Great God Pan

Posted by Erik at 02:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight! Our Palos Verdes brother Peter Poffenberger presents the real Runaways and their contemporaries as well as the best of rock and experimental from around the world. Heavy levels will be brought to your home via records and tapes so leave your windows open...

in the naked city
Spaces ain't that pretty
As I was getting dusted
I happened to get busted
Oh yes I was arrested
Oh god how I protested
They beat me with a board
It hurt just like a sword
They kicked me in the eye
My brain began to fry
This is like a movie
I know I'm gonna scream
All the pain that I feel
Makes me feel mean
It's so sad and crazy here
I think I'm gonna cry
If I don't wake up from this dream
I think I'm gonna........die

Where am !?
Your in a cheap run down teenage jail thats where
Oh my god!
Listen to the Ooze Out Program
Tuesdays at 7 pm WEST COAST TIME on
WPVM 103.5 fm
Asheville NC
www.wpvm.org on the innerweb

You can always hear it later too by hearing the podcast here...
http://main-fm.org/nav/archives/

Posted by Erik at 01:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tune in to the Ooze Out program for new hits from Heath Moreland, Dignan Porch, Peaking Lights, a mix tape (real tape) from our Topanga Canyon correspondent Arrak and much, much more.

If you're down in the dumps
With a case of the grumps
And your get up and go
Has got up and went
Remember the following magical words

Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna
Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna

Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna
Gna Gna Gna Gna

Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna
Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna

Silly, funny as it may seem
These words have a magical way
Of bringing you up from the dumps, the blues
And brighten your whole day

If you're ever uptight
Anytime day or night
And your frightened and betting
You'll never pull through
Take a deep breath and repeat after me

Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna
Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna

Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna
Gna Gna Gna Gna

Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna
Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna

Listen to the Ooze Out Program
Tuesdays at 10 pm (7 PM on the West Coast!)
WPVM 103.5 fm
Asheville NC
www.wpvm.org on the innerweb

Posted by Erik at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OMG! Now the New Energy Encounter Group's "Chrome Location" is the new summer song at Rad. Laid down at Pacific Dust some time back. Dig it!

Posted by Erik at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come see this summer group show at Las Cienegas Projects featuring Erik Bluhm, Jim Shaw, Caroline Thomas, and Scott Marvel Cassidy.

"The main pretense in assembling this exhibition of these three artists and myself, was the defining similarity, inspiration and differences to my own work. Optimistically, this grouping will inspire further investigation between the borders of collage, metaphor and the current social-political climate. The works in this exhibition utilize imagery from popular culture, documenting psychological and aesthetic developments personal and familial."

“This group of paintings is a hypothesis of pictorial content loosely based upon William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin's "cut-up" methodology. This permits the mixing of such content as conceptual, emblematic and formal. The resulting synthesis, whether selected intentionally or by chance, can be self sufficient, function as supplementary or drive the narrative of these works.”

— Scott Marvel Cassidy

Posted by Erik at 08:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Saturday our good friend Jan Steward will be signing copies of her recently re-issued book Learning By Heart at the closing day of the "Passion for the Possible" exhibition at California State University Northridge. Jan wrote this fantastic book with her teacher and colleague Sister Corita Kent, who happens to be the subject of this exhibition, curated by none other than Alleged dude Aaron Rose. The book's been out of print for over a decade so this is big news. The closing/signing is from 12-6 this Saturday, April 4th. There'll be screenings of Bayliss Glasscock's great films Mary's Day (1967) and We Have No Art (1967), as well as a new short film on Corita by Rose. If you can't make it, Jan will be signing books again at the Eames Office in a couple weeks.

Posted by Erik at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have several things floating out in the literary world these days, both literally and pictorally.

First off there's a couple of collages reproduced in Hedi Al Khoulti and Paul Gellman's fabulous new journal, Animal Shelter that also features pieces by Claude Collins-Stracensky and Alice Könitz alongside written segments by Goody-B Wiseman, Chris Kraus, etc. Very handsome this!

A New Energy tête-à-têteà-tête between Arrak, Paulus, and Kaisle sits inside Pablo de la Barra's Pablo Internacional magazine, along with some rather racy pictures of Paulus himself modeling his own robes!

The new Pazmaker magazine from Perros Negros in Mexico City is actually a CD this issue. Besides featuring Alelsandra Mir, Holland Cotter, Marcel Broodthaers, and Peter Poffenberger, it contains an article I wrote about the influence of Indian music and culture on California subculture of the 60s and 70s. "Journey From the East" details things like the Cosmic Brotherhood, teenage garage raga, how Harihar turned on the folkies and jazzmen, and Aashish Khan's West Coast beginnings. It's narrated NPR-style by the New Energy Encounter Group's own Bonnie Perkinson.

There's an interview I did with William Leavitt for the 2008 California Biennial catalog. For the exhibition he re-created his 1971 sound installation, Gothic Curtain (I think there's a picture of it somewhere here). Bill's having an opening of new work called Molecules and Buildings at Margo Leavin this weekend as well which is something we all should be very, very happy about.

For the past few years I've been a regular contributor to Ugly Things, pretty much known as thee rag for psych and garage aficionados and beardo record collectors alike. Usually I just review stuff but in the last issue I interviewed Alison O'Donnell from Mellow Candle and spoke with members of Bay Area teen sensations the William Penn Fyve, known for their amazing regional hit, "Swami." Check them out here then and now here! Look for my in-depth coverage of the secret life of S.F. folk rock pioneers, The Wildflower in an upcoming issue.

Posted by Erik at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For years the most you could find out about the Texas psych scene was from those Cicadelic 60s and Texas Punk Groups comps. Now there's no shortage of stoker coverage of the shit your grandprents lived through. Most of you have probably already read Eye Mind, the ultra-detailed saga of how Roky Erickson and his friends invented psychedelic rock and fed LSD to their pet monkey. Then there was that 83 Texan Nuggets from International Artists Records 1965-1970 CD that Charly did. And now I just heard somewhere about a TEN CD boxset of Elevators stuff coming out in the Spring from International Artists the most exciting part being it includes Stacy Sutherland's unreleased early '70s solo album, Beauty & the Beast. Jeez!

Speaking of eyes, if you feel the need to see more after renting I Have Always Been Here Before, now there's Dirt Road to Psychedelia, a visual trip through the dawning of Texas pre-hippydom. Here's the dirt...

"A folk-singing Janis Joplin, the dawning of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and the first psychedelic venue in Austin, Texas created a fertile ground for the emerging counter culture of the 1960s. Seen as nonconformists, Beatnik-inspired hipsters were drawn together by folk, country and blues music. Traditional values became challenged as they sought a lifestyle outside of the system. Civil Rights and the war in Vietnam were galvanizing factors in 1960s American society, but the advent of psychedelics made it electrified. This documentary, by local filmmaker Scott Conn, tells how it all happened in Austin, Texas. Includes vintage footage of our beloved downtown historic parks as sites for love-ins and political rallies."

Don't know who all's in it but that fella with the big hair in the clip is parta Shiva's Headband.
If you missed the screening at a park in Austin last October (that featured 13th Floor Elevators cover band, the Tommy Hall Schedule), you can catch it again Feb. 4th at the Alamo Ritz. Or if Texas isn't in your itinerary, you can also purchase the film on dvd by clicking here.

Posted by Erik at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tune in this Tuesday the 20th to WPVM for Ooze Out's tribute to Cluster's first stand/fast land/stash band/mast hand in Big Sur. The last time Cluster came here to play was way back when Kraftwerk first came back and Jean-Jacques Perrey gave a presentation at Art Center. That was a good week. This time Arthur is sponsoring them for a few West Coast shows, including an L.A. show at Farmlab on Thursday and a Big Sur sesh at the Henry Miller Library on Friday. If you can't make it to a gig you can at least let Peter Poffenberger, Knew Innergy Arrak, and their friends take you on a very Roedelian (and Möbian!) journey through the time strata with the help of cliffside denizens like Mike Love, Richard Brautigan, Michael Rother, Brian Eno, Dick n' Mimi, Jack Kerouac, Dick St. John, Johnny Rivers, Hunter S. Thompson, and more! It'll be an experience you'll treasure forever. And ever.

