WYOMING ~

Wyoming 1954
photograph by Elliott Erwitt

PAULA FOX ~

Paula Fox Paris Review Interview

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1/the-art-of-fiction-no-181-paula-fox

STEFAN HYNER ~

WERNER HERZOG ~

Werner Herzog

A Guide for the Perplexed

(Faber 2014)

Conversations with Paul Cronin

 On the back cover of the book, Herzog offers a list of advice for filmmakers that doubles as general purpose life advice.

1. Always take the initiative.
2. There is nothing wrong with spending a night in jail if it means getting the shot you need.
3. Send out all your dogs and one might return with prey.
4. Never wallow in your troubles; despair must be kept private and brief.
5. Learn to live with your mistakes.
6. Expand your knowledge and understanding of music and literature, old and modern.
7. That roll of unexposed celluloid you have in your hand might be the last in existence, so do something impressive with it.
8. There is never an excuse not to finish a film.
9. Carry bolt cutters everywhere.
10. Thwart institutional cowardice.
11. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
12. Take your fate into your own hands.
13. Learn to read the inner essence of a landscape.
14. Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory.
15. Walk straight ahead, never detour.
16. Maneuver and mislead, but always deliver.
17. Don't be fearful of rejection.
18. Develop your own voice.
19. Day one is the point of no return.
20. A badge of honor is to fail a film theory class.
21. Chance is the lifeblood of cinema.
22. Guerrilla tactics are best.
23. Take revenge if need be.
24. Get used to the bear behind you.

Robin Magowan

 
Robin Magowan

The Garden of Amazement

 Scattered Gems After Sâeb

 Longhouse 2015

112 pages, perfect bound, 6 x 8-1/2 inches

ISBN 978-1-929048-28-1

$15
U.S. addresses ~ order here through PayPal
Shipping & handling: $2

International orders shipping $15

SAMUEL CHARTERS ~

that the only permanence

                     is loss

its pain — despite what I said —

to be always within me.

                         Beyond the season

             the season's loss.

             S  A  M  U  E  L    C  H  A  R  T  E  R  S

                  (1929 ~ 2015)

                  Bluesmaker, folkmaster, producer, music historian

           author, translator, educator, poet

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/arts/music/samuel-charters-foundational-scholar-of-the-blues-dies-at-85.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=1

ALAN LAU'S NEW YEAR CARD 2015 ~

Alan & Kazuko's Happy New Year Card

Year of the Sheep

2015

VERNAL MUSIC BOX ~

music compiled by bob arnold
spring 2015

THE OPEN ROAD ~

The Open Road

David Campany

Photography & the American

Road Trip

(Aperture 2014)

http://aperture.org/shop/the-open-road

ZAPATA ~

Born a poor peasant, Zapata fought for an agrarian reform
and democracy in the Mexican Revolution. Under the
slogan "Land and Liberty" his Zapatistas fought as guerillas in southern Mexico.
Assassinated in 1919, he was buried in Cuautla.
Unidentified photograph from 1912

JEAN FOLLAIN ~

HABIT

At the edge of the table

the man who is toying with

the magnet and filings

no longer hears the ocean

beating the rocks.

From the ceiling

beans are hung to dry

the whitewashed walls

let insects come and go

people passing each other by

would like to get back

in the habit of loving.

SEPARATION

In a shed in the old garden

the separation takes place

amid the rustling of leaves

you have to go far away

to another country

to recover this moment of farewell

leaning on the quiet tree

in the hour of lamplight

just as a child is sent

with no one to confide in

looking for milk in the night.

IN THIS LIGHT

Clearly in this broad daylight you can see

the empty bowl on the table

the background dappled

with the play of shadows

among the passersby

one picks up a pin

under a sky that darkens

though no lights come on.

A lithe body

is filled with silence.

Images from memory

will return with evening.

FARMERS

Some farmers keep on

watching the clouds

looking for clues

some prefer

an easy eloquence

to silence

at the corner

made by a hedge

of many plants

the transparent evenings

wear thin with repetition

on a stage of trestles

someone is making a speech

to others seated at tables

in the open barn

on furrows that shine

to the very ends of the earth.

SURROUNDED WOMAN

People are kept in suspense

by these commotions about a woman

who remains beautiful

as she bends her body

her hair sweeping the red ground

in the last light of festivities.

All those who watch

have memories

but they no longer see

night approaching.

