mister lonely

earlier this week i viewed the movie "mister lonely" by harmony korine and i was very impressed. not only was it genuinely funny, it was also beautiful. the movie is about an american michael jackson impersonator who is living in paris. he is having a hard time finding people who speak english and finds himself lonely, questioning his identity and thinking about heading back to the states. everything changes while he is doing a gig at a retirement home and meets marilyn monroe who convinces him to come with her back to her beautiful homestead, a Utopian commune for impersonators in a castle nestled in the beautiful french country side. although it has it's dark moments, it seems to be a departure from the intentionally offensive movies previously created by korine. i highly recommend it.

i had almost completely forgotten harmony korine and this movie reignited my curiosity towards the dark character and his limited works. i do believe that korine is one of my favorite directors to date and those of you who think that his social commentary is distasteful, i would disagree, but i would also argue that his originality in imagery and cadence is undeniable. it is not surprising that he names cassavettes, jean luc godard, and werner herzog (who appears in julien donkey-boy and mister lonely) as some of his main influences.

harmony korine has made 4 feature length films: kids, gummo, julien donkey-boy and mister lonely. he also began a short-lived project known as fight harm, directed by david blaine (yes, that david blaine). it was comprised of korine engaging random people in actual street fights. he followed rules of always provoking the fight and continuing until threat of death. korine, who often said he would die for the cinema, hoped to make a cross between a buster keaton vehicle and a snuff film, but after only six fights, he was hospitalized and forced to abandon the project. oof, hardcore. he also wrote the screen play for kent park, which is a seriously twisted movie directed by larry clark (not recommended for the faint of heart).

korine has also published a few books, made a few short stories, made some music videos (including "casper the friendly ghost" by daniel johnston {kids is the first time that i heard a song by daniel johnston}) and a few documentaries. he first gained notoriety at the age of 22 with the movie kids (he wrote the screenplay when he was 19). after julien donkey-boy was finished in 2003, karine practically vanished and although he has never admitted it publicly, his former girlfriend chloe sevigny said in an interview that he was addicted to heroin and methedone and it led to their break up.

of all people, here is what roger ebert said in his review of julien donkey-boy, "korine, who at 25 is one of the most untamed new directors, belongs on the list with godard, cassavettes, herzog, warhol, tarkovsky, brakhage and others who smash conventional movies and reassemble the pieces... harmony korine is the real thing, an innovative and gifted filmmaker whose work forces us to see on his terms." i couldn't agree more.

i believe that harmony korine is truly one of the greatest directors and i look forward to amazing work from him in the future. david letterman is out of touch asshole, but here is a great interview with harmony korine. at the end he really sticks it to him. sorry about the poor quality, but believe me, it is highly entertaining and worth viewing.

animal collective and the best album of the year?

i wasn't going to do an entry about the new animal collective album "merriweather post pavillion", but how could i resist? sure, now they are big rock stars appearing on tv, having practically a critical consensus of acclamation for this album which is already being hailed as the best album of 2009 (so soon? oh yes), but goddammit, i have loved this band forever and i'll be damned if i don't get to glow for them too!

this is their best album. it seems as though they have tapped into some sort of field of consciousness as a group and become a whole. i feel as though the organic blends of vocals and accoustic instruments are finally melting into the digital blendings and manipulations at the hand of the geologist. the swirling tidal wave of sound and emotions wash over you and leave you hypnotized and mesmerized. if you have ever wanted to experience psychedelic substances, but don't have the gall, i would suggest popping this album in while taking a nap. you will be elated by the carnival of imagery that ensues, and you may just end up tuning in and dropping out, if just for that moment.

i first heard this band back in 2004. a friend of mine had been giving me mp3s of theirs here and there, which i digested with not much thought to it. sure, they were a great band, even then, but that is all that it amounted to in my mind. he convinced me to come with him to a show at the great american music hall. they were playing with black dice, so i didn't protest. what i saw that night changed me. they played songs mostly from the album i later came to know as "sung tongs". i swear to god, it was like a spiritual awaking! i felt like fucking hippie, eyes closed, hands in the air, jumping up and down to the grind of their pulsating beats. all this without the aid of any substances. how embarrassing. the most interesting part of the show was that geologist was playing with them at that show, but he did not appear on the album. i bought a black dice/animal collective split there called "wastered" but don't waste your time with that.