OOZE OUT!
WITH YOUR HOST PETER POFFENBERGER
with a special call -in seshy from New Energy's ARRAK all out in the West.
plus good 'ol BYRON and CARLEY too!

CALL THEM UP AT 828 258 0085

Listen to
OOZE OUT!
Tusedays 10pm to 1am (Eastern time, cuz. That's 7pm here)
WPVM 103.5 FM
Asheville NC

Injecting the analog ooze into our digital culture
Bubblegum, witchy folk germanic rock, field trips, important texts, interviews and so much more

OUTSIDE of Asheville listen at www.wpvm.org (streaming)
shows are archived for one week.

Posted by Erik at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

West Coast New Energy Encounter Group Performance
Sunday, 18 May, between the hours of 4 and 8pm
Part of the SASSAS Blast! [5] fundraiser event - tix available now

This Sunday, May 18th, The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound ( SASSAS) will be hosting its fifth annual fundraiser, Blast!, at a private residence in exotic Pacific Palisades. As part of this event the New Energy Encounter Group will perform an excerpt from their new play, "Long Years in Space", featuring Paul Gellman, Bonnie Perkinson, Lawrence Rengert II, Ruby Neri, Torbjorn Vejvi, Tom Watson, Ashley Gallagher and Erik Bluhm. Bluhm recently presented an exhibition of collage and sculpture at David Patton Los Angeles. See an image of the New Energy Encounter Group's performance during the run of Bluhm's exhibition.

Also performing for the fundraiser will be MC Johanna Went, Ariel Pink, Dick Slessig, DJs Languis and T. Kelly Mason. There will be food and drink as well as a silent auction.

Visit the SASSAS Blast! page to purchase tickets, become a member or perhaps pick up an iPod stuffed with music by your favorite member of Sonic Youth. Can't choose one favorite? Hell, buy 'em all!

Tickets are required and limited and will be vanishing quickly.

Posted by Erik at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you tuned in last week, you are already know the Ooze Out program's first attempt at visiting Polynesia was aborted due to a long layover in Gatlin, Nebraska (which we quite enjoyed, thanks Malachai!). But all things happen for a reason in God's universe. This week we've booked a direct flight to the Friendly Islands where Ooze Out correspondent Erik Bluhm just happens to be working as a Disc Jockey in a tiki bar on one of the islands, not sure which one but he says it's kind of like Lost! Join us tonight for surf, sounds and poi, plus digital dolphins, the whoosh of Father Yod's hangglider, the soft murmur of Sky "Sunlight" Saxon petting dogs, Merrell Fankhauser's tales of Mu, and much more! —Peter

Listen to the Ooze Out Program Tuesdays 10pm (that's 7pm for you West Coasters) on 103.5 WPVM FM Asheville or on line, streaming at http://wpvm.org

Hear last week's show here

Posted by Erik at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a country happily wrapped up like a Quizno's sammy in the sacred dyad of current events— American Idol and the upcoming. . . "election"—we know how hard it can be to know how we're supposed to feel about all this important stuff. While Hillary and Obama brashly plow through campaign budgets that would feed the third world for a decade, millions of Americans actually plan their post-week-behind/in front of a cash register-schedules around a manufactured reality show—a show so distressful that an otherwise tragic event like McCain winning and bringing back the draft might actually "save" the youth of America from a slow death from dopey purposelessness. Anyhow, we thought we'd pass on this observance from Prof. Peter Phillips of Sonoma State.

"Will November 2008 bring a meaningful change to America? Will getting rid of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney without impeachment or indictment really make a difference? Will a 600 billion dollar war/defense budget be cut in half and used for desperately needed domestic spending? Will the ninety-three billion dollars profits in the private health insurance companies —those parasitic intermediates between you and your doctor—be used instead for full health care coverage for all? Will Habeas Corpus and Posse Comitatus be restored to the people? Will torture stop and the US withdraw from Iraq immediately? Will all students in public universities be able to enroll for free? Will the US national security agencies stop mass spying on our personal communications? Will the neo-conservative agenda of total military domination of the world be reversed?

The answer to these questions in the context of the current billion dollar presidential campaign is an absolute no. Instead we have a campaign of personalities and platitudes. There is a race candidate, a gender candidate and a tortured veteran candidate, each talking about change in America, national security, freedom, and the American way. The candidates are running with support of political parties so deeply embedded with the military industrial complex, the health insurance companies, Wall Street, and corporate media that it is undeterminable where the board rooms separate from the state rooms.

The 2008 presidential race is a media entertainment spectacle with props, gossip, accusations, and public relations. It is impression management from a candidates’ perspective. How can we fool the most people into believing that we stand for something? It is billions of dollars of gravy for the media folks and continued profit maximunization for the war machine, Wall Street, and insurance companies no matter who is determined the winner in November."

Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and director of Project Censored.

Posted by Erik at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry to do this here, but this whole business sucks. My brother and I spent a lot of years exploring in this area of the country and trust me, it's too good to let a bunch of corporations get rich on digging it up.

The BLM's Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft PEIS is a plan for environmental devastation on a huge scale. Alternative B, the BLM's "Preferred Alternative" in the PEIS, would amend 12 existing BLM land use plans to open almost 2 million acres of public lands in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming for commercial leasing, exploration, and development of fossil fuels. This includes pristine wildlands and watersheds adjacent to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, other national parks, and wilderness areas, and vast, unspoiled expanses of the Colorado River watershed.

Oil shale and tar sands development is being marketed by the Bush administration as a way to help provide energy security for the U.S. In reality, there has not been adequate research to show the full environmental, economic, and social impacts of this technology. There is no doubt that the proposed development would cause massive, irreversible environmental damage - scarring the landscape with mines, roads, pipelines, and power lines; releasing toxic pollution; consuming enormous amounts of scarce water; requiring ten new coal-fired power plants to provide needed power; endangering the health of local communities; and spewing out greenhouse gases that add to climate change impacts.

This BLM plan will set the baseline against which all future oil shale and tar sands development will be assessed. Unfortunately, the plan completely fails to provide a thorough and scientifically credible basis for action. As a result, the BLM's "Preferred Alternative" B is fatally flawed and must be rejected.

"NO ACTION": THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE ALTERNATIVE

Glen Canyon Institute believes that our government should be promoting energy conservation and sustainable energy production - such as solar and wind - to increase energy independence and fight global climate change. We believe that before any development can be approved, all impacts to watersheds that flow into the Colorado River system must be thoroughly analyzed and mitigated. The BLM's plan falls far short of meeting the minimum level of assessment required for adequate decision-making. Alternative B, the BLM's "Preferred" Alternative," would sacrifice our public lands to develop dirty fossil fuel that will worsen climate change. This is totally unacceptable. The only responsible choice is Alternative A, the "No Action" alternative.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Glen Canyon Institute urges you to send your comments on the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft PEIS. They do not need to be detailed. The most important thing is to tell the BLM that you oppose the "Preferred Alternative" B and support the "No Action" alternative A. You can use the sample letter below or write your own letter. If possible, use personal examples from your experiences visiting the areas proposed for development in eastern Utah, western Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming.

Act now - all comments must be received by March 20, 2008!

To submit comments, you can:

· Use the BL M Oil Shale and Tar Sands PEIS public comment form or

· Mail your comments to:

Sherry Thompson, Project Manager
BLM Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft Programmatic EIS
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne IL 60439

SAMPLE COMMENT LETTER

Sherry Thompson, Project Manager
BLM Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft Programmatic EIS
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne IL 60439

Dear Ms. Thompson,

I am writing to comment on the Bureau of Land Management's Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft Programmatic EIS. I strongly oppose Alternative B, the "Preferred Alternative" and support Alternative A, the "No Action" alternative in the PEIS.

