BUREAU NEW YORK THEATER PICK 2015: CHINA DOLL BY DAVID MAMET
http://chinadollbroadway.com/
THEATER PRODUCER INTERVIEWS :
BOB JOHNSON
PERFORMANCE: " He's fearless on stage. Its really hard to put your self out there, to tell those stories, subject yourself to the audience, to ridicule, to reviews. Its sort of amazing because after a performance I'm always exhausted and I'm just sitting there watching. "
ARTISTS: " The ability of great artists is to make you feel, make you see, make you hear in a way that goes beyond a surface level. We were under- grads at Occidental College together, then he went on to Yale, I went to U.C.L.A. Law School. The first work we did was Frederick Douglas."
VISION:" Its been a great collaboration. He's extremely smart. He knows how he wants his things to be presented. He knows what he's looking for and he knows when it's not right. So, It's a great learning experience for every body involved, because at the end of the day you see the vision that he saw, or at least as close to it as were going to get. "
STORY: "On a bigger level, what he's saying to us is that we all are story tellers. We all have stories. The way that he obviously tells his is unique and interesting but, you know, it's real life. When you see it projected the way that he does it, it takes on a life of its own."
WELCOME to FALL 2015 Edition BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE MAGAZINE. This Edition contains The BUREAU ICON Essay: BOB DYLAN. Interviews + Photographic Essays with Alex HARRIS on The INUIT, Kanayo ADIBE in Baltimore, Lynn SAVILLE in New York City, Mike MILLER on West Coast Style, Ryan SCHIERLING in AUSTIN and BUREAU GUEST Artist: Melissa Ann PINNEY ART Interview with David BURKE in Bay Area. Plus: Michelle HANDELMAN. New FICTION: THEY CALL IT THE CITY of ANGELS Part III MUSIC Contributor: Sarah Rose PERRY on The Femme PUNK Scene. MUSIC Interview with JAHI. Plus US MUSEUMS: Detroit's 30 ARTISTS Exhibit, Milwaukee's Larry SULTAN, Photo LA, BOOK Stores Across US: BookPeople, Anderson's, City Lights, Book Reviews from STRAND NYC. Classical MUSIC and Rock & Roll: Not So Different After All. Elliott Landy and The BAND. Edward Hopper at The Cantor. All This and More Plus BUREAU On Line Links to The ART Fairs in MIAMI 2015 with Exclusive Audio Interviews, Reviews & New Online Articles All Year Round at The New BUREAU CITY SITES Across America an The World Through Internet. BUREAU is MEDIA Partner for PHOTO LA . RED NATION FILM FEST + MORE...
BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE IS EDITED BY J. A. TRILIEGI
BUREAU NEW YORK PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
BOB MARLEY
Courtesy of © Dennis Morris www.dennismorris.com
TAP HERE TO WATCH THE EXCLUSIVE BUREAU INTERVIEW with DENNIS MORRIS
TAP+VIEW : FALL 2015 YOUTUBE SAMPLER
BUREAU NEW YORK PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
BOB MARLEY
TAP HERE TO WATCH THE EXCLUSIVE BUREAU INTERVIEW with DENNIS MORRIS
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BOB DYLAN
By BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE EDITOR J. A. TRILIEGI
Bob Dylan transformed the idea of what it is to be hip, deep, cool, sexy, funny, ironic and intelligent, all the while, retaining a purist style that remained true to himself. Each step of the way, each level of transcendence, each pitfall, each breakthrough moment has it's challenges, it's problems, its rewards. Success in the creative field can mean as many things to as many performers, songwriters and those who fall in the center of the American spotlight of popularity. Few can survive it, even fewer are able to retain a sense of self and even protect that idea publicly. Dylan took the name of a poet, hopped on a bus, looked at America and told the world truths, that have to this day, remain truer and truer as time passes. The songs he wrote fifty years ago are more relevant now than ever, they will be more relevant in 100 years. The international press corp came at Dylan with the headlights on high beam. Instead of stare like a deer, he treated the alliance like a musketeer might approach a formal fencing match: Touché. The American Poet & wordsmith extraordinaire had become The Folkie, The Beatnik, The Rocker, The Philosopher, The Historian, The Cowboy, The Hermit, The Leader, The Champion of Underdogs, The Christian, The Anonymous, The Legend, The Icon and through it all, he's still Bob Dylan. An American guy from The Midwest who started with nothing but a blank piece of paper and a few ideas.
"For every title, there also came a group of admirers and detractors, who wanted something. They wanted more than the music, more than the lyrics, more than the concert, more than the records, they wanted a symbol they could use for their own parade, their own arcade, their own charade and Dylan denied the puppet strings, denied the sacrificial position, denied the groups that had latched onto him and he remained true to the only thing a human has from the very beginning to the very end: Oneself."
For every title, there also came a group of admirers and detractors, who wanted something. They wanted more than the music, more than the lyrics, more than the concert, more than the records, they wanted a symbol they could use for their own parade, their own arcade, their own charade and Dylan denied the puppet strings, denied the sacrificial position, denied the groups that had latched onto him and he remained true to the only thing a human has from the very beginning to the very end: Oneself. He has understood that selling albums, performing, having a contract to support the self expression is where it's at, and all the while, Dylan has offered us what he has. Critics through the years have expressions and titles and adjectives that glibly describe the various stages of Dylan's career: A Major Album, A Minor Album, Etc… His voice was laughable, compared to entertainers like Frank Sinatra, his stage presence was stiff, compared to singers such as Elvis Presley, his looks were nerdy, compared to performers like Johnny Cash and yet, he competed, sold millions of albums, and wrote anthems that have defined, to it's very core, what it is to Be : American. Bob Dylan is incomparable to other performers in the industry, he is an anomaly, he is the exception to the rule, there is no parallel story that can live up to Bob Dylan, so, please, don't even try. Today, we honor Bob Dylan, not for who you wanted him to be, not for what might have been, not for any ideas outside the realm of his oeuvre but, we honor him for what he actually is : The Great Independent American Artist.
"For every title, there also came a group of admirers and detractors, who wanted something. They wanted more than the music, more than the lyrics, more than the concert, more than the records, they wanted a symbol they could use for their own parade, their own arcade, their own charade and Dylan denied the puppet strings, denied the sacrificial position, denied the groups that had latched onto him and he remained true to the only thing a human has from the very beginning to the very end: Oneself."
For every title, there also came a group of admirers and detractors, who wanted something. They wanted more than the music, more than the lyrics, more than the concert, more than the records, they wanted a symbol they could use for their own parade, their own arcade, their own charade and Dylan denied the puppet strings, denied the sacrificial position, denied the groups that had latched onto him and he remained true to the only thing a human has from the very beginning to the very end: Oneself. He has understood that selling albums, performing, having a contract to support the self expression is where it's at, and all the while, Dylan has offered us what he has. Critics through the years have expressions and titles and adjectives that glibly describe the various stages of Dylan's career: A Major Album, A Minor Album, Etc… His voice was laughable, compared to entertainers like Frank Sinatra, his stage presence was stiff, compared to singers such as Elvis Presley, his looks were nerdy, compared to performers like Johnny Cash and yet, he competed, sold millions of albums, and wrote anthems that have defined, to it's very core, what it is to Be : American. Bob Dylan is incomparable to other performers in the industry, he is an anomaly, he is the exception to the rule, there is no parallel story that can live up to Bob Dylan, so, please, don't even try. Today, we honor Bob Dylan, not for who you wanted him to be, not for what might have been, not for any ideas outside the realm of his oeuvre but, we honor him for what he actually is : The Great Independent American Artist.
CATHERINE OPIE Untitled #5 (Elizabeth Taylor's Closet) 2012 Pigment Print 40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Edition of 3, 1 AP Courtesy of REGEN PROJECTS / BUREAU PICK for PHOTO LA INSTALLATION / TBA
READ ALL OF SEASON THREE Plus The Final CHAPTER in
THE FALL EDITION OF BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE
The Original Fiction Series: " THEY CALL IT THE CITY OF ANGELS," began in 2013 with Season One. A Literary experiment that originally introduced five fictional families, through dozens of characters that came to life before our readers eyes, when Editor Joshua Triliegi, improvised an entire novel on a daily basis and publicly published each chapter on-line. Season Two was an entire smash hit with readers in Los Angeles, where the novel is set and quickly spread to communities around the world through translations. Season III began in August 2015 and the same rules applied. The entire Final season was Improvised without Any Notes : A Chapter a Day.
THE BUREAU EXCLUSIVE ART INTERVIEW
DAVID BURKE : PAINTER
Joshua TRILIEGI : The New Work has both architectural as well as figural conflagrations with a seriously organic feel. What happened to you between the previous target series and the new work?
David BURKE : In graduate school I had a professor look at my paintings and say, “You’re not an architect, your belongs in a world that is more organic. Stay away from that other stuff.” It took me almost ten years to paint anything that was remotely architectural after that. It’s funny the things that stick with us, the grad school ghosts that haunt us and eventually need to exorcised. In 2011, I was a visiting lecturer at Chiang Mai University in Northern Thailand and I spent almost the entire year painting landscapes that were spawned by my inability to reconcile the tension between the beauty of the pristine Thai landscape and the destruction of this landscape driven by an increased surge towards westernization and development. When I returned to Bay Area, where I grew up, I was shocked at how a place so known to me could feel almost completely foreign. The intensity of the urban landscape was arresting. In order to get reacquainted with my environment I started painting what I call “fractured landscapes” that tapped into the disorientation I was experiencing upon my return.
"When I’m painting, once the first mark hits the surface, this stuff flies out the window and it’s all about making the work. A painting should never shake its finger at the viewer; nobody wants to live with a work of art that appears to be judging them."
In these paintings pools of ink recede like oil-saturated waters at low tide. Trees emerge from a tangled field of structures, gears, and wires. My process involves equal parts control and chaos, and echoes tenuous socio-ecological relationships depicted in the imagery. The use of synthetic material reinforces the commentary on man’s impulse to consume, contain and modify the earth’s resources in order to accommodate our own needs and desires. Contrary to some of the jaded ideas around the work, the paintings are actually quite optimistic in the sense that I am continually awestruck by the resilience of the natural world in the face of such heinous destruction. This relationship between man and nature has all of the trappings of a dysfunctional marriage that has lasted thousands of years. It’s filled with lover’s quarrels, abuse, comedy and beauty. When I’m painting, once the first mark hits the surface, this stuff flies out the window and it’s all about making the work. A painting should never shake its finger at the viewer; nobody wants to live with a work of art that appears to be judging them.
[ Entire Interview Continues in The FREE FALL Edition ]
Links to David BURKE At The Vessel Gallery Exhibit : http://bit.ly/1NxWCH7
Founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, City Lights is one of the few truly great independent bookstores in the United States, a place where booklovers from across the country and around the world come to browse, read, and just soak in the ambiance of alternative culture's only "Literary Landmark." Although it has been more than fifty years since tour buses with passengers eager to sight "beatniks" began pulling up in front of City Lights, the Beats' legacy of anti-authoritarian politics and insurgent thinking continues to be a strong influence in the store, most evident in the selection of titles. The nation's first all-paperback bookstore, City Lights has expanded several times over the years; we now offer three floors of both new-release hardcovers and quality paperbacks from all of the major publishing houses, along with an impressive range of titles from smaller, harder-to-find, specialty publishers. The store features an extensive and in-depth selection of poetry, fiction, translations, politics, history, philosophy, music, spirituality, and more, with a staff whose special book interests in many fields contribute to the hand-picked quality of what you see on the shelves. The City Lights masthead says A Literary Meeting place since 1953, and this concept includes publishing books as well as selling them. In 1955, Ferlinghetti launched City Lights Publishers with the now-famous Pocket Poets Series; since then the press has gone on to publish a wide range of titles, both poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction, international and local authors.
