Olive tree in Juan Carlos I Park, in Madrid, photo by R. Duran found on flickr

James and I are going to spend some time in Madrid and Barcelona, plus some wine areas such as Rioja or Navarra, in May. Feel free to email any tips or leave comments.

Update: How funny. We didn’t plan it that way, but we’re going to be in Barcelona during the last day of SWAB (art fair), so we’ll have to stop by. Our friends at DCKT Contemporary, Leo Koenig, Mixed Greens, and Samson Projects will be there.

I love the website for Miranda July’s new book of short stories.

The Progressive has an interview with “social satirist” Lewis Black. Excerpt:

Q: You describe yourself as a socialist.

Black: From the time I was kid, I saw the broader context of how we live here in the U.S. When I was twelve, I saw Edward R. Murrow’s Harvest of Shame and that was it. It led me to uncover the image versus the reality of how people live. I then learned to pronounce “apartheid” and saw the treatment of blacks here in this country as they struggled for civil rights. It made me question deeply and ask myself: How can people like migrant workers who are helping us eat not have a pot to piss in? I started learning about countries that have a “share-the-wealth” system and I said to myself, “There is nothing wrong with that. This makes sense.”

Capitalism’s problem is that it has nothing to say about how to combat greed. For all the moralizing this country does, people don’t get it: They’re greedy. And it’s gotten worse in my lifetime. You don’t even have to have socialism. I am talking about minimal things. Put money aside to fund playgrounds and high school football teams. Are you kidding me? The Grammy Awards has to make a plea to keep music in schools? I mean, what planet are we on? I guess I am asking another question in my work as well: What happened?

The latest online essay by Paul Graham, author of Hackers and Painters, is titled “Microsoft is Dead.” A couple of excerpts:

A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo. I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of Microsoft. That was why they’d positioned themselves as a “media company” instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face and realized he didn’t understand. It was as if I’d told him how much girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. Barry who?

Microsoft? He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he didn’t quite believe anyone would be frightened of them.

…

The last nail in the coffin came, of all places, from Apple. Thanks to OS X, Apple has come back from the dead in a way that is extremely rare in technology. ² Their victory is so complete that I’m now surprised when I come across a computer running Windows. Nearly all the people we fund at Y Combinator use Apple laptops. It was the same in the audience at startup school. All the computer people use Macs or Linux now. Windows is for grandmas, like Macs used to be in the 90s. So not only does the desktop no longer matter, no one who cares about computers uses Microsoft’s anyway.

I see today that The Civilians are listed in Time Out New York as one of eight Off-Off Broadway companies to watch. This reminds me to write about their benefit coming up on April 18, titled Resurrection Vaudeville. James and I are big supporters, and have seen nearly everything they’ve done in the last four years in NYC. Join us for some drinks and entertainment!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Arena Nightclub
135 West 41st Street
Between 6th Avenue & Broadway
New York, NY 10036
8pm to 1am, Performance at 9pm

Enjoy drinks and dancing in this new Midtown club, surrounded by The Civilians’ artists, friends, and supporters. Includes complimentary drinks from event sponsors Tequila Corazón, Smithwick’s Ale, and Red Stripe Beer; full cash bar; silent auction; and raffle.

Members of The Civilians will perform songs from the company’s new show about Evangelical Christianity—along with a few favorites by Michael Friedman. </blockquote>

In a lucky bit of timing, they were in Colorado Springs visiting Ted Haggard’s church as part of their research when all the excitement broke.

Timothy Lonergan, Prometheus in Baltimore No. 1, 2002
digital print from video still image, 11″ × 14″

I met Tomoko in her role as the curator/director at AG Gallery in Williamsburg. She has put together a beautiful web gallery this month from the Visual AIDS slide registry, concentrating on documentation of performance. The artists she chose are John Eric Broaddus, Timothy Lonergan, Hunter Reynolds, Richard Sawdon Smith, Stephen Varble and Yolanda.

In reading her curator’s statement, I learned she is a bit more wacky in her history as an artist than I had surmised from her sweet exterior!

I used to be a performance artist before my curatorial career and always believe that the body is the most effective medium to express how human beings are strong and sensitive. It is also the most effective medium to actually interact with the audience. I sold my used panties in the subway, gave audiences a menu with several options of sexual activities to choose from, and lay down with only my underwear in front of an audience and watched a Japanese pornographic video. There was always this amazing moment when I actually felt through my body that I shared the same time and experience with the audience. It was one of the reasons why I chose performance as a medium for my artwork.

[image from the Visual AIDS website]

Mark Creegan sent me a link to this Gilbert and George video on the Tate website. In it they talk about their “Bomb Paintings” inspired by the London terror attack in 2005 and about their working methods.

James already wrote about her show (now closed), but I thought I would add a few of my photos.

Spotted on 26th Street in Chelsea a week ago.

On the dashboard – Fire your Stock Analyst:

I’m a few days late on this. Is it just me, or does having President Bush make a major speech related to the war in Iraq to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association have “banana republic” written all over it?

Related: Bush was wrong when he said that the spending bills intended to set a withdrawal date contain spending provisions not related to war and security. Of course, the media didn’t bother to report that.

The message is “Healthcare for all.” See James and the Visual AIDS blog for more information.