Your Social Life - This Time REALLY Give A Fig

Everybody's in London for Frieze this week, meaning we're having a peaceful moment to go see exhibitions in Los Angeles. That is, if your  vehicle doesn't keep on dying on you every two days or so, and that, unlike me, you don't spend precious time and elusive cash dealing with it.
This explains, among other things, why your truly is being very absent-minded these days, to the point I totally confused the date for the Give A Fig benefit at LACE in the last blog post. It's this Sunday, so apologies to whoever has been confused by last week's post.

So what's going on in LA this weekend, you will ask me? Plenty of things!
Doug Harvey has a show at the excellent ALIAS bookstore, the branch in Atwater village. It opens tomorrow, 7 to 9 PM, and you can peruse books as well. Harvey also has a show at Jancar next week.

Pearl C Hsiung has an opening at Steve Turner on Saturday, and so does Roger Herman, on Saturday evening, while in Chinatown the excellent Jennifer Bolande has an opening at the no less excellent Tom Solomon.

Thursday next week, Zoe Crosher has a show with Dan Graham (the "space", so to speak, not the artist, and they still don't have a website?)  and at Charlie James, if I understand the press release correctly.

Now, speaking about the LA crowd currently roaming the Frieze art fair, I warmly recommend you go attend two events. Tomorrow you can attend Aleksandra Mir and Assume Vivid Astro Focus book launch party at White Cubicle Toilet Gallery, a.k.a the toilets of the George & Dragon pub. The other event will happen at the exact same location on Sunday where Elmgreen & Dragset will perform "a public act", between 9 and 11 PM.
These are the only two things that make me regret not being in London.

Meanwhile, for the few John Cale nutcases fans now following FBC!, I have the pleasure to announce that our favorite Welsh legend will be performing in Melbourne, Australia for the International Arts Festival, doing When Past And Future Collide (the Paris 1919 + medley) on Saturday, something called Seven Songs to Leave Behind next Saturday and "noises in my head - an intimate evening" where presumably he will talk about his career and there will be a Q&A. The Australians seem to really like John Cale, as you can see, and there's an excellent radio interview here to prove it.

OK, have a great weekend everybody, with tons of art, music, friends and fun.
It all made me nostalgic for Melbourne & Australia, I wish I could go back one day, it's such a fantastic city.

(pics above, Jennifer Bolande, from Tom Solomon's website)

Your Social Life Is (Somewhat Vaguely) On Strike

Or, not totally here. Not that I necessarily want to comply with the always excellent Doug Harvey's hope (demands ?) that I totally kick off the art stuff (see comment on the latest John Cale Song Of The Week), but I have other fish to fry this week, and there's too much stuff going on, dammit.

So, quickly, if I have to recommend something this week, it's that amidst the shitloads of openings tonight, yesterday, tomorrow, you go and see the Stephen Kaltenbach show at anotheryearinla (review to come soonish), which opened on Wednesday night.
And then if you go hopping in Culver City tomorrow, please go wish good luck to China Art Objects at its new location.

Pics: short correspondence between Stephen Kaltenbach & Clement Greenberg.

John Cale Song Of The Week - Gravel Drive

Hello, hello,

sorry for being a bit late in posting this week's installment in our Summer series, The John Cale Song Of The Week. Been a bit partying this weekend, with predictable results. Now you know.

Now the thing with John Cale is, the man has produced something like 40 albums, so it's sometimes difficult to make a choice, week in, week out. I was discussing with somebody (hi Olivier!) posting several versions of his cover(s) of Heartbreak Hotel, but I'll save this for next week so I can post a more recent song, Gravel Drive, just in case you guys would think Cale was only good in the 1970s. He was awesome in the 1970s, but so was he in the 1980s, the 1990s, the '00s and of course the '10s.

Gravel Drive came out on his record Black Acetate (2005), the last album Cale had issued (if you don't include Circus Live, 2007). Word on the street is he has lots of new songs he'd love to release but no record company to back him up. That's a shame.

In case you would think I'm a complete John Cale nut - and I wouldn't blame you if you did - I'd love to bring to your attention the website Fear Is A Man's Best Friend, maintained by the ultimate Cale fan and nourished by equally batshit-crazy other numerous fans. These people keep a head count of the number of water bottles Cale has on stage.
I'm not there *yet*. I don't even own all of Cale's records, and I'm only talking about the official ones, not the bootlegs.
So, if the postings I've been putting up this Summer in anticipation of Cale's concert at Royce Hall on September 30 have whetted your appetite, please check Fear Is A Man's Best Friend for all the info I'm unable to provide you with, and then some more.

Speaking of which, a friend of mine (hi Mark!) has pointed out this blog post Doug Harvey of the LA Weekly fame (he's also a curator and an artist, check him out!) has uploaded this week. Methinks he's been reading a bit too much into your truly's series... or maybe not. Thanks anyway!

I'll probably resume the YSL posts in about 3 weeks, and maybe put more art stuff too, but meanwhile I'm busy getting "ready for work, ready for work... I clean my llllaptop everyday, that's why my lllllaptop is my frrrrrriend", uh, no, doesn't sound so good. That's why you guys should buy Cale's music here (so you know, you're ready for the concert) and see you at Royce Hall in about a month.