Visit The Store: CityLights.com
261 Columbus Avenue San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 362-8193
The BUREAU Guest Artist Melissa Ann PINNEY
Joshua Triliegi : How Did The New Book "TWO" Come To Fruition ?
Melissa Ann Pinney : In a funny way, you could say that TWO came about because I finally organized my work, cleaned up my studio and pinned up dozens of prints on the walls. In the spring of 2013, I had been working on the project for a while but this was the first time the images were collected all together. Ann Patchett happened to visit, loved the photographs and proposed that we make a book together. Ann is a an award-winning, best-selling author with a gift for friendship and the ability to make big things happen. Ann is also a bookseller and she wanted to get the book out to an larger audience. To do so, Ann’s thought was to invite ten of our most distinguished contemporary writers ( aka, her friends) to contribute a short essay on the idea of two. HarperCollins loved the idea as did the writers. The images and text are meant to inform one another rather than illustrate in the usual way we think of words and images. For instance, there are no photographs opposite a page of text. Ann wrote the introduction and also is the editor.
"I am looking for pictures – everywhere and always, with or without my camera. The pictures I want most are those I see in passing; the unexpected ways light, people and objects come together. If I am ready and quick it’s sometimes possible to get the picture; if I had to approach, explain and ask permission the picture I wanted would be already gone. It’s the unstudied, uninterrupted sense of theater in the everyday that drew me to make the image in the first place."
- Melissa Ann PINNEY
[ Entire Interview Continues in The FREE FALL Edition ]
The Artist: http://www.melissaannpinney.com
The Gallery: http://www.schneidergallerychicago.com
BUREAU MUSIC INTERVIEW: JAHI
Joshua TRILIEGI : When I first discovered Rap at The Radio Club in 1982, I was still in High school, when did You first hear a Live MC and Did you ever think the Music would have such a long staying power ?
JAHI : 1982 was also an important year for me because of Sucker MC's by Run- DMC and Jam Master Jay and in my neighborhood of East Cleveland, Ohio we had DJ's on our block and had community block parties just like NYC. I remember my sister bringing home the vinyl to "Rappers Delight" in 1979 and it marks a time where I felt like I heard the term "rappers" more frequently. There was no doubt in my mind that Hip Hop music would have staying power. Deeper than the music, it was the building of culture.
Joshua TRILIEGI : Lets discuss The Newest Project: Whats It all About ?
JAHI : insPirEd is the second album from PE 2.0. I said to a friend yesterday that if I became an ancestor today I would leave happy knowing I was able to do this album. Its simply social commentary over boombap. It features my other mentor and friend KRS-One, and has incredible production from Divided Souls from Baton Rouge, the legendary Easy Mo Bee, and DJ Pain 1. It is a call of action. It's BLACK in scope and presentation. We've always know that Black Lives Matter, but this album is also about Black LOVE in a conscious kind a way. The love of my people who still stand strong in the face of tyranny by crooked police and judicial systems, out ability as Black people to still stand firm, grow, love, and live. Music is universal so everyone in Hip Hop will attach to insPirEd if they dig lyricism and hard beats, but its dedicated to my people on the front lines all over the world.
[ Entire Interview Continues in The FREE FALL Edition ]
THE BUREAU BOOK Reviews
By The Staff of Strand Books in New York New York U S A
My Lunches with Orson: Conversations between Henry Jaglom & Orson Welles
by Peter Biskind / Review by Jim at Strand Books NYC
My Lunches With Orson is a unique and hilarious peek at one of America's greatest and most notorious film directors and actors, Orson Welles. Forty years since his legendary debut film, Citizen Kane, and nearly a decade since audiences had seen a finished film of his, Welles sat at the Ma Maison in Los Angeles, treating the Parisian-themed restaurant as a pseudo-office while meeting with filmmaker Henry Jaglom for lunch to discuss business and various other topics. Taken from Jaglom's recordings long thought lost forever, Peter Biskind (famed film writer of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Down and Dirty Pictures) compiles this collection of lunch conversations between the two directors. In between discussing his own infamous career, Jaglom and Welles discuss nearly every major figure in American film between 1930 and 1975 - and Welles hates nearly all of them. Katherine Hepburn, John Ford, Pauline Kael, and Charlie Chaplan are amongst the many who are brought up and few survive his wrath. The candid conversations are a brilliant form of performance, as Welles was aware of the recorder but asked Jaglom simply to make it unseen. The legendary filmmaker vacillates often between showboating for his young friend with uproarious speeches, and speaking with the honest desperation of a man at his advanced age being unable to work, and the financial trouble that that situation places him in. All in all, Biskind's framing of the transcripts displays Welles as a dastardly charming man, bursting at the seams with knowledge while posing for his one-man audience as a charlatan. My Lunches With Orson may not be the most informative book there is to read about Welles, but it is one of the most entertaining - and it's all in his words.
Inside the Dream Palace
by Sherill Tippins / Review by Maya at Strand Books NYC
Inside the Dream Palace is an in-depth look at a New York institution full of great mini-biographies and quirky histories. From Mark Twain to Sid and Nancy, the Chelsea Hotel has hosted a wide variety of creative characters (Jack the Ripper may have even stayed in the Chelsea). It’s a great read if you want a book about New York that isn’t too dry or too gossipy. In fact it has very little gossip at all, but lots of interesting facts about the behavior of, mainly famous, creatives. It is a perfect beach book but also a great read for the historian looking to read something light that still has a great deal to say about New York history. I personally enjoyed the way that New York is shown through the eyes of writers, artists and musicians such as Dylan Thomas, Harry Smith, and Patti Smith. Sherill Tippins seamlessly weaves these separate stories together creating a biography of a building, a neighborhood and a city. It’s important to know the history of New York and specifically the history of it’s communities so that we can continue their work. In Dream Palace, Sherill Tippins exposes how creative havens can be fostered but also how they are often destroyed by non-creatives. Dream Palace joins the dialogue and the struggle of the book Black Mountain: An Exploration in Community, and the film The Art of the Steal. We need more voices to tell these histories of how spaces for artists, writers and musicians are being turned into money making schemes.
A Game of Thrones
by George R. R. Martin / Reviewed by Toni at Strand Books NYC
One of the most used cliches in all of high fantasy is that of the farm boy (or other "simpleton") turned hero. Since Tolkien penned his Middle Earth stories, this trope has been wildly popular in the genre. One of the reasons I love Game of Thrones so much is that it completely ditches this typical cliche. Martin writes his story in such a way that it grabs readers immediately. More than once I found myself unable to put the book down until I found out what had happened to the characters I had so quickly become taken by. With each chapter told from the viewpoint of a different character, it easy to pick favorites at the start. It also ditches the typical cliche of the fantasy trope, focusing instead on the individuals functioning as a part of the whole, with each character bringing something to the dilemma. And the dilemma is, what else in a medieval setting, a clash for power. Game of Thrones, for me, reinvented the genre more than any other fantasy series. With five books and counting, I grow more and more attached to the Seven Kingdoms, and root for my favorite characters each time I pick up a book. Of course, there are downsides to the series. Most noteable and really the only negative of substance is that he doesn't write fast enough. For those who have seen the HBO series, I urge you to pick up the books. While the series is phenomenal, the books bring so much more to light. There is so much that you miss simply from watching it on TV. You won't be disappointed.
Canned
By Franklin Schneider / Reviewed by Uzodinma at Strand Books NYC
A down-dirty, grit-covered gem of a book. Mislabeled as humor. Franklin is the pal we all have stories about, like a correspondent on the front lines of a war many of us are afraid to fight. I'd go so far as to say that even if you don't agree with the way he sloughs off society's rules, you've at least wondered about it. You, like me, we've all crunched through pointless jobs, or ones we may even like, and still something's missing. But something's always missing. And this, I'd argue, is what Schneider, would like us to laugh at and understand. Not the evils of culture, or the modern work-week, not necessarily. You can seize up if you want to on the bits about laziness and unemployment checks, but that's the light-hearted, topical fluff. Think about it this way, and it's true: the gifts of the culture we live in were created by thinkers, dreamers, that is, by completely different hands than the ones that use those same dreams to lock us down and enslave us . . . Or maybe that's too far out there. What I like about this guy Franklin though, is that there's no real dogma, no ten-step revolution, nor should there be. He wanted off the 9-to-5 treadmill to become a writer, and thus the book, this book, is the proof that we can create the life we want to live, or go down trying. Thus the saga. Sex romps in unfinished basements. Inter-office pranks. Ten-day benders. The arcade chapter. The dead man in the Porto-Potty. More sex. The sex chapter. More racing, full sprint, down moonlit streets. The lawn mower through the window thing. This is Franklin's saga. Like we each have our own, and it's up to us to stay awake .
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IMAGE: Edward Hopper (U.S.A., 1882–1967), New York Corner (Corner Saloon), 1913. Oil on canvas.
Edward Hopper: New York Corner
Through February 8, 2016 The exhibition showcases the painting New York Corner and contextualizes it by grouping works from the museum’s collection into several art-object-based “conversations.” These constellations point to the kinds of artistic practice that preceded the painting’s creation; showcase concurrent work, both similar and different, by Hopper’s contemporaries; and present the kinds of practice that followed.
The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University 328 Lomita Drive at Museum Way Stanford, CA 94305
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE Supports
VISIT THE FILM FESTIVAL SITE : REDNATIONFF.COM
NATIVE FILM MARKET AT AFM 2015 : AmericanFilmMarket.com
image: Elliott Landy Courtesy of The Artist and LandyVision.com
THE PHOTOGRAPHER ELLIOT LANDY
This Fall a New Book by Photographer Elliot Landy with Exclusive Images of Bob Dylan and The BAND will be available. Recent Documentaries and New releases on Audio of BOB DYLAN's Famed Basement Tapes Sessions have been celebrated with the participation of T. Bone Burnett, Mumford & Sons and a Showtime Series that included the participation of Elvis Costello have cast a new re-look at this important period in the life of one of America's most important songwriters. Elliott Landy took many of the pinnacle images that defined Robbie Robertson and The Band's Big Pink album as well as Dylan's retreat from the public eye in Woodstock NY. This much anticipated original publication is a must for music lover's, Dylan fans and Rock & Roll Historians.
Check your Local Bookstores November 2015 and for more information visit: LandyVision.com
FIRE + ICE By ALEX HARRIS
Three parka-clad men, their backs to the camera, stand on an ice–covered field. Their body language – what we can see of it – implies rest, perhaps resignation, as they watch a building burn. Minutes earlier, inside a Quaker church in the Alaskan Inuit village of Selawik, these same men heard screams of “fire!” Outside, there was nothing to be done. The burning building, a schoolhouse, contained the only running water in the village, and regardless, the blaze was too far-gone to be fought.
On that April day of 1974, I was part of the crowd watching the schoolhouse burn. I was also a photographer with one roll of film in my camera, eight exposures left, trying quickly to make sense of the moment. Instinctively, I used my lens to see the fire and smoke through the bodies of the men in front of me, the way someone in the crowd would see the fire, the way the men themselves might be experiencing this moment. My instincts were to break most of the rules being taught in photojournalism school at the time. No faces are evident. No action is depicted. People standing in front of my camera mostly obscure the event itself. Yet this same photograph manages to suggest something larger than the moment, hints at the Inuit’s relationship to their environment; implies their acceptance of the power of nature.
