Purveyors of French prog of course will be familiar with Deleuze's appearance on Heldon's 1974 debut Electronique Guérilla. The side-long "Le Voyageur" consists of Deleuze reading "some texts by Nietzsche" over Richard Pinhas' synthesized wizardry. First referred to as "Ouais Marchais, Mieux qu’en 68," the track was laid down in a studio outside of Paris, the session being attended by Jean-François Lyotard (The Postmodern Condition). The song was originally credited to Schizo, pressed up in small quantities, and passed out gratis to all the heads in the Île. It turns out Pinhas and the philosopher were lifelong friends, and Pinhas, himself a philosopher, hosts a Deleuze-centric webpage where one can peruse writings, photos, and even mp3s of the man at work. And if you ignore the kinda lame musical descriptions, there are some nice photos of Heldon and their hella tight 'dos here.
This Sunday marks the return of Gilles Deleuze—From A to Z, "a series of 24 screenings based on a filmed interview between Gilles Deleuze and Claire Parnet." Presented by Hedi El Kholti and Semiotext(e), each session screens one letter from the 8-hour long interview and groups other films around each theme Deleuze touchs upon. Screening Number Six: "F as in Friendship" features Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub's take on Marguerite Duras, En rachâchant (1982). Also showing will be Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (2001) by Pedro Costa, a portrait of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub during the editing of Sicilia!
Sunday, April 29th, 2007, 8:30 p.m
at the Mandrake Bar
2692 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles
Live from his houseboat lair, Sausalito's resident philosopher Alan Watts muses about "reproduction" in this 1972 film clip. Despite his shirtlessness and bunk-top locale, not to worry, he's not talking about THAT kind of reproduction. This is part one of Watts' three part "fantasy" series that's purchasable from his website. Part two struck me as especially relevant after listening to our fair city's mayor on the radio the other day, exhorting the need for L.A. to make it more desirable for Coscos and Walmarts to set up shop. Citing the much-needed tax revenue they would bring in, Hizzoner got all eager-beaver on accepting the pithy returns of frenzied consumerism, while a few CEO crooks and their stockholding squires get rich. Has Villaraigosa ever actually looked out the window of his bodyguard-piloted SUV on the way to work? The city has become unbearably congested and new megamalls and shoddy hit-and-run developments certainly ain't going to help anyone except their corporate owners and backers. We don't NEED anything they sell. We all got along fine before they showed up, remember? And tax revenue? Somewhere along the way we've come to equate wealth with quality of life. Sure, growth brings in income, but at the expense of our peace of mind. Growth is nothing but atrophy dressed up fancy. How about DISSUADING growth? Let ‘em do it somewhere else and let us be a model of reason and sustainability, even if it costs us some “worth.” Skyrocketing home values are great, but only when you sell out and move to Oregon because you can’t stand living with the encroaching hurly burly anymore. If our society can only survive by ever-accelerating levels of building shit, selling shit, and buying shit—the accumulation of what Watts calls "endless stuff"—then I hope we’re all really enjoying it now, because once we run out of resources, space, and folks content to make it for us cheap, there won't be anything left but our overinflated property values, lots of cheap-ass stucco, and a population doubling every twenty years.
Purveyors of French prog of course will be familiar with Deleuze's appearance on Heldon's 1974 debut Electronique Guérilla. The side-long "Le Voyageur" consists of Deleuze reading "some texts by Nietzsche" over Richard Pinhas' synthesized wizardry. First referred to as "Ouais Marchais, Mieux qu’en 68," the track was laid down in a studio outside of Paris, the session being attended by Jean-François Lyotard (The Postmodern Condition). The song was originally credited to Schizo, pressed up in small quantities, and passed out gratis to all the heads in the Île. It turns out Pinhas and the philosopher were lifelong friends, and Pinhas, himself a philosopher, hosts a Deleuze-centric webpage where one can peruse writings, photos, and even mp3s of the man at work. And if you ignore the kinda lame musical descriptions, there are some nice photos of Heldon and their hella tight 'dos here.