One more cool thing... for the Year's END...

I love Carsten Holler. I know as a curator, someone once told me that if I wanted to be taken seriously, that perhaps doing a show with this artist wasn't going to put me there. But I think he's awesome, and he does show with Gagosian. And this is at the Gugg. Not bad for not being serious. Here's to Realness in '09 and planning for futures. xo FP Betty, thanks to everyone coming out and picking up our issues, for all the contributors and folks doing rad shit who inspire us. I've always felt inspiration comes from leaving my comfort zone. This hotel room could be that place. Happy Holidays, rest up for the big one...

Wrap it UP.

We're working on a new blog that will link directly with our firstpersonmag.com site. It will be full of goodies that you will want to hit almost as much as yr facebook / myspace pages, wittled down to just our pick of events, shows, reviews, and faves weekly. An online version of the magazine will feature interviews with bands, artists and all of the cool above once we get live for '09. Thanks and we'll be sure to post once we juice IT UP.

Happy New Year, already.. phew!

Love this cartoon.. kinda says it all for me on a personal and biz level. xo

Inspiration.

Sometimes it's hard to find it... sometimes there's not enough time in the day...in this cold weather season, when opportunities like Miami Basel come around, and I find myself on the West Coast feeling so far away from the day to day interaction with the art world, I have to just look harder. I want to take the time to go to Mollusk soon to check out their new gallery show. I want to see new bands like Jonesin' at RVCA do their boombox jam, and then sometimes I just wanna swim in that social pool. Through the First Person Magazine publication and this blog, I want to give back all the radness that folks have taken the time to make so that people like me, who are looking for it, can be inspired. Communicating this world inside of us to the outside world, and showing this keeps me going and the magazine. Tonight I went online instead after indulging in my weekly television show, which is starting to feel like a trailer for its upcoming episode without having any guts in the current viewing but I was happy to find interviews online with curators like Francesco Bonami whom I've always admired. I guess when I was living in Paris, and I was feeling noncommunicative at breakfast time, I read the entire back catalogue of the old Index magazine online, and I felt as if I was eavesdropping on some great conversations, which is what I'd like to continue to do with First Person. To generate an interest in creative diversity and global communication of music and arts that I find inspiring. So, when yr cold and run out of books to curl up with, just fiddle with some photoshop, garage band, surf online a bit, and call your loved ones. It's weird, but my two fave shows have narrators in them, and maybe I'm beginning to sound a bit like one myself. When in doubt, check the moon.

Get Over It and LIVE

The new-ish Martin Puryear show at the SFMoMa is awesome. And in these grey times, waiting out the recession or any other crappy situation you might be experiencing this time of year, here's a perfect chance for escapism: An art show that is just a feel good inspiration without sex, collage, or penis all over it. Puryear was about removing himself as much as possible from the equation and letting the object be the center of attention. Although his work was full of emotion and ideas, he had this total adoration for the craft of working with wood. In contemporary times of computer manipulation, a million assistants and casting objects by high end shmancy industries and factories, this dude took the time to study since a very young age the craftsmenship of working with his hands, and later transcending his learned skills from the top furniture makers and electric tool-less dudes in Africa who made things stick together the old fashion way of notching, etc. into creating objects that inspire, might I suggest going in the daytime, having a fucking fresh juice and just going for it balls to the wall straight to the top floor of the SFMoMa? It's free on first Tuesdays, but I think you'll find this exhibition worth every penny. This dude even took young green saplings and shaped them together while they matured. I mean, who does that? Maybe someone in Africa, and maybe he learned a staple or two from his time in Stockholm. Anyway, they look like huge old tinker toys, but a bit more whimsical and well, shit at least go step into the SFMoMa atrium if you don't believe me and get a free peak at the 60' branch ladder that points to the Matthew Barney Drawing Restraint remnants. And I think you'll want to see more.

