Displaying news from 1 January 2005 to 1 February 2005.
even simply noting the lack of some terrible pun in the headline should make clear the fact that i'm low on material right now. so, in a desparate attempt to put something up while i get down and dirty with some political material [in preparation for the next big essay], i'll post an as yet unpublished review of dave frishberg's record do you miss new york? that i wrote back in 2003.
“I’m from the old school,” proclaims the ever-fresh Dave Frishberg in the opening of “The Hopi Way” (a song which defies not only categorization, but discussion) and I believe him. His style, though distinct as his singing voice, unabashedly throws itself into the great lap of the ‘Great American Songbook.’ At first glance, the songs are almost novelties: an intervention-style song dedicated to “Jaws,” an account of the modern day business approach to quality time, an attempt at writing country music in which the protagonist is a toad, an homage to ‘the sideman,’ a Christmas song which eschews cheer and instead (offers) tips toward surviving “the difficult season”… But as one listens to the lyrics, which, even at their most sincere and poignant, are as biting and witty as they are sweet, one realizes that Frishberg is an expert craftsman, a parodic poet, a storyteller of the highest caliber; an accompanimentalist: dashing and strolling bouts of stride mingle with the dishing and doling out of anarchitextured text painting-- no wonder so many jazz greats have hired him to be their pianist.
Recorded live at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Frishberg is in top form, interacting with the small but ecstatic audience throughout (most of his spoken introductions to tunes are included on the record), and in true Frishbergian generosity, he has updated a couple of his older songs, including the title track and a completely refurbished “My Country Used To Be.” The latter, in particular, displays Frishberg’s ability to write songs that are at once so wry and so right. He sings with sincerity and breathtaking tenderness the words, “I pledge allegiance under god, to the mighty corporations, to the airport search to the secret p’lice, to the wire taps, to the war on peace… while America marches into action, with our weapons of mass distraction,” all the while with a double wink in his tone.
Through his witty, insightful and constantly surprising lyrics, his unmistakable untrained vocals, and his first rate piano playing, Dave Frishberg reminds us that he is one of the last vestiges of a style that has nearly run dry of innovators.
another thing to check out while compulsively refreshing joshrutner.com is the site of a great friend of mine, robert wood.
good news folks!
our neighborhood law enforcement is getting funnier and funnier!
while back in rochester this weekend, i was visiting with my friend franlee frank, the owner of greenwood books, a great used book store, located in rochester's east end. she relayed a fantastic story to me about an accident that occurred around christmas.
apparently, she received a call from several prominent police officers one morning informing her that her storefront was severely damaged by a police car. what makes the story so funny is the way the cops said it went down. picture this: the cop car is idling parallel to the bookstore and across the street at about 1am, while the cop is on call. the car 'pops' out of park, and into some other gear [for argument's sake, let's say it was neutral]. the recently 'un-parked' police car picks up momentum despite east avenue's relatively even ground, and, because of the way the wheels are cocked, rotates a full 90 degrees while rolling across the road, jumps the curb, scrapes against a lamppost [evidence discovered by mrs. frank], and still manages to destroy greenwood book's storefront.
that's what i call a magic bullet theory.
aside from the goofy explanation, however, the police dept were very helpful in compensating franlee for her losses.
in another episode of hilarious order-keepers, we find annie geddes [jen's best friend who visited this weekend] at the airport. after her bag glided through the x-ray machine, she was asked by the guard whether it contained a knife. she said no, but better safe than sorry, right? as it turned out, annie's "knife" was two buttons that used to reside on the outside of her bag. one advertised john kerry for president, and one advertised planned parenthood.
