A GLEANER'S DINNER - Thoughts on Food Pt. 1

This holiday season we are thankful for:



1) DOSA GARDEN, 323 Victory Blvd (@ Cebra), Staten Island, NY 10301


This Indian restaurant, in the heart of the Island's Sri Lankan neighborhood, specializes in Southern Indian delicacies and does a magnificent job of preparing regional dishes such as vada, uttappam, and its namesake, dosa. Paper Masala Dosa is beautifully rolled and stuffed with a robustly spiced potato filling. More 'classic' Indian dishes are savory, rich and flavorful. Chicken Korma should be ordered with plenty of hot fresh naan bread to dip in this delectable sauce. Vegetarian dishes are outstanding, including some of the best palak paneer this side of the Pecos! And you can't go wrong with a samosa appetizer; the two veggie turnovers are richly stuffed and fresh. Did we mention reasonable? Decor could use some work but the service is always friendly and informed.


S61 S62 S66 S46 S48 to Cebra


2) PIER 76, 76 Bay Street, Staten Island, NY 10301


Heaven shone brightly on the North Shore of Staten Island this year with the opening of Pier 76. In easy walking distance to the ferry, this North Shore Italian eatery offers not only Joe & Pat's-style thin crust pizza, but inspired Nouveau Italian from its CIA trained owner. Call from the ferry and it's ready for pick-up by the time you walk there!! The 'fellas' did a lovely job of refurbishing the beautiful bar in the lovely appointed dining room. Check out the Caesar Salad pizza; sounds crazy, tastes delicious!!


2 stops on S46, S48, S52, S61, S62, S66, S74, S76 - Bay & Central




3) Pita Joe's, 2 W 14 St, New York, NY 10011


At the crossroads of uptown/downtown east/west this fab little eatery produces some of the best falafel I've had in NYC in years! Joe is a hard core Israeli and it come out in his falafel; crisp, flavorful & satisfying. Chicken cutlets, schnitzeled or grilled, are also available, along with salads and platters. Joe also offers an interesting selection of flavored lemonades. A fabulous, reasonable lunchtime treat!!


To be continued...

A WALK THROUGH CHELSEA

Dropping our postcard entry off at VisualAIDS, we took a quick peek at a few exhibits in Chelsea. Here's what we saw:

NORBERT SCHWONTKOWSKI "ANGSTRŒM" @ MITCHELL-INNES & NASH - A remarkably delightful show of paintings by this 60 year old German artist in his first New York solo exhibition. Schwontkowski has taught in Germany for years and he makes me want to enroll for my MFA over there. A gracious mix of fancy and simplicity, these are some of the most painterly paintings I've seen in NY in quite some time. A Balthus-like precociousness presents images that are disarmingly naive yet show a masterful hand in drawing and application of paint.

Up until January 9, 2010 - DON'T MISS!!

ANNA JÓELSDÓTTIR "priest chews velvet haddock" @ STUX GALLERY - A compelling installation by this Icelandic artist. A frantic, ecstatic energy charges through these works, especially the installation works that have a Mad Hatter quality. The work that provides the title for the show is a phantasmagorical cascade of mylar tattooed and tinted in a highly detailed fashion.

Up until January 9, 2010 - WORTH A LOOK!!




PETER FISCHLI/DAVID WEISS "SUN, MOON & STARS" @ MATTHEW MARKS - An encyclopedic work by the leader alchemists of the art world. A dizzying series of tables provide a chromatic study of magazine advertisements that also follow a bizarre uncanny narrative. Entertaining and engaging up close, I had wished there was a bit MORE room in the gallery to display their larger essence. "CLAY AND RUBBER" at the gallery's 24th St Outpost is another anthology, this of 24 everyday objects cast in one of the two title materials. Masterfully done, I couldn't help get the feeling I was in a really high-end Home Depot!
Up until January 16, 2010 - WORTH A LOOK!




LYNDA BENGLIS @ CHEIM & READ - Large scale bronze wall hangings and free-standing objects. I like the general drift of these pieces, especially the two "Swinburne" pieces which are cast in tinted polyurethane. I start to run into problems here with the general surface of the work, which can be best described as wormy scatological. The two pink pieces redeem an otherwise unremarkable show.
Up until January 2, 2010 - TAKE A QUICK PEEK!




Also seen:


CHARLES RITCHIE "BOOKS & PAGES: 2004 - 2009" @ BRAVINLEE PROGRAMS - A lovely show of works on paper. Beautifully illumined pages are peppered with spidery script-scrawl. Masterful watercolors. Worth a trip in the 526 W 26th St building. STRAIGHTFORWARD & HONEST.


MATTHEW RITCHIE @ ANDREA ROSEN GALLERY - A monumental multimedia installation. Ambitious in scope it doesn't hold together as well as ANNA JÓELSDÓTTIR Anna Joeldottir's installation @ Stux. Make a walk through to take in the small Gallery 2 show of Pop icons, most notably a soft Oldenburg clothespin! Philadelphia Freedom!! MAKE A WALK-THRU.


CLIFFORD ROSS @ SONNABEND - Ross continues his study of ocean waves, an oeuvre that I not taken to in the past. But the artist has given these new prints are wider horizontally, echoing a film screen, and printed the image with archival pigment inks which provie these works a depth and substance they lacked previously. AN IMPRESSIVE STEP FORWARD.


SEAN SCULLY @ GALERIE LELONG - Luscious unremarkable paintings by a major American painter. one painting, LANDBAR, struggles to break the mold. IF YOU MUST.


ERIC FISCHL @ MARY BOONE - An uneventful exhibition by a major player on the painting scene. Matadors and nemeses in flashy style. Wonder where Mr. F will vacation next. SKIP IT.

Memento Mori

Lou Jacobi


Nancy Spero


Soupy Sales

YOU WILL BE MISSED.

I ACCUSE PETER GREENAWAY - Peter Greenaway's "Rembrandt's J'accuse"

Well, where to begin?


Let's keep it simple shall we?