Le Croc Monsieurs

Fuck yeah..
last night i saw some San Diego bands and thank gawd, they still have it going ON. the Crocodiles singer of previous band, "the plot to blow up the Eiffel Tower" was fucking hot hot hot amazing. from the land that invented skinny pants 15 years ago, duh, the sex, raw, mod shit was making me HIGHER. and the Dum Dum Girls they played with were like seeing Debbie Harry except with masks and of course, black clothes (another SD band). And their DJ was this dude from the all boys highschool brethren to my all girls highschool who had a mushroom haircut back in the day and "got together" with my best friend. Oh, those shoegazer boys with their shoegazing bands.. used to run around the tunnels late at night drunk thru the tunnels underneath our campus and write our names in their undies and hang em in the courtyard the next day... and Michael would print fake Morrissey tickets for all of us to go to the Arena shows and we'd follow their cars to their hotels and strewn them with gladiolas and hang out.

anyway, Crocodiles rule. fucking HOT. Back to my roots. Thank. You. Boys!


Crocodiles - Refuse Angels from christin turner on Vimeo.

Congrats, OMG.

No one's really mentioned this to my knowledge, but like has anyone noticed how like every top designer or every other at least is Asian American??? From our darling Alexander Wang, who just won the most coveted $200,000 New York designer award from the CFDA to Michelle Obama's fave scandalous or deemed rather "unconventional" dress for the acceptance speech at the DNC by Thakoon? Well, here it is folks .. from Doo.ri, Richard Chai, Philip Lim, Vera Wang, Derek Lam, so on and so forth, I just wanted to say, congrats on being awarded and recognised based on merit, like President Elect Barack Obama, not just having your ethnicity at the forefront of what you do. But what you're doing and how. Much love to everyone sweating out this fucking recession and keep on trucking!

This Saturday! in the BK. Fuck the Police.

Jason Yates is a subversive artist, like a bunch of genius folks who can't get their head around the industry and want to pave their own ways, stuck between the aisles, is again coming out of the woodworks. He's in our current issue compared to Raymond Pettibon in a sense that one of his formats is making posters for music bands. And like the raw energy and signature style of Pettibon, Yates owns his own aesthetic identified from miles away - stickers, glitter, mylar and fucked up drawings of animals morphed into characters.. with various meaning and non-meaning when trying to interpret them. Like elephants with penis trunks and cracked out acid werewolf faces representing Ariel Pink or not, we enjoy them just fine. Here's rooting for an artist dipping back into the art world. He never left his own art world, but hey, we've all cut our teeth at some time or another, and well, shit, if we all just stopped fighting for what we believed in and making what's inside outside in fear of a corporate planet ripping us off in one way or another, we'd be in Shitsville. Here's to renewing good faith and ART uncensored. Pictured here is the artwork he graciously donated to our FP Art Benefit to keep our magazine going! We love your work and hope that it keeps on existing, man.

THIS IS OUR JAM RIGHT NOW!!!!

i loveeeeeee margaret tedesco. she's the shit in SF as far as Gallerists go.

Arthur Russell. Calling all heartfelt "weirdos"

This movie has come and gone and came and went... but seek out this film, it will keep you interested til the ticking end. Not only was the film footage from the 80's in New York super intriguing but the commentary by David Toop was my favorite. All the directorial choices were really enjoyable, informative, personal, and entertaining. Arthur Russell reminded me of Henry Darger, in a sense that he made such a vast amount of work for himself because there was this world inside him he created. Despite all his killed opportunities or whatever, he made like hundreds and hundreds of tapes, which I have a feeling are all incredible or at least pushing something around that's his own and interesting. It's like you gotta just admire that he fucking put cello to house music and embraced his individuality as a singer with a distinct style unlike anyone else at that time or even to this day.. I think that the Hercules and Love Affair production on their album must have been definitely influenced by Arthur Russell, their choice to have Antony and the Johnson do vocals, for sure. I like them both, but he's the maverick. RESPECT.

Yemen Wed Opens this Week NYC!!!

