Sex. In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact.
— Marlene Dietrich

We dont like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. Well, art is art, isnt it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... now you tell me what you know.
— Groucho Marx

Some people see the cup as half empty. Some people see the cup as half full. I see the cup as too large.
— George Carlin

Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
— William Blake



Last Saturday @ Asbury Hall

60 Second Cecil from John Massier on Vimeo.



Nathaniel Freeman: Killing Rowlando
@ Hallwalls thru TODAY
gallery hours Tues to Fri 11am to 6pm, Sat 1—4pm

Migrating Media: Upstate Preservation Network

PROJECT LAUNCH

Friday April 24th 2009 - 8pm

Squeaky Wheel, 712 Main St. Buffalo NY

$6 general / $4 members (proceeds to benefit project!)

"Buffalo, New York is the new home of a major media arts preservation initiative, Migrating Media: Upstate Preservation Network. This Friday, April 24th at 8pm, Squeaky Wheel/Buffalo Media Resources will host a public launch of this newly established digitization project that will rescue historic analog video collections. Thousands of fragile videotapes, currently in grave risk of complete decay, will not only be saved but made accessible to audiences for the first time in years. A screening of newly digitized works, which demonstrate the unique video art history of Upstate and Western New York, will follow a description of the project and an overview of the capabilities of newly donated digital migration equipment. The screening will feature works produced during residencies at the Experimental Television Center, previously preserved by the Standby Program (NYC), including works by Gary Hill, Barbara Hammer, Matthew Schlanger, Peer Bode, Connie Coleman and Alan Powell."

@ Hallwalls Tues, Apr 28, 8pm, FREE

"The University at Buffalo Department of Music is pleased to present BABEL...an experimental vocal ensemble. BABEL...an experimental vocal ensemble is a forum for exploring the mythologies and expressive possibilities of the human voice. The ensemble, comprised of both performers and composers, is under the direction of UB Assistant Professor of Music, Tony Arnold. Members include Randy Andre, Drew Burke, Christopher Culp, Amanda DeBoer, Rin Ozaki, Diana Soh and Laura Neese."


8 Days and Counting
ALFONSO VOLO: Thrifting For Beauty
Solo Exhibition op @ Hallwalls Sat. May 2, 8—11pm
artist's reading/performance @ 8pm




Opening Elsewhere
• Some Assembly Required UB Student Thesis Exhibition @ Tri-Main op Sat, Apr 25, 6-9pm (thru May 10)
• Richard Kersting, Fran Noonan @ Meiborn (E. Aurora) op Fri, May 1, 6-9pm (thru May 30)
• Fables and Truths @ Starlight Studio op Fri, May 8, 6-9pm (thru June 26)
• Matthew Palmo @ redFISH (E. Aurora) op Fri, Apr 24, 7-10pm (thru May 8)
• Visions of Greater Buffalo @ CEPA Sat, Apr 25, 7-9:30
• Writing With Light @ CEPA op Sat, May 2, 5:30-8
• Mark Freeland @ Gateway Gallery op Fri, Apr 24, 8-11pm
• Stephen Antonakos, Warren Isensee, Gary Lang, Melissa Meyers, Katherine Sehr @ Nina Freudenheim op Sat Apr 25, 6-8pm (thru June 12)



