New email address!

mindbuck@gmail.com is no more.... It is now mindbuckmedia@gmail.com

Thanks, all

D'Merde Salon at The Woods!

Hello All-
D'Merde Salon is moving to The Woods for a gathering on October 29th, 2009 at 8pm. Here's the release:

UNDERGROUND SECRET SOCIETY, D'MERDE SALON IS BACK. Now at The Woods!

UNDERGROUND SECRET SOCIETY, D'MERDE SALON, MOVES TO 'THE WOODS' FOR OCTOBER 29th EVENT

Portland, Ore. – September 21^th, 2009 – While best known as the secret absinthe party where you could meet rock stars, mingle with film directors or get publishing deals; D'Merde Salon has a new space. After finally growing out of the tiny garage in which it resided for a year, D'Merde is moving to Portland's newest popular venue: The Woods, for a flagship event October 29th, 2009.

"I couldn't have found a more perfect home for D'Merde," says creator and host, Jessica Glenn. "The otherworldly, funeral home atmosphere is the kind of secret society meets clubhouse vibe that's essential for D'Merde Salon's mix of geniuses, patrons and absinthe whacks."

As with previous D'Merde Salons, guests will be treated to a mix of mediums including four bands, a one night only art show with notable Portland artists, readings from celebrity writers, and the crazy feeling that no one will ever believe who you ended up talking to last night...

Sponsored by KZME, this evening's participants are some of Portland's most eccentric, flamboyant artists: Death by Doll (with Dame Darcy), The MoonShriners (with members from LSD&D, Slack, Peter Pants and The Freight train Casanovas), Judson Claiborne (from Chicago), and local shoe-gazers, Josh and Charlotte. Painters include Miss Mona Superhero, Private Mike Albano (of Chariots of Rubber), Dame Darcy and more. Readings by Monica Drake (author of Clown Girl as well as the intro to Chuck Palahniuk's new release), Jessica Glenn (of MindBuck Media), Viva Las Vegas (from new release, Magic Gardens) and Dame Darcy (of Gasoline, Meatcake and more).

Boys, Books and Bildungsroman

Yesterday, there was a really interesting article in the NY Forward that featured, SELFLESS, the new book by my client, David Slater.

Here's an excerpt:

"It turned out that getting ready for the birth of my elder daughter I’d missed the furor surrounding Ian McEwan article to which Shteyngart’s comment referred. In it McEwan had concluded “when women stop reading, the novel will be dead.” His conclusion was based on a mishmash of statistics and anecdotes (most notably his inability to give away excellent free books to men in central London). But the reductive truth of it seems based on the notion that stories are for girls and facts are for boys.

I find terribly sad the idea that people would not want to read roughly in accordance to their ability. Reading is how we learn to imagine others — not the outcomes of the plot, but how characters, events and language flow around each other: how other people exist. Novels expose you to new people, worlds and aspects of worlds. Reading a good novel though is not about its internal facts, but their apprehension and representation by the author: If you read “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” for Catholic theology or Irish history, you are missing the point."

Check it out!

Updates

So many interesting things going on, yet so hard to go to all of them! I just got married... (yea!)
So that has taken a bit of time out of the old schedule. But other than that, I have a fab new book I'm promoting: SELFLESS, by David Slater and I'm planning on going to see LSD&D at O'Malley's on Foster this Saturday.

See you there!

D'Merde Salon: Models in Vintage Swim wear and Beehives Hairdos Parade Through Crowds of Fiendish Geniuses, Consuming Absinthe. See ya!

To the brilliant underground loves of our life,

June 27th will be the 7th D'MERDE SALON

And artists, writers, musicians, designers, patrons and You are invited...