Shawn Mackinnon, part of the Yemen Wed artist collective is the real reason I started this blog and First Person magazine. He asked me, "How do you know about all these art openings?" So, I started this blog while I still lived in NYC and was working with a gallery. Then when I was art editor for another magazine, he was like, "You're too creative for them". So, here I am... and Shawn, who, has contributed generously to every issue of First Person along with collaborators Jay Farrer and Gloria Maximo and Paul for this and FP magazine, what seems to me like one of the most anticipated art pieces since like the dawning of some experimental new genre shit going down. Their visions together seems scary like super hero powers. I'm so glad their my friends! Thanks for all your support and good luck w. your video and site specific architectural installation at this new gallery. I'm secretly hoping to catch it and the EP show before they close. Sorry if this reads weird. It's late, and I wanted to post this now...

Go Family. FP loves you. Always.

We Heart EP

Elizabeth Peyton is having her first ever survey show hosted and curated by the New Museum in New York. I was recently out there to launch and distribute the current issue of First Person, while I was in what felt like the Palais De Tokyo bookstore downstairs, as it is defined by a kind of aluminum free standing wall, I was hoping to catch this show... but it was still being installed. She is my most favorite contemporary painter as her work, despite the subject matter of grunge celebrityism, seems timeless. Those red lips and romantic tattoed boys sleeping... omg, how I used to stand and stare at the acquisition at the SFMoMa in my early twenties... sigggghhhh.... I'd consider flying back out to NY just to see this show. It takes up two floors and comprises not only paintings but also her photo studies of I'm sure a promisingly romantic mural of English boys, half awake half asleep, flowers, sunlight, cigarettes and tired eyes... and more. Catch it before it closes and travels on to Europe. Im sure it will be worth it. Like being in love with a painting. And all it should be. Total Gift.

YSL

We're going to check out the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition at the De Young Museum that opened this week and catch the documentary film made about the designer and his atelier the same evening. I've seen a few costume shows now at the De Young, from Vivienne Westwood to Comme Des Garcons and although the exhibitions haven't been as thrilling as the Victoria and Albert program or the Met's, I'm glad that San Francisco is interested in hosting fashion exhibitions. This is the only US venue for this special retrospective and I'd like to come with no expectations. Hopefully, I'll be surprised.

A Touch of Class

It's cuddle season, as things start to chill a bit and we pair off for the Winter as mother nature intended. So, as we tire of the political rhetoric or Madonna's divorce, why not go out for a bit and support our once forgotten indie movie houses. This institution the Red Vic, was where I once volunteered. After my eyes kinda popped out at age 18 over their plentiful condiment section, they offered me a gig. And as a teen, I smoked in the back garden discovering for the first time wild Jasmine growing all over the fences, learned how to project massive plates of film, and even did a little film programming. Come have a bowl of popcorn, in a wooden bowl, of course, sip on a grape soda, and get stoned for this masterpiece. "Film", indeed.

San Francisco. Please register to vote!

Park Life Gallery

Our friends at Park Life have put together a much anticipated show.. by me, mostly, but it will be rad. Curated by Don, it includes new works by these emerging artists including some by one of my faves Ben Jones (paperrad?).
I was once invited to go with Taylor and Misaki Kawai during Art Basel Miami to one of her collector's homes far out with another awesome Japanese artist, whose shoes I bought at the Mori Museum earlier that year in Japan... it was pretty memorable as we drove out with a tailgate party of artist friends into a gated community ended up having a black out and the host showed me her collection by candlelight. She had this awesome Kawai piece in her living room which was like a Pee Wee's Playhouse meets early George Lucas Chewbacca tree house type sculpture with vidoes in the consoles of the spaceship mountain. Later on that evening we cosied up in the guesthouse. While the collector was giving me the dish on her divorce, I looked around and all this miniature art was hanging by this knockoff artist that I was having a dilemma with at Aqua Fair - Christopher Wool's, and I can't remember what else but a few in the room. But whenever I go to Miami, I always want to buy something at Aqua and this year, it was a tiny Elizabeth Peyton painting.. but it was a knockoff. I knew I loved her work and I think I had heard of this guy being like yelled at at Chelsea openings for being a total con... but thinking I could never afford the original and feeling like Miami is a foreign country I tried to compare it to like buying some weird knockoff in Nam or something like an Aphlex Trin record or something. Was this unethical? Complimentary? Anyway, I didnt get it because the work was covered in gel medium, which was kinda funny, but I thought I could do better.
Back to the show..., good folks, good artists. And the notorious Kathy G. will be in town wreaking havoc no less! Kathy is a curator at Deitch, whose got a competitive edge.. but I guess in NYC, who doesn't? Congrats to PL on this show and I think they are making a catalog to go along with it. CHECK IT OUT!! THEY ARE TOTAL FP FAMILY...fpxbn.

