a sense of optimism

You have to be sure, you have to be absolutely positive that this is what you want. This isolation is quick to kill you. It must be avoided at all costs, that is if you want to have anything left that is worth preserving. Still I shudder, this room is always too cold, my actions are always too fast and misguided and out of step with the rest of the world. I am not in a reasonable pattern now. I doubt I ever will be. It is slightly cooler today and I am glad. Perhaps a winter-like feeling will finally arrive. Today feels like a blissful fall day, autumn leaves and bright sunshine, not too much wind – a crisp reminder of the joy that will come. I don’t know why I’ve introduced a sense of optimism, no matter how false it may be, here. It doesn’t belong, I feel nothing but coldness all around me. I don’t wish I could go back, I don’t wish for things to be as they were before those events. If I stay here, If I continue the rebuilding process, It will form the basis for a new construct, a new me more or less. Drawn out by the rocks and pathetic wisdom I’ve misused throughout the years. I trace the events in my mind far too often. Never with good results. I wish so much to be divorced from these concerns, to have them removed at all costs. I should deal in the practical, correct? The problems of architecture, time and space. Not this silly preoccupation with emotions and human relationships. Every kind of external contact is magnified in my head far too much, perhaps I am regressing, back to my schooldays. I have always been far to independent for these kinds of manufactured needs. I am coming to the conclusion that I should refrain from contact as much as possible, that I should stay here, within these parameters until my own little world is so formed that it is actually of use to others, that it is actually of consequence. Perhaps this means that I have to be as abrupt and annoying as possible to get as many products of my ego out there as I can. Perhaps that will give my life meaning. The only thing that is not as much of a let down and disappointment, (or at least some of the time, and even so—it can be controlled, it is a hermetic space) is film. I used to be quite vigilant about it. Lately for one reason or another (poor local programming, bad product, loss of motivation) I have not been as busy as I used to be with it. I have not been out to see so much. Tonight, hopefully, that will change. A new schedule will start and I will be able to heal and regain my life, little by little.

working again

I'll be on the air tonight from 19:00 to 22:00 EST. (WZBC) online listening is available.

It is rainy, grey and far too warm for November in Boston. While I don't mind the warmth, this time of year it is particularly unsettling. I plan to get back on a schedule this weekend and take in some films.

Growing Up: the Films of Hans Christian Schmid is on at the HFA. (German Films bio) That seems a good place to start. Also more new prints from the Janus Collection are at the Brattle Theatre with Cria Cuervos and Death of A Cyclist on Sunday.

recent articles (due for expansion)

Clear Channel agrees to have its debt taken over. Dalkey Archive Press due to relocate. Hi-Tech Toys aren't worth the hype. Jonathan Glancey looks at real estate tax reforms.

Anthony Horowitz writes in the New Statesman on Junk Cinema. As Mark Kermode demands better Children's films in the Observer UK.

DJ Durutti has an excellent post on Deval Patrick's father and his work in Sun Ra's Arkestra.

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema - in re: Slavoj Zizek

Liz Hoggard reports in the Independent UK about the three part documentary - file under enjoyment.

Full details on the project (official website).

Also check out the clip on Cinetrix

recent articles of note - large update

Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times on the demise ofTower Records. In the Oberver Mary Warnock stresses the importance of learning a musical instrument. Jenni Russell, writing in the Guardian UK, says our children need to be taught basic social skills. A recent study shows American students know little of their country's history. Books, saving and your wallet in the New Yorker. A new online literary magazine discussed by John Marshall in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (re: narrative). Carolyn Jack in The Plain Dealer from Cleveland discusses a Cigarette Tax for the arts. "Summer Night on the Beach" by Edvard Munch to be returned to Marina Mahler as reported in theNew York Times. Paul Lewis and Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian UK report that a Communist Party chair nets £20m in painting sale. Meanwhile, Jess Smee in Berlin talks of a theater group bringing Das Kapital to the stage.
The Boston Globe profiles the Harvard Film Archive's new director.

Grayson Perry has an excellent on class and the arts in the Time UK.
Christopher Kimball writing in the Boston Globe places the food industry in context.

In case you were wondering...

I will be on the air this Friday (17th November).

In the meantime checkout this YouTube clip of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra on the Perpetuum Mobile blog.

recent articles of note from this past week

An excerpt from Al Gore's interview on the More4 channel's "Suspect Nation"- due to air 20th November. The L.A. Times editor was let go, Frank Ahrens discussesit . James Robinson on Vogue turning 90. Joseph P. Kahn looks at the work and life of Media Theorist Henry Jenkins. The French help to intellectualize Super Mario. As the French advertising world does "The Paris Shuffle".

November 3 - Playlist - WZBC (my last show as a 30 year old)

Fri Nov 3rd 2006 7.00pm–10.00pm
David Kristian “Kippering School” from Sweet Bits CD ALBUM
Oneironaut “nine inch army” from an evening in the company of vespertine (Vespertine)
July Skies “Swallows and Swifts” from where the days go (make mine music)
Nobukazu Takemura “wizard in circus” from child and magic (WEA 1997)
Gnac “can't get through to you”(Vespertine)
Winston Tong “Like the Others” from Like The Others CD ALBUM (LTM)
Francois De Roubaix “Commissaire Moulin - indicatif” from Anthologie Vol. 1
Eric Random “Dirty Bingo” from Subliminal 1980-1982 (LTM)
Ellen Allien “Funkenflug der traume” from stadtkind
Thomas Wylder & Toby Dammit “la fabbrica politica” from morphosa harmonia(Hit Thing)
Quigley “the hidden gem” from an evening in the company of vespertine (Vespertine)
Ant “not sleeping the same way” from brumario (Acuarela)
Tuxedomoon “East/Jinx/.../Music #1” from Desire CD ALBUM (Crammed Discs 1981)
Gnac “une chanson du crepuscle” (Vespertine)
Jay-jay Johanson “she doesn't live here anymore” (EMI Sweden 2006)
Transfiguration “voyage au bout de la nuit” (Vespertine)
Les Hurleurs “temps de pluie” from ciel d'encre
VitaminsforYou “luxury and hope” from Saturday Morning Empires (intr_version)
Lazerboy “the day the earth caught fire” (Vespertine)
White Noise “love without sound” from An Electric Storm
Air Wave “que vous avez de grands dents” (Vespertine)
The Durutti Column “Red Square” from Vini Reilly
Quigley “returning to the scene of the crime...” (Vespertine)
Hiroshi Fujiwara “Hard Boiled Dub” from In Dub Conference CD ALBUM
Penguin Cafe Orchestra “In a Sydney Motel” from music from the penguin cafe
Ryuichi Sakamoto “thatness and thereness”
Felt “mexican bandits”
At Swim Two Birds “Darling” from Quigley's Point CD ALBUM (Vespertine & Son)
Steven Brown “Decade” (LTM)
Wim Mertens “Hedgehog's Skin” from Jardin Clos CD ALBUM (Les Disques Du Crepuscule)
Coldcut “Autumn Leaves”
Coti “Amymoni P.” from Lido/Lato CD ALBUM (Poeta Negra www.poetanegra.com 2004)

Final Day

Another year had passed. It was a year of much joy and hope, of new friends and new experiences. I had more happiness and wonder than I've had in the past ten years. Now most of it is gone. "All I can think of is 'when are we leaving'." I know where I want to go, where I want to visit. Perhaps I will find myself again in travel. I've never been dependent on anyone for such a long time. Now all I feel is the absence of loved ones and the constant presence of death. Also, my room is in its usual state of disorder-- I have made improvements, mind you, but nothing that's immediately visible. I won't be on the air for another week or so. It is due to rain later. The sky is so terribly gray. I wonder what could bring me out of this ominous haze-- it is useless for me to worry about things I have no control over. How many hundreds of years of civilization results in this modern illness? I don't think the human race has advanced much. The boundless capacity to repeat past mistakes and failures never ceases. I feel like I'm condemned to trace the same pathways over and over again. Its not a pleasant thought. In America people vote today, they take some degree of pubic service and put it to work. Perhaps one should be optimistic for that, regardless of the cynicism that permeates so many things. I sit here and I wonder, I truly consider what keeps me alive -- the first that comes to mind is the ability to see, for that is the most immediate, to find pleasure in the richness of the colors around me and the depth of the landscape where the land meets the sea, and of course the ability to see words on the page -- to anticipate a book whether new or old with such relish, to partake in such solitary pleasures, the second would be to hear, to listen to the wind in the trees, the flow of water, the sounds the human body makes, the distinct variations of birdsong, also the ability to discover and appreciate music in all its many forms, anticipation for a new album or concert, these feelings prolong my life, third: taking the first and the second together the gesamtkunstwerk of the cinema, when done properly (or irresponsibly) can be a worthwhile experience. My senses push me forward they connect and let me experience the world. At midnight tonight, thirty years of this love and presence, thirty years of my being will come to an end.

