testing
RIP
Isabella Blow
I worshipped her.
my hero
Matthew Barney, the Bull, and the Chrysler
An unassuming Mathew Barney in March 2006. Photo: Patrick McMullan
It seemed appropriate that on that quasi-apocalyptic Sunday afternoon when the nor'easter sky released eight inches of rain on New York City that Matthew Barney had a rare live performance. In an enormous empty one-story warehouse not twenty feet from the East River in Long Island City, a standing crowd of around 200 populated by numerous art-student types, famous artists like Cindy Sherman and Vito Acconci, sundry museum curators, and icons like David Byrne and Björk witnessed what seemed like a cosmic cross between an Egyptian funeral, the end of the world, the Rape of Europa, a demolition derby, a porn film, and voodoo ritual. Whatever it was, it freaked a lot of people out.
With good reason. The 80-minute performance included a sculpture of a smashed-to-smithereens 1967 Chrysler; Barney performing with a dog sitting in a harness on top of his head; Aimee Mullins, the famous no-legged athlete who co-starred in one of Barney's epic Cremaster films, outfitted in a full-length glittering silver ball gown on a stretcher atop the car; a small marching band in terrorist masks and what looked like IRA military uniforms; Barney methodically removing bits of the car's engine and putting them in these weird funeral urns; and, last but not least, a gigantic bull garlanded in flowers with its long, huge horns painted gold.
This bull was not only led in from outdoors by handlers dressed in tartan plaid; it was accompanied by two women, each wearing a black veil and a black sweatshirt but otherwise bottomless below the waist, and shaved. At some point, after walking around the crowd several times, each woman held her arms aloft and bent over backward until their hands touched the ground. Then, one of the girls emitted an arc of pee onto the cement floor. The other seemed to want to also but couldn't. Who could blame her? It was freezing in there.
The bull was guided to the Chrysler. It appeared as though it was being coaxed to mount the car, but after three tries, the tenders took the bull back outside. All the performers followed and that was the end of this astonishing Dionysian journey to the afterlife. How great it is when an artist is willing to fail flamboyantly and then ends up making something extraordinary; what amazing things can happen in New York any time anyone wants to make them happen. Jerry Saltz
thought balloons? thinking balloons?
come see GROW Friday and Saturday at HIGHWAYS
GROW
GROW AT HIGHWAYS THIS WEEKEND
April 6 + 7
TRACE
featuring HEIDI CARLSEN, NATHALIE BROIZAT, TERENCE MCFARLAND, and ARTEL
An
evening of visceral, visually imaginative short performance works
featuring director/performance artist Heidi Carlsen; soloist Nathalie
Broizat director/performer/administrator Terence McFarland; and Bryan
Brown, Olya Petrakova, Llana Turner, Marc Devine, Betsy Moore and
Keirin Brown of performance collective Artel. The evening will focus on
ideas of freedom, authoritarianism, immigration, Machiavellianism, with
puppets, projections, and provocative imagery and ideas turned inside
out
Fri + Sat 8:30pm $20/$
http://www.highwaysperformance.org/
TERENCE MCFARLAND presents Grow. Enter the hothouse where little boys become men, men become princes and princes pull the strings...Physical movement based theatre with a sense of spectacle, pageantry, and human puppets. It's a Machiavelli/Pinocchio thing...
Join us this Sunday
365days/365plays by Suzan-Lori Parks
A national theater festival produced by Suzan-Lori Parks and Bonnie Metzgar
Week 14
DIRECTED BY TERENCE McFARLAND
Performances: Sunday, February 18th 5pm and 8pm
Shakespeare Festival/LA 1238 W. First Street Los Angeles, California 90026
All performances are free.
No reservations required.