Albino Crocodiles

Well, now I know from where those Martin Margiela wallets come from... there's an unbelievable white crocodile at the entrance of the well-raved about Academy of Sciences that just opened last Saturday in SF's breathtaking and breath-inducing Golden Gate Park. It's the first thing you see when you walk in, and I don't recall it being there at the last aquarium before they renovated, so I'm going to assume this is a new rare edition. Along with an insane looking "Dinosaur Fish". This thing doesn't even need to swim. It just floats and swear, to god, looks at you and prolly completes some thought. This species is endangered and lives to be 100 years old. They had a few fish in their aquariums that looked like if they had legs, they could totally walk ashore and be the first reptiles. I was pretty stoked on their new species. Of course, competitive now with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I'd say the one in GGP is well of course, closer to the City, doesn't have as many large tanks - big enough to fill a great white shark, or any adorable sea otters paddling about, but I think it's definitely worth a visit.
They also boast a 4 story rainforest which I wasn't too impressed with. Yes, there are cute butterflies in arresting colors sipping on halved oranges, tiny venomous tree frogs and a few Geico lizards, but overall I guess I wanted to really hold a baby orangutan's hand or something more exotic.. kinda fucked up. But the overhead fish tank on the bottom is pretty nice. The benches provide a good lil' chill zone for watching massive catfish hover over the glass and those big silver fish you might have seen during the 80's at the entryway of a lot of Chinese fancy restaurants as a sign of luck and prosperity.. or show offiness.
Don't wanna give it all away.. you should just go, once at least. Admission is a whopping $25 for the public, but I'm going to go again this Wed. Oct. 15, as third Wed's of the month are FREE and I missed the planetarium.
Happy to hear Hilary Clinton was in town for the groundbreaking. And hope to meet w.some of the researchers to do a more in depth interview for Issue 3 of First Person Magazine.

Lydia Fong

The Barry McGee show at Ratio 3, delivers wall to wall eye installation, painting and video in the new space. This is the first solo show that I feel really fills the space with multimedia. Although it offers the usual Barry runnings, spray graffiti, and abstractions, the piece that I mostly enjoyed was the animatronic hand tagging the wall out of a tree and whiting out. Check it out before it ends Oct. 18.

Man on Wire

I'm excited to see this new film about Phillip Petit, the tightrope walker who had a vision to cross the Twin Towers and did it. Late in the evening they shot an arrow with the metal cable attached at at 7:15am the next morning he crossed 1300 feet above the Manhattan sidewalks. I first read about him in an interview in Acne Paper and thought it was so romantic. He reminded me of a real life version of Baptiste from the film Children of Paradise, whom I might be for Halloween. The beauty of his falling in love with a woman who resembled the moon, forever constant in his mind and heart, but unattainable in his complex world. "Love can be so simple" she said. I haven't seen it yet, but know I will be moved and inspired. It's playing at the Sunshine Theatre in NYC where I'll be to launch the current issue of First Person mag and excited to see all NYC has to offer, and there is always plenty, and all my great ambitious warm friends. Here's to having a passion and vision in life and carrying it out in reality.