i have seen two other shows since. i saw them at the fillmore where they debuted songs from the album feels and also in seattle at neumos doing songs from strawberry jams. the latter wasn't as good of a show as i was used to with them. at first i thought that maybe it was just the venue. i have been to neumo's several times and it seems like the bands don't have as much energy there, i'm not sure why. it also gets rediculously crowded, but that is beside the point, because when the album was finally released, i knew the problem instantly. the album, compared to their previous work, was a flop. i couldn't believe it! it was the first time that i noticed any sort of commercial concern in their music and it seemed forced towards popiness (i think that i just made up a word!). that was a sad day for me. luckily i had so much other work to draw pleasure from.

here is the point if this entry. if you like the new album as much as i do, it is definitely worth your while to check out some of the other pieces put out by members of the collective.

avey tare and panda bear: there you go. the beginning of it all, sort of. this band is considered to be the early incarnation of the band that is now the animal collective. "spirit they're gone, spirit they've vanished" is one of my favorite albums.

jane is also amazing. this group is comprised of panda bear and scott mou. i have the lp "berserker" on vinyl and i love it very much.

another fun ensemble is avey tare & krÌa brekkan, krÌa being avey tare's girlfriend.

animal collective's record label supports a cast of very enjoyable and obscure acts such as ariel pink. check out the paw tracks website for more details.

too hot, even for the bush administration?

the conflict in gaza is so controversial that i considered keeping my trap shut on the subject, but as others start to tread the treacherous waters of personal opinion on the matter, i feel that it may be time to put my own two cents in.

i am not under any delusion that the white house would condemn the actions of the state of israel, who are a long standing ally as we all know, and i don't think anybody could seriously consider hamas to be upstanding or legitimate in their attacks, but here is some brow-raising bits of information that i find rather appalling. since firing the first kassam rocket into israel in 2002, hamas has continued launching thousands of rockets into israel, causing about two dozen israeli deaths and widespread fear. these were indiscriminate attacks on civilians, these can be defined as war crimes. during roughly the same period, israeli forces killed nearly 2,700 palestinians in gaza according to the israeli human rights group b'tselem.

since december 27th of last year, the first day of the current war, the palestinian death toll rose to 870 today, an estimated half being civilians (275 children and 93 women), gazan medical officials said. thirteen Israelis have been killed. over 3650 people have been injured in the attacks, some being linked to white phosphorous, a gas that israel claims they are using as a smoke screens to hide military operations — "a permissible use in principle under international humanitarian law", but human rights organizations have long urged a world ban on the munitions, saying they cause undue suffering through severe burns, essentially having the same effect as napalm. a protocol to the 1980 Convention on conventional weapons forbids using incendiary weapons against civilians or against military targets amid concentrations of civilians. video of the alleged incidents and first account interviews of victims can be seen at the france24 website. also, here is some footage of gaza's main hospital and the scene there at the cnn website.

the people in heavily populated gaza strip (nearly 1.5 million people) have been affectively locked inside the borders, sorrounded by israel, the mediterranean sea and egypt, who will not allow palestinian refugees to cross their border. the people are without electricity and running water and food, the only relief coming in the allotted 3 hour cease fire every day, which the red cross claims is an insufficient amount. is this starting to sound like genocide to anyone else?

