Roky Erickson @ The El Rey Halloween Night

Roky Erickson is playing a show at the El Rey! If you haven't seen the documentary You're Gonna Miss Me: A Film About Roky Erickson you should, it's so great!

ROKY ERICKSON

://www.goldenvoice.com/

EL REY THEATRE

5515 WILSHIRE BLVD, LA

FRI OCT 31 2008 8:00PM

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/090040AFB1844560?brand=goldenvoice

In the annals of spooked rock, Roky Erickson is a legend. When you hear his wobbling, impassioned, vocal yowl, you have to admit: He could've been a sort of psychedelic, proto-punk, American Van Morrison. Alas, history has been less kind to Roky. Kevin McAlester's documentary discloses precisely why (and how) Roky's early status as an icon--a maverick rock genius as demonstrated by his band, the 13th Floor Elevators--went sadly awry. At the center of You're Gonna Miss Me are some crucial dramatic tropes: a terribly broken family; a pressing, age-old "Am I my brother's keeper" predicament; and a relatively simple case of schizophrenia. The film opens in a courtroom, Erickson's aging and awkward mother, Evelyn, and his youngest brother, Sumner, locked in a battle for guardianship over the then-53-year-old, mentally imbalanced singer. The film captures Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Patti Smith, and Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), among others, testifying to Roky's non-pareil genius. Also present, however, are tales of Roky's singular madness--extended acid and heroin binges and, alas, his then-present-day condition, living in cramped, decrepit quarters with an array of transistor radios, stereos, TVs, and keyboards, all cranked fully as he placidly reclines or wanders aimlessly.

The film painstakingly shows the Erickson family's longstanding fissures, contextualizing Roky's schizophrenia and, disarmingly, putting his mother's own awkward idiosyncratic behavior on display. Lee Daniel's cinematography brilliantly captures the desolation and desperation of Roky's life, camera shaking and panning and finding hidden angles to show the strange, seemingly endless schizophrenic signs around the singer--dozens of antennae, stacks and stacks of mail strewn throughout his apartment, and Evelyn's complicated obsession with Roky's history--from his highpoints as a rocker to his tragic three-year stay at the Rusk State Hospital for marijuana possession (where, for example, he played in an ad hoc band with a couple of murderers, a rapist, and, improbably, a hospital counselor) to her own, eerie film project where she casts Roky as "the king of the beasts" in a home-movie she undertakes as a "legacy" for the family. The film is all about otherworldly dimensions, centering in large part on youngest brother, Sumner--himself an accomplished musician playing tuba with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra--and his legal battle to become Roky's guardian and get Roky "simple medical care" and medication for his schizophrenia. This is an important chapter in the history of rock, without the underlying humor that made Dig! an indie film hit in 2005 but with a much larger historical purview. --Andrew Bartlett

http://www.rokyerickson.net/index.html

http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Gonna-Miss-Billy-Gibbons/dp/B000P0J060

The Dirty Dozen Brass Jazz Band

"Music in New Orleans is as much a part of death as it is of life." - Sidney Bechet, Musician

HISTORY:

The jazz funeral is a tradition based on a centuries-old African ideology that has, in modern times, become a sacred experience, unique to Louisiana, which began as early as the evolution of jazz itself. When a "jazz man" leaves the earth, there is first a viewing and service at the church followed by a march to the final resting place. En route to the cemetery, slow mournful dirges comfort the family, and once out of earshot, the elegies turn into a festive celebration of the recently departed. The Jazz Funeral is such an important cornerstone of life in New Orleans that an entire business model was established based on this tradition. Fraternal organizations known as social and pleasure clubs arose to provide burial insurance for the lower and middle class Black citizens who wanted to guarantee an appropriate send off to their loved ones.

By the mid 1970s, the jazz funeral and the clubs that kept them going were in steep decline. The elder statesmen of New Orleans Jazz were starting to fade away, and most of the younger generation were looking to forge ahead with their own musical tastes. But not all of the kids were turning a deaf ear to the old school. "In the 70s, disco was king and we didn't have anywhere to play", recalled Gregory Davis, the original and current trumpet player in the Dozen. "We weren't purists, but we just wanted to play". Balancing an exploratory nature with a deep respect for their upbringing, the Dirty Dozen found themselves as the house band at the social and pleasure club bearing the same name (the Dirty Dozen Social Club) and soon became the first group called to lead Jazz Funerals for the last of the old guard. It was here that they began their iconoclastic history. It is now that they come full circle.

TUBA FATS IS DEAD:

The horse-drawn carriage gradually made its way through the narrow cobblestone streets. Flanked on either side by a swarm of revelers, their handkerchiefs and umbrellas were swaying in spontaneous unison to the rhythms of the spirituals erupting from the brass instruments leading the procession. In New Orleans, there is only one proper way to say goodbye to a legend. Such was the case on January 18th, 2004, as the city bid a joyous fair well to Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen and his old brothers in the Dirty Dozen led the way in a celebration that lasted over four hours. It was a fitting tribute for a man many considered to be one of the iconic faces of New Orleans musical heritage, and an artist who helped to preserve the very tradition that was now paying homage to him.

As a founding member of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Tuba Fats was an integral player in a movement aimed at keeping not only the sacred institution of the "Jazz Funeral" alive, but maintaining a connection to the musical roots of the Crescent City. "Tuba should be honored", Baritone sax player and fellow founding member of the Dirty Dozen Roger Lewis mournfully stated a short while after the procession, adding "he's responsible for a lot of young guys getting to play, and he always shared his knowledge, love and spirit". It was that love and spirit that fueled the music from his former band as they made their way from Poydras and St. Charles to the famed St. Louis Cemetery #1. The irony was thick as the band had just completed their 10th studio album in 27 years, Funeral For A Friend (ropeadope, release date May 4th, 2004).

