Show Review: Abe Vigoda, All Saints Day, Heavy Hawaii

HEAVY HAWAII:  Heavy Hawaii continues demonstrate that they are ready to take the show on the road.  This is a band that should working extra shifts, saving money and getting ready to tough it out through one or two  diy tours of the west coast.  They need to realize that these tours won't make them alot of money, and it won't win them a lot of fans, but it will demonstrate that they are dedicated musicians who actually want to give success a try.  One thing I've noticed about the explosion of bands- they are all pretty much a bunch of amateurs without a clue about live performance let alone touring.  This was not as much as an issue as recently as 2006-2007, when putting on a live show always preceded getting into the "studio."  The leveling effect of garage band and like software is the absolute center of the current revitalization of rock music being termed 'lo fi.'  It is a combination of diy ethic with advances and technology.  Of course, these are the SAME FACTORS that have influenced EVERY revitalization of popular music since World War II.


ALL SAINTS DAY:  Sounded great, very grown up sound that should go over well with indie nation. I get the sense everyone in the band has a good idea of what they want to accomplish, but you have to wonder how committed Katy Goodman is to the project.  If she were to be committed, I think this band has real potential to win hearts and minds.  Very promising.  I am excited to hear their forthcoming 7" on Art Fag Recordings... out soon.  I heard a rumor last night that they are in town recording at the Jon Greene studio in North Park???

ABE VIGODA:  They played music from their forthcoming LP out this September.  Their tropical punk style was very much in evidence, though as I watched them last night I was actually quite put in mind of jazz-influenced Dischord acts.  I think... in a sense... Abe Vigoda would be an awesome band for Dischord to put out- switch it up a bit on both ends.  Does Dischord even release new records anymore?  I think Abe Vigoda needs to stick to its guns, release a couple more records and maybe try to catch a pop backlash down the road.

World Cup Day 6: Diego Forlan or Klaus Kinski

DIEGO FORLAN FEVER!!!! KLAUS KINSKI LOOK ALIKE!!!

KLAUS KINSKI

   I figured out why I like Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan so much- it's because he resembles German actor and Werner Herzog muse Klaus Kinski.  If you haven't seen Werner Herzog's "My Best Fiend" about his relationship with Klaus Kinski, you should see it.

HONDURAS vs. CHILE:  The wake-up game!!!  Honduras got in based on winning their last game on the road vs. El Salvador plus the US tying Costa Rica in stoppage time.  They never impressed me in qualifying, above average grit and spots of inventive striking in the Mexican style.  I had never seen Chile before, and I was impressed with their 1-0 victory.  They played a fluid, attacking style that was pleasing to watch, and they got the 3 points.  Considering the shock upset in the next match, Chile's 3 points should put them in a major spoiler role.  I feel bad for Honduras with an angry Spain coming up.

SPAIN vs. SWITZERLAND:  Wow- I'm pretty sure I've blogged about Spanish choking in World Soccer in the past, but I'd thought they'd put that behind themselves.  I think Spain is far from doomed if you look at the group dynamic.  Odds are that Switzerland will play two scoreless ties and end up with five points and a +1 goal advantage.  So that would give them five points.  Chile will get that scoreless tie with Switzerland, and lose to Spain, giving them 4  points and a +2/3 goal advantage.   Spain beats Honduras and Chile both giving them six points and they still win the group.  Let's put it this way- we know what Switzerland is going to do- get some zero zero ties.  Between Chile and Spain- who would you put your money on to win?  Spain today looks listless and uncreative.  The Swiss can do that to the best of sides and as soon as they get a goal it just gets that much worse.

SOUTH AFRICA vs. Uruguay:  What can you say about my man Diego Forlan?  Way to stake a dagger through the heart of the host nation, Uruguay.   A three nil defeat is unmitigated disaster for the home team, with France on deck and a -3 goal differential to go with their one point. South Afirca looked hopeless, I stopped watching this game at the hour mark and later learned that Uruguay got 2 more goals.

GROUP A OUTLOOK

    Tomorrow's France vs. Mexico could be a classic.  You have to figure Mexico smells blood in the water with the French and that the Mexicans want the 3 points about million more times then the French side.  The Mexicans are doubly motivated because if they win, they and Uruguay can ensure that both sides get in and the French are left behind.  On the other hand,  is Mexico and France tie, the French will take the upper hand because they have to play South Africa, and Uruguay can dump the Mexicans by tying them up.

Book Review: Art A New History by Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson: Author, curmudgeon.


Art: A New History
by Paul Johnson
p. 2003
Harper Collins

    Paul Johnson is a conservative, Roman Catholic English writer/journalist.  I imagine he's well known in the UK, but here in the US he's just a guy.  That probably explains why I found this list price $40 handsome hard cover, full color 800 page books selling for five bucks in a thrift store in Spring Valley.  You can buy it at Amazon for one dollar.  It's not like he's particularly out of date- 2003 is not that long ago when you are talking about writing a history of art over the course of 5000 years of human history.  I mean, this book must have just been a flop, likely because people in the US do not give two shits about popular art history.  Lewis and Clark expedition? Sure.  Civil War- endlessly.  Do you know how many history books have been written dissecting the Civil War?  Check that subject out on Amazon.

    Art: A New History professes to be a history of all art,but it's more like a history of western art and it's antecedents.  Johnson is pathetically weak on anything that does not deal with the Western European tradition.  He has the artistic taste of a 90 year old, as indeed he was when he wrote this book.  For Johnson, ancient Persian art is "grandiose and repetitive,"  pre-Columbian art is "sinister and demonic,"  Hindu temple art barely rates a mention.  On the other hand, you get more then 200 pages on 18th-19th century landscape and water color.  HOLY SHIT?  200 pages?  On water colors?  #fail.

