Jack Warden, who died in New York City on July 19, was raised in Louisville, KY. He was born in Newark, NJ, but by his high school years he was down here and cutting classes in order to indulge other interests. Eventually, Warden, born John Lebzelter, would be nominated for Academy Awards and appear in some of the finest motion pictures made during American cinema’s Golden Era (the 1970’s). Those other interests back then included boxing, at which he excelled, winning dozens of professional bouts at middleweight until war called.
These are kinda out-takes. Third or fourth drafts. Maybe.
Do you think these are bad?
I don't think Chrysta Bell and I can take BAD photographs. Books full of beauty. Heart.
Cigar. Chango's. Empty Grocery Store. Municipal Building. Big Lots®. Retail Strip Center......
CB has been creating music with one of my heroes,
Director/Musician/Painter/Etc.......David Lynch.
Two of my favorite movies are THE WIZARD OF OZ & BLUE VELVET.
When David Lynch made WILD AT HEART, I wondered if he had made it just for me....
Chrysta Bell has been my muse* for a full decade, and I thank my lucky stars for that !
She is my muse* of all muses. She gets it. Gets me.
*(a guiding spirit, a source of inspiration.)
Chicago born, Dan Beachy-Quick grew up in Colorado and upstate New York. He attended Hamilton College and the University of Denver. He worked for two years with autistic children—which left an indelible mark on his sense of language and (im)possibility. He attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Currently, he teaches in the Writing Program at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Beachy-Quick is the author of three books, North True South Bright (Alice James), Spell (Ahsahta), and most recently, Mulberry (Tupelo), which was released in June 2006.
From "Halt (Naïve)"
B. Moby Dick
Mute latitudes, blind: the ocean mutters dumb
The jellyfish’s phosphorescent thumb (stinger),
creosote, n.
1. A colorless to yellowish oily liquid containing phenols and creosols, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood tar, especially from the wood of a beech, and formerly used as an expectorant in treating chronic bronchitis.
2. A yellowish to greenish-brown oily liquid containing phenols and creosols, obtained from coal tar and used as a wood preservative and disinfectant. It can cause severe neurological disturbances if inhaled in strong concentrations.
“Somehow swallows nest in the creosote eaves,
flit-scatter, fall back & return.”
--Joshua Marie Wilkinson, “Pictures Inside the Mattress Before Your Brothers Are Dead”
From Pinball Publishing
Francesco Levato is the author of Marginal State (fractaledgepress 2006), a collection of poetry. He is the founder of the Street Level Series, a reading series of poetry that engages social issues, and is the founding editor of the literary journal Ink & Ashes :: a journal of the senses, Some of his work has appeared in Witness: Anthology of Poetry (Serengeti Press); Out of Line; Poets Against the War; Voices in Wartime; Snow Monkey; Poems Niederngasse; and After Hours. His awards include a poetry fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center.
Made in the USA
In an effort to be as lucid as possible and yet still be able to rant at a moment's notice in our own brand of language, the Sharkforum Contributing Editors would like to present the beginning of a list of terms and expressions peculiar to us, yet freely available for wider use. This list will be regularly updated. This is a work in progress. Feel free to use the terms and to suggest additional ones.
The One Percent Doctrine
By Ronald Suskind
367 pp., $27.00
Simon and Schuster
For those interested in the back-room machinations that got us stuck in Iraq, this is the definitive explanation, the best book to read. Suskind previously aired the grievances of former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and the author’s inside access is proudly on display here. There is no attempt made to skirt the idea that Bush and Cheney planned to attack Saddam from the moment they laid claim to power. The question was, always: How did they do it? This book answers that question. Reading it is like reading a professional arsonist’s commentary on the hows and whys of the Reichstag’s burning.
It is probably not an exaggeration to say that the Coen Brothers’ “The Big Lebowski” has become well-loved enough to have seeped into the popular culture. It is also almost true that Lebowskifest – a fan-launched convention celebrating the film – is rapidly soaking through the otherwise moribund summer entertainment scene. Started in Louisville, KY some five or so years ago, the event has spread to Vegas, LA and New York City, its quirky charms winning over both fans of the film as well as newcomers.
"Chicago Car Culture," at the Cultural Center through August 27.
What happened to the idea of art films? Great question, and since it's got me thinking, let me dare a full post instead of a comment. I'll argue that, first, film became accepted as art, including mainstream film. Second, an outsider venue for art films became less crucial, thanks to video. But could those assumptions be changing as money centralizes yet again? NOTE ADDED: You'll see that I embellished this, because I wasn't satisfied with how it ended.
The most important week of television period begins July 30 with Discovery Channels annual week long sharky extravaganza/hommage/paen to us sharks. Why can't all buildings be thus festooned? Wouldn't the world be a better place?
Stephen Elliott is bringing his “Progressive Reading Series” to Chicago...
When: Tuesday, July 18 - 7:30 pm
Where: The No Exit Cafe - 6970 North Glenwood, Chicago, IL, 773-743-3355
Price: $10 - $20 sliding scale
Featuring:
Stephen Elliott, author of Looking Forward To It
Aleksandar Hemon, author of Nowhere Man
Audrey Niffenegger, author of Time Traveler's Wife and The Three
Incestuous Sisters
Peter Orner, author of The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and Esther
Stories
Dan Beachy-Quick, author of Mulberry and Spell
Simone Muench, author of Lampblack & Ash
Writer, artist, and feminist activist Lauren Levato is literary editor for Ink & Ashes :: a journal of the senses, and editor for PISTIL. Her writing has appeared in after hours, The Pedestal Magazine, Poetry Midwest, and Wicked Alice. She hold degrees in professional writing and women's studies from Purdue University and studied political journalism at Georgetown University. Her awards include a poetry fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. Her chapbook Marriage*Bones (2006) is available from fractaledgepress.