2006 Prix Goncourt - Jonathan Littell, Les Bienveillantes

There's been so much buzz about this novel. It won't come out in English until next year at the earliest -- althought 2008 is your best bet.

The better links are in French for obvious reasons:
Les Bienveillantes,
Nouvel Obs,
International Herald Tribune (from October), La Lettrine blog,
buzz littéraires, Boston Globe (AP story).

The New York Times article.

Building Man

Its all come up now. I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t profoundly frightened. A good jolt sometimes acts well to ease the tension, to take one’s mind off things. A departure. Or some such loss, anything to take one’s mind off certain feelings, that’s what’s required. Anything, a sharp, strong wind to knock some sense into one’s being at last. At times its quiet, its there ever present of course just dormant, this rare period of bliss can make all the dark moments worthwhile. The sheer pressing need to communicate, to open up room for expression. The silence has been enough. I’ve caused enough damage from afar, I’ve lost too many people, friends I was close to for a while. I won’t interfere again—at least not now.

All that’s left is departure. I need to experience space again. To collect my resident knowledge and process it. That will certainly take some time, it will lead me out and away from this sadness, this strange away-time. I’ve been gone for far too long. A new plan will come about, building on the current foundation.

Building Man.

Playlist from October 20, 2006

I'll be on the air this Friday - 7-10pm EST (1900-2200) - Stay tuned.

***************************************************************************
Playlist from October 20, 2006.

Coti “Piccolo poema urbano” from [metamoria\> (vibrant music 2001)
David Kristian “Owl Howl with Hoots” from Sweet Bits CD
Legowelt “Chokolectrik” from Classics 1998 2003 CD (Bunker 2003)
Martial Canterel “ascent” from confusing outsides LP ALBUM (genetic music geneticmusic.com 2005)
Jimi Tenor “Sugardaddy” from Intervision CD ALBUM (Warp www.warprecords.com 1996)
Ellen Allien “stadtkind”
Ultravox “Hiroshima Mon Amour” from HA! HA! HA! CD ALBUM (Island 1977)
July Skies “Countryside of 1938” from OTC Radio Session CD (2004)
David Kristian “brief notes that wept red” from The City Without Windows / La Derniere Voix OST 12-INCH (Creme Organization 2004)
HYPO “relax max msp” from Random Veneziano CD ALBUM (Active Suspension www.activesuspension.org 2004)
HYPO “the perfect kill” from Random Veneziano CD ALBUM (Active Suspension www.activesuspension.org 2004)
Wim Mertens “4 Mains” from Vergessen LP ALBUM (Les Disques Du Crepuscule 1982)
Jay-jay Johanson “Only For You Remix” from She Doesn't Live Here Anymore CD SINGLE (EMI Sweden 2006)
Ryuichi Sakamoto “War & Peace” from CHASM CD ALBUM (Kab America 2004)
Arthur Russell “Keeping Up” from The World of Arthur Russell CD COMP (Soul Jazz 2004)
Steven Brown “Last Rendezvous” from searching for contact (LTM 2004)
David Kristian “I loved you” from The City Without Windows / La Derniere Voix OST 12-INCH (Creme Organization 2004)
Arbol “bright day” from dreams made of paper CD ALBUM (lejos discos/emilii records 2005)
The Vertical Smile) “a return to satisfy (opium tears mix)” from the tell tale signs of earworm (Earworm)
Felt “evergreen dazed” from Absolute Classic Masterpieces CD ALBUM (Cherry Red Records 1992)
Piano Magic “Artists' Rifles” CD ALBUM (Rocket Girl www.rocketgirl.co.uk 2000)
July Skies “Learning with mother” from where the days go (make mine music)
Penguin Cafe Orchestra “air a danser” from Concert Program (Zopf 1995)
Emak Bakia “smile in your mind” from Jane CD ALBUM (Acuarela )
Francois De Roubaix “la scoumoune” from Anthologie Vol. 1 (Play-Time 1999)
Felix Kubin and Coolhaven “there is a garden” from Suppe fur die Nacht CD ALBUM (Brombron www.kormplastics.com 2006)
Kohn “ohrosong” from Koen CD ALBUM ((K-RAA-K)3 www.kraak.net 2002)
Jay-jay Johanson “She Doesn't Live Here Anymore” CD SINGLE (EMI Sweden 2006)
Nini Raviolette “suis-je normale” from va: so young, so cold (Tigersushi www.tigersushi.com)
the Durutti Column "the Missing Boy"
Wio “i don't really like pies” from (K-RAA-K)3 Labelsampler CD COMP ((K-RAA-K)3 www.kraak.net 2001)
Bruce Gilbert “sliding off the world” from this way LP
Tuxedomoon “you (christmas mix)”
Mark Van Hoen “put my trust in you” from the last flowers from the darkness CD ALBUM (Touch http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/ 1997)

Delicate Activity

I bought a new kettle over the weekend (cobalt blue). I am quite pleased with it. My original intention of course was to visit friends in New York City, attend the Procession of the Ghouls, and see Absolute Wilson. However, this never materialized primarily due to the manic weather we've been having. That's probably why I'm listening to The Associates right now. So many missed opportunities. Life pushes on-- oh yes, it is a force, regardless of morailty. How with the truth bear all this out. How will we appear to our children? Is there a future for us? Is there a future for them? I won't trouble you with these questions, it used to be a lot worse, you know. I remember being terribly depressed in Seventh grade-- to the extent that I'd sit and talk to no one for hours at a time. It took a while for me to realize that perhaps my methods were obsolete or just not appropritate for certain kinds of survival. What circumstances could provoke such a reaction? An overly sensitive child, someone who's interior life was sped up so much that he could barely bring himself to speak, because that would mean slowing down. High standards let to frustration, intolerance and incomprehension in equal degrees. It was barely rational and less than plesant. Childhood trauma, you ask? Perhaps. So many schisms early on in life, its hard to communicate, to come to the realization of what actually occurred. Its best to start with primary memories-- the moments in time one can recall immediately. The break from an early education at a private Montessori school to the sharp coldness of public school. I feel as though I've spent most of my life recovering from that break. There was a very definiate change that I am certainly still recovering from-- if I ever shall, I do not know. I think it is good to instill a child with the ability for him or her to think independently. This has to be an absolutely essential goal.

I could go on, however this is only a place for cursory remarks and not an essay-- at least not yet.

Please note: 50 years of Janus Films is currently playing at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square. Monday is Nic Roeg's film Walkabout, perhaps one of the greatest coming of age films ever made. Tuesday night is Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan -- what better way to spend your Halloween? My only other suggestion of course is The Haunted Looking Glass-- a first rate collection of classic ghost stories.

enjoy.

Soft Verdict - The Struggle for Pleasure

Soft Verdict "the Struggle for Pleasure"

+++++++++++++++++++++

I'll be on the air next Friday.

Enjoy.

recent articles

Sy Hersh at McGill. [Montreal Mirror] While you're at it you might as well check out Rick Trembles' Motion Picture Purgatory on Kenneth Anger and Raf Katigback's Disko Akimbo. The only other item that had my attention at the moment is Jonathan Rosenbaum's review of the movie "Death of a President".

recent articles

Come to Canada to see "Death of A Presdient". John Humphrys emphasizes the need for good grammar in the Telegraph UK. Jack Schofield gives DAB and other digital formats a good kicking in the Guardian UK. Anthony Tommasini laments the downfall of Tower Records and its classical music section in the New York Times.

recent articles

The Washington Post weighs in on Deval Patrick. A Grocery Industry Conference in Toronto assesses the modern diet [CBC].
From the Guardian UK:
Julie Bindel explains why rape laws are still inadequate. Ohio may indeed go Democrat. Nicky Wire talks to Alexis Petridis about the joys of C86. Also discussion a new music show on the BBC. A tribute to Serge Gainsbourg at the Barbican. Adrian Searle looks at a collection of contemporary Eurpoean photography.