Even the white house seems shaky in their support of israel right now after not vetoing the united nations security council cease-fire resolution that passed Thursday night (which powerful pro-israel lobbying group, the american israel public affairs committee criticized them for).

if you would like to get started on your own investigation, i would suggest the new york times website (of course), the bbc gaza crisis: key maps and timeline and the human rights watch website.

this post is not an invitation for any anti-semitic banter. take that shit somewhere else! living in the united states has also taught me to separate the actions of a government state and the people that they govern.

on a lighter note, i am listening to

globalFEST 2009: Live Webcast from Webster Hall

taking place in nyc right now and it is great!

good night

mixt tape t intro and contest!

so far, i have spared everyone from any self promotion on my behalf, but i will be doing this every so often. i promise that it will always be interesting and beneficial to you, deal?

for many of you, this may be your first glimpse at this tee, which i have deemed "the mixt tape t". in fact, i have been developing this idea for more than a year. i often reminisce about the good ol' days of mix tape sharing among friends. i feel that some of the magic gets lost with on mix cds or mp3s. this is a social experiment to see if there are others out there who feel the same.

this is only the first phase. the tees will eventually become somewhat of an interactive art, incorporating mix tapes from various people, with tees based on the theme of the tapes (designed by yours truly). i will also be making mixes of my own to share as well. this will be an opportunity for persons involved to share their unique music experience with everyone to enjoy! the collections will be fairly intimate with limited runs made of each tape and tee. the tee shirt will also be named after the mix and the creator of the chosen mix will receive their own tee for free!

if you are interested in submitting a tape, go ahead and shoot me an email. the more unique and clever the mix, the better. extra points for weather themed mixes. creativity is always rewarded! have fun with it, that is the whole point.

on another note, anyone who follows my blog will get a 10% discount at my etsy store. just be sure to mention it before you purchase the garment so that i can amend the price.

to see more pics of the mixt tape t's and everything else that i have been working on, visit my etsy shop at CloudbringsRainbows.etsy.com

see, that wasn't so bad, now was it?

ghost

tone bone kone

wow.

that sums up how i felt when i first stumbled upon arthur russell last year. i couldn't believe that 1. this guy is not a contemporary artist (infact he has been dead for almost 20 years) and
b. how the fuck have i never heard this before!

although russell (born charles arthur russell jr.) died at a fairly young age, he left behind quite an extensive body of work. he studied the cello from a very young age and kept with it all of his life. it's almost inconceivable to imagine how this man slipped under the radar when you look at all of the people that he collaborated with and the genres of music that spanned his career.

early on after moving from sf to nyc, arthur became the musical director of a place called the kitchen (which is a story unto itself that i need to find out more about). this was some sort of venue/gallery for primarily video art, plastic art and performance pieces. arthur introduced the idea of the "minimalism" that could be found in pop music by introducing acts such as the modern lovers and the talking heads. yeah. whatever, i don't really understand the minimalist point that he was trying to make, but that put him in some pretty good company early on for sure. come on, jonathan richman? david byrne? this was all between 74 and 75 for fucks sake! a.r. also formed a band called the flying hearts with all kinds of amazing musicians that lasted until 79 and beyond that i cannot find any trace of. if anybody has any recordings of them, hit me up!

so i could pretty much go on forever, but i am just going to glean over the highlights. here's a big one. arthur russell was super involved in disco and was a serious party dood. he has tons of disco singles and albums with various people. i haven't heard a lot of it, so i am not going to comment on it further than telling you that it is out there and it is plentiful. the stuff i have heard was pretty good, if you are into that sort of thing.

the other big one that i am skimming on is that, ready for this, this guy may be responsible for chicago house. i know it's hard to believe, but dood was in the right place at the right time with his digits on the big gay pulse of new york. his records were HUGE at the paradise garage, including the single "is it all over my face", which is thuh muthuh fuckin jam!!! at least it is if you like house music at all. check it out!

the last thing that i am going to mention very briefly is that he died of aids. i wouldn't even mention it, but it seems to directly correlate with the feeling of some of his most beautiful music. this is a beautiful quote that i found from the village voice upon his death. "His recent performances had been so infrequent due to illness, his songs were so personal, that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music."

his best album as far as i am concerned, the one that i cannot stop listening to, his opus if you will, is called world of echo. it is a mellow, reflective album and the pieces seem to run together without a beginning or an end. part avant-garde, part minimal with interestingly buttery electrified melancholy vocals drifting over beautiful melodies comprised of nothing but cello. if you buy one piece of music this year, you should make it this album, seriously.

