Rupert

Piece of the puzzle, you're my missing part

2008-09-07T01:04:58-04:00

It was December 27, 1996. A very small group of us on the "Hole Lotta Love" mailing list, dedicated to all things Courtney Love, had made plans to meet up at the theater near Lincoln Center where "The People vs. Larry Flynt" had just opened. There were only five of us and while putting it together, I'd specifically invited "Franny" who made me laugh often and who was also on the newly formed Geraldine Fibbers list. She'd recently explained to me in an email that her name was really Sydney and that she just used "Franny" on AOL in tribute to Franny Glass (all of her screen names on AOL, like Maria Wyeth, were literary references, usually to archetypically troubled women; though I'd bet if the main charachter in Agnes Varda's Vagabond had a name, she'd use that one too). She arrived late all shaggy hair wearing sunglasses in the lobby at night and laughed REALLY loudly during the movie. Afterwards, we all went for coffee at the Starbucks across the street and she and the others looked through the Voice and she made hilarious comments about the artists and bands covered. I think the reason I can't remember any of the comments is that I was so out of touch then I didn't know what she was talking about, but just completely enamoured with her I did what I always do when I'm sitting down with someone I'm in awe of. Pretty much nothing. I nodded and laughed and felt uncomfortable and upset at my brain for not thinking of anything to say. The group said good night. It was freezing and getting late and I thought I'd seen the last of Sydney because I was such a dullard, when she stopped me by the subway grate and told me, "hey, so it's great that you're on the Fibbers list but you should be on the AOL board because I think the Fibbers read it and it's important they know they have fans..." and then just wouldn't leave. She kept me there in the cold moving from topic to topic, for some reason not realizing I was just not nearly smart enough for her to be wasting her time. Pretty soon we were going out to see Pavement, Marianne Faithfull, IMing until three in the morning, and in that first year I remember we'd always be borrowing or lending each other something - a book, a magazine - I don't know if it was intentional but it always meant we would have to see each other again. I don't get it because I'll never know what she saw in me.

Twelve years later, and so many other obsessions most of which were her educating me: Agnes Varda, Maya Deren, Cassavetes, Joseph Cornell, Tallulah in Lifeboat, Cat Power, Lauren Graham, Zooey and Emily Deschanel, Buffy and Angel (Darla!), Bones, Rufus and Chaka Kahn, disco and how white seventies hatred of it was racist and homophobic, Edie Sedgwick, Karen Kilimnik, Zoey Lund, Dorothy Parker, Gas Food Lodging, Justin Bond, Gossip Girl, Blake Lively, Madonna... seriously, just look through these pages before I turn this paragraph into a MySpace list.

Sydney Pokorny, the Franny of these pages, died on September 1. If she hadn't died, I would have gone to the US Open rooting on Amelie Mauresmo, which the two of us did the year we snuck away from the Mets game where our company was throwing a summer outing and crossed over to the tennis center across the street. My phone rang at 9:00 am. The caller ID said "Pokorny" and I, almost annoyed, wondered why she was stopping me from getting out the door. It was her mom. And she was gone. Now I have no one to stay up until 1am talking about nothing (and everything) with.

She had the greatest infectuous loud laugh and every time something would happen we'd both find amusing this whole process would go on instantly in her face where her eyes lit up and it seemed like she got why everything in the world was just funny. And she could be sad in equal measure. Sometimes I'd just catch her smiling at something sweet and my heart would just break. She taught me that war is never justified. She may have saved my dad's life when she encouraged me to convince the doctors that they needed to check his thyroid when they couldn't get his heart out of atrial defib. She defended me and encouraged me and ate fish and chips with me and when we ate sushi she made me take the salmon because she hated it.

She did so much more and this post is just about she and I to help me let go, knowing that, like most of this blog, not many people will read it. But away from me... before me... she'd gotten herself arrested trying to help the world wake up about the AIDS crisis, particularly for women. She always told me she was in the think tank that formed into Housing Works. She wrote a column with Liz Tracey at Outweek magazine, and together they wrote "So You Want to Be a Lesbian?" (still in print! Recently I joked with her that she and Liz should get together and do the Anne Heche revision "So You Don't Want to Be a Lesbian?"). She was an associate editor at Artforum and lovingly gave Bookforum the legs it stood on. And there was the amazing and hilarious Dead Jackie Susann Quarterly which got her quoted in the New York Times and brought her hate mail from Melissa Etheridge fans.

Trying to encourage the both of us to write and create, she was really in love with the idea of blogging even though we'd both just forget about it for months at a time. (See her great "Shiloh movie" idea a few posts down). She thought Rupert was a great name because she felt most people who self-publish think they'd be Rupert Murdoch when they were really Rupert Pupkin. Anyway, this became the most unpublicized blog in history. Sydney would say the world was made up of Lindsays and Stevies. Stevies are visionary artistic geniuses and Lindsays think they're geniuses when they're really better at publicizing themselves and doing business. Stevies bring the real illumination, but they need Lindsays to succeed. I think Rupert failed because it had one bright, glorious Stevie (Sydney) and one dullard (me). I wish I could have at least been the Linsday.

