Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which will open its doors at in 2015, has acquired Parliament’s Funkadelic Mothership (the second incarnation, that is — the first having long-since departed for other galaxies).
The legendary stage prop will serve as a crucial building block of the museum’s permanent display permanent music exhibition. Via Funk Music News:
When the band lowered the Mothership from the rafters of the Capital Centre in Landover in 1977, the response was rapturous. Not only was it instantly stunning — it felt like a cosmic metaphor for the sense of possibility that followed the civil rights movement.
That symbolism isn’t lost on the Smithsonian.
“With large iconic objects like this, we can tap into . . . themes of movement and liberation that are a constant in African-American culture,” says Dwandalyn R. Reece, curator of music and performing arts for the museum. “The Mothership as this mode of transport really fits into this musical trope in African American culture about travel and transit.”
It will be exhibited alongside other artifacts from American music history — Louis Armstrong’s trumpet, James Brown’s stage costumes, Lena Horne’s evening gowns. But it will be the only spaceship.
YES!! “Free your mind and come fly with me… it’s hip! On the Mothership. Swing down, sweet chariot, stop, and let me ride…”
A dear and lovely chum from New York, singer Robert Conroy, has just alerted us to some splendid news! The Boy Friend (1971), one of Ken Russell’s most elegantly outrageous gems, was recently released to DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection. It’s a remastered disc of the 136-minute UK version, and it’s… oh, if you haven’t seen it before, just watch a wee bit, see what you think:
Some background info, courtesy of the YouTube clip:
Working at the height of his formidable powers, Ken Russell braids a whole new layer of story onto the hit stage musical that made Julie Andrews a star and opens it up to some astonishing flights of fancy. Wrapping a narrative frame around the original – a seaside theatrical company mounts a production of the ’20s musical spoof The Boy Friend – allows Russell, in turn, to explore and parody the conventions of ’30s musicals with elaborate fantasy sequences, slapstick, and sentiment. RESTORED DIRECTOR’S CUT/ROADSHOW presentation with Intermission and Entr’Acte, as Ken Russell intended the film to be seen. SPECIAL FEATURES: vintage “behind the scenes” making-of featurette about the film and theatrical trailer.
The UK-based, world-traveling artist Hush has returned to LA with his show “Twin”, opening tomorrow (Saturday) at New Image Art. Hush’s work explores and pushes the porous boundaries between graffiti, street art, tagging, anime and pop art.
Hush’s work has been described as a sensory assault of shape, color, and character. Inspired by the portrayal of the female form in art, the artist builds up and tears down layers of paint and images as he works, “letting the canvas and marks take their own path.” The result is an enigmatic synthesis of anime, pop-infused imagery and graffiti that exposes the conflict between power and decay, innocence and sexuality, and the fusion of Eastern and Western culture. Hush continues to evolve his style with this latest batch of pieces, which merges his early anime and pop-art influenced graffiti technique with an exploration of Romanesque iconographic imagery.
THIS is what I love about portable technology. Because everyone has that story of “You just had to be there, man.” Now we can. Thank you.
Word of warning if you’re at work: make sure you’re on headphones! Word of warning if the prospect of a spectacularly juvenile 5.5-minute rant from a cranky, (possibly ex-military) piggy park ranger does not sound amusing to you: you will want to watch Kitty the Malay Eagle Owl instead.
Just what you’ve always wanted: a sequined urinal dress fashioned after Duchamp’s Fountain.
It’ll set you back a mere $2,592.00 (before shipping). The ultimate pomo Lemon Party ensemble, brought to us by The Rodnik Band‘s Philip Colbert, the same sparkly Pop Art piss-taker who has gifted our world with the Warholian soup can frock, the Mondrian Twin Set, and the Lichensteinian Brush Strokes dress, among other pieces.
R. Kelly approved, I. P. Freeley sanctioned, and so meta-ironic, it’ll make ya shit.
Jillian Mayer is a visual and performance artist exhibiting her work across the US and internationally and is part of the permanent collection at the Frost Art Museum and the Girl’s Club Collection. Last year, Mayer’s experimental musical “Mrs. Ms” was commissioned by the Miami Light Project, premiered at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, FL. Mayer’s latest video work has been screened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art and at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in NY, Bilbao, Venice and Berlin.