Between 1973 and 1978 I made five trips to Alaska, living cumulatively for over a year in several Inuit villages above the Arctic Circle along the Kobuk River as well as other villages on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of the southern Bering Sea coast. I often arrived on a single engine weekly mail plane, and if visiting a village for the first time, would be greeted by a small group eager to see relatives who might be on the flight, or anxious to retrieve mail and supplies from the outside. Invariably someone would ask, “Why are you here?” When I said I was there to take pictures, a second question followed. “Where are you staying?” I would respond that I didn’t know. “Then stay with us.”
I learned that there was nothing naïve about the invitation. The Inuit were hospitable and trusting in this sense: they gave me time and a chance to prove myself to be a person they wanted to have around. And I wanted very much to be that person. I believe I became that person. At the time, I was a few years out of college and beginning my second education. For one thing, I was learning the craft of photography, and starting to have control of the medium. I had studied Adams’s zone system for film exposure and development, and knew how to compact into visible detail the range of light in Alaska – from bright sun on snow to deep shadow on parkas – falling on my film. Still, I had quite a distance to go to master the medium technically.
Mostly what I had to offer was my eagerness to get to know the people and places I photographed. I hoped that my familiarity would be reflected in the pictures I made. I was shooting black–and–white film, some 35mm but primarily medium format, and storing my exposed rolls under my bed inside a red tin coffee can with a plastic top. But in another sense, I had to store the photographs in my mind, as I wouldn’t see any of my pictures until I returned to the “lower 48” and developed my film. So I often brought with me a couple of photographic books for inspiration, looking not so much to answer questions about technique, framing, or exposure, but to try to understand what a photographer’s work could tell me about how to get inside another world with a camera.
In 1975 one book I brought with me was Koudelka’s The Gypsies. Whether the Gypsies looked back at Koudelka with recognition, or ignored him entirely, I was enormously drawn to the implied intimacy of the pictures he made. Koudelka was absolutely present in his own pictures, yet his own likeness never appears. He made photographs full of life and also full of mystery. Though I didn’t take on Koudelka’s high–contrast, wide–angle style, I did begin to understand from him how to get inside another world with a camera. In Alaska I came know people in a way that allowed me to participate in their lives. On each successive trip to the villages, I saw it was possible to immerse myself in a world and at the same time to observe it, to step back from the moment I was experiencing and take a photograph. I learned to make pictures – like those I’d seen in The Gypsies – pictures that hinted at more than I saw, more than I knew, more than we can ever know about another person, place or culture.
Alex Harris
Alex Harris is a photographer and writer teaching at Duke University. He is one of the founders of DoubleTake Magazine, of the Lewis Hine Documentary Fellows Program http://documentarystudies.duke.edu/projects/hine, and of the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) http://documentarystudies.duke.edu . This fall CDS celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary http://www.cdsfirst25.com/ with a number of events in Durham North Carolina including a November 20th-22nd Documentary Forum http://www.cdsfirst25.com/docforum2015/
[ Entire PHOTO ESSAY Continues in The FREE FALL Edition ]
The NOCTURNE
A Photographic Essay & Interview
With LYNN SAVILLE
Joshua TRILIEGI : What draws you to Night Photography?
Lynn SAVILLE : When I was five years old, two keys things happened. I looked out of the window at night into my back yard in Durham, North Carolina and noticed that the grass, tool shed, wheelbarrow and trees appeared scary at night. Illuminated by the single floodlight behind our house, the very familiar terrain became mysterious and dangerous during the night. It had looked normal and calm during the daytime. This very familiar place took on a new dimension at night. The second key occurrence was that my family boarded a steam ship in New York City’s harbor and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Italy. This experience created in me, a dramatic appreciation for New York City, and an awe of the night, the stars, water, the rare sight of the occasional ship at sea.
Joshua TRILIEGI : Take us on a shoot with you: Location, Number of Images, Time invested in The Walk about, Choosing the work, Printing and Exhibiting.
Lynn SAVILLE : When working in my own city [ New York ], I walk during different times of day and evening making mental notes and cell phone snapshots of places that attract my interest. Later I return when it’s dawn or twilight and look again at the way these chosen “locations” appear in the shifting light. I might return to a location three or four times to see what I find…always bringing my camera and tripod and any other items such as velvet to minimize reflections if I’m photographing into a window and a small flashlight or headlamp to use if I want to paint some light.
I edit on my computer and make contact sheets or small 4” x 6” proof prints through inexpensive online printing labs or with Xerox. These I put on my magnetic board in my apartment – to “live with them”. I find that seeing photographs at different times of day and night helps me select the best ones.
When preparing for an exhibition, I print the photographs 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 as “match prints” – fine tuning the files. I generally print on a paper size of 20” x 24” or 30” x 40” and occasionally 40“ x 50”. These are printed with archival inkjet process.
[ Entire Interview Continues in The FREE FALL Edition ]
Dark City Exhibition October 2nd - November 28th, 2015
Lynn Saville explores what she refers to as “limbo regions” in her series Dark City. These regions are undeveloped and overlooked spaces across major cities’ in the United States. Although Saville initially associated these vacant spaces with the economic turmoil of the recession, she came to realize that they also resulted from a natural cycle of decay and renewal in the urban landscape. She photographs at either dawn or dusk so that the place itself is lighting the scene with streetlight, window light, advertisements and surveillance lighting. Saville has been able to transform these spaces into lively and inviting places even with the absence of people and the cities usual attractions. She regards such places as “empty skeletal sets in which objects can dream, and light and shadow can dance uninterrupted.”
Visit The Gallery and The Artist for Sizes, Specifications and Available Photographs at:
SCHNEIDER GALLERY 770 North LaSalle Dr. Suite 401, Chicago, IL 60654
BUREAU BEST BOOKS : ANDERSONS
In 1964 they opened the first official bookstore: Paperback Paradise. Since then they have expanded and moved several times, opening Downers Grove store in 1980 and a children’s wholesale warehouse bookfair company, Anderson’s Bookfair Company (ABCFairs), in 1982. Bookfair company has grown and moved 5 times from being in the basement of Downers Grove store. Last November they opened Two Doors East, an eclectic and unique gift store, just two doors down from the Naperville bookshop. The members 5th generation that own and run the businesses today all started to work at a very young age in the family’s Business. " Working along side with your grandfather, parents, brothers, sister, and children is a family tradition that creates community within your family, and reaches your employees, your customers, and beyond your brick and mortar location." Each generation of their family has offered new touches and ideas to keep it innovative, fresh and exciting.
5112 Main St, Downers Grove, IL 60515 (630) 963-2665
Unidentified photographer, American, 20th century Circa 1950s Gift of Peter J. Cohen Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
presents
Unfinished Stories: Snapshots
from the Peter J. Cohen Collection Now Through to February 21, 2016
Unfinished Stories celebrates a century of snapshots from the Peter J. Cohen Collection of amateur photographs. An avid collector, Cohen rescued more than 50,000 lost, discarded, or disowned personal photographs, culled from flea markets, antique shops, galleries, eBay, and private dealers. As he sifted and sorted through his finds, Cohen discovered mesmerizing, often humorous, shots removed from their original context: People at Play, Photographers’ Shadows, Double Exposure, Couples, Oddities, and Hula Madness. These pictures reveal the lives of strangers through intimate exposures, telling a story, or as Cohen puts it, “a teeny part of a story that remains unfinished.”
KANAYO ADIBE
The BALTIMORE PHOTO ESSAY
From The Street Scene Photographs of Everyday Life in Baltimore to The Weddings & Parties of Washington DC, Kanayo Adibe has gone from utilizing a cell phone to a professional camera and launched an unexpected career in less than a few years. He has a bold eye for balance, time and place. His subjects inhabit their city with a flare for life. His images capture the goings on in a way that is alive and well. He has a growing catalogue that is both valuable and interesting. We discovered his work through a special program at The Baltimore Sun Newspaper and have become a solid part of his growing audience. Today, we give you Five Questions, a Photo Essay from Mr. Kanayo Adibe's Black & White Images and a glimpse inside Baltimore.
Joshua TRILIEGI : Discuss how you approach photographing a Wedding versus a Street Shoot ?
Kanayo ADIBE : Photographing a wedding is pretty straightforward, there is a storyline, all the characters are present and all you have to do is work the timeline and capture the moments as they unfold. You are able to help shape the story, you are able to enhance it through great imagery or manipulate it by adding in poses. With street you are forced to find order in variability and chaos. You rely on variables beyond your control to tell a story as you see it. You have to act quickly when you find a moment unfolding or anticipate something occurring and hold your composition till it does.
Despite the differences between wedding and street photography a lot of the skills carry over, there is an unscripted part of weddings that remain naturally occurring and random. The difference is they occur frequently and the more attentive you are the more of them you capture. In the streets it’s a lot harder to find those moments because there are no predetermined characters to follow or a defined storyline, you have to pick and choose your subjects and hope that the right elements come together to give you that image you are looking for.
Joshua TRILIEGI : How important is representing our communities in America today and give us some examples in dealing with your subjects, creating relationships and being a strong part of the diAspora in America's culture today ?
Kanayo ADIBE : I think it’s really important to represent our communities accurately, not leaning towards what is more popular or less favorable just to get a rise out of people. As we know the traditional media is skewed in it's representation of certain demographics and usually just say and show things for higher ratings. As for my street work, I honestly photograph anything that stands out to me, good or bad. I’m not in constant search of that angle that will draw more attention to my work; I just shoot from the heart. It could be a special moment between strangers, amazing architecture, a homeless person on the street, it doesn’t matter. As long as it gives me that feeling, I will create that image. Relationship building is important, I have formed lots of bonds with other creatives, some of which have helped me grow creatively and as a business, I have also made new friends in my commercial subjects, my street subject still remain anonymous to me. As a Nigerian living in America and having to deal with the culture as it stands today is pretty interesting, I’m no different from any African American in the eyes of everyone else, so whatever they experience, I experience.
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CRAFTED: Beth Lipman Cut Table Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts Boston © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts Boston presents Crafted Objects in Flux
Now Through to January 10, 2016
“Crafted” explores this moment of “flux” in the field, focusing on contemporary craft-based artists who bridge cutting-edge concepts and traditional skills as they embrace and explore the increasingly blurred boundaries between art, craft, and design. Featuring a selection of works from across the landscape of contemporary craft, the exhibition includes more than 30 emerging and established international artists. Looking to a broad range of materials and practices, the exhibition explores the connections between craft and performance; the opportunities provided by new technologies and materials; and the power of rethinking craft’s interactions with architecture and space. This exhibition is the first of its kind within an encyclopedic museum to explore the broad possibilities of contemporary artistic engagement with craft. By examining these interactions in proximity to historical examples in the MFA’s collection, “Crafted” demonstrates the vitality, viability, and variety inherent in choosing craft as a foundation for contemporary artistic practice. Tap: mfa.org
THE BUREAU PHOTO INTERVIEW
Ryan SCHIERLING
The How, The What and The Why of Taking Photographs for a Living . The Austin Based Photographer Discusses His Work in Seattle Washington +More
Joshua TRILIEGI : There is a real diversity in your catalogue, explain what draws you to a subject, how you approach it and where you decide to frame it?