I'm going to disable comments for now because some friends are planning on putting up an online tribute page where people can leave comments. I'll edit this post to add the link when it's ready. This may be the last post ever on this blog but I intend to keep it up forever. Sydney was proud of it. I miss you, my friend, and I love you.

Edited to add: The remembrance site is now open. Please stop by and celebrate Sydney's life and leave a note if you'd like: http://rupertmag.typepad.com/sydney.

Edited to add: I've opened the comments section on this post.

New Rupert Category: Songs of Our Times

2008-08-30T23:50:39-04:00

This is really Franny's stroke of genius. We have a new category... an endless playlist of songs of our times. It's self explanatory, though I think the songs aren't necessarily. Almost all of the songs so far are from Franny, and last night we (mostly she) came up with hundreds. I'm just listing a handful. Franny has the full list so I think she should post more, with explanation. Readers are invited to list ideas in the comments, but the blog authors will create a new post under the category songs of our times each time we add one. Dear readers, you can click on "Songs of Our Times" under categories to see the collected posts.

Volume 1:

For Vladimir Putin:
Georgia on My Mind - Willie Nelson version
I'm Afraid of Americans - David Bowie

For Barack:
Change is Hard - She & Him (or this is what McCain would say)
Michelle - The Beatles
Where You Lead (I Will Follow) - Carole King
Superstar - The Carpenters
South Side - Moby
Changes - David Bowie
Young Americans - David Bowie

For the Republicans:
Ballad of a Thin Man - Bob Dylan
Theologians - Wilco
Wish Someone Would Care - Irma Thomas
Party Out of Bounds - The B52s
What Kind of Monster are You - Slant 6
Talk About the Passion - REM
Masters of War - Bob Dylan

To Hillary and the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pantsuits*:
Suffregette City - David Bowie
Womankind - Annie Lennox

For the 3am call:
Your Phone's Off the Hook but You're Not - X

* not PUMAs

I left off a bunch of them including some of the best. That was on purpose... your turn, Franny...

It sounded like a good idea at the time

2008-08-30T23:26:30-04:00

I'm not sure what to make of Sarah Palin. I think George W Bush actually helped realize Martin Luther King's dream by appointing nincompoops of all ethicities and genders to his cabinet. I definitely can say I judge people by the strength of their character rather than the historic significance of their place in a high government office because I think Condeleeza Rice is the devil. Anyway, my first impressions of Palin are that she seems a lot like W, gender be damned.

Is that change we can believe in... another jackass a step away from the oval office?

I voted for Hillary making my record as a primary voter a perfect .000 (Jackson, Tsongas, Bradley, Kucinich, Kucinich and Clinton... and if I had been old enough to vote the primary in 1984, I would have voted for McGovern... thanks for asking)... and as Bill Maher said this week, I don't understand why McCain thinks so little of women that he'd belive a woman would vote for someone who's against everything Hillary believed in just because she's a woman.

Just about everything I wanted to say earlier today about this cynical move seems to have been said by others. Here are two of my favorites:

From Salon
From Daily Kos

We interrupt Rupert to announce...

2008-08-30T23:04:45-04:00

I have two posts I'd like to post, but I just wanted to post that Carla Bozulich, one of Rupert's patron saints, is playing The Stone on the lower east side of New York on Tuesday, September 2. I had to miss a couple of local shows with Carla and her current band, Evangelista this year, but I've still seen three shows, all a little different, all transcendent. Carla has Tara Barnes as bassist all the time, and Dominic Cramp as keyboardist/sampler and then beyond that, she's like Chuck Berry using a different group of people at all times and it somehow stays this formed contextual thing and yet it's always different... sometimes more fun, sometimes a bit sadder... based on the collaboration of the particular night. I have no idea who will be at the Stone but Okkyung Lee played cello at the Bowery Ballroom with Evangelista last week and the great Lisa Gamble and Ches Smith shared a drum set. At that show, Carla mentioned that the show at the Stone may be the last show in NY in a while, so it's a good chance it will be memorable. Also the Stone doesn't consider itself a club as much as a gallery. It's a small space with folding chairs and no bar... you can find yourself shushed at the Stone, yet the whole Evangelista aesthetic is to bring the audience in so I really want to see what develops. Anyway, I thought I'd post since essentially the Stone shows don't get a lot of publicity and I thought I could catch some search engine user who was looking up Carla Bozulich but didn't know about the show. Did I? Also counter-intuitive to the usual Stone show... Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers plays the next night. Both shows are at 10pm on their respective nights. See The Stone's website for more details.

