COMMAND PERFORMANCE” -THE ARTHUR MAILING LIST BULLETIN
No. 0012
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 12, 2005
title: “BLACK WORK”
Did you know?: “Stripping and singing and torching of public and Doukhobor-owned buildings demonstrated the [Doukhobor community’s] renunciation of the ways of the outside world. Pacifism gave way to other forms of protest called ‘black work.’ The greatest of Doukhobor taboos – violence – had become, paradoxically, a method to purge threatening influences. Their belief that schools were a primary contaminating influence led to an escalation of school burnings. ‘The cause of all this is the SCHOOL with its wrong orientation, thrusting sadism upon the youthful generation,’ a manifesto claimed. ‘Especially when a person partakes of higher education, or attends military academies, does he become a truly insane animal.’ Nude parents trying to physically remove their children from government schools were arrested and imprisoned. New schools, built to replace those destroyed, met the same fate within months of opening. Hundreds now joined the [Doukhobors’] nude parades…” (found online)
Well hello there, my Arthurlings. Welcome to 2005. Here at Arthur HQ we are working our hardest to make it a better year than the last one, which was basically miserable with brief episodes of joy, and we daresay things are looking jolly good. The new issue of Arthur is being prepped by the sous chefs and is just about ready to go in the Dutch oven. A nutritious and surprise-filled meal will be served to the first 50,000 diners starting February 15. Invite your friends over for an Arthur dinner party! Send pictures of the happy event to editor@arthurmag.com
And now for some questions:
1. How do you feel about the Bush inauguration on Thursday, January 20? Mirror/Dash (Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon), To Live and Shave in L.A. (with Andrew W.K. on drums), Double Leopards, Nautical Almanac, Magic Markers, the Paul Flaherty/Chris Corsano duo, Metalux, 16 Bitch Pile Up, Buzzardstain (feat Nate Young of Wolf Eyes) and many other righteously pissed off musicians aren’t too pleased, and they will be greeting “GWBII: The Nightmare Continues” with a night of NOISE AGAINST FASCISM — a clear-the-sphere blow-out fandango that evening at the Black Cat club in Washington, D.C. We’ve got a poster for it up at http://www.arthurmag.com on the News page. Know your enemy, know your friends.
2. Do you like the quiet music? Do you like to camp on the beach in the wintertime? You might wanna head up to Bolinas, California on Jan 21-22 for the Brightblack Morning Light-presented “Quiet Quiet Window Lights 2nd Annual Rural Song Event” on those dates which will feature Michael Hurley, Women & Children, Devendra Banhart, Peggy Honeywell, Currituck County, Gojogo, Brightblack Morning Light, Daniel Higgs’ Magic Alphabet, Vetiver, Entrance and some special unannounceable but very pronounceable guests. There’s a poster and a ton of helpful info up at the Jan 11 entry of the Arthur “Magpie” blog system at
http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/
More info is available at
www.thebrightblackmorninglight.com
3. Do you want to know what’s up with Bastet, Arthur’s CD/DVD direct-from-we-to-thee imprint? Okay. Bastet’s latest release is “No Magic Man,” an all-new full-length limited-edition album by thee mighty Mass state unstuck funk combine SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN. Keep the aloe handy. And lo, in future time, probably mid-March, Bastet will release “Bread, Beard and Bear’s Prayers,” a new multi-artist compilation CD curated by Ethan Miller of COMETS ON FIRE. 13 tracks of on-one incandescence. Only 500 are being made, in a numbered screenprint sleeve with a stitched-in booklet. And after that, there’s gonna be other stuff. Ordering info for Bastet available exclusively at
http://www.arthurmag.com/store/bastet_cds.php
4. Finally, may we inquire: Do you live in the Los Angeles area? Are you interested in attending private screenings of deep turned-on films that cannot be safely shown to the multitude? If your answers are yes and yes, then by all means email the person who reads emails at editor@arthurmag.com
and you will be made aware of certain future happenings.
You already know the answer,
The Arthur Peace Thugs
Arthur Magazine 