Adam Baran

Be forewarned, this clip is more painful to watch than a clip reel of every cruel scene in the films of Todd Solondz, Ulrich Seidl, Michael Haenke, Catherine Breillat, Fassbinder, Gaspar Noe. I would rather watch the rape scene in Boys Don’t Cry on loop for 24 hours than have to watch this one more time. I would rather watch the eyeball snipping scene in Hostel for a week. I would rather watch every episode of American Idol, every Jack Black movie, the 700 club on a daily basis, and old episodes of the show Pinwheel a hundred times before I clicked play on this piece of depressing, what the fuck happened to the world, soul-crushing clip.

I knew that having Iggy Pop perform a handful of Madonna hits at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in lieu of her highness, who didn’t want to perform - was a completely horrible idea. But nothing could have compared me for how gut-wrenchingly painful this clip is.

I can’t describe what’s worse - seeing Madonna giving off-handed looks like “WTF?” as she stares at this messy, horrible cover? Seeing genius guitarist Mike Watt of the Minutemen staring at Iggy in pain, with a “Just two more minutes and it’ll all be over” expression on his face? How Chelsea Queen excited Iggy gets when he finally sees Madonna? The painful interaction where even Madge can’t think of a halfway decent compliment for the FUCKING STOOGES!!!!????? Though I can’t say I blame her for that. What do you say after that? Still…

Oh I’m just burning up over it - NO PUN INTENDED!!!

Janis Joplin meets Gloria Swanson on the Dick Cavett show!

A lovely way to spend 40 minutes - listening to or watching (even better) Grizzly Bear’s live set on KCRW to promote their concert in Los Angeles.  They premiered a beautiful new song and featured most of the material off their recent “Friend EP.”  Since lead singer Droste is a friend, who I first met when I interviewed him for Butt Magazine Issue 15, I have to consider that the album’s title could have been inspired by me.  They put on one of the most amazing live shows I’ve ever seen - so much so that it’s hard to really explain or capture on recording just what is so magical about the way their shows transfix the audience.  They’re not just incredibly skilled, it’s the way that their strange manipulations of their own sounds, as they’re repeated, start to sound like strange ghosts of the past colliding with the future.  Their sound is totally unique, beyond what almost any other band today is capable of. 

Not sold yet?  Just watch. Or press play and try to go about your daily work.

Although the sonofabitch better stop trying to bite my new moustache look like he did last night on Craig Ferguson! 

(Though I think those are fakes since they didn’t have them the day before!)

Good luck at your show Ed!

 (click to enlarge)

So my friend Billy Miller who edits the brilliant magazines Straight-To-Hell and When Johnny Comes Marching Home, which I write for sometimes, but which were brilliant way before I came along - we were talking on the phone a few weeks ago. He mentioned to me that he was going to be curating a group show at an art gallery in Jersey City. I didn’t miss a beat before I asked him if I could join in. He was surprised, and I think not totally sure about it - but he said okay, but the art couldn’t be bigger than a normal piece of paper. I said that was fine with me and started to think think think about how I was going to make my debut into art-fag society. It just so happened I was busy doing my taxes at the same time as I was thinking about the show, and so…you’ll see how that came together when you come see the show.  A lot of my good friends will be in the show with me - cartoonist Dan Acton, orgy/drawing enthusiast Michael Bilsborough, deer-hunter and dear ex-boyfriend Christian Siekmeier, video artist and future collaborator Jan Wandrag, former film exec and fabulous photographer Mark Tusk, to name a few.

I have never in all my years of tramping round the Jersey in my 1987 Nissan Pulsar been to this Billyburg-esque enclave…but I do feel an adventurous streak taking hold as I come close to my 27th birthday and Saturn starts to return to New York. 

Details:

THE OTHER SIDE

@ The 58 Gallery
58 Coles Street, Jersey City
917-349-1693
www.fifty8.com

April 11th – May 3rd
Opening Friday April 11th 7-11pm
Live performances by Marianne Nowottny & Endless Boogie

Featuring artwork by:
Dan Acton
Al Baltrop
Adam Baran
Michael Bilsborough
Kathe Burkhart
Brendan Carroll
Baltazar Castor
Ain Cocke
Reuben Cox
Mark Dagley
Jeff Davis
Pia Dehne
Harry Druzd
Peter Eide
Yusuf Etiman
Carl Ferrero
Jonah Freeman
Mark Golamco
Janine Gordon
Christian Holstad
Tom Holmes
Scott Hug
Rose Kallal
Brian Kenny
Lisa Kirk
Paul Kopkau
Kristian Kozul
Ian Kuali’i
Steve LaFreniere
Paul Lee
Micah Lexier
Justin Lowe
Glenn Lunger
Lynn Lunger

Noah Lyon
Michael Magnan
Tim Maguire
Rachel Mason
Slava Mogutin
Paul Moreno
Bob Nickas
Mark Ohe
Joe Ovelman
Guerra de la Paz
Micki Pellerano
Michael Prettyman
Orlando Reyes
John Sanchez
Desi Santiago
Steve Schreve
Jason Seder
Paul Sepuya
Dixie Serrano
Christian Siekmeier
Barbara Sullivan
Ginger Takahashi
Jeni Tull
Mark Tusk
Nico Urquiza
Jan Wandrag
Ken Warneke
John Webster
Nick Weist
David West
Randal Wilcox
Susan Willmarth
& a special guest

-curated by Billy Miller

-   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

From NYC by PATH train:
Take the Journal Sq. bound PATH from 33rd, 23rd, 14th, 9th, or Christopher St. (or the Newark bound PATH at WTC) to Grove St. in Jersey City. Then take a short walk up Newark Ave. to Coles St. where you make a right and find the gallery.

—————————————

“you know the day destroys the night
night divides the day
try to run, try to hide
break on through to the other side”

See you April 11th!

Gonna be a mega art-fag happening!

Well I’m back. I’ve finally got internet that lets me blog at my temp job, so you’ll be seeing a lot more posts than you have for the past few months. I’m over my winter depression, and a lot of new and really exciting stuff is going on in my life. Writing, filmmaking, a very cute boy…you know the drill.

Anyway, here’s something I wanted to post for a while. It’s a pair of videos for Sweet Sensation’s 1986 Freestyle jam “Hooked on You.” I consider these two clips a before and after, and a sort of allegorical inspiration for Mariah Carey’s “Glitter” in 8 minutes.

Here’s the before:

B A N J E E G U R L! ! ! ! !

And here’s the after - the 1989, far weaker dance pop mix - sounding more like 90’s Expose than Lisa Lisa.

The girls are made over and look like phony pop princesses, with the standard video cliche of a photo shoot behind the scenes. The hair is a mess and nobody looks like their heart’s in it.

I miss Freestyle, and sometimes I miss New Jersey. My life has been a tapestry. I’m back!

Here’s some clips from Philip Michael Thomas’ angel dust freakout extravaganza Death Drug…soon to be screening at the soon to be world famous Price Chompers Bushwick Discount Uniplex Pavilion…I’m not going to really explain these clips - they’re pretty obvious..so don’t get worked up.

Crack is wack, but Price Chomping is the wave of the future!