AVMotional 03

full details AVmotional.

recent articles

Easing of media rules challenged [AP] - Women Turning Down Harvard's Offers [Inside Higher Ed]- Awards putting critical faculties to sleep [Guardian UK]

Absolute Wilson

The new documentary Absolute Wilson directed by Katharina Otto-Bernstein. It won a Teddy Award earlier this year. It is a look at the life and work of the artist Robert Wilson.

Theatrical Trailer: Quicktime or WMV

Opens Theatrically in New York
on October 27, 2006
at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

New York Times article of October 22, 2006 by Sylviane Gold

Deutsche Welle report

A biography by Katharina Otto-Bernstein about Robert Wilson is also available.

More information here:

German Films

design museum

Robert Wilson's 14 Stations at Mass MoCA.

++++++++++++++++++++

If anyone knows when this is coming to the Boston area, please let me know.

Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Numbers 1-4

South Bank Show 1987

Also check - Perpetuum Mobile for more.

-- Expect some of this tonight-- amongst others.

Please listen.

July Skies - "off the cuff" - premium gifts

A special signed CD of "Where the Days Go" - tune in to wzbc October 20th from 7-10pm (1900-2200) EST for details.

Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet

Danièle Huillet passed away recently. Obituaries: [Guardian UK] [Scotsman] [New York Times]

Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet statement at the Venice Film Festival.

Andy Rector's Kino Slang bloghas an excellent series of words and images about her.

Jonathan Rosenbaum in Senses of Cinema: Intense Materialism: Too Soon, Too Late.

A look at the book Landscapes of Resistance
The German Films of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straubby Barton Byg.

articles of note

The most timely piece I've seen today concerns local political machinations is this piece by Joan Vennochi, Columnist for the Boston Globe. When politics trumps law its hard to be optimistic.

30 underappreciated books [Guardian UK]

The Greatest Film Composer of All Time? [Salon]
(too bad the Toru Takemitsu compilation referred to is out of print)

Arthur Marwick - Obituary [Guardian UK] [Scotsman] [Telegraph UK]- British Historian - His book "The Sixties" is one of the best histories of Counterculture during the 1960s to early 1970s.
For more information see:
The Sixties in Great Britain

The Second Law

Locus Solus (Map)

Emotion Washes Over Me

You can only sit and wonder about such things for so long. The world continues to shift around you. I feel all this emotion wash over me this morning. I don't know why my body reacts the way it does. Again, perhaps, its this imposition of warmth and meaning. The strong sense that there is so much to be done. My mind is still preoccupied with other thoughts, this I shouldn't focus on. Things, identites that need resolution. A quick way out? (The quick, neat, job - a Les Disques Du Crepuscule Western) Foreign makers. I keep my eye on the world, what little I know of it. I know there are other ways. I work simultaneously for benefit and loss-- unknowing the inertia consumes me. It only travels so far. There is laughter, of course and other private awakenings. I constantly seek connection and warmth to no avail. The only thing left, as the story goes, is to keep on moving. The struggle continues.

Comedy's release

The man behind this site tipped me off to this edited version of Armando Iannucci's Tate Britain lecture. Its an excellent look at the state of comedy today (on both sides of the Atlantic) and how it fills a significant gap. The key quote regarding the gap is that: "This has come about for three reasons: politicians have stopped speaking to us properly, the media has stopped examining their actions in anything like a forensic way, and broadcast culture has become so watered down, so scared of fact, that people are less inclined to turn to anything other than entertainment for information." His lecture significantly discusses the anarchic spirit of comedy and the reason its presence is so widely felt in modern society.

Armando Iannucci is a comedy writer who has worked on such shows for British Television as The Day Today and I'm Alan Partridge. You can find his CV here. He occasionally writes articles for the Guardian UK and the Daily Telegraph. Some time last year one of his Guardian UK columns tipped me off to the genius that is Sean Lock and his amazing television programme15 Storeys High.

environmental - food blogs and articles of note

A few favorites:

US Food Policy

Accidental Hedonist

Tree Hugger

from Red Tomato

good reads:

Diet for a Dead Planet by Christopher D. Cook.
and of course Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé.

Focus on Elizabeth May in NYT.

Three Voices: What Fair Trade Means to Farmers
New England Speakers Tour Oct 23-28, 2006

Monday, Oct 23 Burlington, VT

Tuesday, Oct 24 Tufts University, Medford, MA
Fair Trade Banana Banquet, Haley House, Roxbury, MA

Wednesday, Oct 25 Smith College, Amherst, MA

Thursday, Oct 26 Harvard University, Boston, MA

Friday, Oct 27 Putney, VT

”A banana farmer from Ecuador, a watermelon and vegetable farmer from Georgia, and an apple grower from New England may seem worlds apart, but they share common challenges as small farmers trying to make it in a global food system.

Join us for this rare opportunity to hear three real-life farmers from three very different farms talk about their struggles to stay on the land, their experiences in the market, and the impact of consumer support for fair trade and family farms. The program will tour New England Oct. 22-28, 2006, and is presented by Oke USA and Red Tomato, with support from Equal Exchange.

Celebrate this ‘fair trade fruit salad’ with fresh fruit tastings, fair trade chocolate fondue, tossed together with the provocative and inspiring stories of three farmers.”

Gillo Pontecorvo passed away, age 86

Director of the Battle of Algiers.

Obituaries:

CBC

Guardian UK

Recent Articles (Vinyl, Wobby, Comedy, Volvo)

Success with Vinyl[Telegraph UK]

Starbucks Gets Wobbly[in these times]

Iraqi Comedy [Seattle Times]

Volvo Estates are the Best[Ananova]

on the air in one week - watch this space - wzbc 90.3 fm

My show is postponed until next week due to the broadcast of a sporting event. However, stay tuned next week as the station will be in the midst of its fundraiser. Watch this space as well, I will post photos of the special premium items I've managed to acquire for your listening pleasure.

Cheers.

in the living room

October 9, 2006 - 5:12pm
in the living room at 86 B--

I hope to conduct this without further interruption. If I am interrupted, the problem will most likely come from me and not the other way around. Lately, my diet has not been particularly good. It certainly is not on the same page as others'. Of course that's a silly mistake to make. Its always this and never that, every one conducting themselves in a hopefully appropriate manner. The argument for and against superlatives. That's the shocking place I'm at right now. What could be better? That's exactly right, exactly it. I've started reading Jill Tweedie's book about Sexual Desire-- my understanding, at least from the introduction, is that relationships should not be predicated on a need but rather the simple result that each person be happy. This is no small task. Individuals have so much to offer and so much to be. One can only get around another 'I' so much. Psychological states and self-defense mechanisms are the trick. In themselves - it is, oh I want to say it is a confrontational technique. For me so many conditions have to be met before there is any kind of true, meaningful dialogue, and even then, people can change their minds. Sometimes it is incredibly easy and other times, the struggle just isn't worth it. I want to move forward, I want to eliminate these sad preoccupations. I need to find the direction, the proper vessel for all these ideas and concepts I have arranged here. The proper medium is out there. Perhaps this is it. I have been waiting too long, postponing or dissuading myself from any kind of creation-- acting from the assumption that investing myself in a good constructive meaningful relationship is the key. I know it is more than that, It is forever a changing cycle of discovery and wonder. I wish I weren't taken to task now for so many things. I punish myself so much for the littlest of things, another kind of worry to blot out the rest can only lead to further questions and anxiety. I attempt to sit still but I am forever curious. I hope, as I have always tried to justify, my so-called 'distractions', so-called time spent doing 'nothing' will actually add up to something. All these hours spent observing human life-- looking for ways out, something that I can square with my foolish ideals. (interruption)

She Doesn't Live Here Anymore - new Jay Jay Johanson

On the air this Friday night 7-10pm EST(1800-2200) 90.3fm WZBC - also online.

