September 30, 2005
remembering Bill Bartman
at ease The memorial for Bill Bartman will be celebrated at 2 pm on Saturday, November 5 in the Society of Friends Meeting House. The beautiful, very simple brick 1860 building is located off the western boundary of Stuyvesant...
FREEDOM NIXED FOR SACRED SPACE - WAL-MART IN TALKS
and eventually, when interest in them flags, we can use the two big footprints for parking So, after watching four years of people fighting over the big hole, we're now to have nothing more than some dreary architecture sheltering...
September 27, 2005
“Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated"
what do you think? The Times-Picayune headline and story appears only after almost a full month of reports that the New Orleans victims of hurricane Katrina had acted like murderers and animals.As the fog of warlike conditions in Hurricane...
September 26, 2005
Jonathan Podwil, paintings still and moving
Jonathan Podwil Huey 2001 Super 8, digitally animated, continuous loop [still from projection] Jonathan Podwil Meeting, 1983 2005 oil on linen 2 panels, each 36" x 42" [detail] Jonathan Podwil LA Palms, Baghdad Palms 2004 oil on linen 2...
Adam Cvijanovic at Bellwether
Adam Cvijanovic Love Poem (10 Minutes After the End of Gravity) 2005 Flashe and house paint on Tyvek [detail of large room-size installation] Adam Cvijanovic Love Poem (10 Minutes After the End of Gravity) 2005 Flashe and house paint...
White House arrests Cindy Sheehan
dangerous woman Cindy Sheehan has been arrested for not moving from the sidewalk in front of the executive mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue. White House press secretary Scott McClellan:"it's the right of the American people to peacefully express their views....
September 24, 2005
Bush has made beatings and torture very American
An Iraqi detainee at a jail in the outskirts of Baghdad, 2004. Troops from the army's elite 82nd Airborne Division routinely beat and mistreated Iraqi prisoners at a base near Fallujah in central Iraq with the approval of their...
John Weir goes to Houston and finds 'home'
Chiquita Garner, left, of New Orleans, waits with her family outside the closed Greyhound terminal in Houston on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005. Garner and her family had been evacuated from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit and have been...
September 23, 2005
a memorial for Bill Bartman
There will be a memorial for Bill Bartman at 2 pm on Saturday, November 5, at the Society of Friends Meeting House off Stuyvesant Square, and everyone is welcome. There will be cookies....
September 22, 2005
don't expect freedom of speech or assembly in New York
bedlam immediately followed the arrest of the organizer of Cindy Sheehan's appearance in Union Square [the guy in the yellow shirt is a plainclothes punk "kid" who tried to start trouble before the rally began, according to a witness,...
Community Labor United - now in site [sic]
A man in the crowd in front of Reliant Arena, lies passed out from the morning heat. He was taken away in an ambulance. Residents of the shelter were told they were being evacuated to Arkansas, due to Hurricane...
Bill Bartman, continued [and very likely forever]
bookish Bill A full week after it was reported to the rest of the world the NYTimes finally got around to including the news of Bill Bartman's death, at the very bottom of its page of obituaries. Many will...
September 21, 2005
after the flood, waiting for the new owners?
where Dumaine crosses North Roman, central Treme after the flood, sometime late last week The title of Jordan Flaherty's latest letter is "Shelter and Safety", but the context is racism, a racism exacerbated by the horrors of Hurricane Katrina,...
September 20, 2005
our sidewalks are now for sale
everybody into the streets! They could hardly have come up with a petty outrage more perfectly designed to get me going. Hummer, blocked sidewalk, trashy action movie: Could anything be more civilized in a crowded neighborhood on a warm...
life on the edge - of the reservoir
I was up by the Central Park reservoir (the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir) yesterday. It was one of the last days of summer and I was anxious to find some sign of color or life other than the green...
September 19, 2005
getting into New Orleans, with some paper and some attitude
back at Duke, Sonny Byrd, David Hankla and Hans Buder "It made no sense whatsoever that reporters were getting in and out of New Orleans, but the National Guard couldn't remove those people from the convention center," said Mr....
September 18, 2005
Michael St. John and friends at Cynthia Broan
Michael St. John In a daze 'cause I found god 2003 plaster, spray paint on wood, atlas, collage, pencil, paper, tape on canvas, pom poms and enamel on wood 98" x 96" [installation view with Barry] Rachel Rampleman A...
do birds drink?
I was walking with Barry and some friends along 11th Avenue just above 24th Street when I spotted a birdhouse shape on the far side of a tree [by coincidence one of my most favorite trees in the entire...
