bloggy

Newark on a Thursday

I have tickets to something else, otherwise I would be at the Newark Museum on Thursday to see Nicolás Dumit Estévez. See James for more info on Nicolás.

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Super Merengue (SM)
by Nicolás Dumit Estévez
Thursday, November 13, 2003, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Location: The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street, Newark
FREE with Suggested Museum Admission Reservations are required;
call 973-596-6613.

Board Merengue Air for a flight that leaves passengers suspended between the Dominican Republic and the United States. During the performance, participants learn about Caribbean migration patterns through music, ephemeral costumes, and altered emergency evacuation instructions.

Gallery crawl

I’m busy installing software now that my PowerBook is back from the shop and my wireless is finally working, so go read James on the Deitch shows and our Sunday visit to Williamsburg. Tim Lokiec’s works on paper at Deitch are phenomenal.

Osmany Tellez

This entry is kind of a reminder note: remember the name of Osmany Tellez, a Cuban-born choreographer I saw last night at Dance Theater Workshop in a work titled “Descending Matter (Illusion Course).” I noticed in his biography that he has performed with Circus Amok!

He and three women dancers — Astrud Angarita, Sigal Bergman, and Rebecca Serrell — danced the piece to music by Guy Yarden with beautiful costumes by Astrud Angarita and lighting by Chloe Z. Brown.

I know even less about describing dance than I do about visual art, so I’ll just say it was a beautiful mix of sexy, smart, original movement. I heard him talking to someone afterward about how creates works as collaborations with the dancers, and acts as choreographer and a kind of director/facilitator for improvisatory performers. Watch for him.

“command/shift/delete” by Ori Flomin on the same program was a very smart piece as well, with an interesting mix of intimacy and distance between the all-male cast. Very appropriate for a work inspired by our technology-soaked world.

There was another work on the program, by Nia Love. Let’s agree not to talk about it.

Jesus actor struck by lightning

How can you not love a headline like that?

Jesus actor struck by lightning

Actor Jim Caviezel has been struck by lightning while playing Jesus in Mel Gibson’s controversial film The Passion Of Christ.

The lightning bolt hit Caviezel and the film’s assistant director Jan Michelini while they were filming in a remote location a few hours from Rome.

It was the second time Michelini had been hit by lightning during the shoot.

[via artnotes]

Axum Obelisk

The Axum Obelisk, of which I wrote last year, is headed back to Ethiopia. Mussolini had it moved to Rome in 1937.

One Party State

If I’m going to live in a third world banana republic, things should be cheaper, the cities should be more colorful, the food should be better and more spicy, and my fellow citizens should be more attractive.

From today’s Washington Post we learn:

The Bush White House, irritated by pesky questions from congressional Democrats about how the administration is using taxpayer money, has developed an efficient solution: It will not entertain any more questions from opposition lawmakers.



The director of the White House Office of Administration, Timothy A. Campen, sent an e-mail titled “congressional questions” to majority and minority staff on the House and Senate Appropriations panels. Expressing “the need to add a bit of structure to the Q&A process,” he wrote: “Given the increase in the number and types of requests we are beginning to receive from the House and Senate, and in deference to the various committee chairmen and our desire to better coordinate these requests, I am asking that all requests for information and materials be coordinated through the committee chairmen and be put in writing from the committee.”

He said this would limit “duplicate requests” and help answer questions “in a timely fashion.”

It would also do another thing: prevent Democrats from getting questions answered without the blessing of the GOP committee chairmen.

“It’s saying we’re not going to allow the opposition party to ask questions about the way we use tax money,” said R. Scott Lilly, Democratic staff director for the House committee. “As far as I know, this is without modern precedent.”

Norman Ornstein, a congressional specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, agreed. “I have not heard of anything like that happening before,” he said. “This is obviously an excuse to avoid providing information about some of the things the Democrats are asking for.”

A Democratic Senator cannot ask questions unless a Republican Senator approves the question.

3 Years of free hosting?

I don’t really need another web hosting account, but I will probably sign up in case I need them for some storage space, etc.

Rather than spend it on adverstising, 1 & 1 Internet has decided to give away 3 free years of hosting before they start their new (paid) hosting business in January. It includes CGI and MySQL, so it’s perfect for hosting a weblog. If I know and love you, I will help you set it up.

Update: new domains are $6 if you need one.

Meighan Gale at Black & White Gallery

Did I scare my readers? Perhaps you feared no more art posts? Barry had gone off the deep end?

Fear no more. Here are a couple of art recommendations.

Meighan Gale at Black & White Gallery in Williamsburg:

meighan-gale-1.jpg

Meighan, who had work in the inaugural show of this gallery, now has a solo show. We have known her for a number of years, and have a few works by her. In person, she always feels like a dancer — the way she moves, a certain kind of poise. I think the photographs in the show give a sense of that. I’ve never known her to do public performances — the photographs serve as documentation for performances that we never see in person. The color works in the show are high-quality inkjet prints, which give a very polished, elegant quality to her work, which was often rougher and more hand-made in the past, from the quality of the prints to the stitched thread that appears in many of the works. I don’t prefer one style over the other, but it is cool to see an artist work both ways and make interesting art in the process.

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My other recommendation is David Shapiro at Jack The Pelican Presents. It’s next door to Black & White on Driggs, so it’s easy to stop by and see both of these. I have seen a few snarky “been there, done that” comments on the show, generally from people who sound like they haven’t bothered to see it — cough gawker cough. I think the show is great. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it works. Don’t miss the back room where his plants, cared for with loving attention, live in pots printed with the scary ingredient lists of some of the items in the front.

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One more thing: Read James‘s post on the current show at Team Gallery — warning explicit photo! — and don’t miss the show.

Cowards

Is this what a democracy looks like? I have to rely on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show or an op-ed in the Washington Post to learn that the $87 billion Iraq package was approved by a voice vote with SIX SENATORS PRESENT.

The fact that this is barely in the news almost as awful as the cowards in both parties who won’t own up to the Iraq mess. The vote was 5-1. The one against was Senator Robert Byrd. His speech is online.