A PERFECT DOZEN:

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band did not need to exhaustively research the subject of the Jazz Funeral, they were born with it. For nearing thirty years, they have been one of the preeminent musical exports of New Orleans, with a relentless touring schedule that has brought them to more than thirty countries. From David Bowie and Elvis Costello to Modest Mouse, Dave Matthews and Widespread Panic, the Dirty Dozen have been unflinching in their desire to push the limits of what a brass band can do. Despite a mélange of styles that draw from the traditional brass band canon as well as funk, r & b, bop, gospel and rock, the Dozen have always kept one foot firmly planted in the music from which they were born. "Everybody in the band has a voice, and that's what has kept the music fresh and interesting" says Lewis, quickly adding "though it's important to never forget your roots and where you came up from".

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND:

It was a return to those roots that inspired their 10th album, Funeral For A Friend, a breathtaking and deeply spiritual neo-traditional homage to the jazz funeral. Comprised solely of traditional gospel and spiritual songs, Funeral For A Friend is a moving sonic experience that mines the sounds and memories that have made the Dozen the preeminent musical export of New Orleans. From the somber "Amazing Grace" to the joyous and uplifting renditions of "I Shall Not Be Moved" and "Jesus is on the Mainline", the band, joined by the Davell Crawford Singers, have preserved the spirit of New Orleans and of the jazz funeral for future generations. "There is a spiritual side to music and life," says Gregory Davis, "and whatever you believe in, this album is about music as a universal form of communication". Much like an actual jazz funeral, the sessions for the album evoked a whirlwind of emotions for the band. "Even though I'm never satisfied in the studio, the spirit of the music really grabbed us. You can't help but think about a lot of the stuff that's happened in your life", recalled Lewis.

CODA:

Shortly after the completion of the album, Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen died of a heart attack, leaving a hole in the tapestry of New Orleans music that he had helped to weave. The heartbroken Dirty Dozen decided to name the album "Funeral For A Friend" as a way to honor the man they learned so much from. Without hesitation the Dirty Dozen picked up their horns to march in the second line as the city of New Orleans said one final goodbye to Tuba Fats. Though physically departed, his legacy has been left in some of the most able-bodied, brass playing hands. The path ahead for the Dirty Dozen is certainly less predictable than the funeral route down which they've traveled. Joked Lewis, "We might just go rock and roll, we've already played everything else there is to play". Regardless of what the Dozen decides to explore next, "Funeral For A Friend" is as clear a sign as any that they will never abandon from where it is they came.

http://www.myspace.com/dirtydozenbrass

Eco - Friendly Cheese

If you're down for the environment, animal welfare, and cheese you may want to check this out:

http://www.fiscalinicheese.com/

And remember, less is more...Quality over quantity needs to be the new mantra if we are to save ourselves and the environment from devastation.

Coming from an aspiring vegan who sees cheese as her greatest nemesis: love the cheese, love humanity more.

Sarah Palin's Silly Energy Speech

According to Salon.com http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/10/29/sarah_palin_on_energy/index.html

When the announcement that John McCain had chosen Sarah Palin to be his running mate broke across the political landscape like an Alaskan mountain avalanche, many analysts, including yours truly, jumped to the conclusion that her background in energy issues made her a savvy choice in an era of record-breaking oil prices. McCain's "drill here, drill now" mantra was taking a bite out of Obama's poll numbers, and the immediate expectation was that Palin would be a potent vehicle for delivering energy-related soundbites.

But it didn't turn out that way. On Wednesday morning, oil traded at $65 dollars a barrel, more than 50 percent off its July peak of $147. The financial crisis proved more riveting than gas prices, and Sarah Palin's rocky performance as a debutante on the national political stage swiftly obliterated the conventional wisdom that she could be an asset to the McCain campaign.

So now, with less than a week before Election Day, the decision to have Palin deliver an "energy security" policy address seems a bit too little, too late to make much of a difference, unless one accepts the insider scuttlebutt that Palin is already positioning herself for a 2012 run at the presidency. A routine restatement of McCain campaign talking points on energy independence is unlikely to move poll numbers much at this stage. Far better, one would think, to content oneself with the ridiculous assertion that an Obama presidency will be the second coming of Vladimir Lenin.

But Palin's speech is still worth some attention, because it clearly makes the case for why the McCain-Palin agenda is fundamentally wrong for the United States.

Palin started off by acknowledging that "the price of oil is declining largely because of the market's expectation of a broad recession that would lower demand." She was absolutely correct to note that "this is hardly a good sign of things to come," and that "when our economy recovers, and growth once again creates new demand, we could run into the same brick wall of rising oil and gasoline prices."

This is true -- indeed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday a warning from Faith Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, that "In two years' time, 'we could see much higher prices than we saw three months ago,'" if new investments in oil and gas production went by the wayside because of lower prices right now.

Sarah Palin made the case in Ohio that what America needs to achieve energy independence is more can-do American ingenuity -- as an example she pushed her own efforts to get a new natural gas pipeline started.

"The result is, finally, progress on the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history -- a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence. When the last section is laid and its valves are opened, that pipeline will lead America one step farther away from reliance on foreign energy. That pipeline will be a lifeline -- freeing us from debt, dependence, and the influence of foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart."

Sorry Sarah, but no matter how many pipelines Alaska builds, America will not be freed from reliance on foreign energy. In fact, by the time the pipeline is finally built, we're more likely to be more dependent on foreign energy than less, unless much vaster changes in our energy infrastructure are brought about than anything promised by McCain or Palin.

Both the McCain/Palin campaign and the Obama/Biden campaign are making unrealistic promises about the prospect of reaching energy independence. As Obama himself notes, when you consume 25 percent of the world's oil but own only 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, energy independence isn't ever going to come from expanding domestic production.