WEEK 14: FEBRUARY 12-18
Play Titles:
12 THE BIRTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
13 WE WERE CIVILIZED ONCE
13(Again)THE BUTCHER'S DAUGHTER (For Bonnie)
14 REVOLVER LOVER
15 PIG MEAT FARMING MAN
16 YOU WOULDNT WANT TO TAKE IT WITH YOU EVEN IF YOU COULD
17 THE PRESIDENTS DAY SALE
18 THE DAY AFTER THE PRESIDENTS DAY SALE
Performers include:
Aaron Aldorisio
Tara Avise
Heidi Carlsen
Michael Catlin
B.J. Dodge
Alonso Duralde
Jasmine
Jerran Friedman
Jessica Hanna
Ryan Heffington
Kristin Leahy
Julie Lockhart
Lou
Terence McFarland
Nina McNeely
Carla Nassy
Dennis Smeal
Kate Smeal
Ryan Templeton
Mecca Vazie
Nedra Wheeler
Dave White
Paul Witten
Collaborators:
Hysterica Dance Company, Kitty McNamee, Ryan Heffington, Dan Weingarten
Assistant choreography and costumes by: Mecca Vazie
Original music composed by Nedra Wheeler
Special Thanks to Shakespeare Festival/LA and Sara Adelman
For more info and images of the WEEK 14 Los Angeles visit: http://everfoundwords.typepad.com/
In November 2002, the Pulitzer prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks sat down and committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days. The world premiere of this play cycle is being performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in major cities and communities around the country. From November 13, 2006 to November 12, 2007, over 600 theatres in Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Washington D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, the Carolinas, Mississippi River towns, and right here in Los Angeles, are creating the largest theater collaboration in U.S. History.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE EVENT AND THE LOS ANGELES AREA THEATRES PARTICIPATING-
PLEASE VISIT: 365inla.com
terence mcfarland
terence_mcfarland@mac.com
http://www.myspace.com/terencemcfarland
http://everfoundwords.typepad.com/
who's a playa?
feb 18th
5pm
8pm
shakespeare festival la
some of the performers:
jessica hanna
alonso duralde
jerran friedman
julie lockhart
paul witten
more to come:
collaborators include:
kitty mcnamee
heidi carlsen
and many more...
week 14
lights by dan weingarten:
feb 13 again
butcher's daughter: butcher dennis smeal
(pictured with some famous lady from that show where they live on the street and that stuff happened)
feb 13 again
butcher's daughter: kate smeal
big hands...
week 14:
feb 12 THE BIRTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
rocking and rolling
feb 18th
7pm performance
(more may be added)(stay tuned)
365days365plays
directed by terence mcfarland
Shakespeare Festival/LA
1238 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90026
picgank: ikea
i'm hysterical
guess who i'm collaborating with...
yup
hysterica dance company co artistic directors kitty mcnamee and ryan heffington
yup to the hell yup.movin and shakin 
moreganked from v
didn't ask, don't tell.
feb 18th
365
terence mcfarland
and co.
be there.
more info to come stay tuned or send an email to terence_mcfarland at mac dot com
i am sixteen going on seventeen
or really, what i mean to say is that it's that many days away.
it's looking like the stars will align for a show on feb 18th.
if we're lucky.
one
two three times a lady.
cash only no credit:
pics ganked from V, vintage Levi's ad, early nineties dance ink image by guzman, abe courtesy the yummy us mint, and more thievery corporation to come...
going down...town adjacent.
feb 18th.
where o where could my little lamb be?
Finalizing location this week.
Promise.
In the meantime, I've been lining up some amazing collaborators.
They're gonna be singing, dancing.
It's gonna be a SHOW!
achoo
Why is it that anytime I have time off from work I get sick?
Stayed home sneezing and watching the entire oeuvres of chris cunningham, spike jones, michel gondry and the videos of massive attack.
Now going to go watch jonathan glazer, mark romanek, stephane sednoui and anton corbijn.
Then i'm gonna storyboard my brain out, unless it comes out of my nose first.
from showstudio.com
I have my farmer
This ain't him.
big grinchin'
what is it that's been sucking up my christmas spirit?
hmmm.
whatever it was vanished this morning and i discovered two new treats...
and two potential collaborators for 365 are lining up.
a little bit of heaven:
makers of my new favorite shoes:
http://www.commonprojects.com/
notmuchthere
i've begun
so i did it.
i've myspaced.
inevitable, really.
show to promote.
life to live in the 21st century.
i remember my first aol account.
remember that fax sound we'd hear to dial up.
seemed rather high tech at the time.
technology at workscreechgldkbzzhummrthgyzz...
"you've got mail"
seems quaint now.
is it too much for a 37 year old man to upload a song to my home page?
seems a little kiddish, no?
we'll see.
stay tuned.
myspace.com/terencemcfarland
show's coming feb 12th.
stay tuned for details.
feb 18
john quincy adams
my 365 is less than two months away
13 again
Butchers daughter
365
WHAT IS 365 DAYS/365 PLAYS?
