The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Edinburgh Film Festival
27 August 2005
Filmhouse
"the Devil and Daniel Johnston"
~Absolutely Fantastic!!!!!~ (if you liked 'Crumb' you will love this, too.)
Outsider Artist, Musician, Cult Hero. This Documentary outlines the ups and downs of Daniel Johnstons' bouts with manic depression and the obsessive nature of his artistic expression. From comic drawings with reoccuring characters of 30 years, homemade cassettes containing loads of his songs, Hi 8mm movies, to his audio mail correspondance and audio diaries. The film does a good job of showing the fine line of madness and genius that exists for Daniel, through his travels, tours, other experiences to his current status of recent internatinal tours and art shows. I strongly reccommend...SEE THIS MOVIE! Buy the DVD!( it will have he extarfootage of his reunion with lori at the south by southwest festival for the screening of the movie there.)Buy any music that you ocan find.
" The late great Daniel Johnstons Uncovered Covered on gammond records 2004 2 cds 39 tracks with artist like teenage fanclub, tom waits, flaming lips, beck, clim snide, gordon ganno and more $15
also look for more info and products at
www.hihowareyou.com
www.The devil and danieljohnston.com
you should also look at stress records in a google search for copies of his original tapes.
Enjoy!!!!!

cabar-yea

Tonight, wednesday, 24 august 05, pam and i ventured out to a performance called the ashton brothers at the assembly rooms of st. george west. One of the many venue locations throughout edinburgh. It reminded us of a theatre back home, part of spirit square. It has the church architecture of the great hall with a balcony. it was up close and personal as well. these four guys through their musical interludes and slapstick behaviour had the crowd cracking up. The skits bounced all over the stage, a few literally did as the guys balanced on ladders, stood on each others shoulders dancing, and the forth of july/ bastille day classical salute to patriotism where the percussion section becomes the rampart destruction of the celebrated wars for the audience as they fire their cannons and stay in there combat pilot flying formations. There is great fun to be had at their show.

Spam on my Blog! oooooh! NOOOOO!

What kind of asshole sends around unsolicited items advertising products on peoples' blogs? this is to be an area of discussion on the contents pertaining to the information located within the blog itself and anyone posting crap like this nonsense is disrespecting and violating the trust of blog authors everywhere. AHH! how frustrating that this asshole be able to do this!

friday, 19 august 2005

Today ,feeling the pressures of working entirely too much, I ventured out taking a day off to explore some of the cities offerings for the festival. I went to the Edinburgh College of Art. ECA has on display, in conjunction with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, works by Jannis Kounellis. I was told about the exhibition from a friend under the advisement that it was worth checking out and it proved to be worth every second i spent there. Often times when I engage a piece for the first time, I begin to dissect the layers of how it was made as trying to inform myself of some practise or technique of which I may not be aware. I entered the sculpture court unaware. Before me, laid out filling the entire sculpture court, was this sculptural installation 2,250 x 700 x 305 cm (73.8 x 22.96 x 10 ft.). The number of 'steel crosses' lined up as if it were a crowd gathering, migrating from the doorway across the collage of Middle Eastern and North African rugs arranged in a large rectangle outlining the domicile. At the peak of this 'forest' are meat hooks supporting a coat and hat. This untitled piece was constructed in 2004 for the Modern Art Oxford. I circled the piece looking for direction into the statement. My first impression was that these steel constructions called crosses resembled battlements used in defending a territory. The way they seemed obtrusive to the situation of the rugs gave them the appearance that they do not belong there/ had been placed there by someone other than the inhabitiants of the rugs. The nature of the coat and hat hung off the crosses in theis setting to me represents someone making this place their home. An invasion. the warm welcoming rugs versus the cold steel constructions. The western cultural influence of dress hung over the home of the Middle Eastern and North African rugs.The 'crosses' as described by the artist in the materials part of the tag for this piece adds another layer of symbolism to the artwork. What are the barricades/ crossses meant to protect? Whom are they meant to protect? This was my impression. I suggest everyone go and enjoy the magnitude of this installation.