Ryan SCHIERLING : I’m drawn to anything that’s visually and aesthetically pleasing, but I think that describes most photographers. The process of translating what I’m seeing into a photograph using a mechanical process of adjusting this and that is what, my style? Visually, I like clean images. I like to fill the frame with precisely what I want, because I don’t crop much. I want exactly what I want to see, and it’s done in camera, zooming a lens, or moving the legs here and there.
Shooting portraits, specifically environmental portraits, is what I worked the hardest on. Photojournalism is documenting a scene unfolding around you. You’re not supposed to be part of it, you’re an external, impartial observer. That’s easy. To engage someone before the camera even comes out of the bag and have them be comfortable with you, enough to give you a piece of themselves in a photograph, is difficult. There have been people I’ve wanted to take a photo of, but it just didn’t feel right emotionally, or they weren’t in the right frame of mind to be physically and mentally present for the camera. I was never good with the whole “Alright, you have five minutes to shoot Mr. Famous Person” because there’s no connection. You’re just making a visually-accurate representation of what Mr. Famous Person looked like in that 1/60 of a second. I’d rather genuinely talk to them for five minutes, as a real person, and take one frame before I leave.
I did that the last time I photographed John Vanderslice, and I’ve shot so many photos of him - live and portraits - over the years. I shot a few songs of a show at The Mohawk in Austin, and I just wanted to watch and listen for the rest. Throngs of people were looking to talk to him after the set. It was after 1 a.m., and I didn’t want to intrude. I only wanted to let him know that he’d played a wonderful show - as always - and shake his hand. I asked him if I could just take two frames, and he looked a little surprised, but graciously agreed. I said, “Close your eyes. Take a deep breath, exhale.” Click. “Turn around, relax.” Click. Those are some of my favorite images of him.
Faces interest me, body language interests me. How people relate to their environments. Things that happen to people, moments that they will never forget, moments that might seem small, or large, or insignificant. They all make a difference in our lives. I can’t be everywhere I’d like to be, so i just try to capture what I can, when I can. it’s all important in some manner, whether it’s politics, music, dinner, a first date or a death in the family.
There's a photograph in just about every situation you'll ever come across. Sometimes it's just a matter of stopping and looking a little harder. In some photos there are stories that need to be told, in others there might just be a feeling. One quote I remember from photographer Windy Osborne really stuck with me, and it's been probably 25-plus years. "Fill the frame with exactly what you want to see." I try to get all of the important elements in there, without making anything cluttered. And that tends to be my style in whatever I shoot, whether it's music or portraits or landscapes or anything that’s in front of me.
Ryan SCHIERLING : I don’t have a lot of photo books. There are no collections I keep other than cookbooks and old skateboards. The few photography books I do have are by Glen E. Friedman, Charles Peterson, Richard Avedon, Jim Brandenburg. I have all issues of “Loose Lips Sink Ships” from Steve Gullick and Stevie Chick. Gullick is incredible. He and Peterson certainly influenced my music photography initially. Both had a dirty, grainy style, but Steve did some lovely lighting for portraits and Charles captured a Pacific Northwest live music epoch with a camera and a strobe attached to a motorcycle battery. I dig Danny Clinch and his aesthetic. Old school? Windy Osborne and Spike Jonze - shooting for Freestylin’ Magazine in the late 80s - were huge for me, riding, shooting and working on a craft. Dan Sturt and J. Grant Brittain were massive talents at Transworld Skateboarding Magazine. Sturt’s mid-lens artistry and framing in a fisheye-lens dominated industry was incredibly inspirational. Brittain’s 1987 TWS cover of Tod Swank still makes me shake my head and smile every time I see it. At a young age, there were no finer photographers to emulate. New School? I love William Anthony, Dan Winters, Jonathan Saunders, Penny De Los Santos. I don’t shoot for a living anymore, so there’s no pressure to push the button for nonsense. I just try to stay true to the subject and the image, whatever it may be.
[ Entire Interview Continues in The FREE FALL Edition ]
BUREAU INTERVIEW : MICHELLE HANDELMAN ARTIST
Cyphers from Irma Vep, The Last Breath, 2013, digital c-print on archival paper, 18” x 24”, courtesy Participant, Inc., New York City
BUREAU : Let’s discuss video art. Who are your earliest influences.
Michelle HANDELMAN : If by influences you mean cultural artifacts that absolutely transfixed my imagination, both visually and mentally, things that totally rocked my world, then without a doubt it was: horror films. In fact probably the earliest memories I have revolve around my brothers and I dressing up as vampires and watching old black and white horror films. We would put white powder on our faces, throw towels around our shoulders like capes, light candles and watch Creature Features every weekend—Tod Browning’s Dracula, Edgar Ulmer’s The Black Cat—all the 1930s classics starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. And so, from a very early age I had this interest in the macabre and the supernatural, and the symbolic language of monsters. Two films that thoroughly imprinted themselves on me back then were Mario Bava’s Black Sunday and Hitchcock’s The Birds. I mean, when Barbara Steele emerges from that iron maiden in Black Sunday with holes all over her face that was just the coolest thing I ever saw. It was deep. I mean, we’re all riddled with holes, metaphorically, and its all one can do to keep the tatters together and move forward. But to get back to your original question about video or experimental avant-garde film, the first moving image artists who rocked my world were Charles Atlas and Ulrike Ottinger.
BUREAU : Do you believe art can change policy? Acceptance and progress?
Michelle HANDELMAN : I look at the world of humans as one large dysfunctional family that has the ability to evolve and transcend hatred, but the cards are still out as to whether or not that will ever happen. I do feel I’m a realistic optimist, which means I believe in transformation, but I also know destruction is inevitable, and in fact necessary for change. But to specifically address your question, yes, I do believe some art can lead to a change in policy. I don’t think it can actually change policy, but it can open dialogue, that can lead to a change. My piece at Eastern State Penitentiary has been on display for three years now, and periodically I receive emails from people telling me how it changed them. Last year I received a call from the federal Bureau Of Prisons inviting me to present my piece to their corrections officers. That was the first time I actually felt my work was effecting change in a very direct way. I met with the head of the BOP, as well as an assortment of bureaucrats, guards and officers and they wanted to know….they knew they had to change the way they’ve been dealing with trans inmates. They didn’t understand it, probably didn’t like it, but still, they knew they needed to change and they asked questions, lots of questions. In fact just today I was reading in the New York Times about how police officers are now receiving mandatory training on interacting with trans people. I’d like to think that in some small way my piece played a part in this change.
[ Entire Interview Continues in The FREE FALL Edition ]
CINDY SHERMAN UNTITLED FILM STILL # 7 The BROAD MUSEUM
The NEW BROAD MUSEUM in L. A.
PHOTO : Iwan Baan THE BROAD MUSEUM
The Broad makes its collection of contemporary art from the 1950s to the present accessible to the widest possible audience by presenting exhibitions and operating a lending program to art museums and galleries worldwide.The Broad is a new contemporary art museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. The museum, which is designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler will offer free general admission. The museum will be home to the nearly 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide. With its innovative “veil-and-vault” concept, the 120,000-square-foot, $140-million building will feature two floors of gallery space to showcase The Broad’s comprehensive collection and will be the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library. The Broad is home to the 2,000-work Broad collection, one of the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide. With in-depth representations of influential contemporary artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barbara Kruger, Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, Kara Walker, Christopher Wool, Jeff Koons, Joseph Beuys, Jasper Johns, Cindy Sherman, Robert Rauschenberg, and more, plus an ever-growing representation of younger artists.
from BURDEN to BALDESSARI
from FISCHL to FRANCIS
from WALKER to WARHOL
221 S. Grand Avenue Los Angeles CA USA 90012 TheBroad.org
Larry Sulton Oranges on Fire 1975 LarrySulton.com
Milwaukee Art Museum
presents
The Photographic Works of Photographer Larry Sultan
October 23, 2015 – January 24, 2016
The exhibition includes more than 200 photographs ranging from Sultan’s conceptual and collaborative works of the 1970s to his solo works in the decades following. Sultan never stopped challenging the conventions of photographic documentation, exploring themes of family, home, and façade throughout his career. Larry Sultan grew up in California’s San Fernando Valley, which became a source of inspiration for a number of his projects. His work blends documentary and staged photography to create images of the psychological as well as physical landscape of suburban family life.
Sultan’s pioneering book and exhibition Pictures From Home (1992) was a decade long project that features his own mother and father as its primary subjects, exploring photography’s role in creating familial mythologies. Using this same suburban setting, his book, The Valley (2004) examined the adult film industry and the area’s middle-class tract homes that serve as pornographic film sets. Katherine Avenue, (2010) the exhibition and book, explored Sultan’s three main series, Pictures From Home, The Valley, and Homeland along side each other to further examine how Sultan’s images negotiate between reality and fantasy, domesticity and desire, as the mundane qualities of the domestic surroundings become loaded cultural symbols.
In 2012, the monograph, Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel was published to examine in depth the thirty plus year collaboration between these artists as they tackled numerous conceptual projects together that includes Billboards, How to Read Music In One Evening, Newsroom, and the seminal photography book Evidence, a collection of found institutional photographs, first published in 1977. Larry Sultan’s work has been exhibited and published widely and is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where he was also recognized with the Bay Area Treasure Award in 2005. Sultan served as a Distinguished Professor of Photography at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946, Larry Sultan passed away at his home in Greenbrae, California in 2009.
The Artist: LarrySultan.com The Museum : MAM.org
Kehinde Wiley / 30 Americans : Detroit Institute of Arts Oct. 18, 2015–Jan. 18, 2016
30 Americans : Detroit Institute of Arts
Oct. 18, 2015–Jan. 18, 2016
30 Americans is a dynamic exhibition of contemporary art by African American artists, on view Oct. 18, 2015–Jan. 18, 2016. “30 Americans” includes 55 paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and videos by many of the most important artists who rose to prominence during recent decades by exploring racial, gender, political and historical identity in contemporary culture. Organized around several artistic approaches used by the artists to explore identity: defying Western art traditions; portraying black subjects as real people as opposed to types; sampling multiple sources of inspiration, from historical material to found objects; freestyling by adopting improvisational and expressionistic styles to demonstrate creative and technical virtuosity; signifying through the use of symbols, materials and images that imply or trigger associations about gender, race, religion, class and sexuality; transforming the body’s appearance to examine the relationship between societal assumptions and identity; and confronting American history regarding race, racism and power in the United States. VISIT THE LINK AT: www.dia.org
Photo Image: : Melissa Ann PINNEY Courtesy SCHNEIDER GALLERY Chicago USA
The Underground Punk Music Scene : A Feminists View
By Bureau Music Contributor Sarah Rose Perry
Young people from far and near come line up in a Downtown LA alley outside of The Smell -- an all ages, self sustained “community oriented art and music space” waiting to see The Groans Joel Jerome, Sloppy Jane and Peach Kelli Pop. These bands collectively, along with countless more, make up a fresh and new underground music scene. Concentrated in the Inland Empire, but spread about Los Angeles and Riverside counties, the Groups range from garage rock to punk pop. The bands and their fans are something like that of a large family, with many distant relatives; you might not know each person there, but everyone is friendly and glad to see you. The Groans were the opening band at Friday’s show and when asked about why the scene is so important to us young people, they explained that the scene is very much a community and it’s exciting to be a part of, because “it gives people who are different or outsiders a sense of home.” It also provides a space for women empowerment. Whether they are deliberately taking a political stance, or simply being badass women, the message from these leading female musicians is clear and powerful.
