Month: August 2009

ryan mcginley : nice shift



rare are the photographers that can jump easily from art to commercial without loosing their style or interest. so ryan mcginley is definitely a successful one. after some commissioned work of his appeared in W, it seems clear that he was mature to do the jump. the recent levis ads confirmed it and the new missoni’s make it sure. by pp’

CATEGORIES: fashion, photography

banned in brooklyn: dangerous read


you won”t believe the kind of books you can find in the brooklyn public library’s banned vault where they store pieces that are unfit for the ‘average reader’. mind you, we’re not talking wasila – (palin land) were talking about brooklyn new york here! after various requests from the patrons, they had to lock-up poor milo and the highly dangerous ‘tintin in congo’. that being said the library staff has said that they frequently receive requests for “much more random books” (use your imagination, as i can’t imagine what would be sitting next to tintin) of course a few yards from the vault, mein kampf, remains available…. by pp’

CATEGORIES: read

Honda CR250M elsinore CM

one of my oldest memories is that of the one big kid in our neighborhood who had a silver honda elsinore. he was my hero, as i would peddle on my tricycle and stare at the silver tank as it stood partly leaning on its kick stand. i loved the sweeping exhaust pipe and just about everything else on that bike. i also recall the sound of the engine, distinctively high and sharp. anyhow, i came upon this rather funny japanese honda promotional film made when the bike first launched, and had to post it. especially given that, motocross fan, steve mcqueen himself is in the film! makes me want to go out there now. by uh

CATEGORIES: bikes, clips

maysles brothers gimme shelter: rolling stones

gimme shelter is a great film, despite being a concert documentary. directed by the kings of doc the maysles brothers (even godard once called albert maysles “the best american cameraman“).  the most memorable scene for me, was when mick is on stage trying to sing and do his crazy dance, while a drunk and pissed-off hells angel guard is standing next to him staring, like he’s some repulsive git (the key part is that there was no security at this concert, just the hells angels “protecting” the band from the drugged out crowd)… more than one thing goes wrong and you can just imagine the stones and what was going through their heads. must see if you haven’t already. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, must see films

1967 monterey festival: the original blue print for the woodstock festival

the 1967 monterey festival, a three-day concert in california, was the first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival, attracting an estimated 200,000 total attendees. two years later, it became the blue print for the more generally known woodstock festival on the east coast which obviously had better PR and marketing behind it. eric burdon of the animals wrote this song as a tribute to those three days. i was never a fan of this song, listening to it made me chuckle at the time. it seemed pretentious to me, i don’t know why… a young brit impressed by the SF hippie scene and bragging about it while using much “groovy” words. that said the video is rather cool and i can forgive eric. maybe i was being too-cool-for-school myself! by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, music

M. Ward: photographed with two of his favorite things

m. ward photographed with zooey dechanel

I’ll be damned if that is not a gretsch above and look… another one below.
so jealous!

well, after the m. ward post the other day i began to listen to ‘right in the head’ over and over again, and i just had to check, and indeed, the melody/solo on that track is a on a gretsch. in the pix above you can spot that cadillac V and the iconic gretsch bigsby tremolo bar. finally here’s a (horrible looking, but never the less) video as one more proof. P.S. does anyone know if ward plays exclusively on gretsch? by dd

CATEGORIES: music

tauba auerbach’s deitch catalog



i was looking over artist tauba auerbach catalog from an exhibition she did at deitch gallery today. it’s not just a beautiful book, it’s exactly what you expect from an exhibition book.  in other words, something that continues the experience, not photos that reproduce what you’ve just seen. on top of that, the manufacturing of the book is just sublime; no printed text, only debossings, holes, black and white and “thoughts for your eyes”…everything i love! by pp’

CATEGORIES: art, books

Marian version: sisters of mercy

over clocked and over dubbed “nosferatu vs. sisters of mercy”

so the gretsch leads us to the animals and the animals to this… before nouvelle vague, there was “doktor avalanche” (the drum machine that followed eldrich from set-up to set-up). sisters of mercy’s singer and songwriter andrew eldritch is yet another of those english midgets who managed to pull off a hell-of-a-sound out of that tiny frame. i was an avid fan of these boys at the time… i know that paul will be proud. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, music

spend eternity on top of marilyn monroe

“spend eternity directly above marilyn monroe” or otherwise above the hollywood sex symbol, reads the ad placed on ebay. bidding opened at $500,000 just a one-up on hugh hefner who had bought the spot “next to” monroe in 1992. the seller will be “vacating” the remains of her husband “to make room for a new resident” at LA’s exclusive westwood village cemetery (housing what remains of dean martin, roy orbison, and truman capote), this also happens to be the place where the memorial services for my father were held – of course, with eric satie, playing in the background.

now why would you say, a widow in beverly hills, would move the remains of her ex-husband? well she hoped to make enough money to pay off the $1.6m mortgage on her mansion. “I can’t be more honest than that,” she said. “I want to leave it free and clear for my kids.”ok the last bit seems fair, but her own husband was placed face down in his crypt on top of the actress, in keeping with his dying wish… now hes gonna be one pissed-off corpse!

the seller, elsie poncher, says her husband’s remains will be moved over “one spot” into the crypt intended for her (now probably next to hefners), while she will be cremated when the time comes… I suppose Mr. poncher made the eternal mistake by facing monroe below instead of his wife, who was left, and was to be buried to the left… perhaps he got what he deserved after all. by uh

CATEGORIES: musings