This is the slickest art lecture ever captured on film! Greenaway draws on numerous images the director has employed in his past theater and film works, as well as an arsenal of Photoshop graphics to make the case that one of Rembrandt's most well-known and revered works is a visual accusation of murder and deceit. In 86 minutes we learn more about 17th century Dutch militia painting, its properties, Italian triumphal arches, chiaroscuro lighting, deliberate misrepresentations of height proportions, two mysterious women, a musket and innumerable other factoids all spun together with costume recreations and AVID editing.

If only the director/narrator weren't such a drone!


Visually ravishing and creatively edited, I only fell asleep twice!!

A Walk Through Chelsea

Between dropping off some books at a dealers and having drinks with a friend after work, we were able to take in a few shows. Here's what we saw:

JACK PIERSON "ABSTRACTS" @ Cheim + Read - A handsome solo installation by a talented mid-career artist. The show features all wall relief work. Pierson has not lost his touch composition and display. Flourish, 2009 features possible remains from an old Pepsi-Cola sign arranged as a lovely, mysterious pirouette. Towards the back of the large gallery space, Pierson has pieces which have a different dynamic; longer titled works accompanying briefer, more cryptic reliefs that pay homage to Abstract Expressionism and the gesture. Shades of Rothko, Gottlieb and Kline keep coming to mind while viewing these pieces.

Up thru Nov. 14th - WORTH A VISIT




JUSTINE KURLAND 'THIS TRAIN IS BOUND FOR GLORY' @ MITCHELL-INNES & NASH - A large show of photographs inspired by the nomadic culture of the hobo. Handsomely formatted and hung. Kurland continues to grow as a photographer. Her landscape works has continued to mature and proves to be some of the more impressive work in the exhibit.
Up thru Nov. 14th - WORTH A LOOK!!




MAGNUS PLESSEN @ GLADSTONE GALLERY - A show of flashy paintings by this German painter. These works are all about surface and not much else. Technically intriguing, visually bland.
Closed Oct. 24th - LUCKY YOU!!


Also seen:


JANINE ANTONI: UP AGAINST @ LUHRING AUGUSTINE - A puzzling installation of photographs, installation and sculpture. A large noisy installation entitled Tear consists of an 11 foot video projection of the artist's eye in a room with and industrial wrecking ball. The series of small copper sculptures in the front gallery are not merely gargoyles, but devices for women to urinate standing up. A large color photograph of the artist using the 'device' near the gargoyles of the Chrysler Building serves as an instruction manual. Closed Oct. 24th - LUCKY YOU!!


ANSELM REYLE & TAKASHI MURAKAMI @ GAGOSIAN GALLERY - Pop Art meets Arte Povera by the former, a large colorful painting by the latter. Reyle's work has the fun and tang of a glass of champagne: you enjoy it at the beginning but probably hard to bear in the harsh light of a hung-over morning. Murakami's large canvas has rekindled my hope that this artist can actually produce artwork and not just manufacture kitsch.


TIM RODA @ DANIEL COONEY GALLERY: an interesting installation by an architect turned photographer. Taken in Italy and using his family as models, Roda creates and recreates a wondrous world of myth. The prints hang raw on the wall; many are on uneven cut pieces of paper. The artist has a good visceral sense of image. We look forward to more. UP THRU OCT. 31 - WORTH A LOOK


JAUME PLENSA 'IN THE MIDST OF DREAMS' @ GALERIE LELONG - Three enormous resin heads lit from within are the centerpiece of this show, but the pieces that really stand out are the elongated stone heads that are raw and broken at the top.

VIA CON DIOS, MI CAFE - Starbuck's VIA Instant Coffee

I am probably considered by Starbuck's marketing as an 'incidental' client. Not working in an office building, I am long out of the daily habit of the daily grind. My trips into Starbuck's are coincidental (there's one a block from a pharmacy I patronize) and basically to restock my supply of Double Shots, their canned coffee and cream drink, which, at $2.10 a pop, is real Starbuck's value.


On my past three visits I've been queried by staff as to my familiarity with the company's latest product/innovation VIA, its answer to instant coffee. And who am I to resist a hard sell and special introductory pricing?


So, have they surmounted the wishy-washy stigma of instant coffee?


I have sampled both 'flavors' or blends, 'medium' or Columbian and 'extra bold' or Italian roast. It should be noted that both 'flavors' have a slightly oily taste and quality, which makes straight black coffee drinking a bit tough. Besides that, neither of them are watery in their flavor.


Of the two, the latter is much more drinkable. Being a light and sweet drinker these days, the Italian roast makes a flavorful cup that I would make again. And at $1.00 / 8 oz cup it comes out as a Starbuck's bargain.

Irving Penn: A tribute

A very nice hommage to a master photographer.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/parting-glance-irving-penn/

Memento Mori

Nat Finkelstein

Marty Forscher

Irving Penn

Our eyes will be dimmer.

SIGNS @ THE TIMES: Moveable Type in the NY Times lobby

While waiting for a friend to arrive from Montreal at the Port Authority, we sat out the delay over in the lobby of the 'new' New York Times building directly across Eighth Avenue.

This gave us an excellent opportunity to take in "Moveable Type", the fascinating installation my the artists Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen. We first encountered these two at the Whitney Museum of American Art where they had installed "Listening Post" in the small gallery off the lobby. This remarkable piece used technological 'spiders' to forage through Internet chat room, postings, and IMs to gather instances and phrases that all shared a common word or phrase; "I am 50 years old" and "I am just wearing socks". These gleaned words and phrases were then displayed in a neat grid of small led display panels. The end result was an engrossing piece which could suck the viewer in for hours without repetition or boredom.

