Prince, Picasso, Nov. 8 book event + concert giveaway

Monday I returned from a 12-day, mostly work trip to Chicago, DC and a Virginia suburb. Due to the length of the trip, I promised my homeless friend April that I'd text her a picture from Chicago every day (she owns a smartphone, not unlike many tech-equipped homeless, as WSJ reported a while back).

This proved a more interesting task than I expected, as I tried to capture a different Chicago distinctive each day -- from the city's elegant riverfront and skyline to its split-layer streets and famous blues scene. I've made several trips to Chicago in the past few years, but this was the first time I really noticed how much public art they have. Maybe someday I'll write more about public art, and why I think it can be such a gift to communities.

Speaking of gifts, let me know if you're a boogie-woogie fan. Friday night I won tickets from my favorite blues radio show to go hear the second annual San Francisco international boogie woogie festival, Nov. 8, 4 p.m. at the SFJAZZ Center near Civic Center. From Friday night's interview with the organizer, it sounds like it should be great (read this HuffPo piece on last year's festival for more.

I'm offering my extra ticket to artRecs readers first! Let me know if you're interested and free next Sunday.

:: events ::

• Nov. 8: Disquiet Time discussion at the American Baptist Seminary of the West, 2606 Dwight Way in Berkeley. 7-9 p.m., FREE. See more details below. Nearest BART station: Downtown Berkeley.
• Nov. 9: Second annual San Francisco boogie woogie festival, SFJAZZ Center.
• Nov. 13: Postmodern Jukebox at Slim's, 8 p.m., $25. The band has made a name for themselves with genre-bending covers of pop songs like "Anaconda" and "Call Me Maybe," as well as their slow-jam versions of TV theme songs. I don't always go in for acts like that, but they're talented musicians and I do love a good swing tune (which genre they turn to often). Anyone want to come with?

:: our stuff ::

• Steve shot a nice collection of portraits at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Check them out on his blog.
• Dave helped out with the Ai Weiwei show now on display at Alcatraz. He also painted several murals at a festival in Norway (view pictures on the blog).

A photo posted by Dave Kim (@daveyoungkim) on Sep 9, 2014 at 3:32pm PDT

• The Mazzarellos designed a wine bottle label featuring art by Ronnie Goodman, the (formerly?) homeless runner whose work I've shared before. Look for his etching on the Solidarity wine from Justice Grace vineyards.
• Disquiet Time, a book of essays I contributed to, came out Oct. 21. I'll discuss my essay on doubt Nov. 8, as part of a Berkeley event with the editors and a few other contributors. I'd love to see a few familiar faces in the audience if any of you can make it!

:: film ::

• Dear White People recently opened in the Bay Area. A.O. Scott reviews it for NYT. Anyone interested in watching it? I'm really curious to see it, but this seems like the kind of film where you could get as much, if not more, out of the post-viewing discussion as the movie itself.

:: tunes ::

• Prince played an eight-minute set on SNL this weekend. Sharing the video on Twitter, musician Ryan Adams said, "Prince just broke music again." Consequence of Sound had more on the performance.
• NPR's First Listens this week include a new set of basement tapes from Bob Dylan and a Neil Young album recorded two ways: "He recorded all of its 10 songs with either a 92-piece orchestra or an elaborate big band (not to mention the occasional choir), for a sound that couldn't be farther from the raggedness exemplified in his acoustic and electric recordings alike."
• Joshua Bell recently reprised his famously unappreciated Metro performance in Washington, D.C. -- this time, to a more discerning crowd.
• New Gregory Porter: His latest album (sort of) is the compilation Issues of Life. Porter also sang in the month-long iTunes festival in London. For a limited time, iTunes has the video of his performance available for free viewing. (I cannot praise his live shows enough; I'm seriously thinking of flying to SoCal in January to catch one there.)
• New soul radio program: Since my move almost a year ago, I've been listening to the radio a lot more than before. That has given me a new appreciation for the breadth of programming on KCSM, the local jazz station. Not only do they feature three hours of blues on Friday nights, and a Sunday afternoon Latin jazz program (2-6 p.m.), they also run play two hours of swing-era jazz from 6-8 p.m. Now I find myself wanting to listen from 6 to 10 p.m. on Sundays, though, thanks to a great new soul program that starts at 8 p.m. Tune in to 91.1 or find the station on iTunes to hear for yourself. The more I hear, the more I think of the station.
• Dwight Garner's review of the new Mark Whitaker Cosby bio emphasizes Cosby's love for jazz and its influence on his work. 
• I haven't read enough on Lecrae to say where this Religion News Service interview falls in coverage of him, but I appreciated Sarah Pulliam Bailey's work. Read the full interview transcript.

