Cameron Gray writes
The tribute album came and went. Now it’s more aptly termed a “trite homage” album. The same vaguely indie bands show up, the same non-indie bands that don’t mind some extra cash, the same regrettably uninspired targets. What deserves a bit of attention in this calculus is: what is homage?
The Webster Dictionary defines it thus:
Pronunciation:
There’s More…
Cameron Gray writes
As a middle-aged white boy, the opportunities for me to dance are few & far between. I don’t know when it became taboo to dance with abandon. Nor do I know when it became even more taboo to take your clothes off and dance with more abandon. But so be it, there’s the unfortunate legacy of an American society founded on Protestant ethics. There’s got to be something left to those of us, and it’s a massive majority, that have a raging need to express a bunch of stuff that is, well, nasty & brutish. I’m told patience is a virtue, and I believe it.
I recall the glory days of the mosh pit. I missed whatever went down in the early 70s, I was stuck in preschool and kindergarten in the suburban wasteland of Northern New Jersey. Now there’s all this crap on TV that glorifies dancing as an art form. That’s fine & dandy, but it’s missing the point. I need the handcuffs off. I don’t care if I look good, if girls think I look sexy. My wife thinks I’m sexy when I feel good, when I’m dancing like I want to, obeying an abstractly choreographed ballet expressing my response to the recycled armageddon(s) forced pitilessly on my generation. I need sanctuary; a time & space where I let go and am able to do whatever I want as the feelings rush at me in a bewildering array of sparking electricity and disorienting maelstrom. Sturm & drang. Whoever sells sanctuary, I’m buying. $12 for an LP that is sanctuary, this is a bargain all day long, any year.
For a long time, I thought the closest depiction of what I wanted to capture on film was the Nirvana video in what felt like a damp, claustrophobic, subterranean venue with ladies moving in slow motion, clad in Anarchy tee-shirts. It never occurred to me then what the slow-motion was doing in this footage to make it work. But this footage says more about the effects of music on a crowd, how a crowd is moved by a few guys and a few instruments on a small stage. A few months ago, MCA here in Chicago showed two recent works by Douglas Gordon.
There’s More…
Cameron Gray writes
The appeal of cooking for me is the fusion of art and science, an arena where feel is hard to teach and innovation is a personal thing I can do with a cigar, a glass of scotch, and a record playing. And all of the technique and microgreens and fresh herbs out there won’t help unless I’m working with bone-in meat, fresh poultry with the skin on, and fresh fish with the shimmery skin firm and pretty. Boneless is a waste of my time and money. Bone-in, Skin-on. I think I have two shelves of cookbooks, I consult them infrequently nowadays. It is more fun to experiment, once in a while you get something truly innovative. Which brings me to the same theme as it applies to art & music. The women & men whose work stays with me remain in this zone for a stretch, sometimes a few years and sometimes a lifetime, where the basis is dedication to musicianship or painting or photography, and their commitment to innovation and a personal body of work forces them in and out of favor, in and out of financial viability, in and out of retail catalogs.
I turned 38 and my wife took me out to Violet Hour. Duck meatballs, 22 year rye whiskey, A.H. Hirsch Select. Now I want something else for when I turn 39 and then 40. If Chicago is the new destination for emerging and established chefs, here’s my two cents on a way to differentiate their establishments.
I started cooking when I was looking for my first job in 1998. There were some cookbooks around the apartment, all Italian cooking. So I cooked Italian. Then I got more cookbooks. I went in for anything provincial or authentic, thinking if it’s good enough for the folks that are closest to the food, I’ll learn something. In 1998 I had just left biochemistry as a career, so I thought about food in terms of what heat or acid or alcohol does to tissue. That was a helpful way to start. I found my way to a butcher and a fishmonger that I could depend on and got whatever looked good. I discovered epicurious.com in 2000 and made myself a reference book of recipes so I could learn what techniques applied to Japanese cooking, Indian cooking, Moroccan cooking, Spanish cooking, etc. I got all the James Peterson cookbooks, then I got a copy of Thomas Keller’s cookbook shortly after a meal at The French Laundry. I didn’t cook the same after that.