On November 13, 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks got an idea to write a play a day for a year. She began that very day, finishing one year later. The resulting play cycle, called 365 Days/365Plays, is a daily meditation on an artistic life. Some plays are very short, less than a page. Others last forever.
WHAT IS THE 365 NATIONAL FESTIVAL?
Make Theater. Make History. The 365 National Festival invites every theater in the world to join a grassroots premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays. Over 600 theaters are producing the plays in Atlanta, Austin, Canada, Chicago, Colorado, Greater Texas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Northeast, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Southeast, Washington DC Area, Western US and in universities (365U). And the festival is growing every day. To find out more visit www.365days365plays.com. Produced by Bonnie Metzgar and Suzan-Lori Parks. National Coordinator, David Myers. National Press Rep, Carol Fineman. 365U Producer, Rebecca Rugg,.
Abraham Lincoln
was born in a log cabin on February 12,1809.
fictionalized fact or factualized fiction?
ok.
i didn't read a million little pieces.
i liked the cover.
the smoking gun called out its author as a big fat embellishing liar.
a group of friends went to see bob's office party at third stage.
a show they've been performing for 10 years.
they = the justin tanner circle.
here's my question about that show:
what's the ratio of improv versus script?
or
what's the ratio of original 10 year old script versus the version we saw on saturday?
saw permanent collection at the kirk douglas theatre - opening night.
except ctg opening are now sunday afternoons.
opening afternoon.
i don't mind really.
i guess fewer people fall asleep at an afternoon premiere.
fictionalized account of the barnes foundation of philidelphia and the subsequent/inevitable? issues of race versus taste and a revisionist history of art.
blogs.
my mister asked that i be careful not to include anything about him in this blog that might cause him trouble at work considering his profession.
a discussion with his daughter, her friend, my mister and i then ensued about what the appropriate nickname might be.
cutieboots.
mister.
and others.
mister kinda works for me.
wonkette creates a novel - spun out of the life of a blogger.
so when the playwright is concerned with fictionalization of life, boyfriend blogs crack open the widening gulf of public versus private.
i don't care enough about frey to dig deeper into his past, i'll leave that to oprah who was an early champion, however, the week in review pieces in papers across the country, well at least the la times and the ny times, and the others who i'm sure followed suit, delved into issues of memoirs and non fiction and how much fiction exists in that genre.
short version- 17 publishers turned down the book as originally submitted: fiction.
new publisher accepted it as a non-fiction book with the fiction removed.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html
wasn't capote dealing with the same issues?
i still need to see the film.
my ex lives in capotes former sag harbor home.
so if private issues are addressed or acknowledged in a public forum and seep through inner membranes into the public organ are they not changed, grafted onto askin that regenerates regardless of pain or new skin color?
viral new forms of faction.
is the early 21st century remaining focused on framing/spin or has pop culture caught up to politics?
don't think of an elephant.
grey's anatomy:
who needs a haircut?
cutest guy on tv who has embraced the quirks of the most charming character for some time:
the other mcdreamy
proof positive:
the glance at "split ends"
and the last moment with the shower curtain.
so clearly not in the script, so clearly his skillz.
mister has deemed this season of 24: chloe in love.
authentic, original and or unique?
thom mayne was on charlie rose the other night.
pritzker prize winning architect.
damn.
smartcrushing big time.
his caltrans building rules my downtown.
i hold a special spot for disney hall cause i felt like i played a small part in it by assisting with REDCAT, but caltrans gets juices flowing.
morphosis
peek around.
can't link through to specific images or pages.
search for the wayne l morse united states courthouse.
$72 million federal courthouse.
with the text of the constitution on its skin.
graft this.
this post is interrupted by a bit of self flagge...i mean promotion, i was quoted in the la times today:
i'm the guy to call when you need a theatre in la quote
so.
mayne and vito acconci spoke at lace wednesday night.
billed as a conversation.
two incredible power point presentations.
terrible audio.
acconci, of the 70's performance piece where he masturbated beneath the gallery floors, has since the 80s/90s been architecting.
his studio submitted for the ground zero competition.
a building riddled with holes and passages since buildings get blown up anyway why not have a building that looks like it already has been.
rather than just being a one note joke the passages create new performative public spaces. and a kick ass waterfall that inspired mayne to pull out his laser pointer.
smartcrushing meets shared object alikeness.
