The late, great Gene Vincent (1935-1971)

A bit late for what would have been his 79th birthday on February 11th I’ve been thinking about rock and roll and rockabilly pioneer Gene Vincent who was one of the most influential but likely in retrospect underrated figures of that time. A few anecdotes/facts/myths: they say Elvis’ mother Gladys heard Vincent’s 1956 hit Be-Bop-a-Lula and assumed it was by her boy; Vincent survived the car crash that killed the equally terrific musician Eddie Cochran; they say Vincent threatened Gary Glitter at gunpoint; Vincent was injured more than once (first in a motorcycle accident) leaving him in pain, limping, and probably increasing his dependence on alcohol. In the 1960s he spent much time in Europe, as his work gained wider appreciation there, and correspondingly was forgotten in the US. His comebacks were not commercially successful, but definitely worth a listen, especially his 1966 Bird Doggin a folk rock-style effort backed by some of the legendary “Wrecking Crew”. In the early sixties, the Beatles backed him in Germany, and by the end of the sixties, he was working in haphazard fashion with pickup bands, as recorded in a television documentary from 1969. He did appear throughout the 1950s on many television programs and films, and you can see most of them here. Vincent died of a ruptured stomach ulcer at the ripe young age of 36 in 1971. 

Reposted from CIRCUIT: Andrew Clifford on Julian Dashper

There's a terrific analysis of Julian Dashper's video artworks by Andrew Clifford that Mark Williams posted about a week ago on the CIRCUIT website. An excellent commentary on a still-underrated New Zealand artist. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Julian not long after I relocated to Wellington, and tragically, not long before the artist's death. Julian had made the effort to contact me largely owing to our mutual friend the American art historian David Raskin, who curated a retrospective of the artist's work. I have noticed in the past couple of years how enthusiastically my students have responded to Julian's writings and work and I imagine his influence will extend long into the future, particularly here in New Zealand, and appropriately for an artist who created so many projects that examined notions of both historical influence and temporality.

Pull My Daisy (1959): essential viewing

Pull My Daisy from 1959 is one of the most important films of the mid-twentieth century. For many decades it was likely written and read about more than seen, though YouTube has a few versions floating around. Co-directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, it features many of the key figures of the so-called "Beat Generation" including the poets Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso. Striking also in terms of Frank's camera work and Jack Kerouac's seemingly spontaneous and utterly memorable narration. ("It's early morning in the universe...are cockroaches holy?...Is baseball holy?") In just under 30 minutes, the era is summed up in a rich visual and aural time capsule. The film is in my opinion, better to watch than read about so I will stop here, although I will highlight this link in which musician and filmmaker John Cohen writes about a reissued book of the film, as it is very insightful.

Simon Starling review in this week's New Zealand Listener

My review of Simon Starling's exhibition "In Speculum" at the Wellington City Gallery appears in this week's issue of the New Zealand Listener. Above is a picture of the Turner Prize-winning artist at the opening. Was able to meet him when he conducted some seminar-style discussions with Massey's incoming MFA cohort. Very charming and unflappable fellow given all the demands on his time during his visit to New Zealand. (Unfortunately full text of review not online unless you are a subscriber, but if you are based locally maybe check out dairies, supermarkets, newsstands, indian takeaways, doctor's offices, and other sorts of waiting rooms and peruse freely....) I will however be posting some selected examples of my Listener texts in the reviews section in the near future.

