Downtown 81/ Rivers and Tides
I saw the film "Downtown 81" acouple of days ago on the Sundance Channel. I stars the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat roaming the streets of NY in 1981. Its a fictional story but he keeps running into a lot of bands playing, either in studios or clubs. DNA plays a couple of tunes in their typical spaz style of the day. James White and the Blacks get quite a bit of time as well w/ Bernie Nix on guitar and I think Joseph Bowie's in the band as well. There's some crummy bands also(Plastics, Kid Creole) but overall its fun to watch. Basquiate kisses a bag lady near the end of the film and she turns into Debbie Harry. I think it shows again on Thursday night. I saw the film "Rivers And Tides" a couple of weeks ago. Its a documentary about Andy Goldsworthy, the Scottish artist who creates pieces using materials he finds on his walks in nature: stone, wood, ice, whatever. He usually creates works that will change over time. Usually his only document of them is his photographs, but this film uses a lot of time lapse filming that helps to illustrate the changes. The visuals are beautiful and his descriptions and stories are very interesting. The soundtrack was by Fred Frith. At times atmospheric( kind of in the "Clearing" vein), and other times the music was Eastern European sounding. The other musicians in the group were unfamiliar to me but had Eastern European sounding names. I wonder if the soundtrack is going to be released? Anyone else see these films? Cheers, John Threadgould
On Tue, 30 Jul 2002 02:36:47 EDT Fastian@aol.com wrote:
I saw the film "Rivers And Tides" a couple of weeks ago. Its a documentary about Andy Goldsworthy, the Scottish artist who creates pieces using materials he finds on his walks in nature: stone, wood, ice, whatever. He usually creates works that will change over time. Usually his only document of them is his photographs, but this film uses a lot of time lapse filming that helps to illustrate the changes. The visuals are beautiful and his descriptions and stories are very interesting. The soundtrack was by Fred Frith. At times atmospheric( kind of in the "Clearing" vein), and other times the music was Eastern European sounding. The other musicians in the group were unfamiliar to me but had Eastern European sounding names. I wonder if the soundtrack is going to be released? Anyone else see these films? Cheers,
I saw the movie tonight, and really enjoyed it. I wasn't familiar with the artist, and I found his work, and his way of working, intriguing and evocative, both when it worked and when it didn't (several structures collapsed while being built). I wish the stuff didn't remind me so much of The Blair Witch Project, but that's my problem, not theirs. The music was well done, though I found the mix kind of heavy handed at points. I suspect, however, that that happened when the film sound was mixed, not in the composing. I also think that I would have taken quite a different angle on music for Goldsworthy's art, but they didn't ask me :-) -- | josephzitt@josephzitt.com http://www.josephzitt.com/ | | http://www.metatronpress.com/jzitt/ http://www.mp3.com/josephzitt/ | | == New book: Surprise Me with Beauty: the Music of Human Systems == | | Comma / Gray Code Silence: the John Cage Discussion List |
---- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Zitt" <jzitt@metatronpress.com>
I saw the movie tonight, and really enjoyed it.
Where? * David Beardsley * http://biink.com * http://mp3.com/davidbeardsley
On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 07:49:38 -0400 David Beardsley <db@biink.com> wrote:
---- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Zitt" <jzitt@metatronpress.com>
I saw the movie tonight, and really enjoyed it.
Where?
San Rafael, California. (I'm living in Berkeley now.) -- | josephzitt@josephzitt.com http://www.josephzitt.com/ | | http://www.metatronpress.com/jzitt/ http://www.mp3.com/josephzitt/ | | == New book: Surprise Me with Beauty: the Music of Human Systems == | | Comma / Gray Code Silence: the John Cage Discussion List |
On Tue, 30 Jul 2002 02:36:47 EDT Fastian@aol.com wrote:
I saw the film "Downtown 81" acouple of days ago on the Sundance Channel. I stars the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat roaming the streets of NY in 1981. Its a fictional story but he keeps running into a lot of bands playing, either in studios or clubs. DNA plays a couple of tunes in their typical spaz style of the day. James White and the Blacks get quite a bit of time as well w/ Bernie Nix on guitar and I think Joseph Bowie's in the band as well. There's some crummy bands also(Plastics, Kid Creole) but overall its fun to watch. Basquiate kisses a bag lady near the end of the film and she turns into Debbie Harry. I think it shows again on Thursday night.
Yes, I saw that one since I was so impatient (the movie was known for ages). I quickly understood why it took so long to get released: it is terribly amateur, in the talentless category. If it was not for the few snippets of music, I would have left the theatre after 30mn. Maybe one more proof that you don't make movies just with good wishings... As far as Basquiat is concerned, the only thing that transpires from that movie is that he might have been a nice guy. Patrice.
The most obvious flaw to me at the time was the voice overs for basquiat. At the time I had just read his bio and was still living in nyc. It was great to see the fully gentrified neighborhoods of the lowereast side in their glory[?] in the early 80s. I wasnt watching for the actual content of the movie but more for the people places sounds and actions. True it was a horribly amateurish movie but I think that the essense of the time and the people involved are accurate, even tho I was 7 at the time... It really made me realize how intertwined the new york up-and-coming art scene was related to the music at that time. I do not feel that is not the case now. I think that contemporary art is having a hard time right now, anyone take a walk down 25th street in chelsea lately? JT __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com
On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 09:27:19 -0700 (PDT) jason tors wrote:
It really made me realize how intertwined the new york up-and-coming art scene was related to the music at that time. I do not feel that is not the case now. I think that contemporary art is having a hard time right now, anyone take a walk down 25th street in chelsea lately?
What do you mean by that? Patrice.
What I responded to the most in dt81 was the vibrancy of the scene at the time, a lot of artists and musicians all working on a street level. I feel that today art and music have achieved an affected and sophisticated platform that its lost a lot of visceral impact. This is a massive generalization on my part, but I think a growing disconnect with artists and the people they are set to impact. Using the whitney biennial as a contemporary art thermometer, my opinion is that it was very interesting to look at, and funny, but not very impactful or meaningful. At most it was referential to past visual art movements, stylized pop cultural statements that could almost be taken seriously by a ad agency but too close to be concidered art. All this coming from an overly analitical artist and designer that prefers to listen to music. I have artsy friends that would probably nail me to the wall for my statements above and hurl names and works at me that could prove me wrong, but these are just my feelings and all that came out of seeing dt81. --- "Patrice L. Roussel" <proussel@ichips.intel.com> wrote:
On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 09:27:19 -0700 (PDT) jason tors wrote:
It really made me realize how intertwined the new york
up-and-coming
art scene was related to the music at that time. I do not feel that is not the case now. I think that contemporary art is having a hard time right now, anyone take a walk down 25th street in chelsea lately?
What do you mean by that?
Patrice.
_______________________________________________ zorn-list mailing list zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com To UNSUBSCRIBE or Change Your Subscription Options, go to the webpage below http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/zorn-list
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com
participants (5)
-
David Beardsley -
Fastian＠aol.com -
jason tors -
Joseph Zitt -
Patrice L. Roussel