As I myself can testify, being a young woman, and seeing these other ladies on stage, confidently doing traditionally male dominated work, can be a catalyst for a dose of adrenaline and self approval. The Groans first got together because the lead singer, Amanda, and the bassist, Annie, thought there weren’t enough women in the local music scene. They explain, “we wanted a band that represented women of color and women in general.” They have achieved this thoroughly and many of their song’s lyrics make that statement loud and clear. One of their more popular songs entitled “The Perks of Being a Girl” (“perks” being used rather sardonically) begins with fast paced music, sing - songy vocals and features a very catchy build up stating, “I can be pretty. I can be skinny. I can be everything, BUT I. Don’t. Owe. You. Anything.” The band states, “It’s about the shit all women go through on a daily basis… It’s us saying ‘fuck you’ to society’s beauty standards; I’m beautiful no matter what.” This turned out to be a highly relatable concept among the young adults at the show, boys and girls alike. During their performance of the song on Friday, a sweaty mosh pit opened up in the middle of the crowd and everyone screamed along, “I’m just another girl in this fucked up world.”
Of course, this is nothing new to punk rock. As writer, Rock Hall explains, “The anti-establishment philosophy of the punk rock movement was the perfect fit for those female musicians who still felt like outsiders in the male dominated music industry” Though this particular comment was in reference to the seventies, some sentiments have remained the same. Amanda, the lead Singer of The Groans states that, “It’s a bit of a boy’s club, but [ they ] are glad to see more women in the scene.” Women throughout history have made significant, empowering gains using punk and all its sub-genres as a facilitator to bring serious female issues to the media, and by making waves in punk in the past. The female gender today are able to make the ‘fuck you, society’ statement, and be critical of authority or social norms, more safely -- which was not always the case and in some parts of the world, still is not.
Like nearly everything else, punk rock began as an all male genre, but with questioning authority and social norms as their main agenda, it was natural for women to step in and take a piece of the spotlight. Inspired by the Sex Pistols, Poly Styrene decided to form her own punk band, X-Ray Spex. Although they only lasted about three years, producing only one album, the band will be remembered by their lead singer screaming, “some people think little girls should be seen and not heard… Oh Bondage Up Yours!” Before the start of their debut single. Chris Salewicz of The Independent says, “As a dumpy, frumpy,almost willfully unsexual girl from Brixton, with braces on her teeth, Poly Styrene was a perfect candidate to find herself through punk; turning this persona on its head into an art form, she became one of the movement's principal female figures, her song ‘Oh Bondage, Up Yours!’ a feminist rallying cry.” Also formed in 1976, The Slits were the first all women punk band. Their song “Typical Girls” includes commentary on the social pressure women receive along with the negative misconceptions upheld about them by society, “typical girls worry about spots, fat, and natural smells… typical girls are emotional / typical girls are cruel and bewitching.”
[ Entire Article Continues in The FREE Downloadable FALL 2015 Edition ]
ART FAIR REVIEWS, AUDIO AND VISUAL PRESENTATIONS ON LINE DECEMBER 2015 UNTITLED . MIAMI . RED DOT . LA ART FAIR . PHOTO LA . MIAMI PROJECT + MORE
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE MEDIA SITES
LOS ANGELES BUREAU http://BUREAUofARTSandCULTURELosAngeles.blogspot.com
SAN FRANCISCO BUREAU
NEW YORK CITY BUREAU http://BUREAUofARTSandCULTUREny.blogspot.com
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MID - WEST BUREAU
SOUTH BUREAU
BUREAU LITERARY
BUREAU NEWS
The PORTRAIT : LANGSTON HUGHES
AMERICANS WHO TELL THE TRUTH By Robert SHETTERLY
We Thank: Da Capo Press, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Pace/MacGill Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Georgia O'Keefe Museum of Art, Fine Arts Center Colorado Springs, Duke University, Andy Warhol Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Crystal Bridges, United Artists, Spot Photo Works, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art Huston Texas, Gallerie Urbane, Mary Boone Gallery, Pace Gallery, Asian Art Museum, Magnum Photo, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Fahey/Klein, Tobey C. Moss, Sandra Gehring, George Billis, Martin - Gropius - Bau Berlin, San Jose Museum of Art, First Run Features, Downtown Records, Koplin Del Rio, Robert Berman, Indie Printing, American Film Institute, SFMOMA, Palm Beverly Hills, KM Fine Arts, LA Art Show, Photo LA, Jewish Contemporary Museum, Cultural Affairs, Yale Collection of Rare Books & Manuscript and Richard Levy.
Contributing Photographers: Norman Seef, Herb Ritts, Jack English, Alex Harris, Gered Mankowitz, Bohnchang Koo, Natsumi Hayashi, Raymond Depardon, T. Enami, Dennis Stock, Dina Litovsky, Guillermo Cervera, Moises Saman, Cathleen Naundorf, Terry Richardson, Phil Stern, Dennis Morris, Henry Diltz, Steve Schapiro, Yousuf Karsh, Ellen Von Unwerth, William Claxton, Robin Holland, Andrew Moore, James Gabbard, Mary Ellen Mark, John Robert Rowlands, Brian Duffy, Robert Frank, Jon Lewis, Sven Hans, David Levinthal, Joshua White, Brian Forrest, Lorna Stovall, Elliott Erwitt, Rene Burri, Susan Wright, David Leventhal, Peter Van Agtmael & The Bureau Editor Joshua Triliegi.
Contributing Guest Artists: Irby Pace, Jon Swihart, F. Scott Hess, Ho Ryon Lee, Andy Moses, Kahn & Selesnick, Jules Engel, Patrick Lee, David Palumbo, Tom Gregg, Tony Fitzpatrick, Gary Lang, Fabrizio Casetta, DJ Hall, David FeBland, Eric Zener, Seeroon Yeretzian, Dawn Jackson, Charles Dickson, Ernesto DeLaLoza, Diana Wong, Gustavo Godoy, John Weston, Kris Kuksi, Bomonster, Hiroshi Ariyama, Linda Stark, Kota Ezawa, Russell Nachman, Katsushika Hokusai and Xuan Chen
Contributing Writers: Robin Holland, Jamar Mar(s) Tucker, Linda Toch, Sarah Rose Perry
BUREAU THEATER REVIEW:JUAN and JOHN
Written & Performed by ROGER GUENVEUR SMITH at The Los Angeles
Theater Center 514 S. Spring St. L.A. CA 90013 Review by Joshua A. TRILIEGI
In the Summer of 1965, a fight between two men on a baseball field symbolized a planet in turmoil. A world grappling with War, Racism and divisive Cultures. The Watts riots, the invasion of the Dominican Republic, and the brawl at Candlestick Park as well as biographical points in Roger Guenveur Smith's life collide to create a quilt of ideas in this one person Theater work currently playing at LATC.
The sounds of baseball crowds and the Beach Boys are the backdrop for this scenario and memory plays a key roll in all of this. Mr Smith confesses early on, " I have a war inside my head / Yo tengo un guerra en mi cabesa " . So does society & life is the cost. We learn about Baseball, as well as Mr Smith' s look back at childhood, the summer of '65 and the way in which black & brown politics has completely devastated both groups to a degree that has hurt both African Americans, Latin Americans and Sports in general. How a war, a riot, race and competitive sports boil into a young man's mind to create a fever dream that evolves into a sort of Jeckyl & Hide experience which starts and ends withhim burning a baseball card while the radio D J' s repeat the mantra, " Burn Baby Burn ".
Roger flashes forward and back between his own experience as a spectator and his personification of both John Roseboro, the African American Catcher for the L.A. Dodgers and Juan Marichal the Dominican - born San Francisco Giants' Pitcher. So you have young Roger, the baseball fan whom knows nothing of Malcolm X and very little of Martin Luther King, the adult Roger whom is going through a separation of his own which is estranging to his daughter Luna.
You have John played with accents and body language and Juan, also played via accent and rhythmic interpretation. Roger shifts from each time and place at will, allowing us little time to catch up, he's pitching fast and hard here. " Hey batter, batter , batter, hey batter,
Swing ! " Employing images of grade school photos, postcards from his parents real life Motel, baseball imagery as well as war photographs of the period sets the tone of this whirlwind experience and resolution of the initial event which took some 20 or so years to finally resolve. For some it may never be resolved, for Juan and John it was resolved
in the early nineteen eighties. Setting the backdrop for this skirmish, Roger shares his own family's journey, commenting on the neighborhood of Baldwin Hills where many of the streets begin with the prefix : Don. " My mom lives on the corner of Don Cornelious and
Don King ". Roger has you laughing even when the streets are on fire.
Mr Smith's catholic childhood as well as his daughter's passing interest of both this religion and the musical artist, Peaches are brought to the fore in humorous vignettes that reveal life in all its unresolved details. Walter O' Malley, Chavez Ravine, Dodger History and Sandy Kofax' s career highlights careen into a pastiche or gumbo of sorts that Roger serves up spicy and in abundance. Apparently Kofax sat out for Yom Kippur that season. Four months earlier, troops are on the ground in Vietnam, while Martin Luther King states , " I strongly deplore the violence and equally deplore the war in Vietnam ". Both Juan and John have been oriented as soldiers. Roger tells us of brave men in the sixties whom went to Washington D.C and self immolated ( burned themselves) for peace, while he went to Washington DC ( years later) to star in films for HBO, a kind of self depreciating biographical comparison that explains how different we all seem to be when compared to the heady and political heroes we often claim to emulate today. Hinting that Nobel Peace prizes are for
those whom stop war.
The actual event between Juan and John is central and secondary to this overall arching story. It all started when Dodger's Catcher John Roseboro nicked Juan Marichal while throwing the ball back to his pitcher Sandy Kofax. In response, Juan struck John Roseboro with a baseball bat. Both teams entered the field and a full on baseball ' riot ' took place. Marichal was suspended for 9 games, fined & later ignored for years by the baseball Hall of Fame. Surprisingly, and as a testament to forgiveness, friendship and the human ability to make positive changes with our history, Roseboro visits Marichal some twenty years later in the Dominican Republic and resets the perceptions of this divisive period in our culture. The two men, their families and countries use this meeting as a symbol of forgiveness and transcendence of the past. A remarkable fact indeed. But not before we experience Roger's hilarious upbringing here in L.A. with moments in his parents Motel where Martin Luther King forgot to pay the bill, his mother dresses him as a saint and Bishop's are quick to slap him around. Personifying Roseboro, he tells us about his training with Roy Campanella, his Boy Scout experience as the only black kid in Ashland, Ohio and the phone calls which led to he and Marichal moving ahead from this incident.
As Marichal, we learn that these two men had much more in common than either may have understood at the time and both were manipulated by an atmosphere of machismo, competition and self hatred. Later, each man autographed photos of that day. Meanwhile, grown up Roger is separating with the mother of his daughter Luna, watching the modern day Dodgers deflect another recent violent event where two men are accused of attacking a fan of the San Francisco Giants on opening day at Dodger Stadium and resolving these issues through dialogue. By the time this show is over, we have witnessed a split personality ( Latin / African) fused into one. Juan and John become friends, Roger' s daughter forgives him and we realize that everyday events like this one, large and small do effects us all. Wars, headlines, public events and personal stories have a way of prejudicing our views of things, ultimately hurting us, hurting others and hurting children
in the balance.
