Sound City (2013)

I knew I had to see it in the big screen.  I knew it was going to be a limited release in the Los Angeles area.  I expected to drive to LA or Pasadena -- which I did.  I also knew the kids, being Nirvana and Foo Fighters fans would want to come along.  So a week ago today, we set out to the Sunset Sundance Cinema off Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood.  Fandango said 1130am showing, we were there right at 1120.  Until we got in the box office and got turned back.  Turns out Sunset Sundance is a 21+ movie theather because they serve alcohol.  But at fucking 1130am?  Pissed off as hell, we ended up going to Guitar Center and Amoeba Records so at least the 60 mile drive from the 909 wasn't wasted.  But today, we went to Laemmle 7 in Pasadena and this was more friendly to kids.  Sound City?  Excellent movie based on a great story.  It's just a throwback to the days of analog and the historic albums made at this recording studio in Van Nuys.  Again, I knew I had to see it in the big screen with the nice sound system -- and I wasn't disappointed.  Dave Grohl had proven yet again that he is an artist with a vision that produces just great work.  Equal parts funny and great storytelling, this is all about music and the artists who make them, Tom Petty, Rick Springfield, Nirvana, Paul McCartney, Rick Rubin and others.  This is about family.  The group of individuals who owned, operated and maintained Sound City for countless bands and us, the listening public get to enjoy music thanks to their passion.  This is about rock and roll.

New Year's Resolution

I had been frustrated with boring results when I attempt to do these photo collages like this one above I did of a meadow in Mineral King, deep inside Sequoia National Park.  For starters, I think I'm approaching this photo collage business a little too conventional.  I try to capture the beauty and openness of a place like a meadow at 9000 ft elevation using a panoramic approach which is fine if I want to get uninteresting results.  At some point around 2009, I had completely gave up on photo collages.  Then I go see a couple David Hockney collages at museums over the past couple years and I know deep in the back of my mind, there is a lot of untapped potential in photo collages.  Because when I saw Hockney's Pearlblossom (below) at the Getty Center in 2010, it just completely blew my mind away.

So this year, I plan to revisit the subject of photo collages with a completely different mindset.  I think photography needs to be become drawing in order to produce an alternate reality that would not have existed otherwise if it weren't for the vision of the artist.  With digital cameras, it's also more forgiving since errors and bad shots literally don't cost me a single dime.

I Remember Clifford Brown

He only lived 25 years.  Car crash on the way to Chicago from Philadelphia.  In some parallel universe, Clifford Brown lived another 50 years to make music and Miles Davis will always be compared to the man known as Brownie.  What's really eerie about this is when Clifford died in 1956, another great American artist, Jackson Pollock also died in a car crash that same year.  And when my 12 year old son, who had never heard any of Clifford's music says he likes this kind of jazz, you know the music is something special.  It had been a good music week when I found these two Clifford Brown CDs at Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo.  His first release Memorial Album (1953, Blue Note) and his last one, At Basin Street (1956, Verve) both kept me company during the drive back to Rancho Cucamonga yesterday afternoon.  Music this good is like a drug that opens up your mind.  Unfortunately, it is in limited supply as Clifford only released 4 years worth of music.

Speaking of Boo Boo Records, no visit to SLO is complete without a stopover.  Here's a nice article in Record Collector News.

http://recordcollectornews.com/2012/11/boo-boo-records/

Blues for Smoke (2012)

I must be getting old.  For the first time in a long time, I went to MOCA and really had trouble absorbing what on earth was in front of me.  I scoured gallery after gallery of seemingly disjointed themes, media, messages and eras.  Some of the stuff is disturbing in a foreign way -- the rest of the country is exposed to the plight of black people in this country based on what mass media chooses to show and on what message the powers at be want you and I to hear.  Some of the work is equally depressing depending on what your context is in life.  I suppose I went in to the Geffen today thinking a typical afternoon of modern, uplifting art and after I add in the hour I spent going through Taryn Simon's "A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters, I-XVII", my mental state was pretty down.  The work is brilliant but I guess I'm just not in any mood to think about serious stuff today.  The holiday season is hard enough as it is and a barrage of blues in visual and audio form is a little too much.

