Book presses at the Center for Book Arts. Seeing so many bookmakers I used to work with, or at least rub elbows with, and being at CBA, where I took a class 5 (!) years ago, it made me itch to begin to make things again. Sure it’s true I just spent most of last night cutting down paper for the print edition of riffRAG, but I love the process of making something by hand. It’s centering, peaceful and satisfying (well, when it’s not annoying and a bit stressful).
Found in Translation Opening
Curator Marshall Weber (center in Booklyn t-shirt) explaining some of the long books hanging on the walls to interested artists and visitors.
Booklyn Show Detail
Detail of two of the books in Found in Translation.
Found in Translation Opening
Booklyn (www.booklyn.org), the Brooklyn-based book artists alliance I used to intern for organized this fantastic show at Center for Book Arts (www.centerforbookarts.org) which opened last Friday. Exploring the idea and art and translation of languages, book forms, genders, nationalities, identities, this is a great show.
CSS
Since I have come out from under my rock and started seeing bands live again, I went to see Ladytron play last week. CSS (or Cansei de Ser Sexy), a dancy, punky band composed of mostly ladies from Brasil, opened up for them. Though this photo is not by me and shows them playing in London, not NYC, I think it shows some of them nicely, though it doesn’t capture their completely FOTR fashion sense (that’s Fashion of the Ridiculous) or the fact that they are about 20 years old and having a ton of fun up there and as a result, are a ton of fun to watch.
The Shondes at Sin-e
I’ve been really slow to blog the photos I’ve posted, but the other week I went to see my friends The Shondes play at Sin-e. Just back from a summer US tour, they sounded awesome… really tight, incredibly gripping melodies and harmonies and just plain good dancy rock with a refreshing political message. Being radical, Jewish queers who are passionately pro-Palestine and anti-occupation is no small thing and it made me realize how much I appreciate the presence of these people and their thought and action in my life. Louisa (bass) and Eli (violin) are pictured in this picture, but not Brannigan (guitar) or Temim (drums)… Hopefully they will be playing again soon in NYC… in the meantime check out http://www.shondes.com.
Saints’ Heads
When I went to the Cloisters last year with A. and other’s she told me what these were used for, but I honestly can’t remember. They have hatches in their heads that you can put things in (maybe ashes?)… it’s pretty amazing and creepy.
Cloisters Garden
In the garden there is a section of poisonous plants with a sign that says “do not touch.” Of course, a child ran up and started pulling at the deadly nightshade. The hazzards of having era-specific gardens I guess. But the gardens were amazing and it wasn’t even that crowded (and since the Cloisters is part of the Met it’s suggested donation, so if you go, forget about that $20 suggested admission, give them a dollar and hang out for the afternoon).
Pillar and Garden
Fooled you! It’s not more photos from France, but from the Cloisters, in upper Manhattan. To get there you take the A train and then walk through an amazing park, to stroll through a sort-of-reproduction ancient church to see a mish-mash of mideval, religious art, including some amazing tapestries of unicorns. It was the perfect Sunday vacation close to home, as I arrived back in Sunset Park tired and satisfied and relaxed, as if I’d been out of town for longer.
The Gossip Irving Plaza
I have never seen a bad Gossip show and I’ve been seeing them since their first tour with Sleater-Kinney in 1999 (my office mate LM and I just realized we were both at that show in Boston, which made us laugh). Though I felt their show at the Knitting Factory this spring where everyone was packed in and dancing so hard the floor shook captured a little more of this band’s spirit, they sounded great and looked great. The best part of the show for me was the girls in front of me, pressed against the stage. They were probably about 20 years old, all young women of color, screaming their lungs out for Beth and jumping up and down the entire show. As jaded as I might be, this, for me, is what makes going to shows like this worth it. To know other young ladies can feel inspired, alive, excited by this music. It certainly did that for me. It’s funny to think that the kids in the Gossip are my age and I know they might have made the conscious choice to be rockers and it makes me think about how once I might have wanted to be a “rock star”, but when I think about the late nights and hauling heavy shit around, I feel happy about the choices I’ve made.
Killerfemme 