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Opt in to advertising's new age (NYC Exhibit)

The New York Times has a "Critic's Notebook" entry on a "strange interactive exhibition at the Science, Industry and Business Library of the New York Public Library in Midtown where you can sample some of the best ads ever made for television, radio, print and the Internet."

From the press release:

NEW YORK, NY, September 14, 2005 -The history and future of advertising is the focus of the new exhibition Opt In To Advertising's New Age , presented by the Online Publishers Association and The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library. The exhibition presents a selection of great creative works from print, radio, television and online advertising, from the 18th century to today. Showcasing some of the most significant and beloved ads of all time, the exhibit emphasizes the impact of new technologies on creative advertising formats. The exhibition debuts during Advertising Week 2005 - a week-long celebration of advertising in New York - and is on view from September 27 to December 31, 2005 at The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library, located at 188 Madison Avenue at 34th Street. Admission is free. Following its New York Public Library debut, the exhibition travels to Los Angeles in February 2006 and then to Chicago later in the year. 

Jandek Live- an oxymoron no more...

I really haven't written much about music recently have I? I made it to Jandek's early Brooklyn show. Documentary subject Jandek has self-released dozens of albums on Corwood Industries since 1978, but had never performed live until last year. Still, much mystery remains. The venue, a converted silo on the Gowanus canal, was pretty much perfect- 2 1/2 blocks from the G train, but felt 0% like NYC. Although I had no idea what to expect, Jandek's appearance and "persona" were 100% in line with my expectations. Musically, my expectations were exceeded by 50% or so. Since those percentages tell you approximately 0% about the show, here are some links for more info:

Anthology Film Archives show:
NY Times Review (w/ pic at left)
Echoplex
Jeff Grimshaw

Issue Project Room (see pic) show:
Heartonastick
Brooklyn Vegan
Seth Tisue/Jandek Mailing List

Jandek:
Seth Tisue's Jandek page

Plane Crazy: when "Stews Were Sexy and the World Was Sexist"

The New York Musical Theatre Festival hosts Plane Crazy: the Musical (no relation to Plane Crazy, the 1928 debut of Mickey Mouse, I trust). According to the show's blog, advance tickets are sold out but some tickets are to be released the day of. I assume the sellouts put an end to the offer to let uniformed cabin/cockpit crew in for free. So, I guess you'll still have to hang out in bars in Kew Gardens (a/k/a "Stew Gardens") to met the jetboy or jetgirl of your dreams.

The show was created by Suzy Conn, friend-of-boing-boing and Blogway Baby proprietress. The synopsis, from the show's website (warning: sound):

Plane Crazy is a fun, upbeat musical about feminism set against the backdrop of glamour and innocent sex appeal of the swinging '60s jet age. A time when Stews Were Sexy and the World Was Sexist ^TM Plane Crazy is set during an explosive time in history: The intersection between the dawn of the Jet Age, the introduction of the Pill, the genesis of the modern Feminist Movement, and the Golden Age of Advertising. Stewardesses represented the first-wave shock troops in a changing world. This was an exclusive sorority of women who had freedom. Freedom to travel wherever they wanted. Freedom to have sex with whomever they wanted. And freedom to have a career without needing the support of a man. Alas, men were not as quick to adapt. Most guys were interested in a woman who was a cross between Betty Crocker and Betty Page - they didn't want a Betty Friedan. Society itself, as typified by the advertising industry, was also slow to adapt.

Plane Crazy explores these clashing values in an engaging story that follows the adventures of two young stews who are learning about love and life in the high-flying airline business circa 1965.... Plane Crazy uses the moment in history when stewardesses were portrayed as mistresses to highlight the issues and choices women faced, and continue to face today.

More on Uniqlo @ Vice- the official word

Uniqlo-usa has the official word: from hip NoLIta one month to malls in New Jersey the next. An excerpt:

With the UNIQLO@VICE store, we want to bring our comfortable, casual clothing directly to the knowledgeable shoppers of New York City, said Nobuo Domae, CEO of UNIQLO USA, Inc. People are now shopping for fall and back-to-school, and UNIQLO, with its versatility and low prices, fits perfectly with anyone’s style. After September, our customers can continue to get our high-quality products at nearby New Jersey shopping malls.

UNIQLO plans to hold special events at the pop-up store throughout the month in order to introduce more people to the brand, the product and the Japanese shopping experience. At the end of September, people all over New York will be talking about UNIQLO, said Domae. We will host a variety of in-store events geared to different groups and interests, including a special fashion week party.

UNIQLO and VICE share the philosophy that individuals should express their own personal styles rather than be characterized by a brand. Clothing should be used to complement style, not define it.

"UNIQLO's focus on the casual basics that our audience builds its look around is really tight. We know that UNIQLO will be a huge hit with our New York customers and will be incredibly successful in the U.S., said Ben Dietz, Director of Business Development for VICE. "The month-long transformation of our store exclusively for UNIQLO is going to create an entirely new shopping experience in New York. And we'll bring an emphasis on key pieces from UNIQLO's massive range that will translate the brand's appeal immediately to the VICE customer."

Reminder- We Jam Econo opens at Anthology

As reported earlier, The Minutemen documentary "We Jam Econo" opens at Anthology today.

The NY Times reviewed it: "Present at the Creation of a Memorably Loud, Thrashing Sound"

And Corndogs.org is a great site for "live and rare audio and video from various Mike Watt incarnations"

The "Man" Sponsors Indie Film

Remember the "secret" White Stripes show in Union Squre a few years ago?  Remember how everyone ran out and bought Nissan Zs after the show? Probably not; New Yorkers don't have cars.