The difference between the two campaigns is that McCain/Palin is more unrealistic. Obama has made it clear that his energy independence plan will requires massive expansion of alternative and renewable energy resources and huge investments in conservation and energy efficiency, even as he acknowledges that more investment in offshore drilling, nuclear power, and clean coal will also most likely be necessary. (McCain and Palin routinely misrepresent Obama's position on nuclear power and clean coal, and the vice presidential candidate did so again today.)

Palin devoted one paragraph of her energy security policy speech to alternative energy solutions.

"In our administration, that will mean harnessing alternative sources of energy, like wind and solar. We will end subsidies and tariffs that drive prices up, and provide tax credits indexed to low automobile carbon emissions. We will encourage Americans to be part of the solution by taking steps in their everyday lives that conserve more and use less. And we will control greenhouse gas emissions by giving American businesses new incentives and new rewards to seek, instead of just giving them new taxes to pay and new orders to follow."

That's not enough. True leadership on energy requires devoting more than one paragraph to vague handwaving about wind and solar and greenhouse gas emissions. Economic turmoil and low oil prices may have shunted renewables and conservation off the main track for now, but to quote Palin, "this is hardly a sign of good things to come."

Here's the unavoidable truth:

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that according to a draft it has obtained of the annual World Energy Outlook report from the International Energy Agency, "Output from the world's oilfields is declining faster than previously thought."

"Without extra investment to raise production, the natural annual rate of output decline is 9.1 per cent... The findings suggest the world will struggle to produce enough oil to make up for steep declines in existing fields, such as those in the North Sea, Russia and Alaska, and meet long-term demand. The effort will become even more acute as prices fall and investment decisions are delayed."

Oil companies would certainly be foolish to stand still while prices are low and refrain from investing in new production. But the rest of us would be even more foolish to ignore the accelerating output declines and shrink away from the truly gigantic task of moving the global economy towards a more energy efficient, renewable-reliant future. It won't be cheap -- heaven forbid, it might even require raising taxes! But in the long run, that's what has to happen, and in her speech today, Sarah Palin did not acknowledge it. - Andrew Leonard

Know Your Rights: Jay-Z on ID at the Polls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EquWx6j-tw0

Leandro Erlich

According to Artkrush...

A master of illusion, Argentinean artist Leandro Erlich has amazed audiences with whimsical installations, sculptures, photographs, and videos for the past decade. His video installation Le Trottoir (The Sidewalk) is one of the highlights of the Chanel Mobile Art exhibition, and his celebrated Swimming Pool installation is currently enchanting visitors at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City. Artkrush editor Paul Laster recently sat down with the globetrotting artist at New York's Gramercy Park Hotel to discuss his past work and his new installation at Prospect.1 New Orleans.

AK: The first work I saw of yours was Rain, an installation in the 2000 Whitney Biennial that presented the viewer with the illusion of seeing someone through an apartment window on a rainy day. It was very clever and eerie. How did you come up with that idea and how was the illusion constructed?

LE: Like most of my projects, the idea came from the consideration of everyday architecture. I'm interested in the background places that hold our experiences and emotions on a daily basis, even though we are unaware of them. For Rain, I looked for a particular mood: a nostalgic scene, where the viewer participated in the act of contemplation. The windows looked out on a narrow space between two extremely close urban buildings. I built an enclosed set and used pumps to recycle the rain. In the end, as often happens, Rain took on a life of its own and became less about nostalgia and more about a violent storm.

AK: The following year, I stumbled upon a group show at Kent Gallery in New York that included Turismo. For this series, you created a wintry alpine set during the 7th Havana Biennial and photographed Cubans playing on the fictional slope. Why snow in Cuba, and how did the public react?

LE: Around that time, I was invited to several international biennials and realized that the best way to approach this type of exhibition was to play with context. I decided to engage the social, political, and geographical context of Havana, rather than deny it. I collaborated with Judi Werthein, a fellow Argentinean artist, to build a fake landscape that would never exist in the Caribbean. By photographing Cubans in a snowy environment, we were able to metaphorically transport them to a place that most had never visited. Few Cubans are allowed to leave the country, so the participants found the project somewhat ironic. They would leave the set with a Polaroid and jokingly say, "Look, I've been skiing in Switzerland."

AK: The art world enthusiastically embraced one of your earlier installations, Swimming Pool, from 1999. One version is on permanent display at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan, and another is currently on view at P.S.1. What is it about this piece that captures the imagination of the viewer?

LE: I think it's the simplicity — the fact that something extraordinary can happen in such a simple way, technically and conceptually. That's an important factor in all of my projects. The viewer can trace the process; it's recognizable. The trick is not presented to deceive the viewer, but to be understood and resolved by him. Such an engagement with the work involves the viewer's participation and leads to the thought that reality is as fake and constructed as the art; it's a fiction. Although it's the fiction that we all agree to live in. I'm a very optimistic person, and understanding that reality can be many things at the same time increases our awareness of life, politics, and our surroundings in general.

AK: 2005's Staircase installation, which you created for Albion in London, is very amusing. You almost get vertigo by looking at the photo documentation. How difficult was it to construct the piece in the gallery and what was the optimum point for experiencing it?

LE: It was a difficult piece to build. It was partially produced in Buenos Aires, shipped to London by boat in two containers, and then installed and finished in the gallery space. It really did give you some sort of vertigo — just by looking in front of you rather than looking down. My work has a cinematographic sensibility. It's a stage, where the viewer becomes an actor. Staircase riffs on an iconoclastic scene from Hitchcock: looking down the staircase. The viewer not only interacts with the work; he interacts with the other viewers. Like in Rain, the person across the way could be a neighbor, but it's more likely just another member of the public. The person on the staircase could be two or three floors up or down. There's a relation between all of the work and a path for viewing it, although each piece is proposing something slightly different — be it something physical, perceptual, or contemplative.