With "Moveable Type" the art duo have taken the concept of "The Listening Booth" and broadened it, both in size and scope. Taking up both sides of a long, wood-paneled entry corridor, the walls are lined with an array of 6" by 1" LED displays totaling an area of 20 feet high by 53 feet long. Using the New York Times and its archives as fodder, the team has set up various searches and function that these walls of information perform. Sometimes the information is so quick its hard to read; with a static sizzle of the screens, it appears and disappears. Occasionally a 'wind' of information sweeps across each wall, sometimes leaving random panels of information for awhile, sometimes not. One feature presents columns of pronouns juxtaposed next to each other. For instance, "I know this works." sits on a screen to the left of one reading "You tie the dog in the yard." I-You is stacked over We-They which is placed over He-She and the phrases keep shifting and changing until the wall are blank and dark. To keep things from being totally word based, occasionally the screens tick out the outlines of states and countries in the news. Then suddenly the hall fills with a wonderful Phillip Glass-like cadenza of electronic keyboards as NY Times stories rapidly rise up the columns of the walls, the music finally fading with the last of the final story.

A favorite function of ours was what we refer to a the 'number pull' (see video above). As numbers appear in the lower right corner of each screen, a phrase or line from the paper with that particular number is typed across the upper line of the screen. The screens build and build with more numbers and fade to a final number 1. Another favorite is the letters to the editors display. The halls fill with the harsh clack of an old typewriter and the letters "To The Editor:" are typed out on the LED screens. As the actual letters start to appears and fill the other screens a growing mummer of the tapping of computer keyboards accumulates and fades. Finally there is the information drawn from the Weddings section of the paper. As a screen fills with information about this person or that it gets surrounded by a simple line box which then continues its journey across other screens until it reaches another screen containing information about another person, presumably a relative or family member. We are presented with an active growing family tree right before out eyes, all to the accompaniment of the sound of touch-tone dialing!

We spent almost two hours wandering up and down the hall on the Times and were not bored for a single minute! Stop in, its well worth a trip uptown (or down)!!

More Jiggly Architecture

A visual update on an earlier reported Jiggly Architecture project.

It looked pretty awful in the early stages (see blog entry of Saturday, March 21, 2009 Post-9/11 Architecture) and it seems the nightmare is coming true!

Does this building have ANYTHING to do with others around it?

We find this thing aluminum-foil-biting disturbing!!

Anyone else care to voice their opinion? Start an architectural Baader-Meinhof commune?

Seen on the Scene

Art on the Docks: Governor's Island Ferry Terminal seen from SI Ferry

OYEZ! OYEZ! Attention Emerging Photographers & Established Photo Collectors

ATTENTION ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PROJECT 5, a new collaborative effort by the New York galleries Daniel Cooney Fine Art, Clampart, Foley Gallery, Sasha Wolf Gallery and Amador Gallery, is accepting applications for their upcoming portfolio review on September 20th 2009.

Project 5 hopes to foster a supportive environment for artists to receive constructive criticism and build an ongoing dialogue about their work with art world professionals.

Project 5’s Portfolio Review will consist of three 20-minute reviews with three of Project 5’s gallerists. Great consideration will be given to the matching of gallery owners and artists based on the strengths and experience of each. The reviews will take place at Foley Gallery located at 547 West 27th Street.

For more information about applying and fees, visit the Discussion Board of the Project 5 page on Facebook , visit their website or contact Daniel Cooney

ATTENTION ALL COLLECTORS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Project 5's first portfolio of young photographers is due out in late September!
Photographers include Thomas Allen, Olaf Otto Becker, Stuart O'Sullivan, Jill Greenberg and Guido Castagnoli. The archival pigment prints are produced in a special 11" x 14" format in a limited edition of 30, signed and numbered by the artists. The portfolio will be stored in a special clamshell case designed by Chip Kidd and will cost $2,500.00, a real bargain in today's art market. A wise investment for any contemporary photography collector.

More information is available at the
Project 5 website.

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR POD: A visit to the Waterpod on SI

We took a trip out to our Isle of Staaten to visit the Waterpod, a project in self-sufficiency which is currently moored at Lafayette St & Richmond Terrace on Staten Island.

Here are some images:



On first arriving at the docking area (note to COASHI and Waterpod: improve signage) one is struck by the quirkiness of this maritime experiment. It looks like something out of Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits as it would make a great hat for some submariner giant.

Kudos to the designers of this project which tries to create a self-contained self-sufficient micro-biosphere. However, after 5 minutes aboard we felt amazingly underwhelmed by the project. More conventional places to sit oneself down would be a step in the right direction. The black rubber lounge area is fun at first glance but retains far too much heat to be comfortable on a warm muggy New York evening. The domed entertainment area made out of old vinyl advertisement posters has a fun kitschy feel to it. However, there is a general lack of design that makes the whole an amusing floating hodgepodge: a nice to place visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

Interesting and worth a visit!

The Photograph as False Document

The New York Times published an article the other day entitled "New Doubts Raised Over Famous War Photo" which highlighted the publication of a new book, “Shadows of Photography,” by José Manuel Susperregui, a communications professor at the Universidad del País Vasco, which concludes that Robert Capa’s famous picture "Falling Soldier" was taken not at Cerro Muriano, just north of Córdoba, but near another town, about 35 miles away, a town located far from the battle front of the Spanish Civil War. Mr. Susperregui suggests this means that “the ‘Falling Soldier’ photo is staged, as are all the others in the series taken on that front.”

This latest foree into the veracity of Capa's infamous image has brought the usual line-up of yea- & nay-sayers, including Buzz Hartshorn, the director of the International Center of Photography which stores Mr. Capa's archive, and the Spanish culture minister, the film director and screenwriter Ángeles González-Sinde. Mr. Susperregui certainly seems to have done his homework and the shadow of doubt cast on this work is darker than ever.

But what's really at stake here?

Indubitably, the invention of photography had an enormous impact on both the world of art and science. With the advent of the photographic process and its ability to document the world of the people that employed it, the practitioners of the 'classic' arts of painting and sculpture were freed from the world of documentation and reality. But even in its early, formative years there were those who saw photography as an opportunity to create images of allegory and fantasy. Julia Margaret Cameron & Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) participated in the English Victorian practice of dressing up friends and family and arranging them in religious or fanciful poses.

In France the photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson dressed up as the Comtesse Rose de Compiegne, creating a body of work that was the 19th century version of Cindy Sherman's Film Stills. Documents?
Sure! But the lady in question is a gentleman!