It is clear that the "Preferred Alternative" B is almost certain to cause massive, irreversible damage to large areas of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. This includes devastating the land and water, endangering wildlife and their habitats, harming the people in local communities, and generating massive greenhouse gas pollution that would add to global climate change. Moreover, the BLM admits that more research is needed before we know the true impacts of the technology or if it is even commercially feasible.

At a time when we need to be moving away from fossil fuels and the damage they cause, this proposal would continue our dependence on them. The PEIS fails to adequately address any of these issues, or to consider a reasonable range of alternatives, including the potential for increased energy conservation and efficiency. This is contrary to agency regulations and the law.

[OPTIONAL: IF YOU HAVE PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE AFFECTED REGION, YOU CAN STRENGTHEN YOUR LETTER BY TALKING ABOUT PLACES YOU HAVE VISITED, HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE TO YOU, AND HOW THIS DEVELOPMENT WOULD HARM THEM.]

I urge the BLM to choose the "No Action" alternative A, and to halt efforts to develop oil shale and tar sands on public lands. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft Programmatic EIS.

Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]

***************************

Thank you for taking action to protect Glen Canyon, the Colorado River, and southern Utah wildlands!

Best regards,
Amy Collins
Glen Canyon Institute
1520 Sunnydale Lane
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
Phone: 801 363-4450
Fax: 801 363-4451

email: info@glencanyon.org
phone: 801.363.4450
web: http://www.glencanyon.org

Posted by Erik at 04:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come on down to somewhere near USC for a rare intimate performance by Sarode master Aashish Khan. Khan as you might remember, did the music for George Harrison's Wonderwall album, formed the psychedelic fusion group Shanti with tablaist Zakir Hussain in the late '60s, and happens to be the son of the legendary Ali Akbar Khan. Also they'll be screening Satyajit Ray's film The World of Apu, which Khan played the soundtrack to when he was a mere 16. Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 7pm. Senshin Buddhist Temple. 1311 West 37th St. Los Angeles, CA 90007. Donation suggested to help the temple.

Posted by Erik at 03:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Transplanted Californian David Biasotti somehow managed to tie up most of the loose ends of the Trees story from his secret headquarters in Yokohama. Check the new issue of Ugly Things for his expansive overview with interviews, photos, and whatnot. The British folk rock quintet—long a favorite of us GGPers—has seen recent attention due to Sony's reissue of the group's '72 On The Shore album on CD with added tracks. Plus they're just rad.

Posted by Erik at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"All people. Earth people. Water people. I breathe and I speak. I breathe and I speak to you, to everyone and everything around me. To you who listen to the music. To you who do not listen to the music. To the roar of the outside. To the roar of the inside. To the air speeding through the passes, from the desert to the sea. To the air drifting slowly back to the mountains, high and patient. To the moisture rising straight up, in a cloud, tower-like and white. To the moisture returning, isolated in the drips and drops that bounce and roll down nylon and gutters. To evaporation. To the way out. To the way back."

West Coast New Energy Encounter Group
In live activity, this Sunday January 27 at 8 PM
at David Patton Los Angeles

featuring Paul Gellman, Erik Bluhm, Relatively Clean Larry Rengert, Ruby Neri, Bonnie Perkinson, Fellow Candle, Tom Watson, Danny Leyson, and Ashley Gallagher.

Bring a pillow to sit on, maybe.

The West Coast New Energy Encounter Group has had these recent performances: Garden Grove Creative Community at The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Circular Performance Demonstration With French Percussionists and Actors at The Purple Night of the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, and Timed Duration of Organ, Flute and Slow Movement (as the New Energy Dark Consort of Musicke) at Fritz Haeg's Sundown Salon.

This activity is being held in conjunction with the gallery's current show, Erik Bluhm-Cooperate With The Energy And Anything That Happens. Bluhm's exhibition of collage works has been cited over at Emma Gray's January Top 10 at Saatchi Online as well as Caryn Coleman's ArtReview blog.

David Patton
Los Angeles
5006 1/2 York Boulevard
Los Angeles, California
90042 USA

Telephone:(323) 478-1966
Fax:(323) 478-1166
info (at) davidpattonlosangeles (dot) com
Thur— Sat, 12-6pm, and by appointment

Posted by Erik at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last couple month have been filled up with a bunch of little guys, and we're not talking about elves. These 'lil guys were made by some big guys who happen to be friends of ours. First, buried way deep down in the middle of the December issue of Artforum, there's a blurb about Tall Paul Gellman's mini figurine show at Tiny Creatures here in L.A. a few months back. Alas, a photo of his work got bumped for someone's with more seniority, so here's an example to your left, and there's more where that came from here.

Secondly, truth seeker and driftwood sojourner Kyle Field returns to Gay Paree this winter with his show that might be called "Free Old Spirits" at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger gallery. Here's one of the denizens of Cottonball Hill. But shhh, don't tell anyone because it's not official yet.

Posted by Erik at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

David Patton Los Angeles is pleased to present
Erik Bluhm - "Cooperate With The Energy And Anything That Happens"

12 January—9 February 2008

Reception for the artist on Saturday, 12 January from 7—10 pm

For this show at David Patton Los Angeles, Bluhm will present a number of medium and large-scale collages. The images form symbols and shapes or, as Bluhm describes them, "iconic images and shapes that are forms identifiable as significant, yet only inherently. They withhold too much to qualify as concretely vital, yet in their shapes and designs are embedded the often thorny markers of being, sometimes cryptically representative, sometimes transparent and spiritual."
Bluhm's work has been exhibited at Hiromi Yoshii Gallery in Tokyo, Atelier Cardenas Bellanger Gallery in Paris, and 2841 Harrison in San Francisco. As a founder of The West Coast New Energy Encounter Group—a subset of the greater New Energy movement—Bluhm and his colleagues have presented performances at The Hammer Museum, The Purple Night of the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, and at Fritz Haeg's Sundown Salon.

David Patton Los Angeles
5006 1/2 York Boulevard
Los Angeles, California
90042 Directions to/from Chinatown
Telephone:(323) 478-1966
Fax:(323) 478-1166
Thur— Sat, 12-6pm, and by appointment
info at davidpattonlosangeles.com
http://www.davidpattonlosangeles.com

photo by meta

Posted by Erik at 08:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sure the enchanted hills of Asheville, North Carolina are a long ways away from soggy Southern California, but the freaky sounds emanating from the little radio station there must be pingponging off the ozone or something, cuz you can pick them up real easy on yer compooter machine. Join ex-TRW technician and Palos Verdes audiophile Peter Poffenberger each Tuesday night as he hosts Ooze Out, a program promising to "inject analog ooze into our digital culture, playing the very best of Rock/Experimental from around the world. In addition to a play list of heavy levels, come and enjoy special guests, long distance interviews and field trips with Ooze Out correspondents Steve Brown, Byron Browne and Carley Dergins." Rumour has it Poffenberger's been doing some sound aura recordings out in the woods near the former site of Black Gum College, not to mention some silence sessions with the elusive Space Folk in NYC. Stay tuned, it'll be worth it, I swear.

Listen to OOZE OUT!
Tusedays 10pm to 1am
WPVM 103.5 FM
Asheville NC
Outside of Asheville listen at wpvm.org (streaming)
shows are archived for one week at wpvm.org/nav/archives/

Posted by Erik at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Though I'm not sure exactly what this is all about, there are a couple reasons why we're probably going to be going to this presentation from Semites magazine. First our boy Lawrence Rengert will be banging away on something hollow and really feeling it in a New Energy kind of way. Then they're showing an Osho film: dunno which one, but if it's the one where seedy-looking Tom Robbins gets all touchy feely with his female interviewer when describing Osho's allure, then you're probably not gonna want to miss it. And finally, you get to see Wallace Berman's 16mm film, Aleph (1965-66).

