Here’s some of the material and immaterial things I enjoyed in 2011.
Alexandra Schwarz’s Ed Ruscha’s Los Angeles; Gwen Allen Artists’ Magazines, Open Systems edited by Donna De Salvo, Clip, Stamp, Fold editors Colomina & Buckley, Destroy All Monsters Complete Magazine Reprint
By some stroke of serendipity, I managed to read these books in sequence, and the connections between them were a pleasant bonus: conceptual art in the 70s, art outside of NYC, art in NYC, diy magazine production, ideas, opposition to mainstream forms, etc. Both Schwarz and Allen’s texts read like heavily revised phd dissertations, but generally rise above the stiff writing and theoretical tropes common in most academic writing, achieving a sense of narrative that is welcome in headier texts. I noticed a month or so ago that Diane Keaton’s character in Manhattan states early in the film that she writes reviews for one of those “little magazines.” Clip, Stamp, and Fold and the Destroy All Monsters complete reprint are more visual texts; the former documenting diy architecture zines of the 70s, like Archigram, and the latter, the visionary outsider art world of Destroy All Monsters. I had the great pleasure of discussing the DAM zine with member Carey Loren, and visiting the DAM retrospective in LA (see below). Open Systems is actually an Tate exhibition catalog from a few years back, but the focus on conceptual art of the 70s aligns it with the others here. There are a few introductory essays that aren’t too offensive, and many reproductions of works in the show. The catalog introduced me to the work of Helio Oiticica, and Bas Jan Ader, and for that I am thankful.
Books, such as:
New translations and editions of Benjamin Peret’s Leg of Lamb, Raymond Roussel’s Impressions of Africa & New Impressions of Africa; Raymond Queneau, Odile; Margot & Rudolf Wittkower’s Born Under Saturn; Pierre Reverdy, Prose Poems & Haunted House; Horacio Quiroga, The Decapitated Chicken; Huysman’s Against Nature; Lynda Nead’s The Haunted Gallery; Thomas Bernhard, The Lime Works; Henri Michaux, Miserable Miracle & Emergences, Robert Walser, The Microscripts; Patrick Rosencrantz, Rand Holmes: The Artist Himself; Heinrich Von Kleist, The Selected Prose (highest rec!); Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up & Start Again; Aperture magazine.
LP boxsets such as the massive Thirteenth Floor Elevators Music of the Spheres, and Mississippi’s complete Kleenex/Lilliput;
It’s nice to have legitimate, great sounding versions of the Elevators catalog. They did a spot-on job with the liner notes and packaging, and though a little pricey, it’s well worth the coin, and a steal if you ask me. Less deluxe, but still dandy, is the exuberant Kleenex/Lilliput, an all female uk post-punk band that I’ve admired since the 2 cd collection’s release 10 years ago.
Presentation House Gallery: Karlheinz Weinberger, Larry Clark’s Tulsa, and Kohei Yoshiyuki’s The Park.
I won’t lie, the summer is a pretty magical time in Vancouver, if and when it arrives. A few years ago my wife was preparing for her phd comprehensive exams and politely asked that I leave the house so as not to disturb her. I agreed, and set out on my bike to explore the odds and ends of the city, armed with curiosity and camera. Though she passed the exams years ago, I’ve continued these adventures, setting out on saturday to have coffee at Gene before snaking through the streets to visit galleries, the Charles H. Scott bookstore, record vendors, bars, parks, third beach, or whatever lies between. My favorite thing to do is to board the aquabus, cross the english channel to North Vancouver, and climb the hill to Presentation House Gallery. Presentation House focuses on photography exclusively, and their shows speak to the top-notch curation in house. The Karlheinz Weinberger show was an excellent survey of outsider photography documenting wonderful sub-cultures of euro greasers, homoerotic bikers, and boy toy pin-ups. But the real stunner was seeing Larry Clark’s epic Tulsa photographs, and Kohei Yoshiyuki’s infrared photographs of people having sex in a Tokyo park—IN ONE SHOW!
Shin Ei Univibe
I finally scored a univibe. I love it. Let’s hope 2012 is the year of the Ludwig Phase II or the EMS Hi-Fli.
Eating Sushi and discussing the margins of beat poetry with Grant Hart while the rest of Vancouver rioted in the streets following the Canucks loss.
