Here is the Monday catch-up update on all things 617Midway:
Dobby Gibson
Went to Harvard last Monday to see poet Dobby Gibson read alongside Fanny Howe and Sarah Manguso. Had just reviewed Dobby Gibson’s second book—Skirmish—for the Southeast Review, so it was a treat to go see him read in person. That said, the bust of John Harvard scowling down from above the fireplace was a little intimidating. See the photo above.
OK. I have no idea if that is John Harvard. I just know that dude was looking at me.
Look for the review of Gibson’s book this fall in the Southeast Review.
Also, above, you can see my random doodles and scratches from the reading. Gibson’s “Ode to Unconventional Beauty” was a winner delivered live, and Fanny Howe’s “Forged” was great. It sounds crazy, but she was so vibrant in her delivery it reminded me of a freestyle rapper wringing themselves out on the mic. Plus, I loved Gibson’s line “in the middle of every zero is a center that will not hold.”
My grappling with WB Yeats rearing its ugly head, yet again.
Cradle Will Rock
My friend, and art patron, Claude knows I'm a big fan of 20th Century American Art and he kept recommending this movie, “Cradle Will Rock,” and telling me how I would like it because it deals with Diego Rivera and art in the WPA. Well, I finally listened to Claude (AKA Claudezilla) and I was shocked at how great the movie was and that I had never heard of it.
It’s an all-star cast—Hank Azaria (who I loved in Mystery Men), Bill Murray, Paul Giamatti, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, John and Joan Cusack, John Tuturro, blah blah blah blah blah. I am leaving out like a hundred people.
Written and directed by Tim Robbins, who I always thought was best in Top Gun… OK and Shawshank… the movie is a good one. Netflix 5 stars for me. Check it out. The guy who plays Orson Welles is dynamite.
Michael Davis and Gravity
I have been reading my advance copy of Michael Davis’ Gravity. Davis catches things in a phrase that would take me three pages. His work is sharp and funny, fast and full. Great, great stuff here.
You can pre-order copies on Amazon. Buy it for your book club.
Vonnegut as Prophet
I’ve mentioned recently that I’ve been in the middle of re-re-reading all my Kurt Vonnegut and recently landed on his novel “Jailbird.” It was pretty interesting to me that the book was written in 1979 and yet details a character—one Carlo di Sanza—who is in a country club prison for his operating a Ponzi scheme. Like all of Vonnegut’s books, this one is ripe with all kinds of themes and weaving plot, but the association to the current state of affairs and to the Bernard Madoff scandal was pretty cool to me.
Vonnegut writes on page 51:
“I am now convinced that Dr. di Sanza’s greatest strength was his utter stupidity. He was such a successful swindler because he himself could not, even after two convictions, understand what was inevitably catastrophic about a Ponzi scheme.”
He goes on, later on page 51:
“I am now moved to suppose, with my primitive understanding of economics, that every successful government is of necessity a Ponzi scheme.”
Ahhh… Kurt Vonnegut. Jailbird is no “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater,” “Cat’s Cradle,” or “Breakfast of Champions,” but it is Vonnegut… which is pretty good in itself. I have been wondering what we would do as a society with KV gone. Reading this I realize he has already got it covered as history skips and skips on repeat like your old Guns N Roses “Appetite for Destruction” compact disc.
Went to Harvard last Monday to see poet Dobby Gibson read alongside Fanny Howe and Sarah Manguso. Had just reviewed Dobby Gibson’s second book—Skirmish—for the Southeast Review, so it was a treat to go see him read in person. That said, the bust of John Harvard scowling down from above the fireplace was a little intimidating. See the photo above.
OK. I have no idea if that is John Harvard. I just know that dude was looking at me.
Look for the review of Gibson’s book this fall in the Southeast Review.
Also, above, you can see my random doodles and scratches from the reading. Gibson’s “Ode to Unconventional Beauty” was a winner delivered live, and Fanny Howe’s “Forged” was great. It sounds crazy, but she was so vibrant in her delivery it reminded me of a freestyle rapper wringing themselves out on the mic. Plus, I loved Gibson’s line “in the middle of every zero is a center that will not hold.”
My grappling with WB Yeats rearing its ugly head, yet again.
Cradle Will Rock
My friend, and art patron, Claude knows I'm a big fan of 20th Century American Art and he kept recommending this movie, “Cradle Will Rock,” and telling me how I would like it because it deals with Diego Rivera and art in the WPA. Well, I finally listened to Claude (AKA Claudezilla) and I was shocked at how great the movie was and that I had never heard of it.