Nicholson Baker's "Traveling Sprinkler"

I've just finished reading (and skimming) NIcholson Baker's most recent novel "Traveling Sprinkler". Baker is an amazing, if at times frustrating, prose stylist and bleeds immensely complicated prose from the tired body of everyday existence. This has been the nature of many of his books, which tend, however eclectic in their topical pursuits, to involve detailed monologues, innovative wordplay, and enthralling gamesmanship. I picked up his latest as I am keenly interested in Baker's writing, if I only read it sporadically, rather than addictively. In addition this book is a sequel to a fascinating comic novel called "The Anthologist" which gained considerable critical attention a couple of years ago. In that book, a narrator named Paul Chowder (not unlike Baker himself) is a middle-aged writer who spends much time ruminating upon how poetry works, its history, and how to compile a poetry anthology. Chowder is clearly a lot more bungling and less renowned than the author, but it's probably owing to the fact that Baker empathizes so closely with Chowder as an alter-ego that the book really resonates so strongly. However "Traveling Sprinkler" is less focused, and as with most "sequels" pales a bit if compared to "The Anthologist." But maybe i'm a bit taken with Mr. Chowder whose chosen mundane pursuits include: composing (bad) pop music and taking up cigars (both) at a relatively advanced age, worrying over US foreign policy and writing crap lyrics about it, caring from a distance for his ex-partner, and wondering when to speak up at Quaker meeting. Chowder is often boring and silly, self-centered yet kind, yet eminently human. A modest and potentially highly enjoyable book if you are up for a meandering monologue rather than a plot filled feast. You can watch a brief interview of Baker from the Los Angeles Review of Books here.

Tony Blair: In no way shocking but still disturbing

I just read Andy Beckett's feature in the Guardian entitled Tony Blair: from New Labour to Political Embarrassment which is a lively dissection of the former British Prime Minister's continuing descent into ideological contradiction, corporate consultation, and downright weirdness for a figure that once had at least a small amount of credibility (albeit very long ago). As I wrote above, he's been on this trajectory forever it seems now and the Iraq War "coalition" really sealed it for me, so there are really no shocking or surprising revelations, but it's still creepy and disturbing nonetheless. Interesting reading.

Paul Cullen Exhibition opening at the Engine Room

The Auckland based artist Paul Cullen will be exhibiting a new project entitled Mezzanine in the Engine Room, Massey University School of Art's gallery space as the inaugural research exhibition of this season. Paul, currently Associate Professor of Visual Arts at AUT University, is one of New Zealand's most important sculpture and installation artists, and his work has been exhibited internationally in a wide variety of gallery and museum contexts. The opening will be held tomorrow Friday Feb 28 at 5:30 pm. All are welcome! The Engine Room is located at the East end of Block 1 on Massey University's Wellington Campus, accessible from Wallace Street Entrance C. For more on Paul's work, particularly if you are reading this blog post from afar, please see: www.paulcullen.info. Image below is of a recent project entitled Moon, featuring a rotating moon globe on sandpaper. You can see a clip of this work here.

Performance Arcade opens tonight on Wellington waterfront!

The Performance Arcade opens tonight at 6 PM and runs through March 3 as a wide variety of artists present public projects, performances, and events within and around shipping containers situated just behind Te Papa on the Wellington waterfront. An innovative and highly ambitious curatorial venture directed by artist Sam Trubridge it's well worth a visit! For more detailed info, please consult: http://theplaygroundnz.com/wellington-2014/.

Beck's Morning Phase

It helped my Sunday out considerably (stressing out a bit on the eve of university teaching) to stream Beck's new "Morning Phase" which is getting so much critical attention already that you wonder what's up (besides hype). I've always been very partial to Beck's changeling nature, although he most consistently seems to return to simple, folky tunes, and that's the case here, yet leavened with sweet, lush production. Here's one of the best songs, Blue Moon and a short profile by David Fricke, though much more very easy to find with a click on Google...

Combatting Combat Rock

Driving the car on this sunny afternoon with my twelve-year old daughter yelling at me to turn it down. Disturbing music in question emanates from the cassette player (CD broken since forever) as I blast the Clash’s Combat Rock from 1982. Solid contender—at least—for the very worst Clash LP with its murky whitey funk, tentative proto-sampling, off-key vocalizing, tuneless tunes, and a cameo from the poet Allen Ginsberg (what the hell is he doing here?). Of course I love it and turn it down only slightly.