"Purple Homestead"

Something about this 8ft x 8ft painting by California artist Deanna Thompson appeals to those who love the desert (like me).  "Purple Homestead" is showing at the MCASD lobby under Acquisitions Highlight.  The piece seem to break every rule of composition -- subject smack in the center of the image and the horizon dead-center in the frame as well.  Yet it works in its simplicity and portrayal of the vastness of the landscape relative to the living structure.

Standing between 5 to 10 feet away from the painting, you cannot help but take a closer look to see what's inside the house.  Sure enough, there is a lot to see.  A simple horizon is interrupted by a beat down house so life-like in detail, I could see the way the wall studs are put together.  Abandoned or in the process of construction?

 ... the museum lobby's open, bright layout is the perfect way to show the piece.

Vito's Playhouse

When I wandered into the gallery, the first thing that caught my eye was the set of 4 American flags, framed with window cuts and thought, ok, another Jasper Johns variant.  After all, the American flag is the most recognizable and often, hated icon in the world today.  But I saw the system of pulleys as well and rope and swing.  Still, it didn't quite register.  I've seen these post-modern symbolic installations before -- yet another one, I thought, all subject to interpretation.  Holes through the flag in strategic areas.  I sat there for a few minutes trying to find a decent photographic angle.  The MCASD museum guard stood there watching me, as if wanting me to talk to him on this quiet Monday during Thanksgiving week.  So I asked, "Does it work?"

Heck yeah. Start by sitting on the left, he said and then rock toward the right and magically, each panel will start rising.  But little did I know what was really on the outside -- thinking it was just the reverse image of the stars and stripes.  Nope.  Hammer and sickle.  That's strange, the Soviet Union had been dissolved for at least a couple decades, so what's the relevance of the piece.  Of course, I didn't read the description of the piece until after I finished playing around with it.  Built in 1980, at the height of the Cold War, Vito Acconci's "Instant House" was a throwback to the days when everyone took sides, either inside or outside.

Peterson and Sundays

I can't even being to tell you when this tradition started.  It couldn't have been more than 3 years ago (which is when I bought that tea cup by Colorado ceramicist, Cristine Boyd.)  Jazz had always been the most freeing form of music I've ever heard in my lifetime.  But the late great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, holds a special place in the way his music fills my house every Sunday morning.  Can't play a piano to save my life but I know timeless jazz piano when I hear it.  Oscar Peterson on vinyl, in particular.  Something about being mindful of when the music stops and taking the time to flip the record on the turntable every 20 minutes -- is what Sunday morning should be like, a time to slow down and reflect.  Being secular as I am, listening to Peterson while drinking a cup of green tea with roasted brown rice is as religious of an experience as it ever gets.

Leaving The Comfort Zone

I had generally stayed away from celebrity photography.  The last book I ever bought on the genre was  "Individuals: Portraits from the Gap Collection" sometime in 2006 -- until last night.  Browsing at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, I found a clearance book by a German photographer, Olaf Heine.  Much of my distaste for photographing famous people is the fact that the celebrity icon on the image is easily too distracting for me to fully appreciate the merit of the artwork.  Besides, we all have preconceptions of who these people are so that photographs will often reinforce our biases.  However, Heine's "Leaving the Comfort Zone, Photographs 1991/2008" just grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go until I made my way to the cash register about twenty bucks poorer.  (I just can't believe I've never heard of him or his work before.)

  Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters

Kurt Cobain in a backdrop that looks like he's on fire with that Fender Mustang guitar.

 Snoop Dogg Samurai.  I don't even need to see the face, just his silhouette, which Olaf Heine exploits to the fullest extent.

The crazy James Hetfield of Metallica!

