While Mom was visiting, we took her to see a wonderful new play by Sheila Callaghan, titled Dead City. We saw the first preview, but the cast and production were so good I wouldn’t have guessed that we weren’t well into the run. The title is a reference to a song by Patti Smith, and the form of the play is inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses. It’s presented by the New Georges, a theater group dedicated to producing works by female playwrights. Our friend the director Anne Kauffman is a member.

From their website:

DEAD CITY is a contemporary riff on Joyce’s Ulysses, set 100 years after the novel, in New York City, with a woman protagonist. Just as Ulysses is a story of Dublin, DEAD CITY is consumed with the feel of our city, in our time.

A play which riffs on Ulysses, Patti Smith, and Rimbaud is worth a visit to downtown Manhattan, and the wondefully space-age 3 Legged Dog Art and Technology Center is a great place to see a work that uses quite a bit of video projections and other multimedia. The video and production design is by William Cusick. I wrote about another project of his, The Big Art Group’s House of No More. The Village Voice has an interview with the playwright if you want to learn more.

It opens tonight at 7, and runs through June 24th 30th. Tickets are only $19, but if you use the code “NGWEB” on the Smarttix site, it’s only $12. How can you go wrong at that price?

Hallway of 3LD center

[photo at top is from the New Georges]

I often see arguments that New York needs to work with the GOP, since they control all three branches of government, and it’s the only way to get anything done for New York. Bullshit. The only sane thing to do is work to defeat every Republican we can. There is no reason why New York State should have any Republicans representing us in Congress. And once we’ve done that, we can launch challenges from the left for politicians like Hilary Clinton and Chuck Schumer who are pro-Iraq War and pro-PATRIOT Act.

NY1 reports:

Local politicians are slamming the Department of Homeland Security Wednesday for its decision to slash New York City’s counter-terrorism funding by $83 million this year, a nearly 40 percent cut from the previous year.</p>

The Department of Homeland Security today announced its new national distribution plan, which divides a total of $740 million between 46 cities. DHS say the cuts will help spread funding to other communities facing threats.

The new funding formula shows the Big Apple will have to make do with $124 million in federal homeland security grants for the 2006 fiscal year, down from $207 million last year.

New York State is also taking a cut of just under $115 million this year, despite promises from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff earlier this year that his department would be distributing money based on risk.

…

While New York is facing cuts in funding, the DHS has decided to increase funding for cities including Omaha, Nebraska; Louisville, Kentucky; and Jacksonville, Florida.</blockquote>

Funding was also cut for Washington, DC. Let’s be realistic here. If a terrorist wants to set off a dirty bomb, it’s going to happen in a dense city like New York or DC, not some place like Omaha with less than 500,000 people.

Who is the head of the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee? Peter King, a Republican congressman from Long Island. If this is what “working with Republicans” get us, I can’t imagine a better reason to work on throwing them all out.

There is a post on this subject at Daily Gotham, with a link to the Act Blue page for New York congressional races if you would like to donate some money.

Also from Daily Gotham, Liza Sabater points out that the state Democratic party fears bloggers and finds them a bit harsh. Good luck with that, coming from a party that couldn’t prevent charisma-free George Pataki from being governor for eight years. As she says,

If things stay the course, they’re going to lose the 2008 elections to a pet rock.

On a somewhat related note, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gets in the press for railing about the NRA and illegal guns, but that doesn’t stop him from donating money (up to the maximum amount) to pro-gun politicians. Steve Gilliard has the text of a New York Times article on the subject.

I need help finding a designer for ArtCat. I’m planning to bring everything under one roof — web hosting, calendar (ArtCal), and possibly an artist-driven zine. I need help with branding, information architecture and design.

You can tell from what exists now, including bloggy, that I’m a minimalist. I don’t expect it to be free. I’m willing to pay for something I really like, but I’ve had trouble finding someone whose aesthetic matches mine, and has awesome CSS skills.

I would prefer someone in NYC, but if I found someone good that could do this all via phone and internet, that’s a possibility.

Sixspace in Los Angeles just opened a show of oil on canvas and oil on paper works by Chad Robertson, titled Rise. They are inspired by

… the films of George A. Romero and the zombie genre. For decades these films, in particular the Romero films, have explored current social or political issues and events that are channeled through this idea of a mindless, yet human, animal – a zombie.

Here are some images. I imagine these are difficult to photograph. The ghostly technique is impressive, given the medium. Also, hairy-chested zombies / zombie victims are HOT.

Untitled, 2006
Oil on canvas
72 × 36 in.

