Crazed Teacups

NW Art

I've recently come across two artists whose work I really love.

Jess Bronk

Faryn Davis

 
 

River Still Runs Through It

Thanks to Bernadette for sending me this Pop Matters article, written for the 16th anniversary of River Phoenix's death.  I can't relate to all of it - her love-hate relationship with him as an actor was all love-love for me - but it has some lovely bits to it.  Here's an excerpt:

I finally understood what made River Phoenix special. He had the singular ability to portray real, honest emotion in all its vast ugliness. His nose ran; his body twitched; his voice cracked and stuttered. At times, he was barely audible. But with a choppy, sotto voce delivery, he gave audiences an unpleasant, unsatisfying, cathartic release by revealing all the pain and fear and frustration that they fought so hard to hide.

As in Stand by Me, Phoenix’s shining moment in My Own Private Idaho occurred in the form of a fireside confession. That confession is additionally notable as Phoenix himself wrote it.

His performance wasn’t perfect—he still couldn’t play happy convincingly, and some of his choices were inexplicable—but he had something, an instinct, an ability to make himself transparent. He wasn’t just vulnerable; he was laid bare. As Peter Weir said, “Laurence Olivier never had what River had.” He wasn’t just some teen heartthrob; he was one of the few artists to come out of the 80s who not only had the chance to survive the decade but to transcend it.

Take the Proust Questionnaire!

The best part of Vanity Fair has always been the Proust Questionnaire, which poses roughly the same set of questions each month to a different celebrity.  In honor of a new book compiling the questionnaires, Vanity Fair is letting you fill out your own PQ and will tell you the celebrities with whom you match most closely.  (Be forewarned - they don't actually show you your match's answers.)  So I took it, eagerly awaiting my results.  Might I be close to Emma Thompson, Catherine Deneuve, Ted Kennedy or some other brilliant luminary?

No.  No, I'm not.  My answers matched with Joan Collins (97.8%!) and Yoko Ono (86.62%).

Damn.

Try your luck here.

Quote of the Day

This is from a lovely post on the Powell's blog by Tod Davies:

We went to our dog agility class today, which, for the uninitiated, is a hilarious kind of mini-Grand National training for dogs... hoops, tunnels, jumps, climb-its... the dogs love it and we, surprising ourselves, do too.  It's a great pleasure to take the long drive across the valley floor between the mountains, past the ranches and small-town houses, out to where Diane has all the brightly colored obstacles set out on her fresh mown grass.

Diane, who teaches the class, is one of those very American women you never hear about.  A good neighbor, a quiet citizen, a person who thoroughly enjoys her life, and has created that life to give her a decent, unextravagant living by doing the things she loves best. She's one of those people (thank God for them) who volunteers actively at the local animal shelters, and really makes a difference with her volunteering.  She's the one who started a free obedience class with each adoption; she goes out every week and teaches new pet owners how to get the best out of their pets. Doing that, she single handedly cut the return rate on dogs to the shelter by a half.  That's where we met her, when we adopted one of ours.

Lurie & Basquiat

I've probably seen John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards in concert more than any other band.  I don't own more than a CD or two of theirs now, but I always enjoyed the live experience, and Lurie was at the center of several art circles that I loved.  He was a close friend of Jim Jarmusch's, starring in the indie breakthrough Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law (which also featured Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni).  He did a lovely score for Jarmusch's Mystery Train, another favorite movie of mine.  He had bit parts in Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas and David Lynch's Wild at Heart.  And he was the host of the hilarious Fishing with John series, which featured guest spots with Jarmusch, Waits, Matt Dillon, Dennis Hopper and Willem Dafoe.  I dont think I could stomach Wild at Heart anymore, but I'm a big fan of all these other efforts.

Lurie was also a player in one of my all-time favorite art scenes: downtown NYC circa the early 80s.  He had a part in Downtown 81 (along with fellow downtowners Debbie Harry, Arto Lindsay, Stranger than Paradise costar Eszter Balint, Diane Brill, Kid Creole, Fab 5 Freddy, Vincent Gallo, Debi Mazar, Coati Mundi, Cookie Mueller and Glenn O'Brien), which is famous primarily for its star, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who is also my favorite painter.  (Interesting fact: Gallo and Basquiat were in a band together called Gray; one fo their songs is on the soundtrack.) 