SHE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips

At the end of the summer, I finished reading Julie Phillips's excellent biography of Alice Sheldon's life. I remember being fascinated by some of her late work, stories collected in "Tales of the Quintana Roo", when I was younger. At the time, I didn't know that James Tiptree, Jr. was actually the pen name of Alice B. Sheldon, I only felt that in reading her stories, I connected with a very intelligent mind. Julie Phillips' biography of Alice's fascinating life is recommended to any reader who is excited by a person filled with boundless curiosity. It is certainly not strictly for Science Fiction readers-- the book doesn't get to the actually stories until its final third. Alice did not start writing as Tiptree until she was 51 years old. She was born to an author Mother and an attorney Father, who invested wisely in real estate in Chicago. Her family's wealth led them to go on Safari-- Alice's first Safari took place when she was six years old. The wonder and devastation she saw there marked her life forever. By the time she was 11, she had already traveled extensively in Africa during three different Safaris. This kind of exposure to other parts of the world transformed her experience of 'ordinary' American life. She certainly could not relate to other children her age-- Phillips describes a scene where Alice's elementary school teacher is discussing Africa and cannot get Alice to sit still because she had already been there. Experiences like this provoked her and frustrated her formative years. She was also marked throughout her life by her Mother's success in writing stories for national magazines and books. Alice later went on to join the Women's Army Corps, where she-- taking a little initiative-- ended up in military intelligence by the end of World War Two. This job later became part of a new government agency after the war--the CIA. She stuck with it for three years and then left to pursue writing. Her husband worked for the Agency for the rest of his life. All of these experiences were later drawn upon to create the persona of James Tiptree, Jr. The stories by James Tiptree, Jr. are fascinating as they have an inherent skepticism regarding the nature of human progress. Phillips constantly reminds the reader at the end of most chapters how Alice's memories contributed to the substance of her stories, and how Alice's own reality exposed her larger psychological problems. Alice witnessed first hand how the United States treated women as second class citizens after World War Two. This experience made her cynically view later feminist movements in the 1970s. Throughout her life she was a witness to human violence and cruelty, whether it was in colonial Africa or in the United States of America. All of this fed into her Science Fiction stories. Tiptree was something that started as a joke for her and then became almost an emotional release at times. She was able to correspond with so many fans, publishers and other authors under this persona, that Tiptree literally provided her with a second life. Tiptree was an elaborate game for her; his actions helped her through so many depressive moods. Unfortunately, the game only led so far, by the end of the 1970s Alice was taking numerous prescription drugs and was addicted to Dexadrine (something that started when she worked for the CIA). Her quick mind could only see one way out and she entered into a death pact with her husband. Finally in 1987, she shot her husband as he slept then herself. At that point she could not deal with growing old and losing her sensibilities in a world that grew colder. Julie Phillips new biography illuminates through a thorough study of all of Alice's stories and correspondence the life of a truly remarkable woman.

For a more detailed look at this biography, I highly recommend Carter Scholz's review of it in Bookforum.

Stories:

The Screwfly Solutionby Raccoona Sheldon

Beam Us Home by James Tiptree, Jr.

The Women Men Don't See by James Tiptree, Jr.


suggested links:

The official site of Julie Phillips regarding the book in question, author interviews, excerpts, praise etc.

The Tiptree Award

Congo Journey - John le Carré writing in the Nation

Fantastic Fiction Uk bio

Publisher of "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" tachyon

Alice's professor at Sarah Lawrence College and life long friend Rudolf Arnheim

Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change

From the Chelsea Green publishing newsletter:

Eight Chelsea Green authors will speak and lead workshops at the Second Annual Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change conference presented by the Marion Institute on the campus of UMASS Dartmouth, October 20 to 22. Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change is an internationally acclaimed annual gathering of environmental, industry and social justice innovators who have demonstrated visionary and practical models for restoring the Earth and its inhabitants.

Participating CGP Authors
John Abrams, The Company We Keep
Dale Bell and Harry Wiland, Edens Lost & Found
Stephan Harding, Animate Earth
John Lash, Not in His Image
Lynn Margulis, Luminous Fish (Spring 2007 title)
Gunter Pauli, Upsizing and Zeri Fables
Jessica Prentice, Full Moon Feast
Matthew Sleeth, Serve God, Save the Planet
Eric Toensmeier, Edible Forest Gardens and Perennial Vegetables (Spring 2007 title)
Tim Traver, Sippewissett

Recent Articles

Fish farms kill wild salmon, study finds [CBC News] (Full Story)

Infamous French Art Thief to release memoir [CBC News] (Full Story)

Author J.G.Ballard's influence on Music [CBC News] (Full Story)

STEPHEN H. BURRINGTON, A new path for state park system [Boston Globe] (Full Story)

"off the cuff" - on hiatus this week

Chris is covering the No Commercial Potential I time slot tonight from 7-10pm EST on WZBC 90.3fm in the Boston Area. Listen in -- it should be good.

Also of note, Mike Cronin who used to do the Widow's Walk programme on WZBC (prior to my arrival) will be stopping by this Monday afternoon to contribute to The Kraft-o-Matic Bed o' Nails
its described as "A weekly program of music designed to be highly adjustable,
though not guaranteed to be comfortable."
Mondays 5-7 PM on WZBC 90.3 FM in Boston

Enjoy.

recent articles

The German Chancellor Warns Against Self-Censorship (CBC Article).

The FCC Censors PBS (New York Observer Article)

Super 8 is on the way out (Guardian UK Article)

John O’Mahony wonders about the effectiveness of dance to describe humanity’s cruel acts.

Sven Nykvist, Ingmar Bergman's Cinematographer passed away at the age of 83.

Sven Nykvist - one of the greatest cinematographers of the 20th century passed away.

Futher details can be found here:

CBC

Obituary in the Guardian UK -- accompanied by a nice slideshow of his work.

imdb list of films he worked on

Chris Fujiwara's article on the series at the Harvard Film Archive circa 2000.

Deval Patrick: a primer

A friend in Brooklyn just asked me for some information about the man who just won the Democratic Party's nomination for Governor in the State of Massachusetts.

The basic information is at his website, which has a comprehensive biography.

Deval has been a lot of places the other canidates haven't.
He was the only candidate to attend this meeting.

John Nichols reporting in the Nation weighs in here.

An article in the Boston Globe is referenced on Daily Kos.

take some time out

Ok ok. They asked for something of substance here something raw and personal. You get that every once and awhile. I suppose upon cursory examination its all there, exposed in the moonlight -- all you have to do is look. Perhaps you do. Then again, its so easy to make judgments, so easy to laugh at it all, without processing a damn thing. People have said it for ages: it is really about time, space, and memory. The three things you cannot escape, no matter how hard you try. This all ends in some cold, emotional truth-- best expressed in the transience of life. Best expressed in the wryness of her smile, one that I hope is true, that I have to believe is of some index, some touch of happiness in the moment. I read and I learn and I persevere as much as I can-- without sitting straight and producing something. Excitement? Content? A coherent passage into reality. I sit here pulling out the maps of prior memories, hopes, wishes and dreams. They are all I have left, as you'd imagine I'd say. A sick, perverse, bitter conformity to the whims of the present. You could say this at any age, if you were simplistic about it. This point, this irrational moment occurred a few months ago and haunts me still. Memories, especially ones relating to unexplainable incidents have a way of doing that -- of deteriorating all our senses by feeding them informaiton they cannot process. That is what happened to me. I am still recovering from the bruises and burns in my psyche. Funny how I have to go through this everytime, to cut through it all before I can start thinking clearly, before I can start writing.

Hej hej. Excellent Article on Labrador Records

The wonders of Swedish indie-pop in today's Guardian UK - Jude Rogers on The Stockholm Syndrome. Perhaps Sofia Coppola's new film, Marie-Antoinette, will have an effect as well, The Radio Dept has three songs on its soundtrack. I really just want to see them play live at a small venue before a tidal wave of hype takes over.

