Happy 70th Birthday to Marianne Faithfull
Videos
STAN BRAKHAGE :: CAT’S CRADLE, 1959, 6.5 min.
Stan Brakhage created Cat’s Cradle in 1959. The 19th film by Brakhage is a montage of two couples, a cat, and the inside of a house. The four people that were documented in Cat’s Cradle are Brakhage’s friends James Tenney, Carolee Schneemann, his ex-wife Jane, and Brakhage himself. Continue reading STAN BRAKHAGE :: CAT’S CRADLE, 1959, 6.5 min.
RICHTER 858, A Slideshow, Bill Frisell,composer/Gerhard Richter, artist
Richter 858 is an album by Bill Frisell of improvised music inspired by the paintings of German artist Gerhard Richter and performed by Frisell, Eyvind Kang, Jenny Scheinman and Hank Roberts. The album was originally released as part of a limited-edition volume of Gerhard Richter’s paintings which also contained poetry and essays by Dave Hickey and Klaus Kertess inspired by the artist’s work. The album was rereleased in 2005 on the Songlines label with a CD-ROM with MP3 music to accompany a slide show of the paintings, which can also be found reproduced in the booklet. Continue reading RICHTER 858, A Slideshow, Bill Frisell,composer/Gerhard Richter, artist
GERHARD RICHTER: The South Bank Show, ITV, 2006, 51 min.
A 2006 documentary on the artist Gerhard Richter, who talks about his life growing up in East Germany, attending the Dresden art academy and his escape to the west just before the Berlin Wall was built. Also considers his work and success.
WILLIE NELSON :: NIGHT LIFE, 1965
An old Willie Nelson song from 1965 (written by Willie Nelson, Paul Buskirk, Walt Breeland). From the album Willie Nelson His Own Songs
DANIEL BACHMAN :: SONG FOR THE SETTING SUN II, npr music field recordings
Daniel Bachman: Song For The Setting Sun II
Daniel Bachman calls Durham, N.C., home now, but he grew up around the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg. It’s a quiet town in Northern Virginia that still has a pharmacy with cheap sandwiches and milkshakes; but, as Bachman pointed out to us, it has more tattoo parlors than music stores these days. That’s not a judgment, just the way things are.The 25-year-old has been at the solo-guitar game since he was a teenager, befriending folks like the since-departed Jack Rose and slowly finding his own way into the music. That’s why it felt right to bring Bachman back to the area that inspired River, a record surrounded by history, but guided by hands and a heart that know its bends and bumps.In early March, we met Bachman in Fredericksburg to drive an hour east to Stratford Hall, home to four generations of the Lee family, which includes two signers of the Declaration of Independence; it’s also the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. Bachman knows it well, not only because his dad works there, but also because he can’t help but bury himself in history books about the region.There’s still snow on the ground when we arrive, as we scrape chunks of mud from our boots before entering the impeccably preserved Great House. Overlooking the rolling hills of Virginia, Bachman plays a version of “Song For The Setting Sun II” in what was the performance space at Stratford Hall. The song leaps boldly around the sunlit, symmetrical room, bouncing off walls decorated with paintings of buxom women and men in powdered wigs. -npr clip notes
DAVID LYNCH, in conversation with Charlie Rose, 1997
David Lynch talks about his influences, his creative process, and the challenge of comedy with Charlie Rose.
LAO TZU: A CONDENSED SUMMARY BY THE SCHOOL OF LIFE, 4.5 min.
Some spend a lifetime developing an understanding of the Tao, and in the light of that, a four and a half minute synopsis of Lao Tzu and his teachings seems comically philistine. But as with most School of Life videos, Lao Tzu and his teachings are summed up responsibly and accurately, albeit far from exhaustively. Go School Of Life!
PHILIP GUSTON: A LIFE LIVED, documentary, directed by Michael Blackwood, 1982, 62 min
Late in life, the artist looks back over a career that originated in social realism during the ’30s, moved to the center of Abstract Expressionism, and culminated in a return to figuration. Filmed at his retrospective in San Francisco in 1980 and at his Woodstock studio, where Guston is seen painting, the artist speaks candidly about his philosophy of painting and the psychological motivation for his work.
Initial release: 1982
Director: Michael Blackwood
Producer: Michael Blackwood
Editor: Ned Bastille
Cast: Philip Guston
Cinematography: Christian Blackwood, Mead Hunt
PIPILOTTI RIST, in conversation with Christian Lund, Hayward Gallery, London, 2011
Pipilotti Rist argues that videos can have painterly qualities and tells the story of one of her most famous videos, where a woman smashes car windows with a flower.
“There is no rule for when and where I get my ideas – some are survival tactics, some are psychotic tics, some are very well thought over.” The video ‘Ever is Over All’ (1997) was Rist’s response to a chief editor, who wouldn’t let her do the things she wished to do – even though he had given her a carte blanche. She felt like smashing his car, but instead chose to make a video, which challenged and even altered her aggression: “That was my catharsis.” Continue reading PIPILOTTI RIST, in conversation with Christian Lund, Hayward Gallery, London, 2011
The Incubator 