I never get sick of walking around Paris. In the past week and a half I can’t even tell you how many kilometers, much less miles, I trekked in shoes that were hardly made for standing, much less city walking. There’s always something new to see and I love learning about how cities unfold and fit together. This trip took me to some new neighborhoods, such as this small corner of the 20th arrondisement, which looks like a small village in the French countryside. Many thanks to G. to showing me this place and many others and putting up with me when I wanted to go back to some of my favorite places (like the Canal St. Martin).
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Electrelane at La Cigale
and here’s the rest of the band…
Electrelane at La Cigale
We also got to see Electrelane at La Cigale, another incredible show. I’m looking forward to their show in NYC next week. This four lady band rocks, with each song building, ebbing and flowing in a really powerful way. As with the time I saw them 2 years ago, they are an extremely “togther” band, each song falls together perfectly. The crowd LOVED them and 2 gay dudes totaly started a mosh pit, something I was glad I was not a part of. I thought there might be a kind of riot when the club would not let Electrelane come on for a second encore. I was suprised that they didn’t play more songs from their new album “No Shouts, No Calls,” which is one of my favorite new albums of late.
Nouvelle Vague at the Rex
Seeing Nouvelle Vague was exciting and strange. They were not quite as bossa nova as we expected, but they did put on a fantastic show. Being the New Order and Joy Division fanatic that I am, of course I felt vindicated hearing their versions of “Blue Monday” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” I have noticed that cell phones have replaced lighters as lighted things to wave during rock ballads, which is pretty funny. I also found it strange that Nouvelle Vague has been covering super-mainstream 80’s songs and songs that are not at all from the 80’s (like Os Mutantes “Baby”). G. and I came up with a list of bands they could cover, like: Television, Orange Juice, Talking Heads, Ramones, Gang of Four, it could go on…
Outiside Mamie
Walking around Paris holds no end to small treasures, including this vintage store, Mamie. It is packed from basement to attic with vintage shoes, accessories and clothes. It is kind of like going through 10 pack-rat granmother’s attics all crammed into one tiny store.
Opera Garnier Ceiling
A highlight of my trip was seeing two operas, one at the classical opera house, and one at the newer Opera Bastille. Close to the ceiling we were able to observe the beautiful paintings on the ceiling. The opera itself, L’Allergro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, with choreography by Robyn Orlin, was a lot to take in at once (dancing, singing, music, subtitles and video), but was extremely powerful. Orlin’s use of video and technology in the set, modern costumes, and comments on the discrephancy between rich and poor nations and the gap between those who hold power and those who don’t, drew some boo’s from the audience. At first I was skeptical of her project, but I find myself still considering it and wish I could see it again.
April in Paris
So here I am, among the tourists gasping “just like the Da Vinci Code!’ dragging G. to see the Praxiteles exhibit at the Louvre on the first day of my recent visit to Paris. Leaving (at that point) cloudy, rainy, cold NYC for summer-like Paris was a much needed vacation. I found the Praxitele exhibit interesting, especially because only one of the sculptures might have been carved by him. So one could say that the show really examines his influence in classical sculpture. Knowing about nothing about classical art, I found this premise for a show quite interesting. However, my eyes soon became bleary from reading so much text and gave up simply to sketch a sculpture of a woman’s torso. I think that in this kind of closer examination of the artwork was where I was able to appreciate it as an art object as opposed to an idea, and I preferred the objects. Much more satisfying was our trip to the contemporary art museum in the suburbs, MAC/VAL later in the week.
Swoon Painted Over
On Dean street right by Freddy’s I found this “installation” of Swoon’s pieces (sadly painted over, by a rival artist? Someone who wants to ‘clean up’ graffiti and street art?) and “Celebrate Peoples History” Posters. I thought the blue wall offset the wheatpasted prints really nicely. Seeing these pieces, despite the ghostly white paint, brought me back to 11 Spring, which also featured the character on the right.
Peter Teaberry and KW
Peter Teaberry uses bold colors to capture characters in conventional (nude on a chair) and unconventional (family and human sized duck in hot tub) settings. There’s a lot of humur in his work, as well as careful application of paint and attention to detail (without making detailed paintings, if that makes sense). I think Peter’s approach is also captured in the fact that he made up titles for the work after he hung the show. Registrar by day, glamorous artist by night KW is shown here writing those titles on labels as he thought of them. His work is currently on view at Freddy’s Backroom (in the backroom), with it’s nice lighting, pressed tin ceiling, cheap drinks, and always interesting art and bands, it’s the perfect place to hang out after work. Have I mentioned that Peter’s last name is my favorite?
Painting by Peter Teaberry
This photo came out a little blurry, but this is my favorite painting of Peter’s, which are currently on view at Freddy’s Backroom in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. I bet this guy would tell amazing stories about living on a farm in the west and how he had to walk up hill both ways going to school when he was a kid. I think that Peter captured a certain kind of character very honestly in this painting.
Killerfemme 