For Full Article:

http://www.artkrush.com/175606

New Orleans: Prospect One

Pierre et Gilles

Pierre et Gilles

Pierre et Gilles

Leandro Erlich

Leandro Erlich

Leandro Erlich

Leandro Erlich

Lakup Linzy video still from Melody Set Me Free

Illka Halso

Jeppe Hein

Tony Fitzpatrick

Sanford Biggers

Paul Villinski

Nalini Malani

Monica Bonvicini

Fred Tomaselli

Doug Aitken

Cai Guo-Qiang

Alexandre Arrechea

According To Artkrush...

Mirtha — a 64-foot-long and 22-foot-high giant ark, made from scavenged construction debris and covered in distressed posters — rests in the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood of New Orleans ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The sculpture by LA-based artist Mark Bradford forms one of the major on-site installations created for the inaugural Prospect.1 New Orleans (P.1), which opens November 1 at venues across the city, from a Baptist church to Loyola University and local historical museums. New Orleans is the latest city to enter the worldwide biennial circuit, as it still looks to rebuild in the wake of the hurricane that flooded 80% of the city and dispersed one million Big Easy residents. A mega-exhibition with 81 artists from 30 countries, P.1 is led by founding director Dan Cameron, former senior curator of the New Museum and co-curator of the 2003 Istanbul Biennial and the 2006 Taipei Biennial. Long attracted to the New Orleans' distinct culture, Cameron brings not only major art-world names, but also showcases the Bayou's local artists. In doing so, he hopes to bridge what many biennials only exacerbate: the stark divide between high-powered international art and local traditions.

Many of the international artists whom Cameron has invited to the French-influenced American locale — where Monet and Degas first exhibited in the US — have created works specifically for the biennial. Alexandre Arrechea, who is a former member of the Cuban collective Los Carpinteros, has crafted a knee-high, branch-like wooden bucket that resembles the shape of the Mississippi River (which snakes through the city) out of lumber reclaimed from the bottom of the riverbed. Paul Villinski's Emergency Response Studio, a solar-powered artist's studio housed in a mobile home, echoes the FEMA trailers that many New Orleans residents were issued by the government after their homes were destroyed. Also working with reclaimed materials, Nari Ward exhibits his site-inspired work in the now-vacant, historical Battleground Baptist Church in the Lower Ninth Ward; Diamond Gym: Action Network is a diamond-shaped structure, formed from discarded exercise equipment, surrounded by mirrors, and inspired by the Harlem offices of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

Additionally, P.1 includes an international roster with a strong showing of artists from Asia, such as the Beijing Olympics' fireworks master Cai Guo-Qiang, up-and-coming new-media artist Cao Fei, and installation artist Haegue Yang. A strong South American contingent — often left off international biennial rosters — includes Brazilians Beatriz Milhazes and Rosângela Rennó. Connecting the international and the local, Steven G. Rhodes is a rising young sculptor from New Orleans, now exhibiting in New York and Los Angeles, whose recent projects reflect the horrors of Katrina. These artists share the limelight with two of New Orleans' best: John Barnes Jr. creates mixed-media sculptures with a distinct, folk-art-inspired iconography, and Willie Birch's black-and-white drawings of local residents and rituals capture the Cajun city's unique heritage. P.1 aims to be the first biennial where international visitors come to see the city and the art as a cohesive whole — an exhibition that reveals the location itself, while also looking abroad at the larger world. - H.G. Masters

Prospect.1 New Orleans takes place in outdoor sites and indoor venues throughout the city from November 1 to January 18, 2009.

Darkness of the Dead @ Betalevel Events

Darkness... of the Dead!
Live Ambient Concert in Total Darkness!
Saturday, November 1
7pm & Midnight
Free

http://betalevel.com/2008/11/01/darkness-of-the-dead/

When was the last time you saw a live ambient music performance? Well don’t expect to see one this Saturday either, because the performers will be cloaked in Total Darkness! Are the musicians really playing live? Are they even human?? How would you even know??? Prepare for the gentle extraction of your pathetic certainties and brace yourself for the implantation of ambient obscurity... in the Dark!!

Prepare yourself for the Crypt... of Relaxation!

BEHOLD THE TWO SHOWS!

Early:
Refreshments at 6pm. Seating at 6:30.
Darkness at 7pm!

Late:
Refreshments at 11pm. Seating at 11:30.
Darkness at Midnight!

Each show will be about 30 ambient minutes long!
NO LATE ARRIVALS! IT WILL BE TOTALLY DARK!!

Note: We are serious about this whole darkness thing. It will be REALLY DARK!

PLEASE READ WARNING!!!

http://betalevel.com/2008/11/01/darkness-of-the-dead/#warning

Wish Tree for Pasadena by Yoko Ono

now – November 9, 2008

Wish Tree for Pasadena is an art installation that consists of 21 living crape myrtle trees installed amongst the café tables and chairs in the Courtyard of One Colorado. Visitors are invited to write their wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on the tree branches. Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree for Pasadena is free and open to the public.