Young Roger burns his Base Ball Cards in 1965, while an adult Roger watches his city burn to the ground, for a second time, for a whole other reason, although this fact is only intimated, as the play ends Roger takes out a match and lights it. We get the sense that there will be more fires in the future. But for now, this chapter is resolved. What will society throw at us next time ? Will we be manipulated ? This work of history, personal and public gives us something to think about regarding race, sports, politics and healing through forgiveness. It speaks directly to the aftermath of such events. Mr. Juan Marichal plans to attend the final matinee performance of this show in person, that says a lot.
Marc Anthony Thompson provides imagery and musical aspects and co - director Patricia Mc Gregor both assist in creating a cohesive experience which is both educational & enlightening. For those unaware of Mr Smith's body of work, Roger is a Spike Lee regular, a student of the Yale School of Drama, he is currently teaching at Cal Arts and has worked with a number of Award winning Film Directors. He received an Obie for his Huey P. Newton Show which was later made into a telefilm on PBS. There is a discounted entry fee of ten dollars on Thursday evenings at LATC . This Play was originally a workshop Production - Joseph Papp Public Theater in 2009. It sold out performances at the West Coast Premiere - Kirk Douglas Theater in 2011. www.TheLATC.org (866)811-4111 514 S. Spring St. L.A. CA 90013 (between 5th & 6th)
BUREAU THEATER REVIEW:
JANE FONDA in the COURT of PUBLIC OPINION
Written & Directed by Terry Jastrow
Review by Joshua TRILIEGI
Jane Fonda has been on trial for decades ( by public opinion) ever since standing up for peace against the Vietnam War. Writer & Director Terry Jastrow has crafted an interesting document which describes the events that led up to Jane Fonda' s involvement in the Peace movement of that incredibly divisive era in our History.As well as a look back at that period via her confrontation with a group of Veterans during a film shoot in Connecticut , June of 1988.Mr Jastrow interviewed Ms Fonda as well as the veterans of this real life meeting and travelled to Vietnam, even stayed at the same Hotel. The set is St. Michael's Episcopal Church.
A giant television set towers above the players which conveniently displays actual television newscasts and raw footage of this the first televised war, maybe even the last one as well. The Play is not only a history lesson, but also a cautionary tale.It could be titled, " Six Angry Men Vs. Jane Fonda " with the pastor of this church as the reluctant referee. Early on, Anne Archer as Jane exclaims, " I am an American, just as much as any of you ". Sentiments that the peace movement to this day seems to repeat to those on the front lines of war, making this a very relevant conversation and an engaging work of Theater. Through the TV, President Johnson tirades in his trademark Texas drawl that, " We wage a War on Tyranny and Aggression " . Sound familiar ? The parallels of repeating history are startling to anyone paying attention. Hollow statements that make no sense are echoed. The very act of war and aggression are tyranny ultimately, and Vietnam is the worst example. Jane works her explanations slow and deliberate while the soldiers spew expletives that would make any other Lady of society wilt in comparison. Understandably, these soldiers feel betrayed by the stances of Fonda and her peace-nik pals which included Tom Hayden. Jane : We shouldn't have been there. Soldier : Oh, Fuck you.
Many of the rumors, lies and outright propaganda of the sixties and seventies have been solidified into exacting hate and vitriol by the time ' Hanoi Jane' is filming in their state, here in 1988 during the height of the Regan era in America. Wearing pink toe nail polish and blouse to match, Ms. Fonda attempts to dismantle these opinions as she explains herself one event at a time, starting with the draft ( 500 servicemen deserted daily ) and leading up to Nixon's escalation of the war and the tragedy's and deaths at Kent State University and on into her famous speech in Washington D.C. and finally her appearance and photo session while visiting Vietnam on top of Vietcong weaponry that was used against our own troops. We see how this articulate and concerned young actress is used as an agitprop and demonized by the press on both sides of the war. To the point where her own father ( whom served in World War II ) receives death threats. When he requests that the FBI assist the family, Jane' s reply is one in which she views her famous father Henry being duped by the Feds: at this point, no one is trusted wholeheartedly. We learn through Jane' s confrontation's with the six soldiers, five from 'Nam and one a World War II vet that, " 70% of US Citizens were against the war in Vietnam ". By the time Jane goes to Washington DC, she is backed by 100,000 marchers for peace and has already toured the U.S. researching how people feel about this extremely unpopular war.
By the end of act I, the vets are fighting among themselves. Real life vets are shown on TV expressing their jaded acts of war.We are shown footage of shootings, devastation and several presidents exclaiming absurd strategies. The cast of players understand that Jane is in a pressure cooker and the soldiers are suppliers of this steam, although she loses several pounds in this atmosphere, we never quite see her sweat. She has already been through the events of this era and is here to put the record straight. This is a wiser Jane having fallen long ago. Our referee/ pastor is reluctant to break up the rounds, leaving Jane on the ropes throughout. There are strong performances by everyone in this ensemble. Anne Archer's performance is solid, reserved and delicate, in that she does not mimic, impersonate or affect to be Jane Fonda as much as personify a professional woman under pressure to explain herself, her views and ultimately apologize for some of the mistakes, missteps and misgivings that were used against her then and for some, to this day. Which makes this play even more needed and full of tension than it might otherwise be. With two wars and a questionable policy on wire taps, harassment and surveillance of private as well as public persons whom have stood up against these wars : Tim Robbins for instance. This is a piece which could mean quite a lot to us as Americans at this time. One thinks of the Frost / Nixon work that was later made into a film as an example. There is a lot to write about here as this is an extremely well researched work of Theater. All puns intended.
War is often described as ' theater ' , a grossly inaccurate understatement that has always seemed to me a weak way of belittling the consequences. To the soldiers credit, whom begin to slowly cool out by quoting John Lennon and Shakespeare, ultimately they too see Jane's view and although this is no love letter, it is a kind of reconciliation . Somehow Jane is able to prove that she too was on the front lines, stood up for something and indeed also payed a mean price for doing so. We see as an audience that fighting for peace is just as brave, dangerous and damaging as fighting for war. Who knew we all had so much in common ? Not every soldier agrees while Jane exclaims the famous Gandhi statement that, " An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind ". Though, near the end of this energetic and thoughtful, heartfelt play, the World War II Veteran, played here by Terrence Beasor makes the definitive tough guy statement which sums up their view of Jane after this tumultuous meeting, " Jane, You've got some balls , Lady ". After viewing this work of finely crafted Theater, we agree whole heartedly. The final line of any play has always interested me, in this case, it says it all : " We all just moved on ". Spending 600 Billion Dollars on a war only to ' move on ' is a tragedy. It is a good thing that Terry Jastrow, his cast and crew as well as the brave programmers at Edgemar Center for the Arts, including Michelle Danner, their Artistic Director have not moved on. This is a great look back at a controversial era that to this day haunts us. We highly suggest this play which runs a limited engagement throughout November and early December of this year. Anne Archer has been nominated for an Academy Award and Terry Jastrow has received seven Emmy Awards. James Giordano gives an especially jolted performance as one of the six soldiers as does Don Swayze whose rage and frustration eventually flow into something new. Chris Stone has designed an inspired set that is symbolic of the very war machine we all live in to this very day.
BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE All Rights Reserved International Intellectual Copyrights Apply Los Angeles CALIF USA
BUREAU THEATER REVIEW:JUAN and JOHN
Written & Performed by ROGER GUENVEUR SMITH at The Los Angeles
Theater Center 514 S. Spring St. L.A. CA 90013 Review by Joshua A. TRILIEGI
In the Summer of 1965, a fight between two men on a baseball field symbolized a planet in turmoil. A world grappling with War, Racism and divisive Cultures. The Watts riots, the invasion of the Dominican Republic, and the brawl at Candlestick Park as well as biographical points in Roger Guenveur Smith's life collide to create a quilt of ideas in this one person Theater work currently playing at LATC.
The sounds of baseball crowds and the Beach Boys are the backdrop for this scenario and memory plays a key roll in all of this. Mr Smith confesses early on, " I have a war inside my head / Yo tengo un guerra en mi cabesa " . So does society & life is the cost. We learn about Baseball, as well as Mr Smith' s look back at childhood, the summer of '65 and the way in which black & brown politics has completely devastated both groups to a degree that has hurt both African Americans, Latin Americans and Sports in general. How a war, a riot, race and competitive sports boil into a young man's mind to create a fever dream that evolves into a sort of Jeckyl & Hide experience which starts and ends withhim burning a baseball card while the radio D J' s repeat the mantra, " Burn Baby Burn ".
Roger flashes forward and back between his own experience as a spectator and his personification of both John Roseboro, the African American Catcher for the L.A. Dodgers and Juan Marichal the Dominican - born San Francisco Giants' Pitcher. So you have young Roger, the baseball fan whom knows nothing of Malcolm X and very little of Martin Luther King, the adult Roger whom is going through a separation of his own which is estranging to his daughter Luna.
You have John played with accents and body language and Juan, also played via accent and rhythmic interpretation. Roger shifts from each time and place at will, allowing us little time to catch up, he's pitching fast and hard here. " Hey batter, batter , batter, hey batter,
Swing ! " Employing images of grade school photos, postcards from his parents real life Motel, baseball imagery as well as war photographs of the period sets the tone of this whirlwind experience and resolution of the initial event which took some 20 or so years to finally resolve. For some it may never be resolved, for Juan and John it was resolved
in the early nineteen eighties. Setting the backdrop for this skirmish, Roger shares his own family's journey, commenting on the neighborhood of Baldwin Hills where many of the streets begin with the prefix : Don. " My mom lives on the corner of Don Cornelious and
Don King ". Roger has you laughing even when the streets are on fire.
Mr Smith's catholic childhood as well as his daughter's passing interest of both this religion and the musical artist, Peaches are brought to the fore in humorous vignettes that reveal life in all its unresolved details. Walter O' Malley, Chavez Ravine, Dodger History and Sandy Kofax' s career highlights careen into a pastiche or gumbo of sorts that Roger serves up spicy and in abundance. Apparently Kofax sat out for Yom Kippur that season. Four months earlier, troops are on the ground in Vietnam, while Martin Luther King states , " I strongly deplore the violence and equally deplore the war in Vietnam ". Both Juan and John have been oriented as soldiers. Roger tells us of brave men in the sixties whom went to Washington D.C and self immolated ( burned themselves) for peace, while he went to Washington DC ( years later) to star in films for HBO, a kind of self depreciating biographical comparison that explains how different we all seem to be when compared to the heady and political heroes we often claim to emulate today. Hinting that Nobel Peace prizes are for
those whom stop war.
The actual event between Juan and John is central and secondary to this overall arching story. It all started when Dodger's Catcher John Roseboro nicked Juan Marichal while throwing the ball back to his pitcher Sandy Kofax. In response, Juan struck John Roseboro with a baseball bat. Both teams entered the field and a full on baseball ' riot ' took place. Marichal was suspended for 9 games, fined & later ignored for years by the baseball Hall of Fame. Surprisingly, and as a testament to forgiveness, friendship and the human ability to make positive changes with our history, Roseboro visits Marichal some twenty years later in the Dominican Republic and resets the perceptions of this divisive period in our culture. The two men, their families and countries use this meeting as a symbol of forgiveness and transcendence of the past. A remarkable fact indeed. But not before we experience Roger's hilarious upbringing here in L.A. with moments in his parents Motel where Martin Luther King forgot to pay the bill, his mother dresses him as a saint and Bishop's are quick to slap him around. Personifying Roseboro, he tells us about his training with Roy Campanella, his Boy Scout experience as the only black kid in Ashland, Ohio and the phone calls which led to he and Marichal moving ahead from this incident.