Naked Lunch

I'd be lying if I say I completely get this movie.  However, I'm not sure the absence of my familiarity with anything William Burroughs-related is the root cause why.  I like Peter Weller in Buckaroo Banzai where he played scientist, test pilot, surgeon and rock star and Naked Lunch almost seems like a an offshoot of the Buckaroo script -- this time Weller playing a writer.  Maybe if I read the Burroughs' actual book, I might get the whole talking typewriter bug concept.  Or could it be director David Cronenberg's treatment that gives it an unsettling flavor to the narrative.  I'm fully aware of the controversy of this film -- where the topic of drug use and homosexuality is central to the creative process -- and how most red-blooded Americans would probably be turned away.  Hey, as long as they give me the choice whether I want to see it or not, who cares.  Naked Lunch feels closer to the other Cronenberg cult favorite, Videodrome (1983) although temporally, it is only a few years from the more commercial Cronenberg, Crash (1996).  If there is any movie that I would turn on any special features like a director's comments throughout, this is it.  Unfortunately, I already shipped this Netflix rental back.  If and when I find the time to actually read Burroughs' book, I will watch this again.

The Tour in Print

Just finished Bike Tribes and on to the next book.  Blazing Saddles: The Cruel and Unusual History of the Tour de France.  I don't really care what people think of professional cycling with the Armstrong debacle and all dominating the past several months of the news.  The tour still has quite a bit of history that most people in this country don't care to know about because it's French and by definition, any red-blooded football-watching, pickup truck-driving, gun-loving American can't possibly be interested in it.  My passion for the tour didn't kick in until 1985 when American Greg Lemond battled the Frenchman, his teammate Bernard Hinault for the title.  This book is about the aspect of the tour that is not covered by the mainstream media.  Speaking of the tour, the only poster of this epic bike race I keep in the house is the one I have in my bedroom.

Photographer Robert Capa captured the essence of the tour that most Americans will never understand. French cycling fans will stand on the side of the road for hours to just get a glimpse of the race fly by.  A 10 second blur maybe? 30 at most depending on how fast the peloton is going at the time.  This 1959 photograph tells so much about the tour without even showing any image of a cyclist or a bicycle.  Only someone who has watched or participated in bike race in person will fully appreciate Capa's masterpiece.

"Bicycle" by Udo Gattoni

This is the kind of artwork that excites me for multiple reasons.  The format is very innovative a single sheet of heavy cardstock 4 meters in length with drawing on both sides.  So "Bicycle" by Udo Gattoni is really an 8-meter long drawing of my other passion besides art -- cycling, that is.  This is a whimsical, Where's Waldo-type image bombardment that is supposed to be inspired by the 2012 London Olympics.  The other appeal is that it is executed in my favorite medium of pen-and-ink.  I considered framing it but I think this custom frame would cost over $500 and I would need to but another copy so I can display the other side.  Procured from Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra.

Contrasting Exhibitions at PMCA

What looks like a Romulan mining spaceship crossing a wormhole boundary is actually a piece of artwork by Layer (an architectural firm owned by Lisa Little and Emily White) on display at the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA).  This work (above) occupies the museum lobby and is pointed toward the San Gabriel mountains are it protrudes out facing north.  The work is obviously digital in origin and while it may have been executed by humans and assembled by human hands, it is machine-made.  Currently showing at PMCA is a comprehensive display of Edgar Payne's plen air oil paintings (below) from the early part of the previous century.  The galleries exhibited several themes to Payne's works -- the Sierra Nevadas, the Alps, the Southwest and ships.  I cannot help but contrast the works by Layer against those of Payne, separated by about a century in time.  Intuitively, I would be excited with the more modern work but Payne's Sierra Nevada mountain and Southwest painting were something to behold.  Layer's drawings, computer generated and all, may have some interesting algorithms behind them but somehow felt lifeless.  I almost felt the same emotion looking at Layer's works that I experience when I look at a visually and mathematically interesting graphic of a fractal.  While they may represent our best guess at how nature can be described via math and algorithms, I don't feel artistic emotion towards either fractals or Layer's works.  Art is about the human experience, right?  I may also have been biased by two of Payne's subject because I felt I had been there in the landscapes that he saw and painted.  The question remains.  How do you make digital art more "human"?