--pause for laughter--
needless to say, after she escaped the kung fu grip of airport security, she put the buttons back on the outside of her bag.
visiting the eastman school of music the other day, i noticed a photograph, taken in february 2004, conspicuously placed on the cover of the newest edition of encore [eastman's biannual guide to concerts & events]. i recognized this photograph immediately, as i was there. it's a photograph of four eastman jazz students playing outside in the snow. the story behind the photo is told by mike chiavaro and ian fry of rude jackson:
After being shut down for playing funk in the main hall at the Eastman School of Music, [we] decided to bring the backbeat outside, regardless of the weather. This outdoor protest went on everyday for one week and consisted of various Eastman students playing funk, R&B, motown and other groove oriented music for as long as possible. [emphasis mine]
interesting, huh?
arthur c. danto:
"the students are co-opted by a system they serve even in their struggle against it"
“i’m going to get a full body tattoo of me—only taller.”
although the concept of a full body tattoo of one’s self that actually exceeds one’s height may belong exclusively to comedian steven wright, the idea of a full body tattoo of one’s self has, in a sense, been around a lot longer.
Borges & Baudrillard
french philosopher jean baudrillard begins his essay “the precession of the simulacra” by referencing a story by jorge louis borges in which the art of cartogrphy had reached such perfection in an empire that
the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it.
within generations, this grand map of the empire is taken for the real empire, and the citizens mourn their loss as they see this simulacrum of their empire fray and tatter beneath them. the real territory has since turned into a desert [hence baudrillard’s term “desert of the real,” used in the movie matrix].
Hide Dare, pArt Relicas & Caffeine Free Diet Carbonated Beverages [Sodalicious!]
for a look at some examples of modern day tomfoolery in this vein, let us first imagine that borges' imagined cartographers’ intents were slightly modified: suppose that the map-makers wanted not to create a map of their empire for its own sake or the perfection of their profession [©art(ography) for ©art(ography)’s sake?], but rather that they saw their precious empire turning into a desert and, in a desperate attempt to salvage it, created this one-to-one map to retain their ideal.
a popular idea in our culture is that of ‘anti-aging.’ an important distinction should be made between the ceasing of the aging process, and the reversal of the aging process. [this distinction will again become important when we discuss ‘folding,’ ‘unfolding,’ and ‘refolding.’] we are here specifically referring to reversal.
men and women often get grey hair as they age. in an effort to minimize or destroy this image of aging, many will purchase dyes [often advertised for how ‘natural’ they appear,] in order to reflect/mirror their youth [to ‘fold back’ time: replicare, root of replica]; in effect: dy(e)ing to be futher from death. [“don’t forget your roots” aquires new meaning.] the parallels between these dyers and the cartographer-as-savior should be evident. both, however, fall into the same problem of d(en)ying the original in their replication: their futility lies partly in their timing [what they’re attempting to copy exists no longer], however, as we may see later, the futility runs much deeper…
a more direct parallel to our twist of borges’ map-makers lies in those who deal in art restoration. like the cartographers, art historians and musems are often more concerned with the ‘symbolic’ than the ‘real’ original: “restorers” of art such as the sistine chapel monkey with the original, with the intent of imitating the ‘original.’ what they end up with is a copy imitating the original, while the real turns into desert just beyond our vision. the symbolic sense of ‘worth in the original’ for these people is strong enough that they refuse to accept dirt, decay -- change of the work, and, in a curious move, change the piece so it appears [there’s the key word,] unchanged. on the other side of art replicas [or forgeries, as somemight call them,] we have mp3s, burnt CDs and DVDs etc: the fear of record companies and sellers, when it comes to ‘fakes,’ is not that the general public will lose interest [in fact, the opposite is most likely true,] but that the companies and sellers will lose money. their power to sell comes from a basic economic rule: rarity is inversely proportional to worth. and, of course, ‘rarity’ does not mean actual rarity, but the image of rarity, or availability: this is the dilema of mass-marketed products; how to make a product which is clearly not rare, seem valueable. the solution often involves infusing the product with a symbolic meaning, or worth [not based in its exchange value, but rather, to increase the same,] often in the form of some mysterious element x. i.e., when you drink coke, not only will you drink coke but ‘x’-- some element that is never explained and clearly not quenched. but the issue of product availability control [or, more precisely, scarcity control] is huge, especially in the music, and movie business. with the advent of technologies that make dubbing [or doubling] possible and convenient [and, more recently, exact: ensuring identical products that must drop terms like ‘master recording;’ all copies are equal to the master…] , the loss of control of product avalability has been extreme, and with it, of course, a call from corporations for legislation.