um, and if you don't hear from me for awhile i may have moved to seoul if this gets built:
dream a little Performing Arts Center for a Floodable Island dream
acconci stutters.
alot,lot,lot.
who knew?
mayne started late on account of the extended accconcccccii.
i wondered if it were a performance trick.
i sorta went with it, given the fact that he would leave the microphone and his voice
would
trail
off...
on charlie rose, mayne negotiated through a synapse slip around rose's use of the words authentic and unique.
that did it.
i was in.
semantics are important.
to be real you need to integrate your internal world with the world around you while building your own history and inventing who you are...then he self identified as tenacious and single minded.
it wasn't so much the words that he spoke... as i'm typing my mangled paraphrasing of his eloquence, but rather the shock he felt that they could be misconstrued and the need he felt to clarify his vision of those words that swallowed me whole.
then he dropped in sparkling gems like "demands inquiry"
what do you want, i mean really, really want when you go to the courthouse?
you want the constitution to hold the place together.
i want a field trip to visit once it opens.
eugene, oregon, anyone?
wayne l. morse
he held the record for a 22 hour filibuster in 1953.
you better fight for your right.
mayne spoke of la as a network versus grid.
how the caltrans building houses the hub of that which defines los angeles.
freeways.
hub
not a lack of public space, but simply no desire for public space.
la is built specifically for private space.
the caltrans building is unfinished, the public completes it.
picture one of my private daily space.
how much does the cotton candy cost?
so.
the circus.
a mexican circus.
bilingual.
in the parking lot behind the $2 movie theater.
poodles with boxing gloves that hit each other frenetically then become j lo and marc anthony getting married and kissing passionately.
boxing and kissing is the same thing right?
hit me baby one more time.
then 6 year olds on trampolines with dick jokes.
then a clown with a blow job joke involving the MC.
and oh yeah, met the MC from Ringling Brothers.
no, really. THE MC for like the last 20 years.
he sorta looked like a weho queen of a certain age.
well, just a little older than me, but that's a certain age.
also this circus embraced the money making aspect.
2 minutes left to buy the $3 circus balloons.
during intermission enjoy our concessions or get your polaroid with the pretty pony.
my highlight was the littlest pony who basically said fuck you, i ain't jumping as his, or her, older siblings jumped dutifully over the silver pole, my pretty pony however pranced around the human whilst continuing the circular trot.
3 times in a row.
my pretty pony is lazy, and smart.
i still ain't jumpin, go ahead motherfuckers you know you won't whip me while the kids are wathcing, cuz i'm the cutest.
go 'head tell me i'm not.
those other stupid motherfuckers are big and i'm small and cute. so try it. doesn't matter i still won't jump. trotting in a circle, still trotting, not jumping, nope still not jumping, trotting and we're out. still the cutest. clap for me kids.
the circus clown however, is just lazy.
the mexican circus started 1.5 hours late.
insert joke here.
however when the trained poodles came out i nearly peed my pants i was laughing so hard.
but then the hula hoop girl who was forced to be the assistant to the fat white pony-tailed carny looking juggler was perhaps my favorite.
her job is to look pretty and demonstrate assistant arms, not pick up the shit he drops.
the shit he drops a lot.
even when said shit lays at her feet.
interior monologue...
i look pretty.
that's my job.
the men over there can walk over and pick this shit up.
i have a talent.
i perform.
i don't bend over and i certainly don't pick up his shit.
what made this particularly impressive was that she was calling back to her act - second in the lineup...
hula hooping and when she was done with a hoop she would kick it to the curb, literally.
no handing off to an assistant.
wiggle it to the ankle and kick the shit, hard, out of her way.
there are men to pick up after her. incoming.
ok.
last bit.
the 6 year with the dick joke....who also had a few suggestive stripping jokes and a hilarious soccer jersey as toilet paper gag that the audience went nuts for...
not only did he rule on the trampoline and make us feel bad for his fat brother who couldn't really do as many tricks but was good at writhing and shakin that ass, shakin that ass...
well at the end when 2 lovely latin gentlemen rode their motorcycles inside a circular metal cage at the same damn time, they proceeded to bring out our little chicos on mini motorbikes and proceed to have all four mexicans riding in the cage.
astonishing.
thrilling.
possibly illegal.
certainly exciting.
vastly inappropriate.
i'll be there next year eagerly waiting.
i'm going to the zoo tomorrow.
now i want to see heffalumps and hippomopotomi.
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