So as the work of Nadar begat the work of Atget begat the work of the Bechers, there has always been a counterpoint of photographers who's work questioned and refuted the documentary veracity of the photograph. The works of Man Ray, Tabard, Meatyard, Uehlsmann, Sherman & Demand have explored the process and construction of the photographic image. With the advent of the digital age, images are manipulated by the artists to remove or add information that should make anyone question how truthful any images is anymore.

Perhaps the real importance of this new discovery is its impact on the world of photojournalism. Robert Capa made his name by documenting the front of the Spanish Civil War and "Falling Soldier" was widely used as propaganda by the Left in its struggle over Franco's army. Capa was also the founder of the Magnum Agency, the first of its kind at the time and a magnet for the top photojournalists of its day. What does it mean if the founder of this particular branch of photography was actually staging images to influence the public? Is it the photojournalist's duty to observe and document, or to be allowed to use his art to portray personal beliefs and ethics?

Photojournalism's most powerful tool is its ability to document and influence at the same time. Think of how powerful certain images from the Vietnam War played in the public's mind and hearts. What if Eddie Adam's photograph of a suspected Viet Cong's execution had been staged? Or Nick Ut Cong Huynh's image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc and others fleeing the napalming of their village? How would we look back on our involvement and insistence on America's retreat from our involvement in a futile war?

If these new suspicions casts on Robert Capa's "Falling Soldier" are true, it will not so much shake our belief in "seeing is believing" (anyone with an ounce of cynicism has brought doubts to the 'truth' about photography) as make us reassess the prominence of a photographer who's fame will be tarnished and degraded by twisting the work of photojournalism into the art of invention.

Dream Piece #172 (35 Seconds Over Tokyo Koi Pond)

Dissecting a Dance: A Tribute/Analysis by NY Times critic Alistair Macaulay

A loving, interesting piece that pays tribute to one of the pre-eminent pioneers of modern dance in the United States.

Check it out!!

Memento Mori

Merce Cunningham

Lois Hunt

Otto Heino

You shall be missed!!

High in the Sky: A Walk on the High Line

Finding ourselves down in Chelsea yesterday, right at the foot of one of the entrances to the new High Line Park, we decided to ascend and see what all the hubbub was all about.




Beside the crowds, one is immediately struck by the lovely, open airiness of the park. This Saturday was particularly hot and its was deliciously refreshing to catch the breeze off the Hudson River. It also provides you with some nice alternate views of some of downtown's architecture (most notably Frank Gehry's IAC building). We found it refreshing to get a perspective on the skyline that isn't street level.

The boundaries of the park restrict its width (its a converted railway freight line) thus making it a bit perilous on a crowded afternoon. Concrete pathways rise up to your left and right providing protection for the plant life growing along the long stretch of the park (it currently runs from Gansevoort St up to 20th St; it will ultimately head up to 30th St, then navigate west to Twelfth Ave, then back north), causing wonderful opportunities to trip and fall. A sort of railway tie theme runs throughout the park, which was designed by the landscape architecture and urban design firm James Corner Field Operations with architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. "Peel-up" benches rise up out of the diagonal pathway design allowing visitors a spot to relax and people watch. Venturing south there is a wonderful stretch of shaded area, illuminated with long strips of tube lights graduate through shades of blue, which also acts a food court area for snacks, drinks and the every popular gelato. Just past this shelter from the intense sun, a stretch of chaise lounges provide the sun-addicted an excellent opportunity to work on their tans and melanomas. Around the 16th Street entrance (which provides elevator access to the park) there a sweet set of tiered benches in the vein of amphitheater seating which provides an interesting cutaway view of the traffic running below on Tenth Avenue.

The plantings which blend a mix of wild and deliberate species is a pleasant blend of exotic and mundane, though I question the inclusion of the insidious century plant. Perhaps exotic to a Manhattanite, they are the pernicious devil to anyone with a real garden.

For a more detailed slideshow of park plans, architectural sketches and construction views, you can check out High Line sponsored presentation at Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/friendsofthehighline/sets/72157605739397352/show/)

PS: Friends of the High Line take note. Get your commerce site up and running quick. According to the nice young woman who thanked us for visiting as I exited at 20th Street, the hottest question of the day was 'where can I get one of those cool t-shirts'. You have a guaranteed money-maker there!! Can't wait to buy mine!!

More Jiggly Architecture

Spotted today on W 18th St:

Scenes from the Montreal Jazz Festival

10 Reasons to Love Montreal Over New York City

1) The People - Montrealites (and Canadians in general) are more laid back and laissez-faire about life and work. Although totally cosmopolitan and vibrant, one doesn't get the "what the hell do you want from me" attitude that so many New Yorkers exude from their very pores. Mind you, New Yorkers, deep down want to be friendly and helpful, but they want to be that way SO bad that they end up just being pushy and arrogant about even that!

2) Marijuana - Montreal's air still wafts with the odor of joints and spliffs. It's a delightful odor, one that was highly present in New York until that "quality of life" Nazi Giuliani held sway over New York and made every pothead go underground. In Montreal, parks and street fairs carry the lovely smell of cannabis, and if cops are near by they simply do not care about it because it is a victimless crime.

3) Seediness - After Giuliani, New York simply lost its edge in this category. And its not just the Disney-ification of 42 Street. In Montreal, there are still seedy sides of town where strip clubs, bars and pedestrian malls converge in a bumptious way that has a vitality New York has lacked lately. Mind you, I was never a fan of being propositioned by hooker on Eighth Avenue, but I do miss feeling that one could catch someones eye on the subway or bus terminal, find yourself 15 minutes later doing the nasty, then getting back to your life with a wry smile and a sticky sense of satisfaction. I think it was best summed up by a tee-shirt I saw someone wearing one day that simply said "Possibly......".

4) $5 Tuesday - Any town that can have all its movie theaters offer $5 admission to the movies on a particular day of the week is alright with me!!

5) Vegepate - a staple of the vegetarian diet, there is nothing comparable down here that is available in almost every supermarket. Delish!!

6) Liberte Dulce de Leche Mediterranean style yogurt - I love this yogurt. 8 % milk fat and even though I thought the lemon and coconut were real finds here in the states (when you can find it) this stuff is heaven in a plastic container. Have some and you will be able to die happy!