I'm posting because Anthony is deliquent

2008-08-16T18:16:54-04:00

This place is a web of cobs. Lets go Anthony....you always have a lot to say. How about let's hear how excited you are to work in Financial District! And how are we going to make our Shiloh movie? She looks more and more like Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy. I think that is the first one we should attempt

But I'm a Cheerleader

2008-04-22T00:27:34-04:00

This is a great movie...funny/political and for Buffverse people it stars Clea Duvall who was the Invisible Girl who tortured Cordelia. I love the Stars too...so this was another great find for me. Anyone who hasn't seen this film MUST!
montage from But I'm a Cheerleader

Another day in paradise

2008-04-22T00:21:03-04:00

Okay so like if I were an ardent feminist I'd probably really hate Larry Clark but I don't. I don't like Kids but that is cuz i have Harmonie Korine-itis. But Bully and Another day in Paradise rock. I just found out that Vincent Kartheiser aka Connor was the star of Another Day in Paradise. It is the second time that happened to me with Angel when some one from a real indie film ended up on the show and then flopped. But anyway, I was digging around myspace for videos and I found this...i think it is sorta cool. the cornfield is very north by northwest.

montage from Another day in Paradise.

I always felt this bond with Scott Bakula

2008-04-05T16:44:14-04:00

Look, I found another personality test! Actually I've taken this one before and received different results. This the first time I've actually received anything that sounds remotely like I actually perceive myself. Actually that would be the difficulty in this whole personality thing--how do you decide results are valid? A person may believe they are one way when in reality they are in denial or not attuned to the world around them so that what they perceive as their "personality" is not what it actually is. My point here would be people who get physically or emotionally abusive when things don't go their way and it may be pathological but it is written off as he or she is "not a people person" or they have anger management problems yet that person doesn't think so because to them going off on people is sanctioned because they believe they are RIGHT and have the rest of the world behind them when going off but in reality what happens is that person just put their needs above everyone elses but doesn't see that his or her actions say that. i could go on forever--it is part of the reason why i love bones because Dr. Brennan hates psychology (and I would add by extention psychiatry) because it is a "soft science" and it is soooo true.

anyway meet what i think sounds like i perceive myself to be in the world:

Your Personality Preferences
INTROVERT
While you may not be anti-social, you do need (and deserve) your private time and space to retreat from the world. Unlike extroverts, you need to develop a concept of the world or some aspect of it before experiencing it. Too much socializing may sap your energies. Your energies are derived from exploring the inner world of ideas, impressions and pure thought.
INTUITIVE
While you do process information through your senses you add a twist to your processing by relying on intuition and serendipity. You look for undercurrents of meaning and abstractions in what you experience physically. You do not just see things just as they are, but as what they could be. While you may rely on common sense at times, you trust inspiration far more.
PERCEIVING
You like to have as much information as possible before making a decision. Putting off a final decision until the last moment does not make you uncomfortable. Indeed once a decision is made, a course plotted, you may feel a bit uneasy, because you feel bound to a certain course of action. You would much prefer to wait and see what happens. You enjoy the opportunity to improvise. Commitments are not etched in stone to you, and are changeable.
FEELING
You make decisions subjectively based upon your values and what is important to you. How people will be affected by your decisions is important to you. You are likely to make decisions based upon what you feel is acceptable and agreeable rather than what is logical. Your truths are founded in your values and those of the society you live in. It is important to remember that we are discussing how you evaluate data and make decisions, and that you rely on your feelings to do so in no way implies you are overly emotional.
Your Personality Type
Introvert/Intuitive/Feeling/Perceiving

You are devoted and compassionate. You have a well-developed distaste for rules, orders and schedules. You are a natural born learner and can get so absorbed in your projects that you forget those around you. You are passionate about your beliefs and love ideals. You have very high standards for yourself. You are very creative, sensitive, reserved, and introspective. You respect the values of others and expect them to respect yours.

In relationships you are loyal and totally committed. You prefer a few deep relationships over a horde of acquaintances. Because you are somewhat reserved, you do best in one on one and small group situations. When you feel comfortable, you can be very entertaining and capricious. You are nurturing and supportive by nature. You greatest social challenge is to balance your need to withdraw into your inner-world with your need to keep a strong connection with those you care for. .

Famous People of Your Type:

Homer, Virgil, Mary, mother of Jesus, St. John, St. Luke, William Shakespeare, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A. A. Milne, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Helen Keller, Carl Rogers, Fred Rogers, Dick Clark, Donna Reed, Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis, Neil Diamond, Tom Brokaw, James Herriot, Annie Dillard, James Taylor, Julia Roberts, Scott Bakula, John F. Kennedy, Jr.

Occupations Suited to Your Type Include:

Actor, architect, artist, composer, editor, translator, journalist, librarian, musician, occupational therapist, psychotherapist, educator, researcher, scientist, and writer.

This is not a test (Holliday with Deschanel)

2008-03-22T21:58:54-04:00

Following up the last two posts with a video post from SXSW, tambourine and all...

