db does a blog

One sad reality of both a full family life and an aging body is that I go to way fewer shows than in years past.  A band that I still make every possible effort to see live are The Horrors. When I heard they were doing a secret show in London next week, I jokingly wrote to my pen-pal mate Patrick Johnson at XL, the band's label, telling him he should convince the powers to fly me to London for the gig. He instantly responded saying he could possibly get me into the NY show tomorrow night!  

While I still think of them as a relatively young band, they’ve actually now been together for close to ten years and are releasing their forth full album, Luminous, next month. They are a perfect example of a band not afraid to both clearly love & reference past genres, distorting & blurring the lines of what those genres are, while also pushing hard to create something sonically new.
Truth be known, when they first exploded I largely dismissed them as UK press hype. I wrongly thought it was simply hype based on their wicked image & the fact that legendary director Chris Cunningham offered to direct their now punk anthem, Sheena is a Parasite. So when XL signed them I was surprised & thought there must be more to them than being stylish, neo-goth punks. How true that has turned out to be. They’re able to fuse 60’s California Garage Psych with 80’s Synth Pop into something wonderfully original.               The new record, the first produced solely by the band, is still too new to me to know if I love it as much as their Skying album, but it's so sonically dense that I’m devouring it simply for the production right now.

Below is the first song that dropped from Luminous, & below that is "Still Life," which has possibly now gone into my top ten songs of all time.      

Live performance is also great, part Shoegaze, and by projecting real 16mm film loops on hung sheets for a screen it's part DIY hippy Warhol/Factory vibe. My only criticism of last night was that the sound was akin to a dustbin, with some of the band playing in another room. I’ve no idea if that's simply the norm for the House of Vans--which is an awesome skate room but not necessarily a great venue for a band that obviously cares so much about sound. But because it was some kind of secret/industry gig, Ned & I were able to place ourselves dead center in front of the stage. :)

Feeling honored, and a little lucky right now.

Wandering around the LES yesterday with my friend Jeff Newman, not knowing what was showing, we decided to check out the Lehmann Maupin Gallery.

BLURRING Radio #44 “Back in Black"

As a youth, the idea of jumping in on a train, or renting a car to go see a band, or some DJ at a rave in another city was a common thing. As i’ve aged, and art has become so important to me, its nice to know that juvenile fanboy mentally is still alive in me.

On the spur of the moment, I asked my buddy Paul Weston (a very gifted artist in his own right) if he’d be up for driving my son Max & I down to Philly if I paid car rental. Always down for whatever, we picked car & Max up from school sharp at 4.00, naively thinking it would take ninety minutes to get there. Four painful hours of Friday rush-hour & the tortures NJ Turnpike later, we got to the gallery with only ten minutes of the opening left. Luckily they let it run overtime, so we got to check out all the work by the 3 artist, Dan Murphy, Isaac Tin Wei Lin & of course Barry. Even got to chat for minute with Todd James, and ask Barry to tag up the poster from the show. Wicked Cheesesteaks from legendary spot Pat's also helped to relive the frustration of the journey there. It took us exactly 90 minutes to get home. I really hope Max grows up with a fond memory of the trip, rather than a bum one.

Try to go to the show, or see gallery link for full images. Department of Neighborhood Services is on on till April 11th at Fleisher Ollman Gallery.

My favorite piece in the show..

Hard to believe but, I bought my first Kraftwerk record forty years ago, but that's when Autobahn was a hit in the UK, and that was actually four years after the bands formation. So having never seen them live, last night was a real treat.

Normally I'm really not one for nostalgia, and very rarely go to shows by bands that I loved when both I & they were young. Back in 1990 I saw the Stones & decided that it was a mistake as my image of them was now sadly cracking due to the reality of age. I guess I believe that rock n' roll is a young man’s sport, or maybe it just highlights my own dissatisfaction with aging & the mortality of my existence. Either way, I don’t really try to see many old rockers. However when my good friends Hang & Tim offered me tickets to see Kraftwerk because Tim had the flu, I jumped at the chance. I knew they were not going to be leaping around the stage, trying to act like teenagers. It would be a much more reserved affair, dubbed "An Evening With Kraftwerk 3-D Concert."

As my friend Gregory Hoffman, who came with me, astutely observed, it was like watching a musical history lesson. They showed their influence on multiple genres, from techno & house, to industrial, to electro, and still clear in the synth pop of today. Most people acknowledge that there’d probably be no New Order and Depeche Mode, or even Daft Punk, if not for Kraftwerk. They are the original robots.

Another factor that made the show so great, was that the band clearly cared about the venues for this tour . Last night's was at the incredible United Palace Theatre. Hope more bands follow the lead & use it in NYC.

Obviously these iPhone pictures & the video don't do any justice to the effects of the impressive  3D enhanced performance.

 

Fascinating read is their Wiki.

In the photo - Max with Juan Roselione-Valadez, the director of the Rubell Family Collection.
Lying on the floor, a work called “The Death of Marat” by Chinese artist He Xiangyu. 
Poor Max nearly had a heart attack when he walked into the room & saw Ai Weiwei dead.
Juan informed us, that people being freaked-out is a regular occurrence, & judging from this article, it's not only in the museum.
The art work is just one from the massive collection of Chinese works currently on display. "28 Chinese" is the culmination of the Rubells’ six research trips to China between 2001 and 2012.

A perfect Barry McGee

Was fun to see some old faces & catch up with a couple of friends not seen for a minute.

Below are few works that were either beautiful, funny, or both.

Stunning new works from local artist Daniel B. Horowitz, who is now represented by possibly my fave french gallery, L'Inlassable Galerie.