fpxbn

Thing is you will end up like me

Is the title of Paul Shiek's new exhibition which opened last night at Stephen Wirtz Gallery. Congratulations to the young emerging artist for being signed to their great roster of photographers. And to Stephen for noticing such bright talent. Funny thing is I've seen two great shows this week with piles of books. Paul's show had a stack of his catalogs on a palette in the middle of the painted white room still wrapped in shrink wrap. He said he wanted the area around the palette to stain with shoe prints to create some sense of aura, and he'd send me a catalog after the show was done. a student of Jim Goldberg, Todd Hido and Larry Sultan there's a bit of them in there mixed with a witty Wil Rogan and youthful Ari Marcopoulos. Paul's off to a wicked start. check it out on 49 geary. black and white photos,and be sure to check out his publishing imprint TBW. The other pile of books was by one of my fave artist collectives Claire Fontaine. Showing upstairs at the Wattis at CCA SF, the stack of bricks covered by French subversive book covers from the usual suspects makes an homage to Carl Andre and the collectives affiliation with 60's French radicalism. Other pieces in the installation include a home video on how to pick locks and a neon sign in Pharsee spelling 'Foreigners Everywhere'. And if you do stop by bring something blue to add to the nest installation upstairs. And be sure to check out the Wizard of Oz show downstairs. Use the elevator. There's a cool rendition of a Steve Martin record played by artist Tim Lee on the banjo! I heart "elevator art". I'm gonna coin that. It's gonnna be bigger than Electroclash, Larry T...

Dots Dots and Less Dots

So, I know you know Tauba Auerbach's conceptual letter and word series. And if you don't, you may find her reconstructed Bible at the SFMoMa amongst other objects in the Design section. Her new series based on chance, comprise of; an abstract minimalist painting of crumpled papers blown up. Her floor composed of randomly thrown tiles like dice resembling a pattern on a computer generated postage stamp, and airbrushed works on paper. Tomorrow at 5pm, Tauba gives a short talk at the Wattis on the 2nd floor in the gallery space featuring her work amongst others (I presume. As I didnt receive the official press release, but rather a hello letter from Tauba). I'm excited to see her new offering in a series of works that I hope are Tauba: totally fun, accessible but brilliantly brainy. She knows how to make conceptual works WORK. Like Sol Lewitt in aesthetic, and almost in practice, as she has a few assistants she could direct entirely like a Yoko Ono instruction painting, her works are thrilling to engage with and that simple kind of "why didn't I think of that" type stuff artists are envious of. In a recent collaboration with a scholar in Oxford, Tauba's research has yet again set her on another adventure deriving symbols for scientific formulas and theories. Good luck in New York and beyond, Tauba. You don't need our blessing! FPxBN

Mozz's got a new Single

So, I've been missing in action lately, drawing dots for Tauba Auerbach's new breakthrough abstraction works. Helping along roundtable of friends and assistants, I was filling in a slew of black acrylic watery dots. The dots are part of a half tone transformation from a crumpled up piece of paper when seen up close are just dots, but from at least 15 feet away looks like the original crumpled piece of paper. I think she just one-upped Bridget Riley! For an upcoming show at Deitch including Xyler Jane, Ara Peterson and Mitzi Pederson dealing with Popstractions.... go check it out soon in June. Tauba's been wonderful to work for and her fresh lemon squeezed on ravioli will forever remain a classic addition to my cooking lexicon. Here's to evolution in art, cooking and her move, everyone's moving it seems .... to .... New York.

SFMoMa Now Showing...

For some reason, the SFMoMa has paid all this advertising for the Lee Friedlander show across town. But it's kind of like saying the special on the menu for the evening is a bland hamburger, the kind of lunch you get for punishment on Hell's Kitchen for losing a round, when there is a beautifully complex frozen foie gras cured with sake, freshly caught sashimi and delicately robust arugula salad also on the menu in small print. The tightly curated and more individual pieces at the SFMoMa are simply wonderful. They are enjoyable in a sense that they make you feel like a kid on an art playground with friends and everyday objects transformed into something greater but not in a big showy way. In "Cut", curated by Henry Urbach, their new Architecture and Design Curator who also commissioned the visionary frozen BMW by Olafur Eliasson, Peter Wegner delivers two great installations: his photographs of upside down skylines which make you turn your head slightly and his sublime color piece of papers stacked on their side creating an industrial sunset. A Gordon Matta-Clark hallway shows his "Splitting" video documenting the physicality of sawing light through a house and slanting its foundation. Upstairs "wonderful" continues to describe the Joan Jonas video where you are transported to a playing field with her friends in the cold enacting games which could be warm up excercises for a Fellini film. Bundled up, they roll past the camera performing cartwheels, strike wooden blocks above their heads to make plonky sounds, follow chalk lines that lend structure to their movements, and have multiple conversations painting an audio depth of field for the camera. But perhaps the well-known name of Friedlander is a tool to bring in the masses and hopefully they will be lured into one of these other great pieces. Or, like the Guston exhibition that showed simultaneously with their well publicized Manet show years ago, perhaps the hardcore art fan can rest assuredly enjoy his or her trip in peace, while the general public cues up outside the museum in droves for what they have been told is important by textbooks. Afterall, their ticket stubs do help pay for these other shows, and illustrate how marketing can be successful. I guess... but maybe you decide.

