KING KONG's Camel thoughts

This goes out to Pants, who gets to see these majestic, humped creatures every day in India....



King Kong (w/Slint!)--The Camel's Walk Song

*download the other tracks off this 7" from the best music blog ever, Kick to Kill

PANTS OFF

NANCYSTELLASOTO.COM IS UP

Alice Neel

I went to see the documentary about Alice Neel—made by her grandson Andrew Neel—last night. Pants backed out last minute due to some last minute moving procedures, but I did have the fine company of Dave Janik and Alicia Bergman. And in addition, we ran into K-Wolf and Wang at the theater. In times like these L.A. feels quite small because we comprised most of the audience.
These are the main things I might have learned from the film:

1. It is hard to be a female portrait painter in an era mostly dominated by males, Abstract Expressionism, and Greenbergian Modernism

2. You might have to make great sacrifices when you have children, often against their best interests, when you are trying to be a great artist.

3. The Great Depression sucked a big fat penis.

4. Anything can be accomplished, theoretically, if you are sufficiently tenacious.

5. Neelian doctrine: a lot of art is anti-psychological while in fact psychology creates the world.

6. If Alex Katz's ego was any bigger the movie screen might have caught on fire.

7. Michel Auder is awesome and deserves more screen time.

Questions:

1. Would it have been 'worth it' for Alice Neel to have gone through everything she went through to pursue her art if she never got famous in the end?

Oh No I didn't!

I just read all about these TOTAL losers, the types who camp out DAYS in advance in front of the Apple Store to get a new 3G Apple iPhone. They think as if life will become more meaningful after attaining this gadget which does roughly almost all the things they do anyway, except now it can be done while waiting for the bus? And even if that was the and all and be all couldn't they WAIT a little longer—you know live life and stuff—so they could stroll right in and get said gadget? The human psyche is an endless pit of perplexitude. I know that's not a real word, but it's my blog and I can do what I want.

This reminds me of my weekend: Pants, La Beautiful, The Gentle Giant, and myself plopped a blanket on the sidewalk in front of the Vista Theater over 1 and a half hours early to see a movie and get good seats. We were there to see The Dark Knight (2008). Was this film worth sitting outside on the sidewalk, waiting for hours, while eating out of a tub of ice cream?

Hells Yes.

Am I a loser?

No, I am a winner!

We got CENTER seats! The screen was NOT in perspective! And the film was pretty, pretty good. The Director/writer, Christopher Nolan got all Joseph Campbell on us with this one. Heath Ledger was so good despite him being dead and everything.

The film was long, yet I was fullfilled. Especially when I see a huge truck "trip", do a backflip, and a Jester, or Joker, or Clown come out of it.

BACK IN THE EL GAY FOR THE SEASON FINALE

Pants, La Beautiful, The Gentle Giant, and your humble blog-ater hit the galleries for the season finale this weekend. The obligatory group show thing was on the menu. The only piece that I remember seeing that night was this gem by Peter Saul at Honor Fraser's space:

Saul's psychedelic pointilism always tickles my taint(sp?). Steve DiBennedetto's large ugly painting in the same show was kind of ugly in a bad way, but after two beers and a nip of Vodka, it started to look kinda sexy. I'm still deciding if this is a good thing.
We then hit 'Lil Tokyo for some Boba. As you can see, Pants and I got some killer buzzes from the watermelon slush. This gypsy woman who sat next to us (who looked strikingly similar to La Beautiful) pined for a sip. The Gentle Giant looked on with vague disapproval.

Thoughts Regarding The Sun City Girls

Pants, The Gentle Giant, and myself recently went to see the remaining members of The Sun City Girls play live in L.A. I had a great time and it made me realize how special this band was and how sad it is that they will never shine on the scene as they once did. You could say unto me, "Don't cry, bub, you still have the Bishop Bros' solo projects and releases from their awesome Sublime Frequencies label—not to mention scores of unreleased SCG material in the works". But I would counter by saying that the 'third' brother, SCG drummer Charles Goucher, is no longer with us, having died from cancer last year and that we've truly lost a key ingredient to this band's brilliance.
Why is their awesomeness so awesome? They managed to blend the absurd and the profound, theater and concert, East and West all into the same bowl with amazing ease. Seeing them play live always seems to provoke laughter, confusion and peaceful reverence in the audience. I've yet to see any other band evoke such a pot-pourri of feelings. They truly transcended any description you could throw at them.

RENAISSANCE FARE

Pants, myself, La Beautiful, Max "The Gentle Giant" Warsh, and Julie "I love the OC" Lequin, all were counting on going to the Renaissance Fair this weekend until we found that the entry fee was a whopping $25. O c'mon! Surely folk jacked up on Dr. Pepper pretending to speak Middle English couldn't have cost that much to employ! This fee would have been only the beginning. We probably would have had to convert our dollars to "shillings" and spend more money on mutton or something. I was planning on dressing like I was from the 'future' but I guess my antics will have to wait when fatter checks come in the mail. Those of us who are L.A. natives spent the afternoon with our mothers instead. Just as well. The Mothers would have been offended knowing that we ditched them for Jello Shots with King Arthur. You don't think it's just wine in those goblets do you?