I have heard the sounds of my 2008 summer. The first is Quiet Village, whose new album Silent Movie is a collage of exotica and beats cut-and-pasted into a psychedelic patchwork that would go perfectly with a post-beach sunset drink or a drive up the coast. For the last few years I have discovered new [...]
I took on a new title this year when I was asked to design the sets for a new play premiering at P.S. 122 called The Euthanasist. The request came via a friend who recommended me based on the visual elements of my shows, and one of the producers had seen some a liked what [...]
Detail from Chris Johanson’s painting “Excellent Workshop” and stills from “Get Confused.” The painting was apparently inspired by Chris’s visit to the Fischerspooner salons in Williamsburg in 2003-04. Art imitating art imitating life?
Nearly two and a half years ago, in the winter of 2006, I produced a video shoot for Fischerspooner’s song “Get Confused.” We shot the video in Deitch Projects’s Wooster Street exhibition space in and around the installation “Hypnogoogia” by Jim Drain and Ara Peterson. The video concept was inspired by a painting by Chris [...]
Mingering Mike made hundreds of records in the late 1960s and early 70s. Out of cardboard. He imagined all his releases and managed a roster of “artists” on his art brut “label” which were discovered in flea market LP bins by groove diggers. There is a book of the collected works. It reminds me of folk [...]
“If you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life.” – Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince Thanks to Mindi [...]
Doing research for this year’s Christmas show, I went looking for video of the late, great La Lupe. Fierce doesn’t begin to describe her: Santeria priestess, mentored by Mongo Santamaria, musical partner and lover of Tito Puente, her performances could be like wild voodoo incantations. There was a decent documentary on PBS that came out [...]
Three months have passed since Phantom transitioned. Today, we welcome the Silver Prince! Named Tony by the shelter. One passerby said, “Please don’t name him Smoky.” No problem.