Unfortunately, Lurie contracted Lyme Disease in the 90s and hasn't really been able to write music since.  However, he has been able to continue his painting, and will have new exhibits in both Tokyo and New York this month.  In honor of their opening, whitehot magazine is running an interesting interview with Lurie.  It was sad to hear that he and Jarmusch, who once wrote the liner notes to a Lounge Lizards CD, aren't really in touch.  But it was also fun to hear his comments about Basquiat:

KF: New York was going through what was then Neo-Expressionism. Names like Schnabel, Fischl, Basquiat were among the known and popular. You knew Basquiat. Were you affected by him as an artist in any way?   

JL: Haha - he was a kid who used to follow me around and sleep on my floor. He would constantly ask me how he could make a living so he could keep his girlfriend.   
 
KF: I'm not sure about the circumstances surrounding your friendship with Jarmusch...but he knew Basquiat as well. Was there a link between the three of you?   
 
JL: I don’t remember Jim knowing Jean-Michel, actually. So to answer your question, “No…” But I do remember that Jim was storing the movie equipment at my house when he was making Permanent Vacation. And Jean had been awake for days and was now sleeping on my floor in the front room where the equipment was. He had slept for nearly 12 hours and Jim and the crew were coming in and out to get equipment. At first, they tried to get around Jean but then eventually they found it easier to pick him up and move him. He never woke up, which I found very impressive. Jim certainly did not know him then. What year is that? 1980 maybe…   
 
KF: I’m still trying to get the image of Jean-Michel being lifted off the floor out of my mind...Haha - How often would he sleep on your floor?   
 
JL: He wasn’t there all the time - about a third of the time.    
 
KF: On a somber note, Jean-Michel's funeral...You played for him.   
 
JL: That was an odd day, was the same day my Uncle Jerry died. The funeral was weird. His father did this thing where only rich, famous painters were invited. And I and many others weren't supposed to be allowed in. But I said fuck that and crashed it. Crashing a funeral, how strange that is.  

I left early and on the way out, they were bringing out the casket out of a side door as I went by.   

I walked over to Roosevelt Hospital where my uncle was getting chemo. There were people he knew outside crying. And I realized what was going on.   

I don't know what happened next, I found myself on the corner of 42nd Street with no jacket and no tie. I just lost it, I guess.  

That thing I played at the memorial Glenn O'Brien put it together. It was about a month or so later.

For the whole interview, click here.

Great Personal Ads

Harkening back to my old career, here are some great personal ads that appeared in the London Review of Books.  (Thanks to David, who got it from here.)

Quote of the Day

From Nancy Franklin's review of Jay Leno's new show in The New Yorker:

Speaking of ebony and ivory, though, when it comes to diversity Leno has the biggest tent of all the nighttime talk shows. Three of the regulars on the new show are black—D. L. Hughley, Dwayne Perkins, and a young comedian named Marina Franklin. (Larry Wilmore, a comedy writer and producer who talks about racial issues on Jon Stewart’s show, is referred to as the show’s “senior black correspondent”—the joke, and it’s a good one, being the implication that there is, or ever would be, more than one. Well, there are now, on Leno’s show.) Hughley went to Washington, D.C., to see if he could raise money for California—the sixty-eight dollars and change he made from a bake sale will be given to Governor Schwarzenegger the next time he’s on the show. Franklin, who is not as polished as Hughley, did a remote in Harlem that was unexpected, and unexpectedly funny—it touched on gentrification and, fascinatingly, the great divide between black hair and what white people know about black hair. It took place partly inside a black-owned salon, and it was a glimpse into a world that most of Leno’s audience isn’t familiar with. Even more pointedly, there’s a sardonic recurring bit in which Perkins singles out “Great White Moments in Black History,” such as the precise time that black people stopped saying, “You go, girl!”—it was after Ricki Lake started using it on her talk show. In other diversity news, Leno’s and the rest of the nighttime comedy shows are bizarrely lacking in women writers. Did a bomb go off and kill all the women comedy writers and leave the men standing? The other night on the Emmy Awards broadcast, the names of the nominees for best writing on a comedy or variety series were read, and, out of eighty-one people, only seven were women. Leno has no women writers on his show. Neither does David Letterman, and neither does Conan O’Brien. Come on.