Wishes from Wish Tree for Pasadena will be joined with others from all over the world and placed in specially constructed capsules to be installed in the area surrounding Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island, off the coast of Reykjavík, Iceland. The artwork is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. The tower, a column of light emanating from a stone base with a radius of about 10 meters, is lit for two months each year starting on October 9, John Lennon’s birthday, and ending on December 9, the anniversary of his death. The artwork is also lit at certain other special times during the year. For more information, visit www.imaginepeace.com

Facts about Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree for Pasadena
• 21 crape myrtle trees (Lagerstroemia)
• Planters are recycled wine barrels
• Yoko Ono’s artwork, Wish Tree, has been presented around the world, including the city of Detroit; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Lonja del Pescado, Alicante, Spain; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Samsung Museum, Seoul; the Venice Biennale exhibition; and numerous other venues
• Hundreds of thousands of wishes have been collected from around the world
• Trees will be donated to Arlington Garden, a community garden in Pasadena following the installation

Ane Brun w/ Tobias Froberg @ The Hotel Cafe Thursday October 30 2008

Ane Brun is a songwriter, guitarist and vocalist originally from Norway. Since 2000 she has lived in Stockholm, Sweden, where she started her own independent ... (more) record label DetErMine Records together with The Tiny´s leadsinger Ellekari Larsson in 2002.

Her debut album “Spending time with morgan” was the first to be released on their label, and it got great reviews and was released all over Europe in 2003. It was nominated in the Swedish Independent music awards “Manifest” 2003.
Her second album “A Temporary dive” was released in Europe, the US and in Japan. The album got wonderful reviews all over the world, and it gave her a Norwegian Grammy for best Female Artist 2005. She was nominated as best Norwegian Act on European MTV Music Awards 2005, best Norwegian song of the century (Norwegian National Radio) and best Swedish Female Pop Artist at the Grammis.

In November 2005 she released “Duets” which is an album consisting of 10 duets with 10 wonderful artists. The single “lift me” with Norwegian band Madrugada became a radio favorite, and gave her another Norwegian Grammy. The album “Duets” consists of songs feat. Teitur, Tobias Fröberg, Liv Widell, Wendy McNeill, Ron Sexsmith, Syd Matters, Tingsek, Ellekari Larsson from The Tiny, Madrugada and Lars Bygden.

The last few years Ane Brun has been touring all over the world. After a tour with the DMF String Quintet, Staffan Johansson and Nina Kinert around Scandinavia in 2006, she released her first live album ”Live in Scandinavia”, winter 2007. The album is a collection of the songs from Ane’s 3 three albums, but this time dressed up in new arrangements for strings.

Ane’s fifth album, and third studio album, ”Changing of the Seasons” will be released in 2008. The album is produced by Valgeir Sigurdsson (Björk, Múm, Bonnie Prince Billy, Coco Rosie, Maps, and more).

http://www.myspace.com/anebrun

http://www.hotelcafe.com/calendar_oct08.html

$10
Thursday Oct 30 (8pm)
The Hotel Café (1623 1/2 N Cahuenga Blvd)
323.461.2040

For the Love of Lesbians!

Wynn Greenwood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej6xlA6ofVE

Le Tigre - After Dark directed by Wynn Greenwood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVgC-WWt6yw

Lesbo for Disco and VHS - Ready Deconstructing Tracy and the Plastics by Saelan

Tracy + the Plastics is a low–fi techno–punk band from Olympia, Washington (via Brooklyn) following in the footsteps of Le Tigre and The Need. It’s also a fractured multimedia video art experiment in the politics of identity and sexuality. The bandmembers—Tracy, Nikki, and Cola—are all the brainchildren and alter–egos of lesbian feminist provocateur Wynne Greenwood. When they perform live, Wynne is Tracy—singing and beat–slinging with her Boss DR–5 drum machine, Akai 612 disc sampler, and whatever bargain–basement keyboards she can get her hands on. Nikki and Cola back her up, but they’re only on stage in two dimensions—as pre–recorded video projections. Rising from the chill mists of the Pacific Northwest like a slap in the face to get your ass shaking, Tracy’s art–punk manifesto is something refreshingly different from today’s suddenly ubiquitous purveyors of apolitical electro. Take notice.

DiSCORDER: To start off, how long have you been performing as Tracy + the Plastics? How and why did you get started?
Wynne: I’ve been performing as this band for almost 3 years now. It started as The Tooth and then became The OK Miss Suit and then Tracy + the Plastics. Nikki just wrote all these songs and then asked me to sing them for her because she has a really awful singing voice, talking voice too actually. We just got really stoned one night and ended up making all these 4–track recordings and the first Tracy tape came out.

What were you involved in before this project?
My band with Sally Scardino called Meme America, where we played live soundtracks to silent movies I made. The soundtrack to Meme America: Part 2 is available on Toyo Records. I used to run this movie house called the Murdra where we showed independent videos/films by women.

Could you maybe introduce “Tracy” and her bandmates and explain a little who and what they are?
Well, right now Tracy is in a big argument with Nikki and Cola and coincidentally Nikki is in a big fight with Tracy and Cola and all around they’re having some problems. Like, they all think the other ones are crazy—totally looped—but really they’ve just all been touring too much…

Nikki won’t stop painting—she paints anything, like a walking zombie with a paintbrush in each outstretched hand. Whatever gets in her way becomes her weird art. Cola yells too much—her mouth is open and she never brushes her teeth and she talks too much about smoking weed, which she quit doing, but she really is the genius. Tracy is the believer and the feeler.

Do you find it limiting or restrictive at all to be performing with pre–recorded video projections?
Yes! I’m trying to figure out ways right now to make the videos more live and spontaneous. Maybe do some live editing?

Your press release says “a Tracy + the Plastics performance attempts to destroy the inherent heirarchical dynamic of mass video’s say/see spaces by placing as much importance on the video images as the live performer.” Could you elaborate on that a little?
Here I’m talking about the actual form of video as an artistic and informative medium, as well as the culture that’s historically claimed it as their platform (the money that buys the ads and the money that sees the ads and buys the product) etc., etc. Lots of people talk back to their TVs. Lots of people yell, even scream at their TVs. But whose TV in turn responds to them? I’m creating a dialogue with the medium of video, a medium that is used mostly as a tool of mass media that we’re supposed to just watch and believe and never talk to or create.