FACE THE ANIMAL

It's not always easy

to face the animal

even if it looks at you

without fear or hate

it does so fixedly

and seems to disdain

the subtle secret it carries

it seems better to feel

the obviousness of the world

that noisily day and night

drills and damages

the silence of the soul.

__________________ 

translated by Heather McHugh

D'Après Tout

JEAN FOLLAIN

(Princeton 1981)

Jean Follain (29 August 1903 – 10 March 1971) was a French author, poet and corporate lawyer.  A car accident took his life.

PANCHO ~

The colorful rebel leader of the Mexican Revolution astride his
famous horse "Seven Leagues." He commanded the "Division of the
North" alleged to be the largest army in Mexican history. Villa was
assassinated in an ambush while riding in his car.
Photograph by O.T. Aultman in 1911.

ROBERT CHRISTGAU ~

Dey St. / Harper Collins

2015

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/01/388695420/robert-christgau-reviews-his-own-life

KIM GORDON ~

Kim Gordon
Girl in a Band
Dey Street Books
2015


http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/watch-kim-gordon-talk-sonic-youth-bass-influences-with-carrie-brownstein-20150313



Before Spring arrives,  Dey Street Books releases two memoirs by two hard rockers. Their stories aren't all that interesting but it all comes from a storied time. Both writers rely on a sort of performance craft. Christgau's writing prowess has always been his strength — twisting through venues and characters — and while Kim Gordon will tell us she doesn't practice playing her guitar, and jokes that she can't play — it's all about attitude and rebellion — like Christgau the theme that fires her book is love. For him love (lost, then found), her (lost) and it's an emptiness you feel for her by the closing of the book. Christgau has survived decades of yeoman tasks at the Village Voice helm and his narcotic music Consumer Guides. For Kim Gordon flopping down in leather jacket and party dresses, whether it's more music, her art, or a clothing line, I'm glad she made it this far, and shared a personal peep.

Robert Christgau, Going Into the City, a memoir, Dey Street Books
(Birdhouse tomorrow)

FRIDAY ~ SATURDAY JUKEBOX

music compiled by bob arnold

march 2015

SWEET JACK ~

'Adieu, sweet Jack, the air of life is
permeated with roses all the time.'
Jack Kerouac
from Visions of Cody

Jack Kerouac ~ Alec Finlay
MORNING STAR PUBLICATIONS

ROBERT FRANK AT WORK AGE 90 ~

Robert Frank

(1978)

 http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/07/robert-frank-americans-photography-influence-shadows

 

Published by Steidl, 2014 

 

In Partida, Robert Frank continues the journey through his archives, presenting us with a new series of images of friends, colleagues, interiors, of quiet still lives and snap shots of both ordinary and unexpected objects and situations. Frank's visual diaries constitute an important part of both his later work and the ongoing art of the photo book.

 

 

BUSTER ~

The stars of the film Go West (1925)
Buster Keaton & Brown Eyes.
Keaton also wrote and directed the film for MGM.
Delmar Watson Hollywood archives

RAFAEL ALBERTI ~

The Angelic Angel



The sea went to give her a name,

and the wind gave a surname,

and a body, the clouds,

and a soul, the flame.



Earth gave no gifts.



That mobile realm that drifts

hanging from eagles' span

knows her not.



Her shadow never wrote

the semblance of man.






Deception



Someone behind you, always behind,

binding your eyes with words to make you blind.



Behind you, with no frame,

no soul.

Smoky voice of a dream

cut short.

A broken voice

of smoke.



With words, false panes of glass.



Blindly, down a golden tunnel

that evil mirrors face,

you'll bump into death

in some underground place.



You, alone there, girl, with death,

in an underground place.



And someone always there behind,

always.






The Sooty Angel



Ugly, of mud and soot.

I won't look!



Yet once, all snow and gold,

in a sleigh across my soul.

Laden pines, and white slopes.



Now, through garages you crawl,

filthy, black as coal.

Devil take you!



Through garrets where my smashed dreams lie and rust.

Trailing cobwebs. Moths and dust.

God damn you!



Your hands have left their smear

on walls and furniture.

On everything,

your memory branded still,

stamped in slime and black ink.

Hell burn you!



Love, you dark squid of shadow,

evil.



from Alberti's book of angels...
Concerning the Angels
translated from the Spanish by Geoffrey Connell
Alan Swallow, 1967

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/a/alberti_rafael.htm&prev=search

JIMI ~

Jimi Hendrix, 1969

Photograph by Nona Hatay

TINA BROOKS ~

http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~chambers/tinabrooks.html