Untitled, 2006
Oil on canvas
24 × 48 in.

Untitled, 2006
Oil on paper
27 × 18.75 in.

—

On a somewhat related note, Art Fag City writes today about a book titled Hello Victims: Ad Reinhardt, by Brian Kennon, which she describes as

An extension of the much larger (and soon to be published) three volume Hello Victims book, Hello Victims: Ad Reinhardt presents Reinhardt’s black paintings within the context of the equally apocalyptic lenses of Motorhead, Nuclear War and Zombie films.

This looks like a really good art benefit on Tuesday night. Heidi Cho Gallery is hosting a silent art auction for Parnassus Poetry in Review. It’s from 6-9 PM (bidding ends at 8:30), and admission is $10. The list of artists as of April 1 was

David Alexander, Suzanne Anker, William Anthony, Alice Attie, Joan Banach, Lorna Bieber, Ports Bishop, Star Black, Nancy Brett, Susan Crile, Elizabeth Demeray, Lisa Corinne Davis, Jane Dickson, Cynthia Eardly, Tom Evans, Gwen Fabricant, Oriole Feshbach, Seth Michael Forman, Helen C. Frederick, Barbara Freidman, Nancy Friedemann, Mary Frank, Barbara Garber, April Gornik, Linda Gottesfeld, Regina Granne, Guerrilla Girls, Michele Handelman, Julie Heffernan, Kathrin Hilten, Barry Holden, Edith Isaac-Rose, Robin Kahn, Kazuko, Jerry Kearns, William Kentridge, Polly King, Joyce Kozloff , Max Kozloff, Jill Krementz, Bibi Lencek, Anne-Marie Levine, Ellen Levy, Morton Lichter, Martin Likton, Bonnie Lucas, Renee Magnanti, Wendy Mark, Guy Mendes, Arnold Mesches, William Meyers, Roxie Munro, Roni Nicholson, Jacqueline Morreau, Julie Oakes, Will Pappenheimer, Olivia Parker, Carol Peligian, Leemour Pelli, Kenneth Polinskie, Barbara Quinn, Robert Rauschenberg, Beth Reisman, Lucy Reitzfeld, Robert Reitzfeld, Carol Ross, Arlene Rush, Hope Sandrow, Jonathan Santlofer, Mira Schor, Linda Schrank, Christina Schlesinger, Richard Serra, Dee Shapiro, Arlene Slavin, Tom Slaughter, Aviva Slesin, Hunt Slonem, Wendy Small, Michelle Stuart, Robin Tewes, Carolee Thea, Michael Vitti, Conrad Vogel, Jonathan Waite, Jeffrey Wasserman, Madeline Weinrib, Martha Wilson, Nina Yankowitz, Brahna Yassky

Pablo Helguera [source]

James and I came across this very interesting young artist at Julia Friedman’s now-closed gallery in Chelsea. His newest project is titled The School of Panamerican Unrest. It is described as

an artist-led, not-for-profit public art project that seeks to generate connections between the different regions of the Americas through discussions, performances, screenings, and short-term and long-term collaborations between organizations and individuals. Its main component will be a nomadic forum or think-tank that will cross the hemisphere by land, from Anchorage, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina, in Tierra del Fuego. This hybrid project will include a collapsible and movable architectural structure in the form of a schoolhouse, as well as a video collection component inside a van that will make the journey. The project, which seeks to involve a wide range of audiences and engage them at different levels, offers alternative ways to understand the history, ideology, and lines of thought that have significantly impacted political, social and cultural events in the Americas.

For more information, visit the project’s website. There is also an AP story available here.

Stone building on grounds of Locust Lawn

Ground Hog coffee house and motorcyle company in Wappinger Falls

James, Mom, and I rented a Mini Cooper convertible from Zipcar on Friday and took a road trip to the Hudson Valley, including Cold Spring, Wappinger Falls, and New Paltz. I highly recommend seeing Huguenot Street in New Paltz, with houses dating from the early 1700s. I can also recommend the Foundry Cafe in Cold Spring for lunch, and the Ground Hog in Wappinger Falls for coffee or a meal.

I put up some photos on Flickr of the trip.

Jill Auckenthaler

I uploaded a few images from the Plan B Prevails opening. Go here to see them.

Mom’s visiting this week, so posting will be light or non-existant. Flickr photos might appear.

I don’t enjoy coming home to the level of discourse I get when my post on Jean Rohe’s speech has such a high Google rank. From now on, all comments must be approved. I don’t need to hear people calling for violence, or calling her a cunt, on my blog. Get your own damn site if you want to do that.