Friday June 27
7PM SHARP to 11PM
6310 SE Steele St. PDX 97206
Food, Beer, Wine, Absinthe, Entertainment, Music, Free Love
$10 - $15 Suggested Donation at the door

Please RSVP to either myspace events(events/myspace.com) or dmerdesalon@gmail.com
Peace, Love and Kisses

Jessica Buck:503.998.8770 - mindbuck@gmail.com
and
Trina Giese - dmerdesalon@gmail.com

• Local Designer Pamela of Popina hosts vintage inspired fashion show www.popinaswimwear.com
  
The Underscore Orkestra
Kate's Mirror

The Absinthe Assassin makes a return appearance
• Readers/Writers include: Tiffany Stoneman, Viva Las Vegas, Lovely Urchin and Mykle Hansen
• Painters include below list but we may have a few surprises:

Tyler Spencer of Pirate Satelite TV: http://www.myspace.com/spyler
Anna Todaro: -http://www.ohdivine.com/
Heidielise Wirz - http://www.myspace.com/ovenfirestudio
Theo Holdt: http://www.myspace.com/theodoreholdt
Victor Fitzsimons -http://www.victorfitzsimons.net./
Lisa Albinger (who made the lovely graphic!)- www.lisaalbinger.com
Christopher Sage of 'Behold Her': http://www.myspace.com/beholdherpdx
Troy John - http://photomanipulator.com/
Mike Albano - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=5975292
Ilon Laks of audio cinema - www.audiocinema.org
Mario - http://www.myspace.com/marsr3

At the May 16th D'Merde we had the pleasure of hosting
107 people including:
34 artists,
23 writers,
12 designers,
24 musicians,
6 film companies,
5 publishing companies
and
57 lovers!

dmerdesalon.com

Peace, Love and Kisses.

Jessica Buck:503.998.8770 - mindbuck@gmail.com

Trina Giese - dmerdesalon@gmail.com

Please RSVP to either myspace events, or: dmerdesalon@gmail.com

The 6th D'Merde Party Notes

The 6th D'Merde was really amazing. I now have a monster and electric bunny mural of the front of the salon and it is incredible.

Halfway through the readings we decided to move up to the salon roof because it was so hot. Mykle read his piece (really good, really funny) from a rooftop wading pool.

The absinthe girl was awesome, and though there never seems to be enough for anyone, the bloody weapons were a great touch.

The final readings were outside on the patio; Viva's piece about Miss Mona Superhero was terrific. The Underscore Orkestra played two sets. As an aside, Go See This Band if you haven't yet. Geeze. They are really the heart and soul of D'Merde. And I like being dipped when I dance... ;)

All in all there were about 100 people who attended.

Most people left at 11:30 (the good lil boys and girls) but a few stayed on and started blasting Iron Maiden while improvising a sort of idol worship of a random sculpture they found in the salon.

Next D'Merde: Absinthe, Assassins and Artists Mix it up in a Cracker Box

Portland, Ore. – May 16^th, 2008 – Why would Portland's most talented and creative painters, writers, sculptors and musicians go to a cracker box garage in the Foster neighborhood, knowing that they are expressly forbidden from actually selling anything?

Because Friday is the 6^th D'Merde Salon.

A beautiful assassin serving absinthe, readings from legendary socialite and writer Viva Las Vegas, art from the inimitable Miss Mona Superhero, and live mural painting by Mayorga and Holdt will be among the 20 plus presenters on May 16^th between 7:00p.m.-11:30pm. The events are strictly capitalism free, and there are no sales, only donations.

The previous salon in April boasted 8 publishing company reps, 9 film company reps, 8 illustrators, 23 writers, 34 artists, 19 musicians, 10 designers, and a film crew.
Reps have been actively recruiting Portland's most creative minds in what is quickly becoming a low pressure treasure trove of top notch material. The synergy created by absinthe, fire and these wild and high spirited parties have spawned multimedia projects, new events, and most importantly, have made the exchange of ideas exciting again.

For additional information on the D'merde phenomena, contact Jessica Buck or Trina Giese at dmerdesalon@gmail.com or view website at dmerdesalon.com.

Literary Promotion and Development

Hey Writers- Do you have a finished manuscript but you're not sure what to do next? MindBuck Media can help! MindBuck Media provides promotion and development for your book project.

