Duke CIT Presentation

This is a picture of the bathroom at the ICA in Philadelphia.  It's not my favorite image from my visit there this past weekend, it is the only picture I could take unnoticed.  I tried to slyly sneak some shots in the Sun Ra exhibit, but the damn bleep of my digital camera gave me away instantly.  It's an attractive bathroom, covered in wallpaper made up of vintage fashion ads.  And while you are visiting this luscious WC, do check out the Sun Ra show upstairs.  Last Sunday was the 85th birthday of Marshall Allen, leader of the Arkestra and May 22nd was the 95th anniversary of Sun Ra's arrival on Earth.

Sun Ra and his Arkestra lived In Germantown, on the edge of Philadelphia, for over 35 years, until his death in 1993.   When I heard that the ICA was planning a Sun Ra show, I assumed it would be based on images and album art from his Philadelphia days.  The title of the show, Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn and Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground 1954-58 tells a different story.

The show is lent from the collection of the Hyde Park Art Center, in Chicago, and shines a light on a formative time for Sun Ra. The preponderance of free spirited and radical philosophies embraced by black creative communities in post-war Chicago created the Sun Ra Arkestra we know today; an expression of musical experimentation, cosmic philosophies, and cultural reconfiguring.  Predating the punk DIY scene by decades Sun Ra formed his own record company, El Saturn records.  In addition to living communally in Philadelphia, Sun Ra and the Arkestra designed and printed many of their record covers and sold them at gigs.

The gallery's presentation of album covers and artwork is made more compelling by the screening of several films, photos, and collections of Sun Ra's unreleased music.  On July 1 the mighty Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen takes the stage.   July 15th a documentary made by British DJ Don Letts, Sun Ra: Brother from Another Planet will be shown.  July 8 John Szwed, Author of Space is the Place lectures.  Check out the ICA's website for more events.

Wow, you know, every once in a while, things really just turn out pretty awesome, like this performance from A Camp that will air tonight on Sound and Safe.  Four perfectly-rendered pop songs - including a cover of Eddie Noack's weird and wonderful "Psycho" - done by my favorite singer in the world, Nina Persson, with husband Nathan Larson (of Shudder to Think) on bass, and Niclas Frisk (of Atomic Swing) on guitar.

We got some really nice HD video of the songs - check out a preview here, for the song "Love Has Left the Room." 

Thanks very much to Tim Smith and Jacqueline Castel for shooting the video.

Tune in tonight to hear all four songs and to see all four videos.  Also keep an eye on the Free Music Archive for MP3s of the set.

A Camp kicks off a North American tour at Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night.  Their new album Colonia is out now.

Few bands revelled in the seedy underbelly of the American stripmall like Houston's Culturcide, a band fueled by the Boss' 80s bluejeans back pocket lint and grizzle from the bottom of a Burger King deep-fry tray; they were also purveyors of possibly the greatest holiday single ever, "Depressed Christmas" (MP3). Chelsea Whores is an exhibition by Mark Flood, an artist well-involved in that band's general orbit, running here in New York at the Zach Feuer Gallery (520 West 24th Street), from May 22 through July 10th and features his collage works and what he's termed "broken paintings" from 1979-2002 (though one recent review from Los Angeles states that all of the materials claiming to be decades old were actually made in the last two years). The refuse of American consciousness Flood chooses to deal with has included literal debris from Hurricane Ike, modified road or food service signs, and as we see left, lots of mutated iconography (one of my fave images he has made in the past has Annie Lennox on the Eurythmics' Touch LP cover being rearranged into garish Elephant Man-style paste-up). Great quote on Germany in NYC about the Chelsea Whores exhibit that makes me even more down with it: "His influence is comparable to that of the American artist Andy Warhol, but whereas Warhol's work features talent, Flood unintentionally devises a tedious formal vocabulary, layered with meaning and metaphor."

Expert illustrator and longtime WFMU art contributor Drew Friedman recently launched a new website featuring his fine art prints (with the help of Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon).

For those of you who may not be familiar with Drew's work, he was the creator of WFMU's semi-grotesque mascot, the Old Codger, contributed illustrations for our Crackpots & Visionaries cards, and designed a WFMU t-shirt and bumper sticker. Drew and his brother Josh Alan once guest-hosted for Kaz on WFMU in the 1980s, as well.

Dave the Spazz calls Drew "one of the funniest stipple cartoonists of the '80's and '90's is now one of the funniest illustrators of the 21st century. His work is as hypnotizing as Basil Wolverton's at his best. Drew Friedman is the Albrecht Dürer of liver spots."

Our talented (and exceedingly modest) radio compatriot Maria Levitsky (formerly heard 3-6pm Wednesday afternoons) is crafty with a camera. Her premiere NYC photographic gallery exhibit, Building Photographs, opens this evening at Deborah Berke & Partners Architects (220 5th Avenue, 7th floor) with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30. (Levitsky has previously exhibited in several Brooklyn venues and around the country.)

