art is the new religion

art for the weekend

We're coming up on the second weekend of the 33rd Annual SF Open Studios:

"For over 30 years, San Francisco Open Studios has provided the public with an opportunity to see artists in their workspaces. As the largest and first open studios program in the country, San Francisco Open Studios showcases artists without judgment and invites art lovers to make friends and start or build their art collections."

Each weekend presents opportunities to see artists in different neighborhoods.  This weekend I'll get to stroll around my neighborhood to meet some of the artists who live near me.

Weekend 2: October 11 & 12, 11am-6pm
Buena Vista, Diamond Heights, Fort Mason, Haight, Hayes Valley, Marina, Mount Davidson, Pacific Heights, Richmond, Sunset, Twin Peaks, West Portal (see the full map)

 

I love SF Open Studios.  It's a terrific excuse to wander around the city and meet some neighbors, and a great way to explore a neighborhood you don't know very well.  It's also fascinating to see the space where an artist works, and discover some of the creations that are being made inside buildings you may pass by every day.  Many of the artists make a bit of a party out of it, serving wine and snacks and offering up conversation about what they've been working on.  And if you fall in love with a work of art, you can buy it directly from the creator.  There's nothing better than that.

Speaking of buying art directly from the artist, I'm kicking off my art-filled weekend tonight by going to see a new exhibition by Annie Galvin (aka Wexford Girl) called 49 Reasons Why.

Two of Annie's paintings hang in my bathroom and serve as a constant reminder of life's mysteries:

(Read the story behind these paintings.)

Artists do important work.  They strive to know themselves, tap into their inspiration and persevere against the odds to turn the vision in their heads and hearts into tangible works we can enjoy.  We should support them and celebrate them, and this weekend in San Francisco gives us plenty of opportunity.  So get out and enjoy some art! 

How Frosty lost her top case

This is why we can't have nice things.

Shortly after I got Frosty, my scooter, I ordered a matching top case for her.  A top case is the optional rounded suitcase-looking thing that's installed on the butt end of the scooter.  It more than doubles the storage space, since the only built-in storage is under the seat and that's just big enough to hold your helmet.

It took almost two months for the matching blue top case to arrive, so it was an exciting day when I went to the SF Scooter Centre to have the case installed.  I have really enjoyed the top case these past few months.  When I arrive at my destination, I can store my my unwieldy armored scootering jacket (I like to call it my Robocop jacket) in there and not have to lug it around, carrying it awkwardly over my arm.  When I'm at the grocery store, I don't have to consider my purchases so strategically according to size and weight (the top case easily fits awkwardly shaped products like a six pack of bottled beer, which is not easy to transport otherwise). 

There were downsides to the top case though.  It was kind of rickety and not top quality, which I found out only after I purchased it and had it installed.  I had chosen the blue top case because it looked cuter than the black ones I've seen, but it turns out that the black Givi cases are sturdier, roomier and removable. 

Speaking of removable...

My blue top case was bolted to the back of my scooter by four screws.  A few weeks ago, I heard some rattling around and noticed the back set of two screws had come very loose.  I asked Steve, my scooter mentor, for help tightening them and he figured they'd come loose from the vibration of riding around.  He tightened all four screws and sent me on my merry way.  Then, two days later, the other set of two screws had nearly come off completely.  Vibration, or attempt at grand theft top case?  I was a little worried that someone was stalking Frosty, trying to steal her top case (which I always left empty) and returning to the scene of the crime after unsuccessful attempts.

I didn't get a chance to get the screws retightened that day, and when I woke up the next morning my suspicions were confirmed.  All four screws were loose, a few missing, and some crackhead had clearly tried to rip through the thin layer of metal that kept the case attached.

As you can see, the crackhead was almost successful.  You may also notice that in this photo, the case is no longer affixed to Frosty.  That's because I had to take an emergency trip to SF Scooter Centre to explore my options.  Turns out you can't just buy a new black metal plate to replace the one ruined by the determined crackhead - I would have to order and purchase a new top case all over again.  So, while the thief was thwarted, they did manage to render my top case utterly useless.  Currently it sits on my desk at work, lying on its back like a dead bug, taking up space.

My friends at SF Scooter Centre were sympathetic to my plight, so as a gesture of goodwill they offered me a deep discount on one of the black Givi cases.  They even made light of my crackhead story on the printed price quote.

While the black Givi case does sound sturdier and safer (I could unlock and remove it completely, storing it inside my apartment when I'm not using it), I'm hesitant to buy it just for some other crackhead to come along and try to steal it.  I went through so many break-ins, thefts and woes when I had a car, and now, sadly, my scooter innocence is lost too.

This is why we can't have nice things.  In San Francisco.