    Two facts might influence you to either give this book a shot or take a pass:

1.  There are beautiful full color works of art on almost of every page, many of them by minor masters of images I'd never seen before.  Personally, I think that makes the dollar price on Amazon a bargain- you can't find many of these image anywhere else because they come from small museums.  Johnson- or more likely his staff- did an amazing job in this regard.

2.  There are no footnotes or bibliography of any kind.  I guess Johnson can get away with this because he writes popular history, but he is clearly basing his opinions on recent trends in art history scholarship.  For example, the discussion of the inter relationship between the Italian Renaissance and Northern "Gothicism" is ripe with the latest in scholarship on the subject, noting a more complex, two way relationship.

        To the extent that there is a "conservative" aspect to this book it is Johnson's promotion of the person of the artist as the critical feature in the history of art.  Maybe that is uncontroversial to the general public, but such a thesis goes against much of art history scholarship in the last half century.  I agree with Johnson- and I would also add that even with his bizarre affinity for land scape painting Johnson creates an art history that is more useful then 95% of the specialist monographs that come out of the academy.

     Personally, I think if you're going to write a 800 page popular history of art in 2003 the thing to do is contrast non-western art to western art and try to inter-relate and differentiate the two areas while trying to get to the deeper commonalities, intertwining that with a deeper philosophical discussion of the role of art in human society throughout history.  That's what I was hoping for here but instead I got 200 pages of water colors and landscape painting.

MELK ABBEY///\\\AUSTRIAN BAROQUE

PEOPLE ARE LIKE HEY PSYCHEDELIC MUSHROOM CRAZY ART BUT IM MORE LIKE AUSTRIAN BAROQUE. ITS JUST AS TRIPPY.


MELK ABBEY


AUSTRIAN BAROQUE (BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE BY MARTIN SHAW BRIGGS)












ACTUAL HALL OF MIRRORS

New Crocodiles Single *Sleep Forever* on Stereogum

Sleep Forever 7" out on Fat Possum 8/17 album on Fat Possum 9/14/10.  No haters allowed. (STEREOGUM)

Wednesday @ CASBAH SAN DIEGO: ABE VIGODA///ALL SAINTS DAY///HEAVY HAWAII

WEDNESDAY JUNE 16th 2010

ABE VIGODA

ALL SAINTS DAY (MEMBERS OF VIVIAN GIRLS, CAT POWER)(ART FAG RECORDINGS)

HEAVY HAWAII (ART FAG RECORDINGS)

DJ MARIO ORDUNO (ART FAG RECORDINGS)

THE CASBAH/ 21+

EIGHT DOLLARS

       The only thing I have to say about this show is that Heavy Hawaii has been on a hot streak on their live shows and I have high hopes that they can get this bird off the ground.  At the Spectrum show, the crowd loved it, and these were people who had come to see Spectrum.  Heavy Hawaii... unquestionably the hottest local band in San Diego right now AND they have a 6 Song 12" EP with a corresponding 11 song download(!) that is coming out on Art Fag Recordings this fall.  I have heard that record.  It is amazing.  It is going to blow people away, especially since this is an Ariel Pink kind of cultural moment.  Also, it will expand Art Fag Recordings audience beyond the Best Coast/Pearly Harbor/Dum Dum Girls crowd.

       Right time, right place, right product is what I'm saying.   Heavy Hawaii is legitimately one of those bands where you should want to enjoy before, instead of after.

World Cup Day 3: Socceroos? More like Suckeroos....

     Wife and I have been traveling around the downtown area looking for a place to watch game.  Yeah I know we could hit the Whistlestop or wherever but I don't want to hang out with... those people.  Best place so far is the Red Zone, a sports bar on 5th Avenue that only makes sense if you want total immersion in whatever sporting event you are watching.  They also have about 15 different flavors of chicken wings... so that's my recommendation.

ALGERIA v. SLOVENIA:  OK so I dvr'ed this game because of the 4 AM start time.  I watched the first 40 minutes then fast forwarded to the end.  This game had another goalie who didn't know how to stop an easy shop, and so Slovenia is top of USA's group with three points.  Awesome, that means Slovenia is going to turtle up and play 11 people behind the ball so they can get five points and hopefully advance.  Algeria looked terrible- I was expecting a little more flair from a team that only qualified after winning a play-off against in Egypt in SUDAN!  That's right, Sudan is the place where FIFA picked for a neutral play off.  Hey FIFA- Libya?  Morocco? Tunisia?  I've been reading up on Slovenia, which is ex-Yugoslavia but they see themselves as more like a Switzerland or Austria but with Slavs instead of Germans.  They qualified after beating Russia in a play off- pretty amazing- Slovenia population is 2 million, Russia 140 million.

SERBIA v. GHANA:  I had high hopes for Serbia but they looked pretty shit before giving up a pointless handball inside the penalty box in the 86th minute and losing to Ghana.  Ghana has a bunch of guys from their u-20 team that won the youth World Cup, and they looked focused and had plenty of energy.  More teams should try playing their young players instead of the complacent  pros.

GERMANY v. AUSTRALIA:  This match ended up 4-0 Germany but it could have easily been 1 Billion to negative one million.  Germany broke through the Australian back line about twenty times because they know how to run on a diagonal line, and all the Australian defenders know how to do is raise their hand and look expectantly towards the line men while a German striker breaks away and buries the ball in the back of the net.  Germany looked the best so far, and Australia looked like a bunch of confused old men.

   The rest of Group D (Serbia/Ghana/Germany/Australia) should be interesting since Serbia is going to be desperate for some wins.  I'm interested to see how Serbia/Australia works out for the Australians.