Here's how Semites editor Daniel Feinberg describes it. "Semites despises progress, shares your absurd superstition of the new, and shrieks in infidelity, like an emergency brake, at a utopia marked by an expiration date. On January 2 we ask you to join us and celebrate this gamble that is Semites for a screening of our new film Bet at The Mountain Bar in downtown Los Angeles. Bet, seen as a crypto, albeit nominal, sequel to Wallace Berman's Aleph, is a messianic dérive: immediately, yet lyrically against political Zionism, the 7 minute 04 second film claims no salvation without revolutionary transformation of material life. Veiled in tight black and smoking, Semites say with Hegel: seek for food and clothing first, than shall the Kingdom of God be granted to you. Refreshments will be provided."

"Other performances in this evening of horror vacui will be a screening of Paul Yoshida's Bulimic Cinema-—a short religious video on Osho, doo-woptical art, and betrayal. We also will be screening Wallace Berman's 16mm film Aleph. With occult performances by Larry Rengert of Black Mass of the New Energy, Bushwick's DJ Pause and others." 8 o' clock sharp.

Posted by Erik at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our good friend Michael Rashkow will be strutting his stuff on the Westside this weekend. Before you hit the Sky Saxon/YaHoWa 13 show, swing over to Culver City to gaze at his Circle Pictures exhibition.
The opening reception is this Friday, November 16, from 7-9pm and then the show will be up through January 5, 2008

LAXART is located at 2640 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034 Tuesday through Saturday 11am – 6pm.

Posted by Erik at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This summer Angeleno's get a rare chance to view a seminal installation unviewed since it's original unveiling 37 years ago. Known for his investigations of "narrative structure through installation, theatre, sound, and painting," William Leavitt's focus has teetered between surreal depictions of modern gadgetry in obviously landscaped landscapes and moodily disjointed stage plays, such as The Radio (2002), which was performed at LACE. During the early '70s he collaborated with Bas Jan Ader on the "critical" journal Landslide. This summer he revisits his 1970 installation, "Forest Sounds," an artificial “natural” environment in the gallery space. According to gallery literature, "this project was originally a contrary reaction to the minimalist sculpture being made at the time, an 'installation of the absurd,' an ambiguous and falsely dramatic environment." Leavitt, as some of you might remember, discussed this topic at length in a piece I did for ArtUS a while back called Minimalism's Rubble."

Also on view is colleague Allen Ruppersberg's "Wondrous Remains," which features ephemera from the artist's past and current projects "placed on shelves to model possible arrangements in the collector’s home, a prospective modern day 'Kunstkammer.'"

Margo Leavin Gallery is located at 812 North Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

Posted by Erik at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Take it to Highland Park this Saturday, July 7th (7/7/7!) for the reception for "Time Writers from the Mirror Horizon," a show curated by Gabie Strong. The exhibition will feature the work of Andy Alexander, Kent Familton, Wendy Heldmann, Kathleen Johnson, Alice Konitz, Tracy Nakayama, Gina Osterloh, Sean Sullivan, Kristine Thompson and Jeremy Yoder who will be using the gallery as a starship for explorations of time and space. Some might consider the word "landscape" a proper painterly term to describe some of the work presented in this show, as an analogy for the curious rub between past, present, and future; others will just say, "far out!"

For the opening on the 7th there'll be a sound performance by Sharon Cheslow and Steven Kim at 7.
The show will until August 4th with another set of performances planned for the closing featuring L.A. based New Zealander Helga Fassonaki as well as Red Krayola/Encounter Group guitar wizard Tom Watson.

David Patton Los Angeles - 5006 1/2 York Blvd. L.A. Calif. 90042 T- 323. 478. 1966
Gallery Hours: Thursday - Saturday, 12-6pm and by appointment

Posted by Erik at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just caught ex-Heldon guitarist Richard Pinhas' show at Highways in Los Angeles last night. He looked and sounded pretty good, tackling an imposing twenty minute piece with the help of Jerome Schmidt on computer. Other than the fact that half the sound's coming out of a laptop, there's not a ton of difference between this new stuff and the first couple Heldon records; it's all just a little more clogged up with audio info—something it seems we can't get away from these days. Other than that, the set was just what you's expect from "one of the premier conceptualizers and earliest proponents on the French electronic scene" —disaffected and intense.

Pinhas is on his way up to San Francisco now so check here for the lowdown.

Posted by Erik at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

New Energy shape artist Lawrence Rengert has curated a fantastic program of not-often-seen films that he'll be screening this Thursday down at the USC grad studios. It's part of SITE UNSEEN: 2007 Summer Film Program. It all happens Thursday, June 14, 2007 from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM (hence everyone there will either be a student or unemployed) at the Graduate Fine Arts Building 3001 S. Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007. The event is free and all are welcome. Plus Pizza Party with Beverages!

Stan Brakhage (above), Interim, Music by James Tenney. 1952, b&w/so, 25.5 minutes
Brakhage's first film, inspired by Italian Neo-Realism, suggests a tentative
sexual encounter between a teenage boy and girl who meet under the city
viaducts.

Peter Hutton, Florence, 1975, 16mm, b&w/si, 7 minutes
"Like Hutton's previous films, FLORENCE is a contemplative study of light
and shadows, textures and planes, that makes beautiful use of the tonal
qualities of black and white film. Throughout the film there is a motion of
obscuring and revealing in clouds, reflections and mists, and in the
behavior of light as it passes through various openings or substances.
Frequently, the images are ambiguous details. One feels that Hutton is very
at home in the world he sees, and that he looks at things a little more
closely than most people ...." - Ken DeRoux, SF MOMA

Continue reading "Site Unseen" »

Posted by Erik at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a note to tell you that my little brother Tim is going to be the musical guest on Jonesy's Jukebox this Thursday the 14th at noon till two (California time). Listen in at 103.1 fm or online. Apparently it's rebroadcast again at 6pm. It's a good time to be on Jonesy. Our old friend Anton from the Brian Jonestown Massacre was on yesterday and few weeks ago was Incredible String Band/Vashti Bunyan/Nico-producer Joe Boyd! My bro's band, the Mother Hips, have a new album out called Kiss the Crystal Flake (above). Check it out here. Oh, and they're playing a free show that night at the Echoplex on Sunset.

Posted by Erik at 06:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Erik at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It guy Darin Klein has curated a handsome show entitled The Rainbow Goblins that opens this Thursday in Hollywood.

"In Count Ul de Rico’s 1978 children’s book The Rainbow Goblins, the symbolism of the plight of the rainbow becomes a parable for corporate greed, ecological degradation and cultural commodification," Klein tells us. "Inspired by this modern fairytale, where a meadow of wildflowers use their collective power to defeat the cruel plot of the eponymous goblins, this group exhibition re-imagines the rainbow as a celebration of the diversity and individuality of the artistic community and highlights the power of that voice to call for and instigate resistance."

May 31 – July 15, 2007
Reception May 31, 6-9pm
With DJ Jeff Stallings from San Francisco
and a performance by mecca vazie andrews

Advocate Gallery
1125 N. McCadden Place
Los Angeles, Calif. 90038

Featuring the work of Adam J. Ansell, Erik Bluhm, BODEGA VENDETTA & PRVT DNCR, Nao Bustamante, Young Chung, Roy Colmer, Zackary Drucker, David Larsen, Matt Lipps, Jason Mecier, Lucas Michael, Max Miller, Amir Nikrava, Coco Peru, Terri Phillips, Aaron Plant, Steven Reigns, robbinschilds & A.L. Steiner, Christopher Russell, Ami Tallman, Jo-ey Tang, Aiyana Udessen, and Jim Winters.

Also at the Advocate Gallery, Landscapes by our friends from down San Diego way, Julia Dzwonkonski and Kye Potter.

“We've been painting greyscale rainbows into amateur landscape paintings for six years. We always try to paint the rainbow so that it compliments the scene and brings out the color and the life in these paintings.”