:: visual art ::

• The Bay Bridge Lights show could be extended permanently, but backers are still seeking additional funding. I don't love leaving work after dark, but it's one of my favorite parts of  after-sunset commutes.
• Behind the Wall: The New Yorker publishes photos from a new book by Ute Mahler, chronicling life in East Germany during the years of the Berlin Wall. In contrast to the period's "'sugar-coated' propaganda, Mahler, along with a few others, set out to photograph the less promising realities of life in East Germany."
• Picasso show looks at the influence of his second wife Jacqueline: This story includes a nice slide show of the couple, my favorite picture of which shows them dancing in his studio. Several of the photos were shot by Life photographer David Douglas Duncan, an interesting third party in WSJ's account of the couple.
• The Root reviews eight London exhibitions scheduled for Black History Month. One curator interviewed said, “One hopes that this is a sign of changing times where the appreciation of black artistic practice is no longer tied to a designated month of the year and is perhaps indicative of a Britain that is ready to critically engage with stimulating art, regardless of the cultural backgrounds of its creators.”
• Malkovich as Marilyn, Warhol and Einstein: Starting in November, a Chicago gallery hosts a new portrait series by photographer Sandro Miller, in which he recreates famous photos by Dorothy Lange, Warhol and others ... all using John Malkovich. Some of them I found eerily close to the originals. Others, like recreated portraits of Mohammed Ali and Three Horses, raised a lot of questions for me.
• How The New Yorker's covers have changed - this almost makes me want to finally subscribe, though magazines always end up in a massive to-read pile.
• Portuguese illustrator Andre Carrilho on Ebola: A pointed depiction of Westerners' fickle interest in the outbreak
• In the latest in an increasingly storied portrait series, the 40th photo of the four Brown sisters has been released. Begun when the women were in their late teens and early 20s, the annual portrait has become a fascinating chronicle of life and aging.
• A college friend of mine contributed to this documentary about two brothers' return to Haiti and attempt to find their family after the 2010 earthquake.

:: reading/food for thought ::

• Walking in New York: One of the best, most delightful essays I've read in some time -- by my dear friend Garnette Cadogan. Print this out to read at leisure, over a good meal or flavorful cup of coffee. So many great lines and images in his account of walking through the streets of New York. If you like this piece, Garnette also contributed to the new anthology Tales of Two Cities, featuring essays about New York by the likes of Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers, Colum McCann, David Byrne, Teju Cole, Jonathan Safran Foer and many others.
• How to be funny: A while back, Stephen George introduced me to one of funniest short stories/serials I've read in a long time -- the hipster send-up Simon's Sell-Out by Simon Rich. In a new interview, the precocious young writer talks to Longreads about his new short-story collection Spoiled Brats and other projects. 
• National Book Award finalists announced (NPR). Nominees range from Marilynne Robinson's Lila to books of poetry on racism and segregation. I wish I had time to read more of the books than I'm likely to. One nominee explores local history: Steve Sheinkin's The Port Chicago 50 recounts the explosion at a segregated naval site in Suisan Bay that led to charges of mutiny after several men refused to work until the government fixed safety issues. (More than 300 died in the explosion.)