"Floating Island" sighted off Manhattan
It was already early Saturday evening. We were walking down through Hudson River Park with a destination in mind, but we had started to assume that we would arrive too late to see the posthumous [performance?] of Robert Smithson's...
September 17, 2005
orgiastic greed, opportunism, and militarism in New Orleans
NOPD officers Danny Scanlan and Juan Lopez keep a watchful eye during patrol Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 in New Orleans. [caption of the Times Picayune] Jordan Flaherty continues to write from Louisiana, and on Friday he argued that the...
September 15, 2005
anyone care what the owners of those houses think?
not everything's in the French Quarter I obviously haven't seen everything being written about the reconstruction (or, gasp, "urban renewal") of New Orleans, but I know I haven't read a single word about who actually owns all those unique,...
a huge transfer of art resources: Bill Bartman
with Elizabeth Murray Bill Bartman died this morning An often messy, quirky, ornery bastard, but otherwise (and often at the same time) great company and a great friend with a great heart, Bill Bartman was also a selfless, totally-committed...
September 14, 2005
was "mission accomplished" even in Afghanistan?
in Afghanistan the Taliban remain an enduring threat, freedom only clings to life, especially for women, and more Americans are dying than ever before Sixty-nine American service members have been killed in Afghanistan this year, the NYTimes reported today...
for two weeks, "anyone could see his body from the street"
free at last In a post I did one week ago I included a Times Picayune photograph of the blanket-wrapped body of Alcede Jackson lying on a bench on his front porch in New Orleans, and I included some...
September 13, 2005
brilliant move on the part of the White House
brilliant? Maybe we've just been watching the latest sally in the radical conservatives' continuing campaign to dismantle the government. The results of a Newsweek poll released a few days ago suggest that it's working.But Katrina’s most costly impact could...
September 12, 2005
Madison Square Garden eyes another architectural treasure
Farley Post Office Building [at the top of the front steps] BAD HABIT Years ago they tore down the magnificent old Pennsylvania Station and replaced it with the current monstrous obscenity which became the latest incarnation of the peripatetic...
new in the PS1 "Free the Art" gallery
I've uploaded two new sketches into the "Free the Art" gallery, both by W. Craghead, and they're pretty wonderful. Carol Bove's Adventures in Poetry by W. Craghead Jason Fox's Peaceful Warrier by W. Craghead Once again, For anyone only joining...
September 11, 2005
"Super Thursday", including Mike Paré at ATM
Mike Paré Ditch Dance 2005 egg tempera and graphite on paper 22" x 30" [large detail] We celebrated Super Thursday a few days ago with a relatively low-key tour of only a few of the new shows opening in...
a broken trumpet in a red velvet-lined box
Barry and I were a part of this afternoon's New Orleans Jazz Funeral March in Washington Square Park, where I managed to weave through an extraordinarily-diverse crowd to get a few decent images, even while encumbered by half of...
where to send help directly to the people who need it most
"Let the People Rebuild New Orleans"* UPDATE: Community Labor United now has a website. I've been looking at a lot of materials over for almost two weeks, and although many people have offered suggestions for directing money or other help...
September 10, 2005
the nightmare began when the police and military showed up
An unidentified man sits in the flood water underneath the Interstate-10 in New Orleans, La., Monday, Sept. 5, 2005. [caption from Times Picayune] I had forgotten to include a link to Rogers Cadenhead's blog, which had inspired it, when...
"another country"
A line of women in custody line up at a makeshift jail facility at the Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, Friday, Sept. 9. The temporary holding facility holds those accused of a crime before they are sent to...
"Five Days with Katrina"
the day before UPDATE: "Five Days with Katrina" had moved and, thanks to Silvia Morales who told me where it went, the link below now works once again I haven't seen anything like this site before now. This album,...
September 9, 2005
sturdy Bavarian beasts
I couldn't begin to say who's the prettiest The caption supplied with the photo reads:Bavarian herdsmen in traditional dresses drive their beasts on a road during the return of the cattle from the summer pastures in the mountains near...
suburban police blocked those trying to escape while black
None of this surprises me any more, although there was a time, less than two weeks ago, when I could still go about the day without these images of the horrors of our racism haunting me all day long and...
gun control as an act of god
So when is the right to have a gun a sacrament of the radical Right, if it's not during an emergency, when there is no civil order, and when life and private property must be defended? Sean Bonner asked the...
the terrorists have won - again
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that U.S. President George W. Bush has the power to detain Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who has been held for more than three years as a suspected enemy...