Memories Of Kamalani Playground

There's always a point in life when you move on to the next phase.  Most of the time it is distinct and life changing.  Other times, you really need to pay close attention or you'll miss it.  Kamalani Playground in Lydgate Park in Kauai was built by 7000 volunteers back in 1994 and when we first visited Kauai in 2005 with the kids, we were just in awe at the size of this playground.  Not a typical park playset on the mainland, Kamalani (Hawaiian for "chief's child") is so complex that you can play there for hours and just about the only way of navigating through it is by using these ceramic mosaics scattered along its walls and corners.  In 2005 and 2007, we visited the beach at Lydgate Park several times and then played at Kamalani immediately after.  This year, I took the kids to Kamalani and although the kids still ran around, it just wasn't the same anymore.  Body surfing and body boarding in Brennecke's Beach in Poipu was more their "thing".  I understand.  After all, JJ and Sam are now 12 and 14, respectively.  So given that I will most likely book our hotel in Poipu next time we visit, we will probably not return to Kamalani.  Last month, I did take several photos of these ceramic mosaics just to serve as a reminder of the countless hours we've spent enjoying our time there.

Moon Glow I (2012) - by Schar Freeman

When I bought this original piece of art in Hanapepe last week, two things of note are worth mentioning.  I'm typically not a seascape-type of person.  Never had been and probably never will be.  Nothing about other artists' work have interested me from the overpriced blue-ocean-whale-dolphin gallery products are most tourist traps to watercolors of waves splashing on the shore.  The other thing is that I don't usually buy mixed media pieces just because I just can't decide whether they are paintings or sculpture.  When I found 3"x2.25" painting at the Banana Patch Studio, I knew I just have to buy it.  Just the previous night, the kids and I sat at the beach just outside our hotel and this image is what I had embedded in my mind to represent that special moment.  We had just got back from dinner around 9pm and Sam and JJ asked if they can eat their treat by the ocean.  I hesitated but agreed when I realized the ocean was moonlit and the breeze was most pleasant.  I've been searching for any sign since we got to Kauai days earlier and at that moment, I realized that it was all in front of me all along.  My kids happiness is the key to my happiness.  I probably will never buy another artwork by Schar Freeeman but this particular one titled "Moon Glow I" will forever remind me of that thought I had on the night we all sat on our beach chairs enjoying what we have in front of us.  Life.

Moebius Bench, Pasadena (2006)

Q: How do you sit across Sam at the Moebius bench?

A: Sit on the same side.

This photo was taken in 2006 at the shopping center on Lake and Del Mar.  We used to go to that Trader Joe's when we lived in Pasadena and this Moebius bench sculpture was where the kids would play for a few minutes every time we went.

Doctor Strange Records

Finally, some cool music store in Rancho Cucamonga!  Interesting how a split second changes the whole chain of events that follows.  Wednesday night, I decided to do a short 1-hr ride around the city and was undecided on what route to take -- so I just headed down the Pacific Electric Bike Trail, westbound into the stiff afternoon headwind.  I usually head back via Lemon taking Beryl Street north but for some reason, I decided to head up Amethyst Ave instead.   I could have easily missed it if I hadn't glanced left for a second as I was pedaling about a block or two from the bike path.  It was past 7pm and all I saw was the store sign that said "RECORDS".  Hmmm.  A record store in a somewhat residential area of Rancho Cucamonga?  I pedaled home but just kept a mental note to drive by Amethyst on Friday, when I need to kill a half hour as the kids were taking music lessons at Alta Loma Music off Carnelian.  Doctor Strange Records is one cool place that sell vinyl, mostly punk but also a great selection of prints, t-shirts, stickers, magazines, etc.  Finally, I don't have to go to LA or Pasadena for vinyl.  I bought this signed poster by silkscreen artist John Miner for $10!  I only browsed for about 10 minutes since they close right at 7pm but I'll be back for more.

