NO WAVE

Went to see Thurston Moore and Byron Coley speak about their book NO WAVE, at the Strand bookstore this evening. Fairly interesting talk about a really weird sub-genre of NYC punk that happened quickly in the late 70s. Not one of my favorite types of music, but it's interesting to hear another chapter of NYC underground music history, and basically I'm a SONIC YOUTH fan, so I figured "what the hell." The usual mix of squares and nerds got the book signed, but I decided against it, and just snapped a pic with the iphone. Nice evening in one of my favorite bookstores.

BOOKWORM 2

Some more reading for the park/vacation/couch.

BOOKWORM

After a week of thinking about this, I pulled the trigger on this limited edition (1000 copies hardback) book put out by James Frey with photos by Terry Richardson and cover by Richard Prince. WIVES, WHEELS, WEAPONS. Excerpts from Frey's new book with new photos by Terry Richardson within. Insane, beautiful book that is bound (get it) to increase in value; as all things touched by Richard Prince usually do. Hope to read the full version of the book on vacation.

EAMES MAGAZINE

Found an amazing Eames magazine at the Japanese bookstore, Kinokuniya, last weekend. Photographs of every Eames design, interviews with collectors, a pullout guidebook, Eames in Japan article, time lines of designs, just about everything. Beautifully put together by BRUTUS CASA, which is a Japanese design magazine, that puts out really sick stuff. Wish I could buy a few and send them to friends, but unfortunately I'm not rollin' like that. A couple of pics will have to do, but you get the idea I hope.

BOOGIE-SAO PAULO

My friend Boogie stopped by work the other day to hook me up with his new book, SAO PAULO, his latest photographic venture. Beautiful and stark shots of the mean streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil shot by a totally cool Serbian guy who lives in Brooklyn. This stuff runs the gamut of trannies, drug addicts, and homeless people, all captured in crisp black and white. Amazing book by an amazing guy. Thanks again Boogie. Also check his site http://www.artcoup.com/movie.html.

LOUISE BOURGEOIS

Caught the LOUISE BOURGEOIS exhibit at the Guggenheim this weekend. Beautiful sculpture, drawings and installations in one of my favorite NYC institutions. Just naturally spiraling up and down the floors of the Guggenheim is so relaxing, especially when its not packed. First saw Louise Bourgeois' work in Tokyo with one of her spiders outside the Mori Art Center (bottom pic), and was wowed. Nice way to spend a steamy afternoon.

THE COUNTERFEITERS

Caught a really good Austrian movie this evening at Village East Cinema. THE COUNTERFEITERS has been out for a while, but I had kept blowing it off. Really interesting true story of Nazis using Jewish counterfeiters to make fake British pounds to try to ruin the British economy during WW2. Big fan of WW2 films, especially ones with plots involving surviving the Nazi camps. This film won best foreign film at last years oscars. Really well made and detailed, not to mention tense. Check it out on video soon.

PETTIBON POSTER

A friend found this RAYMOND PETTIBON poster folded in some free newspaper or something, and grabbed one for me. The back contains tour info for some local bands, but the front image is amazing. Always interested in the art of PETTIBON, and this one titled "We slaughtered some pigs," is big and beautiful. Nice score.

WTAPS x VANS

If you're wondering what this title means, you are one of the squares who aren't familiar with the Japanese brand WTAPS (pronounced Double-Taps). This is a weirdo Japanese clothing, sneakers and gear company that draws heavy inspiration from military, punk rock, and Americana for its products. Everything they put out is of the highest possible quality; so when I heard they had teamed up with VANS to create their own sneaker, I was on the hunt. They have done collaborations with VANS previously, but that was using existing VANS models. My sneaker binges are a thing of the past, and when I finally found these, I walked out of the store trying to talk myself out of it. A block away, I turned around and went back. Very glad I did.

For connoisseurs of fine footwear, enjoy the pics. All others...carry on.

SAMHAIN-INITIUM

Even though its hot and Summery outside, I've been listening to one of my favorite albums which is usually enjoyed best in the Fall. Initium is the first album from SAMHAIN, which was Glenn Danzig's band after the Misfits. It was released in 1984 and I guess people call it "death-rock," but I consider it a classic "hard to classify" punk album. Amazing cover, great songs, creepy production. Most effective for October/November listening, when the leaves are swirling outside, and it gets dark early. Their second full length album, November-Coming Fire is also a classic, now that I think about it. I guess it's too early to think about Fall.

UNKLE

UNKLE is a music "project" from England headed up by the mastermind, James Lavelle. I became obsessed with them when I first heard them 10 years ago, and when I saw their packaging and art (done mostly by one of my favorite artists, FUTURA 2000) I began collecting everything I could. 10 years later, I have a pretty big collection of stuff. Dusted off a couple of Japanese figures and promo stuff tonight when I was cleaning up, and took some shots. Still love every piece, but where the hell did the time go?

*nerds should click on photos for more detail

HELTER SKELTER

Enjoyed watching the 1976 TV movie HELTER SKELTER, over the holiday weekend. This one still delivers the chills with Steve Railsback as Manson. I did some research about this movie and found out that the actual LaBianca house was used in filming, and that the movie didn't show until 2 months later in L.A. because Vincent Bugliosi was running for office at the time. I remember catching this as a kid and really being freaked out by it. I think its still one of the highest rated 2-night miniseries in television history.

CERAMICS

Picked up these plates from the store FISHS EDDY which is this insane plate and glass and store in NYC. These are part of their PANTONE collection which I really like, and they were on sale for almost nothing (literally). Have been eating off of plastic plates for so long, it will be nice to upgrade. The PANTONE color is written on each color section of the plate, which is kind of industrial looking, I guess. They have bowls, cups, saucers, and mugs in this collection, which they said are "sale items today, collector items tomorrow." Might go back for more if I have time.




Also, received these Scandanavian mugs as a gift from the wife a while back. So modern and clean looking that I haven't had the heart to use them yet. Just like looking at them on the shelf in the kitchen. Love the colored arrow design on these.





Action-packed weekend, as you can tell.