But actually beyond posting this video... a lot of the talk off-Rupert about She & Him between Franny and I, and also in Franny's posts and some of the comments...has been about the bad name given to actors and their musical projects these days compared to the old days and whether or not anyone needs to defend liking the She & Him album, which shouldn't need defending because it's amazing. And the more this is discussed, the more I've been reminded about another album: Holliday with Mulligan.

Judy Tuvin actually gave herself the last name Holliday in tribute to Billie Holiday, adding the extra "L" because she didn't see herself in the same league with Billie. Music was always a part of her life. In 1961, she and Gerry Mulligan recorded an album of covers and originals they had written together called "Holliday with Mulligan." It's one of my favorite albums, and at the time Judy did some TV spots singing the originals, but the album was never released and Judy Holliday would pass away four years later. It was finally released in 1980 and I found it about ten years later not knowing that she'd ever sung beyond the musical Bells are Ringing. She had also released a more standard covers album called Trouble is a Man, but this is my favorite of the two... so here's a look at an earlier "she & him" project, one that was unfairly squashed... "Loving You" - music by Gerry Mulligan, lyrics by Judy Holliday:

Yet another post about Zooey Deschanel

2008-03-20T15:07:07-04:00

Yay! Yet another excuse to add a picture from Tin Man. Which at some point I will post something besides stupid babble about because in the commentary on the DVD one of the producers or perhaps directors points out that the Wizard of Oz was the first truly "American" myth. Which I think is both true and not true because in many ways it has a lot to do with the Homeric epic storytelling tradition but updated with a bit of "American" melting pot idealism. And the one thing that I think is interesting about this version is that many people have questioned the title "Tin Man" because the center of the story is Zooey Deschanel or DG not Neal McDonough or "Tin Man" character. But in the updated version the "Tin Man" has two meanings one is a name for police officers or law enforcement people the other is the "Tin Suit" that members of the resistance to the current oppressive government are forced into and then locked up in for years. In the case of Neal McDonough he's forced to watch a scene where he believes his family is killed because of his involvement with the resistance and there is an element to all the characters that join DG where they have all been forced to stand aside and watch as terrible scenes that damage their lives are acted out over and over and the "quest" is one of finding empowerment of finding a way to become involved in one's life after all being "tin-suited" in their own way.It is also about finding a way to resolved the damage as best as possible and overcome a bad situation.

And the other thing I wanted to mention is that I think in She&Him, Vol.1 on the song "I thought I saw your face today" Zooey pulls a Maria Wyeth in her lyrics! She writes "The cars and freeways implore me to stay away out of this place/My mother said, "Just keep your head, and play it as it lays." She not only references the title of the Joan Didion book that I worship but she brings up the iconic image of Maria Wyeth driving the freeways endlessly merging into traffic herself heartbroken and distraught. I am not sure if this is an actual scene in "Play it as it Lays" because I haven't read the book in such a long time it is just that she puts the touchstones in her lyrics. I still have to listen to the whole album but I love what I've heard so far.

I also read somewhere that Keira Knightely is doing vocal work on something and it kind of isn't fair that Zooey gets tainted by the Actress-slash-singer categorization and that somehow that makes her project less vaiid and automatically a vanity project when it really isn't. And I have to stop defending the fact that I like the albume and that I think Zooey should be taken seriously as a musician because then on some level I'm buying into the idea that an actress is less of a musician. It isn't fair to her project. Just because other actresses have projects coming out that don't have the credentials that Zooey does, doesn't mean she should be lumped in the same category.

Zooey Deschanel: Patron Saint of Rupert and the TAMBOURINE

2008-03-20T14:14:27-04:00

I had a bummer of a day this morning I went to download She and Him, Volume 1 off of itunes and i got an error. Lately i-tunes has been really diva-ish in its behavior. First I rented Michael Clayton because the instructions said that one could watch rented movies on ipods and move them to other computers. So i downloaded the film and tried to get it show up on my ipod and it didn't then I tried to move it to my powerbook but it claimed that the file wasn't authorized to play on the current machine so I deauthorized my main computer and it still didn't work and ever since thing i-tunes has been wonky. Now that isn't the fun stuff--the fun stuff starts here:

I stole the image of Zooey (our current reigning diva of the moment) because I've watched the Tin Man a gazillion times and she gets better everytime I watch it and I love the She&Him songs I've heard but NOW Zooey is part of the Tambourine Players Hall of Fame. It is this website that I've done with Anthony and a number of friends. It hasn't been updated in forever and Anthony and I keep talking about how we have to do it...now that I ripped off someone's profile pic from the PRG "Must Be Pop" just to place Zooey in our shrine and give me an excuse to reproduce yet another picture of Zooey Deschanel we definitely have to do it. If anyone actually reads this blog besides Anthony and I here's the link for our tambourine players hall of fame