The Seducer (Forføreren) by Jan Kjærstad

The Seducer (Forføreren) by Norwegian author, Jan Kjærstad, was finally published in English translation in the United States this summer. It is the first book in a trilogy of his that was originally written in the mid-1990s. The book concerns the activities of television documentary producer, Jonas Wergeland. It positions itself as somewhere in between biography and fiction, or at least, that's the book's primary conceit as its language and methods exist wholly in the territory of fiction. However, the enormous presence of all the characters in the book lend it to the idea of biography, they are vivid and many times larger than life. In the beginning, in a chapter called "The Big Bang", the one event that starts the book's mechanism occurs, Jonas comes home after working on his television programme abroad, Jonas comes to his apartment in Oslo to find his wife dead on their living room floor. It is from this event that Jonas Wergeland's universe is blown apart. The book from here on in consists of past reflections, memories of childhood, family interactions, and sexual encounters in his life. These events are bracketed by chapters dealing with the subject's television programme "Thinking Big", a documentary series that focusses on an event in a famous Norwegian's life (such as Ole Bull, Fridtjof Nansen, Gustav Vigeland, Armauer Hansen, Per Spook and Knut Hamsun) and uses this to ruminate upon Norway's place in the world; it looks at the world through the prism of Norway. The seemingly omniscient narrator (and as yet, unknown) is quite critical of Norwegian life and has some startling insight into contempoary history. If you know very little of the History of Norway, The Seducer is certainly a fun and exciting way to educate oneself. It is a book full of active learning and responses to contempoary and past events. As Jonas drifts into his past, considering who could have been responsible for his wife's grisly end, his actions speak to the reader as the sign of a man with an active imagination, one who is able to examine history by his sheer contrary stance to it. Time and again, Jonas' life is marked by his conscious decision to be different, to shake things up by doing things contrary to the zeitgeist. It is usually during these moments that the narrator is able to make comments about the single-mindedness of Norwegian culture and its resistence to certain kinds of change. I found these moments of the book quite fascinating. This is not to say that the book is all history and politics-- it is the tale of a Seducer, after all. Jonas Weregeland is a seducer of the Norwegian public in watching and loving his programme and he is also a lover of women. That is to say he is the great lover of women, he does nothing to entice them to stay with him, he merely has to look in their direction, they sense his presence and must have him. This is the way numerous sexual events are described during his adolescence. Jonas is able to have intimate knowledge with the most wonderful and bizzare women (each with last name abbreviated), who in later years become experts in their fields and great champions of Norway. All of these events form a mosaic in the life of a man, a man who is bound up in his identity as a Norwegian and as a citizen of the world, at the same time that he sets himself apart from his homeland, he also illustrates that he can never escape it. This book is a charming and exciting read from start to finish. Jan Kjærstad is an author of enormous skill, his tale of Jonas Wergeland raises many questions, it makes me thirst for the second book in the trilogy.

Further information:

the Complete Review

Odin Trends in Contemporary Norwegian Literature

Publisher's information:

Overlook Press

H. Aschehoug & Co

Arcadia Books

Birds fly by flapping their wings

Its true, I thought, or at least it was at the time. The perpetual human struggle, the need to cope with the transitory nature of life. It is the most troubling thing to deal with. At all times and for every time. I feel it shake me awake, I cannot sleep early in the morning I shiver from the morning coldness. This strange chill never leaves me. I can feel each link of my icy vertebrae. My skin barely covers my bonees anymore. It hangs there limply, signifying nothing. After all these years, I have only succeeded in alienating myself from old and new friends and family alike. What comes natural to me is perceived as sickness to them. It is rude, perhaps even egotistical to present myself as the perpetual outsider, not even comfortable in his own skin. I stick to certain rules, certain modes of being that I hope would have helped-- to form forever strenghtening bonds. This is not so. A handful of friends and acquaintences keep me afloat. The one aching vessel I construct for myself lasts slightly over a year. Perhaps this is through no fault of my own. Perhaps people are guided by ther libidos more than anything else. I am either too consumed by fear or self-defeat to make much of myself. The moments when something good happens, I am too pushy or emotionally ignorant -- or both or neither for that matter. The waves drift over me still, I long to be swept out to sea, to feel my body surrounded by water. I don't want to see patterns anymore, to trace certain histories to their supposed endpoints. This is the final point, this is the conclusion I am faced with, a troubling icy state from which I will never be released. The only thing that takes my mind off it is space, that is to say, bucolic landscapes, expanses of green with trees and animals existing peacefully. The indiviual out in the world, at once bringing the world to others through the prisim of his or her being. This unkempt arrangement of ideas and facts places one in the gulfstream of everyday life. I seek to provoke and to champion the unknown, to unearth hidden desires and perspectives, to find individual personalities wrapped up in the larger picture. I study and take notes on my own self-prescribed course of learning as I have since I was born. I read constantly and occasionally see films. I haven't been listening to as much music as I'd like to-- although I really have to be in the mood to do that as it can be very distracting at times. Its just a question of sitting down and piecing together these ideas as best I can. To elicit a forceful reaction, the strenghth of persective tells a story. The individual perpetually alone in the world, for ever and for always, nothing makes sense until you define it on your own terms. Get the subject to admit or better, to evade his or her flaws. Admit that we are all shallow to a certain extent, that we all lack the substance we have occation to dream about. I persist now, actions born of habit and the need to explore what's left of this world. Then again, I insist upon 'persistence' in this moment, in the next I may just as easily be consumed by despair, by a flood of superflous desire, by the futility of ever 'persisting' forward to tomorrow.

PAN SONIC in Boston this Thursday!

From the press release:

Thursday, September 7th, 2006. 9:00pm.

Non-Event Presents:

PAN SONIC (Rare US appearance)

with Keith Fullerton Whitman (Hrvatski)
and Jason Lescalleet

Great Scott
1222 Commonwealth Avenue
Allston, MA
617.566.9014
http://www.greatscottboston.com
$10.00 at the door. 18+

Non-Event is proud to present the first Boston appearance in many
years by legendary electronica outfit Pan Sonic - the duo of Mika
Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen - who are making a rare and brief US tour
this September.

"There is no theory for PAN SONIC. We have no plan. We just make the
music." - Mika Vainio

Finnish minimalist techno group Pan sonic are among the most active
and well-known artists from that country's tiny experimental techno
underground, and the first to reach acclaim at an international level.
Pursuing the jagged edges of minimal techno and hardcore, the group
have earned an enduring association with industrial and noise music
through their incorporation of antiseptic production techniques and
power-tool electronics, landing them in 1995 on the English Mute
label's experimental subsidiary Blast First! (most of their catalog to
date has since appeared there). The affinity lay more at the surface,
however, as Pan sonic are better understood as a collision between
Jeff Mills and Mike Ink; dance-based electronic music with a maximum
of impact, realized through a minimum of extraneous detail. Known for
junking together studio equipment from spare parts and ancient analog
debris, Pan sonic's search for the untried in techno is their
compositional M.O., placing them closer to the music's Detroit roots
than is often understood.

"[Pan Sonic are] the only band taking our idea further" - Alan Vega of
Suicide

Link: http://www.phinnweb.org/panasonic/

NON-EVENT'S WEBSITE IS CURRENTLY DOWN. WE ARE WORKING TO GET IT BACK
ONLINE; IN THE MEANTIME, PLEASE GO TO WWW.MYSPACE.COM/NONEVENT FOR INFO ON
UPCOMING SHOWS.

Upcoming:
9.9.06 :: Rhys Chatham's Essentialist with Heathen Shame :: MassArt (North
181)

Live 1,000 lives by picture

There is so much to say. I want to take the time to formulate an adequate response to all these events swirling around me. It is the last day of August. I still have so much to do. A few errands to run momentarily trucates the entry- turns it into a brief taster for things to come. So much of what is here is devoted to my perception of the world. Things and Events that interest me. My position in all of this is that of the critic, the artist who seeks to enrich lives by commenting on them, to shape his own life by correcting it at every turn. It is so easy to think that everything is in decline from what we produce culturally and political to, on a more fundamental level, the manner in which we treat other human beings. There needs to be a happy medium between self-interest and concern for others. I have received support from close friends in recent weeks.