Now it's Scion's turn, bringing Indie film to 6 cities (including some where people have cars) through the Scion Independent Film Series.  Remaining NY screenings at the Tribeca Grand, with Director Q+As and afterparties, are as follows:

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme- 7/21
Dig!- 7/26 (the brian jonestown massacre movie)

Or you can just sit at home and watch the DVDs

(NY movies screened previously include Bomb the System and End of the Century: The story of the Ramones.  Minneapolis is 1/2 over, as well; the other cities - Seattle, LA, Austin and Miami - are in August and September)

7/23- Lightning Bolt LIC Parking Lot Show Tics Onsale

Tickets should be onsale now at Eat Records for the Todd P parking lot show:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday July 23rd - STARTS 3PM @ PARKING LOT LIC. LIVE MUSIC BY :
== Lightning Bolt
==== Afrirampo ————————> lady duo from Osaka, Japan
====== Aa / BIG A little a
======== UISAISAMONSTER
========== Free Blood ————> members of !!! aka Chk Chk Chk
============ Eloe Omoe
============== Japanther
================ Parts and Labor
================== Growing
==================== Matt & Kim
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS : Talibam . Necking . Puttin’ on the Ritz
SE Corner of Jackson Ave & Queens Blvd / 28-10 Queens Plaza | LIC, Queens
7/N/W to Queensboro Plaza or E/G/R to Queens Plaza | no phone | all ages | $10 | 3PM
–> tickets will ONLY be available in advance starting 7/16 @ EAT RECORDS

Reminder: Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture

While the lecture series is over you (and I) still have a little time to check out Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture at the Japan Society.

Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture   
Curated by Takashi Murakami Through July 24, 2005
A major exhibition and series of public art installations, curated by Takashi Murakami. Organized by Japan Society in collaboration with Public Art Fund.
For gallery hours and admission info, please click here.

          Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture explores the culture of postwar Japan through its arts and popular visual media, from the perspective of one of Japan's most celebrated artists. Focusing on the phenomenally influential subcultures of otaku (roughly translated as "pop cult fanaticism") and its relationships to Japan's artistic vanguard, Takashi Murakami explores the historical influences that shape Japanese contemporary art and its distinct graphic idioms. The exhibition's title, Little Boy, refers to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, clearly locating the birth of these new cultural forms in the trauma and generational aftershock. In Murakami's perspective, a resonant figure for Japan's contemporary condition is that of the "little boy"--both the nickname for the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and an image of Japan's infantalized culture. Little Boy concludes Murakami's "Superflat" trilogy, a project conceived in 2000 to introduce a new wave of Japanese artists and to place their work in the historical context of traditional Japanese styles and concepts. The exhibition will showcase the work of key otaku artists and designers, many of whom are cult celebrities in Japan, and introduces their film and video animations, video games and internet sites, music, toys, and fashion to American audiences.

Merzbow to NY

I've already talked about ArthurFest, with a lineup of artists including Finnish band Circle and Japanese artist Masami Akita, a/k/a Merzbow.  Even the all music guide uses superlatives when discussing the man:
    There is no need to argue: Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music.

As I had hoped, some Arthurfest artists are moving East after the festival- including a just-announced  show with Circle, Merzbow, and Jim O'Rourke at the Knitting Factory, NY, on 9/6. 

I was really looking forward to seeing Merzbow for the first time at the first All Tomorrows Parties LA. A noise musician with a long history (see the incomplete discography to see what I mean), he had moved into the world of laptop music. So, while it was great to finally see him and he did a good job of building a nice textured wall of sound, but I still wish I had seen him in the "old days."

I saw him again later that year at the Swiss Institute's noise series to accompany this exhibit:
   
    Taking inspiration from the anarchic history of Dada and their own involvement with punk rock, Jutta Koether and Steven Parrino have come together to create BLACK BONDS, an exhibition which reinvents anti-art's collaborative spirit. The gallery will feature Koether and Parrino's "failed paintings": blacked-out by the artists to cancel, and in turn, reconstruct their works. The black paintings will serve to define a conceptually destructed environment in which six noise performances will take place .Koether and Parrino will perform as Electrophilia at both the opening and closing events, and have invited Black Dice, Foot, Christian Marclay and Merzbow to join their collaboration. Looking to our avant-garde roots in Zurich, the SI will serve as a new Cabaret Voltaire, hosting a reincarnation of noise, and anarchic play, in the spirit of both Dada and punk rock.

Not Given Lightly- Tall Dwarfs to NYC

Legendary NZ duo the Tall Dwarfs (Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate) head to the to Bowery Ballroom to open for the (reformed?) Olivia Tremor Control, 8/2-3.

From the artist bio:

Pioneers of the lo-fi aesthetic the Tall Dwarfs spluttered into life during 1979 by singers/songwriters Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate following the demise of their previous band, the legendary Toy Love.
Recording on Knox’s four-track machine, the duo debuted with the 1981 EP Three Songs, highlighted by the classic "Nothing's Going to Happen."
Back then, the Tall Dwarfs represented the D.I.Y. ethic at its purest — songs were all recorded at home (performed in bedrooms, hallways and the like) and the band produced all of their own videos and promotional materials. In 2002, nothing has changed, bar the recorded medium! With the advent of digital technology, our duo have reached into that realm to investigate the myriad of possibilities of time-stretching, looping and cut’n’paste editing that the Tall Dwarfs had already perfected previously on magnetic tape. Which is not to say they have forsaken that wonderful medium, 99% of the new record being recorded to 1/2" 8-track tape before dumping to digital.

Flying Nun- Artist Bio
Tour dates
Bowery