CEPA's Visions of Greater Buffalo

op Sat, April 25 w/ silent auction
with photos by J. Luis Acosta, Julio Alvarez, MD, Stuart Angert, Karen Arrison, Justin Azzarella, Barbara Baird, Jennifer Balbach, Scott Behrend, Eve Berry, Kathleen Lawley Best, Stephen Brereton, Richard Bryan, Michael Clarke, David Colligan, Chris Collins, Jim Crampton, Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, Shelley Drake, David L. Edmunds, Jr., Colleen Maroney Fahey, Angelo Fatta, Gretchen Fierle, Raymond L. Fink, Cynthia A. Firey, Amy Friedman, Eddie Friel, Michael Gainer, Pete Gallivan, Harvey Garrett, Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Robert D. Gioia, H. McCarthy Gipson, , Scott Goldman, DMD, Beth Gosch, Michael Gross, Rema S. Hanash, Barry Heneghan, Thomas Herrera-Mishler, Wesley Hicks, Jr., MD, Jeff Higginbotham, Ph.D., Monte Hoffman, William Hudson, Anthony Johnson, Roberta Joseph, Richard Kegler, George Kennedy, William J.Lawley, Jr., Daniel R. Leberer, Ronald Maier, Stephanie Malinenko, Theodore Marks, Harry G. Meyer, Jock Mitchell, Jane Mogavero, Mark Mortenson, Gail Nicholson, Virginia Oehler, Kevin O’Leary, Julie Barrett O'Neill, Marcia O'Neil-White, Joan Panepinto RN, RD, Ronald J. Papa, Russell E. Pawlak, Mark Gaston Pearce, Joy Pepper, Stephanie Pincus, MD, Jay Pomerantz, MD, Jack Quinn II, Jack Quinn III, Bridget Quinn-Carey, Bill Rupp, Elisabeth Samuels, Claire Schen, Katie Schneider, Ginger D. Schroder, Maria Scrivani, Suzy Sears, Ben Siegel, Stephanie J. Simeon, Sherry Sutton, Douglas Swift, Francisco M. Vasquez, Ph.D., Eric Walker, Jessica Walker, Bryan Whitley-Grassi, Maria R. Whyte, Anni Wild, Robin L. Wolfga
CEPA Gallery


Nancy Belfer @ Indigo

op Fri, May 1, 6-9pm (thru June 7)


@ Artspace May 1

Gary Nickard's Moment of Uncertainty

op @ CEPA Sat, May 2, 7-10pm (thru June 14)

Buffalo Society of Artists @ Betty's

op Monday, May 11, 6-9pm (thru July 12)

Continuing Elsewhere
• Michael Beitz, Matt Monroe @ Big Orbit thru Apr 24 Buffalo News
• Amy Greenan @ the Castellani thru May 17 and Kara Walker thru May 31 and Jed Jackson thru Sept 20
• Shelby Baron, Abbey Hendrickson, Ryan Legassicke @ 1716 Main Street thru Apr 25 Buffalo News
• David Andree @ Burchfield Nature & Art Center thru June 13
• NCCC Student Honors Exhibition thru May 12
• Deanna Clohessy @ Impact Artists Gallery thru Apr 11
• Nathan Naetzker @ Studio Hart thru May 2
• Autistic Services Exhibition op @ WNED Horizons Gallery thru Apr 29
• Dennis Bertram, Kara Daving, Lukia Costello, Jax Deluca, Val Dunne, Val Dunne, Connlith Keogh, Kevin Kegler, Iris Kirkwood @ Artspace thru Apr 26
• Interstices @ CEPA thru Apr 25
• Michael Beitz, Letha Wilson @ Buffalo Arts Studio thru May 22
• Don Nieman @ Buffalo Big Print thru Apr 28
• Glenn Murray, Bob Schultz, Tim Raymond, Joe Moran, Bob Schulman, Francisco Amaya, Candace Keegan, Neil Mahar, Ran Webber, Amanda Giczkowski, Nick DeMarchi, John Farallo @ College Street Gallery thru Apr 29
• Jozef Bajus, Sunhwa Kim, Tara Nahabetian, Robert Wood @ Indigo thru Apr 26
• Jackie Felix, Cathy Pardike, Coni Minneci @ the Carnegie thru May 2
• Kara Daving @ EcoCenter San Francisco thru June 20
• Enrique Chagoya @ Anderson Gallery thru Apr 26
• WNY Artists Group @ Art Dialogue thru Apr 24
• David Munson and Enrique Chagoya and First Year Undergrad Architects @ UB Anderson thru Apr 26
• Betty's 4th Annual Staff Exhibition thru May 10
• Bruce Jackson at the Albright Knox thru May 10
• Saya Woolfalk, Ani Hoover @ UB Art Gallery thru June 20
• Rita Argen Auerbach at The Mansion on Delaware (until daylight savings time ends)
• Diane Baker at The Mansion on Delaware (indefinitely)

