On Demand
Withdrawal
By Claudia La Rocco
August 4, 2008
What have you all been seeing? Doing? Hearing? Running into on the street? Falling in love with or being horrified over having spent time and money on - o.k., that’s not really grammatical, I guess, but you’ll have to forgive: I’m going through a bit of NYC withdrawal up here in Maine:
(yes, this is really the view)
Trees and oceans are nice and all, but I am coming, more and more, to agree with this famous quip by the eternally fabulous Frank O’Hara (who, I’ve unilaterally decided, should be the patron saint of this blog, unless anyone out there disagrees and we need to have a Patron Saint Vote - the Culturist is now accepting nominations and there might be prizes): “I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy.”
So … help a girl out and tell me what you’ve been seeing. Or go check out this talk tomorrow by the French scholar Annie Cohen-Solal at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center. She’s writing a book on Leo Castelli and “will discuss the evolving sociology of the artist/gallery/collector system.” I wonder what Castelli would make of the current art world scene …
Or … if you missed the last Obamaerobics class, there is one tomorrow at 8 p.m., and another on the 19th at Teatro La Tea.
Or… go see “Arias with a Twist” at the consistently impressive little space HERE. Joey Arias meets Basil Twist - how can this miss? I wasn’t able to see it in the mad weeks before my vacation, and am planning to see the extended run when I get back - would love to hear from anyone who has seen it.
Or, maybe, you would rather stay in and read two very different posts about blogging: This from Gawker and this from the Guardian. Thanks, J, for pointing them out.
Whatever you do, please report back. Or I’ll be forced to watch yet another hour of “Law & Order.”
And you thought my very first post about this being a collective blog was all just claptrap…
Comments
Comment from Counter Critic
Date: August 5, 2008, 11:31 am
One of the coolest things I’ve seen of recent was the Darmstadt (http://www.darmstadtnewmusic.org/) songfest featuring pianist Emily Manzo and a host of songsters, singing everything from Webern to U2 to Charles Ives to new songs by some of the performers. I’m in the process of writing a post on song-use in performance and film for C.C. (not finished yet).
Quickly, though, I can tell you that final number, “Noise In You,” a song written by David Garland (b. 1955), who was in attendance, was one of the most eerily moving songs/performances I’ve seen recently. Led by Christine Edwards, all fifteen or so of the night’s participants came out wearing hospital gowns, and sang in chorus, “I know there’s a noise in you…And I know that I’m noisy too…” to a sweet, child-like melody. The song is about how our bodies actually produce sound (or noise), even though we commonly regard our bodies as silent objects.
And at the very end, Edwards approached a little table that had on top of it a stethoscope attached to an amplifier. She held it to her neck, and as the music continued behind her, the sound of her heartbeat began to throb through the entire room. It was this crazy, humanistic moment, her vital sign seeming to humbly remind us that it had been present in the room the entire time. It is always present, as long as we are.
It was seriously a moment I hope never to forget.
Yay songs!
Comment from jolene
Date: August 5, 2008, 1:13 pm
I’ll be watching ABT doing Tharp’s “Rabbit and Rogue” this weekend in Orange County (I’m hoping to catch the new ABT principal) and the all-star cast performance of “Les Miserables” at the Hollywood Bowl. Things are definitely slowing down for the summer.
Comment from tonya
Date: August 5, 2008, 2:43 pm
I loved “PeepDance” by Nimrod Freed, but unfortunately it was only here for one night (Summer Stage). Other than that, I’ve seen some decent / good dance performances but nothing that’s blown me completely away. I want more dance to blow me completely away!
Jolene, I’ll be interested to hear what you think of the new Tharp. I thought it was okay, but it came nowhere near blowing me away…
Comment from jolene
Date: August 5, 2008, 3:04 pm
Yeah, to be honest I’m not completely holding my breath.
But I still have to get my ABT fix.