Do Tracy + the Plastics have an agenda?
I used to have all these mottos, let me see if I can think of them.
“Kick ‘em in the teeth”—I think that was one.
“All the modernists, drop a beat…”
“Lesbo–for–disco and VHS–ready!”
Was I on drugs? But really, our agenda is simple: to destroy the systems of domination and discrimination present in American culture. We started where we were: suburban America in front of a TV, pissing our pants when we heard Black Sabbath on the radio of the car that just drove by.

You’ve featured a number of Olympia musicians on your albums (i.e. Carrie Brownstein from Sleater–Kinney, Sarah Utter of Bangs). I guess it’s safe to assume you’ve got strong ties to the Olympia scene. Any hometown bands you’d like to give a shout–out to?
Beth Ditto and The Gossip! Jeri Beard and 1774! The King Cobra! Thrones! Thrones! Growing! Anna O.! Donna Dresch! Panama!

What’s in your CD player right now?
Missy Elliot, Under Construction. (It’s my roommate’s.)

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:vPSVJrf1qXkJ:www.discorder.ca/oldsite/features/02dectracey.html+tracy+and+the+plastics&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us

The New Annotated Dracula

Cause for international celebration--the most important and complete edition of "Dracula" in decades.

Unravel the mystery of Dracula with author & Malibu resident (also world-renowned Sherlockian), Les Klinger, as he presents and signs The New Annotated Dracula.
Stoker's classic work has gripped readers since its first publication in 1897. While the book has been studied by scholars in virtually every academic discipline, none have accepted Bram Stoker’s declaration that the work was based on historical fact. For the first time, Klinger examines all of the evidence, both internal and external, including contemporary travel books, scientific texts, Victorian encyclopedias, as well as Stoker’s notes for the narrative and the original manuscript itself (the document is owned by a private, anonymous collector, and Klinger is one of only two researchers to have seen it in recent years).

In his first work since his best-selling "The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes," Leslie S. Klinger returns with this spectacular, lavishly illustrated homage to Bram Stoker's "Dracula," With a daring conceit, Klinger accepts Stoker's contention that the Dracula tale is based on historical fact. Traveling through two hundred years of popular culture and myth as well as graveyards and the wilds of Transylvania, Klinger's notes illuminate every aspect of this haunting narrative (including a detailed examination of the original typescript of "Dracula," with its shockingly different ending, previously unavailable to scholars). Klinger investigates the many subtexts of the original narrative--from masochistic, necrophilic, homoerotic, "dentophilic," and even heterosexual implications of the story to its political, economic, feminist, psychological, and historical threads. Employing the superb literary detective skills for which he has become famous, Klinger mines this 1897 classic for nuggets that will surprise even the most die-hard Dracula fans and introduce the vampire-prince to a new generation of readers.Two-color throughout; 35 color and 400 black-and-white illustrations.

Time: Sunday, November 2, 2008 3:00 p.m.

Location: DIESEL, A Bookstore MALIBU

3890 Cross Creek RoadMalibu, CA 90265

310-456-9961

info@dieselbookstore.com

Part Time Punks @ The Echo Sunday November 2 2008

PART TIME PUNKS takes place at The Echo on 1822 Sunset in Los Angeles, every Sunday night.

PART TIME PUNKS is a club that takes over noted Echo Park live music venue, The Echo on 1822 Sunset, every Sunday night. The night focuses heavily on obscure and classic music coming out of America, the UK and Europe in 1978 to the present: Punk, Post-punk, Punk-funk, New Wave, No Wave, Hardcore, Indie-Pop, Twee, Grunge, Electro, Minimal-Synth, Shoegaze, Baggy.

http://www.parttimepunks.com/

Metromix, Indie 103.1 & Bud Light Lime Present Drop Dead Goregeous Halloween

The Juan Maclean

DJ Pube$

This is it! The Juan Maclean and DJ Pube$ at one of the happiest places on Earth?! I will be here on Halloween for sure, no doubt about it. Some dreams do come true:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3E696qN-c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QzbYWQbUmE

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

900 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007
213-763-DINO

The Juan Maclean, Darker My Love and a roster of amazing local DJ talent, including Holy Ghost and DJ Pube$, get a little bit spooky, a little bit prehistoric at the Natural History Museum for a Halloween party presented by Metromix, Indie 103.1, Bud Light Lime and our friends at MFG Productions, the folks behind your favorite Dance Right parties.

If you long for summer's packed and delightful First Fridays at the museum, then this is your Halloween. With marble halls filled with creepy animals to check out—plus some of our favorite bands and DJs—we'd be so at this even if we weren't the ones throwing it. Start getting your costume together and RSVP, because this is going to be good.

To RSVP, email metromix@danceright.net with the number of guests in your party. Confirmed guests will receive an email with more info before the party

When:
October 31 : 9 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Price:
Free w/RSVP
metromix@danceright

Dress Code: Anything Goes. Prize for best costume
Alcohol: Beer and Wine
Performers: Photobooth by Jiro Photo
Audience: 21+

Secret Machines w/ the Dears Thursday October 30 2008 @ The Key Club

The Secret Machines have the following quote on their web site:

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

Aldous Huxley is the boss of me.

http://www.keyclub.com/index.php

Price
$18 / $15 adv

When
Thursday Oct 30 (8pm)

Where
Key Club (9039 W Sunset Blvd)
310.274.5800

Naomi Harris @ TASCHEN Beverly Hills

Photographer Naomi Harris at TASCHEN Beverly Hills for West Coast launch of "America Swings"

October 30, 2008

TASCHEN Store, 354 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, Tel: +1-310-274-4300United States

Naomi Harris's subjects are not the usual perfected androids who populate contemporary erotica, but ordinary people with extraordinary sex lives; this book explores a rarely-seen side of sex in America. This edition is limited to 1,000 numbered copies, signed by both Naomi Harris and Richard Prince. The cover features a four-color, silk screened, 3-dimensional stamped metal reproduction of a classic American motel sign, specially conceived and created for this edition.