Dream Date.

If you want to take your date somewhere private, somewhere other, somewhere magical, come to the Legion of Honor for their Cinema Supper Club. Completely unaware that they housed one of the most enchanting movie theatres in San Francisco, this quaint cinema house with hand-painted ceiling of winged horses and blindfolded maidens above, and comfy velvet opera antique seats below, made me giddy as a school girl, a Catholic school girl. That evening the screening was "The Ballet Russe" with a thorough introduction to the film by a knowledgeable and articulate programmer. The film was totally entertaining, educational, and chalk full of archival footage which brought the Ballet Russe to life. With regards to the film itself, my one critique was that I wished it included more on its originator, impresario Serge Diaghilev.

The kitchen and wait staff at the Legion Cafe have never let me down but for some reason there was a group with walkie talkies and badges at the entrance of the restaurant gathered round a cheeseplate chatting which kind of threw off the elegant ambiance of the room. Anyhow, initially trying out their restaurant for jazz brunch not too long ago, their dinner proved just as sumptuous, light and satisfying. Their aforementioned cheese plate which I was curious to try needed a bit more worldliness to it (Jack Cheese?). The menu selection is catered to an older crowd; fish and chips, but spiced up with special touches like tamarind ketchup, and meatloaf and mash potatoes were presented as a deliciously stacked mountain of homecooked perfection. I think it might give the cafe more of a restaurant feel if they painted some of the walls a richer, darker hue, because the high quality food deserves elegant surroundings. Or perhaps it's the best Museum cafeteria food, one will ever have priveledge of tasting. Next time, I might wear nice jeans and a jacket instead of a designer dress and heels?

Part of the Cinema Supper Club includes free access to the galleries without the daytime crowds. Having a somewhat private view is great as the Leibowitz exhibition takes some time to soak in with a video documentary, an entire nook of snap shots pinned onto bulletin boards, and noticing details like a Presidential belt buckle on George Bush, who stood like a proud warrior alongside Condie, Rumsfeld and the head of the FBI. The portrait was dated December 2001, shortly after the 9/11 intervention. Also on view, which is quite special to experience in the evening is a new installation of Dale Chihuly's works. Vibrant blown glass standing over 2 stories tall, the sculptures were in good company in the Rodin room and glowed outside in the courtyard. The contrast of the kinetic colorful work proves to be a wonderfully strong asset to the FAMSF collection breathing an unexpected contemporality into the classic atmosphere. Linked to an upcoming exhibition at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, the yellow Chihuly which seems as if it's growing out of their garden fountain is spectacular from a distance, like a mustard lorax tree from a Dr. Seuss story but up close its structural support kind of gives its organic quality away.

