9.28.2012
9.24.2012
Book Soup presents Dave Navarro in conversation with Damien Echols, author of "Life After Death".
Book Soup presents Dave Navarro in conversation with Damien Echols, author of Life After Death - Wednesday September 26, 2012 - 7pm @ UCLA's Freud Playhouse.
In 1993, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.--who have come to be known as the West Memphis Three--were arrested for the murders of three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas. The ensuing trial was marked by tampered evidence, false testimony, and public hysteria. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison; while eighteen-year-old Echols, deemed the "ringleader," was sentenced to death. Over the next two decades, the WM3 became known worldwide as a symbol of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, with thousands of supporters and many notable celebrities who called for a new trial. In a shocking turn of events, all three men were released in August 2011. Now Echols shares his story in full--from abuse by prison guards and wardens, to portraits of fellow inmates and deplorable living conditions, to the incredible reserves of patience, spirituality, and perseverance that kept him alive and sane while incarcerated for nearly two decades. In these pages, Echols reveals himself a brilliant writer, infusing his narrative with tragedy and irony in equal measure: he describes the terrors he experienced every day and his outrage toward the American justice system, and offers a firsthand account of living on Death Row in heartbreaking, agonizing detail. Life After Death is destined to be a riveting, explosive classic of prison literature. (Blue Rider Press) -
Learn More Here
9.22.2012
GO SEE - Gob Squad's Kitchen (You've Never Had It So Good) Now @ REDCAT
Los Angeles premiere!
DEVISED AND PERFORMED BY GOB SQUAD
The
acclaimed multimedia collective of ingenious artists from the U.K. and
Germany playfully deploys an inventive arsenal of live video and
performance techniques to celebrate the culture-bending heyday of Andy
Warhol’s Factory. Live recreations of scenes from the 1965 Edie Sedgwick
vehicle Kitchen—acted out on bare-bones sets and viewed as
black-and-white projections—are spliced with other Warhol celluloid
adventures to evoke an elusive, mythic time and place—its hedonistic
experimentalism, its wave of social change. Shrewdly crafted and
frequently hilarious, Gob Squad’s live versions of the films collide
with the immediate here-and-now to surprising effect, transporting the
audience to an explosively creative era and unearthing the depths
beneath the shiny surface of modern life.
- Read Charles McNulty's review HERE...
9.07.2012
Lance Bangs Weekend @ CINEFAMILY September 7 & 8
For the past two decades and change, CINEFAMILY friend Lance Bangs has been ceaselessly killin’ it in the realm of music videos, concert films and documentary — and it’s about time you stand up and give him an armload of hurrahs. This man has worked with and filmed pretty much every single every major cool band you’ve ever listened to, and tonight, Lance will be at CINEFAMILY to take a guided tour through his career. You’ll see short films, music videos, concert footage, tour projections and collaborations featuring Arcade Fire, Archers of Loaf, Belle & Sebastian, Guided By Voices, Jay Reatard, LCD Soundsystem, Menomena, Neutral Milk Hotel, No Age/Black Flag, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, Pavement, R.E.M., The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, Elliott Smith, Sonic Youth, Syd Tha Kid, the White Stripes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others. The evening’s show will also include an excerpt from Lance’s forthcoming feature-length doc about legendary Louisville, KY band Slint, as well as moments from the unreleased feature length concert film Arthurfest — plus a live music performance by Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound, Deerhunter), Randy Randall & Dean Spunt (No Age), and Mike Watt (Minutemen, Stooges)!
Learn More Here...
THE BLACK KEYS - STRANGE TIMES from Lance Bangs on Vimeo.
8.14.2012
Go See - Alfred Molina as Mark Rothko in RED, now @ The Mark Taper Forum through September 9, 2012
What happens when the artist/rebel who has spent
his life assailing the spiritual emptiness of the establishment suddenly finds
himself employed by the very people he despises, his paintings fetching top
dollar, even judged “a good investment” by no less a capitalist forum than
Fortune Magazine?