:: food ::

• Virginia beer to watch for: During my recent trip, I had a chance to try two beers from craft brewery Hardywood Park. I particularly liked the rye whiskey-barrel pumpkin beer. In fact, I set my alarm for 7 a.m. my last day there, just so I could walk the 1.4 miles to Trader Joe's to buy a few bottles for my trip home (bus service is limited, and my sister leaves for work at 5 a.m.). Alas, this errand only yielded one bottle, due to brisk weekend sales, but I'm still investigating other ways to get the beer, short of a follow-up trip or paying a friend to check a suitcase of beer. If you find yourself in Virginia, check out Hardywood Park beers ... and then let me know if you're open to some small-scale beer transport.

Ai Weiwei, Cosby milestone, new Leonard Cohen

A few summers back, I remember coming home from work in the still-light evenings to read John Cheever short stories in my bedroom, maybe with a gin cocktail in hand, until twilight forced me to use an electric light.

 

This summer proved quite different. Most of my writing energy was focused on contributions to a series on race and faith that my friend Amy Julia Becker planned, in an extended response to Ta-Nehisi Coates' Atlantic cover story on reparations. I got involved after telling her about the June Project Peace event on race and faith, which I initially planned to write about. Instead, I ended up writing a piece on confession and then helping to develop a Lord's prayer for reconciliation intended for churches to use.

I say all that both to commend Amy Julia's series to you, but also because my small contributions to it stem from an important shift in my creative process this year. I know those reading this are in various places spiritually -- and artRecs probably emphasizes art more than faith -- but I've found prayer to be an incredibly powerfully influence on my writing, especially in recent months.

For the past two years, several of us at Christ Church have been meeting monthly to practice what's variously called listening/healing prayer. These can be separate practices, but I find it rare that I listen to God without old wounds coming up. Through the listening/healing prayer process, I then ask God to show me where the pain started, what I came to believe (usually a lie or distortion) and what the truth is.

Up through this point, it's probably not so different from some counseling/therapy methods, but you then go on -- if you're comfortable doing so -- to renounce and repent of believing the lie(s), which I find incredibly powerful. Sometimes you may also find that you need to deal with other related issues, like unforgiveness of others, yourself or God, etc.

Prayer always improves my writing, but praying through my sin and baggage with a topic before I start writing seems to make an even bigger difference. If you're interested in trying listening prayer for yourself, the next meeting is Oct. 4 at the Christ Church Berkeley site (2138 Cedar Street), 10 a.m. to noon.

Whether or not you can come this month, I'd encourage you all to think about it. Generally I avoid promising "results" from any given spiritual discipline, but everyone I know who's tried listening prayer has had something really good happen. Many of us even consider it life-changing. To get on the event-reminder mailing list for listening prayer, email heal.pray.ministry@gmail.com. You can also get an overview of the basic listening process here.

:: events ::

• Sept. 27-April 26: Ai Weiwei's @Large exhibit at Alcatraz
• Oct. 2-12: Mill Valley Film Festival
• Oct. 10-18: Litquake

:: your stuff ::

• Dave's new mural in downtown Oakland was recently filmed for a segment on ABC 7. No link to the video yet, but I'll be sure to share it when it's posted.

:: poetry ::

• This response to Michael Brown's death and events in Ferguson is really remarkable.

:: visual art ::

• Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz: In The New York Times account, this looks to be one of the most exciting shows in San Francisco this fall. The show will include Lego portraits of "176 portraits of prisoners of conscience and political exiles." Because of government-imposed restrictions on travel, the Times reports he relied heavily on assistance from the curator and dozens of volunteers, those this raises questions "to what extent are installations like this — which required more than 100 volunteers in San Francisco and For-Site staffers on Alcatraz Island helping with assembly, as well as Amnesty International contributing research — truly Mr. Ai’s work?" In another special arrangement, the National Park Service opened part of Alcatraz that's usually off-limits to visitors for a sound piece that includes the music of Fela Kuti, Pussy Riot and others.
  