Tom Hughes, Master of Beef

Beefmaster

Jax Deluca Reminds You To Submit

CALL FOR SUPER 8 FILMS: For Squeaky Wheel's Global Super 8 Day screening on May 8th. Send film by 5/1, DVD, or mini-DV submissions in any genre, under 10 min., w/ brief description to: Squeaky Wheel, 712 Main St., Bflo, NY 14202 (ATTN: Global Super 8) Want to make a super 8 film? Visit www.squeaky.org for workshop details - sign up by 4/24!

CALL FOR PIXELVISION ARTISTS: Got Pixelvision? Squeaky Wheel wants your Pixelvision videos for our upcoming Power to the Pixel screening May 22nd. Send film by 5/15, DVD, or mini-DV submissions in any genre, under 10 min., w/ brief description to: Squeaky Wheel, 712 Main St., Bflo, NY 14202 (ATTN: Pixelvision) Want to make a Pixelvision video? Visit www.squeaky.org for workshop details - sign up by May 1st!

The Third Coast: Call for Videos/Films about Water!

We’re looking for films and videos about water issues for the outdoor screening to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the signing of the Boundary Waters Treaty, in collaboration with Our Shared Waters. We accept documentaries, experimental films and narratives. The films and videos will be projected onto the Connecting Terminal Grain Elevator at the Erie Canal Harbor site. We accept DVD, mini-DV, VHS, 16mm and Super 8 film. Deadline June 2nd, 2009 (in-hand).

"They were all making art that combined elements of Pop and Conceptualism with social concerns about consumerism, political power and gender. Their work kept ideas to the fore but rematerialized them as images. Many of those images were photographic, extracted from everyday life, a life that was increasingly a creation of media culture..."

NY Times Cotter

"In more than 20 novels and story collections, Mr. Ballard coupled his potent descriptive powers with an imagination attracted to catastrophic events and a melancholy view of the human soul as being enervated and corrupted by the modern world."

NY Times obit

Something I listened to this week...

Meh. A perfectly fine, perfectly tepid compilation wherein the cover versions do not come close to approaching the originals. It's good enough, I enjoyed it, then promptly forgot it as soon as it was done. Not half as good as the boffo cover photo. Fine thing to revisit Gainsborough. Better thing to visit him.




Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.
— Plutarch

Life begins on the other side of despair.
— Jean Paul Sartre

The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is erroneous. On the contrary, it makes them for the most part, humble, tolerant, and kind. Failure makes people bitter and cruel.
— W. Somerset Maugham

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.
— Bertrand Russell

I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.
— Jack Benny



It's Almost Warm Enough for a Picnic Boy





Nathaniel Freeman: Killing Rowlando
@ Hallwalls thru April 14
gallery hours Tues to Fri 11am to 6pm, Sat 1—4pm




CECIL TAYLOR
Solo Performance
Asbury Hall @ Babeville
Sat. April 18, 8pm

"Soon after he first emerged in the mid-'50s, pianist Cecil Taylor was the most advanced improviser in jazz; five decades later he is still the most radical. Although in his early days he used some standards as vehicles for improvisation, since the early '60s Taylor has stuck exclusively to originals. To simplify describing his style, one could say that Taylor's intense atonal percussive approach involves playing the piano as if it were a set of drums. He generally emphasizes dense clusters of sound played with remarkable technique and endurance, often during marathon performances. Suffice it to say that Cecil Taylor's music is not for everyone."
Wikipedia
Buffalo News Simon