Comment from Lana
Date: August 5, 2008, 3:30 pm
Thanks for mentioning OBAMAEROBICS tonight, Claudia! We’re going to be announcing a special event that’s going to take place on the 19th at tonight’s class…
And after the workout, I’m inviting everyone to cool off with me at the fully air-conditioned 10 pm screening of BOY A at Film Forum: http://www.filmforum.org/films/boya.html
I hear that it is GREAT–but not getting much of an audience–and this is its final night!
And as for this weekend, another BOY–by Japanese New Wave director and master manipulator of the color red Nagisa Oshima–is playing at the Film Society of Lincoln Center–I saw it last night, and can HIGHLY recommend it.
http://filmlinc.org/wrt/onsale/kawakita/boy.html
Comment from jared haberer
Date: August 5, 2008, 6:41 pm
The Jamie Lidell show at Central Park’s Summer Stage was outstanding…this cat knows how to kroon, and disco, and rock…watch for his return in October(or don’t I want tickets)!
Comment from Elaine
Date: August 6, 2008, 9:41 am
Claudia,
I’m trying to identify your picture. [The mist is a bit of a problem :-)] Are you in Belgrade Lakes?
Comment from Kathy
Date: August 6, 2008, 12:45 pm
It’s odd that you guys would send out a mass email promoting the culturist on August 6 and direct people to a blog that has outdate information posted on August 4. The three events I clicked on had already happened and then I gave up.
Comment from sharon
Date: August 6, 2008, 2:07 pm
its not a “quip” from Frank O’Hara but a line from his poem “Meditations” that is used as part of the fence at the world trade plaza downtown on in front of the river.
“I can’t
even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway
handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not
totally regret life.”
Comment from april
Date: August 6, 2008, 3:19 pm
I’ve been living in Lima, Peru this summer and discovering what is known as Lima City. I’ve been riding the bus with chickens, eating ceviche, drinking Cusquena (which happens to be a super tastey Peruvian beer) and writing a blog about it all,
http://www.phxcommercial.blogspot.com.
Lima is interesting. Poverty smashed up against high-rises and wealth. There is no metro system in this very large city, which makes it one of the worst places to drive.
Eating here is interesting. A book was recently published about the Lima’s top restaurants and spaces. It’s culinary scene is on the verge…of what, i’m not entirely sure. But if it became a huge scene in ten years I wouldn’t be surprised.
Comment from Irene Prieto
Date: August 6, 2008, 8:07 pm
Hey! We just spent a week driving from NY to Maine (Deer Isle) with overnight stops at Gloucester, MA(Accommodations of Rocky Neck, charming, facing the water), Portland (a pretty decent Motel) and Camden, ME (Beloin’s on the Maine Coast), and then hikes in the Acadia National Park, mussel-picking in Sheep Head bay, and lobster-eating almost everywhere, plus the obligatory stops at fantastic second-hand bookstores, from the tiny Stone Soup in Camden, to the huge Big Chicken Barn Book, above Acadia, and I swear, we didn’t miss a bit the subway, or the garbage trucks or the sky-scrapper construction! -specially when admiring a whole family of Ospreys near the sea.
Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 7, 2008, 11:00 am
Hi Everyone … thanks for all of your great comments. I’m just back in the city and staring blearily at the hundreds of work emails that have piled up. So, naturally, I’m ignoring them in favor of you guys.
Will try to answer some of your questions, sorry if I don’t get to everything. In no particular order:
Sharon, you’re right, that was sloppy of me, the O’Hara line is part of a poem - but I would argue that it’s a quip within a poem, no? I still want him as my patron saint, if he’ll have me …
Elaine, that photo is from Gouldsboro, and Irene, I LOVE the Chicken Barn bookstore - spent hours there when I was a kid. OK, OK, I didn’t really miss the subways or garbage trucks. But I do get a bit out of sorts when I’m away from NYC for too long. Sad, but true.