• Ronnie Goodman's art: I think his website's fairly new, but you can now see more work by the homeless artist who ran the San Francisco half-marathon.
  
• "Incredible photos of secret abandoned palaces": I really dislike headlines that tell us how to receive the subject matter, but I have to admit that Polish artist Patrycja Makowska's interior photos of abandoned buildings really awed me. I daresay she's done a lot of Photoshop work -- which sometimes seems quite heavy-handed -- but some of her photos stirred a keen wonder and a new desire to visit this part of my past. I assume my Polish ancestors were working-class people, but I've never really explored that line of my forebears; maybe it's time I explored it more. View more of her photos here. She's definitely strongest with the palace interiors, but she also has some interesting shots of Iceland.
  
• Repurposed records: Paste reports on one artist's creative reuse of old vinyl.

:: dance ::

• WSJ interviews Pharrell on his musical goals and runaway single "Happy": "I want to make music with something extra to it—a holistic property. I want to make it feel good. I'm not the only one doing this. Kendrick Lamar's music feels amazing. Adele's music feels amazing. Alicia [Keys]'s new album feels amazing. The distinction between sounding amazing and feeling amazing—that's the thing. People, I think, are looking for a feeling." I confess I've only paid attention to Pharrell recently, but I'm so intrigued by the joy that comes through in all the fan videos. See for instance the "Supercut" video embedded in WSJ's piece. The joy reminds me of that viral video a few years back of the guy filmed doing his crazy dance all over the world. And musicals where people break into dance. Is there another art form that conveys joy quite like that? I'm not sure. Only dance requires we use our whole bodies like that.

:: tunes ::

• Leonard Cohen's new album Popular Problems comes out Tuesday. Stream the album on NPR for a few more days.  Ann Powers writes, "The tarpit-voiced raconteur's songs unfold like dirty canticles, with room for both jokes and profundities."
  
• I've never really gotten into hip-hop, but this NPR interview with Cormega had some fascinating discussion of changes in the industry -- especially the expectations for artists -- and in his own perspective as he's gotten older.
  
• Musician Blake Mills' second album got a pretty positive review from the New York Times ... and then part-way through this piece, I realized Carolyn and I had seen him on his tour with Fiona Apple! I guess I should finally listen to that CD of his I bought.
  
• Despite Beck's emphasis on fan interpretations of his sheet-music album Song Reader, he recently contributed to a complete recording that features Moses Sumney, Jack White, Jack Black, Norah Jones, Fun., Tweedy, Laura Marling, Lord Huron, Swamp Dogg and, yes, one performance by Beck himself. To their credit, the album even includes the two instrumental songs. Stream Song Reader on Spotify or buy it on Amazon. I'm liking it the more I listen to it.
  

 

• The latest videos from Postmodern Jukebox include a soul version of Radiohead's "Creep." They're posting about one song a week now and touring the U.S. later this fall -- so far, mostly East Coast date, but they're promising more shows.
• 
  No Depression explores the house concert trend from the perspective of local house-concert organizer Kevin Oliver. I've yet to attend one of the Olivers' shows, but I always appreciate the human element of house concerts.
  
• Arhoolie Records founder and the owner of my old neighborhood record store, Down Home Music, is the subject of a new documentary that looks at his role in exposing music fans to many unknown blues and other musicians. I haven't heard Chris compared to Alan Lomax, but he's evidently quite a legend. This Ain't No Mouse Music opened at select Bay Area theaters this weekend and runs one week. Some shows include live music.