7) Poutine - The last of the true Quebec specialites. Feve au lard and head cheese are harder to find these days, but this dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy is still the perfect dish for ending a long night of partying.

8) Bagels - Ever since H&H cornered the market in the New York bagel market & Thomas' think they know what a bagel is, the Montreal bagel is a step above our average meager fare. Thinner, with a larger hole, most Montreal bagels are baked in wood burning ovens which give them a lovely toasty brown color and deep, rich taste. Their consistency is a throw-back to New York's old bagels and a pleasure to indulge in while on a visit.

9) Apartments - Unless you've been living on the Upper West Side for the past 30 years, Montreal apartments are still spacious and remarkably cheap. I know of no one in Montreal who lives in a studio apartment, let alone paying $2,000 a month for the privilege!

10) Porches - While on the topic of apartments, it never ceases to amaze me that almost every living space in Montreal has some sort of outdoor space. It may be large, it may be small, it may be in the front, in may be in back, but almost no one goes without outdoor space. When the weather warms up on this island in the middle of a river, the people throw open their windows, put on their flip-flops, buy some beer, gather their friends and enjoy life passing by. People smile, people wave, people act like people, not privileged individual.

Art Reviews: Robert Polidori, Betty Goodwin & Spring Hurlbut at Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal

On our recent trip up north we paid a visit to Montreal's Museum of Contemporary Art and saw the following exhibitions:

Robert Polidori: This exhibit of large color focuses on interior space. Taken at various times and various places, these images all share a quality of dishevelment and decay. Interiors of Versailles, Havana, New Orleans & Chernobyl/Pripyat all evoke a creepy, elegiac elegance. In many of them you might expect to see the aged Miss Havisham coming through a doorway. They all possess a creepy beauty.

Mr. Polidori has an amazing ability to bring life to the most inanimate of objects. His documentation of architecture is second to none and I hope the editors of the New Yorker will him another juicy assignment SOON!

Note to the curator: the four exterior images, two of Lebanon, two of India, are beautiful but extraneous to the bulk of the exhibit and add nothing to the loving elegance of the other photographs being exhibited.

Betty Goodwin: This survey of the Montreal artist's work spans 40 years and follows an interesting, but unremarkable, arc. Early work from the late 60's and early 70's shows the artist at her most original; prints and multimedia works rooted in the image of clothing, primarily vests, have a shadowy, eerie feel, as though the occupants of them have been wiped out or erased. I particularly liked a wall piece that contained several vest buried in dirt.

If only she had kept along those lines and been true to them. The rest of the exhibit is interesting but derivative. Large canvas pieces recall the works of Burri and Beuys. Tall, narrow, hermetic sculptures in metal bring to mind the spindly houses of Louise Bourgeois, and large figurative works on tiles from the 80's echo the works of Jennifer Bartlett.

Spring Hurlbut: This large installation piece entitled "Le Jardin du sommeil", or "The Garden of Sleep" is another wonderfully evocative, eerie work from the museum's collection. The work, which dates from 1998, is deceptive in its presentation. I wasn't sure what I was going to see, if anything, since the first gallery consists simply of several funeral wreaths. After circumnavigating the wall which displays them, one stumbles into a large, dimly lit space consisting of row upon row of cribs, cradles and bassinets, most for actual children, a few for dolls. Laid out in almost Minimalist fashion, most of them are metal though a few incorporate rope netting in various states of decay. Some are static, some rock (when given a push). The entire effect is amazing at first, but after spending a minute or two walking around the large gallery a sad, funereal gloom falls over the work; who's beds were these? what happened to these children? Were they lost in infancy or merely swallowed up by life? The piece produces a gut-wrenching punch by simply letting these empty 'containers' produce more and more questions in the viewer's mind.

A definite must-see.

Coming soon: Our Report from the North.

Reports for Montreal: Le festival de Jazz, Robert Polidori, Betty Goodwin & Spring Hurlbut at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, & 10 reasons to like Montreal over New York!!

DANCE, LITTLE LADY, DANCE: Remembering Pina Bausch

We were saddened to hear the news of the death of Pina Bausch, dancer and choreographer, creator of Tanztheater Wuppertal and overcome with a rush of visual memory.

Dancers stuffing meat into shoes before stuffing their feet in, women in ballgowns swinging from gymnastic rings, a brick wall collapsing at the start of a performance, couples in a long slow line dance, stages filled with water, grass, carnations, dirt.

One doesn't easily forget one's first exposure to Pina. Mine was on her first performance visit to New York in 1984, the year of the Los Angeles Olympics. Her company had performed out west and when they arrived at BAM that year, I probably would have missed it if it weren't for a dancer friend who knew one of her dancers (the remarkable Dominique Mercy) and had an extra ticket and no date. What I witnessed was unlike anything I had ever seen onstage. 1980 was a massive piece, close to 4 hours long. An intermission had been thrust into the middle of the performance after complaints came back in LA. The stage was covered with grass and various pieces of gymnastic equipment were moved on and off stage during the performance as well as a stuffed deer. I specifically remember turning to my friend afterwards and saying 'What the hell was that?" It seemed at moments that the inmate of a lunatic asylum had been let loose on stage!

And yet.....

Images of this performance kept coming back to me for the next couple of days; women in a line, exposing one leg from under their gowns, grinning like potential beauty queens, being told to "smile, smile", a woman dancing an energetic solo underneath a lawn sprinkler, couples dancing in a line that snaked off the stage and up and down the theater aisles, the entire cast sprawled out on the lawn/stage, in various stages of undress, while a bad recording of Judy Garland singing "Over The Rainbow" played and the lights on stage grew brighter and brighter. It was almost like a fever dream, tangible yet unreal.

