| PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Due to our limited financial resources, ArtCommotion's weekly columns, Booked and Framed, have been suspended indefinitely. |
Booked by Tosh Berman October 28 through November 3 |
|
Matthew Coolidge, from the Center for Land Use Interpretation wrote a book titled "Nevada Test Site: A Guide to America's Nuclear Proving Ground." The book is chock full of photographs and documents. He is now lecturing across Southern California, and if you like the Museum of Jurrassic Technology then you'll like the lectures on the Center for Land Use Interpretation. The Center's mission is to comment, study, and record human interaction with the earth's surface--including nuclear test sites, strip mines, the Spiral Jetty, and aqueducts. Coolidge's road show is at California Institute for the Arts (November 5, 7:00 p.m.), Beyond Baroque (November 9, 8:30 p.m.), Art Center College of Design (November 12, 7:30 p.m.) and one of my favorite general bookstores Midnight Special (November 26, 7:00 p.m.). For more information call 310.839.5722 or e-mail: clui@sirius.com. The web site for the Center for Land Use Interpretation is: http://loft-gw.zone.org/clui.html. Posted 10/28 |
|
Nancy Agabian, my favorite Armenian princess, will read her witty work on October 26 with Shahe Manderian at the Glendale Public Library Auditorium on 222 East Harvard Street, Glendale. This reading is part of a project called "Literary Corner" that focuses on Armenian writers and poets. Upcoming events in the series are a "Feminist Literary Criticism" night with Rita Vorperian (in Armenian); and a poetry reading with Alec Ekmekji, Arpine Konyalian Grenier, and Silva Varjabedian. For more information please call 818.546.2821. Posted 10/28 |
|
Tiki News, Issue No. 8 has just hit the stands. Its the travel issue, and it features an interview with the legendary songwriter Bobby Troup plus cocktail recipes by Brother Cleve of Combustilble Edison--yummy! Pick up a copy of Tiki News at AMOK Bookstore on Vermont Blvd. Posted 10/28 |
|
Brian Baltin is the coolest person I've ever met and he's reading at AMOK Bookstore on November 7 at 8:00 p.m. I have a hunch that Baltin is really the son of Mickey Spillane and Patricia Highsmith. His writing is charged, especially when it concerns homosexual porn, cheap pulp writing, and British and Japanese juvenile delinquent film from the sixties. He is also the editor of Intent to Kill, one of the better of the way-out-there zines. For more information on the reading call AMOK at 213.665.0956 Posted 10/22 |
|
High Risk Books is no more! A press release from the parent company, Serpent's Tail, announced the end. High Risk's head honcho, Ira Silverberg, said, "While the High Risk imprint brought both visibility and prestige to Serpent's Tail, these benefits were not enough to outweigh the demand of increased returns and lower advances from the stores. Thus, our UK publisher has chosen a path which is geared to decreasing overhead in an effort to create better economics for the house." Serpent's Tail publisher Pete Ayrton said, "Due to difficult trading conditions and excessive and unpredictable returns, Serpent's Tail will close its U. S. office on December 20, 1996." Silverberg will stay on through the end of the year to see the spring list into production. Those titles include books by the visionary performance artist/playwright/poet/writer Jack Smith and a collection of essays by Lynne Tillman and Kathy Acker. High Risk editors Amy Scholder and Ira Silverberg gave us books by Benjamin Weissman, William S. Burroughs, Renaud Camus, David Trinidad, and Lynn Tillman, to name a few. For anyone who loves edgy, nervy writing the end of High Risk is very sad news. Posted 10/14 |
|
"The Eye of the Needle," written by Ralph Rugoff, is a catalog of an exhibition of art by Hagop Sandaldjian that took place at the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Sandaldjian made microminiatures of subjects such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Donald Duck, and Pope John, among others. These are amazing sculptures that you cannot see with the naked eye because they're comprised of specks of dust and perhaps a single strand of hair. The only way to view these microminatures is through a microscope. Rugoff's descriptions of Sandaldjian's work habits are a total delight. Rugoff tone is warm and friendly and his reports on Sandaldjian's methods are as detailed as the microminiatures themselves. Each sculpture takes approximately 14 months of a very steady hand and lots of patience. Sandaldjian even studied yoga so he could control his breathing. Posted 10/14 |
|
Hot off the press! "Michael Jackson Was My Lover: The Secret Diary of Jordie Chandler" by Victor M. Gutierrez, published anonymously out of Santiago, Chile, and available at Different Light Bookstore in West Hollywood. At last the truth is out. If you don't believe me just read the inside flap: Adrian McManus, Michael Jackson's ex-personal maid says, "This book shows the truth I confronted daily but was so afraid to tell." Even the great TV journalist Diane Dimond of "Hard Copy" says "Victor Gutierrez is the only journalist that investigated the Jackson case better than our program, and we were number one." The book presents pictures and documents such as Jordie's bank account, his drawings of his dad, photographs of Jordie's room, Jackson's collection of Jordie's underwear (including some with shit and urine stains), and Jordie's drawing of Jackson's penis. Run out and buy this book right now. Posted 9/30 |