Other Lives In Big Sur
At dusk in the middle of Big Sur forest... A clearing, the small, golden-lit and book-filled wooden house that is the Henry Miller library, and a rustic stage. Musicians are getting ready to play. Above us, the sky as ceiling, around us, the shadows of a dense vegetation as ethereal walls... It has the aura of a sacred place, where nature reigns in all its beauty and nobleness. As the daylight fades away, an intimate crowd is quietly waiting, its whispers mixing with the warblings of hidden birds. And suddenly, the silence. A melodious and deep voice resonates, ascending to the crowns of the redwoodtrees. Its limpidity echoes with nature and warms the crowd, like a glow from within. Throughout the show, Jesse Tabish and his musicians juggle with several instruments, creating an epic musical journey. Before sunset, each song has already transported us to another world. To other lives.
Other Lives members; Colby Owens, Jenny Hsu, Jesse Tabish, Jonathon Mooney, Josh Onstott.
New Album out now: Tamer Animals.
When Artists Are Out, Art Is Free
Ai Weiwei's Western Screech Owl Nests
Park Presidio, San Francisco
Park Presidio, San Francisco
Banksy
Howard Street and 9th Street, SoMa, San Francisco
Mondrian House
Ocean Beach, San Francisco
Born Into Bukowski
It was a few days after the sad news emanating from the country of rising sun, and one night before the supermoon. In San francisco, the natural elements had raged all day long, but the evening was strangely quiet, the sky in a deep purple studded with fleecy clouds, the moon radiant. On the screen, Bukowski: Born Into This. Bukowski is one of the rare authors whose books I never could finish. But on this sharply bright night, I discovered the man behind the author. A world of poetry was uncovered. And unexpectedly, the words hit me:
Dinosauria, We
Born like this
Into this
As the chalk faces smile
As Mrs. Death laughs
As the elevators break
As political landscapes dissolve
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey
As the sun is masked
We are
Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
Born into this
Walking and living through this
Dying because of this
Muted because of this
Castrated
Debauched
Disinherited
Because of this
Fooled by this
Used by this
Pissed on by this
Made crazy and sick by this
Made violent
Made inhuman
By this
The heart is blackened
The fingers reach for the throat
The gun
The knife
The bomb
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god
The fingers reach for the bottle
The pill
The powder
We are born into this sorrowful deadliness
We are born into a government 60 years in debt
That soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt
And the banks will burn
Money will be useless
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
It will be guns and roving mobs
Land will be useless
Food will become a diminishing return
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many
Explosions will continually shake the earth
Radiated robot men will stalk each other
The rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms
Dante's Inferno will be made to look like a children's playground
The sun will not be seen and it will always be night
Trees will die
All vegetation will die
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
The sea will be poisoned
The lakes and rivers will vanish
Rain will be the new gold
The rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind
The last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases
And the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition
The petering out of supplies
The natural effect of general decay
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that.
The sun still hidden there
Awaiting the next chapter.
Charles "Hank" Bukowski
PS: At a time when "Hank" and his publisher would consider ten persons attending a reading as a crowd, San Francisco was the only american city where Bukowski was avidly awaited by five to seven hundreds of (his) litterature passionates.
In Big Sur
A Night At The Kanaal
From the silo forest that once was a malting plant, radiates the dark and eerie atmosphere reminiscent of the origins of a world. Within the austere purity of concrete walls, Axel Vervoordt has created a labyrinth of exquisitely furnished spaces, heavenly matching antique and contemporary, rawness and warmth. This is where the God of Malt has been reigning, and his former quarters are now the epicenter of a budding energy. Air, earth, water, fire, the four elements are here, enhanced by the spirituality of Anish Kapoor's "At The Edge of the World". Immense lofts are waiting to be built, their raw state and circular walls giving them a ghostly appearance. And yet, the Kanaal will one day fully emerge as a city. Atypical yet connected to life.
A Nocturn with Sally Mann
I discovered Sally Mann on an icy night. Her photographies were haunting the immaculate walls of the pure, minimalist, meditative space that is Karsten Greve gallery in Paris. There is a magnetism emanating from her works. Her photographs are in black and white, raw, scarred. And deep. Beauty comes from intriguing imperfections that act like a charm. The essence of life lies in the flesh, in the nature(s) that she captures. As Albert Hofmann said in the interview he did with Hans Ulrich Obrist, "Artworks that lead back to nature and contain nature, praise the beauty of nature, those are great artworks for me. They open our eyes on the beauty of creation."
The Formula
A snowstorm at dusk, a sit by the window at a cozy cafe, piles of art, design, fashion magazines past issues, a warm tropical tea, and time. This was my idea of a good winter afternoon.
I was skimming through the pages of an old Dazed & Confused at Ra when I excitingly discovered Hans Ulrich Obrist's interview with Albert Hofmann. As I started reading, Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Syd Barrett Tribute)" began to resonate.
LSD was about finding the perfect formula. "When the doors of perception are open, you see a different world. If they open too wide, you see hell. If you find the right opening, then you see heaven." Being imbued with words of a genius scientist, a genius curator and a genius band at the same time seemed to be the formula for transforming a good winter afternoon into a perfect moment.
Following Ryan McGinley, from San Francisco to Paris
San Francisco, October 29th, 2010. At Ratio 3, one of San Francisco's best contemporary art galleries, Ryan McGinley displayed his talents for the opening of his new exhibit, "Life Adjustment Center". From black&white photographies of beasts and their beauties to contrasting unearthly compositions in vibrant colors, eyes were filled with surrealistic visions. Add to this the guitar and melodic voice of Christopher Owens, frontman of beloved local band Girls, and the thrill was ultimate.