Tambourine Players Hall of Fame

We are open to any suggestions that anyone might have because we know it is far from complete and since we now have motivation to work on 2.0.

a truth that's told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent

2008-03-18T05:14:51-04:00

The Whore & Gambler, by the State
Licenc'd, build that Nation's Fate.
The Harlot's cry from Street to Street
Shall weave Old England's winding Sheet.
The Winner's Shout, the Loser's Curse,
Dance before dead England's Hearse.
Every Night & every Morn
Some to Misery are Born.
Every Morn & every Night
Some are Born to sweet Delight.
Some are Born to sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.

how to be a maudlin cliche-ridden insomniac--quote William Blake. actually i love this poem. i sort of think that it is "like a rolling stone" of its day. i'm sure there are millions of comparisons between Zimmy and Blake--but it has always intrigued me how similar they are. and also PJ Harvey has got to have Blakeian root systems or since i'm overtired i could say Blake is a rhizome linking Zimmy, PJ, jim White and I'd add Cat Power, Baudelaire, Rimbaud and some Patti Smith I'm sure there are more but I'm tired and three people know what I'm trying to say. But the rhizome was one of my favorite philosophical metaphors--that and a "body without organs" which comes from the same tag team of Deleuze and Guattari.

Ohe o my fave essays about Sally Pottter's "orlando" was by Molly Nesbit and in it she calls Tilda Swinton the ultimate body without organs or in other words "orlando" was the best example of what Deleuze and Guattari meant by a "body without organs" and I just watched Michael Clayton and was kind of unimpressed by Tilda Swinton. I lobed her for being unconventional. Once she sat in a glass vitrine in an art gallery for like 24 hours straight--she was sooooo boring in Michael Clayton. It is sort of like the movement of Angelina Jolie from Gia to Mr and Mrs. Smith--cutting edge to dulleded edge.

One glance, one sigh, one horrifying lie. Oh, and one good band...

2008-03-16T21:40:21-04:00

I've wanted to write about 2 Foot Yard since Franny and I have started this blog. I've seen them play more than ten times and love them endlessly but it's difficult to put the experience into words, and even though they're the type of band I can enjoy at 41, but can also feel confidant that I could recommend to someone in their teens or twenties as well as people my parents' age, I never know how to begin explaining them to anyone. And most people who do so in print start by doing what I usually do... listing the three members' credentials: Carla Kihlstedt is a classically-trained violinist who is so talented it gives me a headache thinking about it. At one show, she explained that she needed to use a special violin for one piece. She'd had it restrung so that there were only E-strings. It was done for that one piece. Who thinks of something like that? She's also known for her work in Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Tin Hat, the amazing Book of Knots project with Joel Harrison, and various commissioned pieces. Marika Hughes plays cello, beautifully, and is a member of the fabulous Charming Hostess and Red Pocket, and has played regularly with Vienna Teng. Shahzad Ismaily plays guitar and drums and is part of something else I love and can't describe properly: Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog. He also produced Carla Bozulich's first Evangelista album and is all over Hello Voyager, and he's also worked with Tom Waits (as has Kihlstedt), Jolie Holland and Faun Fables.

From what I understand, the project was supposed to be Carla K's "solo project" away from Sleepytime and Tin Hat, allowing her to experiment with pop songwriting, and Marika and Shahzad were pulled in for the ride, but it evolved into something that's quite distinctly a band. Lyrically, they're songs are often tone poems usually tying the existential anxieties of daily life to a bit of anecdotal information: an octopus has three hearts, for example... so the song "Octopus" is a little fantasy that most of us can identify with... having three hearts to partition: one for your lover, one acting as a little private room made up of your private effects, and one condemned because of all the breakage. "Plane Song" is about a kid having a tantrum on a plane while you really really want to have one yourself. "Animal 29," a parable about the effects of scientific experiment on the natural world is based on this great urban legend. "The Great Escape" is a fragile little work about keeping a box packed to move away from the person you're not quite sure you love.

But as much as I like the lyrics (and tend to make lyrics a little too important when I judge music), 2FY is something that's all about the love of the creation of music to me, which is why I always feel they have to be experienced live. Each of these three people are exceptional musicians, and what multiplies their talent when they play together is that they found each other. I love things with strings... I kinda love that they often rely only on strings and harmonies. And it works especially well because when they play because they play off each other's energy. Every piece is perfectly plotted and yet, they're a perfect jam band.

They've just released a fantastic DIY album called Borrowed Arms under their own Yard Work label. It deserves to be heard, supported and purchased. And I think there might be fans of any of these three artists from their other work who may not know about 2FY or that the album has been released. So:

Here's a link to CD Baby where you can buy Borrowed Arms for fifteen bucks.
Here's a link to the album on Amazon.
Here's their MySpace page where you can not only listen to four songs, you can digitally download the whole thing for 12 bucks (though I recommend getting the CD because the cover and packaging are lovely) and where you can also download Animal 29 as a non-album single.