Mayer has recently been commissioned to create a performance-based television art show at the De la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space for Basel 2011. Mayer will develop and produce several live segments of a conceptual variety show in a cable access-styled television program, which will survive as a cultural time-capsule under the guise of animal fascination. World Class Boxing is also commissioning Mayer to create a new video work for the gallery for Basel 2011. Recently, the Borscht Film Festival commissioned Mayer to create short film told entirely through installations by Mayer which features legendary Luther Campbell (Uncle Luke of musical group 2 Live Crew). The film is a modern Miami adaptation of the 1962 French short film “La Jetee”, “The Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke”.”
Allrighty! Definitely one to watch. (Perhaps with a mixture of glee, revulsion, and kinship.) Plenty more Mayer mayhem at her website, and on her Vimeo channel. (“Scenic Jogging”‘s especially intriguing.) Click here to read a great Interview Magazine Q&A with this burgeoning OMGWTFBBQ multidisciplinary art star.
Beats Antique, photographed by Sequoia Emmanuelle.
Those cheeky loves from Beats Antique want to give us all a cheap thrill on Fri 13th. Actually, a FREE thrill– in the form of an agitated, super bass-heavy Beats Antique remix of composer Harry Manfredini’s Friday the 13th bombast.
It’s pretty sick:
Beats Antique’s touring schedule is extra intense this festival season. Chances are, if you live in North America, they’ll be in your time zone at least once over the next few months. Check their calendar here. David, Zoe and Tommy put on a stellar live show that’s fulla heart and playfulness. Not to be missed if you like to dance, laugh, and bliss out.
Happy Friday the 13th! A lucky day for us, to be sure– in addition to Ross’s regular installment of the FAM, Coilhouse is proud to present NERVOUS96, a new, suspenseful, next-to-silent retro sci-fi short by director Bill Domonkos.
Inspired by original musical seance recordings by longtime ‘Haus favorite Jill Tracy, and the deliciously spooky violin of Paul Mercer, Domonkos has taken vintage footage and repurposed it to present the tale of a frantic, lonely woman, increasingly overwhelmed by debt and uncertainty in a world where technology has become increasingly invasive, even menacing. His “complex chiaroscuro style marks a marriage between silent-era special effects master George Méliès and the digital age.”
“Single white female. Lonely, Seeking soul mate. Humanoid preferred…”
From the NERVOUS96 press release:
Known for his distinctive craft of manipulated archival footage combined with 2D and 3D computer animation, special effects, and photography, Jill Tracy fans best know Bay Area filmmaker Bill Domonkos for the multiple award-winning “The Fine Art of Poisoning,” and his collection of acclaimed videos for legendary masked band The Residents.
“The Fine Art of Poisoning,” (set to Jill Tracy’s seminal song) has become a cult favorite, garnering praise from Clive Barker, Guy Maddin, writer Warren Ellis, and well-over 100,000 views on YouTube, and a recent screening at London’s famed National Gallery.
Domonkos was completely inspired by pianist Jill Tracy and violinist Paul Mercer’s “Musical Séance,” a poignant live project that employs the duo’s astonishing channeled improvisations. Domonkos meticulously crafted excerpts from actual séance recordings to create the emotional voice of the “NERVOUS96” character.
(Click those arrows on the right to watch it full screen.) The musical score for NERVOUS96 is also available for download on Bandcamp. Congratulations to Domonkos/Tracy/Mercer on this sharp and toothsome indie triumph.
Woodward released this piece, “Thought of You” (animated to a song by The Weepies) a few months ago, after working closely with a choreographer and dancers to achieve a deep level of subtlety and humanity. The short was rejected from Sundance, but has since gained effusive praise and hundreds of thousands of views on Vimeo and Youtube.
If anyone is reminded of Michel Gagné‘s work (that same fluidity and emotive dexterity) it’s no coincidence. Woodward states: “[Gagné] was my mentor and continues to be my friend and my inspiration. I give him all the credit in the world for what I’ve learned.”
Learn more about Woodward’s non-commercial body of work at Conte Animated.
