Daron Writes about Fairfield in Men's Vogue

To all Fairfieldians, I thought you would particularly enjoy this.
As the title of this note would suggest, it's a piece about the Lynch weekend that Daron wrote about for Men's Vogue.
Read away: http://www.mensvogue.com/magazine/blogs/daily

Last Minute Rockwood Show

I'll be singing with Crystal tomorrow for a last minute show. We had such a blast last time that we couldn't turn down the opportunity to do it again. We'll be in cute May 1st dresses with big smiles on our faces handing out flowers.
Come!

Crystal Ponzio @ Rockwood w/ Alexis

196 Allen St. @ Houston

Thurs. 5/1

11pm

http://www.myspace.com/crystalponzio

The Weekend That Was, Wasn't, and Then Was To Be

I just changed my Facebook status from, “Not going home for the weekend. Fucking sad,” to “Sipping lattes under a blanket of blue sky.” That’s the difference a day makes.

Let me explain.

You see, I was supposed to be on a 2pm flight back to my hometown of Fairfield, Iowa yesterday with friends Laura Dawn, Daron Murphy and Richard Hall, aka Moby. The said flight would touch down in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 5:25pm, where a car would then shuttle us down Highway 1 for an hour and a half until we reached the boarder of my town, where a dilapidated billboard painted to look like a movie marquee welcomes you with the words: FAIRFIELD. STARRING 10,000 PEOPLE. We would then check into our hotel and five minutes later, my mom and step-father would be knocking at my door with hugs and cups of tea, and the next morning, we would all saunter down for vegetarian breakfasts and start the David Lynch Weekend, where my entire childhood would flood back into my life for three glorious days.

That’s how the weekend was supposed to go.
It did not. Cue Donna Summer:
“She works hard for the money.”

Right now, I am sitting in Orchard 88, a lovely little coffee shop I frequent on the corner of Orchard and Broome here in NYC. I am, as I said, sipping lattes and keeping my laptop company as almost everyone I know is out of town. It may not be Fairfield, but I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty damn nice. It’s a reprieve from all things social, and my social calendar has kept me occupied for as long as I can remember. In fact, I don’t remember having this quiet a weekend since the early days when I first moved here five years ago. It’s subtly romantic to have this one-on-one date with the city.

Meanwhile, the people back home are getting their Transcendental Meditation on and though I may not be there in body, I certainly am in spirit.
Jai Guru Dev.

PS: I am incredibly touched by the video Heather Miller, who I grew up with in Iowa, sent me this morning. Again, absent in body, present in spirit. Love to all those at home.

Green Dimes

It's a fact of life these days. Almost every time we buy something, subscribe to a magazine, or newsletter, or even enter our name in a drawing for a spiffy new car, we get someone's mailing list. Thankfully, there is something we can do about it.

GreenDimes was created to give you a choice about what gets into your home's mail box, and what doesn't. As the trusted leader in stopping unwanted junk mail, we've worked hard to develop effective, long-lasting processes and procedures that really can cut junk mail by up to 90%.

12th St.

Next Thursday, April 24, is the 12th Street Launch Party! The New School undergraduate literary magazine 12th Street, last published in 1950, includes cover art from the Spring 1949 issue but otherwise everything is new work by students currently enrolled in The Riggio Honors Program: Writing and Democracy.

Join us for a reading and reception from 6:30 - 8:30 in room 510 at 66 W 12th Street. It's going to be a good time. There'll be food and drinks, fresh copies of 12th Street, and a whole lot of fun. Bring everyone you know: your boyfriend, girlfriend, son or daughter, mom, dad, grandma, your pet alligator and that guy that lives across the hall that's always cooking curry. The more the merrier. Everyone's invited!

Texting Your Way to Love

This is so brilliantly and depressingly spot on, it hurts.

Guillermo Vargas Habacuc

I don't usually take my personal or political causes to my friends but I am sufficiently horrified by a particular artist who justifies the cruelty inherent in his work by labeling it art. Equally horrific is the validation he's receiving from the artistic community. I am forwarding the email below in hopes that you may be moved to sign the petition, as I did.
Hope this finds you well.
x.
a

In 2007, the 'artist' Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved him to death.

