Radio Tania

Ways of Seeing

As the world's eyes are on the passing of one of the biggest icons to date, the reaction of his fans, foes, and the media offers a fascinating insight into the nexus of American culture. A prodigal performer from day one, Michael Jackson grew up alongside America with the promise of greatness, churning out hit after hit and literally lighting up the floor with innovation. But our expectation of Jackson fell short of reality as he collected as many disturbing rumours as he did animals for his Neverland Ranch; our icon became the personification of misguided talent.

 

Fifty years ago, American culture was similarly perceived through the lens of photographer Robert Frank, who thought he would capture candid scenes of life in the young and exciting US of A, beginning the project as documenting a young, growing country fulfilling its unbounded potential. What resulted however was the pervading sadness, both of the much American urban environment and the people who strode upon it. Behind all of the glitz and shiny exterior, there is a gritty alley and a lost gaze, or sometimes, a scene of pure weariness. Thus the seminal book, The Americans, was born and it is celebrating its 50th with an exhibition in San Francisco. I spoke with the co-curator Corey Keller. Both these stories represented how beauty and tragedy rest side by side. 

Frank documented the seemingly banal during the 1950s and when the advent of the video camera became available, conceptual artists in LA started recording their own banal actions, tracking their own processes and those of their colleagues. One of the pioneers was artist John Baldessari who turned the lens towards himself and others—painting, moving, walking, sitting, making art. He has an exhibition coming up in San Francisco and I will be speaking with in in mid-July. Stay tuned!

 

Pop-Up Magazines, Pictures and Kitchens

On April 22nd, Pop-Up Magazine had their first event and I was delighted to be involved as one of the performances of the night with my friend and partner Ahri Golden. We filled out the "Society" section of the night, showing material from "Born," our piece about the postpartum experience in America. Here is the clip we played.

The Pop-Up Magazine event was a confetti of talented artists, one of which being Bay Area artist Todd Hido, who showed photographs from his recent series, "foreclosed homes." 

Also in attendance was Larry Sultan who entertained the crowd with his fictional family history that he devised from images in a  photo album he found years ago. Above is Sultan's photograph (not from the photo album) titled, "Mom Posing By Green Wall And Dad Watching TV."

I interviewed Larry Sultan several years ago, lovely man.

The ever-brilliant Kitchen Sisters who produce and host the NPR series, "Hidden Kitchens," showcased their new piece "One Big Soul" which looks to reveal the secret life of girls.

Shambala Sun, Pico Iyer and Paul Ekman

America's oldest Buddhist magazine, Shambala Sun (winner of the 2007 Utne Reader Award for Best Spiritual Coverage), came to San Francisco for a special event along with the Asia Society of Northern California that featured the great authors and intellects Paul Ekman and Pico Iyer.  The event centered around His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whom both have a wide depth of knowledge and personal experience with—Ekman co-authoring a book with him entitled Emotional Awareness: Overcoming Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion and Iyer recently penning a book on the Dalai Lama, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. I was delighted to meet and interview Pico Iyer during his San Francisco sojourn.

  

Atom Egoyan at the San Francisco Film Festival

The San Francisco International Film Festival saw the debut of numerous fabulous films, one of which being Atom Egoyan's latest, Adoration, which uses a nonlinear structure to explore the blending of the line where fiction crosses with reality and the increasing impact of technology on our lives. In the film, a teenager takes a French translation assignment to a personal level when he writes a story about his deceased parents, borrowing the real events of an Arab terrorist who planted a bomb in his pregnant wife's suitcase (don't worry--the bomb never went off). When he brings the story to the classroom and to the world via the internet, the fiction evolves into a psuedo-reality as people from around the world reply to his storied experience.

 

Also showing at the Film Festival is Yojiro Takita's Okuribito, winner of this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Okuribito explores life by viewing the dead, which sounds rather metaphorical, but it's actually quite literal. The main character loses his position as a cellist as the Tokyo Symphony collapses, and in looking for employment, he finds a job described in the ad as the single word "Departures," which he interprets as a position in a travel agency, but in fact turns out to be a position preparing bodies for burial, a job which he comes to find surprisingly rewarding.

While this film won the Academy for Best Foreign Film, there were some brilliant contenders. Listen to the interviews with Ari Folman, Atom Egoyan and Laurent Cantet, all brilliant foreign filmmakers.

Jazzers, Riders, Preachers and Poets

It's been too long since I have posted and in that time I have had some extraordinary moments with extraordinary people. I caught wind of what is happening at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall and saw Keith Jarrett, Jack Dejohnette and Gary Peacock play. Seeing this brilliant trio, so tight in their execution and connected as individuals, I witnessed the audience be entranced by their performance. In a crowd of several thousand, you could hear a pin drop and the adulation they received during the three encores was remarkable. The following weekend proved to offer another experience, with Christian McBride, who has taken the jazz world by storm because of his age and his abilities that made their appearance at the age of seven. Then there was Barry Jenkins, who made a film set in San Francisco with the main characters finding their way through the city on their bikes, San Francisco being a mecca for fixies. There was also Mike Jacobs (who is now working with the producer of Barry Jenkins' film....small world) who observed the transformation of a dream into a kind of insanity. And then the brilliant Ferlinghetti who refuses to boast but is surrounded by the literary meccas of our times. Coming up? Pico Iyer, James Toback and more poetry!