My friend Tom recommended this poem:

Wait
--Galway Kinnell

Wait, for now.
Distrust everything if you have to.
But trust the hours. Haven't they
carried you everywhere, up to now?
Personal events will become interesting again.
Hair will become interesting.
Pain will become interesting.
Buds that open out of season will become interesting.
Second-hand gloves will become lovely again;
their memories are what give them
the need for other hands. And the desolation
of lovers is the same: that enormous emptiness
carved out of such tiny beings as we are
asks to be filled; the need
for the new love is faithfulness to the old.

Wait.
Don't go too early.
You're tired. But everyone's tired.
But no one is tired enough.
Only wait a little and listen:
music of hair,
music of pain,
music of looms weaving all our loves again.
Be there to hear it, it will be the only time,
most of all to hear
the flute of your whole existence,
rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into total exhaustion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

My friend Khadijah sent me this poem (bracketed by an excerpt of our chat):
Khadijah: that sounds like blaming her not yrself
...
3:33 PM shitty thing is when things work we feel good about ourselves when they fail we feel like shit and then time passes and we realize there's no other way it could've gone down...
chemistry
timing
issues
shit
life shit!
me: yeah
3:34 PM Khadijah: but that maybe if one or both of you can work through whatever is creating the walls, if there's something retrievable, you'll retrieve it.
but if not,
i have a poem for you.
me: i feel like she's moving on with her life and i'm standing still
or not
hmmm
3:35 PM she still really wants to be friends

Khadijah:

A Community of the Spirit

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and "being" the noise.
Drink "all" your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.
Open your hands,
if you want to be held.
Sit down in this circle.
Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd's love filling you.
At night, your beloved wanders.
Don't accept consolations.
Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover's mouth in yours.
You moan, "She left me." "He left me."
Twenty more will come.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.

There's a strange frenzy in my head,
of birds flying,
each particle circulating on its own.
Is the one I love "everywhere?"
3:36 PM You moan, "She left me." "He left me."
Twenty more will come.
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.

3:37 PM me: wow thanks
Khadijah: that's rumi
13th cen
sufi poet

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Both response, in their own ways are quite apt, I am thankful to have such good friends.

Martial Canterel

Martial Canterel is my friend Sean McBride's electronic project. The album "Confusing Outsides" may have been described on the genetic music website as sounding like "The Wake without guitars". Or perhaps this is how I remember it, at any rate, this description is fairly accurate, it also reminds one of early Human League and Section 25, that is to say, definately like something coming out of Northern England and Northern Europe in the late '70s early 80s. It is appropriate that Martial Canterel is labelmates with Skanfrom aka sleeparchive, (interview with Sleeparchive here) both have an affinity for making music which references and uses original (vintage) equipment to produce solid, fat, chunky analogy synth sounds. Some of the songs also remind me of Mark Van Hoen's solo work and his Locust project. I started playing Martial Canterel's work since first hearing about it in 2004. It was kind of a pain to track down as I had to order it directly from the Belgian distributor flexx. Needless to say, it was definately worth the effort. If you really like older synth sounds combined with narratives about the emptiness of modern life, I suggest you immediately track down Martial Canterel's work.


Check out Martial Canterel's official site.

Speaking in Code - benefit in Boston tonight!!!

Speaking in Code Benefit - details here.

Cheers!

Top 25 most played - as of today

This is what my itunes says right now - any questions?

I Want Some Fun Funkstörung feat. Jay Jay Johanson !K7 (Disc 2)
Leave Me Alone 4:40 New Order Retro [Disc 2]
Velocity Girl 1:22 Primal Scream Shoot Speed (More Dirty Hits)
Ivy Ivy Ivy 3:04 Primal Scream Shoot Speed (More Dirty Hits)
The Worst Taste In Music (Extended) 3:21 The Radio Dept. Pet Grief
Missing You 2:33 Club 8 Waking Up
Jarvcast 001 7:49 Jarvis Cocker Jarvcast Podcast
I Want Some Fun 4:36 Jay-Jay Johanson Antenna
Suicide Is Painless 3:30 Jay-Jay Johanson Black Session 04/1997
Colder (I Want You No More) 4:41 Jay-Jay Johanson Poison
Time Is Running Out 2:41 Jay-Jay Johanson Poison
Little White Lies 3:54 At Swim Two Birds Quigley's Point
Bonfire On The Field 8:13 Chihei Hatakeyama Minima Moralia
It's A Kid's World 4:32 Disco Inferno
Weakness And Fever 5:22 The Durutti Column The Fruit Of The Original Sin
Real Drums - Real Drummer 2:42 The Durutti Column Vini Reilly
Still All Stands Still 3:00 Eggstone
Wirbelwind Am Manual 0:39 Felix Kubin Matki Wandalki
Menthol Radio Swing 1:59 Felix Kubin Matki Wandalki
Too Technical 2:30 Felix Kubin Matki Wandalki
N.C.R. 4:55 Funkstörung Viceversa
Bad Kid 3:41 Hopper
Capitalism Stole My Virginity 3:32 The International Noise Conspiracy
Poison 4:09 Jay-Jay Johanson Poison
Humiliation 3:06 Jay-Jay Johanson Poison

moving forward - entries

(listening to Jay-Jay Johanson "I want some fun" and most of his "Poison" album)

Left here, cut off, cast away, set adrift, with so many unanswered questions, so many directions left to pursue, in the borderlands. I look for organization, a structure, a way to apply my knowledge to make use of it for the benefit of society, or primarily so it doesn't just sit there, waiting so long for that next moment to come. I cannot keep myself afraid, alone, living in fear for the rest of my life. So many simple things that others do not understand, All these actions that I am subject to, that I am bothered by, a life that is pushed in so many directions trying to define a path, an interest, a whim, a lucrative prospect- At the very least something to prevent my body from shutting down. This shell of skin an bone, the perpetual defeated adolescent, still learning still moving on. To love the apprehension of knowledge and sacrifice. I try to temper my interests and desires-- but every day it is a battle. Some days I feel so helplessly myopic, if only I could sense the future, to taste and smell its movement. Now, it is as before, how I was over a year ago, alone in this city.

This is, in the end, about a kind of prevention, a kind of mechanism, the teeth that hold the right key in place and make it turn. Perhaps it is this, or rather these parts of me, the ones that restrain my action so much that are most open to exploration. The moment, the manner in which I pass through time and space, is coded by so many signals that are unknown to me. I only recognize these things in hindsight. My seeming irritability is a defense mechanism. The sudden urge "not to" do something, this is what marks my life. I believe it comes from a primal instinct to protect the body. On the surface it may seem irrational or just plain silly, but in the moment it all comes across as absolutely necessary. I say to myself, "I've done this before, I've traced these steps again and I know where they lead.", and I stop completely. Only the selfish, the truly self-absorbed fail to recognize this.

My thought is born of so many actions, my presence alone should be treated with some slight respect. Oh, I feel these arrogant thoughts seeping in now, but they are again drawn out by the absence of action, my own reluctance to take control of life.

I read and gather information as always. It is my lifeblood, my one true love, the exercise of my mind to question and explore methods of existence.

Crime Writer to Donate 82 Sickerts to Harvard

From the Art Newspaper Bulletin:

"Patricia Cornwell, who believes that the artist was Jack the Ripper, has promised her entire collection to the Fogg Art Museum

By Martin Bailey | Posted 20 August 2006

LONDON. The crime writer Patricia Cornwell has promised to donate 82 works by the artist Walter Sickert to the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is part of Harvard University. This massive collection, worth millions of dollars, was assembled while Ms Cornwell was writing Portrait of a Killer, published in 2002. The controversial book concludes that Sickert was Jack the Ripper, who brutally murdered prostitutes in London’s East End in 1888."

Full article here.

It's funny that this should come on the heels of a recent exhibition: Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris, 1870–1910, Catalog of the exhibition by Anna Gruetzner Robins and Richard Thomson an exhibition at Tate Britain, London,October 5, 2005–January 15, 2006; and the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.,February 18–May 14, 2006(Tate Publishing, 231 pp., $55.00) and a biography, Walter Sickert: A Life by Matthew Sturgis (HarperCollins, 768 pp., $50.00) both of which were reviewed by Sanford Schwarz in the May 25, 2006 issue of the New York Review of Books.