Limited Edition Silkscreens by White Bicycle will be available at the concert



@ Hallwalls Mon, Apr 20, 7-9pm
Buffalo MARK Artists' Talk

5 minute presentations by Bruce Adams, Mary Begley, Viktoria Ciostek, Elizabeth Emery, AJ Fries, Ani Hoover, Susan Lakin, Susan Mottalini, Catherine Linder-Spencer, Elizabeth Switzer, Kurt Treeby, Adam Weekley


15 Days and Counting
ALFONSO VOLO: Thrifting For Beauty
Solo Exhibition op @ Hallwalls Sat. May 2, 8—11pm
artist's reading/performance @ 8pm




Opening Elsewhere
• David Andree @ Burchfield Nature & Art Center op Sun, Apr 19, 1-3pm (thru June 13)
• NCCC Student Honors Exhibition op Thurs Apr 23 12:30—2pm (thru May 12)
• Some Assembly Required UB Student Thesis Exhibition @ Tri-Main op Sat, Apr 23, 6-9pm (thru May 10)
• Shelby Baron, Abbey Hendrickson, Ryan Legassicke @ 1716 Main Street op Sat, Apr 18, 7-10pm (thru Apr 25) Buffalo News

Dave's New Old Paintings

Nancy Belfer @ Indigo

op Fri, May 1, 6-9pm (thru June 7)

Gary Nickard's Moment of Uncertainty

op @ CEPA Sat, May 2, 7-10pm (thru June 14)

Continuing Elsewhere
• Michael Beitz, Matt Monroe @ Big Orbit thru Apr 24 Buffalo News
• Amy Greenan @ the Castellani thru May 17 and Kara Walker thru May 31 and Jed Jackson thru Sept 20
• Deanna Clohessy @ Impact Artists Gallery thru Apr 11• Nathan Naetzker @ Studio Hart thru May 2
• Autistic Services Exhibition op @ WNED Horizons Gallery thru Apr 29
• Dennis Bertram, Kara Daving, Lukia Costello, Jax Deluca, Val Dunne, Val Dunne, Connlith Keogh, Kevin Kegler, Iris Kirkwood @ Artspace thru Apr 26
• Interstices @ CEPA thru Apr 25
• Michael Beitz, Letha Wilson @ Buffalo Arts Studio thru May 22
• Don Nieman @ Buffalo Big Print thru Apr 28
• Glenn Murray, Bob Schultz, Tim Raymond, Joe Moran, Bob Schulman, Francisco Amaya, Candace Keegan, Neil Mahar, Ran Webber, Amanda Giczkowski, Nick DeMarchi, John Farallo @ College Street Gallery thru Apr 29
• Jozef Bajus, Sunhwa Kim, Tara Nahabetian, Robert Wood @ Indigo thru Apr 26
• Bill Gian @ Chow Chocolat thru Apr 23
• Jackie Felix, Cathy Pardike, Coni Minneci @ the Carnegie thru May 2
• Kara Daving @ EcoCenter San Francisco thru June 20
• Dan Crews, Peter Demos, Gabriele Evertz, Pierre Obando, Shawn Powell @ Nina Freudenheim thru Apr 21 Buffalo News
• Enrique Chagoya @ Anderson Gallery thru Apr 26
• WNY Artists Group @ Art Dialogue thru Apr 24
• David Munson and Enrique Chagoya and First Year Undergrad Architects @ UB Anderson thru Apr 26
• Betty's 4th Annual Staff Exhibition thru May 10
• Bruce Jackson at the Albright Knox thru May 10
• Saya Woolfalk, Ani Hoover @ UB Art Gallery thru June 20
• Rita Argen Auerbach at The Mansion on Delaware (until daylight savings time ends)
• Diane Baker at The Mansion on Delaware (indefinitely)

"What's remarkable about this show is how neat and clean everything is, even the innumerable AbEx ripoffs by artists too skill-deprived to name, as primly displayed as those of a fourth-grade classroom."

artnet Finch

"A drag queen named Taiwan is working the phone. His male lover has just proposed marriage, and Taiwan doesn’t know what to tell him. He calls his mother, then his grandmother, then a psychic hotline. He weighs church and small-town values against love and commitment. Shrieking and soul searching ensue."