For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful 'masterpiece' based on the dog's agony,

until eventually he died. The photos below document his 'work', if there is any doubt.

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e225/hardyrawls/?action=view&current=navitividad2es3.jpg

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e225/hardyrawls/?action=view&current=dscn8139vk6.jpg

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e225/hardyrawls/?action=view&current=perrito.jpg

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e225/hardyrawls/?action=view&current=dscn8146pu4-2.jpg

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e225/hardyrawls/?action=view&current=navitividad11-1.jpg

Does it look like art to you?

But this is not all... the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American decided that the 'installation' was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008.

PLEASE HELP STOP HIM.

It takes a second to help put a stop to animal abuse. Please sign the petition to stop this asshole by going to

http://www.petitiononline.com/ea6gk/petition.html

Please repost and encourage your friends to sign the petition. Make a statement!

Mux

i decided to load an eclectic mix of tunes on muxtape as i wait here to go into an edit session. kind of a slow, sleepy mix, and heavy on female musicians.
http://gonnamuxyouup.muxtape.com/
(picture: taste of honey, by tri angle)

i still love you, stephen colbert...

but this is now my new favorite picture.
from 'a night of too many stars,' april 13 at beacon theater.
crystal, rick and me below.

singing denis johnson's praise at rockwood and more

i'm very sad that i will be missing this because i love denis johnson but for those who can make it, he will be reading at the new school on wednesday, april 16.
on monday the 14th, i will be doing a little back-up singing for crystal ponzio at rockwood music hall.
details below.

Crystal Ponzio Acoustic Set
Monday, April 14, 10pm
Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen St. @ Houston)
No cover

Denis Johnson

Robert Polito, moderator

Presented by:

The National Book Foundation,

The New School,

and Farrar, Straus & Giroux

6:30pm, Tishman Auditorium, 66 W 12^th St, Free

Denis Johnson is author of the National Book Award winning Tree of Smoke.

Praise for Tree of Smoke:

"To write a fat novel about the Vietnam War nearly 35 years after it ended is an act of literary bravado. To do so brilliantly as Denis Johnson has in Tree of Smoke is positively a miracle."

--David Ignatius, Washington Post

"Denis Johnson has delivered his masterpiece."

--Chris Offutt

"Prose of amazing power and stylishness"

--Philip Roth

"Once Johnson gets his hooks into you—it takes about two sentences—it's pretty much impossible to stop reading"

--David Gates, The New York Times Book Review

In the Name of Loquaciousness

I am blossoming with the celerity and mirth of a tulip due to the prodigiously beatific day we are having here in NYC. My elation is amplified by my discovery of wordie.org, a haven for language geeks like me, and by Liz Smith, who wrote about Bill Stubbs and Moment of Luxury (which I write, produce and direct for) in her column today.

turn on tune in drop out

a friend and i were just having an email correspondence that started with his asking me to remind him not to become a junkie because he was standing next to a few junkies on houston street and thought they looked not in the best of shape. i proceeded to tell him not to turn into a junkie. he prodded, asking me, "isn't it tempting, though?" i told him yes, it was, and that i was actually hatching a plan to turn on, tune in and drop out. my plan involved moving into the death by audio space in brooklyn, taking a lot of drugs, making a lot of art, having a lot of sex, and forgetting about adulthood. we then LOL-ed because, if you knew me, you'd know how laughable that possibility is.

you see, i'm pretty tame; some might even substitute the L for a T in that adjective. still, i fantasize about escaping responsibilities and social mores as much as the next person, and I envy those who seem to have done so. I envy no one more in that regard than mr. bob dylan.

i'd hardly call dylan a junkie, but i'd say that he has probably seen a few things, that he has lived by his own code of conduct and that it wouldn't be far fetched to call him visionary. all of that makes me think that it would be nice to swim around his head for a day or two, something vanity fair thinks it can kinda, sorta do by analyzing his xm radio show, though i imagine they falsely assume that dylan selects everything he plays and speaks about, which is doubtful. still, it's a fun, fanciful exercise in exploration, and it can't be all that off; i doubt dylan would play or talk about anything he strongly disagreed with. click here to get INSIDE DYLAN'S BRAIN.