There’s More…
Cameron Gray writes
Click here for the audio version
it hides in bottles, it’s watching me, you can’t run or it will see
last year I read books on trains, all my papers and pants had stains
There’s More…
Article Categories
Adam Yauch,
Alice Cooper,
Andy Partridge,
Appearances,
Architecture In Helsinki,
Aretha Franklin,
Art Brut,
Artist Spotlight,
Battles,
Beauty Bar,
Beck,
Belle & Sebastian,
Best Of 2009,
Best Of 2010,
Best Of 2011,
Big Freedia,
Bill Stevenson,
Biz Markie,
Blake Schwarzenbach,
Bobby Conn,
Bon Iver,
Bottom Lounge,
Braid,
Brownsville Station,
Buck Owens,
Cadillac Palace,
Cat Power,
Chan Marshall,
Charlie Christian,
Chicago,
Chicago Bands,
Chicago Filmmakers,
Chirp Night At The Whistler,
Chirpradio,
Chk Chk Chk,
Chris Difford,
Coach House Sounds,
Colin Blunstone,
Colin Newman,
Comedy,
Community,
Concerts,
Contests,
Crocodiles,
Curtis Mayfield,
Cymbals Eat Guitars,
D. Boon,
Dan Smith,
Dave Davies,
David Bazan,
David Vandervelde,
David Wicik,
Death Cab For Cutie,
Death Set,
Debbie Harry,
Deerhoof,
Democracy Burlesque,
Double Door,
Doves,
Dum Dum Girls,
Ed Schrader's Music Beat,
Eleanor Friedberger,
Empty Bottle,
Evan Dando,
Evanston Space,
Friendly Fires,
Fundraiser,
Future Islands,
Gang Gang Dance,
Geoff Barrow,
George Clinton,
George Harrison,
Giveaways,
Gold Panda,
Graham Parker,
Gram Parsons,
Grrrl On Grrrl,
Guy Picciotto,
H.r.,
Harvey Pekar,
Hideout,
High Places,
Hollows,
Ian Curtis,
Industry,
Interview,
Ipod,
Ipod Shuffle,
J. Mascis,
James Williamson,
Janet Weiss,
Japandroids,
Javelin,
Jello Biafra,
Joan Of Arc,
Jodie Foster,
Joe Lally,
John Deacon,
John Waters,
John Zorn,
Judson Claiborne,
Kathy Valentine,
Kelley Deal,
Kim Deal,
Kmfdm,
Kurt Vile,
Ladyfest Midwest,
Laura Szumowski,
Lincoln Hall,
Lists,
Ll Cool J,
Local Community Radio Act,
Local Music,
Lonely Forest,
Lpfm,
Lux Interior,
Marc Bolan,
Matt Kimmel,
Maureen Tucker,
Memory Tapes,
Metro,
Michael Lux & The Bad Sons,
Midwestern Housewife,
Mike Chapman,
Mike Mills,
Miki Berenyi,
Movies,
Mp3,
Mp3 Shuffle,
Music Box,
Naked And Famous,
Neil Finn,
Neil Young,
Neon Marshmellow Fest,
News,
Nina Hagen,
Nostalgia,
Off!,
Off Book,
On The Web,
Otis Redding,
Ozzy Osbourne,
Paul Stanley,
Paul Westerberg,
Personal And The Pizzas,
Phantogram,
Phil Lynott,
Podcast,
Pop Culture,
Portage Theater,
Profiles,
Pymalion Music Festival,
Ray Charles,
Reading List,
Record Fair,
Rediscovering Our Record Collection,
Reggie Watts,
Residencies,
Reviews,
Rhett Miller,
Riv,
Robert Wyatt,
Ryan Adams,
Schubas,
Scotland Yard Gospel Choir,
Seen And Heard,
Serge Gainsbourg,
Seth Feinn,
Shuffle,
Sleepy Sun,
Sonny & The Sunsets,
Spank Rock,
Split Reel,
St. Vincent,
Stephen Morris,
Steve Jones,
Stevie Wonder,
Subterranean,
Suggs,
Syd Barrett,
T-Shirt,
Theater,
The Hold Steady,
The Hood Internet,
The Mayne Stage,
The Mid,
The Sandwitches,
The War On Drugs,
This Week,
Thomas Dolby,
Tim Kinsella,
Tommy James,
Trans Am,
Tricky,
Uic Pavilion,
Vee Dee,
Vic,
Video,
Vincent Price,
Volunteering,
Washed Out,
Webcomics,
Weekly Voyages,
What Community Radio Means To Me,
Whistler,
Wilco,
Will Oldham,
Wire,
Yuck,
Zola Jesus,
Zoo-Mouse-Key Press
→