The breaking news is that MindBuck Media has now teamed up with
The Mighty Pen, LLC
our favorite editing company on this side of the pond. The Mighty Pen edits independently or in conjunction with MindBuck Media in manuscript development.
Check it out:
The Mighty Pen

D'Merde Salon! February 22

7:30 - 11:30 Friday, February 22, 2008

6310 SE Steele St. 97206

Beer, Wine, Non-Alcoholic Drinks and Food 5 - 15 bucks (sliding scale donation)

Home to the Portland Underground Art Revolution

(Where it's Always Buy-Nothing-Day)

Artists, Writers and Musicians Welcome
As are their Patrons.
Music, Art, Love and Words provided on arrival

Hello, my Dear, Darling PDX Creatives,

The fourth D'Merde Salon promises to be incredible, thanks to an amazing group of artists, writers, thinkers and doers in our midst.

Definitely check out our new site (dmerdesalon.com)to get sneak peeks. The site shows past and future work, artist bios and has more info on D'Merde Salon culture.

I hope to see you!

Like last time, there will also be other writers, artists, composers, musicians, publishers, booking agents, gallery owners and film companies. You are invited and encouraged to bring friends and good people. Feel free to repost this, too.

Please RSVP to either myspace events, keyword D'Merde, or my email: mindbuck@gmail.com

Love and kisses,
Jessica Buck

PS. If you know you are presenting, please email me and confirm. Even if you already have. ;)

By artists, of artists and for artists and their patrons, D'Merde Salon is truly the

'Warmest Place in the Underground'

Reflectionalism: Life in the Pre-Apocalypse

So if you live in PDX, and you're generally a compassionate person, and you have some interest in art, politics and/or environmentalism and you look around your world with some curiosity, you may notice that it looks strangely like what my new friend, James Squeaky, calls, "Life in the Pre-apocalypse".

I think I've hammered the whole idea of Reflectionalism as a moral concept enough now (sorry if it was a lil' repetitious, dears), but the next important idea in Reflectionalism is futility.

While I, personally, can choose to be a Kuntry Kowgirl one day, a Lipstick Lesbian the next, and an Emo Emu the day after that, my options in identity are limited by my own (and a universal) sense of futility. Am I anything?

As Post-Modernism is a movement of the watched, we march towards an imaginary place where everything is revealed, stripping off layer after layer after meaningless layer. Self-revelations simply become secrets tried on for size and examined for usefulness in creating yet another temporal identity.

Here's what the Reflectionalists have discovered: it is not only impossible, but completely manipulative and self-serving to write, paint, and create in general what you present as your authentic self. All that happens is another toy soldier gets propped up in the parade of books of the month, those little self-made angels and devils swaying uneasily to familiar ching ching music.

How do we take risks with our hearts and our fury in the pre-apocalypse?

We change the stakes of fiction.

We make our best attempts at truth in sculpture, lit, painting, film and more because there's not enough time left to ignore our shifting and dishonesty. We know that we will never be able to be truly honest. All narrative is fiction, by acknowledging this, and the futility of expressing anything genuine, we are our own watchers.

Reflectionalism expresses the fact that there is no way to be honest in a representation of one's self. We are all too blinded by fear, weakness, capitalism, cowardliness, spite, greed, cruelty, and stupidity.

In an age where humans have changed the balance of nature to point of killing thousands of species completely, in a time where the use of torture is considered an effective strategy, in a place where we are completely removed from the horrors we ourselves are perpetuating, all of our art is in some way a confession of both our pain and our culpability.

Post-Modernism: A Moral Crisis

Wow, in my efforts not to write too long of a post the other day, I left about half a thought in the below entry.

In my last entry, there's an OK mini-explanation of modernism, post-modernism and a definition I disagree with for Post-post-modernism. I included these explanations because it is important to see how each stage is a result of a Moral crisis when these movements are followed to their logical conclusions.

This isn't to say the individual writers and artists were/are morally flawed because of art coming out of Modernism, the modernists had unbelievably beautiful goals - Truth! Rationality! Ideal Beauty! What seductive aims, hard to resist for anyone. However, unlike before the 1920's and 1930's, many of us (correctly) associate those terms now with horrific atrocities like genocides and holocausts (a natural progression of modernist ideals). The 'perfect' truth is an essentially flawed concept.