As Marichal, we learn that these two men had much more in common than either may have understood at the time and both were manipulated by an atmosphere of machismo, competition and self hatred. Later, each man autographed photos of that day. Meanwhile, grown up Roger is separating with the mother of his daughter Luna, watching the modern day Dodgers deflect another recent violent event where two men are accused of attacking a fan of the San Francisco Giants on opening day at Dodger Stadium and resolving these issues through dialogue. By the time this show is over, we have witnessed a split personality ( Latin / African) fused into one. Juan and John become friends, Roger' s daughter forgives him and we realize that everyday events like this one, large and small do effects us all. Wars, headlines, public events and personal stories have a way of prejudicing our views of things, ultimately hurting us, hurting others and hurting children
in the balance.
Young Roger burns his Base Ball Cards in 1965, while an adult Roger watches his city burn to the ground, for a second time, for a whole other reason, although this fact is only intimated, as the play ends Roger takes out a match and lights it. We get the sense that there will be more fires in the future. But for now, this chapter is resolved. What will society throw at us next time ? Will we be manipulated ? This work of history, personal and public gives us something to think about regarding race, sports, politics and healing through forgiveness. It speaks directly to the aftermath of such events. Mr. Juan Marichal plans to attend the final matinee performance of this show in person, that says a lot.
Marc Anthony Thompson provides imagery and musical aspects and co - director Patricia Mc Gregor both assist in creating a cohesive experience which is both educational & enlightening. For those unaware of Mr Smith's body of work, Roger is a Spike Lee regular, a student of the Yale School of Drama, he is currently teaching at Cal Arts and has worked with a number of Award winning Film Directors. He received an Obie for his Huey P. Newton Show which was later made into a telefilm on PBS. There is a discounted entry fee of ten dollars on Thursday evenings at LATC . This Play was originally a workshop Production - Joseph Papp Public Theater in 2009. It sold out performances at the West Coast Premiere - Kirk Douglas Theater in 2011. www.TheLATC.org (866)811-4111 514 S. Spring St. L.A. CA 90013 (between 5th & 6th)
BUREAU THEATER REVIEW:
JANE FONDA in the COURT of PUBLIC OPINION
Written & Directed by Terry Jastrow
Review by Joshua TRILIEGI
Jane Fonda has been on trial for decades ( by public opinion) ever since standing up for peace against the Vietnam War. Writer & Director Terry Jastrow has crafted an interesting document which describes the events that led up to Jane Fonda' s involvement in the Peace movement of that incredibly divisive era in our History.As well as a look back at that period via her confrontation with a group of Veterans during a film shoot in Connecticut , June of 1988.Mr Jastrow interviewed Ms Fonda as well as the veterans of this real life meeting and travelled to Vietnam, even stayed at the same Hotel. The set is St. Michael's Episcopal Church.
A giant television set towers above the players which conveniently displays actual television newscasts and raw footage of this the first televised war, maybe even the last one as well. The Play is not only a history lesson, but also a cautionary tale.It could be titled, " Six Angry Men Vs. Jane Fonda " with the pastor of this church as the reluctant referee. Early on, Anne Archer as Jane exclaims, " I am an American, just as much as any of you ". Sentiments that the peace movement to this day seems to repeat to those on the front lines of war, making this a very relevant conversation and an engaging work of Theater. Through the TV, President Johnson tirades in his trademark Texas drawl that, " We wage a War on Tyranny and Aggression " . Sound familiar ? The parallels of repeating history are startling to anyone paying attention. Hollow statements that make no sense are echoed. The very act of war and aggression are tyranny ultimately, and Vietnam is the worst example. Jane works her explanations slow and deliberate while the soldiers spew expletives that would make any other Lady of society wilt in comparison. Understandably, these soldiers feel betrayed by the stances of Fonda and her peace-nik pals which included Tom Hayden. Jane : We shouldn't have been there. Soldier : Oh, Fuck you.
Many of the rumors, lies and outright propaganda of the sixties and seventies have been solidified into exacting hate and vitriol by the time ' Hanoi Jane' is filming in their state, here in 1988 during the height of the Regan era in America. Wearing pink toe nail polish and blouse to match, Ms. Fonda attempts to dismantle these opinions as she explains herself one event at a time, starting with the draft ( 500 servicemen deserted daily ) and leading up to Nixon's escalation of the war and the tragedy's and deaths at Kent State University and on into her famous speech in Washington D.C. and finally her appearance and photo session while visiting Vietnam on top of Vietcong weaponry that was used against our own troops. We see how this articulate and concerned young actress is used as an agitprop and demonized by the press on both sides of the war. To the point where her own father ( whom served in World War II ) receives death threats. When he requests that the FBI assist the family, Jane' s reply is one in which she views her famous father Henry being duped by the Feds: at this point, no one is trusted wholeheartedly. We learn through Jane' s confrontation's with the six soldiers, five from 'Nam and one a World War II vet that, " 70% of US Citizens were against the war in Vietnam ". By the time Jane goes to Washington DC, she is backed by 100,000 marchers for peace and has already toured the U.S. researching how people feel about this extremely unpopular war.
By the end of act I, the vets are fighting among themselves. Real life vets are shown on TV expressing their jaded acts of war.We are shown footage of shootings, devastation and several presidents exclaiming absurd strategies. The cast of players understand that Jane is in a pressure cooker and the soldiers are suppliers of this steam, although she loses several pounds in this atmosphere, we never quite see her sweat. She has already been through the events of this era and is here to put the record straight. This is a wiser Jane having fallen long ago. Our referee/ pastor is reluctant to break up the rounds, leaving Jane on the ropes throughout. There are strong performances by everyone in this ensemble. Anne Archer's performance is solid, reserved and delicate, in that she does not mimic, impersonate or affect to be Jane Fonda as much as personify a professional woman under pressure to explain herself, her views and ultimately apologize for some of the mistakes, missteps and misgivings that were used against her then and for some, to this day. Which makes this play even more needed and full of tension than it might otherwise be. With two wars and a questionable policy on wire taps, harassment and surveillance of private as well as public persons whom have stood up against these wars : Tim Robbins for instance. This is a piece which could mean quite a lot to us as Americans at this time. One thinks of the Frost / Nixon work that was later made into a film as an example. There is a lot to write about here as this is an extremely well researched work of Theater. All puns intended.
War is often described as ' theater ' , a grossly inaccurate understatement that has always seemed to me a weak way of belittling the consequences. To the soldiers credit, whom begin to slowly cool out by quoting John Lennon and Shakespeare, ultimately they too see Jane's view and although this is no love letter, it is a kind of reconciliation . Somehow Jane is able to prove that she too was on the front lines, stood up for something and indeed also payed a mean price for doing so. We see as an audience that fighting for peace is just as brave, dangerous and damaging as fighting for war. Who knew we all had so much in common ? Not every soldier agrees while Jane exclaims the famous Gandhi statement that, " An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind ". Though, near the end of this energetic and thoughtful, heartfelt play, the World War II Veteran, played here by Terrence Beasor makes the definitive tough guy statement which sums up their view of Jane after this tumultuous meeting, " Jane, You've got some balls , Lady ". After viewing this work of finely crafted Theater, we agree whole heartedly. The final line of any play has always interested me, in this case, it says it all : " We all just moved on ". Spending 600 Billion Dollars on a war only to ' move on ' is a tragedy. It is a good thing that Terry Jastrow, his cast and crew as well as the brave programmers at Edgemar Center for the Arts, including Michelle Danner, their Artistic Director have not moved on. This is a great look back at a controversial era that to this day haunts us. We highly suggest this play which runs a limited engagement throughout November and early December of this year. Anne Archer has been nominated for an Academy Award and Terry Jastrow has received seven Emmy Awards. James Giordano gives an especially jolted performance as one of the six soldiers as does Don Swayze whose rage and frustration eventually flow into something new. Chris Stone has designed an inspired set that is symbolic of the very war machine we all live in to this very day.
BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE All Rights Reserved International Intellectual Copyrights Apply Los Angeles CALIF USA
PITY The PROUD ONES
A Play Written by Kurt Dana MAXEY
Directed by Ben GUILLORY
at Robey Theater Company
Reviewed by Joshua TRILIEGI
Pity the Proud Ones at The Robey Theatre Company at LATC is a complicated story to relay. It is the fourth play to be produced directly from their writers workshop which develops and assists writers in the creation of new works. For a play that takes place in a House of ill repute, it is rather tame. Presented with a formality fitting for it's period. The subjects of sex, opium, slavery, and politics are handled almost as if we are watching a play that was written and performed at the time this play is set : 1915. There is much talk of history, the Cuban skirmishes of 1898 with Buffalo Soldiers, The impending war in Europe ( WWI ), the sinking of the Lucitania, Irish Slaves of 1649 and the Seminole Indians. But at its core, this is an old fashioned story about family, secrets, inheritance and manhood. Loyalty, money and racial history mix together and the weather always plays a part in the moods. Estranged family members reunite under arduous conditions, in this case, the eye of a Hurricane.
Although the location is set in Florida, it could be New Orleans, Cuba, maybe even Jamaica, early Australia or other territory where poor whites, enslaved and newly freed blacks come together, fall in love, go into business, have children and settle together. Protecting one's secrets, playing the society game, breaking the codes and getting ones due all come together in this five person ensemble that is tightly produced and interesting to watch. Martin O'Grady returns to the outback while a storm is brewing on the horizon. He was once a reluctant second generation pimp whom fell in love with his employee and had a son with another woman years ago. His son is an emancipated young man just a few shades darker than his irish blooded father. Apparently there is money owed and secrets afloat.
While Martin enjoys his drink and reveling in history, his son James is set on getting paid and taking to the road with Ella Mae whom works the books for the local Madame that just happens to be his Dad's ex employee and lover, Elizabeth Marie. Whom also shares business and pleasure with Pettigrew, the barkeep and somewhat of a mystery man in this tale. Elizabeth enjoys her pipe and is somewhat stuck between her past and everyone else's future. Although this is certainly an ensemble work of literature, the stand out performance when it comes to tone, period and personification is by Actor Dorian Christian Baucum playing James, who nails the style and body language in a way that allows us to truly believe where we are and that this is another time, another place.
These are historical characters, but there is a mythical aspect to them. James struts and guffaws as if his best friend is the horse he rode on to get here. With a vocal stylization and stage presence that is both commanding and endearing, we want him to get his money, pay the Madame and get free. Although his father is reluctant to do so, he too would like to see his ' boy ' become a man and by the time things are wrapped up, we witness this act. But not before we learn a few things about Martin's history," Family is more than just blood ", Elizabeth's journey ," Were all owned by something or someone. " and James's dilemma," Don't call me boy anymore."
Act two is energized by a Hurricane as well as an inspired performance by Ben Jurrand whom plays Pettigrew,a physically challenged character whom has been damaged by history in a way that we hope Jamie does not have to be. A price that earlier generations paid, so young bucks like James could go out and kick some ass, as we hear about in the opening scene. Halfway through the play, Pettigrew repeats the line " I was thinking about discretion, privacy and the K.K.K. " As if James has not learned of these facts. Although thereis talk of an uncle Pat whom was a priest and a Widow Fernandez whom cooks up a spicy paella, the play stays within its five person ensemble in a traditionally structured style and set piece.
