Saturday, July 16, 2005

Could not find a thing on Heartbreak, except the overcited U2 lyrics.

From where I stand
I can see thrugh you
From where you're sitting, pretty one
I know it got to you

I see the stars in your eyes
You want the truth, but you need the lies
Like Judy Garland, like Valentino
You give your life for rock n' roll
Uh huh

Stand, we're on a landslide of love
You got everything you want
But what you need you give away

For primitive love
And a ride on the mistery train
A primitive love
A room at the Heart...
The Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak
Heartbreak Hotel
A room at the Heartbreak
Heartbreak Hotel

You say it's love, it's not the money
You let them suck your life out like honey
Turning tricks, you're on the street
Selling your kisses so bittersweet

[Gospel voices]

A primitive love
A and a ride on the mistery train
A primitive love
A room at the Heart
The Heartbreak Hotel

A room at the Heartbreak, the Heartbreak,
The Heartbreak Hotel, Hotel
[Repeat until end]

Well, so much for clubs. One thing that I was reminded of when I looked for Studio 54's link this time is that the club actually lasted until 1986. Somehow, the club has been presented as though it stopped functioning when Rubell was arrested by the FBI. This is where the recent movie ends, which makes sense to bring closure to the decadence of the 70s, given that this happened in 1980 and that the club was sold to a hotel owner by the name of Mark Fleischman. Regardless, as we can learn from Andy's diary, Rubell was hanging at 54 in 1982, even when he did not own it anymore--and so did Andy. They were different times that's for sure. It was the 80s. Today, one has to wonder were culture is heading when we get a cheesy website like MGM's 54 in Vegas--Vegas Baby(!): Regarded as the sparkling icon of 1970s pop-culture, the most famous nightclub in the world, once again pulls back its velvet rope, this time inviting you to experience the legendary parties. The setting for this ultimate party is MGM Grand, the city fo entertainement; the place Las Vegas, entertainment capital of the world.

The situation with Valerie Solanis is quite complex. Based on what has been published, I always find many elements of her life and her relation to Andy contradictory. I often think, "on the one hand, Andy may have been a manipulator, and getting shot was something bound to happen." I wonder about this based on his own Diary which is heavily edited by Hackett, of course. Regardless, one can still find the traces of his careful strategies to be the main man, and what this meant for others who worked for him. But how did the Solanis affair go down? Poetry is sometimes the most appealing (though also most biased) in describing an event. Lou Reed's lyrics of "I believe" offer a specific interpretation of the moment when Andy got shot:

Valerie Solanis took the elevator got off at the 4th floor
Valerie Solanis took the elevator got off at the 4th floor
She pointed the gun at Andy saying you cannot control me anymore

And I believe there's got to be some retribution
I believe an eye for an eye is elemental
And I believe that something's wrong if she's alive right now

Valerie Solanis took three steps pointing at the floor
Valerie Solanis waved her gun pointing at the floor
From inside her idiot madness spoke and bang
Andy fell onto the floor

What about Andy and bagels? Here is a bagel playing a major role in his film Dracula: Forgotten. Overlooked. Pushed aside by all but a few of the hardcore enthusiasts. The new breed of vampire fan breathed only of "Lestat." Adler sliced the bagel in half and put the sides of bread in the toaster. He ceased to admit he was a vampire enthusiast at all.

Here is a personal list where Andy is right next to the term art followed by bagels (Would this order have anything to do with his commercial where he holds a bagel and asks the question"what is art?"): andy warhol, art, bagels, belle and sebastian, bulldogs, button up shirts, cereal, cursive, david bowie, deathcab for cutie, destroy all monsters, drawing, drums, elliott smith, folk, godzilla, grape soda, green tea, guitar, high fidelity, horizontal stripes, indie, john cusack, john lennon, latino accents, les savy fav, macaroni, mix tapes, movies, music, nada surf, oil paint, oil pastels, painting, pavement, photography, plain toast, radiohead, reading, rice krispies, ringo starr, robert smith, sales of any kind, shoes, soup, sweaters, the 50's, the blob, the cure, the dandy warhols, the golden girls, the pixies, the posies, the smiths,

What could we possibly find about Nixon and Pineapples. Hmmm...

One of Nixon's greatest achievements was to go to China: Originating in China more than 2,000 years ago, acupuncture is one of the oldest, most commonly used medical procedures in the world. In the early 1970’s, acupuncture became better known in the United States after President’s Nixon returned from China. Although most in the United States know acupuncture simply as a treatment for pain relief, it has more than proven its beneficial effectiveness in healing a vast variety of health conditions with at least 1,000 years of clinical data. [...] This is performed in a place called... Golden Pineapple: To further pamper yourself, you may also consider relaxing with a therapeutic massage either in-house (at the Golden Pineapple Bed and Breakfast itself) or at another facility in downtown Port Jefferson. We would be happy to help you arrange for an appointment.