historic restoration is rampant in the houses of the famous [and long dead], such as anne frank, susan b. anthony, rembrandt, etc. using period furniture and decorations, one is swept into the past with one’s fanny pack and shorts, and, like sheep, get herded through a pack of wolves in wolves’ clothing.
consider now, one more alteration to borges’ story: there is no empire; only nomadic people. one, [probably named ‘tzeitel’] stands up and sings: “map maker, map maker! make me a map!” and an enormous map of an imaginary empire is created and lived in for years.
this simulacrum with no real can be observed in the ‘x’-free soda of today. the original coke, which serves no nutritious function and which doesn’t actually quench thirst, acts as a sort of ‘imaginary empire.’ its simulacrum appears when the company removes the caffeine and sugar and markets this new beverage as “caffeine free diet coke.” this desire-creation is a fundamental necessity for today’s market [note similar examples in decaf coffee, non-alcoholic beer and wine, pornless porn (see bill hicks’ record “philosophy”), meatless meat, humorless sit-coms…]. often times these simulacra are pitted against nothing and declared winners: take for example diet dr. pepper’s slogan, “tastes more like regular dr. pepper.” this meaningless phrase derives its strength from the word ‘more,’ as well as the idea that something should taste like the real thing, without actually being the real thing [and remember, even “the real thing,” in this case, is a non-entity].
Ocean’s Eleven Through Twelve, and Their Counterfeits
both steven soderbergh’s ocean’s eleven and ocean’s twelve rely on simulacra.
in ‘eleven,’ a master theft is planned on the belagio vault, which is heavily fortified. the belagio heist is successfully accomplished, besides a complicated plan and the talents of each individual eleven, by incorporating a one-to-one replica of the vault, in which the group practices their plan, and eventually records the scene that plays on the belagio’s security cameras while the real belagio’s vault gets turned into a desert [and, we must always be cautious when tagging terms ‘real,’ as the belagio is a real hotel and casino, so, in fact, the belagio in las vegas is the ‘real,’ while the replica in the movie is a copy of a copy]. once the scene is cleared, owner terry bendict [andy garcia] figures out how they emptied the vault, only after noticing a difference between the vault on the video, and his own; only by noticing a flaw in the map, could he find the deserted empire beneath [he noticed that his vault’s ‘full body [temporary] tattoo’ of itself was a little too short…].
we begin ”ocean’s twelve” with benedict hunting down all the men of danny ocean’s eleven, and informing them that they need to repay him in full, with interest [despite the fact that his insurance covered his losses]. leaving the country to stay under the radar, they plan a heist of the world’s first stock, issued by the dutch east india trading company, which was locked up in the dutch home of an agoraphobic antique collecter, hoping that this money will get them started. they find out that they’ve been beaten there by a french thief [and billionaire] named francois toulours. meeting toulours, danny ocean [george clooney] asks why he did what he did and what he wants. toulours informs him that he overheard his mentor, la marque [rumored by detectives to be the greatest of all time,] discussing the belagio heist with another man. the man remarks that he believes ocean’s theft as the greatest of all time. la marque does not correct him, and this angers toulours…
toulours comes up with a wager in which both he and danny’s eleven will both attempt to steal the faberge coronation egg, which will be shown in a local museum. if ocean’s eleven win, toulours will pay their debt. like the first movie, we’re walked through the seeming impossibility of accomplishing the goal, and the action begins. long story short [don’t read this if you don’t want to know]: ocean and most of his men get busted on their first attempt, the remaining four attempt to complete the mission with the help of tess [julia roberts], who ‘plays the part’ of celebrity julia roberts in order to get into the museum during the day, and get within a good distance off the egg. this plan too fails, and all end up in jail. now, the plot unfolds [or refolds] and we learn that while toulours believes that he has won, the whole fold has been another simulacrum: immediately after learning about toulours, danny pays a visit to la marque, who informs him about the coronation egg, how it is transported to the museum in a back pack on a train, etc.