New Forms Festival
The New Forms Festival has been a pretty solid fest for techno-leaning electronic music for years, but some of us were always bummed that it was so insular, and didn’t really investigate or include other electronic music being made in the city by non-techno folks. This year such oversight was corrected; the promoters included in and out of city acts that expand upon the idea of electronic music. I played 2nd guitar in the V Vecker Ensemble, opening for Sun Araw (mediocre wave) after staying up all night entranced by Marcelus Pittman & Specter’s deep crates of electro, acid and disco killers. I thought we sounded pretty good. The Cloudface set was also a winner, as well as Chromaton 14 analog video synth projections by Richard Smith.
Writing
I began writing a column for Beatroute after years of non-writing. I can’t say it is great, but it’s nice to attempt it again, and to have the freedom to write about what I like.
LAFMS Night at the Getty, Destroy All Monsters at Prism Gallery, Ralph Eugene Meatyard Masks & Dolls, San Francisco
I took a trip down to California for about 7 days which included a long weekend in LA where I visited the Destroy All Monster’s retrospective at Prism Gallery before heading up the hill for LAFMS night at the Getty. Yes, that’s right, LAFMS at the Getty (part of the splendid Pacific Standard Time). See, the world ain’t all bad. On the bill was a reformed Le Forte Four, Smegma (reunited with 70s LA members Ace Farren Ford, Vetza and Dennis Duck Dunn!), Tom Recchion solo, and Extended Organ. Discovering the LAFMS box set many years ago really opened my eyes and ears to the possibilities of not only playing music, but releasing it. Never thought I’d have a chance to see the core members live. I thought the whole evening was beautiful, including a hell of a set from personal favorites, SMEGMA.
And then I headed up to San Francisco to see the Ralph Eugene Meatyard Dolls and Masks show at the de Young. Meatyard is my favorite photographer, along with the other southern surrealist visionary, Clarence John Laughlin, and while I’ve seen some works here and there, I’ve never seen an entire show dedicated to him, much less one that included so many rare and early shots. The photos in Dolls and Masks are the beginnings of his work using his family in masks, what would lead to his crowning achievement, the Family Album of Lucybelle Crater. It was wonderful to be among them for a while, and to return to them in the exquisite catalog.
Records, such as:
Dark Day Window, Fille Qui Mousse Trixie Stapleton 291, Genesis & Gabriel Solo lps, Stormbugs, every lp by Be Bop Deluxe, Supreme Dicks reissues, Destroyer Kaputt, Eyeless in Gaza, Axemen Three Versions, Jonathan Halper songs from Puce Moments 7in, Magneticring cassette, Parasites of the Western World Politico 7in, Hamper McBee of Monteagle Tn, Spur Spur of the Moments, Dwarr reissues, Eleventh Dream Day, everything from The Only Ones, Prairie School Freakout, Monochrome Set White Noise, Mindbender Stringtronics, Real Estate Days, Angus Maclise lps on Boo Hooray, TG reissues, Hoyt Axton Less Than the Song, the giant package of Tape Drift releases my good pal Eric Hardiman sent to me, anything/everything from Felt & Orange Juice, lots of Galaxie 500, Portion Control, The Verlaines, OMD Dazzleships, Al Stewart Love Chronicles, ZZ Top Eliminator, lots of Steve Miller Band and America action, as well as everything here.
Three Six Mafia
I often aggravate nerds by claiming that the two best songs from the 90s are Palace’s Ohio River Boat Song, and Three Six Mafia’s Sippin’ on Syrup. The former because it will become a standard in the future, like all of those Tim Hardin tunes; and the latter because it is such a bizarre hybrid of drug-infused music production, southern tropes, and killer verses. I spent much of the year listening to all things three six, from the horror rap, lo-fi early days, through to the early 00’s and it is all rather sublime. This is psychedelic rap, if not the lyrics, definitely the music, which is slow and dreamy, at times reminiscent of the music you imagine My Bloody Valentine was hoping to make after Loveless. I also really love Juicy J’s twitter feed.
DJING
Every asshole with a baseball cap and an ipod is a dj these days, but shit I don’t begrudge ‘em. What’s better than sharing the music you love with people? Of course, most clowns don’t know shit about music, or playing it, but what can you do? I dj’d a short-lived night at the Waldorf playing real records, focusing on post-punk, minimal synth, and weirdo good times jams. I love cueing records, and that rare moment when people actually look they are enjoying what you are doing before they ask you to play something dreadful like Panda Bear. If you need weird boogie for your special event, hit me up.
Toshi Sushi & Gyoza King Izakaya
I’ve been eating regularly at these joints for several years, but if I could have eaten at either for every meal of 2011, I would have done so. Hell, even the tap water is good at these joints. I’m not sure if I will ever be able to eat sushi again once I leave the hallowed sushi grounds of Vancouver.
Swimming in the ocean at Third Beach in September (aka Indian Summer).