I certainly had a major love affair with modernism in my mid-20's, but after discovering its fatal (literally) flaws, I threw myself into post-modernism with a vengeance. I actually think I left a decade long marriage for my wanna be post-modernist ideals.

It was with a great sense of mission and adventure that I decided to try and live as if no one thing had greater value than another thing. The beauty inherent in fracture was at least as alluring as modernism to me (maybe more so because it's so edgy and twisted thinking like this). It's also a fairly interesting way to examine one's faults...

Much of post-modernism has actually been accepted in some capacity. Biologically, mentally, interactively, and certainly in the area of communications, there is no arguing that fracture exists in nature. We are absolutely not the same people we were when we born. Not the same in our brains, our bodies, our souls or our connections with the outside world.

There's a terrifying problem here, however, with all these fractures we are supposed to somehow learn to accept within the post-modern movement.

Have you guessed?

If everything has the same intrinsic value, what the fuck is the Moral path? Truly, that is the question for our time.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I think it is impossible for a moral artist not to be influenced by the actions of our society, our government, our environment and our general atmospheric soup.

I am seeing the next movement form in front of me - a response to the moral problems of post-modernism. Here it is now alive in PDX, alive the the nation: Reflectionalism.

Art is dead. Long live art.

Holy Shit. Was it just Post-Post-Modernism, under my nose, the whole time??

My dear friends, such a crazy thing has happened. Another absolute breakthrough in regards to my examination of the PDX art scene. I think the breakthrough was hovering and waiting for me between the time I wrote about the nature of goodness in No Country for Old Men and read Heather Reddy's blog about selectively spying on herself.

While I blogged about Heather's piece, I didn't really, completely get why it engaged me so much. I felt the connections growing, but it wasn't until reading her piece aloud to maybe the fourth (Heather, you should be blushing by now) person, that I had a complete Eureka! moment.

Hmm... to be honest, the person I was reading it to said p-p-m first, but I felt my own strong eureka in any case...

If you have not been following along in the argument/theoretical extrapolation I'm having with myself and whoever I meet for coffee, here's the gist: I believe that PDX is in the midst of the next important artistic movement and I'm trying to identify similar themes in our work that reflect a common problem we are examining. In addition, I am looking for reflections in our art of our political, physical, moral, capitalistic and ethical environment.

Basically, what does this 'soup of the now' do for/to art and what are we trying to do in this soup?

Here's a lil' blurb from Identity Woman: indentitywoman.net. Not what I believe, per se, but pretty easy to consume.

"Modernism has its origins in the enlightenment, ‘rationalism’, absolute structure and finding ‘the truth’.

Post-Modernism is a critique to modernism. In this structure, there are no laws maintained to define hierarchical culture. Post-modernism that asserts that there no hierarchies and that all points of view are equally valid.

Today you have the emergence of Post-Post-modernism It rejects the “flat” - everything is equal point of view of of post-modernism but not super structured rationalism like Modernism. You might call it a Polyarchy.

Shit. This blog is becoming too long. I'm gonna stop here.

Let's leave it with this: I strongly disagree with her definition of Post-Post-Modernism...
XOXO
JB

You're Invited!

D'Merde Salon,

Home to the Portland
Underground Art Revolution


Artists, Writers and Musicians Welcome
As are their Patrons.

7:30 - 11:30 Friday, January 11, 2008
6310 SE Steele St. 97206
Beer, Wine, Non-Alcoholic Drinks and Food 5 - 10 bucks (sliding scale donation)

Music, Art, Love and Words provided on arrival

(Hello my Portland Sweethearts of Art,

The third D’Merde Salon is quickly approaching! Thanks to everyone who made the last salon such a synergistic blast, and I am quite enthusiastic to hear more stories about new projects that have resulted.

I hope to see you! There will also be writers, artists, composers, musicians, publishers, booking agents, and gallery owners attending. You are invited and encouraged to bring friends and good people.