It’s an all-star cast—Hank Azaria (who I loved in Mystery Men), Bill Murray, Paul Giamatti, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, John and Joan Cusack, John Tuturro, blah blah blah blah blah. I am leaving out like a hundred people.
Written and directed by Tim Robbins, who I always thought was best in Top Gun… OK and Shawshank… the movie is a good one. Netflix 5 stars for me. Check it out. The guy who plays Orson Welles is dynamite.
Michael Davis and Gravity
I have been reading my advance copy of Michael Davis’ Gravity. Davis catches things in a phrase that would take me three pages. His work is sharp and funny, fast and full. Great, great stuff here.
You can pre-order copies on Amazon. Buy it for your book club.
Vonnegut as Prophet
I’ve mentioned recently that I’ve been in the middle of re-re-reading all my Kurt Vonnegut and recently landed on his novel “Jailbird.” It was pretty interesting to me that the book was written in 1979 and yet details a character—one Carlo di Sanza—who is in a country club prison for his operating a Ponzi scheme. Like all of Vonnegut’s books, this one is ripe with all kinds of themes and weaving plot, but the association to the current state of affairs and to the Bernard Madoff scandal was pretty cool to me.
Vonnegut writes on page 51:
“I am now convinced that Dr. di Sanza’s greatest strength was his utter stupidity. He was such a successful swindler because he himself could not, even after two convictions, understand what was inevitably catastrophic about a Ponzi scheme.”
He goes on, later on page 51:
“I am now moved to suppose, with my primitive understanding of economics, that every successful government is of necessity a Ponzi scheme.”
Ahhh… Kurt Vonnegut. Jailbird is no “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater,” “Cat’s Cradle,” or “Breakfast of Champions,” but it is Vonnegut… which is pretty good in itself. I have been wondering what we would do as a society with KV gone. Reading this I realize he has already got it covered as history skips and skips on repeat like your old Guns N Roses “Appetite for Destruction” compact disc.
(insert G'N'F'N'R lyric here)
You’re Gonna Need a Heavy Bag
After loads of procrastination, I finally installed my heavy bag in 617 Midway a month or so ago. This thing has made cross country trips and has been installed from Southie to South Missoula, Montana. It is nowhere near as cool as Nick Nolte’s basketball hoop, but it isn’t half bad. Plus, every time I look at it I start singing a riff off of Hit The Lights’ “Body Bag.”
“You’re gonna need a heavy bag.” And now I can beat something else up in between fighting with paint and canvas here in Midway. Plus, now I can keep up my Spenser impersonation.
And yes, I am still waist-deep in Hit The Lights in the studio. What about that “Save Your Breath?” Awesome.
Cowboy Explanations
You’re Gonna Need a Heavy Bag
After loads of procrastination, I finally installed my heavy bag in 617 Midway a month or so ago. This thing has made cross country trips and has been installed from Southie to South Missoula, Montana. It is nowhere near as cool as Nick Nolte’s basketball hoop, but it isn’t half bad. Plus, every time I look at it I start singing a riff off of Hit The Lights’ “Body Bag.”
“You’re gonna need a heavy bag.” And now I can beat something else up in between fighting with paint and canvas here in Midway. Plus, now I can keep up my Spenser impersonation.
And yes, I am still waist-deep in Hit The Lights in the studio. What about that “Save Your Breath?” Awesome.
Cowboy Explanations
I've been getting a lot of questions on "why cowboys?" from some of my recent paintings. Maybe some of it has to do with what is considered masculine in society versus what is feminine and how quickly this may flip. It may have something to do with my father being born and bred in Kalispell, Montana. Who knows?
The doodle above had me trying to decipher this question alongside random X's and O's (they are everywhere now I tell you). Also, somehow Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns got shout-outs in my brain dump. Your guess is as good as mine.
Oh, And... How Will I Know?
I did a little rant on the appropriation of the 80's recently. This is probably fitting due to the planning around the production of Past Color/Pastel Colors that will be performed by the Fort Point Theatre Channel and that I may be reduced to purchasing women's shorts in order to pull my costume off. And no, my rump will not look like that.
But in all my ranting, there are many bright spots in all of this 80's rehashing, I must admit. One here: How Will I Know? Anyone who can do Whitney like that is OK in my book.
1 comment:
you should totally rock the shorts. but you'll have to take a photo. and post it online.
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