The Art Of Analog

Larry Mullen Jr on cover of "Desire"

Adam Clayton on cover of "Angel of Harlem"

Adam Clayton on cover of "Where The Streets Have No Name"

The Edge on cover of "With Or Without You"

As I was organizing some of my music the other day, I found stashed amongst all the other 45rpm records these four U2 singles from the Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era.  Back then, record companies released singles from albums and I had been a big U2 fan for as long as I can remember, so I got just about anything U2 put out.  Not that I've forgotten these songs -- in fact, I listen to the Joshua Tree album just about every time I drive through the California desert.  However, what I'd forgotten is the fact that these Anton Corbijn photographs of the band at the time were just phenomenal.  A Dutch photographer shooting an Irish band in the California desert!  These days, anyone can find any of these single releases on mp3 off Amazon or iTunes.  However, forever lost is the art of the 7" sleeves that is effectively a blank canvas for the artist.  Digital music had replaced the physical paper and vinyl that I spent $5 for each of these items.  Although vinyl seems to be making a comeback, I seriously doubt record companies are willing to put up the money to pay someone like Anton Corbijn for his images to be put on the sleeve of a single containing just two songs.  The return on investment is just not there.  In the meantime, I treasure these images that most younger U2 fans will never get to appreciate.

Jackson Pollock Note

I had bought this used book at Rhino Records in Claremont and is basically a collection of images from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art about "Artists In Their Studios".  Jackson Pollock's basic message is that technique is a result of a certain needs amongst practicing artists.  For some reason, I do find this statement very representative of that way he practiced his art.  Innovation, in many areas of everyday life, is typically a result of a need to solve a particular problem or in the case of art, the need to make a statement.  Several key words jump out that define Pollock the artist as we know from his brief life -- total control, organic intensity, human needs, acceptance.

Art For Schmucks

Roland Reiss, Personal Politics: Sculpture from the 1970s and 1980s opened at the Pasadena Museum of California Art in September in the main gallery.  The show consisted of several of his sculptures -- more like dioramas, no different than what my kids did as elementary school projects.  Each of his pieces is intended to tell a visual disclosure that is not 100% clear at first but with a little bit of work, I eventually get it.  Which brings me to one of my long-standing complaints about surrealist art and that is, it requires too much work to appreciate.  Reiss' art is far from surrealism but in my mind, it requires just as much work to interpret and that kind of art is not necessarily for mass consumption.  Luckily for me, I was not too tired when I visited PMCA so it wasn't too bad at all.  Walking from piece to piece, I can't help but think of the movie "Dinner For Schmucks" where Steve Carrell's character builds dioramas from taxidermied mice.  Art should be easy to view and Roland Reiss' certainly isn't.  Maybe that is why, although unquestionably brilliant, he is not a household name.

Project Room Gallery at PMCA

My favorite of all the San Gabriel Valley arts institutions is the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) and today is the first Friday of the month -- meaning I take a slightly longer lunch and visit.  It feels like I've been to this museum a lot when it rains and today is no exception.  The drizzle prevented me from going to the third floor -- where I look at the views of the city I used to call home.  Being in Pasadena, it's no surprise the museum has an installation by JPL visual strategist (more on that title in a bit), Dan Goods in the Project Room Gallery.  This gallery, just across the bookstore, typically greets any visitor to PMCA before they enter the main gallery and from September through January 8, 2012, one can experience what the Juno spacecraft might run into when it reaches the atmosphere of Jupiter.  There is no explanation anywhere in the literature provided that justifies the sensory immersion one experiences inside this simulated Jupiter environment.  However, they provided a steady drone soundtrack within the installation which is part swamp, part computer-generated tones which is interesting but probably contains more sounds than what is actually on the planet.  Which brings me to the title of the person who created this art installation, JPL's visual strategist.  Looking up Mr. Good's bio, he does have an Art Center degree -- yes, that other Pasadena institution up the hill by Linda Vista and I do wonder how he interacts with all those left-brain types at JPL.  I've never seen any successful collaboration between artists and scientists at the working level but I think it would be an extremely cool job to be the visual strategist for a high-visibility lab.  I would probably appreciate the installation more if I was on some mind-altering drug but as an appetizer to the main gallery, which showed the works of Roland Reiss, the Juno  clouds and sounds sufficed.