That is the crisis of conscience that faced the great Russian-American
painter Mark Rothko in 1958 when he accepted a commission to create a series of
mural-size paintings in his signature “multiform” style (large canvases
accentuated by blurred blocks of contrasting colors) as decoration for the new
Seagram Building’s luxury restaurant, The Four Seasons.
The creation of the Seagram Murals ignited an emotional firestorm in Rothko, since it put all his anti-establishment beliefs on the line. it also
provides the emotional flash point for John Logan’s dramatic portrait of Rothko, Red, which after opening in London in 2009, then Broadway in
2010, garnered the Tony award for Best Play on Broadway.
How had Rothko, who was born Marcus Yakovlevich Rotkovitch, September
25, 1903, in the small Russian community of Dvinsk, Latvia, come to this
emotional Rubicon in his career? how had the artist, who began his life as a
young Talmudic scholar in Russia, worked as a go-fer in new York’s garment
district, and emerged as an intellectual lion of the artistic avant-garde,
found himself “working for the Man?” Or was he?
reportedly while cruising back from Europe aboard the SS independence, Rothko confided to John Fischer (publisher of Harper’s) that his real plan was
to create a series of paintings, as he explained it, “that will ruin the
appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room. if the restaurant
would refuse to put up my murals, that would be the ultimate compliment. But
they won’t,” he told Fischer. “People can stand anything these days.”
Marcus Rotkovitch (the artist didn’t change his name to Mark Rothko
until 1940) was part of an artistic generation born out of German
expressionism, dadaism, cubism, surrealism and the modernist movement. They
lived through the giddy high of the roaring 20s, suffered over the social
despair of the Great depression, and rejoiced in the promise of Roosevelt’s new
deal. They worked for the WPa and fervently believed that art could change the
world and bring about a new level of social awareness and spiritual
consciousness.
Their aspirations were so high. Which is why, in the case of
Mark Rothko, the fall, when it came, was so low. on February
25, 1970, in a state of deep depression and poor health
resulting from excessive drinking and smoking, along with the
emotional carnage of three failed marriages, the artist slashed
his arms with a razor and bled to death on the floor of his
studio. he was 66.
Mark Rothko’s artistic career began almost by chance in 1923. he was working in new York city’s garment district when he went to visit a friend who was studying at the art Students League. The League was a Mecca for artistic expression and heated debate and Rothko found the heady world of art and artists intoxicating. he later said that was the moment he decided to become an artist.
already a budding intellectual (who spoke Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish and English) Rothko began taking classes at the art Students League and also enrolled at the Grand central School of art. and it was at this point that Rothko met the first two teachers that would exert a powerful influence over his work: arshile Gorky and the still life painter Max Weber, who like Rothko was a Russian-Born Jew. at the same time Rothko spent hours exploring new York’s museums and galleries, absorbing everything he saw, from Caravaggio to Paul Klee.
His earliest paintings tended toward dark, moody interiors and social landscapes that reflected his taste for expressionism. he became part of a circle of artists that included Milton Avery, Barnett Newman, Louis Schanker and Adolph Gottlieb. after days in the studio they would spend hours debating art, philosophy and politics over rounds of drinks and packs of cigarettes. it was during one of the group’s summer retreats to Lake George (in 1932) that Rothko met a young jewelry designer named Edith Sachar. They were married on November 12. Two more marriages would follow.Like the early impressionists of Paris, Rothko and his avant-garde new York colleagues found themselves on the outs with the major exhibitors of modern art, most notably the Whitney. In response they formed a group of “Whitney dissenters,” known as The 10.
And just as the impressionists had in 1938, they organized their own alternative exhibition as an act of protest.Rothko’s early phase of development was heavily influenced by the stylization of African art and the naïve paintings of children. But it was Carl Jung’s theories of a collective consciousness and the power of mythic archetypes that provided Rothko with new fertile ground for his paintings. it was also at this time that he encountered the writing of Friedrich Nietzsche, most notably his essay, The Birth of Tragedy. Rothko had found a new vocabulary for his paintings, surreal in nature with their roots embedded in ancient mythology. This fascination with myths would continue to permeate Rothko’s work even as his paintings became more and more abstract.
