by this politcizing of a struggle she'd already lived through. </span>Having raised ssuccesfully several children as a single mother- and artist - and enjoying grandchildren, Neel is unrestained in her ability to capture and demystify the odyssey of the expectant and blossoming mother and her own aging. These paintings are sublime!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Neel’s wonderful sense of composition and pattern, the unorthodox use of blue lines where others might blend – or get over-painterly, the unflinching positioning, the tell-tale language of the hands and the piecing psychological intensity of the eyes in her portraits carries through from her earliest work on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">And I adore the way Alice Neel embraced every movement, fashion, and personality on the road to modern art in her own cool, detached, and humble way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Changing body ideals throughout the century- rolls and curves of the healthiness of the Post War Era,dissolve into the frank emaciation of the late sixties and seventies- all of this is handeled with curiousity and without judgement. for example, the pubis is always a matter of fact in her nudes. Neel's career spanned nearly five decades of fashion history and the artist embraces all the trends - graish paisley prints and broken fishnet are all ripe players in her compostiions. </span>All the while, the artist lived in Spanish Harlem and Brooklyn when it was <em>muy</em> unfashionable and maintained many<em> escandolosa </em>arrangements... </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Her <a href="http://www.aliceneel.com/g6/g6lhar60.html">portrait</a> of Frank O’Hara is singular and fantastic in a way that if I were a poet this would be absolutely like how I would want to represented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But mostly it’s her many drawings and paintings of her family which move me. The lady loved her kids and her friends and she drew and painted them in an honest and absolutely loving manner and that is not a bad way to live and be remembered at all...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I overheard a great many candid discussions at the show from all types and age groups and it makes me happy that Alice Neel continues to be relevant.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Andy Warhol crowd latched on to Alice Neel for a while, by the way, and thus I’m including the Warhol and Gerald Malanga portraits which were not part of the collection at the exhibit at The National Museum of Women in the Arts. <em>Comme les femministes</em> the Pop Art crowd tend to read too much into and objectfy Neel as well.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Also I went to the <a href="http://www.corcoran.org/exhibitions/warhol_index.asp">Andy Warhol exhibit at the Corcoran</a> afterwards, which was absolutely superfluous – overkill here, been there, seen and done that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Yikes, didn't the Corcoran mount a similar Warhol show four years ago? </span>As much as I like Warhol, we could use something… fresher here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In DC. I’m dying.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The "<a href="http://www.jackiecurtis.com/">Jackie Curtis</a> and Red" portrait was one of the highlights of the Alice Neel show, though!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I’m trying to be all reciprocal with my mp3 copains, so here are some appropriate Factory-era tunes for yaws:</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Velvet Underground</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://beta.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=B97CF930567E32D4">New Age</a> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><em>(right click, download)</em></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Nico</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><a href="http://beta.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=94216CC4913B0921">Chelsea Girl</a> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><em>(right click, download)</em></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Just as an aside, I first got to know the wonderful Filipina artist <a href="http://www.pacitaabad.com/">Pacita Abad</a>, who passed away last year, through her installation at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in the early nineties - recently after the museum opened. My family subsequently enjoyed a fond friendship with her and one of her glorious prints looks down on me as I type. Exhuberant journalist Howie Severino recently posted a tribute to one of her last projects, a gloriously painted bridge in otherwise sterile Singapore, and I'm linking <a href="http://www.gmapinoytv.com/sidetrip/blog/index.php?/archives/49-Ang-makulay-na-tulay-ng-Pinay.html#extended">here</a>. Abad's spirit and warmth is greatly missed!</p>
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