That sounds fabulous, April - I’m going to check out your blog asap. I have been meaning to write more about the culture of restaurants in New York … are you from the city? and how long will you be in Lima? Send more reports!
Hey Kathy, I’m sorry your first visit to the Culturist was such a frustrating one - finding outdated material would irritate me, too. But, that is the nature of blogs, or at least this blog; I don’t tend to write about events very far in advance, as I’m not a listings service … I would rather mouth off after the fact, and invite all of you to do the same. I hope you’ll try the culturist again.
Jared, Tonya, Lana and CC, thanks for the reports. And, Jolene, don’t leave us in suspense - how did you like the Tharp??
Comment from Martha
Date: August 7, 2008, 4:53 pm
Sorry I couldn’t write in time to fill the “Maine gap”, but in your absence, I did get up to the Mt Tremper Arts festival (did I mention it’s in the Catskills??) for a remarkable collaborative piece between (among?) Jonah Bokaer, Anne Carson, Peter Cole, and the performers.
The first piece was an improv — Jonah danced it (ooh, what a dancer) to Anne’s reading of a lecture/prose poem “Falling” which she’d originally collaborated with Elizabeth Streb to present. The words really fit (and honored) Streb’s work. (Anne’s voice is soft and monotonal, but sort of relentless, especially about fear and danger. It worked). And Jonah’s falling was totally his own. He arched his back achingly slowly, to a place where human bodies are probably not meant to go, and his falling metaphors, not surprisingly, were completely different than anything the Streb dancers do. And it worked, too.
The core piece of the evening was “Stacks”, which had started as a collaboration between the sculptor Peter Cole, and Anne. Peter had stacks of cartons all over the floor (fabulous space! — no columns in the way, high open ceiling, beautiful floor. Fittingly, the audience was all stacked, too — from floor cushions to folding chairs, to high backless stools to the standers in the back). And the weather played a role, too — especially in the segment of Thunderstorm Stacks; the day had been filled with fabulous thunderstorms and the piece had been almost entirely created in this one day, the only time the full cast and collaborators were together and in the space.
The performers were perfect. At least a couple of them, like Jonah, coming from Merce Cunningham training - all had great precision and crispness both as soloists and in tandem. Peter wove among them as they danced in, around, with the stacks. He’d be invisible, actively creating and re-creating stacks — and then we’d realize that he’d left his mark, because the box props they needed were just where the dancers landed. It was riveting and complex and Anne’s soft (still relentless) cadence throughout.
I don’t know what happens next with this work, but I want more.
(Kathy: there are other things coming up at Mt Tremper that look fun, but, yes, this one is gone.)
PS: I loved Arias with a Twist, too! Maybe I’m just into sculpture on stage? a great scene with a box city of Gothamized NY, and the giant Arias, in full fabulous regalia, terrorizing the city (s)he loves.
Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 7, 2008, 5:25 pm
I am sosososo sad that I can’t make it to Mt. Tremper this year, especially as Anne Carson is one of my favorite poets - when she’s on her game it’s scary stuff. Thank you for the gorgeous, thoughtful description, Martha, and you’ll be happy to know that the collaboration with Jonah will have a life in the city - where I’ll be first in line. Stay tuned …
Glad to hear about Arias - that reminds me, have to get tickets.
Comment from jolene
Date: August 7, 2008, 9:31 pm
hee, I haven’t seen Tharp yet, will see it in a few days and will report back. I’ve been hearing very mixed reviews, which of course, is piquing my curiosity even more.
Comment from Claudia La Rocco
Date: August 8, 2008, 10:06 am
I REALLY didn’t like the Tharp ballet. I then read Joan Acocella’s review in the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/dancing/2008/06/30/080630crda_dancing_acocella/) and wished I could see it again - I’m not sure if I’ll change my mind, but Joan’s essay certainly made me think I need to take another look.
And here is another take on “Stacks,” and “Falling”: http://blogmta.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/audience-review-by-mika-dashman-of-falling-and-stacks/
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