Today when people think of Mark Rothko’s work they inevitably equate the artist with his “multiforms”— those bold, confrontational canvases with their radiantly glowing blocks on fields of color. But it is important to understand that these signature paintings were part of a long process of change as rothko moved from the dream states of surrealism toward abstraction. What is often misunderstood is that while Rothko’s paintings gradually became devoid of subject — no figures, no landscapes — he saw them as an ultimate distillation of the same themes he had been struggling to express for years.in the “multiforms” Rothko perfected a complex technique
of applying a thin layer of binder mixed with pigment (sometimes employing raw egg) directly onto an uncoated and untreated canvas. Then using quick, rapid brush strokes and significantly thinned oils he would create a dense mixture of subtly overlapping color fields and contrasting shapes. The size of the canvases, up to 11 feet in height, was meant to be overwhelming. he even urged viewers to stand as close as 18 inches from the canvas in order to be totally enveloped.
Learn More Here
Listen to the Alfred Molina Podcast interview HERE...
Mark Rothko’s artistic career began almost by chance in 1923. he was working in new York city’s garment district when he went to visit a friend who was studying at the art Students League. The League was a Mecca for artistic expression and heated debate and Rothko found the heady world of art and artists intoxicating. he later said that was the moment he decided to become an artist.
already a budding intellectual (who spoke Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish and English) Rothko began taking classes at the art Students League and also enrolled at the Grand central School of art. and it was at this point that Rothko met the first two teachers that would exert a powerful influence over his work: arshile Gorky and the still life painter Max Weber, who like Rothko was a Russian-Born Jew. at the same time Rothko spent hours exploring new York’s museums and galleries, absorbing everything he saw, from Caravaggio to Paul Klee.
His earliest paintings tended toward dark, moody interiors and social landscapes that reflected his taste for expressionism. he became part of a circle of artists that included Milton Avery, Barnett Newman, Louis Schanker and Adolph Gottlieb. after days in the studio they would spend hours debating art, philosophy and politics over rounds of drinks and packs of cigarettes. it was during one of the group’s summer retreats to Lake George (in 1932) that Rothko met a young jewelry designer named Edith Sachar. They were married on November 12. Two more marriages would follow.Like the early impressionists of Paris, Rothko and his avant-garde new York colleagues found themselves on the outs with the major exhibitors of modern art, most notably the Whitney. In response they formed a group of “Whitney dissenters,” known as The 10.
And just as the impressionists had in 1938, they organized their own alternative exhibition as an act of protest.Rothko’s early phase of development was heavily influenced by the stylization of African art and the naïve paintings of children. But it was Carl Jung’s theories of a collective consciousness and the power of mythic archetypes that provided Rothko with new fertile ground for his paintings. it was also at this time that he encountered the writing of Friedrich Nietzsche, most notably his essay, The Birth of Tragedy. Rothko had found a new vocabulary for his paintings, surreal in nature with their roots embedded in ancient mythology. This fascination with myths would continue to permeate Rothko’s work even as his paintings became more and more abstract.
Today when people think of Mark Rothko’s work they inevitably equate the artist with his “multiforms”— those bold, confrontational canvases with their radiantly glowing blocks on fields of color. But it is important to understand that these signature paintings were part of a long process of change as rothko moved from the dream states of surrealism toward abstraction. What is often misunderstood is that while Rothko’s paintings gradually became devoid of subject — no figures, no landscapes — he saw them as an ultimate distillation of the same themes he had been struggling to express for years.in the “multiforms” Rothko perfected a complex technique
of applying a thin layer of binder mixed with pigment (sometimes employing raw egg) directly onto an uncoated and untreated canvas. Then using quick, rapid brush strokes and significantly thinned oils he would create a dense mixture of subtly overlapping color fields and contrasting shapes. The size of the canvases, up to 11 feet in height, was meant to be overwhelming. he even urged viewers to stand as close as 18 inches from the canvas in order to be totally enveloped.