The work is presented not quite, ' in the round ', but perhaps as a two sided experience with the audience on either side of, and above the players, an interesting choice by the set designer, Miguel Montalvo, with costumes by Naila Aladdin Sanders. This is a spirited production which uses its space and ideas smartly and economically. Caroline Morahan as Elizabeth Marie gives an emotional performance which is striking, raw and spent, in that her character's passion was used up long ago, although she is clearly young, lovely and lovable, we see the price she paid to get this far. One thinks of previous Madame's in famous literature such as, Steinbeck' s East of Eden or Nelson Algren' s , Walk on the Wild Side and here we see something completely different. A limbo state where being in power is powerless and " Being in love is too costly ". She tells us early on. Ella Mae is played by Staci Mitchell with a quiet reserve. Ella Mae is a business woman to be, but we get the sense that she will never run a house of ill repute. With eyes on Jamee or Jamie to her, she could supply him with enough security so that they may create a family of their own someday.
This is a play written with a heavy past and a certain future for its characters, when it comes to the now moments, there aren't many. The Hurricane comes and goes, the characters resolve their differences but the damage done remains. We are left thinking about pasts, presents and uncertain futures after viewing this work. An interesting piece that conjures history, taboos and family secrets in an up close and intimate nature. We suggest this Production. I may even see this play again, later in its run, as director Ben Guillory was present and taking extensive notes, one gets the sense that this cast is just warming up.
- Review by Joshua TRILIEGI
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An Electronic Interactive Version of BUREAU of Arts and Culture Magazine. 'Electronic' meaning you are reading it with a device, 'Interactive' meaning you can actually tap the featured interview or image & listen to extended Audio Interviews & Links. BUREAU Magazine can be read without being on-line, though it is much more useful and interesting if you are actually on-line or you may visit our website and enjoy a compendium of Interviews, Articles, Reviews and Essays. We suggest you view the pdf in the Two Page and Full Screen Mode options which are provided at the top of your menu bar under the VIEW section, simply choose Two Page Layout & Full Screen to enjoy. This format allows for The Magazine to be read as a Paper Edition. The BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE has been a respected ART Institute since the early Nineteen Nineties. Many of the original BUREAU members have gone on to have stellar careers in The ARTS. Artists, Filmmakers, Musicians such as: Lucas Reiner, Spike Jonze, Alex McDowell, Martin Durazo, James Gabbard, Christina Habberstock, Lorna Stovall, Heather Van Haaften, Chris Greco, Don Harger, Ron Riehel, Joan Schulze all had very early collaborations with The BUREAU Projects. Our relationship with ART spaces who have been interviewed / reviewed by BUREAU: Jack Rutberg, Susanne Vielmetter, Tobey C. Moss, Shoshana Wayne, Known Gallery, Sabina Lee, The Bowers Museum, The Geffen Contemporary, Hammer Museum, RED CAT, The Skirball Cultural Center, Museum of Contemporary Art in L A, San Diego and in Santa Barbara help to create well earned future partnerships, distribution as well as a 'word of mouth' that is priceless. Collectively, they have been in the business for hundreds of years. Not to mention the thousands of public readers that have received the magazine on their door steps. Our coverage of the MIAMI Art Fairs with in depth audio & slide presentations allow us to create a lasting relationship with the ' National Big Tent ' art events that allow for fundraising activity. We recently interviewed the Grammy Museum and are creating a lasting relationship. The same pattern applies for THEATER: Edgemar, LATC, Circle Theater, Cygnet, Robey. MUSIC : The Echo, The Redwood, The Roxy, Grammy Museum, Origami, Vacation, Record Collector, LA Philharmonic & The San Francisco Philharmonic. BUREAU has created relationships with Film, Music and Art festivals, National & Local Radio Stations, continuing the tradition created with BUREAU Film projects and the utilization of Print, Radio and Web to facilitate publicity, fundraising & awareness. Triliegi Film programs were discussed on KCRW 89.9, KPFK 90.7 and Indie 103 FM within the non profit umbrella in the past and we plan to sustain & develop those ties. We were invited to Cumulus Radio's Commercial Rock Formatted KLOS 95.5 FM [ Bureau mentioned on air] to consider an affiliation. We recently interviewed Miles Perlich of KJAZZ 88.1 FM and we were given tickets to Classical Music concerts by K-MOZART Radio & we invited a guest reviewer to attend. The BUREAU of Arts and Culture Magazine will continue to create a lasting relationship with the Art Institutes, Media & Schools that drive the Arts in America. We distributed Paper Editions to OTIS Art School & The Campus at USC to support alignments with faculty, staff & students who will become future entrepreneurs & participants in the Arts. Our upcoming interview with Barbara Morrison and her connection with UCLA Jazz music department with Herbie Hancock & The Thelonius Monk Institute is solid.We delivered the first edition of the magazines to: Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Palos Verdes, West Hollywood, Los Feliz, Malibu and The beach communities: Hermosa, Redondo & Manhattan beaches. We received financial support from the arts & culture communities by creating a dialog about the arts, reviewing their art exhibitions, theater plays & films. Art Galleries from Culver City to Bergamot Station to Glendale approved of and supported Edition One. Now we have an online READERSHIP that grows exponentially. BUREAU sites in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara, New York City and very soon Seattle, allow for anyone, anywhere, to see what is going on in the arts in that particular city. Which we feel will allow for us to apply for support, distribution and grants within those particular cities and for local businesses to buy ads. We add new cities quite often and create a lasting relationship with the established Arts Foundations in ART, MUSIC, THEATER. Which usually includes Classical music, Art Galleries, live Theater and Film. We added Surfing , Skateboarding and Biking to get the interest of a younger readership and indeed it worked. We have also celebrated those subjects with our fundraisers, selling artworks in relation to Biking & Skatng. We partnered with local & national businesses that assisted & we provided logo affiliation & coverage on the web: Chrome Bags, Jarrittos, LA Skate, DTLA Bikes and The Los Angeles Bikers coalition, to name a few. Older Established Artists from diverse cultures also participate in the BUREAU of Arts and Culture Exhibitions and Interviews. We brought together Native American, African American, Chinese American, Armenian American and Mexican American elder artists in a single exhibition: a financial as well as critical success with "Gathering The Tribes: Part One". We hand delivered the first paper Edition throughout Southern California and select neighborhoods in San Francisco. We introduced the magazine & created Popular Cultural Sites. We are an official media Sponsor for L A Art Fair & PHOTO LA Photo Fair. We extensively cover and or interview galleries at Art Fairs such as, Platform LA, Pulse LA, Untitled Art, Basel Miami, Art Miami, Miami Project, LA Art Book Fair. We provide an extensive overview, Audio walk throughs, visual presentations with 100+ images per on-line feature. If that doesn't convince you, nothing ever will.
THE E VERSION BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE NEW BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE E MAGAZINE
NEW INTERACTIVE ELECTRONIC EDITION OF BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE IS EXTREMELY POPULAR WITH A READERSHIP THAT IS LOYAL, HIP, EDUCATED AND BUYS PRODUCT REGULARLY: ART / MUSIC / SPORTS / ETC... THIS NEW EDITION IS MAILED DIRECTLY TO THOUSANDS AND DOWNLOADED AND SHARED BY THOUSANDS MORE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA ...
OVER A MILLION READERS AT ALL GOOGLE SITES AND THE BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE NETWORK SITES 5000 + IMMEDIATE DIRECT MAIL and 3500 + THROUGH OUR GOOGLE FOLLOWERS.INTERVIEWS . PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAYS . LITERATURE . FICTION . FILM REVIEWS . ARCHITECTURE . DESIGN . SURFING . CUISINE . BIKING . TRAVEL . CULTURE THE BUREAU MAGAZINE REGULAR ICON ESSAY . THE GUEST ARTIST INTERVIEWS WITH WELL OVER A MILLION READERS ON ALL SITES COMBINED INCLUDING : L. A. SAN FRANCISCO . NEW YORK . SEATTLE . MIDWEST . SAN DIEGO . SANTA BARBARAAND THE BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE INTERNATIONAL LITERARY SITE AS WELL AS SOCIAL MEDIA AND A HIGH PROFILE MAILING LIST THAT INCLUDES AN UPSCALE AND CULTURALLY ASTUTE GROUP OF ARTISTS . FILMMAKERS . HOME OWNERS AND SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS READERS WHO GET THE E MAG DIRECTLY IN THEIR MAILBOXES IN PDF FORMAT WITH E - LINKS TO ALL OUR ADVERTISERS.EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH TOP OF THE LINE ARTISTS, WRITERS, FILM MAKERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS. THE PHOTO ESSAYS BY WORLD CLASS PHOTOGRAPHERSWE PROVIDE EXTENSIVE AND ORIGINAL CONTENT THAT GETS YOUR PRODUCTS SEEN BY THOUSANDS OF READERS AND BUYERS AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING ARTISTS AND WRITERS IN THE WORLD TODAY PLUS WE PROVIDE HIP STREET TEAM GIVE AWAYS OF MUSIC . FILM . POSTERS IN AN ABUNDANCE OF LOCATIONS INCLUDING BEVERLY HILLS . SANTA BARBARA . THE BAY AREA . NEW YORK CITY . THE MID WEST: MILWAUKEE . CHICAGO . DETROIT. SAN DIEGO . SEATTLE + WE MAIL DIRECT TO BOOKSTORES THROUGHOUT WORLD.THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING IS THROUGH ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND WITH OUR PDF EDITION WE HAVE TWICE AS MANY PAGES AS OUR SO CALLED COMPETITION. WE COVER SURFING . ART . FASHION . FILM LIKE NO OTHER SPECIALTY MAGAZINEINTELLECTUALLY HIP CONTENT WITH AN EDGY AND STREET SMART SENSIBILITY.WE EVEN TRANSLATED SPECIAL EDITIONS INTO GERMAN AND SPANISH AND HADAN ABUNDANCE OF READERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TRANSLATE THIS SITE !WE ARE OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSORS AT ART FAIRS . PHOTO FAIRS and FILM FESTS.WE DISTRIBUTE POSTERS . CARDS AND FLYERS DOOR TO DOOR EVERY EDITION.
CONTACT US DIRECT WITH YOUR BUDGET / EVENT DATES / QUESTIONS NOW : Editor JOSHUA TRILIEGI 323 734 2877 / JOHNNYMILWAUKEE@earthlink.net
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BUREAU of Arts and Culture
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The BUREAU POCKET PAPER EDITION : PAGE Ad Rates & Sizes
The BUREAU of Arts and Culture is a FREE pocket Magazine availableat Art Galleries, Coffee Shops, Boutiques, Theaters, Book Stores & Clubs. Our cutting edge editorial has been at the forefront of ART Exhibits in LA. We give in depth reviews of Theatre Plays, Art , Concerts & Radio Shows. Most Editorials, Articles and Reviews continue with on line support pages. E-Links directly to Advertiser's Shops, Restaurants, Concerts and Events.We printed [ 20,000 ] Magazines distributed throughout The West Coast with a special focus on Cultural & Artistic City Events. BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE : Full Page Ads$ 500.$ 600.$ 900.$ 1200. Special Placement - ie : Inside Left Cover / Inside Right Cover$ 1500. Special Placement - ie : Back Cover Page / Center Fold [ 2 Page ]The NON PROFIT - ie : Film Festival , Radio Station, Theater The BUSINESS - ie : Boutique, Record Store, Art Gallery The CORPORATION - ie : Publisher, Car Dealer, Museum,When YOU advertise with us for The Whole Year [ 3 Editions ] We discount your rates by 20% ! FULL Page ADS are 6 inches by 6 inches / Two Page layouts measure 6 inches by 12 inches, a perfect LAYOUT for Your AD(s)