that's all i have for now. i'm sick of typing. you can get a taste of the stuff i have been jabbering on about on myspace if you search arthur russell. i checked it out. there is a plethora of sites claiming to be his and they all offer something different. happy searching!

good night.

not that kenny g!

kenneth goldsmith is a man after my own heart.

i have to admit, i didn't always feel this way. there was a time, when i was fresh ears to fmu, that i found his poetry (some consisting of reading lists such as recipes for well over an hour) a little bit more than annoying. ok, the truth is that it drove me fucking nuts! that was, of course, before i found the context of his work.

for those of you who are not familiar with kenny, he is an artist (poet really), a teacher of "uncreative writing" at the university of pennsylvania, the founding editor and curator for the exhaustively prolific online archive that is ubuweb, and host of a show on wfmu.

ubuweb is amazing! it is focussed (if you could call it that) on artists that are considered avant garde . i have no idea how they have managed to compile of this art, but i wouldn't be surprised if you could fill every waking moment of one full year with the sites contents. it is a non-commercial website and operates on a gift economy. it offers educational open access to out-of-print works that find a second life through digital art reprint while also representing the work of contemporaries. the highlight of ubuweb for myself is the entire archive of the tellus audio cassette magazine project. check it out at ubuweb.com .

kenny g also has a plethora of written works under his belt including fidget, soliloquy, the weather, and sports to name a few that are definitely worth finding out about to say the least.

now that you have some what of a back ground and have checked out some of the ubuweb goodness (including the kenny g podcasts, shear gold, i promise!) you are ready to indulge in the odyssey that is the kenny g show on wfmu. somewhat of an extention of his sound poetry works, it includes all kind of bizarreness including nick the bard doing solo a capella renditions of somewhat obscure metal songs of yore, including guitar sounds. you can check out the show every wednesday from 12-3pm est on wfmu.

wfmu is a whole other story and will blow your mind! check 'em out at wfmu.org

ghost

introduction to the bone whisper

hi, how are you?

welcome to bone whisper. it's what i like! if you are someone who associates the opening sentence with daniel johnston, then this blog might just appeal to you.

bone whisper is something that i have wanted to do for a long time now. i have made it my new year's resolution to finally do something about it. happy new year everyone!

let me tell you all a little bit about myself. my name is anthony ferrario and i was born and raised in anacortes, wa, which has become somewhat of an indie rock hub over the past ten years, thanks to the department of safety. i haven't been there for most of it. i currently reside in cambridge, ma, our fair city, home of the oldest university in america. i do not attend it. i am a seamster and an entrepreneur, my label is called stormcloud, bring rainbows. i will be posting pictures of the new merchandise as i make it, but that is not the main focus of this blog. i may also post pictures of other peoples clothing, art, craft, what-have-you if i am so moved. check out my etsy shop: cloudbringsrainbows.etsy.com

you can also friend my at facebook or myspace and see my photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/rainbowcloudeyes/

i llllllooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvve music! i have a wide range as far as my tastes go as you may see if you follow along. the weirder, the better. i have a lot to say, and can be opinionated at times. i will try to stay positive, but no promises. i also love wfmu. music will be a large portion of my posts.

i get all riled up about politics and don't trust any politicians as far as i can throw them. that being said, i will be covering issues that i consider important, or that aren't being represented in the light that i see them in. i tend to lean pretty heavily to the left, but i do not associate myself with a party per se. this, as everything will be open to discussion.

i also like to read. i am particular to fiction, but i read non fiction as well and think that everyone should keep a balance.

radio rocks me! my friend while i work. i also have a flavor for podcasts. i will be giving the updates on what i am digging on that front.

i will also be covering whatever the shit else i want to. it's my turn to be heard, dammit! i have open ears as well though, and i invite any type of discussions or comments, pos or neg. let 'er rip!

there may be some prose and other bizarreness as well, if you keep your eyes crossed, doggie golf crawler.

ghost,

anthony