It's important to note that 50 cents of each album sale goes to a fund for Food Change and the Canyon School in Canyon, CA.

Also, I don't want to embed video since this is a long post, but there's a great 2 Foot Yard show from Amsterdam on YouTube broken into digestible pieces. One piece features my favorite 2 Foot Yard song, a slowly-erupting ballad about the days we lose when we forget we're losing days. The crescendo at the end defines why I keep seeing them live. It's called "One Day in May" and here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlHjRCAdGK8

Another part contains the song 50 Miles which is a very old song by the Rev. F.W. McGhee, which has also been covered by the Carter Family, Iris DeMent and Natalie Merchant, and which appears on Carla K's original 2 Foot Yard album from a few years back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHXCFWaIZ74

I'll do anything, I have no shame, I'm on fire!

2008-03-11T21:09:11-04:00

For Franny...

In which Madonna performs the most subversive act in the history of the dumb rock and roll hall of fame by handing the stage over to this man:

When the wind blows, there's no rules

2008-03-10T23:16:51-04:00

I have to pat myself on the back, I think, for figuring out this morning while listening to Hello, Voyager, the new album by Evangelista, Carla Bozulich's band, that "The Winds of St. Anne" in the opening song are probably the Santa Anas... even though I'm a New Yorker who's never been as far as the Pacific time zone. And that the line "here's to St. Anne who's gone mad" probably isn't the strange gothic utterance it might sound like at first listen, but a typical playful carla-ism... and when St. Anne goes mad she's blowing the wind around and creating those brush fires we're lucky not to have here in the east. People are probably going to read this thinking I'm a master of the obvious, but I've read some reviews that take the opening track as a black hole of anguish, and as always it's jolting hearing Carla screaming and it does sound really dark (there's this wall of sound where Carla's playing an harmonium and her voice is sampled into shadows in the background and Shahzad Ismaily sounds like he's playing a few layers of drum and guitar) ... but what makes me feel like I've done a little time warp back to the Geraldine Fibbers days is that the opening couplet in this new context is drenched in dark humor: "Here's to the good days of a summer out west/Here's to Saint Anne who's gone mad..." Later St. Anne is "happily buzzing thru the dark sky..." or, you know, she's lost somewhere between the earth and her home...

Anyway, I've been thinking about this album in terms of the movie "I'm Not There": Carla's just enough of a cypher in her lyrics and projects such raw emotion on stage that I think a lot of people just read their own lives into her work. Like Todd Hayne's non-version of Dylan, Carla at times has meant different things to different groups of people: Ethyl Meatplow fans are stuck to their vision of her, Geraldine Fibbers fans are, too. I know that the words:

Stay inside my hands aren't fit to pray today.
Willing but unable to go out and play.
This is something pouring through me.
I close my eyes you come right to me...

... opens up a flood of personal memories and emotions that brings me close to tears when I hear them. But that's me. I don't really know what those words mean to the woman who wrote them.

But it doesn't matter. In this album there's lots of secrets. Secret notes. Written on skin. Tucked into teacups, folded up in that same little box inside. The whole last eleven minutes of drums and vocal evangelizing is about having things to be ashamed of and being judged by people who have vices that are just as bad. Which I think, brings me back to why I loved Carla from the first time I've heard her. The communal experience of Evangelista, or the Geraldine Fibbers, even Meatplow seems to be "it sucks and it hurts really bad, but, fuck it, it's sucks for all of us." She's just really good at catharsis.

So how does it sound? Pretty great... all over the place but surprisingly tight. I wondered about the forty seconds of noise starts the bouncy, trippy "Truth is Dark Like Outer Space" hearing it in advance online but in context of the album it acts as white noise just when you need to digest "The Blue Room" which is a masterpiece of controlled strings and subtly human vocal work. As the last bit of that song sinks in, the noise plays... and segues into this sorta teenage dance where bassist Tara Barnes and the guitars of Shahzad and Efrim come together. "The Blue Room" is preceded by a delicate string quartet piece that Carla doesn't perform on at all (she wrote and arranged it) that sets the whole four-track segment on its way. Another song "Smooth Jazz" masks Carla's screaming vocals with drums and more screams and it all works... you can see these people having fun figuring out how to throw in everything they can and make it work.

And then there's "Paper Kitten Claw" which is a baroque, theatrical, quiet piece where Barnes' bass line plays against Jessica Moss's violin and Nadia Moss's organ with Carla acting as another instrument, deadpanning "Every time you see the word never, you must cross it out." I don't get most of the lyrics, it seems to be about how you can take a little piece of everyone you experience and add it to your psyche, but it makes me feel happy and, ultimately, hopeful.

Hello Voyager can be ordered here and here. And downloaded here and here.

PS: A great line from the insane extended version of the lyrics to Hello Voyager that runs forever and ever on the little poster that comes with the CD: "this is me turning my head as the nazis coaxed nations to kill innocence forever and this is me flipping the remote between that and the simpsons' sonic youth episode"

a rupert request/experiment!