Dozens of black & white and experimental works can be viewed at MariaLevitsky.com. At left: Shoes on Stairs (Invisible Ascending), silver gelatin print from 2000.

Some of Maria's photos are spooky—one of many qualities I find appealing. Her works often frame scenic ruins marking time before the inevitable wrecking ball. This decaying architecture reveals few signs of life—but many signs of former lives (what Levitsky calls "evidence of disappearance").

Building Photographs runs through the summer by appointment.

Not only can you catch Dave the Spazz rubbing shoulders with Mick Collins and the Paul Green School of Rock kids tonight at BB King Blues Club in Manhattan... a few other DJs have some upcoming off-mic events this week that are worth checking out.

HotRod DJs tonight @ the Lamp Post in Jersey City (352 2nd St), 9pm-2am... Free!

 

Maria Levitsky celebrates the opening of her photography show, "Building Photographs," at Deborah Berke & Partners Architecture Gallery (220 5th Ave, 7th Floor) in Manhattan tomorrow evening (Thurs 5/21), 6:30 - 8:30pm.

Small Change DJs at the Down & Derby roller disco party at Studio B in Brooklyn (259 Banker St) this Saturday with DJ Ayres and Rok One, 10pm onward (RSVP here for discounted admission).

Thanks, and sorry,

Trent

Station Manager Ken arrived at WFMU HQ in Jersey City this morning to find a giant, (and sadly) empty art crate in our parking lot:

Cleverly, whoever illegally offloaded this garbage in the WFMU parking lot neglected to remove any incriminating identification:

And, we know our new toy used to house a Jeff Koons piece from 1986:

I can't help but wonder which Koons piece our empty coffin used to house... Doron is hedging his bets on this or this.

In any case, WFMU would like to request that the next time Gagosian (or Dietl or Crozier) decides to unload their trash on WFMU, they include a little something for our troubles (we are a charity, after all).

On May 19th, Brooklyn's excellent non-profit performance space, ISSUE Project Room, will be celebrating their 6th year of kicking ass and taking names in the experimental music, film, literature, and art scenes (and also on the Free Music Archive).

The 6th birthday party/benefit for ISSUE Project Room takes place at Galapagos in Dumbo Brooklyn (16 Main St), and WFMU's own Fabio will be representing on the ones and twos. Other notable highlights on the bill include:

- The Pinch of the Baboon (JG Thirlwell, Ed Pastorini, Oren Bloedow and Ben Perowsky)

- Elysian Fields

- Mountains

- members of Excepter

- “Straight and Narrow” (1970), Film screening by Tony Conrad with soundtrack by John Cale and Terry Riley

- Robot Movie by Jim Sharpe with Soundtrack by Lary Seven

On top of this, IPR will reward a prize to the person who shows up in the best Holy Mountain-inspired costume, so you know there's potential for this party to be way better than Halloween. Purchase tickets here, and you'll get $10 off if you use the promotional code fidelio - have fun!

My "Awesome Internet Images" folder has been filling up lately thanks to these sites.

Designer Logan Walters loves him some Wu Tang, but hates him some Wu Tang album cover art. And so he dipped into the history of Blue Note and is working on remaking all the Wu Tang albums in that legendary style. (Via Animal New York)

Another nice design project is Spacesick's "I Can Read Movies" series in which 70s book covers meet classic geeky films.

The University of Nebraska library offers up an online archive of government produced comic books. This includes everyone from Charlie Brown to Captain America to Wonder Woman and Superman pitching various public service announcements. But it's the lesser known projects that really grabbed my interest: WISHES & RAINBOWS, a trippy kids story from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; THE STORY OF BANKS, in which a group of hippie teens learn how to use a bank; the EC style drug scare comics HOOKED and TEEN-AGE BOOBY TRAP; and the truly lame superheroes SPROCKET MAN (he rides a ten-speed and carries a giant gear shift) and RAY CYCLE: RECYCLING SUPERHERO (he's from Connecticut). (via Slog)

If you like to make fun of your childhood self for loving computers, Star Wars, and all things nerdy, you can put your own photos up for all to see on Dork Yearbook.

More embarrassing than an airing of your kiddie laundry is the world of Awkward Family Photos. Take a break from Mother's Day and see what some truly uncomfortable family situations are like via the site that kicks the Olan Mills love up a notch.

The best one of all is NSFW, and therefore, after the jump....

Lauren Luloff's current show at Horton & Co. features messy abstracts constructed from bed sheets. Luloff has managed to make abstract painting disgusting...the sheets are mountainous, hard and crusty; resembling mummified skin. The works imply a history of sweat and ooze, sheets that have been left to rot...like a homeless man's bedding, ossified with pigeon shit, abandoned underneath a bridge.