But, please do take advantage of the Cinema Supper Club while it lasts at the Legion. And, wear a coat because it can get quite windy up near the Sutro Cliffs. Driving recommended. Check the famsf.org site for program listings to this special affair and other events. I think they're making a wonderful attempt at programming exciting ways to access art and enjoy a refined and memorable evening out. Becoming a member wouldn't be such a bad idea. I think their offerings are unique and worthwhile, not trendy.

censorship is still prevalent

INDIA REFUSES MEESE SCULPTURE



A sculpture by Jonathan Meese has been turned away at the Indian border. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's Swantje Karich reports, Indian customs officials at Mumbai airport took a "drastic" approach to Meese's bronze sculpture Don't Call Us, We'll Call You, 2007, which was en route to the gallery Mirchandani + Steinruecke for inclusion in the exhibition "General Sweetie." According to Karich, the dealers attempted to persuade the airport customs officials to let the work through by citing "traditional Indian erotic literature." Just as the shipment was due to be checked again, the official in charge gave up and simply sent the sculpture back to Germany.

collector craziness.. our names on your babies

KOOLHAAS SUPPORTS CEMETERY PYRAMID



Rem Koolhaas has added his support for plans to build a giant cemetery pyramid near Dessau, Germany. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Ijoma Mangold reports, the Dutch star architect participated in a gala event last week at Berlin Hebbel-Theater. Koolhaas presented the results of an international architecture competition launched last fall. The final four designs were selected by a jury that included the architect, as well as the designer Miuccia Prada.

Dubbed "The Great Pyramid," the cemetery, in a sign of peace, would be open to all religious beliefs and nationalities. A five-hundred-foot-tall structure could hold up to five million stones and might be expanded to include more. According to the association Friends of the Great Pyramid, more than a thousand people have already reserved a stone and want to have their ashes kept in the structure. If the plan goes forward, a stone may cost around one thousand dollars.

But the residents of both Dessau and neighboring Streetz—where the pyramid may be built—are not so happy about the plan. During a "pyramid party" held in Streetz last year, some locals attended with the banner WE DON'T WANT 500,000 DEAD PEOPLE. "All the same," writes Mangold, "it's completely conceivable that the project will succeed. There are many terrible things in the world that have met with success."

Karl the Kaiser

Karl Lagerfeld is a relentless force in fashion designing over 4 collections a season- Chanel, Fendi, Lagerfeld Gallery and Karl Lagerfeld (might have sold this). You can tell he never stops thinking and working by the looks of his atelier... If u wanna see Karl Lagerfeld's over the top ring collection, him being totally cunt about his life- the man knows how he wants to live, why he wants to live and not love, and hear about his mother, whom he prolly gets his succinct style and no nonsense from, go see Lagerfeld Confidential at the Roxie Cinema which screens til Thursday.. and again, go support indie film houses. They need you... I'd be sad to see them close. Historically, this may be the first movie house to open in San Fran according to their site. I know it's the first movie house I went to when I moved to SF when I was a lil' pink haired punk of 18 to see some Frank Zappa doc or something.

Anyway, it's really cool...and u get to see him as a child, awww... in super 8 which is always icing on the cake, no?

A Tribute to Susan Sontag by Annie Leibowitz

San Francisco still continues to satisfy my need to surround myself with beautiful things including the views and landscapes which will remain forever new to me even if I've seen them a million times. From Golden Gate Park stretching to the ocean, the easiness on the eyes is there for the taking. As I trekked to the Legion of Honor again for another wondrous daytime adventure, starting with a delectable brunch of Scharfenberger chocolate muffins, which Eddy gulped down with "yums" and I, savoring my minty fruit salad, the most crabbed out fritata ever, and a delicious belini, was surprised to encounter the Annie Leibowitz photography exhibition already opened to the public. Not thinking I would be interested in her imagery which, in my mind, seemed to pervade every pore of Vanity Fair for the past decade, I surprisingly found integrity in a body of work which gave due homage to friend, critical writer and fellow photographer, Susan Sontag. A personal heroine of mine, Sontag, during her terminal and fragile times leading up to her last days after she was diagnosed with cancer can be seen intimately through Leibowitz's ease of camera, in her private home, airplanes to see Paris one more time, last bicycle rides with friends and carrying Leibowitz's baby (whom she birthed at age 50). It was a really beautiful way to give respect to her confidant and close friend in a survey show of which I'm sure she had to edit thousands of photographs from.
The one here, displays the intimacy of Kate Moss and Johnny Depp, giving Leibowitz this unsaid kind of, "yes, we'll do anything you want for the camera, because we trust your vision completely" and that is what makes this show interesting. There is a genuine trust and respect inherent in all her photos, reflecting from a total and willing honesty on both ends of sitter and shooter. And to give yourself completely to someone else is a beautiful thing.
Afterwards, we hiked through the Sutro Hills and discovered that whistle that you can hear for miles along with the sea lions at night if you sit quietly enough. It's a metal form of architecture similiar to a short lighthouse stranded a mile away from the coast visible from the cliffside. Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

come out and arrrrrrrrrrrrrrt with us!