NY Times Rosenberg

Marilyn Chambers 1952—2009

NY Times obit

“My personal proclivities have nothing to do with how I react as a librarian. Library service in this country should be based on the concept of intellectual freedom, of providing all pertinent information so a reader can make decisions for himself.”

NY Times obit

“It’s about trying to understand different kinds of sexual desire and how the culture defines them. It’s about how you can’t understand relations between men and women unless you understand the relationship between people of the same gender, including the possibility of a sexual relationship between them.”

NY Times obit

Something I listened to this week...

A seminal world music band combining Sengalese, Afro-Cuban, Son, and Pachanga music. I'm far too bereft in my world music chops to expound on this too much, but this is their most famous album and it's pretty tasty.



Originally released in 1993, I've been listening to it with regularity ever since. A selection from the 130 piano rolls George Gershwin made between 1916—1927. It's wild because these are the arrangement Gershwin himself devised and they're pretty jaunty and adventurous. Swanee, Sweet and Lowdown, a 14 minute version of Rhapsody in Blue, and a 16 minute version of An American In Paris, among others—including an obscure track with the terrific title, When You Want Em, You Can't Get Em, When You've Got Em, You Don't Want Em. Highly recommended.

Here's a video on piano roll production at QRS Music Rolls in Buffalo:






Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
— John Wesley

A sketch is better than a long speech.
— Napoleon

Everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded our religions and composed our masterpieces.
— Marcel Proust

If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain.
— André Maurois

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
— Mark Twain




Best Palindrome Video EVER






Nathaniel Freeman: Killing Rowlando
@ Hallwalls thru April 14
gallery hours Tues to Fri 11am to 6pm, Sat 1—4pm



@ Hallwalls TONIGHT Fri, Apr 10, 8pm
Cecil Taylor: All The Notes documentary

"Chris Felver's documentary captures the unconventional stance of this media-shy modern musical genius, regarded as one of the true giants of post-war music. An intimate portrait of a consummate musician and sound thinker in triumphant maturity, bringing out Taylor's nobility, devotion and belief in a truth that can only be found after a lifetime of invention. With Billy Bang, Amiri Baraka, Nathaniel Mackey, Thurston Moore, and others."

@ Hallwalls Wed, Apr 15, 7:30
Gray Hair Reading Series
Gunilla Theander Kester & John Marvin



@ Hallwalls Thurs, Apr 16, 8pm
UB Poetics presents
Jean-Pierre Bobillot: sound poetry performance

http://www.sitec.fr/users/akenatondocks/DOCKS-datas_f/collect_f/auteurs_f/B_f/BOBILLOT_F/Cerisy.jpg


@ Kleinhans Fri, Apr 17, 8pm
Just Buffalo & Hallwalls present
BABEL: Isabel Allenda



CECIL TAYLOR
Solo Performance
Asbury Hall @ Babeville
Sat. April 18, 8pm

"Soon after he first emerged in the mid-'50s, pianist Cecil Taylor was the most advanced improviser in jazz; five decades later he is still the most radical. Although in his early days he used some standards as vehicles for improvisation, since the early '60s Taylor has stuck exclusively to originals. To simplify describing his style, one could say that Taylor's intense atonal percussive approach involves playing the piano as if it were a set of drums. He generally emphasizes dense clusters of sound played with remarkable technique and endurance, often during marathon performances. Suffice it to say that Cecil Taylor's music is not for everyone."
Wikipedia


MARK YOUR CALENDARS
ALFONSO VOLO: Thrifting For Beauty
Solo Exhibition
op @ Hallwalls Sat. May 2, 8—11pm
artist's reading/performance @ 8pm