I ended up returning to BAM to see the other two evenings being offered by the company, "On Listening to a Recording of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle", a full-length performance and two shorter piece, "Cafe Mueller" and "Rite of Spring". All three pieces played out the savage relationship between men and women. Perhaps the most vivid of these appears in "Cafe Mueller". A man and a woman struggle to get out of a door; as each attempts to leave the other grabs them by the wrist and throws them against a wall, over and over and over. Later the scene is repeated, but the wall this time is transparent and as the dancers hit it we not only hear it it but see it from the improbable angle of the wall.

Over the years one began to recognise the elements of a Bausch piece, the line dances, the heartbreaking solo, the flaying arm gestures, slapstick gags, public humiliation and the performers almost Brechtian awareness of the audience. But you were almost always delighted in the way she would assemble these elements; what would be added this time? Who was the clown this time?

No one (certainly in the dance world) had ever put so much drama into their work. We hope that there is someone who will take over these amazingly surreal hybrids of dance and theater and keep them alive for other generations to be amazed, baffled and delighted by, just as we were when we first saw them.

Viele Danke, Pina!!

MEMENTO MORI

Mollie Sugden

Karl Malden

Pina Bausch

You shall be missed!

RED & YELLOW & GREEN & GOLD & PURPLE &...: NYC's Gay Pride Parade

We took in Gay Pride this year at the coaxing of some good friends. In the past decade or so, to avoid the parade was to love the parade. As it has grown longer and longer over the years (this one clocked in at just over 6 hours!) our ability to deal with the mirth and mayhem has grown less and less. And our attendance this year has not changed our minds in the least. Being caught in a massive block of people who are pushing and shoving and yelling is not our idea of fun. Of course our friends placed themselves down in Greenwich Village where the parade ends and things tend to bottleneck.

The parade had the institutions and social centers that have been participating for years. But the pack of political people and candidates pandering for our vote went on endlessly. And we couldn't help but notice that the general complexion of the parade has darkened quite a bit, just like the city that hosts it (someday all New Yorkers will be the color of cafe con leche). There were gay Iranians, gay Israelis, and gay representatives of practically every country south of our border.

Which leads us to wonder......

There was a military coup that overthrew the President of Honduras on Sunday. Could it be that all the president's men were in NYC parading?

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

AND AWAY WE GO: Disney/Pixar's "Up"

It occurred to me more than halfway through the latest film from the brainchildren of Pixar, "Up", written and directed by Pete Docter & Bob Peterson, that our unlikely 'hero', Carl Fergusson, retired balloon salesman (and given voice by the talented Ed Asner) had quietly acquired a nice face full of stubble. To most of us, an old man with a face full of stubble wouldn't be a big deal. Because Carl is digitally composed like everything in the movie, it once again shows Pixar's attention to 'the little' stuff' in these modern day fairy tales. Seeing "Monsters, Inc." for the first time on a digital hi-def monitor, I suddenly was possessed by the flow and bounce of James P. Sullivan's blue hairy body. It is these small details that push this production company's fare beyond mere family films.
Don't misunderstand; I believe a lot of the success of the Disney/Pixar collaboration had to do with the writers, who are able to balance their new moral tales between sophisticated humor an adult can enjoy with simpler, silly humor (a mean doberman pincher who 'speaks' in a high, almost pre-pubescent voice) that kids delight in.
Carl's story begins with him as a child at the movies, watching a newsreel about Charles Muntz, a Lindbergh-like famed adventurer and explorer, who disappeared after doubt is cast on his discovery of a large flightless bird in the wilds of South America. As young Carl wanders home afterwards he encounters a brash, energetic young girl named Ellie, a fellow "adventurer". Carl and Ellie's fate is sealed soon after and the film provides a lovely wordless montage of the life together.
Carl has grown old and cantankerous , watching the neighborhood around his house disappear to some alien-looking developer. When Carl gets angry at a construction worker's disregard for his property, he hits him in the head. That's when things go truly bad for Carl. On the day he is to be shipped off to some retirement home, Carl decides he must keep the promise to his late wife and take their house to the top of a huge waterfall in the South American wilds. Carl makes his escape with the help of innumerable helium-filled balloons. Sitting to enjoy the peace and quiet he find in his air born state, the silence is broken by a knocking at the door! Carl quickly discovers there is a stow-away on board, young Russell (voice by Jordon Nagai), a Roley-poly wilderness scout determined to get his merit badge for helping the elderly. As his house finally comes down after a storm, Carl discovers himself in the vicinity of the Falls he and Ellie dreamed about. Determined to get his house to the top of the falls, he and Russell walk the house to its destination. Lost in the wild forests, the two go astray only to stumble upon the explorer Muntz, determined to located and capture his mysterious bird, a large colorful creation with a weakness for chocolate. Admiration turns to fear as he discover that Muntz is determined to let NO one obstruct his pursuit.
The film a real charmer, providing laughs for everyone, as well as some nice thoughts about old age and extended families. Well worth seeing, but if you can catch it in 3-D, do. Seeing Carl's house float above your head, balloons gleaming in the sun, is wondrous to see and a dark brooding storm reminiscent of "The Wizard of Oz" is magnificently rendered.
Take the kids. Or don't. But go.

Memento Mori

Michael Jackson
Farrah Fawcett
Ed McMahon

You shall be missed!

REVIEW: LISTEN, MY CHILDREN AND YOU SHALL HEAR: The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross

There has been over the years a trend to tell the history of man through a specialized or specific subject matter: salt, dirt, the chair. But to reflect on the dizzying scope of 20th century classical music within the context of history and the effect of that history on the art of composition makes my head spin!

Which is why my hat is off to Alex Ross and his magnificent opus "The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century". Mr. Ross attacks this material with relish, hitting the high points (riots at "The Rite of Spring", the persecution of Shostakovitch by Stalin) but also shining lights into some of the lesser known corners of music history (the American composer William Marion Cook, the Information Control Division of the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) and its effect on post-war European music).

Though his writing can get a bit bogged down with 'tech talk' (tritones, diminished fifths, etc), he has the ability to tie these changes in sound, tone, and harmony into a reflection of change in a rapidly changing era.

And for us dilettantes of classical music ("I may not know what it means, but I know if it hurts my ears!"), Mr. Ross has made available an extensive selection of music to which he refers in the book! Musical samples are accompanied with page references, as well as supplementary materials, like a copy of the original cover of the score to Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time". The website is an invaluable partner for anyone taking the time to read the masterful piece of writing.