Zidane by Douglas Gordon

Vexed by the sound engineering and shots in this film, art, art film?, the music editing is phenomenal. Composed by Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, it was the most dynamic sound experience I've ever had from a sound system. Imagine if sound were 3 dimensional. It's even better as sounds are vibrations which penetrate our bodies, so it was completely visceral not only for the ears but for the body ear. The visual component of the film was just as complex showing the intimacy of the soccer players using closeups juxtaposed with long shots of stadium goers from a pigeon's perspective the range of camera works was impressive and immersive. Cameo's by Beckham, this is the Spanish team that seduced him away from Manchester United, and of course following Zidane, fans will be happy. As someone who had no idea who the soccer player was and more interested in the work by the artist, I'd say it was more a work that expanded my vocabulary for the possibilities for film, soundtracks and risk taking in documentary filmmaking. Harmony Korine gets sported. Beware the real futbol fans going to see this, young, loud, and by the family droves it was cool to kind of see fans come out for this but they do heckle, burp and distract from the peanut gallery. I guess it just made the experience more real. Thanks again to Joel at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. He's never disappointed as an informed and current curator in San Francisco.

Reppin'

We proud to be reppin' BAY. Rap and beats slingin' it here and NOW. None in LA. Uh-uh in NY. Ridin' it, Dumb. Studdin' and scrapin'. LUVFP, we down.

Wise Words

I was never a darling of the New York Times or of the Whitney—far from it, believe me—but there are many ways to have a career in the art world, many ways to have a valid history. Come to think of it, don’t you find it odd that whenever we think of an artist, in any field, who no longer appears active, we always think that it’s because they somehow “failed”? Really, isn’t it just as likely that they found not to their liking whatever system they were required to engage in order to get their work out—the system failed them, on the human level—and, in an act of maturity and self-possession, they moved on? Culture systems such as the art world may be all we have, but that doesn’t mean they’re good systems. From a certain perspective the art world is a deeply unhealthy network that brings out the worst in people. It’s too bad that the pursuit of beauty and knowledge should do that, but it does.
The more time I spent in the art context, the more uncomfortable I became with the faith-based dimension of it. I had to invent a way out, and into another kind of creativity.- David Robbins

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS!

The most anticipated show of the year in San Francisco is the debut of GIRLS, Sat. FEb. 16 at Cafe Du Nord. Don't miss out. Grab your latest interest for a night at Cafe Du Nord, strewn w. romance and perfumed girls and made up boys, this Valentine's Day weekend show, Sat. Feb. 16 is gonna be very special. Not since the craving for Cassie on Youtube has there been such a frenzy for a band on Myspace. GIRLS is Christopher Owens, artist, opinionated, and genuine mad article of dressing to the nines and Chet JR WHite, soft-spoken studly song engineer will be playing their debut show sponsored and promoted by flattered little us, First Person Magazine. Christopher came up to us at our Sonic Boom party at a warehouse on the water saying, "I've decided, you throw the best parties". Awwww... so here we are double trouble at the helm bringing San Fran a night you'll all remember...

GIRLS
*Special Guests TBA
FP Mag DJ's
Cafe Du Nord
Sat. Feb. 16
Advance Tix on sale now! get em before we sell this bell out.
www.cafedunord.com
$10 adv / door


www.myspace.com/girlssanfran
www.myspace.com/firstpersonmagalay
www.firstpersonmag.com

Someone make a bootleg of this, puh-leez!

Keyshia Gurrrllll Saved me on the plane home