Richard Prince discovered Naomi Harris in TASCHEN's The New Erotic Photography and was so intrigued by her photos of American swingers that he tracked down the 34-year-old New Yorker, determined to make her his protégé.

When he discovered TASCHEN had signed her to do America Swings he asked to do an interview with her, where he reveals part of what makes her work so unique: "When I look at one of your swinger photos what I'm looking at is mostly you ‘outside' the picture looking at what you're photographing … half-naked, all naked, taking these photos of next-door neighbors having sex …”

He refers to Harris's secret for winning the confidence of her subjects: To penetrate the world of middle class mate-swapping she had to join them, often working in just shoes and a tool belt to hold her camera gear. Her extreme technique worked so well that in 48 months she was able to photograph 38 parties, crisscrossing the country from Mahwah, New Jersey, to Pleasanton, California; from Big Lake, Minnesota, to Washington, Texas. Her subjects are not the usual perfected androids who populate contemporary erotica, but ordinary people with extraordinary sex lives, including multi-orgasmic schoolteachers, polyamorous nurses, bi-sexual senior citizens and the Mandingos, a group of African-American men who service white wives.

Stunningly photographed and surprisingly sexy, Richard Prince describes Harris's America Swings as "something that's gloriously alternative, that isn't rentable, that can't be downloaded, that's uninhibited and filled with a sense of strange joy. Almost like a J.G. Ballard theme park for sex.”

TASCHEN Beverly Hills and HEEB Magazine will be hosting the book launch of America Swings in the presence of the photographer Naomi Harris, who will be on hand to personalize her new book on Thursday, October 30th from 7 pm-9 pm.

TASCHEN Store Beverly Hills

354 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Tel.: +1-310-274-4300 Fax: +1-310-274-4040

store-beverly@taschen.com

opening hours:

Monday to Saturday 10am to 7pm

Sunday 12pm to 5pm

Spinnerette @ Spaceland Wednesday October 29 2008

Spinnerette (featuring Brody Dalle) Listen

Spinnerette will consist of Dalle, The Distillers member Tony Bevilacqua, and Alain Johannes, who has worked with the likes of PJ Harvey and Eagles Of Death Metal.

Speaking about the reasons for recording her new songs with a new band, and not The Distillers, Dalle told NME.COM: “The songs seemed out of context and inappropriate for The Distillers. I felt ambivalent about sharing them with anyone.”

Dalle explained the difference in the sound of her new band.

She stated: “Spinnerette get a clean slate. She gets to start over and be the new kid in town, only she ain’t no kid. She’s quirky and sexy and she fucks around.” - NME

with: Future of the Left ListenSuper Sonic Jets

plus DJs Dia, Jennifer, and Solid Todd spinning rock, indie, punk, electro & alternative. No Cover after Midnight.

9pm / $12 advance; $14 day of show / 21+

1717 Silverlake Blvd

Los Angeles CA 90027

Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton: Songs of Ascension @ The Redcat

Los Angeles premiere
October 29-November 2, 2008

"[Meredith Monk is] a high priestess of enchantment… She invites you to bypass the part of your brain that craves logic and understanding and to respond intuitively to the wondrous qualities of her sounds and images." The New York Times

"[Monk is] one of America’s most brilliant and unclassifiable theatrical artists." The New York Times

Soaring to a grand scale of artistic gesture and ambition, this major new multimedia work reunites two of the most influential artists in the United States today. Monk’s signature form of incantatory music-theater finds an uncanny match in Hamilton’s sensuous visual artistry as the full-evening piece channels an exploration of the spiritual, vocal, and physical notions of ascension across geography and time. Conceived as an immersive theatrical environment that is kaleidoscopic in detail and nuance, the performance combines Monk’s pristine music -- featuring the 20-singer CalArts Choir, the artist’s own vocal ensemble, a string quartet and percussion -- with movement and surround-video projections. Songs of Ascension was originally inspired in part by poet Norman Fischer’s translations of the Psalms and in part by Hamilton’s The Tower, an eight-story sculpture and performance space located in Northern California.

http://redcat.org/season/0809/the/ascention.php

Wed 10.29.08 8:30 pm $30 $24 $15
Thu 10.30.08 8:30 pm $30 $24 $15
Fri 10.31.08 8:30 pm $30 $24 $15
Sat 11.1.08 8:30 pm $35 $28 $18
Sun 11.2.08 3:00 pm $35 $28 $18

631 W 2nd Street
Los Angeles Ca 90012
213-237-2800

DJ Spooky & Paul D. Miller @ UCLA Wednesday October 29 2008 6.00PM

Paul D. Miller / DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid
Sound Unbound
October 29, 2008, 6:00 pm

Miller explores the overall theme of sound in contemporary art, digital media, and composition. He reconstructs the history of sound and recorded media by several of the most well known artists of their field.

FREE

EDA (Map)

Broad Art Center

240 Charles E. Young Drive, Room 1250

Los Angeles, CA 90095

Parking is $9 all day, and is available in structure 3, adjacent to the building. For more information, call 310.825.9007.