Take it to the beach with you... You can surf the web on your phone (can't you?).

http://www.therestisnoise.com/audio/

REVIEW: WHAT HAPPENED? WHO CARES!: The Hangover

Let's keep this brief.

This film makes "My Life in Ruins" look like Oscar material.

If you need me to go on further I will simply say that this "comedy" tries desperately to bank on the quirkiness of the neo-buddy flick that has been manufactured with steady regularity by the Rogen/Apatow machine. A bachelor party to Vegas goes terribly wrong when 3/4s of the party losses the groom in a drugged out, drunken debauchery of one evening in Sin City. A dentist with a missing incisor, a probable pedophile with a Rain Man-like ability to count cards, and a naked Chinese sissy man with a crowbar are all here trying desperately to try and arouse a laugh, but alas, it is not to be. This pathetic piece of 'entertainment' wallows in mediocrity, misogyny and homophobia.

SAVE YOUR MONEY!!

Book Review Update

We are happy to announce that we have finally finished Alex Ross' epic history of 20th century classical music "The Rest is Noise". More to come....

15 Albums That Changed My Life

Dedicated to Billy Biondi:

I elect for my 15 Albums the following;

1) Dinah Shore, "Buttons & Bows"
I have very fond memories of listening to this album in the office/den of our home in Edison, NJ while standing on my head. A seminal moment when I discovered I was an unconventional consumer of popular culture.

2) Original Cast Album, "Jamaica"
Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne & calypso music!! Few songs have reverberated with me over the years as "Push de Button" sung by a young vibrant Lena Horne.

3) Elton John, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
I had my first (drunken) sexual encounter to this album with my best friend growing up, Ira. Life would never be the same and neither would that album. Ah sweet memories!

4) Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, "Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band"
It's high school. All the anxiety, all the peer pressure. In a small private school filled with deadheads, potheads and head bangers I discovered that I was in Philadelphia right at the height of disco and TSOP. I would bring this album to school and have impromptu dance parties at lunch.
Also help teach me the art of a good hook.
Some of the best times of my life!

5) David Bowie, "Young Americans"
The Jean Genie comes to Philly and does Frank Sinatra! A great band backs up one of the most original artists in popular music. Great lyrics, great hooks and David Sanborn on sax!!

6) Talking Heads "Talking Heads '77"
Introduced to me on my first day freshman year in my college dorm by the woman who would go on to be my best friend in the entire world, Lydia. It's jerky spastic rhythms and sing-song lyrics appealed to everything quirky and queer in me. "There's really no hurry, I'll eat in a while" a bit too Anglo-protestant for this Jew ("We're Jews, we eat!) but enlightening!

7) Patti Smith, "Horses"
No one said rebellion at that time like Patti. The mystical crossed with the perverse. And live was always the best; would she fall off the stage again? Throw up all over?
My uniform for several years was the cover of this album: white shirt, suspenders and a military jacket over the shoulder.
Nobody mixed the energy of Rock n Roll with ecstatic poetry like Patti! As fresh today as it was back then.

8) Ornette Coleman, "At the Golden Circle Stockholm Vol 1"
A jazz original that appealed to me with its oddball rhythmic changes and simple melodies. I would play the "European Echoes" cut over and over. Foreshadowed a lot of downtown music to come.

9) John Coltrane, "My Favorite Things"
Another jazz original doing what I loved so much in my life; show tunes!! As a musician and an artist it is great to hear another extremely talented artist take something familiar and make you hear it again in a whole new way. A desert island album for sure.

10) Phillip Glass/Robert Wilson, "Einstein on the Beach"
Who ever thought an opera about nothing could be so fascinating. And sing-able. A quotable!! An early Glass masterpiece helped by the masterful staging of Wilson.
"I was in this prematurely air-conditioned supermarket and there were all these aisles and there were these bathing caps that you could buy that were red and yellow and blue and I wasn't tempted to buy one but I was reminded that I had been avoiding the beach."
Everyone hit the beach!!!!!

11) Laurie Anderson, “United States Parts I-IV”
I couldn't let this list go by without this seminal work by America's foremost artist/musician. A four disc compilation recorded live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It documents one of the most amazing performance works I had the privilege to attend. With her droll wit, her onstage techno-wizardry and her keen eye for observation, it still amazes and moves me today.

12) Steve Reich/The Kronos Quartet, "Different Trains"
Another moving masterwork from one of the fathers of Minimalism. Reich demonstrates his uncanny ability, like Janacek, to use the cadence of ordinary speech to drive the music behind it. Partially auto-biographical, here the artist ponders what trains he might have been riding in the 40's if he had been in Europe and not America at that time. Haunting, powerful, uplifing.

13) Brian Eno, "Music for Airports"
Probably Eno's initial Ambient record, this music has an austere Feldman-like openness that made one rethink the concept of Muzak. This album helped me drift off to sleep after many a wild night.

14) Henryk Gorecki, Symphony #3 (Sorrowful Songs)"
I am referring to the London Sinfonietta and Dawn Upshaw version. Of the eastern European "mystic" composer to emerge towards the end of the 20th century, Gorecki seems to have found his way out of the high-brow European avant-garde and actually created beautiful music you want to hear. Of course the lovely clarion tones of the soprano Dawn Upshaw don't hurt this masterwork of modern music. A guaranteed tear-jerker.

15) Gavin Bryars, ""The Sinking of the Titanic"
There had to be a Bryars piece on my list but which one? "Jesus Blood never failed me Yet" with its neo-minimal use of taped voice, musical ensemble and singer (Tom Waits!!)? "A Man in a Room, Gambling" the series of short works he did for BBC Radio which has the audio commentary teaching the listener how to do card tricks and to cheat at the card table, set to short sharp string accompaniment? But after much deliberation I had to choose "Titanic". From the opening crash in the bass, this piece has a haunted, eerie watery quality that is a marvel to hear. Creating a aural sensation of drifting through water, we catch bits of words, tunes (Amazing Grace, played by a string quartet as the ship sank), and noise that add up to one of the most intense, interesting and satisfying audio experiences I have ever had.
Note: not to be played late at night with strangers in the house!!