Opening Elsewhere
• The Romance of Urban Decay & Tony Sisti: Forgotten Regionalist op @ The BPAC FRi, Apr 10, 6:30—8:30pm Buffalo News
• Deanna Clohessy @ Impact Artists Gallery op Fri, Apr 10, 6—8pm (thru Apr 11)
• Candace Keegan clsoing reception @ Queen City Gallery Fri, Apr 10, 5:30—8:30pm
• Nathan Naetzker @ Studio Hart op Fri, Apr 10, 6—8pm (thru May 2)

Nathan Naetzker @ Studio Hart op Fri, Apr 10, 6-8pm thru May 2)

Buffalo News

The Free Translators

@ Squeaky Wheel Fri, Apr 10, 8pm

"In consideration of over thirty years of critical feminist studies concerning women as subjects of language, the Free Translators ask: What is your source? What is your Who? Your Where? Your When? Your How? For those of us who do not know, The Free Translators offer an array of possibilities: Miss Reading, Miss Communication, Miss Appropriation, Miss Opportunity, Miss Literacy, Miss Informed and of course… (their own) misgivings. The Free Translators present a program of video screenings deliberately complicating the textual content of our everyday lives and dedicated to the idea that multiple translations continually unhinge single meanings. With filmmakers in person!"

Dave's New Old Paintings

Bryan Hopkins All Over The Place

@ Yunomi Invitational, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, IA, 3/22 - 4/17/2009

@ Spoon it! Fork it! Cut it up!: A Salon Show of Domestic Ceramic Implements, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD , 4/25 - 5/30/2009

@ Small Favors IV, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA, 5/1 - 5/31/2009

@ NCECA 2009 Clay National Biennial Exhibition, Arizona State Univ. Art Gallery, Tempe, AZ, 3/22 - 5/30/2009

@ In Focus, Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ (I curated this show). 4/5 - 4/11/2009

Veneration, Eye Lounge Contemporary Art, Phoenix, AZ. 4/5 - 4/11/2009

Continuing Elsewhere
• Michael Beitz, Matt Monroe @ Big Orbit thru Apr 24 Buffalo News
• Amy Greenan @ the Castellani thru May 17 and Kara Walker thru May 31 and Jed Jackson thru Sept 20
• Autistic Services Exhibition op @ WNED Horizons Gallery thru Apr 29
• Dennis Bertram, Kara Daving, Lukia Costello, Jax Deluca, Val Dunne, Val Dunne, Connlith Keogh, Kevin Kegler, Iris Kirkwood @ Artspace thru Apr 26
• Interstices @ CEPA thru Apr 25
• Michael Beitz, Letha Wilson @ Buffalo Arts Studio thru May 22
• Don Nieman @ Buffalo Big Print thru Apr 28
• Glenn Murray, Bob Schultz, Tim Raymond, Joe Moran, Bob Schulman, Francisco Amaya, Candace Keegan, Neil Mahar, Ran Webber, Amanda Giczkowski, Nick DeMarchi, John Farallo @ College Street Gallery thru Apr 29
• Jozef Bajus, Sunhwa Kim, Tara Nahabetian, Robert Wood @ Indigo thru Apr 26
• Anthea Iatrides @ Thin Ice (719 Elmwood) thru Apr 11
• Bill Gian @ Chow Chocolat thru Apr 23
• Jackie Felix, Cathy Pardike, Coni Minneci @ the Carnegie thru May 2
• Kara Daving @ EcoCenter San Francisco thru June 20
• Naomi Marine @ UB Art Gallery thru Apr 11
• Dan Crews, Peter Demos, Gabriele Evertz, Pierre Obando, Shawn Powell @ Nina Freudenheim thru Apr 21 Buffalo News
• Enrique Chagoya @ Anderson Gallery thru Apr 26
• Small Works by Regional Artists @ Market Street (Lockport) thru Apr 11
• WNY Artists Group @ Art Dialogue thru Apr 24
• The Camera I @ Artsphere thru Apr 17
• David Munson and Enrique Chagoya and First Year Undergrad Architects @ UB Anderson thru Apr 26
• Betty's 4th Annual Staff Exhibition thru May 10
• Bruce Jackson at the Albright Knox thru May 10
• Saya Woolfalk, Ani Hoover @ UB Art Gallery thru June 20
• Andrew Engl @ UB Anderson thru April 12
• James Paulsen @ Burchfield Nature & Art Center thru Apr 11
• Lukia Costello @ Buffalo Museum of Science thru Apr 16
• Rita Argen Auerbach at The Mansion on Delaware (until daylight savings time ends)
• Diane Baker at The Mansion on Delaware (indefinitely)

