Monthly Archives for March 2009

Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists

Exhibition opening at Dabora, Brooklyn, NYC ( Map ) on Saturday, March 14th, 8pm-11pm. Complimentary absinthe so arrive early! Pam says “If you can’t make it to the opening, I will be at the gallery most weekends, so be sure to stop in and say hello. The artwork is stunning, and Dabora is a gallery like no other, with its opulent, gothic interior. Divine.”

Dabora Gallery and Phantasmaphile‘s Pam Grossman are proud to usher in the spring season with the group show “Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists,” on view from March 14th through April 12th, 2009.

In literal terms, a fata morgana is a mirage or illusion, a waking reverie, a shimmering of the mind. Named for the enchantress Morgan le Fay, these tricks of perception conjure up a sense of glimpsing into another world, whether it be the expanses of an ethereal terrain, or the twilit depths of the psyche. The artists of “Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists” deftly utilize the semiotics of mysticism, fantasy, and the subconscious in their work, thereby guiding the viewer through heretofore uncharted realms – alternately shadowy or luminous, but always inventive.

Yoko Ono recently said, “I think all women are witches, in the sense that a witch is a magical being.” Each artist in this show is a sorceress in her own right. Endowed with fecund imaginations and masterful craftsmanship, their work transforms the viewer: we become spellbound, bearing witness to their attempts to reconcile the desire for a diurnal beauty with the lure of a lush and riotous inner wilderness. The fantastical is counterpoint to the ferocious, the monstrous to the marvelous. Allusions to myth and metamorphosis abound, as these works channel their own heroine spirits and tell their own secret tales. Here, frame is magic threshold, bidding us to take a breath, and cross over.

Monday, Mar 16: CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE in L.A., playing the world's largest church pipe organ!

charlemagnepalestine

From Monday Evening Concerts:

Monday, March 16, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

Charlemagne Palestine – “Schlingen-Blängen”

Charlemagne Palestine, organ

A true “living legend,” maverick American composer Charlemagne Palestine emerged from the downtown New York music scene. In a rare return visit to Los Angeles, where he lived in the early 1970s, he’ll pull out all the stops on the world’s largest church pipe organ. Always accompanied by his family of stuffed animals, Palestine has gained worldwide notoriety for his transcendent and earth-shaking performances, which create the illusion of dozens of organists playing simultaneously. His pure and animistic music creates trance-like drones that must be heard live to be fully appreciated.

General Admission: $25
Students: $10

First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
540 S. Commonwealth Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90020

The First Congregational Church is located on Commonwealth Avenue (between Vermont Avenue and Alvarado Street) at Sixth Street. For free secured on-site parking, enter on Commonwealth Avenue.

More info…

Lionel Ziprin Talks Smith-Abulafia Recordings

from Ian Nagoski:

The story of Harry Smith‘s mid-50s recordings of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Margolies Abulafia, a Kabbalist involved with word-permutations, made between the release of the Anthology of American Folk Music and the beginng of work on the Mirror Animations and Heaven and Earth Magic has been told and retold, but it’s nice to see these newly-posted clips, filmed a dozen years ago of Abulafia’s grandson, poet Lionel Ziprin explaining the story of an extraordinary recording, which the larger world has yet to hear. It’ll happen eventually. Maybe we’ll get a decent reissue of Smith’s Kiowa peyote song recordings, too…

Baltimore Underground Hippie Paper Imagery, pt 1

From Ian Nagoski:

Here’s the first of a gaggle of posts we’ll be doing of images from newsprint hippie publications from Baltimore, 1968-71.

These are from Harry, which to quote Joe Vaccarino’s Baltimore Sounds: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Baltimore Area Pop Musicians, Bands & Recordings 1950-1980, “was founded in 1969 by Michael Carliner… After a rocky start, when the original staff revolted and walked out on the eve of the first issue’s press run, Harry became the choice alternative free [sic] paper of the Baltimore political and musical communities. Early contributors included Art Levine, P.J. O’Rourke, Tom D’Antoni, Alan Rose and Jack Heyrman. Harry survived many raids, takeovers and other traumatic events to provide alternative and community news at the height of the Vietnam, hippie, yippie era.”

Ahmed Fathi in D.C. for Free Fri. March 13

Yemeni oudist and singer Ahmed Fathi is playing the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for FREE at 6PM this Friday Mach 13 as part of the Center’s Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World series, running for another week.

If this improvisation in someone’s living room is anything to go by, the concert should be a hot one.