Culture

Regarding the cheap art sale at Art Resources Transfer: GO NOW!

They are selling works now, not just 7-9 tonight.

Art Resources Transfer is having a benefit on Thursday, September 4, from 7-9pm. Artworks, valued from $250 on up, will be on sale for $100-$250.

They don’t seem to have updated the web site with this info, but head on over. We first heard of some of our favorite artists — including Joe Ovelman and Charles Goldman — through ART.

This is your last chance for one of these. ART is ending its gallery program to concentrate on publishing and the DUC (Distribution to Underserved Communities) program.

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On an unrelated note, I’m starting to get spam with a subject line of “Good blog” or “Good blog post”. Bastards!

Kyle Gann, composer and one of my favorite writers on music, has a new weblog titled PostClassic.

I have to admit I hadn’t heard of this before, but Greg Allen just pointed me to Greencine, the “little guy/gal” alternative to the ever-growing Netflix.

GreenCine carries a select collection of over 10,000 titles, with an accent on indie, art house, classics, foreign, documentary, anime and Asian cinema. You can check out three titles at a time, with no due dates, no late fees…and we pay the postage! Hang on to them as long as you like. Return one…we send you the next one on your list. Only $21.95 a month, flat fee, with a portion of proceeds benefiting film arts organizations.

I suspect the member reviews are more useful to me than those on Netflix, which tends to get plenty of “Why is this film so boring — no action!” comments on a lot of interesting indie films.

Hmm… What about my 310-disc queue on Netflix?

… if we can stand the weather — both part of the Howl! Festival — and free:

• Way the F**k off Broadway

  2:00 – 4:00 PM
  Tompkins Square Park Bandshell, 7th and Ave. A

  Featuring appearances by Heather Woodbury, XAR, Mike Albo, Julie Atlas Muz, Pat Harper, Lissa Moore, Lady Finger, Wau-Wau Sisters, Polly Mormon & The Wives, Gecko, Big Mike, Moe Kelly, Dan Green, Missy Galore, Rev Jen, Porno Jim & Faceboy.

  Hosted by Penny Arcade & Murray Hill

• Wigstock returns to Tompkins Square Park!

  5:00 – 7:00pm

  So far the lineup includes:

  Lypsinka
  Taboo!
  Sweetie
  The Girls from Lips
  Sugga Pie Cocoa
  Murray Hill, and The Dazzle Dancers

I will send James, but I might be working. Tomorrow night is the Howl Festival’s opening night party at Angel Orensanz Foundation on Norfolk Street, 7-11pm.

The first annual Howl! Festival happens August 20-26 in the East Village. Check out the web site, plus James‘s recommendation. One of the highlights: Wigstock returns to Tompkins Square Park on Saturday, August 23rd, from 5:00-7:00pm!

I’m reading a great book at the moment: Roger Shattuck’s The Banquet Years, about the origins of the avant garde in France in the period from the 1880s to the beginning of World War I. It’s the era of Rousseau, Alfred Jarry, Apollinaire, and near the end, Picasso and Gertrude Stein. After I finish it I intend to re-read Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, since it describes events around this time. Powell’s has just put up Edmund Wilson’s 1933 review of the book on its web site. Go check it out.

I finally met Cory Arcangel and heard him perform with his sister Jamie. We got to see from home videos from their childhood, when they had a goth-ish/death metal band called “Insectiside”. They did two songs live — very cool stuff. Another highlight was a video of Jamie as a child, complete with knee pads and other 80s accoutrements, dancing to Vanilla Ice‘s, “Ice Ice Baby”. There! Now you have that damn song running through your head too!

James already did all of the research and made nice links, so go see his post and photos.

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Updated:

Here are some more photos — link via Tom Moody.