Posted by Erik at 01:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Semiotext(e) presents: Gilles Deleuze “ from A to Z. ”

From A to Z is a series of 24 screenings based on a filmed interview between Gilles Deleuze and Claire Parnet. Each screening shows one letter from the 8 hour long interview and groups other films around each theme presented by Deleuze, from "A as in Animal" to "Z as in Zigzag."

Sunday, May 27th, 2007, 8:30 pm at the Mandrake Bar 2692 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles.

Screening Number Seven: "G as in Gauche [Left]" will feature Pierre André Boutang: Gilles Deleuze/Claire Parnet: From A to Z: “G as in Gauche (1988), Alain Resnais: Guernica (1950), Harry Smith: Early Abstractions 7 (1957), Le Corbusier; Iannis Xenakis; Edgard Varèse: Poème électronique (1958), Stan Brakhage: Black Ice (1994), Don Como: Aliens From Spaceship Earth [Excerpt on Father Yod and the Source Family] (1977), Amon Düül II: All The Years Round (1975), and Pierre Clementi: Visa de Censure X (1967-1975)

Poster by me!

Posted by Erik at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come on by the Mandrake this Thursday where your bros Flo and Erik will be playing records of everything from the Misty Wizards and Mellow Candle to Popol Vuh and October Country. If you dig cult worship, earth music, medieval europop and water brother vibes from the '60s and '70s, then let it happen! Plus, vintage longhair surf flix fer yer eyeballs!

Thursday May 24th from 9ish PM 'till Midnight
Mandrake Bar
2692 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90034
between Venice Blvd. and Washington Blvd.

Posted by Erik at 02:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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

Posted by Erik at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since I don't know how to work these durned web pages, I'm gonna leave our new email address right here... ggpmag(at)gmail.com

Posted by Erik at 12:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“Place: an island. Time: the future. This is the central office: organizing living matter …”

Proto-science fiction writer Karel Capek's R.U.R. is the inspiration behind Marie Jager's 16mm film of the same name, which will be screened this Sunday in Los Angeles. R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), originally published in 1920 in the author's homeland of Czechoslovakia, was the first of several works, such as War with the Newts and The Absoulte at Large, that dealt with futuristic and technological themes and imagery. The play introduced to the world the word "robot," which was coined by Karel's brother, painter Josef Capek, from the Old Church Slavonic word rabota, meaning "servitude."

A "meditation on how to 'photograph' the future and create fiction without narrative," Jager's 1993 film is "science-fiction without special effects," shot with non-professional actors, including Michael Asher, Eli Langer, and Francois Perrin, among others. It's part of a two-week series of performance, film, and video at Daniel Hug Gallery in Chinatown. This Sunday the 11th at 7pm sharp.

Posted by Erik at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Legendary musician, philosopher and anti-art activist Henry Flynt will make a series of presentations in San Diego and Los Angeles, including two lectures on “Musicology,” a lecture on “Dignity” and a screening and discussion of his recent “Abstract Cinemas.”

Born in 1940 in Greensboro, North Carolina, Henry Flynt studied mathematics at Harvard University while pursuing what would become his life-long work in philosophy, new music and radical politics. After meeting La Monte Young in 1960 and through his exposure to Indian classical music (including studies with vocalist Pandit Pran Nath), Coltrane and country blues, Flynt began producing solo fiddle pieces that embody his revolt against the clinical modernism of Cage and Stockhausen (against whom he demonstrated in 1964 with Fluxus artist George Maciunas), and his allegiance to what he calls "new American Ethnic music." This was the music of the south of his childhood whose traditions he reshaped according to his own vision of an ecstatic, trance-inducing sound.

In 1961, Flynt coined the term “concept art” to refer to "an art of which the material is concepts, as the material of for ex. music is sound.” Originally published in in An Anthology (ed. La Monte Young), this text appears in Blueprint for a Higher Civilization (Milan, 1975) a collection of Flynt’s early writings that includes the first draft of his Philosophy Proper (1960), an attempt to “refute analytic philosophy and logical positivism with their own means.”

Continue reading "In Like Flynt" »

Posted by Erik at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anybody still loitering around the Westside after dark this Tuesday ought to stop by the Mandrake where your bros Flo and Erik will be presenting something called Lite Storms and Cosmic Visions. Expect to hear everything from Bröselmaschine and Soft Soul Transition to Cici Kizlar and Baby Whale. If you dig sitarry flower power, earth music, medeival europop and water brother vibes from the '60s and '70s, then this is your moment. Seize it!

Tuesday December 19th 9-12 PM no cover
Mandrake Bar
2692 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90034
between Venice Blvd. and Washington Blvd.

Posted by Erik at 03:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anyone roaming the streets of Oakland Sunday night might want to pop in at New Yipes where they'll be showing my short video "Welcome Wizards" (that's a still to your left) alongside "oozing" Steve Brown's bad vibes 8mm, "High Caledonia." Stick around for the poetry as well, as E. Tracy Grinnell and Erin Morrill do what they do afterwards. This New Yipes reading will be held at 7 pm on Nov. 19 at 21 Grand located at 416 25th St @ Broadway in Oakland, Calif. "For lack of $4 none will be turned away."

And while we're in the area, there's a nice piece in this week's Bay Guardian about our good friend Darin Klein, who aside from being L.A.'s hottest curator, is also a New Energy booster.
"I just put together a group of artists who incorporate film and video projection with live performance," says Darin. "The artists in this program - Lucas Michael, Lawrence Rengert, New Energy Encounter Group, F-stop Serenade, Kelly Sears and Ryan Heffington - blow my mind. Art can be very entertaining if you let it. When I find a venue for this program, watch out!"
And he did. It's gonna be at the Hammer in March, so stay tuned and keep growing.

Posted by Erik at 02:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No other Western musician has done more towards the promotion and veneration of Indian music than shy George from the Fab Four. Through the musical and spiritual guidance of his good friend Ravi Shankar, Harrison turned his simple sitar figure from “Norwegian Wood” into a lifetime of practice, listening, and promotion.
“Ravi was my link into the Vedic world,” recalled George in the pages of Shankar’s autobiography Raga Mala. “Ravi plugged me into the whole of reality. I mean, I met Elvis—Elvis impressed me when I was a kid, and impressed me when I met him because of the buzz of meeting Elvis—but you couldn’t later on go round to him and say, ‘Elvis, what’s happening in the universe?’”
Aside from issuing several Indian-related records on his Black Horse label, Harrison helped organize the 1974 Ravi Shankar’s Family and Friends Tour which featured many of the top Indian musicians of the time. And of course there was the Concert for Bangladesh, recently reissued on a handsomely packaged DVD.
Remembering George Harrison will feature performances by two of India’s leading musicians. First off, we’ll be privy to the Indian slide guitar (or rather “Mohan Veena,” a 38-string instrument of his own making) of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Bhatt has recorded with Bela Fleck and incidentally was presented a Grammy for his work with Ry Cooder by Sir George himself back in ’94. He’ll be accompanied by Subhankar Banerjee on the tabla.
Most of you will recognize the name Lakshmi Shankar from her many recordings, including a spot on the Family and Friends Tour. Besides being Ravi’s sister-in-law, Lakshmi has spent the last forty years or so touring the world as India’s foremost classical singer. For this occasion she is joined by the forementioned Banerjee, as well as Gopal Marathe on harmonium and Jagan Ramamurthy on violin.
This evening’s concert is presented by The Music Circle. Established in 1973 by Shankar and his student/assistant Harihar Rao (pictured above with Shankar and Harrison), The Music Circle has consistently produced 8 to 10 classical concerts a year, making it the foremost advocate of Indian music in Southern California. This special event sees the Circle moving from its usual digs in the chapel of Occidental College to the wonderful Japan America Theater in Little Tokyo. Truly an occasion not to be missed for anyone interested in the classical arts of India.

The Music Circle with the support of the Material World Charitable Foundation presents a celebration remembering George Harrison and his love of Indian Music.

