Tuesday, May 12, 2009

John Cale: The Guardian about the Venice Biennale project

John Cale (c) Sarah Lee
photo: Sarah Lee

Jonathan Jones has written an article in UK newspaper The Guardian about John Cale and the commission for the Venice Biennale:

I am watching Cale's work for Venice on curator Bruce Haines's laptop. (Haines secured the commission after writing to Cale's record company and inviting him to make an artwork - simple as that.) Seeing a five-screen video projection on a computer screen is not ideal, and sounds that in Venice will echo through a brewery reach me on headphones. I am told by Haines to skim through the bits that drag.

I don't touch the cursor once. I am transfixed. This is fantastic. It was one thing hearing Cale talk about his return home, another watching this raw material transformed. The camera focuses on architectural details in an old house - Cale's old house. As it scrutinises peeling paint on a door frame, a passionate, wistful song fills the soundtrack. Cale sings of having to "Hollywood" this place - as if the very act of filming it is a betrayal. In a wonderful spoken-word recording, like a cross between Dylan Thomas and William S Burroughs played on an old radio, Cale says his childhood home was "the first place he became aware of symmetry". On film, he is walking up a mountain, his feet clinking on loose black slate.

The images in Dyddiau Du/Dark Days are lucid and exact, but it is the audio that makes this film extraordinary. In effect, Cale has created a filmed concept album and called it an artwork. It is utterly compelling, deeply felt. His renewed relationship with Wales continues to grow: he has just finished filming a documentary about drug-taking in the valleys for BBC Wales.

» guardian.co.uk

(Thanks: David Squires)

posted @ 2:28 PM | Feedback (7)

Midwest Dilemma: solo tour dates (w/ Brad Hoshaw)

Midwest Dillema

Story telling folk musician Justin Lamoureux, who operates under the Midwest Dillema banner, hits the road for a solo tour with Brad Hoshaw.

  • 05/14 The Waiting Room, Omaha, Nebraska
  • 05/15 Ames Progressive Office, Ames, Iowa
  • 05/16 Nachbar, Louisville, KY
  • 05/17 The Water Heater, Roanoke, VA
  • 05/18 The Red Door, Portsmouth, NH
  • 05/19 Haverhouse, Havertown, PA
  • 05/20 The Living Room, New York, NY
  • 05/21 Pete’s Candy Store, Brooklyn, NY
  • 05/22 lovinganvil AndMOR, Biddeford, Maine
  • 05/23 The Lamb Abbey Montpelier, VT
  • 05/25 Shäika Café, Montreal, Quebec
  • 05/26 Labyrinth Press Company, Jamestown, NY
  • 05/27 Northside Tavern, Cincinnati, OH
  • 05/28 The Belmont, Hamtramck, MN
  • 05/29 Paradigm, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
  • 05/30 331 Club, Minneapolis, Minnesota

MP3: Midwest Dilemma - Omaha

» midwestdilemma.com
» myspace.com/midwestdilemma

HCTF review of Timelines & Tragedies.

posted @ 8:15 AM | Feedback (2)