3 from 33 1/3 @ The Hammer Wednesday October 29 2008 7.00PM

33 1/3 by Hayden Childs

33 1/3 is a series of books about a wide variety of seminal rock and pop albums. Join three of the authors for readings and special multimedia presentations. Hayden Childs’s Shoot Out the Lights puts into context Richard and Linda Thompson’s album—from the personal history driving the songs, to the recording difficulties they encountered and the subsequent fall-out. He has appeared in Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed. Kim Cooper’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea sheds light on the underground classic album by Neutral Milk Hotel. Cooper is the editor of Scram, and co-editor of the anthologies Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth and Lost in the Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed. Scott Plagenhoef’s If You’re Feeling Sinister provides perspective on how Belle & Sebastian transformed from a cult secret into a polished, highly entertaining, mainstream pop group. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork.

FREE

Hammer Museum

10899 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles Ca
310.443.7000

Scribble Press

Man, kids have all the fun!

Scribble Press is the only place where you’ll find:

A Fun Place to Be Creative....

...A bright studio with artist's desks, markers in every conceivable color, and inspirational wall art. For the young ones we have stickers, stencils, crayons and fun orange cubes to sit on. Bring your creativity, and stay as long as you’d like.

...And Your Own Personal Publisher

...to transform your ideas into a book. You choose the binding method and color. We scan and print your pages, and hand you back a beautifully bound book. We can make a single book or many, and even bind your originals for you. Pressed for time? Do one drawing, and we can make it into notepads, greeting cards, or laminated placemats.

Anna Barber and Darcy Pollack, the founders of Scribble Press, met on an airplane. With five empty hours to fill and only an armrest between them, they soon discovered that they both harbored a passion for books, and loved making and sharing books with their small children. Darcy Pollack had worked in investment banking, film and retail entertainment. Anna Barber’s background was in corporate law and management consulting, and she was working as a talent manager and film producer. By the time the plane touched down, they had decided to launch a business devoted to helping kids write, illustrate and publish their own books. They both agree creating Scribble Press is the best job they’ve ever had.

Westside Pavilion #219
10800 Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA, 90064
(310) 446-6154

Mon-Fri: 10am-9pm
Sat: 10am-8pm
Sun: 11am-6pm

http://scribblepress.com/locations.asp

Jeffery Lewis / Talkdemonic / Homesick Elephant @ Spaceland Tonight October 28 2008

Jeffrey Lewis

Talkdemonic

Homesick Elephant

Regarding Jeffrey Lewis:

“Weird? Very… [...] but it’s also downright inspiring” (4 of 5 stars) - Rolling Stone

“The record presents Crass’s lyrics calmly, often demonstrating how sane and practical they are; it proves once again, and kind of thrillingly this time, that no music is immune to interpretation” - The New York Times

“Jeffrey Lewis retunes [Crass'] vituperative, cats-and-gravel-in-a-blender sound into something approaching sunny-side-up genius… [and] Crass’ lyrical, ultrapolitical vitriol is, if anything, more relevant than ever. It’s the most astonishing cover album of the last 10 years, bar none.” (4 of 5 stars) - Austin Chronicle

“Folk maverick raids anarchist commune and finds catchy tunes… Works wonderfully” - Spin

“Jeffrey Lewis’ talents appear without end… (on 12 Crass Songs he) magically makes the anarcho-rockers’ anti-establishment savagery his own, by wrapping their barbed sentiments in his trademark mottled tea-towel warmth” - NME

9PM / $8 ADVANCE; $10 DAY OF SHOW / 21+

with: Talkdemonic Listen WatchHomesick Elephant

1717 Silverlake Blvd

Los Angeles Ca 90027

The Entrance Band @ Spaceland Halloween Night

When Los Angeles-based psychedelic rock trio the Entrance Band plays a show, it’s a happening. Not only because band members take sound and style inspiration from the ’60s counterculture that coined the term, as they demonstrated during a short set Sunday at the new Arthur Magazine Sunday Evenings music series at McCabe’s in Santa Monica. But also because their music creates the feeling that something fresh and powerful is afoot. A potent mix of political mindedness – including a few conspiracy theories – and musical virtuosity, their songs throb and wail and strive to open minds. -LA Times

with: Mack Winston and the Reflections Jason Simon (of Dead Meadow) PLUS VERY SPECIAL GUESTS

9PM / $10 advance; $17 day of show / 21+

1717 Silverlake Blvd

Los Angeles CA 90027

Things the Grandchildren Should Know: A Memoir by E

In-Store Event:

with Mark Oliver Everett

October 28th - 7pm

Growing up in the Virginia suburbs, Mark Oliver Everett was to roam unsupervised with his sister, Liz, while his mother combated depression and his father, the eccentric and acclaimed quantum physicist Hugh Everett, remained distant and obsessed by parallel universes of his own creation. (Everett writes, "As a little kid, I had a hard time with the realization that inanimate objects didn't have feelings or thoughts. I remember being on the verge of tears, standing there in the bathroom, as my mom tried to make me understand that the bathroom cabinet wasn't going to be hurt if I closed it too hard. I thought of the bathroom cabinet as one of my friends. Maybe I was confused because I thought of my father as a piece of furniture.") First, the author lost his father to heart failure, and then—in a staggeringly short period of time—his sister to schizophrenia and suicide and his mother to cancer. The author drew upon the relentless tragedies in his life for inspiration in writing highly acclaimed music with his indie rock group, the Eels. Yet this is much more than a musician's tale. A true gem of a memoir, Everett’s story is a rich and poignant narrative on coming of age, love, death, and the creative vision.

Mark Oliver Everett is the lead singer, guitarist, and keyboardist of indie rock band The Eels. Rolling Stone magazine called Everett "the Kurt Vonnegut of the rock world." The author is the son of physicist Hugh Everett III, originator of the "Many Worlds" theory of quantum physics. While coping with the deaths of every member of his immediate family, Everett turned tragedy into the impetus for recording such acclaimed albums Electro-Shock Blues and Blinking Lights and Other Revelations.

http://www.booksoup.com/Details.asp?ProductID=905