i.e., like the first movie, the theft was committed before we are led to believe it is, and the remaining action [which, we are told by la marque, would be tightly monitored by toulours] was all an act.
now. back to the issue at hand: there are three main instances of copies in ocean’s twelve.
number one is the coronation egg itself.
let’s count how many there may have been: one original, one replica transported to the museum by the faberge people [to ensure its safety], one replica that ocean’s eleven used to convince the transporters of the real egg they still had it, one replica that toulours [assumed, though never witnessed] must’ve placed when he stole the other replica, and finally, one hologram of the egg that the eleven have designed for their switch. 5 in all, and in the end, what does it matter? to those visiting the museum, any would’ve done [all except the hologram that is, which would disappear after 2 minutes].
number two is “julia roberts.”
the whole scene with the julia roberts imitation [by julia robert] involved not a copy imitating an original, but an original imitating a copy [or, in this case, an original imitating a copy, imitating the original]. also, the even wider, meta-stance, includes the idea that we are merely watching, on the movie screen, the ‘imitation,’ or image of julia roberts: a copy imitating original imitating copy imitating original!
the third is the art of capoeira.
this martial art clothed as a dance originated in brazil by african slaves, taken there during the middle passage. it was used by capoeristas to disrupt the political life of the country. an entire film was devoted to it in 1993. sheldon lettich’s film only the strong describes the story of a green beret who was in brazil for four years, who returns to his miami high school to find all the usual problems: drugs and violence. he proposes capoeira as the antidote to these problems, and of course, as all 1993 movies must, ended in joy.
in ocean’s twelve, we see toulours practicing capoeira in his back yard. we see it again in the film while he narrates how he managed to steal the ‘egg’: he uses it to avoid the museum’s high-tech laser security system. a beautiful scene where the capoeira’s mask of dance is once again removed, and we see self-defense.
Counterfeit and reproduction imply always an anguish, a disquieting foreignness: the uneasiness before the photograph, considered like a witch's trick — and more generally before any technical apparatus, which is always an apparatus of reproduction, is related by Benjamin to the uneasiness before the mirror-image. There is already sorcery at work in the mirror. But how much more so when this image can be detached from the mirror and be transported, stocked, reproduced at will (cf. The Student of Prague, where the devil detaches the image of the student from the mirror and harrasses him to death by the intermediary of this image). All reproduction implies therefore a kind of black magic, from the fact of being seduced by one's own image in the water, like Narcissus, to being haunted by the double and, who knows, to the mortal turning back of this vast technical apparatus secreted today by man as his own image (the narcissistic mirage of technique, McLuhan) and that returns to him, cancelled and distorted -endless reproduction of himself and his power to the limits of the world. Reproduction is diabolical in its very essence; it makes something fundamental vacillate. This has hardly changed for us: simulation (that we describe here as the operation of the code) is still and always the place of a gigantic enterprise of manipulation, of control and of death, just like the imitative object (primitive statuette, image of photo) always had as objective an operation of black image.
-jean baudrillard 1998
two new essays will be making the appear on the website very soon!
the first, inspired by the movies ocean's eleven and ocean's twelve, an exposition on replicas.
the second, a [relatively short] look at how things have been shaping up with the country since september 11 2001, in specific, relying on the concept of 'state of exception,' put forth by giorgio agamben, in his book of the same name.
yah!
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