Saturday, November 11 7PM
The George and Sakaye Aratani Japan America Theater
244 S. San Pedro St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Tickets on sale now
Reserved seating $25, $35, $50, $100 VIP, $250 Donors Circle

Ticket information and reservations
(213) 680-3700
Aratani/Japan Theater Box Office
Concert information
The Music Circle at (626) 449-6987
www.MusicCircle.org

Parking directly across from the theater

Posted by Erik at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wednesday, November first sees a rare Los Angeles performance by singer Bob Lind, he of "Elusive Butterfly" fame and the third vocal apex of the Fred Neil, Dino Valente trinity. After hitting the big time with said number, Lind did it again with "Remember the Rain" from 1966's Photographs of Feeling (later covered by the Poppy Family). Soon afterwards he "left the hype and hysteria of the Hollywood scene" and moved to New Mexico where he spent his days "writing songs and riding his cycle through the desert." He returned long enough to L.A. to record the amazing Since there Were Circles with the help of John Buck Wilkin, Doug Dillard, and Bernie Leadon, among others. Well, Bob's back and the evening promises to be full of "heavy scenes" and the finer side of West Coast folk singing. Opening up is Mark Fosson, who made a record for John Fahey's Takoma label back in '77 and is now seeing some lost sessions finally thrown into circulation by Drag City.

Plus it's my birthday so it'll be kind of a party.

Bob Lind with Takoma recording artist Mark Fosson
Weds. Nov. 1 @ 9:30pm $8
Little Pedro's
901 E. 1st St.
Los Angeles
Calif., 90012

Posted by Erik at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our good friend Erick Lyle has just compiled a compendium of tomes taking on San Francisco's nethers for the this week's issue of the Bay Guardian. Entitled Tales of the city—A literary roundup of San Francisco's down-and-out, disenfranchised, and drunk and disorderly, the piece examines classic contenders, pulpy runners-up, and literary last-in-lines all vying for the title of "the great San Francisco novel." From old favorites like Frank Norris's McTeague to Brautigan's buddy Don Carpenter (weighing in with his 1964 Hard Rain Falling), Lyle revels in the lurid descriptions, old and new, of his Market Street stomping grounds. In his 1966 tell-all The Night Action, Bruce Douglas Reeves' North Beach pleasure seekers "spend all their time getting wasted in bars on Broadway, putting down the squares, and trying to get it on with Becky, the girl who dances, nude but wrapped in cellophane, each night at the Dill Pickle." As is fitting for "a city 'too busy, too cold,' where each day's paper lists another suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge, and where 'the fog seemed to issue from the hearts of men and women in the streets,' Reeves finally punishes his tiresome and irritating main characters by forcing them to marry each other and raise a kid, but not before Rob Roy can threaten one last poignant dash for freedom: 'Maybe I'll go away — away for good. I'll go to New York and join a mime troupe!'"

Posted by Erik at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Black Gum College allegedly existed in or around Old Fort, North Carolina during 1972-3. The surviving mission statement of this guerrilla Art School claims that its purpose was "to inject ooze into society so that art can exist in this constrictive culture." According to legend, students were "recruited" then led blind-folded to "the campus," a forest clearing where they were given workshops in energy transference, witchcraft, and juice drawing. Students were warned against disclosing the college's location or going public with details concerning their education. No one has yet come forth as a former student. The only surviving relics of Black Gum consist of a few Super 8 film reels, an audio tape, and several written statements addressed to The Asheville Citizen Times. Scholars have called to question the credibility of these documents.

Ex-patriate Palos Verdian and New Energy power mind Steve Brown has invited Peter Poffenberger to perform during the opening reception of his new show of paintings in nearby Asheville. Peter is the only known son of Hendrik and Petra Poffenberger, the founders of the Black Gum College. Peter has put together what he calls "the last band that will play my parent's music and the first band to play it indoors". Come experience woodland energy and be sure to ooze out Friday the 13th at: Harvest Records.

Recent drawings by
Steve Brown
and the final performance of the
black ooze
Reception 7- 11 pm October 13th 2006
Performance some time after 9 pm October 13th 2006

Harvest Records ·
415-b Haywood rd · Asheville · NC · 28806
harvestrecords (at) gmail.com
828 258 2999

Posted by Erik at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The New Energy Encounter Group
in a circular performance demonstration with French percussionists and actors.

The event will take place on Thursday October 5th from 7.30pm to 10pm as part of The Purple Night—an outdoor screening of science fiction and other films related to Marie Jager's work in the 2006 California Biennial. Films include Pier Paolo Pasolini's Notes Toward an African Orestes (1970) and Jean Painleve's Liquid Crystals (1976). Thursday nights are free to view the Biennial exhibition until 8pm. The Encounter Group will perform movement chanting and rock music at 8:30pm. Wear loose comfortable clothing or dancewear.

Orange County Museum of Art
850 San Clemente Dr. Newport Beach
http://www.ocma.net

Posted by Erik at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Energy Dark Consort of Musicke
performing a timed duration of organ, flute, and slow movement.
(featuring members of the West Coast Encounter Group, Red Krayola, Whale Folk, and Far West New Energy Family Band)

In association with Francois Perrin's architecture presentation and the Humans Were Here! (Building in L.A.) information exhibition.

Sunday September 10
5-8 pm
Sundown Salon
2538 sundown drive
los angeles, ca
90065

Posted by Erik at 06:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Those of you interested in the formative years of Ed Ruscha and Mason Williams may want to pick up the new issue of ArtUS for my Along For The Ride(read sample below). After a series of interviews with the Classical Gassist himself, and hours of delving into towering piles of Ruscha correspondence, I managed to get somewhat of a grasp on the pair's intriguing twin-tales of dual motivation, westward wanderlust, and verbal experimentation. Lot's of what got dug up is in there. Even more got left out. When Ed was working for Artforum in the '70s as a graphic designer he went by the name "Eddie Russia." Perpetual humorist Williams tried to convince him at least once to alter the cover so it would read Artfor'em.

We cannot go unmarked beneath the sun.
We cannot know when or why it¹s done.
We do not write the reading on the wall. Time and chance happens to us all.
Mason Williams, 1967

In 1956 two young Oklahomans jumped in a 1950 Ford and, like their kin before them, headed west. Their goals and ultimate destinations may have differed, but their motivations were similar to those of young people everywhere. One of them, Edward Ruscha, hoped to study graphic design at Art Center, but had to settle for the more iconoclastic Chouinard Institute. The other, Mason Williams, had vague plans "to go to school or whatever"—"I was just along for the ride," he admitted. Fifty years later, Ruscha would represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale and command some of the highest prices for a living artist. Williams would go on to watch his music climb the Billboard charts and eventually win three Grammys. Where they differed was in motivation and practice. Where they were aligned was in origin of ideas, and how their adopted West affected them as their paths diverged and crisscrossed into distinguished careers and lives.

Once in Los Angeles, Ruscha stuck to his guns, honing his graphic-oriented imagery (with detours into photography and books) to become the region's preeminent verbal imagist. Williams, on the other hand, bounced from one medium to another, dabbling in (and at least temporarily succeeding in) everything from songwriting to television, from conceptual art to poetry. Through it all, the two never lost touch: their exchange of ideas proved vital to both their oeuvres.

If you want to read the rest, order it here.

Posted by Erik at 03:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come feel the energy when brother Kyle Field unveils his new work show entitled There Are Two Eyes in Daetime. The exhibition will run from July 1 – August 12, 2006. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Saturday July 1 from 6-9PM.

This is what the gallery says about it. You might think something else.

"Kyle Field’s world on paper is composed of images both familiar and utterly abstract. Organic shapes coexist with primal figures in an expanding island of lines. His palette of deep browns, rich ochres, light pinks, sky blues, and emerald greens floats within a graphic network of pen and ink. Sometimes we’ll see an amalgamation of images; abstract trees, faces, and shapes of nothingness, each emptying into the next. Everything seamlessly connects, implying a harmonious balance amidst imagery that is both elegant yet chaotic."