2008-02-28T11:21:16-05:00

Looking at our stats on typepad, I noticed someone arrived at our page searching for "Robbie Robertson Maria McKee video" and found Franny's post about seeing Maria McKee at Joe's Pub that she published ages ago. So, in case that person's still searching, that video was for Robbie Robertson's "Somewhere Down the Crazy River" (yes, I live in the past) and it's on YouTube. I've posted it below. If you found your way back here, and you are the person who was searching, please comment! I've love to know if we helped you...

Also, Universal has the video posted with higher quality and unedited, but they don't allow embedding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ3LOu9IK7Y

PATH Centennial

2008-02-25T23:43:14-05:00

Hard to believe but today the PATH system turned 100 years old. Way back when it was called the Hudson& Manhattan Railroad Company (as you can see from the cards they handed out in the Hoboken station this morning). They celebrated in the best manner possible--free rides all day. So they turned 100 and I saved 3 bucks. Nice! How many times do you get a present on someone else's birthday. I have no idea what the system looked like in 1908. Most people who used to go into the city remember taking the ferry from Hoboken (and they are currently renovating the ferry slips so the whole back of the Hoboken station where it lights up Erie Lackawanna will be working--they already have the tower fixed and it says Lackawanna in lights all the way down the tower that rises from the ferry slips)...but my mom and I were wondering in 1908 how they powered the trains.

I love the PATH trains--few people do, but the drivers are such cowboys--they drive at like warp speed and then they hit a red signal and they stomp on the breaks and everyone pitches forward. Seriously, it is about as thrilling as a ride on the Cyclone. And given that they've had so many derailments it is about as perilous. So viva la PATH! (cuz even with a fare increase it is cheaper than the nyc subways)

Dorothy Parker swag

2008-02-25T23:28:21-05:00

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/dorothy%20parker?CMP=CJ-CLICK-10462223&sid=CTTcpk34506-576-1

I found this website late last night and I haven't looked at it again--so it might suck cuz well you know it was late.

personally my favorite Dorothy Parker quote is: Lips that taste of tears are the best for kissing. All right that is not verbatim and it is sorta very the Cure but what can I say I never grew out of my wounded adolescent stage. And if you are by any chance wanting to surprise me with a gift--no I don't want the Martini thong...i think one should not wear one's favorite drink on one's sleeve nor on ones undergarments. However, if anyone is in a charitable mood I'd love a mousepad with the "I'm never going to be famous..." quote or a Long Sleeve Dark Shirt with DP's picture and "you can't teach an old dogma new tricks" quote.

If anyone does buy the thong please send us pictures so we can post them!

A book for all of us Rupert with achy tummies

2008-02-25T22:33:52-05:00

Good Food for Bad Stomachs
Henry D. Janowitz

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ISBN13: 9780195087925
ISBN10: 0195087925
Hardback, 240 pages
Mar 1997, In Stock
Price: $49.50 (04)
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Description
Every day, in magazines and books, on TV and the radio, we are flooded with advice on what foods to eat. Some of this advice is nonsense--trendy weight-loss regimes, which can actually be harmful--and some is contradictory, as even scientists will vacillate on such subjects as animal versus nonanimal fat, saturated versus unsaturated fatty acids. There are a few good books that cover nutrition in general and even some that tackle specific health goals, such as eating for a healthy heart. But there's no book available on the area of the body most immediately affected by the food we eat--the gastrointestinal tract. Now, Henry Janowitz, M.D., author of the best-selling Your Gut Feelings and Indigestion , provides a thorough guide to healthful eating, one tailored especially for those who suffer from--or have a family history of--heartburn, peptic ulcers, gallstones, gastritis, colitis, cancer of the colon, or other gastrointestinal disorders.

Good Food for Bad Stomachs begins with the elements of a realistic, reasonable diet. Dr. Janowitz suggests that most of us need to increase our intake of fiber dramatically (up to 30 grams or more a day), and this is especially true for people with most gastrointestinal disorders. We should also lower our consumption of fat, avoid obesity at all costs, reduce our reliance on caffeine, alcohol and tobacco, and supplement our daily diet with vitamins. The book then turns to specific gastrointestinal disorders. Dr. Janowitz examines the major disorders one by one, covering the full spectrum of gastrointestinal ailments from esophagitis and swallowing disorders to cancer of the colon and rectum, describing symptoms and causes, recommending food we should eat to avoid the disorder, and outlining both dietary and medical approaches to treatment. He talks about inflammation and ulcers of the stomach and duodenum, peptic ulcers, gastritis, gallstones, pancreatitis and liver diseases; discusses dietary allergies and food intolerance, and the problems associated with aging; deals with such pedestrian complaints as intestinal gas, travelers diarrhea, and constipation; and gives special attention to the inflammatory bowel diseases, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, on which he is a renowned expert.