and if you're looking for another kind of psychedelic experience, go to st. marks church in the east village and see the ontological-hysteric theater/richard foreman production of DEEP TRANCE BEHAVIOR IN POTATOLAND, which wasn't entirely my cup of tea but which i still feel the richer for having seen. what made the experience (and it was an experience) extra special was the fact that richard foreman spent an hour doing q&a after the show, which he apparently does every tuesday night. the show and q&a session together was actually awesome and as a package deal, it's something i would definitely recommend to anyone who is interested in encountering something out of the everyday.

a couple things, plus a couple more.

so much for not blogging. i don't have time to write (the article) this week so this is my form of escapism in the meantime. that said:

south park put every episode on their site for download: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/

the 4-part baseball video i produced last week got a warm reception from the IOC. The client, Harvey Schiller, called it "fantastic," which made us here at the office very happy. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2008-04-09-1041441043_x.htm?POE=click-refer
"Harvey Schiller, an American who took over as president of the International Baseball Federation a year ago, showed a video that highlighted several famous baseball movies including "Field of Dreams" and "The Natural.""

i'm obsessed with lykke li and am proud to say she is swedish and stellar and that i have tickets to see her with el perro del maron may 8. yay! http://youtube.com/watch?v=mUC0ezAlHwE&feature=related

my friend tom mccarthy, who wrote and directed the station agent, has a new movie called the visitor coming out this weekend. he said he's very proud of it and that it's good and that he's "a big believer in word of mouth. It's a cool expression. I like it more then 'Multi-million dollar television add campaign'. It's just more folksy. Like me. " so go see his film and spread the word: http://www.thevisitorfilm.com/

oh, and if you go see scorsese's new rolling stone's doc 'shine a light', look reeeally closely and might see my friend camilla and i getting down with keith and his guitar as he kneels in front of us during one of the concerts. i haven't seen the flick yet but i've been told you can make us out fairly clearly. that is if you can recognize me- i had long black hair. :P http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0893382/

Low Power Radio

Despite the plethora of other valuable mediums for communication and information, I remain a fan of the good old-fashioned radio, particularly independent, locally produced, low power radio. If you feel the same way, please take a moment to support it in its time of need and send a message to the FCC.

Three Men and a Baby

I will be taking a break from blogging for the next week or so to focus on an article I’ve started writing called Falling in Love Backwards. It’s the story of three men and a baby, minus a man and a baby.

It’s actually a serious meditation on human beings’ repeated attempts and frequent failures to effectively connect. Or it’s a sex comedy. I haven’t figured out which yet.

So far, I can tell you that it opens with what might be the longest run-on sentence ever written, which, if true, is an achievement I'll proudly wear for at least a day. I can also tell you that it's an optimistic story, so if you were reaching for those razors, I instruct you to put them away right now and wait to hear what I have to say.

Learning to Love You More, Miranda July and StoryCorps

Learning to Love You More is a wonderful site where artists and others intersect, interact, intercalibrate, interbreed, interject, interchange, interfere, interfile and interfuse all the best things that words and ideas involving 'inter' can bring.
the crux of the site is a series of assignments offered by artists miranda july (of 'you, me and everyone we know' fame) and harrell fletcher. one such recent assignment was to interview someone who has experienced war, which prompted me to think of an extraordinary institution and place where this assignment could be fulfilled. that institution is StoryCorps, a national project to record and preserve our nation's oral history (thanks to suzanne for initially turning me onto this). if you have the chance to interview or be interviewed in their ever-expanding network of StoryBooths, i can only recommend you take advantage of it. it's an awesome and deeply human experience.

1943 Guide to Hiring Women/It's Friday! Almost!

I totally enjoyed this excerpted article from 1943. Rest periods? Oh, how times have changed. I am finishing up what has been a grueling week of 10am-3am hours and come 3am tonight, I will be done and ready to enjoy a friday of luxuries: gym, laundry and video-diary-making.
solid.

I'm F*cking Obama

regardless of which side you take on the issue, this is a pretty brilliant take on sarah silverman's iconic song.