Taylor De Cordoba is located at 2660 S La Cienega in Los Angeles, CA and is open from Tuesday – Saturday, 11AM – 6PM. For additional press information please contact Heather Taylor at heather@taylordecordoba.com or at 310.559.9156.

Posted by Erik at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you find yourself in Westwood, California this friday night, be sure and stop over at the Majestic Crest Theatre where our good friend Tommy! will be screening the "world premiere" of a film he finished about fifteen years ago. Angels?, featuring myself, Ted Edlefsen, Marc LaRiviere, Davey G-String, and Pat Lambelet as the Christian rock group The Green Angels, is based on a Jack Chick tract, as are all the eight other films presented that evening. What separates this "wheat" from all that "chaff," however, is a top-notch period soundtrack from the supergroup Mojave that featured Jodene Setera, Aaron Nudleman, Greg Loiocano, Tim Bluhm, and yours truly. Shot on location at San Francisco's Purple Onion nightclub, Angels? is the perfect way to wrap up your Westside coed ogling sesh. Click here for more info.

Posted by Erik at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Black Light Folk Festival West: A New Energy Convergence in Chico, California featuring activities and performances from Chambly Towers (Tim Bluhm's new Fariña-ish duo), Spider (solo songstress from Brooklyn), The Joints (ragtag folk-rock music, Brooklyn as well), Puddle Junction + Goat Rope (country blues, Chico), Sorcery Bird (real good for real folk deals, Oakland), Jackie-O Motherfucker (pickin' guitar and skronk improv from Portland), Turbine (aural mayhem from Oakland), and Nate Pendery (from Chico's The Deer). It all happens Saturday the 27th at the Chico Serenity Center (1525 Dayton Rd, Chico) $10 all ages (530) 342-4638. Grow!

Posted by Erik at 01:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come to "Thursday before Black Light Folk Festival West"
Featuring performances and movement exercises from the New Energy Encounter Group, Jackie-O Motherfucker, and Carla Bozulich who's playing with a bunch of other folks.
Thursday the 18th at 8 PM at Breathing Space @ Compact Space Gallery1307 Union (at Pico) Los Angeles

Posted by Erik at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm in a group show opening this weekend. It's curated by Nathaniel Russell and will most certainly be groovy.

Everywhen: featuring work from Erik Bluhm, Kyle Field, Sam Keener, Devendra Banhart, Lisa Choinacky, Jason Pierce, and John Minardi.

There's an opening Saturday April 15th at 8pm, and an event there the next four Saturdays, including music performances and film screenings. Stay tuned for details.

Lobot Gallery
1800 Campbell St.
Oakland, Calif. 94608

Grow!

Posted by Erik at 03:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back issues of Great God Pan magazine are still available in limited quantities for $10 post paid. Issues are thick and collectible, with full-color covers and perfect binding.

Great God Pan #14—Salt Desert Tales
Mark Sundeen and Erik R. Bluhm, the editors and principal writers of the journal Great God Pan, were residents in Wendover, Utah in 2000. While in these hinterlands, they researched and wrote new nonfiction about the Great Salt Desert region. Featuring hostage takeovers, captured Nazi flying bombs, and fruit-eating Mormon extremists.

Great God Pan #13
Featuring The Lost Ship of the Desert, occult scientist Jack Parsons, The Bobby Beausoleil story, and Michael Fessier Jr.'s L.A.: In Search of the City circa 1970.

Great God Pan #12

Great God Pan #11

Great God Pan #10
Featuring The Process Church of the Final Judgement, The Synanon story, The Misfits invade Los Angeles, Israeli psychic phenomenon Uri Geller's adventures at Stanford University, and Mark Sundeen's Car Camping.

Paypal to pan@cyberverse.com. Make sure and tell us which issue you're paying for. Or email pan@cyberverse for more info.

Posted by Erik at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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)

New Energy beacon Kaisle Feeled made the cover of Le Monde last week in a review of the group exhibition Yo mire un garza mora dandole combate a un rio curated by Devendra Banhart. The show is up until November 12th at Ateliar Cardenas Bellanger in Paris, and also features work from pastoral chanteuse Vashti Bunyan, among others. This is not the first time the New Energy movement has made a splash in the Île-de-France. In 2000 Energyites in an undisclosed countryside location outside of Val d'Oise staged a four-day "Chant por Catherine" which consisted of 96-hours of non-stop ritual movement and symbolic motion-homages to the inspirational singer and actress Catherine Ribeiro. Reported the Revue Chorus magazine, "Je n'ai jamais entendu ça en France."

Posted by Erik at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new issue of McSweeney's is out now and features a lengthy piece on the subject of Bigfoot encounters in Southern California in the late 60s and early 70s by yours truly, Erik Bluhm. (Mike Paré did the drawings). Our old pal Mark Sundeen also has a piece in there about Teddy Roosevelt and a strange beast he once encountered in the north woods. Apparently some stores are leery of stocking the issue which consists of "a bundle of mail, stacked and rubber-banded, containing recent issues of Yeti Researcher and Unfamiliar Bimonthly, a catalog of sausage-based gift baskets, a plural-clothing circular, and various items addressed to someone other than you." Due to its potential scarcity, you might want to buy a copy online direct from McSweeney's.

Posted by Erik at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Read all about it! Yes, you are invited to a very rare event on Full Moon Monday, October 17th, from 8PM until midnight at Glasshouse, 38 South 1st between Wythe & Kent in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (L-Bedford/G-Metropolitan/JM-Marcy). The performance will be open to the curious of all ages and costs only $5. Performing will be Tim Bluhm out from the West Coast playing his songs the California way. Not to be missed! A special treat will be The Joints, an open community of musicians with a full seven-piece lineup this time around including Brother Michael, Ion, and the lovely Minju Pak. Singer Margot Bianca, guitarist/vocalist from the Assault, will be bringing new energy to the event. Spider is Sister Jane, with a voice like brown rice syrup, while Diamond Caverns is Brother David from down Texas way bringing mellow orange vibes, and The Greek Isles (Tianna, Hannah, and Laura) will be presenting strings and voices channeled from Mount Olympus.

The original Black Light Folk Festival took place between October and December in 2003 at a couple of art galleries in NYC- ATM Gallery on Ave B, and Deitch Projects in Brooklyn. There were over 20 performers in the series; and this event, like the original series, is hosted by The Joints, a loose-knit family of musicians, music lovers, and just plain lovers. Join us. The Movement is growing, grow along with us.-culled from (Brother) Mike Paré

Posted by Erik at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New York Energyites Brother Michael and Ion have been conducting tests of some movable “trans-a-gon” sculptures that they recently had fabricated according to detailed plans drawn up by noted New York conceptualist Ferg DeWitt almost three decades ago. The pair made an incredible discovery while collaborating with DeWitt on a pair of megalithic graphite wall-blobs at an uptown Manhattan gallery. In the process of searching for some artist proofs in a dusty crate, they instead unearthed a virtual lost treasure.

“The blueprints were all there; they had always been there,” explained Ion. “It was like they were just waiting to emerge in our presence.”

Michael figures the unconsummated sculptures were originally conceived as part of the ITT-sponsored Sense/Motion display at Expo ’76 in Montreal, but were never completed because DeWitt had a falling out with the company’s execs over their invested interest in non-personal communication industries.

“It was extremely important to DeWitt at that time that human interaction remain intimate,” explained Michael. “Innovations like video-conferencing and speakerphones really rubbed him the wrong way.”

Continue reading "A New Movement" »

Posted by Erik at 03:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The late-'60s back-and-forth between California and Australia in the surfing world resulted in innovations both stylistic and technological. California knee-boarder George Greenough's radical shape departures influenced Aussie shapers like Bob McTavish to drastically shorten their templates
and experiment with vee-shaped bottoms and displacement hulls which surfers like Nat Young and Wayne Lynch rode in an increasingly far-out manner. As editor and photographer for Surf International, Tracks, and Sea Notes magazines, John Witzig (brother of Paul of Evolution fame) documented some of the surfing evolution's most pivotal moments. Check out the fantastic period images recently exhibited at the Dickerson Gallery in Sydney.

