“COMMAND PERFORMANCE” -THE ARTHUR MAILING LIST BULLETIN
No. 0015
FRIDAY MARCH 11, 2005
title: Could a Magazine Ever Be Useful?
From “Historical Treasures” by JACK SMITH, edited by Ira Cohen, Hanuman Books, 1990:
“COULD ART EVER BE USEFUL? Ever since the desert glitter drifted over the burnt-out ruins of Plastic Lagoon, thousand of artists have not pondered and dreamed of such things. Yet art must not be used anymore as another elaborate means of fleeing from thinking because of the multiplying amount of information each person needs to process in order to come to any kind of decision about what kind of world one wants to live in, since it has bcome obvious that the schools operate by picking everything out of context.
“LET ART CONTINUE TO BE ENTERTAINING, escapist, stunning, naturalistic and glamorous–but let it also be loaded with information worked into the vapid plots of movies, for instance. Each one would be a more or less complete exposition of one subject or another. Thus you would have Tony Curtis or Janet Leigh busily making yogurt; Humphrey Bogart struggling to introduce a basic civil rights law course into public schools; infants being given to the old in homes for the aged by Ginger Rogers; donut-shaped dwellings with sunlight pouring into central patios for all, designed by Gary Cooper; soft clear plastic bubble-cars with hooks that attach to monorails built by Charlton Heston that pass over the free paradise of abandoned objects in the center of the city near where the community movie sets would also be; and where Maria Montez and Johnny Weissmuller would labor to dissolve all national boundaries and release the prisoners of Uranus. But the stairway to socialism is blocked up by the Yvonne De Carlo tabernacle choir waving bloody palm branches and waiting to sing the ‘Hymn to the Sun’ by Irving Berlin. This is the rented moment of exotic landlordism of Crab Lagoon!”
ARTHUR, ARTHUR!
Events up the wazzoo:
On Friday, March 11 at 11pm — THAT’S TONIGHT — Arthur is co-presenting a screening at the New York Underground Film Festoval of the 1970 film CAPTAIN MILKSHAKE. This is the reel deal people! Said Arthur columnists Byron Coley & Thurston Moore in Arthur 11: “Snappiest DVD in a while has to be CAPTAIN MILKSHAKE, a theatrically released film from 1971, directed by Richard Crawford. Filmed in San Diego, it tells the story of a Marine who comes home on leave from Vietnam and falls in with a winsome hippie lass and the politico-druggies with whom she shares a pad. Sounds like a fairly typically ‘60s film, yeah, but there are lotsa extremely interesting moments in the film, and the non-high-budget quality of the shoot gives everything a very realistic quality. The rock clubs they film in are real rock clubs, the protests in they film are real protests, etc etc. The authenticity of locales, plus the mean-edged realism of the straights’ political banter, and the moral confusion of the title character really make Captain Milkshakean outstanding genre flick. Also worth mentioning is the fact that L.A.’s legendary Kaleidoscope actually appear playing live for two of the film’s sequences. There are limited theatrical showings of the film being done, but if you can’t make one, I strongly suggest viewing the DVD, if you have any interest in the visual literature of hippiedom.”
There’s more information on this screening at
http://www.arthurmag.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=86
Then on March 16 in Los Angeles, Arthur will be presening JOHN SINCLAIR (author/activist/poet/jailbird/Manager and Prime Mover of MC5) at Amoeba Music in Hollywood, where he’ll be spinning tunes and signing copies of his books and CD. This is FREE in every sense of the word! More info
http://www.arthurmag.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=83
The next day is March 17. And on that day, in Austin, Texas, Arthur will be throwing a FREE afternoon party featuring live music from DEAD MEADOW, WOLFMOTHER, JENNIFER GENTLE, PSYCHIC ILLS and WINTER FLOWERS at the Church of the Friendly Ghost. Seriously. Starts at 1:30pm. Free quality Pabst beer while it lasts. Then it’s on to Shiner Bock. No SXSW badges are necessary, everybody and their sister and brother is welcome.
More info
http://www.arthurmag.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=84
Meanwhile, back at HQ. We’ve finally got the pretty new Arthur t-shirts, designed by Arik Moonhawk Roper, who you may know from his illustration work in Arthur and his gorgeous work on the new High On Fire album cover. These “Tuff Wizard” shirts are cheap, chic and going fast. More info
One more thing. The new Bastet album by SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN, _No Magic Man_, is starting to draw some critical notices. “Finally they give us what we want,” says Jim Steed at fakejazz.com. “Essential to those interested in the band… Wicked funk grooves and trancey drone-outs… No Magic Man is a fitting rival for ‘Jaybird,’ ‘Wild Animal,’ and ‘Headdress’ as best Sunburned Hand of the Man release. Rating: 12/12” AND prime Arthur contributor/aesthete John Coulthart sez: “Crazy stuff, reminiscent of Amon Duul, more than anything, for that kind of lurching, freeform, what-will-they-do-next thing. Sounds like the genuine article, being done for their reasons, rather than anything pastiched.” If you want one, hurry, there’s only 1000 of these babies. Available for cheep from
Stuck in Los Angeles California with those Mobile Alabama blues again,
Your Mama
Arthur Magazine 