Great God Pan

The latest issue of ArtUS contains my inspection of Landslide magazine, a "critical" journal put out anonymously by William Leavitt and Bas Jan Ader in 1969/70. Leavitt was kind enough to sit for a series of interviews and to make available original issues, ephemera, and two 16mm films that documented Landslide-related performances executed in and around Los Angeles. Some of you might have read the brief piece I did on this subject last year for Chicago's TenbyTen. This however is a much longer examination that attempts to place Landslide in the proper context among the concurrent self-published art criticism/literature. Interestingly, featured in this month's Artforum is a synchronous look into New York's own artist-affable publication, Avalanche.

While both publications challenged the authority of "established" critical publications like Artforum and American Artist, their motivations, methodology, and presentation were quite distinct. Slick-looking Avalanche allotted generous space and participatory freedom to artists (like Smithson and Acconci) who, though they still may have been considered outré by traditionalists, were no strangers to the pages of “reputable” periodicals. Doing away entirely with homages to the existent, Leavitt and Ader instead "invented" their own artists—interviewing them, criticizing them, and even constructing work to be displayed in the magazine's pages—investigating issues of celebrity, modish references, and stylistic trends. Whereas Avalanche mimicked Artforum with its square format and glossy spreads, Landslide was a cheaply-produced mimeograph, owing as much visually to Village poetry collections as to art-crowd journals.

The two magazines’ titular similarity was apparently coincidental. “[Avalanche co-founder] Willoughby Sharp visited my studio in late 1970,” recalls Leavitt. “[He’d] heard about Landslide which had preceded the publication of Avalanche by a few months. We didn't exactly hit it off; professional jealousy perhaps,” he jokes. Differences aside, both magazines played important roles in their respective cities. As for Leavitt’s venture partner, Bas Jan Ader, it seems two new books are being published next year on the exploits of the tragic Dutch artist. From Afterall Books/MIT Press comes Bas Jan Ader: In Search of the Miraculous by Jan Verwoert, while the Artimo imprint promises Bas Jan Ader: Ocean Wave by Koos Dalstra and Marion Van Wijk.

Posted by Erik at 05:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For all you hill-people energy types interested in taking a little break from your "mountain encounters," find your way over to Asheville and take a look-see at Steve Brown's heavy thesis show at UNCA Gallery called "Black Gum." Through a series of large-scale charcoal drawings and altered photo-murals, the Brown one depicts witchy activity in a log cabin, details mystical native flora, and illustrates the "first successful energy volley" performed at Black Gum College in 1973. The exhibition is up for a limited time only, so check it out, toot sweet.

Posted by Erik at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most of you are already familiar with Merrell Fankhauser from his various bands H.M.S. Bounty, Fapardokly, and of course MU. One of the great Aquarian-age musicians, Fankhauser’s name deserves mention in the same weighted breaths as fellow Golden State tunesmiths like Neil Young and Lowell George. Alas, the field is not always level and we have to dig a little to get the real dirt on this pillar of music. A good place to start is Merrell’s own website.

From his early days in Lancaster with the Exiles (featuring a pre-Beefheart Antenna Jimmy Semens/neé Jeff Cotton) to Pismo Beach folk rockers Fapardokly, Fankhauser covered California both geographically and musically. When H.M.S. Bounty’s 1968 near-hit “Things” failed to get the band noticed outside of Los Angeles, half the group split leaving Fankhauser to record the final Bounty material (a pre-Nillson version of “Everybody’s Talkin’) with bass-great Carol Kaye and Duane Eddy(!).

By 1969 Fankhauser and what was left of his band were living in the mountains near Topanga. It was here that MU was born. “One day we found this very old book under some old papers in the log bin next to the fireplace, The Lost Continent Of MU by James Churchward. We were entranced as we had been into mystical and ancient Indian history for years,” Fankhauser told Muzikman in a 1999 interview. “At the time Jeff Cotton had just left Beefheart and we were looking for a name for the band. After reading the book we decided MU was perfect as we felt a kinship with the ideals of the ancient MU. Around this same time a musician friend from our days in the desert, Jeff Parker, wrote us from Maui that he had moved there and an old Hawaiian man had showed him some ruins near the ocean in the jungle and that they were rumored to be remnants of The Lost Continent of MU !”

In 1973 MU officially moved to Maui where they were “greeted by a wonderful group of peace loving brothers & sisters who we immediately formed a bond with.” The band was invited to perform at a two-day festival featuring David Carradine, Bonnie Bramlett, and Ramblin Jack Elliot. Remembers Fankhauser, “We arrived on Saturday morning shortly after David Carradine and his wife (actress) Barbara Hershey* arrived. David agreed to go on first with Barbara on flute, Dewey Martin (from the Buffalo Springfield) on drums and an unknown bass player.” All sorts of adventures follow—including UFOs, Randy California, and ancient pyramids—but it’s best to let Merrell tell you about them.

*According to Jim Wegryn, "Many of America's own 'love generation' of the 1960's and 1970's took blissful last names like Friendship and Sunshine. For example, the actress Barbara Hershey for a short time was known as Barbara Seagull."

Posted by Erik at 01:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)