Oh, and Sight Unseen now airs on ART ON AIR.

 

 

 

Warhol, The Oscars, Fame

For the past couple of weeks, I have aired pieces played earlier this year—two interviews with two directors up for Academy Awards. Those directors were Ari Folman of Waltz with Bashir and Laurent Cantet of The Class. Neither won the Academy Award and, in light of Mickey Rourke's loss, I wonder what value the Oscar has (even Sean Penn seemed shocked when he got the award against Rourke). The point being that both these films were great surprises. The Class continues to be chronicled, reviewed and revered in well respected publications across the globe. Waltz with Bashir was a groundbreaking work and well worth the fiscal sacrifices Folman took to create the film. While neither walked away with a gold statue, I still would have voted for them and, in my heart, they won. So after two weeks of repeats, I have just posted a new piece about Warhol and his relationship to music. The interview was with respected curator Tim Burgard, who restructured my thoughts about Warhol. Like many, I saw Warhol as an aloof, self interested, blown up artist but the truth is that he brought portraiture back into modern art, he is one of the most important and prolific filmmakers of our time and he was able to revive the communal aspect of art making by bringing people together to create great work. His open door policy and his keen eye changed people's lives and that is the best thing you can do while alive, make a difference. Check the interviews out and listen to the podcast, Sight Unseen, on iTunes.

 

A most extraordinary piece

Yesterday, I went to gather a gift from the Museum of Modern Art here in San Francisco. It was part of a project by Jochen Gerz who had a piece in an exhibition called The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now. I interviewed the curator and was taken by this piece. What we had to do, as visitors, was stand in line and have our picture taken, a head shot, no smiling, just looking straight into the camera. That picture was then printed and framed and exhibited in the Museum for several weeks, amongst several hundred other faces. At the end of the exhibition, those who participated got a gift and many assumed it would be the image of themselves. We were suggested to go down to the museum and pick up the gift on a Sunday between 1-5. When I got to the Museum, I surely didn't expect to see a couple hundred people there standing in line for their gift. I also didn't know that the image we would receive would not be our own but rather that of another person. I was relieved by the fact that I wouldn't receive an image of myself (because why would I put that up on the wall) and I was excited that somehow, some way another person would become part of my life, almost randomly. At the offering of The Gift, Jochen Gerz was there, giving out the pieces. People in line were so excited, amazed, laughing and wondering about the value of this gift. It extended the project, it surprised, it offered a connection and it reminded us of how we are all part of each other, this collective experience we had, and have regularly. Jochen Gerz himself that as you look into the face of this stranger, you see yourself, regardless of race, class or gender.

I made a podcast!

I did it! I made a podcast! I have been wanting to make a podcast of Sight Unseen, particularly so that my friend Michael could listen to the show (Michael is the person I drove around America with who is highlighted in the Happiness piece I produced for Studio 360). I am not quite sure why it took me so long to make this when 13 year olds across the world are creating podcasts but it did and now, well soon, you can look for Sight Unseen in iTunes. So check it out. The first one is the Steven Soderbergh interview (with an intro of Che at the start). Enjoy....

Philip Glass, podcasts and journalism

There are a lot of perks to being a journalist and one of them is surely the chance to speak with people you admire. Philip Glass may be one of those (I definitely admire him, just need to confirm the interview). I can't say I actively listen to Philip Glass regularly the way I do to say John Coltrane or Smog (at least lately). They are more accessible artists. But I admire Philip Glass for the vast range of his work. Last year, I went to see an opera of his, Appomattox, with Philip who managed to tolerate it even though he truly dislikes opera and this year, Glass is coming to San Francisco for the West Coast premiere of Music in Twelve Parts.

The other thing happening this week is I just started teaching a workshop with some students at CCA called PODCASTING YOU. They are excited about having a voice and when the podcasts come out, I will let you all know. Oh and just randomly, this is an image that Philip took in Tahoe.

Wim Wenders and Steven Soderbergh and me

OK, so I have a couple of exciting interviews coming up in the next week and while I normally don't voice my excitement over these sorts of things (people had to pry it out that I had interviewed His Holiness the Dalai Lama), this time I am changing my ways. Maybe it's a 2009 thing, the year of the ox supposedly, a year of great struggle and great work. Maybe it's just that I am really looking forward to these two interviews with Steven Soderbergh and Wim Wenders. Regardless, I wanted to share a few things about each director. First, Philip and I just got through seeing CHE, Soderbergh's epic film about the legendary, near mythical revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, played by a subdued and potent Benicio del Toro. It was an interesting role for him, and one that must have meant a great deal to him since he co-produced CHE. It takes great passion and drive to produce a film. I also wonder about the challenges of making films about legendary figures. The film was gorgeous and deserved the four plus hours of screen time because it offered the pace and sense and challenge of starting revolutions. From the lush, jungle quality of Cuba's countryside to the arid mountains of Bolivia, the cinematorgraphy was magnificent and real. For those interested in revolutionaries or in Che himself, I recommend it. Then next week, I am speaking with Wim Wenders about his recent film Palermo Shooting. I have interviewed Wenders before but I have always worried that in that interview I confused him with Werner Herzog. I think I might have said, "in your previous film, Grizzly Man...." Oops! I hope that didn't happen but at least I have a second chance to redeem myself!