September 8, 2005
a discussion of addiction helps us all to understand the chaos
no dystopia here* In an OPINION piece in Newsday this morning Patrick Moore writes about a subject which is extremely important to our understanding of both the reports of violence in a devastated New Orleans and the actual facts...
September 7, 2005
but what about their right of return . . . .
Joseph Williams attempts to leave New Orleans on Interstate 10. He has two flat tires on his trailer that is carrying half of everything he owns. [caption from Newsday dated September 5] If tons of money end up going...
"DEAD WHITE RICH GUY . . . LAID TO REST IN DC!"
The entire headline, taken from another blogger's post, reads: STOP THE FUCKING PRESSES! A DEAD WHITE RICH GUY WHO WORE A BLACK ROBE FOR A LIVING IS LAID TO REST IN DC! Some people are very mad. Very, very mad....
September 6, 2005
ArtCal now has pictures!
Robert Boyd Heaven's Little Helper (from the series Xanadu) 2005 video still (Manson Girls) News flash! ArtCal now has pictures as well as information. Well, it is all about the visual arts, so offering some images along with direction...
Jim Hodges at the Ritz-Carlton
Jim Hodges Look and See painted stainless steel 11.5'x 50' x 1" [detail of installation] It appears light as a feather in spite of its medium, but I think Jim Hodges's enormous sculpture is more effective when viewed close...
the "can't-do" folks, and lessons lost - or never learned
Winslow Homer Hurricane, Bahamas 1898-99 watercolor 14.5" x 21" I have two more stories which should be read more widely than they are likely to be. Like the tip on the previous post, both were sent to me by...
the criminal politics of disaster, seen from inside New Orleans
Algiers, Louisiana, 1993 This is a letter from a dry Algiers. No, not the sandy one. It's the New Orleans neighborhood just across the river from the watery parts. This piece is copied in its entirety from ZNet. [Note:...
water, water everywhere . . . .
Two woman sitting in front of their home in New Orleans. They are not looking for another place to live even, though they have nothing to eat or drink. [caption from Newsday dated September 5] As if the news...
September 5, 2005
keeping New Orleans alive, and honoring the dead their way
A 'Gay Parade' gets under way in the French Quarter of New Orleans. as a determined handful of hurricane survivors vowed to keep the spirit of New Orleans alive. The official parade was postponed because of the arrival of...
September 4, 2005
preserving the people of New Orleans as a community
Lee Friedlander Sweet Emma Barrett, New Orleans 1958 A BROKEN NEW ORLEANS ROUSES ITSELF I have no way of knowing how central this particular appeal may become, but it came to me through a friend and I share its...
more from inside New Orleans, from Jordan Flaherty
Troy Tallent brings some blues back to the French Quarter, by playing for the few residents and police still in the neighborhood. Originally from Georgia, Troy came to New Orleans in 1987 and he hasn't left yet. [Los Angeles...
September 3, 2005
these people are being treated like vermin
A body floats outside the Superdome in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. [Los Angeles Times caption dated Friday] How rich and white do you have to be to get the attention of your government? These people...
Federico Solmi is King Kong
Federico Solmi is in the midst of assembling a stack of a thousand drawings for his newest project, an ambitious hand-colored videoanimation based on the 1933 "King Kong" movie, sort of updated for the twenty-first century, but filled with...
special auras and fuzzes at d.u.m.b.o. arts center (dac)
Jonathan Podwil Assassinated (112263) #3 2005 oil on linen 22" x 30" [large detail] Brooklyn's DUMBO is still packed with artist studios, even if the gallery numbers have declined in the last few years. d.u.m.b.o. arts center (dac) is...
September 2, 2005
a letter from one who escaped a New Orleans refugee camp
Hundreds of people wait for evacuation buses on the side of Interstate 10 in New Orleans. Many of them were suffering from dehydration after hours of waiting in the heat. [Los Angeles Times caption, image dated August 31] Gretna...
the picture of the U.S. hidden in the attic until now
outside the New Orleans convention center today While still lying abed this morning I listened to the BBC World Service coverage of the New Orleans disaster. Unfortunately I did not get the name of the (American?) woman being interviewed...
saving a living archive of American social and cultural history
the author's home, before the flood I have a stack of neglected newspapers on my right as I sit here at my laptop looking at the staggering reports of human tragedy flowing in from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I...
September 1, 2005
we're totally fucked
A blanket covers the body of a woman who died in a wheelchair, and another body is wrapped in a sheet Thursday at the convention center in New Orleans. [CNN caption] If we actually were to be the victim...