The “surfaces,” he wrote, “are expansive and push outward in
all directions, or their surfaces contract and rush inward in all
directions. Between these two poles you can find everything i
want to say.”
His titles became equally abstract: “Magenta, Black, Green on orange” (1949), “rust and Blue” (1953), “Four darks in red” (1958) or simply “untitled.” The success that came with the “multiforms” proved a mixed blessing for Rothko. he enjoyed the monetary benefits, but felt the real message
and power of the paintings was misunderstood. Then came the Seagram commission, which as the play explores, shook Rothko’s world to its core.
After that the colors in the paintings began to transition from the realm of vibrant reds and oranges to more somber hues of blue, purple and eventually to shades of gray and black.
The artist’s final, and greatest project was the Rothko Chapel, which was commissioned in 1964 by the Houston philanthropists, John and Dominique De Menil. The octagonal chapel’s white walls are hung with large vertical format paintings consisting of three triptychs and five panels in dark, somber tones. The effect surrounds the viewer with massive, imposing visions of darkness.
Each viewer that visits the Rothko chapel perceives its meaning in a personal way. For me the paintings represent a deeply profound study of the veil between death and the world that may exist beyond. Mark Rothko did not live to see the chapel dedicated in 1971. He had already stepped through the veil of darkness that he had so eloquently portrayed. - Jim Farber
His titles became equally abstract: “Magenta, Black, Green on orange” (1949), “rust and Blue” (1953), “Four darks in red” (1958) or simply “untitled.” The success that came with the “multiforms” proved a mixed blessing for Rothko. he enjoyed the monetary benefits, but felt the real message
and power of the paintings was misunderstood. Then came the Seagram commission, which as the play explores, shook Rothko’s world to its core.
After that the colors in the paintings began to transition from the realm of vibrant reds and oranges to more somber hues of blue, purple and eventually to shades of gray and black.
The artist’s final, and greatest project was the Rothko Chapel, which was commissioned in 1964 by the Houston philanthropists, John and Dominique De Menil. The octagonal chapel’s white walls are hung with large vertical format paintings consisting of three triptychs and five panels in dark, somber tones. The effect surrounds the viewer with massive, imposing visions of darkness.
Each viewer that visits the Rothko chapel perceives its meaning in a personal way. For me the paintings represent a deeply profound study of the veil between death and the world that may exist beyond. Mark Rothko did not live to see the chapel dedicated in 1971. He had already stepped through the veil of darkness that he had so eloquently portrayed. - Jim Farber
Learn More Here
Listen to the Alfred Molina Podcast interview HERE...
7.27.2012
Go See - 'Searching for Sugarman' Now Playing @ The Landmark Theater.
In 1968, two producers went to a downtown Detroit bar to see an unknown recording artist – a charismatic Mexican-American singer/songwriter named Rodriguez who had attracted a local following with his mysterious presence, soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics.
They were immediately bewitched by the singer, and thought they had found a musical folk hero in the purest sense – an artist who reminded them of a Chicano Bob Dylan, perhaps even greater. They had worked with the likes of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, but they believed the album they subsequently produced with Rodriguez – Cold Fact – was the masterpiece of their producing careers.
Despite good reviews, Cold Fact was a commercial disaster and marked the end of Rodriguez’s recording career before it had even started. Rodriguez sank back into obscurity. All that trailed him were stories of his escalating depression, and eventually he fell so far off the music industry’s radar that when it was rumored he had committed suicide, there was no conclusive report of exactly how and why. Of all the stories that circulated about his death, the most sensational – and the most widely accepted – was that Rodriguez had set himself ablaze on stage having delivered these final lyrics: “But thanks for your time, then you can thank me for mine and after that’s said, forget it.” The album’s sales never revived, the label folded and Rodriguez’s music seemed destined for oblivion.
This was not the end of Rodriguez’s story.