Here is a Pineapple dish at Nixon plaza: These pastries are made with a danish and puff pastry dough. They are filled with cheese and pineapples. Where: 1996-2004 La Bonbonniere Bake Shoppes, 2062 Route 27, Nixon Plaza

Here is pineapple as part of a mixed drink: Nixon $5.75 made with Malibu Rum, Blue Curacao, Splash Sprite & Pineapple

Okay, I'm streching myself here. But my dinner with Andre was no Pineapple for Andy, and neither for some critics: An interesting movie, one of the few non-comedies I liked. It consisted of nothing but a two-hour conversation between two friends. The conversation wasn't of very good quality, but infinitely above most of the drivel on TV.

Spielberg. Whatever happened to Close Encounters? You know a movie is good when it can be described in one sentence (in Hollywood standards, that is) The transcendent film followed the odyssey of various characters, including an obsessed, middle-class power lineman named Roy Neary (Dreyfuss, who had earlier appeared in Spielberg's Jaws) and a distraught mother named Gillian (Dillon), and her young son Barry (Guffey), as they are inexplicably lured to a volcano-like mountain, to experience a spectacular, extra-terrestrial encounter. And that was Spielberg's first film! So, probably because he had to sell it in one sentence it worked! Yay!

After his first movie, we get even simpler plot descriptions. Jurassic Park is a novel written by Michael Crichton and published in 1990, which was later adapted as a movie directed by Steven Spielberg. Written as a cautionary tale on unconsidered biological tinkering (in much the same spirit as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), it explores the consequences of an attempt to re-create certain species of dinosaur to serve as amusement park attractions.

Indiana Jones is even briefer when we take out the specific scenarios: Indiana Jones is a fictional bullwhip-toting archaeologist with an overdeveloped fear of snakes Ahh, but the movies' plots have certain similarities with another famous films series, Star Wars. Here are the introductions to Star Wars and Indiana Jones Plot Formulas:

Star Wars:

2) Film opens with action sequence(s)
ANH: Princess Leia's Tantive IV starship attacked by an
Imperial star destroyer
ESB: Imperial star destroyers launch probes into space,
Luke Skywalker attacked by Wampa snow creature
ROTJ: Hundreds of tie fighters swarm the second death star,
Luke and friends rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt
PM: Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi meet with Trade
Federation (TF), TF attempts to kill Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan,
they escape to Naboo surface aboard TF troop carriers
Ep 2: Padme's (Natalie Portman) star ship is blown up on
Coruscant
Ep 3: Epic Clone Wars space battle

Indiana Jones:


1) Start of Movie
RLA (Raiders of the Lost Ark): Paramount logo fades into a
similarly-shaped mountain
TD (Temple of Doom): Paramount logo fades into a mountain on
a gong
LC (The Last Crusade): Paramount logo fades into a
similarly-shaped rock



2) Film opens in the middle of the search for a precious object
RLA: South American Golden Idol
TD: Lao She's Ashes
LC: Cross of Coronado


Formulas... There might be a reason why Spielberg appeared interested in Andy's work. At face value, Andy's art seemed like a formula. And it was--a good one.

Given that Andy expressed his concerns in 1982 about Gay Cancer, it is likely that he was confusing the term with AIDS symptoms. Here is something recent on Gay Cancer: The term "gay cancer" was used 18 years ago to describe HIV and AIDS, but now new data from the 6th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections shows that a new cancer appearing at unusually high rates is affecting gay men and gay HIV+ men in amazing proportions. Anal cancer in men who have sex with men is now being reported at alarmingly high rates, and the rate in gay men with HIV/AIDS is even higher.

Here is a site using the term sinonimously with AIDS: By 1971, a total of 2,274 primates had been inoculated at Bionetics Research Laboratories, under contract to Fort Detrick. Over 1000 of these monkeys had already died or had been transferred to other primate centers. (Some animals were eventually released back into the wild.) By this time, experimenters had spread lymphoma-producing viruses into several species of monkeys, and had also isolated a monkey virus (Herpesvirus saimiri) that would have a close genetic relationship to a new Kaposi's sarcoma virus that produced the "gay cancer" of AIDS a few years later.

Here is part of a chronology of the term's relationship to AIDS:
981 This year, 152 cases of the new disease were reported in the US; only two cases were reported in the DC area. Both people had died by year¹s end.
June 5
CDC first report
5 cases of pneumocystis carinii reported in Gay men
July 3
CDC updates report 26 new cases in New York and California
July 10
"Rare, fatal pneumonia hits Gay men" Washington Blade, p. 1 Janis Kelly writes first article in the Washington Blade
on what became known as GRID and later as AIDS
July 10
"Cancer deaths reported among NY, Calif. Gays," Washington Blade, p. A6First news item on Kaposi's Syndrome (KS) among Gay men
September 11
"Task force to study rare cancer in Gay men," Washington Blade, p. 1Janis Kelly writes about KS and new CDC study
November Capital Area Physician Association formed Gay physician group formed and began looking for ways to assist "in programs to educate Gay men about the latest situation and suggest ways of preventing the diseases."
December 18
"Incidence of rare cancer is rising," Washington Blade, p. 1 Lou Chibbaro writes on CDC and NEJM reports of "rare forms of pneumonia and cancer that have been afflicting Gay men ... "

One has to wonder about the ironies of life when Andy speculates on Paul Morrissey's death:

I mean, what happens if he's not around in twenty years? i don't want to have to negotiate with his mother over foreign rights. I think I'll do that. yeah, I think I will.