Yale University Press also has Paintings, which was the catalogue a retrospective exhibition of Sickert's works at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in the early 1990s. Wendy Baron, director of the British Government Art Collection, has a future book coming out next year on Sickert's Paintings and Drawings which should be nearly definitive.

"Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion" dir. Elio Petri (1970) - August 17 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

This Thursday night I strongly urge you to attend the screening of Elio Petri's film "Investigation of A Citizen Above Suspicion" at The Brattle Theatre. This is by far the highlight of the Brattle's lastest schedule. This film acts on so many levels as a pop thriller and political tract that has strangely been neglected despite winning the Grand Prix special at Cannes Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1970.

These are the details:

Thursday, August 17

Italian Masters
Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion at 7:30, 10:00
(1970) dir Elio Petri w/Gian Maria Volante, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio [112 min]

I first saw this film as part of The Films of Elio Petri series that played at the Harvard Film Archive in 2003. To better explain the film- this is the description of it from the series:

"Inaugurating a cycle of cinema politico in Italy, Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is a dark and satirical political thriller set during a time of internal political disturbance, where a psychopathic Roman police inspector (Volonte) cracks down with relish on the political dissidents of the day. After slashing the throat of his masochistic mistress (Bolkan), the inspector is perversely put in charge of the investigation. With sadistic pleasure, he plants clues that implicate himself and then craftily diffuses them, ostensibly to prove his invincibility. As director Petri's split-second edits rocket back and forth between flashback and detection, Investigation becomes a biting critique of Italian police methods and authoritarian repression, a psychological study of a budding crypto-fascist, and a probing why-dunnit. The iciest of film noirs, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film of 1970."

To the best of my knowledge, this film is still unavailable on DVD. Perhaps the good people at No Shame Films will release it in the USA.
A decent primer on his life and works can be found here.
Check the official Eilo Petri Website for another look at the film.

Verso Books Fall 2006

Verso’s Latest – all dates subject to change

Due in September:
John Le Carré, Brian Eno, Harold Pinter, Richard Dawkins, Haifa Zangana and Michel Faber
Not One More Death
Mike Davis City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (new edition)
Antonia Lant Red Velvet Seat: Women’s Writings on the First Fifty Years of Cinema

October: Patrick Cockburn The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq

November:
Tariq Ali Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope
Dr. Rice in the House edited by Amy Scholder –
the list of contributors on this is pretty impressive:
Kate Bornstein, author of My Gender Workbook
Wanda Coleman, author of The Riot Inside Me: More Trials and Tremors
Thulani Davis, author of My Confederate Kinfolk
Lisa Duggan, author of The Twilight of Equality?
Eeve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues
Karen Finley, author of George & Martha
Laura Flanders, author of Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man
Coco Fusco, author of English Is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas
Hattie Gossett, author of Presenting Sister Noblues
Jessica Hagedorn, author of Dogeaters
Rachel Holmes, author of Scanty Particulars: The Scandalous Life and Astonishing Secret of James
Barry, Queen Victoria’s Most Eminent Military Doctor
Arianna Huffington, publisher of Huffingtonpost.com
Margo Jefferson, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of On Michael Jackson
Jason King, Associate Chair of the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at NYU
Peter Kwong, author of Chinese America: The Untold Story of America’s Oldest New Community
Rekha Malhotka, aka DJ Rekha, producer of Basement Bhangra
Mandy Merck, author of Perversions: Deviant Readings
Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, author of Rhythm Science
Jill Nelson, author of Sexual Healing
Avital Ronell, athor of Crack Wars: Literatre, Addiction, Mania
Faith Ringgold, author of Tar Beach
Sapphire, author of Push
Carolee Schneemann, author of Imagining Her Erotics
Kara Walker, MacArthur fellow and visual artist
Rebecca Walker, author of Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self

January 2007:
Jacques Rancière Hatred of Democracy
“As certain governments are exporting democracy by brute force, and a reactionary strand in mainstream political opinion is willing to abandon civil liberties and destroy collective values of equality, Rancière explains how democracy—government by all—is the principle that de-legitimates any form of power based on the superiority of those who govern. Hence the fear, and consequently the hatred, of democracy amongst the new ruling class. Hatred of Democracy rediscovers the ever-new and subversive power of the democratic idea.”

Beatriz Sarlo Jorge Luis Borges: A Writer on the Edge
And works in their Radical Thinkers series due to be published January 2007
Radical Thinkers II
Theodor Adorno et al. Aesthetics and Politics: Debates Between Theordor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Bertolt Brecht, Georg Lukacs Giorgio Agamben Infancy and History: On the Destruction of Experience Louis Althusser Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx Jean Baudrillard Fragments Peter Dews Logics of Disintegration: Poststructuralist Thought and the Claims of Critical Theory Fredric Jameson Late Marxism: Adorno: Or, The Persistance of the Dialectic Ernesto Laclau Emancipation(s) Antonio Negri Political Descartes: Reason, Ideology and the Bourgeois Project Jacques Rancière On the Shores of Politics Paul Virilio Strategy of Deception Raymond Williams Politics of Modernism: Against the New Conformists Slavoj Zizek The Indivisible Remainder: On Schelling and Related Matters

transcription of recent events

7.22.2006 8a.m. (park in Cambridge, MA)

It is quite foggy out right now, I feel a touch of rain on my shoulder. I have no plans today apart from reading and writing. There are three dogs racing about across the park-- two big ones and little one. It sounds like they are having fun. Things are generally quiet now. I have to decide whether to go apartment hunting or to stay at the same place for another year. I know M-- is busy apartment hunting and adjusting to life in Boston. It's been a week since we returned from Sweden and Denmark. A few changes have been made since that time. We are still living apart-until further notice. Time is needed to focus on our own lives, to improve ourselves, to snap out of this inertia--at least that's what I have to do-definitively. A moment: I feel as though I am sitting in a very gray cloud. It is not quite rain, though it feels like it might pick up at any moment. My back is slightly wet-It is nearly time to put my jacket on. Not a bad day for cycling, I gather-that is apart from the damp roads. Heavy thunderstorms pass through here-today and tomorrow. I don't particularly relish staying at home. Perhaps I'll see a film or stay in doors somewhere. Lots of little birds are about as well. I may pause to put my coat on-maybe this will turn to actual rain. There are so may things besides all this racing through my mind. However, I think it is best to start with the immediate present. Seems a little odd perhaps to wake up early, get an ice coffee, then walk to the park for a little observation. I need to sit at a desk someplace where there are few distractions. Everything has the echo of finality or the desperate concerns of the present. A year ago around this time I was desperately falling in love. I'd just returned home from Montreal and had the rest of the summer to play with. Now, now I'm not so sure of what I'm left with.

8.12.2006 7:30pm (Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA)
You're going to crash hard if you continue to do this. These seemingly endless circles, recollections of monochrome, tie a noose around your precious lifeline. Still, nothing is happening. People are away, the tourists don't even dominate this space. I feel decades old echoes pierce my eardrums with the bitter consequences of time spent passing. No one to watch over me now. Absolute freedom always comes at a price. A walk for...no, I cannot even make that suggestion. It is far too much. Staccato prose without dignity = primitive humiliation. I am drawn to other moments by the hotel. By this time the winds roll in. I catch a slight cold and anticipate change. Give me it! This great disparity erodes my insides, I am a shell; a husk clamoring for a remade identity. If you don't remake yourself-- others will do it for you. Poverty of the soul is ubiquitous.

Ellen Allien & Apparat - USA TOUR

AUG 31, 2006 USA NEW YORK HIRO BALLROOM/ELLEN ALLIEN&APPARAT LIVE

SEP 1, 2006 CANADA TORONTO CIRCA/ELLEN ALLIEN&APPARAT LIVE

SEP 2, 2006 CANADA MONTRéAL SAT/ELLEN ALLIEN&APPARAT LIVE

SEP 3, 2006 USA CHICAGO SMART BAR/ELLEN ALLIEN&APPARAT LIVE

La Rupture - the end of summer

Just a few more weeks and its all over. The primary concern is to save this moment. Details will come later, when I have more time. I'm going to watch Alain Tanner's MESSIDOR tonight.

new Jay Jay Johanson album!!! for release in October

Album Title:
THE LONG TERM PHYSICAL EFFECTS ARE NOT YET KNOWN

Track 01: SHE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE
Track 02: TIME WILL SHOW ME
Track 03: COFFIN
Track 04: ROCKS IN POCKETS
Track 05: AS GOOD AS IT GETS
Track 06: ONLY FOR YOU
Track 07: TELL ME WHEN THE PARTY'S OVER
Track 08: BREAKING GLASS
Track 09: NEW YEARS EVE
Track 10: JAY-JAY JOHANSON AGAIN
Track 11: PREQUIEM
Track 12: PECULIAR

Good interview about the album and the direction Jay-Jay is going in.