Toro, Cielo, Sirena
I. Toro
Il toro torna al fonte del proprio dolore
fino alla morte di uno o l’altro.
Your father left you waving
the carnelian flag of his death,
Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan
St. Martin’s Press
231 pp.
$17.95
The best debut novel I’ve read in a long time is Paul Neilan’s “Apathy.” Neilan, a Portland, OR based novelist is wickedly adept at satire. His prose bites without actually tearing flesh or drawing blood. He is Chuck Palahniuk without the hatred. This is not meant to imply the writing is toothless, it is not. Rather, Neilan is able to viciously parody any number of “modern types’ – people we all know trapped in the mundanity of everyday American life – without condescension and with gentleness and compassion.
Syd Barrett, co-founder of Pink Floyd has died. Here's a link to the AP piece. Barrett was easily one of the strangest figures in the psychedelic scene which sprouted in the late 1960's and early 1970's, and his departure from "The Floyd" marked the beginning of the mainstreaming of their sound.
I've been a fan of Pink Floyd for a very long time, and will even admit to an abiding love and admiration of The Final Cut, but there's just nothing on any of the post-Syd records which can compare in velvet-grooviness to Lucifer Sam, or the strangely cute Bike.
Kristy Bowen's work has appeared in a number of electronic and print journals, including Cranky, Diagram, Slipstream, and Another Chicago Magazine. She's the author of several handmade and limited edition chapbooks, most recently The Archaeologist's Daughter (Moon Journal Press, 2005) and errata (dgp, 2005). In 2004, she was selected as first place winner in the Poetry Center of Chicago's Annual Juried Reading. A sometimes collage/text/book artist, she is the editor of the online poetry zine, wicked alice, and founder of dancing girl press, which publishes chapbooks by female poets. Her full-length collection, the fever almanac, is forthcoming from Ghost Road Press in 2006.
the dollmaker's apprentice,
or various form of violence
Now that we have capsized
in our dark boats, the milk
Brandl, Blind Mute Cover, 2002, Ink on Paper
There is a new Sophistry now rampant in the world and even in the artworld, where one would least expect it.
Jeez, I hope to offend someone with this "title" as I did a few weeks back....
This is some art from before the ownership of digital cameras.....
Very random, arted & with LOVE !!!!!!!
I hope to be back with some NEW SHIT, next week.............
Chagall drew us floating above the houses,
our skin the underneath blue of a winter fire,
our hands open in the mud-spill inside an oxen bin.
Drawn into the World
July 8 - October 15, 2006
The Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60611
312.280.2660
This first-ever survey of drawings from the MCA Collection charts the rich and varied landscape of the medium and presents works which may not conform with what normally comes to mind when thinking of drawing. While the majority of works in the exhibition are rendered in traditional drawing materials such as graphite, color pencil, charcoal, and ink, there are also a number of works that feature unusual materials -- soil, gunpowder, petroleum jelly — or have been drawn on nontraditional supports, such as dried ficus leaf, newspaper, or hide. A wide range of styles is also featured, from abstraction to figuration, from crude child-like renderings to highly finished, classical drawing techniques.
We marked the passing of artist Robert Heinecken just over a month ago. Here are the details for upcoming memorial services. - ed.
Who could imagine the Fourth without the flag everywhere in sight? And the Whitney has ushered in the holiday with a classic sighting. In "Full House," a museum-wide celebration of American art, a Jasper Johns flag painting welcomes visitors to the third floor. But suppose a constitutional amendment, banning desecration of the flag. Would those images still have a home?
On this Independence Day we thought it might be interesting to do a little informal polling. There's been so much froth in the media over the last decade or so about those who "hate America" and why that it might be instructive to see just what people really think.
Happy 4th!
The Shark swims into the Museum of Contemporary Art in the exhibition Drawn into the World. July 8- October 15, 2006: since as you should all know by now, carcharodon carcharias is what is known as a 'sneaky shark' -prefering the hit and run style of approach to procurring lunch, The Shark is quite happy (and relieved) there will NOT be an opening as things are a little dicey for him at the moment, what with the shark attack incident on bad at sports last week.....
Since the pejorative use of the words academy and academic will continuously pop up in our Shark attacks, in particular in mine, this lapsed art historian would like to lay the source of these terms clearly out in the open, since it has come to my attention in recent discussions with other artists that many weren't certain as to what the words referred. Pedagogic Mark presents a work of history. Any resemblance to persons dead or living is purely intentional.
.....around 4 years ago, I didn't even have a point-and-shoot digital camera. I didn't know Photoshop all that well, but was learning. Now it seems like a whole different world, visually.........
Heralded as one of three Chicago poets for the 21st century by WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, Duriel E. Harris holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, an M.A. from the Graduate Creative Writing Program at NYU and a B.A. in Literature from Yale University. A member of reedist Douglas Ewart’s experimental jazz choir, Inventions, Harris is a co-founder of The Black Took Collective and the Poetry Editor for Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora. Harris has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the Cave Canem Foundation. Drag, her first book, by Elixir Press was hailed by Black Issues Book Review as one of the best poetry volumes of 2003.
Drive
Cool night, like the snap of peas or dry branches underfoot.
Someone's waiting for me: a photograph of my breath.