Especially because Morrissey is still alive. Even though Andy may have been candid about his disagreement with Morrissey, Morrissey is very diplomatic when referring to Andy. His website states about their professional relationship: Morrissey parted company with Warhol in 1975 when the artist chose to concentrate on his painting and business activities. Morrissey went on to pursue financing for his later films, one of the very few American film directors to remain independent of any Hollywood film companies, independent or otherwise.

In all honesty, I always think of the Smiths when I hear the last name Morrissey. I mean, who doesn't after the 1980s? Especially with Lyrics like these:

Angel, angel
Don’t take your life tonight
I know they take
And that they take in turn
And they give you nothing real
For yourself in return

But when they’ve used you
And they’ve broken you
And they’ve wasted all your money
And cast your shell aside

And when they’ve bought you
And they’ve sold you
And they’ve billed you for the pleasure
And they’ve made your parents cry
I will be here
Oh, believe me
I will be here
...believe me

Angel, don’t take your life
Some people have got no pride
They do not understand
The urgency of life
But I love you more than life
I love you more than life
I love you more than life
I love you more than life

But going back to Andy, he really had a history with contracts.

Here is one on books: In March [1974], Andy Warhol signed two book contracts with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. One contract was for what would become The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) and the other for a book that Andy planned to do on PAULETTE GODDARD's life.

Here's a contract dispute after his death: SNC sought a licensing agreement with Andy Warhol, the icon of 1960's and 70's pop culture, but Warhol died before they could sign an agreement. Eventually, Warhol's Estate negotiated and signed a broad-based licensing agreement with SNC.

Apparently Chelse Girls may not have been in dispute as it is directly credited to Andy: The Chelsea Girls, in addition to its prolonged run in cities over the country and its contracts to be shown abroad, is generating works in other art forms

And here is something on a contract to build Andy's Robot: Under contracts already signed, we'll produce about 700 robots this year." One of Villa's sophisticated robots may even become a TV star: AVG has been commissioned to build a robot butler to costar in a fortheoming television series called Mr. Robot. With such projects, Villa expects sales to top $5 million this year. But AVG's pride and joy is still the Warhol Robot. Says Villa, "We. feel that in some respects it's the most sophisticated robot that's ever been built.

The ideology behind the "alternative" to the art institution can be understood by reading P.S. 1's history as it became absorbed by MOMA: Barely eighteen months ago, I hailed P.S. 1 as a true alternative, finer than any in Manhattan. In the early fall of 1997 it had just reopened after extensive renovation, and I felt so happy to find a vibrant re-conception of what an alternative space might mean. Follow that up with a politically correct rhetoric that at face value offers open-ended discourse (how egalitarian of the intellectual): In no time P.S. 1 has become just another modernist dinosaur—or has it? Has the Modern itself, as indeed conservative critics urge? Perhaps the Modern as postmodern museum has acquired a bright green, inflatable grin. I am not joking. The purchase reminds me why postmodernists toss around words like hegemony.

The dilemma may lie in this statement: Recognized as a defining force of the alternative space movement, P.S.1 stands out from major arts institutions through its cutting-edge approach to exhibitions and direct involvement of artists within a scholarly framework. Which is preceded by an unexpected opening line for an alternative space: P.S.1 Contemporary  Art  Center, an affiliate of The Museum of Modern Art, is the oldest and second largest non-profit arts center in the United  States solely devoted to contemporary art. The issue in the above criticism is clearly dependent on the definition of an "alternative space." This, however, has changed drastically since 1971 when P.S. 1 started.

Having an "alternative space" associated with a more established art institution appears to be the way to go for many small non-profit institutions--due to the economic shifts in the United States in the last few years; take for example the move of Rhizome.org becoming afiliated with the New Museum. They too use the term afiliated: Rhizome.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and an affiliate of the New Museum of Contemporary Art. The terms "alternative" and "affiliate" will have to be reevaluated now that more established institutions support more alternative resources. This is even true for the New Museum, as it is still considered an "alternative" space in comparison to other spaces like MOMA, which supports P.S. 1.

That such public institutions have been subject of heavy criticism by their communities is an understatement. The ideology behind such criticism has a lot to do with an avant-garde position going back to the nineteenth-century, and which at this point is often part of reactionary stances without an actual understanding of history. The art community today tends to resist the established art institution and the afiliation by smaller entities to it based on an inherited ideology of resistance--one which has proven to be useless, ultimately, due to its rhetorical position of safe-posing by those who still hold on to unresolved avant-garde narratives, which upon examination are nothing more than a reconfiguration of regressive ideology: The regressive listener would like to ridicule and destroy what yesterday they were intoxicated with, as if in retrospect to avenge for the fact that the ecstasy was not actually such. The bigots who complain to the radio stations in pathetic-sadistic letters of the jazzing up of holy things and the youth who delight in such exhibitions are of one mind. It requires only the proper situation to bring them together in a united front.