:: film & television ::

• Jimmy Fallon continues to make good use of his musical chops, as couple recent clips attest. 
• In a recent duet with Barbra Streisand, he impersonated Elvis Presley, Blake Shelton and Michael Buble ... I think.
• His lip synch-off with the real Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani featured decent tap dancing from Blake and an impressive Spike Jones from Jimmy, full of rubber-faced moves.
• Robin Williams' death prompted an outpouring of comedy and remembrance. Though I'd seen more of his films than I realized (if not classics like Dead Poets Society or Good Will Hunting), I appreciated this NYT tribute that pulled together several notable television appearances and clips. We didn't have a TV growing up or see many movies, but Aladdin has always stood out as one of my favorite Disney movies (and, actually, I'm not sure there's any other Disney film that made anything close to the same impression). In retrospect, it's clear my attachment was far more to Williams' work than Disney's. He even did his own singing for "Friend Like Me" and "Prince Ali."

:: reading/food for thought ::

• A few years back, I tried to get a co-worker to pull a prank on our boss and claim he'd given up email for Lent. (He wouldn't do it.) But as part of work on his new book The End of Absence, author Michael Harris quit the whole internet for a month. As he told Quartz magazine, "One of the things that concerns me about a media diet that is overly online, is that we lose the ability to decide for ourselves what we think about who we are.” If the book's anything like the interview, it sounds like a thought-provoking read.
• 
  
• File under just plain fun: Readers of The Toast know that Mallory Ortberg periodically imagines the texts of various famous authors, including William Carlos Williams and William Blake. The results are usually hilarious. This fall, she's releasing a book version, Texts from Jane Eyre. Christmas gift idea for some of the literary sorts in your life?
  
• "That was the first time I understood that when there is something wrong in writing, the chances are that there is either too much of it, too little of it, or that it is in some way backwards." - Michael Crichton on what he learned from working with legendary editor Robert Gottlieb. (This from a long, but excellent, 1994 interview in The Paris Review.
  
• Christianity Today has launched a new biweekly publication, The Behemoth, focused on marveling and pondering.

:: comedy ::

 

• This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Cosby show's launch, prompting a new Bill Cosby biography by Mark Whitaker and a highly praised assessment by the The New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh. Even as I've heard some sobering recent stories about Cosby's life off mic, it hasn't shaken my deep affection for his comedic work. Sanneh's piece encompasses both the brilliance and clay in Cosby, providing an almost biblical portrait of him. Some snippets:
  
  "It’s a shame, in retrospect, that Cosby had to spend so much of his comedy career making records, which forced listeners to focus on his lines, instead of on the facial expressions that he uses to animate them. them."
  
  
  "Cosby was skeptical of sitcoms, too. He hired the psychiatry professor Alvin Poussaint, a frequent collaborator, to make sure that the scripts weren’t too jokey. 'Sitcom writers like to use a lot of put-down humor,' Cosby told him. 'I don’t want any of that.' "
  
  "It is tempting to think of Cosby as a comedy idealist, insistent that his act should remain unsullied by the dirty business of politics. But, if anything, it seems that he took politics more seriously than comedy. Whitaker relates an explanation that Cosby once gave to Poussaint: “‘The Cosby Show’ was a comedy, and he didn’t want to trivialize serious problems by trying to make them funny.” Unlike Pryor, Cosby didn’t believe that a routine could encompass all of life’s joys and sorrows. For him, comedy was smaller than life."
  
  I've already binged once on old Cosby Show episodes; I may end up working my way through the whole series on Youtube. Related: Hear the song Cosby wrote with Quincy Jones as the theme for The Bill Cosby Show.
  
• The New York-based comedy show Sweet has only reached its 10th anniversary, but as someone there for the first few shows, I wanted to share this write up and slideshow of the recent 10th anniversary show. I didn't love all the bits I saw at Sweet, but Seth Herzog's line-up always gave a sense of the camaraderie among New York comedians. Even those starting to see greater success (notably Paul Rudd and Eugene Mirman) weren't above stopping by to do a short bit in their friend's show.

:: food ::

• The New York Times has launched a new cooking section, in which they're evidently making all recipes from their archive available. It's got a great, apparently mobile-friendly new layout, too.
• The next City Church artists dinner is Sept. 28. RSVP to Minna Choi to attend.