i started a new piece tonight. it's kind of fun to watch things change from week to week, so i thought i'd post a pic. here's the very humble beginnings after one night - basic composition and color playing. it's one of the larger paintings i've begin in a long while:
(click on image for a larger view)
i've been spending money on DVDs lately, slowly building a collection of my favorite films. i went to see Magnolia when it first came out, and it hit me in the gut tremendously hard. i actually think i remember crying a slight bit in the theater, with my girlfriend at the time wondering what was wrong. i couldn't believe the reaction the film evoked from me. i suppose it all relates to a pretty strange, introspective self-sequestering i went through after i finished up my BFA.
here's some eye candy. first, the official trailer; then, the famous musical interlude scene.
I was talking about the DVD series Burn to Shine the other day, and decided to post a snippet from it here. Burn to Shine is partly the brainchild of Brendan Canty — Fugazi drummer — so when I first heard about it, I was of course interested (Fugazi has pretty much been my favorite band for almost 15 years now).
The concept behind the series goes like this:
As you can see, each episode focuses on the (mostly) independent-label bands of several cities, and a house in selected city that is slated for demolition. A "curator" for each city is chosen to in turn choose which bands will play one song each during the course of one day inside the abandoned house. The curator of the Chicago episode (the only one i own) is Bob Weston — Shellac bass player and all-around nice guy.
basically, the film opens with an introductory story about the home being demolished. then the 8 to 12 bands' sets are shown in order of recording during the day. finally, the film closes with the demolition of the house. Yes... "art film"... but this is some good shit, folks. trust me.
The Chicago episode focuses on a home up near the north end of Lake Shore Drive, in a residential section of the Uptown/Loyola neighborhood. The story of the residence starts off as a sweet one — it being one house out of three built at the same time, many years back, as gifts from a father to his three different daughters. But throughout the years, this one particular house out of the three ages beyond repair, and must be destroyed to make way for new and improved housing.
Shellac, Wilco, and even The Ponys — a band that an old drinking chum from my college days plays guitar for — are featured on this episode. But no one on this DVD blows me away more than Tortoise does. What do you get when a bunch of punk rockers get into their 40s and decide they have always loved Miles Davis?