We’re at pretty close to capacity for presented work, but could use some quiet or acoustic musicians/groups for one or two short 3-song sets.

We can also possibly squeeze in 1 or 2 more readers.

You are welcome to contact me with submissions (including writing, music, hanging art, paintings, photos, sculpture, performance art, etc) and if it’s too full this time, we can try and get you in the next Salon.

Sorry to repeat myself for some, but if you have already arranged to play, read, hang etc, please do still drop me an email confirmation. Organization is maybe my point, but not my strong point.

Please RSVP to either myspace (on links), or my email: mindbuck@gmail.com

Peace and Love and XOXO,

Jessica Buck)

Another Sicko Artist (heart)

Christopher Sage did something rather incredible - he made me raise my eyebrows in a slight gesture of... not shock exactly, but something.

Though he won some awards for his film, Remnants (which I want to see but can't figure out how), he decided to drop film and start on a few books. Note the implication of multiple simultaneous projects. Already grounds for suspicion.

The two pre-release copies of the books I read are seriously disturbing journeys. One is the morbid photo journal of a sadistic photographer who finds he starts to like the bodies of his nude models as they become increasingly mascochistic, insecure and self-damaged. Lot of pics of *Scar Tissue Plus*. Thad be like *Topless Plus* (which always seemed a misnomer to me), not like extra skin... The book intends to challenge misogyny and the stereotypical male idea of beauty.

The other is presented as a found object - a journal by a kid brother in high school. Cute huh? Except the whole journal is a lead up to the kid slicing his head off as a campaign speech for student body president. Lotsa blood.

Damn, kid. What's next? Christopher Sage is tentatively releasing both books Valentine's Day, 2008.

Heather Reddy Says Interesting Things About Telling The Truth

I got back from Pix on Division the other night and realized that I did not eat cake. Hello. I must be insane- now I regret it! I do not regret, however, meeting Heather Reddy in the flesh.

I've seen her around in the internet ether, hosting interesting writerly events and posting crafty post-modern blogs. (oh, do check out her blog if you have the chance, sorrytobesoheavy.com) At the moment, she's using Okie kids babbling gospel in aramaic as a supporting point. How can you resist?

On the subject of our PDX movement, Heather made me think of a ton of different ideas. We talked at length about how one of the apparent PDX 2007/8 themes is fictional non-fiction and non-fictional fiction.

Why?

I really believe we are playing with the idea of authenticity and the impossibility of self-truth. Here's a snippet from a recentish post called "i spy on myself selectively"

"it’s strange, post freud or whatever, how little we trust our consciousness. that’s why, i guess, i have so many gigs of gmail, why i track my listening habits. there’s also this culture of covert surveillance being the best way to know about something. espionage is the new hard science. witness: all the damn overheard blogs, the popularity in metro areas of “missed connection” and “i saw you” ads. it’s like the nsa has taught us how to court each other (admit to cutesy stalking…?).

...so when you call me a liar, i know it doesn’t apply to this specifically, but i search for ways to pin it to myself in general, because freud makes me sure i don’t know myself and i’m pretty sure that even if i knew myself i wouldn’t be truthful with myself about myself: that is, i wouldn’t know that i knew myself, if that makes any sense. i guess it’s the nature of accusations: you either accept them or don’t understand them and which option you choose relates only distantly to whether they’re “true.” the worst is when you kind of do both and neither. maybe what i see in myself isn’t so much “lying” as “distrust,” and “distrust” is actually just a sincere emotion with which i happen to be uncomfortable." - (sorrytobesoheavy.com, Heather Reddy)

I seriously find this to be one of the most hilarious and insightful pieces I have read in Months.

Too many people have written either overly flattering things or overly horrible things in self-writing/memoir as of late, and James Frey is only the whipping boy for an entire industry of self-proclaimed angels and devils.

Spying on ones self creates in a sense a fictionalized character allowing the writer to treat the subject with a more realistic amount of love and disdain.