"First of all, Barack is born in Hawaii. Most of us think of Hawaii as paradise—so I guess you could say that he was born in paradise."

Times Online

"If I knew the cops were coming to bust me, I could probably finish this whole thing in an hour..."

Los Angeles Times

Splendid American

Sorry the pic's blurry, but maybe that's appropriate for Harvey Pekar, who was brought to town a couple weekends ago by the Buffalo Library for an afternoon chat session. And it was free! Harvey was warm and funny and it was a crazy kind of joy to sit there and listen to him. I loved that he pointed out the inanity of the term "graphic novel," a pretentious marketing designation that cannot disguise the fact that these things are still comics. He contextualized his infamous, crazed appearances on Letterman—"They didn't pay me much, I didn't sell more books because I was on the show, so I thought, what the hell, I'll go out in a blaze of glory." He mocked Frank Miller's lack of talent—rightly so, as Miller is a one-note machismo wonder. And he was effusive when one of the librarians asked about his previous sojourn to Buffalo 25 years ago, giving a shout out to Ed Cardoni and Hallwalls who he said "treated me like a king!" Long live the king.
Harvey Pekar Wikipedia

You can find the Pekar/Letterman bits yourself, but here's a nice short little interview:

Unbelievably, this is also a free event

Carlos Fuentes
@ Daemen College, Thurs, April 16, 7:30pm
Wikipedia

"I spent the rest of the night at the bar sucking down free beers and eating shrimp the size of my middle finger, talking to the art installers who were on the rich guy’s staff."

NY Times blogs David Kramer
Toothless Alcoholic

"There is a scent of Obamian optimism in Frank’s non-judgmental attitude."

artnet Lawrence

"In a city long derided for haphazard planning, a lack of appreciation for its own history and occasional dead-of-night demolitions, the survey aims to understand what remains on the ground, what has been lost and what might be worth saving from the wrecking ball."

Los Angeles Times

"With his rugged good looks, blond hair and steely blue eyes, Mr. Wrangler (originally John Stillman) appeared in more than 30 gay sex films and 20 straight ones in the 1970s and early ’80s. His stardom coincided with the gay liberation movement, and for some he became a role model."

NY Times obit

Something I listened to this week...

Blecchh! I bought this when it came out in 1982 and listening to it again, I suddenly realized why I haven't bothered with it since. I love The Who and I think that band worked remarkably well because there were three other big fat egos to keep Pete Townshend's big fat ego in check. But this solo album—with the preposterous title All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes—Townshend blows a fart so pretentious it could lay waste to whole cities. There are a few promising numbers here, but they're submerged under thick layers of lyrical pomposity and synthetic 80s stylings that provoke far more irritation than pleasure. It was a helluva chore to even listen to it again. Such a piece of crap it almost smells.


Much, much better. Try and erase the cover image from you're mind and you'll be fine. Get past the unfortunate haircut, constipated expression, and dull-as-dishwater vest/shirt ensemble, and you'll find Kennedy slashing through compositions by Duke Ellington and Bela Bartok. I've always loved this album , it sounds like neither a classical or jazz piece but much more like the experimental moment it is. Wild, elegant, and dynamic. Cover art: annoying, makes me want to punch the album. Music: superb, evaporates all that irritation in plenty of musical bliss.





Actual happiness looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.
— Aldous Huxley