So I think I'll go without a top case for a while.  It does make Frosty ride a little more swiftly and quietly.  And, you have to admit, she's got a pretty cute rack.

their splendid sparkling fire

It's been so long since I've heard anything from Antony and the Johnsons that I nearly forgot about them. I was really excited to find out Antony duets with Bjork on her next single, "Dull Flames of Desire", to be released later this month.  He is a rare talent who can hold his own next to Bjork; they each embody the definition of unique, the realization of being fully and only themselves.  This video was made by three contest winners, who each got a chance to direct one third of the video.  The final third creeps me out, but the song itself is awesome:

It's been three long years since the release of Antony and the Johnsons' breakthrough album I Am a Bird Now, but he released five new songs yesterday on the Another World EP.  The title track is somber, mournful, dark, but gorgeous as ever.  If you click on the video below, do it when you have four minutes to listen to Antony sing to you.  Better yet, stop what you're doing and put on headphones.  Listen to the timbre, the melody, the catch in his beautiful voice.

To celebrate the EP release, he's playing two very special shows accompanied by a 20 piece orchestra: 10/14 at the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and 10/16 at the Apollo theater in Harlem. If you have a chance to see either of those shows, you should go.

 

a receiver, held to the ear by a headband

Continuing on the headphones theme from my previous post:

Ginevra was surfing around on some blogs (as we do) and came across a post about Nokia's "Music Almighty Headset Competition" that challenges you to design some sort of fantasy set of headphones, and Nokia will produce the winners.  (There's a "social media" component where entrants drive traffic to the site by haranguing friends to vote for their design.)  She sent me the link to amuse me.

The post provided a sample design, presumably to inspire some submissions:

I cannot stop staring at this image.

The contest website (located at the awful URL here) features some appalling 3-D animations of similarly "inspiring" monstrosities, in case you need to get your creative juices flowing. 

I have so many questions:

• Whose idea was this?
• How did they get the rest of Nokia to approve it?
• Nokia makes headphones?
• I thought part of the benefits of advancing technology was that all gadgets get increasingly smaller and more discreet.  What does it say about Nokia's technology to create larger, heavier, more obtrusive headphones?
• Would anyone wear these headphones?
• Why are they adorned with sound-amplifying flourishes in the form of mic heads, organ pipes and little foghorns?
• Seriously, would anyone wear these headphones?

I suppose now that I have blogged about this, Nokia wins.  (Although, now that I do know they make headphones, they still haven't made my short list of "companies to buy headphones from".) 

They promise to manufacture fully functioning custom-made ("bespoke" as the Brits say) sets from the top 5 winning designs to display in their stores then award to the winners.  No plans to manufacture them en masse.  So I'm choosing to see this more as an art competition.

In which case, I'm voting for these:

 

Because I need some tiny megaphones to blare music directly into the back of my neck, whilst the white tiger just dares you to make fun of the fact that I'm listening to "Endless Love" by Diana Ross & Lionel Ritchie.

Listening to The Knitters?

Speaking of Astor Piazzolla

Yesterday I posted about Unboxing Indiespensable Volume 5, and showed you some of the cool stuff that came in the package. 

Here's a detail of one of the information cards that comes with each book release.  There's always an interview with the author, in this case Miriam Toews, which gives you some fun facts and interesting details about the writer and the book.

The bottom card is a quote from Nick Hornby, where he tells the story of how Powell's turned him on to Toews' first book.  The top card in this photo shares some info about Toews herself.  What stood out to me was that she listed Astor Piazzolla as her favorite relaxant.

Astor Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer who played the bandoneón, which looks and sounds somewhat like an accordion.  The bandoneón, according to Wikipedia, "has buttons on both sides. Additionally the notes produced on push and pull are different (bisonoric). This means that each keyboard has actually two layouts - one for the opening notes, and one for the closing notes. Since the right and left hand layouts are also different, this adds up to four different keyboard layouts that must be learned in order to play the instrument."  To even imagine trying to play this instrument makes my mind reel a bit.

Piazzolla was keen to throw some jazz elements into traditional tango, and he's lauded for taking the genre to a totally new place (nuevo tango, if you will).  Here's a not-particularly-relaxing clip of a live performance of "Chin Chin" from the 1984 Montreal International Jazz Festival:

I own Piazzolla's Tango: Zero Hour, recommended to me several years back by the incomparable Craig Wedren.  It's a lovely record.  Highly recommended.

 

Unboxing Indiespensable - Volume 5

It's that time again!

Volume 5 of Indiespensable, Powell's Books' most awesome subscription club, arrived at my office.

