October 19, 2003
Thinking Out of the Box

tonight david blaine's 44 day "above the below" confinement ends. i have admired david blaine's "magic" for years: his ability to overcome the limitations of his body's needs for rest, comfort, nutrition, and locomotion are amazing, and it is inspiring that he triumphs over fears that are nearly universal, usually for very long periods of time.

david blaine has been roundly criticised for his voluntary starvation stunt, though. many people are angry that he would starve himself when there are people starving around the world. many people feel that if he is going to do a starvation challenge he should be linking it to a charity cause which would feed hungry people. one man attacked blaine verbally as he sat in his plastic box over the thames. blaine responded:

"He's so concerned with people that are starving – and I think it is a concern – then he should go work and send all his money to feed people, or go feed them himself. Instead of using his anger to come yell and scream negativity, he should go do something positive".

david blaine has encouraged others to donate to charity if they believe in it all along, but he has not buckled in to the pressure to do so himself, although it would be the politically correct thing for him to do. he performs for children and hospitals in his free time, and he feels that this is what he wants to give. isn't that what charity is? a gift, voluntarily given?

in any case, although i don't really understand this starvation event, as denying myself food for more than 6 hours is a choice i would rarely make, generally speaking i respect david blaine's judgement and he obviously wanted to see if he could do it. i suppose the real question is whether he is really in the box...

"I don't consider myself a magician or illusionist at all. I consider myself a showman, and I love magic, and I love art, and I love performance, and they're all separate." - David Blaine

Posted by ash at 11:38 AM

October 15, 2003
Second Hand Stories

last night, on pbs, the premier episode of "second hand stories," created by john freyer and chris wilcha. i wish i had mentioned it in a more timely manner for those who cared to tune in, but i was away from home. check your local listings, it will probably be shown again in the near future. and you don't want to miss it. not only was it lovingly filmed with vintage cameras, not only does the soundtrack rock with all manner of thrifted vinyl from every era, not only do freyer and wilcha squeeze every drop of beauty out of any given human interaction, but it's your chance to see me with my kinky cuffs. your only chance will be on film, because they've been retired in reality.

"Secondhand" means more than fondue pots and tennis rackets, the ubiquitous junk of suburban America. "This object," Wilcha observes, "is clearly the relic or the manifestation of somebody's choices and ideas." Yet another abandoned piece of exercise equipment is the story of personal failure as much as it is the story of a country whose population is increasingly obese...

...For Wilcha, a secondhand story is ultimately not a story of things but of humanity. Of who we are, who we were, and who we might become.

Salon.com - 15 Oct 2003

Posted by ash at 11:33 PM

October 08, 2003
Run Down, Catch Up

sunday evening when i arrived home from SOLO conference, all i wanted to to was jump in bed and get some sleep, but my cousin had secured me passes to the sold-out howie day show at the tla so i jumped back in my car and headed back into the city. what a great show!

first off, jump little children were awesome. actually, back up. charlotte martin was good. she was lovely. ok, now. jump little children were awesome. matt bivins is so delicious to watch. pj told me last week that they were appearing with howie day but i had forgotten. what a treat. and howie was cool as always with his trippy guitar looping thing. although he did part of the show with a full band. either way, he is just a gorgeous thing. he did the most haunting and ethereal performance of ghost that i have ever heard. (thanks, shawn)

monday morning i had to get up early and head to manhattan for michael newberry's foundation for the advancement of art conference. there were some interesting speakers there, it was amazing that so many artists and academics were in one room at the same time! and it was held at the pierre hotel, so everything was just beautiful.

i was already tired from all my recent adventures and then i went out for dinner with some friends. after a couple of bottles of wine i couldn't bear to go home and so i spent the night in the city and came home tuesday morning. so i have had a couple of days away from work to catch up on my sleeping. at last.

Posted by ash at 01:40 PM

SOLOC Philly

many of you know that i have been planning my little head off for the SOLO conference which was held this past weekend in philadelphia. i am happy to say that it was a raging success, of course! wonderful weather, brilliant company, and plenty of alcohol. hardly any sleep at all.

i took plenty of pictures and will post them as soon as they are developed. it was awesome to see old faces and meet a few new ones. the speakers were inspiring, and it was even a pleasure to have will thomas from toc there with us.

the best parts of the conference for me were the times that we spent hanging out over food and drink, in conversation with each other. it is so nice to spend time with people that you agree with, for the most part. i had a degree of confidence all weekend that people would be rational and thoughtful, and it isn't that often that i can say that. what a relief. can't wait to do it again.

Posted by ash at 01:11 PM

October 01, 2003
Super Link

happy october. it is the month for music. actually, every month is. last week ann took me to the sterling hotel in allentown, pennsylvania to see july for kings. although we made fun of it, the sterling hotel rocks. it has the longest bar in the country. great white was supposed to be there the night after jfk but the drummer was involved in a car accident. a year ago i could have said that i didn't know great white was still around, but now that they seem to invite mayhem everywhere they go, i make it a rule to keep their location in mind at all times.

if you are ready to get some groove on, howie day will be at the tla on oct 4 and 5. two dates (and both are sold out). he must be a superstar now. july for kings will be at the tla with vertical horizon the following week (no wait, the same week) thurs, oct 9. and the 215 festival is just gearing up, with the neal pollack invasion rocking your socks off at tritone on oct 10. the dominant emotion, ecstasy.

Posted by ash at 09:34 PM