Covering everything from low-fat cookbooks to the fiber content of common foods, this information-packed book is filled with easy-to-follow charts and tables to help you plan a healthy diet. Good Food for Bad Stomachs is a dependable guide to healthy eating written by one of the most respected experts in gastroenterology today. Dr. Janowitz explains everything in clear laymen's language spiced with humor, humanity, and the insights of a master clinician with over 50 years of experience.
Reviews
Good Food for Bad Stomachs , authored by an expert in the study of digestive disorders for more than one-half century, is the best book on the subject yet written and is highly recommended for everyone with even a casual interest in food and health."--Joseph B. Kirsner, M.D., Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, The University of Chicago

"This easily readable yet authoritative volume blends Dr. Janowitz's lifetime of clinical experience and scholarship with his delicious wit, his plain common sense, and his unerring instinct for addressing the most important concerns on the minds of his patients."--David B. Sachar, M.D., The Dr. Burrill B. Crohn Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Gastroenterology, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York

"In this fine new compendium, Dr. Janowitz gives people practical guidance out of his vast experience. He is informal, fair and candid, and his words are easily digestible. Every reader will come away with a better understanding of what to eat and why."--Howard Spiro, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine

Product Details
240 pages; 1 halftone; 5-1/2 x 8-1/4;
ISBN13: 978-0-19-508792-5
ISBN10: 0-19-508792-5

Lilo v. Zooey

2008-02-25T21:28:44-05:00

In the Spring fashion issue of NY Magazine, Lindsay Lohan is the cover girl and she recreates Marilyn's last photo shoot-- photographer Bert Stern and all. The photographs of MM were taken in 1962 and subsequently turned into a book containing 2,571 photographs of Marilyn Monroe. It took Marilyn all of 15 minutes to take her clothes off and the photographs have a rather strange quality because unlike today when celebrities go everywhere with an entourage the photos of "The Last Sitting" were done with just Stern and Monroe and if ever there was a "male gaze" these photgraphs exemplify it--they are a total view of what Marilyn had become by that time--nothing but a sexpot. Gone was the irony, the ability to use her sexuality in the service of her other talents (singing, acting, etc). She was now in the twilight of her life--she'd earned a bad rep in the stuido days because she'd been chastised by William Wilder for being late to the Some Like it Hot Set so her starlet days amounted to a blackball and she'd been through marriages and the Kennedys and she was at the end of her road and nothing was left but for her to use her sexuality to make people want her. Not unlike Britney Spears sans underwear, the flight to sexual provocateur is taken as a last ditch effort for these women (Monroe, Lohan, Spears) to stay in frot of the camera.

In the interview with Lohan that accompanies the photogaphs (the one reproduced here is a modest photo) Lohan says of Monroe, "Here is a woman who is giving herself to the public...She's saying, 'Look you've taken a lot from me, so why don't I give it you myself.' She's taking control back." And Amanda Fortini the writer of the text that accompanies the photos writes, " Like any tabloid veteran, Lohan understands the potency of a photograph, and that the best way to respond to a society that views you only as an image might just be on its own terms."

I disagree with that...I think Britney Spears was caught up in that, she continually tried to find a way to gain control or find some kind of solid ground by pushing the boundaries by appearing more and more provocative--yet in the end the sad images of her being ever more provocative and then lashing out at the paparazzi when the photographs were not received as she planned illustrate how she'd lost control of the whole process and for her clearly the best way to respond "to a society that views [her] only as an image" was definitely not on its own terms. She was a victim of the image factory as in my mind Lohan is as well. Lohan and Britney (especially) are reduced to selling sexuality and thinking that it is power when in point of fact it is a debased position--Lohan's not an actress, Spears is not a singer, neither is anything but a powerless sex symbol (which isn't to say all sex symbols are powerless or debased--some knowing choose to objectify themselves from places of power--Madonna, Angelia Jolie, Jennifer Garner are just a few examples).

Zooey Deschanel last year was quoted stating the following:"I'm scared for young women, because we're not necessarily progressing. "People think that it's good to use sex as power. They think that's new. Flaunting your body, going around half-naked and being sexy to get your way - it's so missing the point. "We're not even talking about the fact that women still don't have enough role in running the country." And she sees Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears as regressive rather than progressive.

And it is a question to ask--at what point are women in control of their sexuality and at what point does it become a last ditch effort to remain in front of the camera at any price? And something that is thrown out there when every other label "actress," "singer," "performer" has been taken away and as Lohan noted everything has been taken and instead of being in control Monroe and Lohan and Spears and I would add Paris Hilton and Tara Reid become nothing but centerfolds pandering to the lowest interests? And a good contrast here is someone like Madonna who always seems to project power in her sexuality, she's never seemed like a victim, never seemed like she was out of control and that her sexual images came from a place where it was "you've taken everything from me, now you may as well have this too..." Something to ponder...