I opened the box to find many exciting things: a hardcover book in a special box, a giant pamphlet, a pocket atlas, a Powell's sticker and the colorful information cards they include with each volume.

I haven't yet spent much time with the giant pamphlet titled More Information Than You Require.  A preliminary perusal reveals that in the categories of Raison/Theology/Monotheistic Concepts, I am considered "bacon-shunning".  Or something.

I like the little pocket atlas.  Here, the chicken keychain (with simulated egg-laying action) from Volume 4 points its beak in the vicinity of my house.

The main selection, The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews, is gorgeous in chocolate brown, sky blue and silver.

As always, my book is autographed by the author.

Miriam's hand must have been cramping, her eyes a bit blurred and her spine a bit stiff, by the time she lifted her pen to my book.  Thanks Miriam, and thanks Powell's, for taking care to make being an Indiespensable subscriber such a fun experience.

Related:

• Unboxing Indiespensable Volume 4
• Follow Powell's on Twitter

this beagle is my hero

via Jessica Hopper's blog

Kings of Leon, revisited

I'm getting my music recommendations from really weird places these days.  I don't listen to the radio or watch TV and rarely check in with music blogs or music magazines.  The promotional CD fairy has flown away since I'm not actively writing about music.  And when I listen to music, it's usually from my own collection or from something I've intentionally sought out on Rhapsody.

So where am I hearing about new stuff?  One source is (non-music) blogs.

I already told you how Alyssa Milano inadvertently alerted me to the new Chad VanGaalen album coming out. That was unexpected.

I've recently, and extraordinarily late in the game, started regularly reading Dooce's very famous blog.  (For my friends who read this blog who are not SF Web 2.0 know-it-alls, Dooce got fired from her job for blogging years ago and now basically feeds her entire family from her blog empire.  The woman's a true pioneer and a phenomenal writer to boot.)  Turns out she's got pretty great taste in music too, even though music is hardly the focus of her blogging.

Dooce tipped me off to Kings of Leon's new single "Sex on Fire" in this post.  Now, I tried to like the toothsome brothers in Kings of Leon when they first came out, but something put such a bad taste in my mouth for them that I have written them off ever since.  Then Dooce's description of the song piqued my curiosity:  "Holy God, this song is so good. One morning last week it came on the satellite radio when I was taking Leta to school, just as we were pulling into the parking lot, and I totally made her sit there in the backseat so I could listen to the whole thing. And she kept rolling her eyes at me AS IF SHE COULD JUST SIT THERE AND IGNORE ITS BRILLIANCE. WHATEVER." and (via her Twitter) "'Sex on Fire' is on the radio in the car right now, and yeah, I'm actually humping the dashboard."

After that recommendation, I had to listen to determine whether I disagreed with Dooce's taste in music or whether KOL had actually recorded a song I could like.  Turns out they recorded a pretty amazing song; it's not going to change my life, but it is phenomenally catchy and passionate, and those brothers sure are growing up to be fine specimens.  Caleb's voice breaks and squeaks in just the right ways, like he's giving you all he's got.

The official video for the song exploits the brothers' attractiveness in a very satisfying way, and is worth watching for that reason, but their ignorant record company has disabled embedding the video (and you know how I feel about that).  But here's a great live version:

There's something kind of retro about this song - it's exuberant and not ironic.  It's straightforward, not trying to be clever.  Reminds me of the sincere delivery and giant choruses of old Pearl Jam.  The chorus - "your sex is on fire" - is dumb as a rock; but isn't that the point sometimes? 

In all those ways, this song - from Only By The Night which was released this week - is a perfect specimen.

Where's your sense of nonsense, Jinksy?

Earlier today I was chatting over IM with my friend Anil, and in reply to a story he told, I wrote "I hate meeces to pieceeeees."  His response was to ask, sincerely, why I hate mice because he knows me as an animal lover.

me: "i was quoting Mr. Jinks"
Anil: "i don't know who that is"

Anyone who knows Anil "seen it." Dash knows it's really hard to stump him, especially when it comes to pop culture references. 

The quote is from Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, a Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the late 50's/early 60's.  Mr. Jinks is a cartoon cat whose incredibly entertaining voice sounds as if he's just polished off his fourth martini.  His nemeses are Pixie (blue bow tie) and Dixie (red vest and Southern drawl).

YouTube has a bunch of episodes of the cartoon, but of course I couldn't easily find one with the famous "I hate meeces to pieces" catchphrase.  But here's a great episode that'll give you the gist of their personalities:

Things I love in this episode:

• Old school cartoon sound effects are the greatest.
• "Ahem"
• "Must be somethin' you et."
• Those mice have swank furniture, and they read in their downtime.  Classy.
• "Where's your sense of nonsense, Jinksy?"