A bootleg recording of Cold Fact somehow found its way to South Africa in the early ‘70s, a time when South Africa was becoming increasingly isolated as the Apartheid regime tightened its grip. Rodriguez’s anti-establishment lyrics and observations as an outsider in urban America felt particularly resonant for a whole generation of disaffected Afrikaners. The album quickly developed an avid following through word-of-mouth among the white liberal youth, with local pressings made. In typical response, the reactionary government banned the record, ensuring no radio play, which only served to further fuel its cult status. The mystery surrounding the artist’s death helped secure Rodriguez’s place in rock legend and Cold Fact quickly became the anthem of the white resistance in Apartheid-era South Africa. Over the next two decades Rodriguez became a household name in the country and Cold Fact went platinum.
Despite his enormous popularity, Rodriguez’s personal life remained a mystery to almost all of his listeners. Various South African journalists and fans tried to uncover the truth about his life, and yet almost nothing was discovered – even about his legendary demise.
When his second album was finally released on CD in South Africa in the mid ‘90s, two white South African fans – “musicologist detective” Craig Bartholemew and record shop owner Stephen “Sugar” Segerman – decided to join forces in an attempt to get to the bottom of the enduring mystery of who Rodriguez was, and how he died. The investigation they embarked on was daunting; they initially found only inconsistencies and dead ends. Taking their cue from Watergate, they finally came up with a strategy to “follow the money,” figuring that if they could trace Cold Fact’s royalties, they might have a chance of uncovering the truth. They looked for clues in the only place available – Rodriguez’s lyrics. A mention of a suburb in Detroit finally led them to track down one of the original producers of Cold Fact, Mike Theodore. This contact uncovered a shocking revelation that in turn set off a wild chain of events that was stranger – and more exhilarating – than they could ever have expected.
Learn More Here...
7.23.2012
At REDCAT - New Original Works Festival July 26, through August 11, 2012.
On July 26, 2012 REDCAT launches its ninth annual New Original Works Festival, a three-week celebration of Los Angeles' vibrant community of artists making work for the stage. Featuring nine new original works and works-in-progress by local dance, theater, music and multimedia artists, this year's festival will be held July 26, 2012 through August 11, 2012 with three distinct programs over three consecutive weekends.
"In the spirit of CalArts, REDCAT's parent institution, They transform their theater each summer into an artist-driven creative laboratory," remarks REDCAT Associate Director George Lugg, who oversees the festival. "Disciplines are challenged and blurred, traditions are re-imagined, and hybrid visions take hold. REDCAT's New Original Works Festival invites artists to take the next step in their artistic exploration and serves as a catalyst for new ideas—while offering audiences an inspiring view of a generation of artists among us."
Since REDCAT's inception, the festival has served as an integral part of REDCAT's mission to support the creation of new performance work by Los Angeles-based artists. Over its eight year history, the program boasts an impressive roster of alumni—including Lars Jan's Early Morning Opera, Kristina Wong, Sheetal Ghandi, Anne LeBaron, Wu Tsang, Michel
Kouakou, Christine Marie & Ensemble, Cloud Eye Control, and Meg Wolfe—which have gone on to receive national and international presentations and recognition.
This year's lineup promises to be bold with an Obie-Award winner, a recent music school graduate, a raucous theater ensemble, and a TED Fellow among the artists selected. Ranging from puppetry to opera, Khmer dance to pulsating digital music and imagery, the assortment of innovative multidisciplinary work being offered will reward adventurous audiences with three daring and distinctive programs over the three consecutive weeks.
WEEK 1 July 26, 27 & 28
POOR DOG GROUP: THE MURDER BALLAD
OPERA POVERA: TO VALERIE SOLANAS AND MARILYN MONROE IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR DESPERATION
SUSAN SIMPSON: EXHIBIT A
WEEK 2 August 2, 3 & 4
NICK+JAMES: LAKE
JINKU KIM: UNTITLED
PRUMSODUN OK: OF LAND AND SKY
WEEK 3 August 9, 10 & 11
EMILY MAST: B!RDBRA!N
MELANIE RIOS: LA TRIBU
HEATHER WOODBURY: AS THE GLOBE WARMS
More info on here...
Note: All three works presented each night.
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