Radio Tania

Music, Electric Style

This week I spoke with Academy Award winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (also the director of An Inconvenient Truth) about his latest film, It Might Get Loud. This film centers on the history, evolution, and artistry of the electric guitar through three of the most significant guitarists of our time: Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (The White Stripes). Blending concert footage with interviews with the musicians, Guggenheim highlights three unique approaches to the electric guitar.

The legendary Jimmy Page,an undeniable influence on all of today's musicians, equates playing guitar to having sex, likening the curves of the guitar to those of a female body and comparing the progression of "Stairway to Heaven" to making love, gradually building in sound and intensity to the equivalent of a guitar climax.

The Edge, real name David Howell Evans, has a sound that is at once melodic and abrasive, focusing on heavy distortion, delay and effects pedals to create more of the arena rock sound that distinguishes U2 from other bands.

Known for his minimalist rock sound, Jack White articulates the influence that old blues musicians have had on his sound and style. One scene shows White playing the song "Blue Vein" with his band The Raconteurs and he seems to be engaged in a violent struggle with his guitar, playing it so hard that his hands visibly bleed all over it.

In the film, Page, The Edge and White come together for a meeting (which ends up being a jam session) perfectly exemplifying how the electric guitar can produce varying sounds and effects based on the techniques with which it is played, and that it is a language onto itself.

 

Next week I will be speaking with Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, the director of the film, "Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love." The film focuses on world-renowned singer Youssou N'Dour, who is credited with popularizing mbalax, a genre that combines traditional griot percussion, praise-singing and Afro-Cuban arrangements. The film documents the frustrations that N'Dour has with the world's misconceptions of  Islam as a violent and dangerous religion. In an attempt to convey to the world the positive messages found in Islam, N'Dour released "Egypt" in 2004, a heavily spiritual album that found success with Western audiences but stirred up a big pot of controversy in his home country of Senegal for what many said was a blasphemous integration of sacred Muslim themes into his songs. Vasarhelyi follows N'Dour from Senegal to Paris to New York and every in between to capture the artistry and charisma that is Youssou N'Dour.

Avedon

A selection of images from the exhibition Richard Avedon, Photographs 1946—2004. These were mentioned in my interview with Sandra Phillips, senior curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

John Baldessari

As promised, here are some images of John Baldessari's work. 

Levels of Intimacy

Neil Young's box set, titled Archives, was released a couple of months ago to great acclaim. Made up of 10 Blu-ray discs, each holding 50 gigs of information, it is truly Neil Young's life in a box. There’s a beautiful moment we stumble upon in the box set where we see a film showing Young leaning out of an old car on his property in the hills of California, a land that I am so intimately connected to from having grown up here and watching the subtle changes of coastal light, and he says, “No matter how many people are around me, I keep talking about all the things that go on inside me.” The joy and vulnerability on his face against the bright blue sky suddenly made me see him as a dreamer, as someone who followed the only thing that he could do and followed it fully, preserving all the evidence of that journey in his music.

Humpday is the winner of the 2009 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Independence and screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the Edinburgh Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival. I spoke with Lynn Shelton when she was in San Francisco and you can find that interview on the Radio Tania website.

 

John Baldessari has been called an LA artist, a conceptual artist, a pop-artist, but is quite simply and completely an artist. Winner of the  2009 Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, Baldessari is one of the most important artists living and working today. In October, he will have a retrospective at the Tate that will travel to Barcelona, Los Angeles and New York. Stay tuned for an article on him in The Times.

Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie (detail)

Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-43)

 

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.

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.

From one Thought to Another

This weekend, I went to the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park, a building designed by Herzog and de Meuron that is changing color over time. I went with my Mom and Grandma, a tradition we seem to be creating, weekend excursions together to places we enjoy. Last week was Half Moon Bay, this week, the museum. We went there to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit, be all girly and decide which outfit we would most want to wear (I chose a brown dress). While there, we saw the work of artist Maya Lin. I had the opportunity to interview her but turned it down. When I saw her extraordinary work, I regretted that choice. She creates landscapes from plywood, almost as if she has filled The Grand Canyon with carefully carved birch wood. Some pieces could be held in our arms, others were massive. My Grandma particularly liked the work and I trust her opinion, especially given that she was impressed by contemporary art. She is an artist in her own right and her painting hangs on my bedroom wall. The Lin pieces reminded me of another artist who depicts landscapes, these being real and, according to him, manufactured ones. That's Edward Burtynsky and I interviewed him earlier this year. You can find that here. I then remembered another interviewee that inspired me—Jennifer Fox—who traversed the landscape of this world asking women about being women in Flying: Confessions of  Free Woman. Here's that interview. The idea of landscapes just leads to so much! (Oh, and what inspired this whole posting was the bottom image that I saw on one of my favorite sites.)

Quilts of Gee's Bend

I generally don't blog my own work but I am so excited about being on the BBC and this piece meant so much to me that I just had to. The piece is about the Quilts of Gee's Bend. Essentially, an art colector and preserver discovered the quilts when traveling the south. He had seen an image in a magazine and was so struck by its beauty that he tracked down these women. Gee's Bend is one of the poorest counties in America and yet the work and the spirit that emerges from there is so brilliant, full of life, of love, of gratitude. When I interviewed these women, they cried, they laughed, they bursted out in song, they inspired me and humbled me. Here are their quilts and a link to the piece.