Posted by Erik at 04:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

ATM Gallery is proud to present “Blissed Out," the second solo exhibition of work by Mike Paré. Expanding beyond the communal, counter-culture themes he explored in his Black Light Folk Festival exhibition in 2003, Paré now focuses his attention on moments of individual spiritual inwardness that made up, and continue to make up, the building blocks of the movement.

"This work is about connecting with the forces of nature," explains Paré, "The vibrations that are the heartbeat of man and of the planet. By connecting to an activity—be it crafts, drawing, meditation or dance, we are connecting to the spark of life. This is what keeps us alive and creates New Energy."

Paré's usage of what he calls "formal alchemy" allows him to communicate new meanings into works created through familiar mediums, specifically graphite and paint. Recognizable shapes, transposed above depictions of meditators, gurus, and yogis, invite multiple meanings, or levels of meanings, to be communicated to the viewer.

"Engaging with abstract forms in nature is the essential action towards reaching transcendence. Throughout history, objects such as pyramids, obelisks, rectangles and pentagons have been the subject of human worship and devotion."

It is through these forms that Paré infuses his renderings with the emotion and relevance of the era that has come to define youthful individualism, optimism, and most importantly, the defiance of social convention.

“In the past I've explored these aspects of youth culture—my own, and that of the biggest Youth Movement ever, the one in the 1960s. I've touched on the subjects of rebellion, idealism, and brotherhood. I've made works that are about the mythology of youth, including the Teenage Geography video and the black light works I've made in the past year. In all these, I've been engaged by the transcendental ideals of a group."

These ideals are timeless, omnipotent, and non-exclusive. Join us now. The movement is growing.

September 8 through October 8, 2005
ATM Gallery, 511 W.20th St. NY, NY 10011 ph: 212-375-0349
www.atmgallery.com/artwork/pare/index.html

Posted by Erik at 06:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coast ghost Kaisle Finn embarks on a new FALL SKULL painting series involving new color themes and explorations. Drawings under acrylic paint is the new energy here, a tower of clear-mind psychedelia near the mini-donut stand. Festival season in late Danish summer provides the backdrop for this nomadic paper painter who's known to wear only a tank top. These new constructions are happening in the latin quarter of Rhus, Denmark, melting into evenings of wine and late light. The North Sea offers swimming, the city offers hotdogs. See kyledraws.com for other pictures and expect to see the new FALL SKULL series up soon.

Posted by Erik at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Clementine Tausch married 13th Floor Elevators "founder and visionary" Tommy Hall in the mid-sixties, she was inadvertently joining the Elevator "family," simultaneously assuming the role of den mother, moral supporter, and co-songwriter with Roky Erickson.

"We did ‘Splash 1,’ because he said that it was like something splashed between us when we met. For me, it was like neon flashing when our eyes met. We dearly loved each other but not in sexual way. I said, 'We should call this song 'Splash 1,' and that's how that song was written.”

Over the past couple years the Austin Chronicle has been publishing some pretty swell articles on Texas psychedelic innovators like Shiva's Headband, Zakary Thaks, and the Golden Dawn, including the above snippet from an interview with Northern California resident and ex-Elevator-wife Clementine Hall (neé Tausch). Writer Margaret Moser's interview is only one in a series of features that has covered the Elevators' long, strange journey from Texas to San Francisco and back. Along with her two-part article “High Baptismal Flow,” Moser has also tracked down and/or briefly spotlighted all the legendary band’s original members like Hall (a current San Fransiscan who post-Easter Everywhere moved to Laguna Beach and crashed with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love commune), Stacy Sutherland, Ronnie Leatherman, (who recalls, “When we first went to California, Roky was so full of life. It was great. Going everywhere with the band, it was so exciting. We could get in to see all the other bands. People were so into music back then. It was just amazing to us to play all these places. I'd think, 'Why are we the ones with the records out?' Then there was the Grateful Dead, Big Brother, Moby Grape. It was like, 'Wow, we get to be part of this, too!'"), John Ike Walton, Benny Thurman, Danny Galindo, and Danny Thomas. So if you're too impatient to wait for Hollywood to get the ball rolling on the proposed feature starring Jack Black as Roky, or can't afford the gas to chase down the You're Gonna Miss Me documentary at some college-town film festival, you can at least spend a few hours poring over some of this here virtual journalism.

Posted by Erik at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Currently lining the east wall of the Giant Robot store gallery in Silverlake is a series of sea-drawings and European crystal-relationship studies by the good friend and feeling-force known as Kaisle Feeled. "These are steps in the construction of an emotional space-form that will be so immense that this dimension cannot contain it," Kaisle told us recently. "Star patterns, burl textures and smoke drifts, these are what I have been observing, but they are not necessarily what I draw. It's more of an interior view." We're not really sure how long the work will be up but go over and take a look when you get a chance. The store is located at 4017 Sunset Blvd. across from Jiffy Lube.

Posted by Erik at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Attention Energyites and "thinking" youth of today, Your presence is humbly requested as Los Super Elegantes present a new play "The Technical Vocabulary of an Interior Decorator" starring Feisal, Milena, Paulus, Arrak, Mawri, Florian, and a cast of "living theatre" activists. The dates are July 14, 21, 28 and August 11. Performance begins at 8pm Admission is free but you must RSVP by calling Daniel Hug Gallery at (323) 221-0016 or email at gallery@danielhug.com Seats are filling up quickly so reserve yours today...
Grow!!!!

Posted by Erik at 06:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally it's decided. This Friday March 4th the WEST COAST ENCOUNTER GROUP will present an evening of electric folk music inspired by group meditations on the four seasons. Through movement, concentration, and sharing, the many moods and sensations of our ecological time/space will be developed into an involved environmental experience. A protean gathering of musicians, dancers, and artists, the Encounter Group aligns itself with the visions of the NEW ENERGY movement. Participating for this occasion will be Paul Gellman, Mari Murao, Sandy Yang, Erik Bluhm, Martiniano Lopez-Crozet, Michael Bauer, and Tom Watson.

This event is part of THE WEATHER GARDEN, an installation by Francois Perrin investigating architecture?s invisible elements: space, ambiance, atmosphere and how people experience them.

Friday March 4th 7:30pm
Materials & Applications
1619 Silver Lake Blvd.
Silver Lake, Calif.
(323) 913-0915

Posted by Erik at 01:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In his review of the Robert Smithson retrospective at MOCA, critic Christopher Knight—in between revealing a solid grip on current "street lingo" ("The sculpture is Minimalist bling-bling.")—cited the Center For Land Use Interpretation's Matt Coolidge as being "too young to have witnessed Smithson's brief but blazing evolution firsthand," but nonetheless identified him as a builder on the Earthworker's precedent in that he shares the idea that "sculptural manipulation of the wilderness landscape creates art with imperceptible boundaries that cannot be contained within a museum or gallery." For those Smithson aficionados out there flustered by such distingue language, let's just say that it seems Knight believes that Coolio is seriously representin.'

On the real tip, CLUI is currently presenting Wendover, USA, "an informational exhibit about the remarkable town and region on the edge of the Salt Flats that has been home to the Center's Great Basin programs for eight years." Wendover, some of you may recall, is the desert burg where your GGP editors ensconced themselves whilst researching Salt Desert Tales. CLUI's exhibit features photographs and video of and about the West's "twin-cities," Wendover, UT and West Wendover, NV.

In association with MOCA's Smithson retrospective, Coolidge himself will be leading "A Tour of the Monuments of the Great American Void," an educational bus ride through the salt desert with stops at the Spiral Jetty, Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels, and an overnight stay at the State Line Nugget Casino in Wendover. Tickets for the tour are available through MOCA - for reservations and information call (213) 621-1745 or email at education@moca.org.
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Wendover, USA will be on display from
August 27 to October 10, 2004

The CLUI - Los Angeles
9331 Venice Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 839-5722

Posted by Erik at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)