GREECE OR BUST: "My Life in Ruins"

With any luck, the new Nia Vardalos comedy "My Life in Ruins" has already left your cineplex to journey forth to fulfill its natural function as DVD fodder for your local 7-11.

It seems to be another one of those situation where pedigree doesn't amount to a hill of beans. It looked good on paper. The charming, funny Nia Vardalos, the big, fat movie star from her first film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Donald Petrie, a fine director of many comedies such as "Miss Congeniality" and "Grumpy Old Men" was at the helm. A more than capable supporting cast, topped off by Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss. But somewhere, somehow the whole thing didn't add up. Not even with the help of visual eye candy like the Greek Islands and Alexis Georgoulis. As Irv, Mr. Dreyfuss' on-screen character might proclaim, "It's a shanda!"

I guess the powers that be thought it would be a good idea to play off Ms Vardalos' success. But then its not often that lightening strikes twice. That movie was a charming, family comedy which was a re-telling of the Cinderella story. Trying to bank on another modern fairy tale, this twisted take on Beauty & the Beast makes us wonder: who's Belle? This visually obvious beast is the stunning Mr Georgoulis, who arrives early on the scene as a hairy mop of a bus driver for the tour the that Georgia (Ms Vardalos) is 'forced' to lead. A smart knowledgeable academic of ancient history, Georgia finds misery everywhere. Her international group is a set of stereotypical tourists, her bus has no air conditioning and no one is interested in hearing her prattle on about Greek history. Any iota of charm is devoid in her character. So we have the Beast & the Beast.
Of course as this predictable tale chugs along towards it happy ending (Georgia gets her groove, or 'kefi' back. This is done by having sex. Big surprise.) Georgia is faced with the monumental decision; stay in Greece leading tours with her new hunky lover of a bus driver or go teach in Michigan?
In the immortal words of the Divine Miss M: what kind of asshole question is that?
Stay away and save your money!

Hommage to JC

Dedicated to one of our favorite artists!

Report from the North Country: or how your intrepid reporter went wireless and learned to love his blackberry.

With the informal kick-off of summer we started ours off with an official visit to the Sunshine Drive-In to catch up on some commercial cinema. First up, Star Trek. This "prequel" mega-movie seems to strike the right balance between satisfying hardcore fans and creating enough dark Batman-like moodiness to attract a new audience. Everyone turns up on cue and young Spock even gets to pontificate with his older, future self (played by the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, with a set of dentures you can't take your eyes off of). Large, loud and digitally enhanced, we found a lot of the action/fight scenes blurry and unfocused. But when Uhuru is such a hottie who cares! Ah-woo-woo-woo!!
As for the 2nd feature, "I Love You Man" pity poor Paul Rudd! A talented guy who has been in many a Rogen/Aptow production, he is finally given a chance to star in this sad comedy about a heterosexual man with no male friends. A good cast is lost in this pathetic chick-flick disguised as a buddy movie. Avoid at all costs!!

Today's aesthetic quandary:

Can an arts and culture blog exist in a homeless, jobless state? The answer? TBC

MEMENTO MORI

John King
Bea Arthur
Jack Cardiff

You Shall All Be Missed!!

Post 9-11 Architecture

I am posting these pictures as another example of a recent trend in residential buildings that have gone up in Manhattan over the past 5 years. It's what I like to term "jiggly architecture"; buildings who's facades wave and undulate as they rise above the staunch straightness of the avenues and streets below them. This particular building is being piled up at the end of Greenwich Avenue and Eighth Avenue, or, to give it its more luxurious moniker, One Jackson Square. Note the undulating line of the floor-to-ceiling windows; the light of the street is reflected back in fractured sections. These jiggly facades seem to be reflecting our city's and its residents' current anxiety and post-traumatic stress; one false move and I'll collapse like a house of cards!!

If anyone can point out a building with these features that appeared in Manhattan before 9-11-01, I would appreciate you making comment on line here.

And if you haven't noticed jiggly architecture yet, just look around a bit more closely, eh?

Let Us Now Praise Great Achievements!! - Pt 2

Although the new entrance to the 1 train will now make ferry commuters have to step outside to get the train uptown (the temporary entrance was right in the ferry terminal and was a blessing on foul weathered days), the two or three steps one has to take becomes well worth it as you descend to the the mezzanine level, where Doug & Mike Starn have done an incredible installation, See It Split, See It Change. A site-specific installation commissioned by the MTA, the work encompasses the entire mezzanine level. Huge photo murals of the the silhouettes of trees in Battery Park festoon the walls behind the turnstiles, as well as a historic map of lower Manhattan and an enormous image of a leaf. The Starn brothers have been pursuing an almost mythic quest: translating the transmogrification of light to energy to thought into a visual set of key images. And having a three dimensional stage to present their ideas in works tremendously to their advantage. Not only do we get ceiling-to-floor black-and-white photo-murals of the tree branches of Battery Park, but we also have these patterns mirrored and overlaid in the metalwork of the ticketing barrier walls which creates a neural networks of thick and thin lines in grey and black.

This magnificent photo-mural hangs over the stairwell to the 1 train. The image of a desiccated leaf, from the Starn's Black Pulse Lambda series, has become part of their leitmotifs in recent years. With the delicate image fused into large glass tiles, the fragile transparency of the degraded leaf matter is increased 10 fold, the veins echoing lines of a street or subway map.

Also visible upon entrance into the terminal is a gorgeous 20-foot wide floor-to-ceiling mosaic reproducing a historical map of Manhattan. Inspired by a map commissioned by the United States Census Bureau in 1886 that integrated a topographic map drawn in 1640 with a street plan from the Battery to 155th Street, the island’s original topography emerges ghost-like behind a more familiar diagram of the modern city. It is truly stunning!

The MTA has managed to make me want to take Public Transit more knowing that this quality of art awaits me upon alighting on the Isle of Manhatta!!