Annette hasn’t got the hits but the rock opera film by Leos Carax is certainly this centuries Jesus Christ Superstar.
Monsieur Carax seems like an unlikely Norman Jewison but with the dazzling Sparks opening production number “May We Now Start?” this viewer was fully enrapt. Yes I am a huge Sparks fan and was equally delighted that the Brothers Mael had written the libretto.
The cast emerging onto Santa Monica Blvd in West Los Angeles singing what seems to be live geniustrata and not playback. I was mesmerised by teeny tiny small boned Simon Helberg as The Accompanyist. His lovely curly locks of bouncy hair and wide eyes making good on the promise from his performance in Florence Foster Jenkins (2016). I was hoping that the humpy Adam Driver with his sinewy musculature and powerful built would ravish Mr. Helberg in a mercy bone same sex love scene, but alas I had to settle on cunnilingus and coitusuninteruptukus between Mr. Driver and the enchanting Ms. Marion Cotillard.
Getting back to Helberg. I remember him as part of the entourage of the 1990s Santa Monica teen sensations The Grown Ups led by lead singer and Belinda Carlisle lookalike Paloma with Nathan Hamill son of Mark Hamill on guitar. Mr. Helberg and Mr. Hamill were devoted teen sweethearts back then. The band, The Grown Ups whose debut album was produced by Eric Erlandson of Hole were regular performers at my Club Sucker at the Garage in Silverlake.
One needs to see Annette several times to gain full appreciation of Sparks songs like the earworm hit “We Love Each Other So Much” and the perfect duet between father and daughter in “Sympathy For the Abyss”.
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Was sent the British short series We Are Lady Parts and I immediately fell in love watching the first episode. So smart of the English to limit some of their programs to only six or so segments, the Americans could learn something from that.
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Those of you in Los Angeles please make your way to The ICA and Hammer Museums in the new year to catch Witch Hunt Exhibition which will close January 9th and features my installation Mary, Mary. Also in Berlin The Wicked Pavilion which is at Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi and Eden Eden will continue until February 19th. The Galleries will re-open January 4th the Bortolozzi Gallery open Tuesday-Saturday 12-6pm and Eden Eden only open on Fridays and Saturdays from 12-6pm.
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Do What is Right and Donate to Participant Inc. Gallery in NYC and their Participant After Dark Program.
As we say goodbye to 2021, we're pleased to share Jordan Strafer's PEAK HEAVEN LOVE FOREVER official trailer.
With gratitude for your support, we welcome your participation in our future.
“For the love of horror puppets and reenacting trauma,” we'll begin 2022 with PUNCHLINE, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based video artist Jordan Strafer that will premiere the artist’s new video PEAK HEAVEN LOVE FOREVER.
Jordan Strafer, PUNCHLINE
January 5 – February 6, 2022
Opening Wednesday, January 5, 5-9pm
Appointments are required. Make one here.
Other worthwhile support is needed by feminist gallery Joan in Los Angeles:
Dear Friends of JOAN,
As 2021 comes to a close, we reflect on all of the great things that have happened at JOAN this year, despite its challenges. Chief among these has been our return to in-person programming with two terrific exhibitions, Arnold J. Kemp, False Hydras, and Pippa Garner, Immaculate Misconceptions. We were thrilled to have so many of you returning to the space or visiting it for the first time, and to see such enthusiastic responses to these shows. If you haven’t yet, I would invite you to check out some of the press they received, including Kemp’s interview in Artforum, a featured review of False Hydras in Carla, and Garner interviewed on the Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour.
To help us continue building on this momentum, we are asking you to consider supporting JOAN with a tax-deductible, year-end gift. This year, we are very excited to be able to offer the first 20 people who donate $1,000 or more an invitation to attend a brunch and tour of Nancy Rubins’s Topanga Canyon studio on January 23rd. Please feel free to get in touch with Hannah at us@joanlosangeles.org for more information about this fundraising event. Other ways to support JOAN include:
– Purchase an artwork in Life Like, our benefit show on view in the storefront space next to Stars gallery, Hollywood through January 15.
– Become a member of JOAN POST and receive monthly postcard artist editions in the mail.
For a small organization such as ours, these types of contributions are foundational to our work supporting experimental art practices by women and other historically marginalized groups. And they will ensure a strong start to our 2022 season, which opens with a performance, installation, and collection of objects and garments collectively titled Pool. Developed as a collaboration between CarWash Collective (Jennifer Minniti and Beverly Semmes) and Emily Mast, the performance coincides with the Witch Hunt exhibition, currently on view at the Hammer Museum and the ICA LA. Stay tuned for more information about Pool to come.
Thank you as always for your support and involvement in JOAN! We look forward to seeing you in 2022!
Love,
JOAN
JOAN is a Los Angeles nonprofit space for exhibitions, performances, and screenings.
For more information, contact us@joanlosangeles.org or visit joanlosangeles.org
The Grown Ups mid 1990s.
With gratitude for your support, we welcome your participation in our future.
“For the love of horror puppets and reenacting trauma,” we'll begin 2022 with PUNCHLINE, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based video artist Jordan Strafer that will premiere the artist’s new video PEAK HEAVEN LOVE FOREVER.
Jordan Strafer, PUNCHLINE
January 5 – February 6, 2022
Opening Wednesday, January 5, 5-9pm
Appointments are required. Make one here.
Other worthwhile support is needed by feminist gallery Joan in Los Angeles:
Dear Friends of JOAN,
As 2021 comes to a close, we reflect on all of the great things that have happened at JOAN this year, despite its challenges. Chief among these has been our return to in-person programming with two terrific exhibitions, Arnold J. Kemp, False Hydras, and Pippa Garner, Immaculate Misconceptions. We were thrilled to have so many of you returning to the space or visiting it for the first time, and to see such enthusiastic responses to these shows. If you haven’t yet, I would invite you to check out some of the press they received, including Kemp’s interview in Artforum, a featured review of False Hydras in Carla, and Garner interviewed on the Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour.
To help us continue building on this momentum, we are asking you to consider supporting JOAN with a tax-deductible, year-end gift. This year, we are very excited to be able to offer the first 20 people who donate $1,000 or more an invitation to attend a brunch and tour of Nancy Rubins’s Topanga Canyon studio on January 23rd. Please feel free to get in touch with Hannah at us@joanlosangeles.org for more information about this fundraising event. Other ways to support JOAN include:
– Purchase an artwork in Life Like, our benefit show on view in the storefront space next to Stars gallery, Hollywood through January 15.
– Become a member of JOAN POST and receive monthly postcard artist editions in the mail.
For a small organization such as ours, these types of contributions are foundational to our work supporting experimental art practices by women and other historically marginalized groups. And they will ensure a strong start to our 2022 season, which opens with a performance, installation, and collection of objects and garments collectively titled Pool. Developed as a collaboration between CarWash Collective (Jennifer Minniti and Beverly Semmes) and Emily Mast, the performance coincides with the Witch Hunt exhibition, currently on view at the Hammer Museum and the ICA LA. Stay tuned for more information about Pool to come.
Thank you as always for your support and involvement in JOAN! We look forward to seeing you in 2022!
Love,
JOAN
JOAN is a Los Angeles nonprofit space for exhibitions, performances, and screenings.
For more information, contact us@joanlosangeles.org or visit joanlosangeles.org
The Grown Ups mid 1990s.