(credit for the music: the Black Keys - Unknown Brother)
Paris, November 2, 2010. At Galerie du Jour - agnes b., I dived into Ryan McGinley's universe again, but this time, as the name of the show "3 + 1" suggests it, he was not alone. His photographs were surrounded by works of his friends Harmony Korine and the late Dash Snow. The complementarity and complicity exuding from this bond was creating a symbiosis that was very moving. The formula would not have been complete without the + 1 of the "3 + 1"; agnes b., who has supported and nurtured these young artists long before they "became", and still does, tirelessly. Or, shall I say, faithfully. Because Art is about Faith.
Thom Yorke: Augmented Humanity
Sometimes although I am still dreaming I already feel that I will have to wake up and that this dream that brings joy to my heart will soon be gone forever.
With Radiohead this moment is not only alive, it feels eternal. It is out of this world, but it does attach you to this world. How unique is a music that experiments ambitiously and endlessly, yet is incredibly popular. An alchemy of notes that connects deeply, personally to each soul while creating a universal emotion. It is one of these rare instants in life... When you fall for it, it elevates you.
With Radiohead this moment is not only alive, it feels eternal. It is out of this world, but it does attach you to this world. How unique is a music that experiments ambitiously and endlessly, yet is incredibly popular. An alchemy of notes that connects deeply, personally to each soul while creating a universal emotion. It is one of these rare instants in life... When you fall for it, it elevates you.
Thom Yorke's show with Atoms for Peace at the Oakland Fox Theater on the 4/14/10 was one of these miraculous moments. And when he played "Like Spinning Plates" on the piano after fusioning with Flea's untamed energy the crowd was in another dimension.
A few months later I discovered a Radiohead song I didn't know, called "Fog". On a grey opaque morning, alone in an immense SoMa loft, I listened to these two minutes of grace over and over again.
...And each atom of my body was in peace.Montara Sunset Memories
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A sunday of September on the beautiful Montara beach not far from San Francisco. Surfers were flirting with gentle waves in a playful way, safe from the great white sharks. They were looking like skaters on the ocean, offering an amusing sight to a young lady sitting in the sand, patiently waiting for her very own surfer to reappear.
A Tea Time I Will Long For
At the Blue Danube, the tea time that follows hours of exploration through the labyrinthic Green Apple Bookstore shelves (they even drew a map) is a pure moment of cosiness. A tea, a madeleine, a book... A divine trinity on a foggy afternoon.
Green Apple Books
506 Clement St San Francisco
(415) 387-2272 - www.greenapplebooks.com
(415) 387-2272 - www.greenapplebooks.com
Blue Danube Cafe
306 Clement St San Francisco
(415) 221-9041
The Superhero Effect
2:02 pm outside of Ratio3, on Stevenson Street.
2:07 pm at Four Barrel Coffee, on Valencia Street.
After the delicate, abstracted, hypnotizing atmosphere emanating from Ruth Laskey's weaving artpieces displayed at Ratio3 gallery, the sun hitting Stevenson Street was feeling harsh. Which almost made me miss a surreal vision: Spiderman was tied up on the tire of the car parked in front of the gallery door. Very amused, I captured the captured with my camera, and walked away without releasing him. But a block away and five minutes later, at Four Barrel Coffee, while I was sipping the "Costa Rica San Juanillo Don Jose", I saw his human incarnation... Spiderman is a superhero after all, and the call of San Francisco gourmet coffees would give superpowers to anybody.
Ratio 3 - 1447 Stevenson St - San Francisco
(415) 821-3371
(415) 821-3371
Four Barrel Coffee - 375 Valencia St - San Francisco
(415) 252-0800
Waiting For The Fish
"You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?"
The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
The Epic Of Balsa Man
On Saturday night, as thousands of people were gone on the Black Rock City pilgrimage, another worship experience was happening between fog and sunset at the same San Francisco beach where Burning Man was born, more than 24 years ago...
Les Têtes Blondes
Some people say that there are no children to be seen in San Francisco. The city, with her libertarian vibes, is a sanctuary for every kind of human being, who may feel more free and equal in dignity and rights here than anywhere else. Would this very own San Francisco miracle make the city friendlier for adults than for kids? If San Francisco acts like a magnet to the soul, it is because she does welcome you as who you are. She blows a wind of freedom to your mind while wrapping her breathtaking beauty around you, allowing you to call her home. Without judgement. Children don't judge, children adapt, children are free of à priori. They are the best citizens San Francisco can have, for they incarnate the future and inspire progress. And they are here. I see them, everyday, from the Street Food Festival near Dolores where they were fishing for dollars, to the window of a cafe in Russian Hill, enjoying a lollipop. They can be happy everywhere... above all in the City by the Bay. Ces chères têtes blondes!
Ocean Beach: The Unfinished Tattoo
Under the platinum light that reflected on the Ocean Beach blond sand yesterday, evasion took form of a tattoo. Because it was à contre-jour, its lines were barely discernible, yet it caught my eye. Forgetting the crashing waves I was for a few seconds transported on the other side of the Pacific, in the foggy, mystical mountains that are depicted in antique japanese engravings and haunt Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, but remain unknown to me. And just when the tattoo was hiding from my view, another appeared, like a very spiritual wink.
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