"Where The Days Go" - New July Skies Album

From the press release:

'Where The Days Go' CD ALBUM

The new July Skies CD has just been released and is a 19 track album that collects together a US radio session broadcast in 2003; tracks from the ep 'At The Height of Summer'; 9 new tracks many intended for 'The English Cold' CD; 2 epic45 reworkings and a live track from the first ever July Skies performance at the ICA in London in 2002. Artwork for the 8 page booklet has once more been carefully prepared by Martin Andersen of Andersen M Studio in keeping with the previous two albums.

It can be purchased from our Make Mine Music shop.

Full tracklisting for the album:

July Skies 'Where The Days Go' Compilation CD (MMM021)

1. Coastal Stations (Radio WZBC Session)
2. Swallows and Swifts (Radio WZBC Session)
3. Countryside of 1939 (Radio WZBC Session)
4. Learning With Mother (Radio WZBC Session)
5. The Softest Kisses (b-side 'At The Height of Summer)
6. The Days We Played (b-side 'At The Height of Summer)
7. Southern Orchards (b-side 'At The Height of Summer)
8. Childhood Illustrator
9. The Map That Came To Life
10. Berkswell
11. It's Late In The Day For Love
12. Wiltshire Days and Skies
13. August Country Fires (epic45 remix)
14. RAF Saxa Vord
15. Autumn Fires
16. Waiting To Land (epic45 remix)
17. Air To Ground at Manorbier
18. You Take Me Through The Day
19. Coastal Stations (Live at the ICA 02.02.02)

Live 2006

July Skies will be playing live supporting Secret Shine (ex Sarah Records) at the following venues:
20 September 2006 - Birmingham, Flapper and Firkin
23 September 2006 - Bristol Louisiana

Many thanks for listening and information on the new July Skies album 'The Weather Clock' very soon!

Kind Regards

Antony
july skies myspace
july skies website

I'm back in town - on the air tonight!

Finally, for those of you who have been waiting-- after a three week absence from the airwaves, I'll be on the air tonight from 7-10pm EST on WZBC. Nothing too excessive tonight, just a lot of good songs.

Listen in if you can.

Venice Film Festival - premieres

the CBC reports:

"the festival's opening film, Black Dahlia, features Canadian actress Mia Kershner in the title role. Brian DePalma directed the highly anticipated film, based on crime writer James Ellroy's novel of the same name. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank and Josh Hartnett.

Another potential North American blockbuster is Allen Coulter's Hollywoodland, starring Adrien Brody and Ben Affleck, which dramatizes the investigation into the death of George Reeves, star of the 1950s TV show Adventures in Superman.

Other high-profile competitors for the top prize include Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine; Emilio Estevez's Bobby with Sharon Stone, Anthony Hopkins and Demi Moore, a movie about the assassination of the U.S. politician Robert Kennedy; Stephen Frear's The Queen, with Helen Mirren, James Cromwell and Michael Sheen and Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.

The other films in the competition include:

* Alain Resnais's Private Fears in Public Places, with Lambert Wilson and Sabine Azema.
* Two Italian films, La stella che non c'e, by Gianni Amelio and Nuovomondo (The Golden Door), by Emanuele Crialese.
* Zwartboek, a Dutch film by Basic Instinct director Paul Verhoeven.
* Two Japanese films, Paprika, an animated film by Satoshi Kon and Mushi-shi, by Katsuhiro Otomo.
* Fallen, by Barbara Albert from Austria.
* Daratt, by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, the first film to enter the festival from the African nation of Chad.
* L'Intouchable, a French film by Benoit Jacquot.

The festival will also feature promising films screening outside the competition, including Kenneth Branagh's The Magic Flute, with Joseph Kaiser and Amy Carson, and David Lynch's Inland Empire, with Laura Dern and Jeremy Irons."

Full article here.

Ellen Allien's Fashion Line

from the press release:

Bereits in ausgesuchten Läden auf der Stange, ist Ellen Alliens Fashion Line jetzt auch online erwerbar. Mit ihrer hochqualitativen Frauen-Kollektion hat sie an ihrem eigenen Körper die Art von Mode geschaffen, die sie selbst am liebsten tragen würde und auch trägt.

Online-Shop und mehr Infos: www.fashion.ellenallien.de

///***///***///***///***///***///***///***///***///

Being in the stores already, Ellen Allien's fashion line is now available at the online shop as well!
With her high quality women's collection she created on her own body the kind of fashion she would wear and wears.

Check it out at www.fashion.ellenallien.de

Tonight - Special on Tuxedomoon on WZBC

My friend James Kraus is starting tonight an hour early at 6pm EST to play live and rare Tuxedomoon. I'll be back on the air next week.

His press release is as follows:

Please join myself and Martin Sorger on Friday, June 16th at 6pm-8pm for
a 2 hour special Test Pattern on WZBC, 90.3 FM. After that I will be
playing two-hours of WZBC's No Commercial Potential programming till
10pm.

We will be featuring the rare releases, as well as hits, by Tuxedomoon
and their various solo and side projects.

Martin is an expert/aficionado of Tuxedomoon and their members. Martin
also used to do college radio and knows his way around a mic and
turntable.

Please join us and please don't forget my regular Friday show, In With
The Old, at 10-12pm, every Friday on WZBC, 90.3 FM.

See you on the air,

James F. Kraus

www.artguy.com/radio

Modeselektor tour starts May 3!

From the bpitch control e-mail:

As you might have heard already, Modeselektor will go on their first world tour starting on May 3!
They will touch base in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, then go over to Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) and after that take off to the U.S. First stop San Francisco where they will not perform yet but get into a truck and chuck along to Missoula - their first gig on the American soil. After that it's Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Boston. They will then cross the border to chill with the Canadians and rock Quebec and Toronto. Back to the states, to Detroit this time. In "Motor City" Modeselektor will attend a techno barbecue (wow!) and roast some Berlin sausages - hmm, yummy, home sweet home! With full bellies on to Cleveland and some rave party there. And, last but not least, with combed hair and polished shoes, the guys will play at Mutek/Montréal, their last show on this tour.

We hope that you and/or your friends, buddies, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and whoever wants to, can join them!

DATES:
04.05.2006 / JP / Tokio / Unit
05.05.2006 / JP / Nagoya / JBS
06.05.2006 / JP / Osaka / Candy
12.05.2006 / AU / Melbourne / Fukdupp! / Mercat Cross Hotel
13.05.2006 / AU / Sydney / Hermann's
17.05.2006 / US / Missoula / Earcandy
19.05.2006 / US / Seattle / Rebart
20.05.2006 / US / San Francisco / RX Gallery
23.05.2006 / US / New York / Apartment
25.05.2006 / US / Boston / Enormous
26.05.2006 / CA / Quebec / Galerie Rouje
27.05.2006 / CA / Toronto / El Mocambo / Math Hooker
28.05.2006 / US / Detroit / DEMF
01.06.2006 / CA / Montreal / Mutek

John Kenneth Galbraith

John Kenneth Galbraith, 1961 (AP photo)



- passed away age 97, yesterday at Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts


Jeff Madrick's piece from the May 26, 2005 issue of the New York Review of Books is highly recommended.


Today's Obits:
the Boston Globe
CBC
the Washington Post
the Guardian UK
The New York Times
le monde

Margaret Killgoar (1904-2006)

My grandmother passed away April 25, 2006.

Quiet Tonight

Expect to hear the work of John Foxx, Mark van Hoen, David Kristian and others tonight.

Also, probably some Trisomie 21 as they are currently in Canada. There is a good article on them in this week's Montreal Mirror.