Repost of the Day

Ali Reingold, an intern with the Portland Mercury, wrote a great piece about meeting Carol Burnett.  I thought this was just so charming:

Carol Burnett touched my arm the other night. Yes, the Carol Burnett who starred on Broadway, who had an 11-year-running TV variety show, who was in Noises Off (one of the funniest movies ever), who played Miss Hannigan in Annie, and who TOUCHED ME ON THE ARM.

Now, I won’t get into every little thing she-

Well, okay. She came to eat at the restaurant where I work as a hostess, and I had the privilege of showing her and her dining companions to their table. I was freaking out somewhat, especially because Ms. Burnett performed the role of Princess Winnifred in the 1959 Broadway debut of the musical Once Upon a Mattress—a role that I myself played in high school. The following is a rough transcript of our conversation:

Carol: And you are going to show us to our table?

Me: Yes.

Carol: And what’s your name, dear?

Me: (nearly hyperventilating) Ali.

Carol: Well hi, Ali! I’m Carol [oh my god, I know!!!], and this is [someone to whom I paid no attention whatsoever].

Me: (after politely saying hello to whats-her-face) Now, I was going to play it cool, but I want you to know that I was Princess Winnifred-

Carol: (gasp!) Oh! (touching my arm) Wasn’t that play so much fun?

Me: Yes! So much fun! And you know, I did some comedy in college, too, and I really appreciate strong women in comedy.

Carol: Thank you!

Me: (looking at Carol meaningfully) Thank you.

Carol: (upon receiving the menu I handed her) Thank you, Ali!

Me: (overwhelmed/flustered to the point of speechlessness)

My face was red for the next half hour, and my co-workers couldn't help but note with amusement/alarm how worked up I was. It was thrilling.

Conclusion: Carol Burnett is as adorable as she is talented and inspirational, and she looks great considering she’s 76 years old. Thank you, Carol, for touching our hearts. And my arm.

Photo of the Day

From the London Evening Standard:

Livestrong Day

Below is a powerful email from Lance Armstrong for Livestrong Day, the 13th anniversary of the day Lance was diagnosed with cancer:

I had a pre-existing condition

Lance was denied insurance when he needed it most. Sign the petition and tell Congress that no one else should be.

Today is LIVESTRONG Day. Thirteen years ago today, my doctor told me I had advanced testicular cancer. What most people don’t know is that at the time, I didn’t have health insurance. In the following weeks, I received letter after letter from the insurance company refusing to pay for my treatment. I was fighting for my life—but also for the coverage that I desperately needed.

The legislation currently being debated in Congress is not just words on a page—for many cancer survivors, it’s a matter of life and death. Now, as this debate enters crunch time, I need your help to ensure that what happened to me doesn't happen to any other American:

http://www.livestrongaction.org/campaigns/healthcare

No matter what side of the healthcare debate you're on, I believe we can all agree on two things:

No American should be denied health insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

No American should lose their insurance due to changes in health or employment.

Will you sign the LIVESTRONG Action petition to make sure any legislation includes these two critically important reforms? We’ll deliver these to Capitol Hill this month as the debate reaches its climax and make sure our voices are heard in the debate:

http://www.livestrongaction.org/campaigns/healthcare

When I received my diagnosis, I was between cycling contracts. My new insurer used the diagnosis as a reason to deny coverage after the new contract was signed. Fortunately, one of my sponsors intervened. At their insistence, I was added to their insurance company and was able to continue my life-saving treatment. If my sponsor, a powerful company, had not gone to bat for me, I may not have made it.

I was lucky. We can't rely on luck to ensure coverage and treatment for the millions of Americans affected by cancer. Some cannot get coverage because they've already been diagnosed. Others get calls from their insurance companies saying they have been dropped. It happens all the time—and it's unacceptable.

Every year on LIVESTRONG Day, we come together to take action for a world without cancer. In the U.S., a critical step is to make sure cancer survivors can get and keep their health insurance.

It has been 13 years since my diagnosis, but in some ways, not much has changed. No person should have to worry about health insurance while battling cancer. That so many do is an outrage, and we must speak out.

Please sign the petition and forward it along to your friends and family:

http://www.livestrongaction.org/campaigns/healthcare

LIVESTRONG,

Lance and the LIVESTRONG Action Team

P.S. Don’t forget today is LIVESTRONG Day. There are more than 1,100 events taking place to raise awareness about cancer all over the world. View our interactive map to see events in your area:

http://www.livestrongaction.org/map