Charity Heller Hogge and How to Finish a Novel

Charity Heller Hogge runs the editing company, The Mighty Pen. The Mighty Pen specializes in book editing and takes on new projects by contract. She is also the editor for the publishing company, Subatomic, which I have previously mentioned as a publishing company to keep an eye on.

Charity came over to my pad the other night to chill and chat. While also bringing me a yummy bottle of wine, she also brought me stories of her adventures as a single mom in writing and publishing. We discussed what to do with manuscripts that are nearly complete which then lose their way into the impotent wind of an errant muse.

If you are a novelist, you will very much understand the gravity of this problem. What to do? We covered several ideas. Here are some of them:

- Find an obvious plot from a similar genre and figure out how it was solved.
- Read for style, and map an author's sentences for inspiration.
- Reread your entire work, adding to the middle as you go.
- Wait to be depressed, then take advantage of the afterglow (my favorite).

Remember: don't talk about plot until it is impossible that you won't finish. It has to come out somewhere, your mouth is not the best place.

Sculpter and Gallery Owner Of Whom I want to Keep track.

Stephanie Doughtery is involved with OM Traditional Arts studio that hosts Last Friday art shows. A few weeks ago, the incredibly successful 30/30/30 show was held there showcasing 30 artists' painting 30 paintings in 30 days.

We met at Grendel coffee shop on Burnside, a few blocks from OM. We talked about thematic ideas for future shows. Stephanie is particularly interested in mixed media pieces, and I think her description of a glass fountain was one of the most evocative art pieces I have yet to see, this week.

At the moment, she has been using the lost wax method of casting to make bronze casts of local succulent plants.

I'd love a pic of the show if someone has any suggestions..

XOXO -JB

Groovy Girls after the Rapture

So I finished a rough draft of my newest book, "The Glamorous Life of a Writer". It is by far my most accessible work in a certain way, as it is a seriously simple story (though told in disturbing, hopeful and absurd one-sided emails).

I'm working with Cheyenne Glasgow to do the other half of the project, which is another story paralleling the first, but told in images.

I went over to Cheyenne's house yesterday to try and work out some of our graphic ideas. Originally, I was inspired to try this double story after seeing the groovy doll pictured above.

The doll's name is 'Dirty' (named by Cheyenne's five-year-old twins). Cheyenne came home and found the doll in this state, stuffed into a bottle.

"Dirty got captured". Said her son. What to say?

I decided I wanted to get a pic of the doll in electrical tape, too, but also with black thread marionette strings that would hang from my own fingers. The strings looked cool, but I have to say her son's tape job was better than mine. (a little over kill on my part)

For the shoot, Cheyenne and I wanted to use the Holga camera which is this amazing old camera that looks like a reverse periscope. Cheyenne built a right-angled parallelepiped (3d rectangle), out of cardboard that fits over the top lens of the Holga. She then used her digital power shot to take digital pics through the viewfinder of Holga. They look like the below entry.

The problem is that it is unbelievably difficult to get a clear shot because there isn't a real focus function, everything just has to stay very, very still... Good thing the doll is restrained... My fingers however, were less obedient.

Cheyenne is incredibly good at making these shots work, but I'm still figuring out what would actually work. There are a lot of variables to making these as cool as the one below.

What I LOVE about this style is that it looks like old fashioned spy photos. I don't think I'm going to exclusively use these images, though. She has other images that I think would fit well, but Cheyenne has the final word - and I like her aesthetic.

Fun to figure out as a problem in any case. Also fun to play baby dolls with my friends for a couple of hours...

Digital through Holga

The Nature of Goodness in 'No Country For Old Men'

I went to see No Country for Old Men yesterday with Steve Libby of Subatomic Press. Generally, I don't go to movies in the theater, but Steve and I decided that if we talked scripts, and went at noon, it would all be, uh, tax deductible…

The day started kind of weirdly to begin with because I've been writing my ass off on my new book of letters (not my novel, a different project). And I got a fucking rough draft (!). Which makes it my fifth book, weirdly enough. Anyway, writing 50 or so pages in a couple of days make one feel completely otherworldly. Or, it makes ME feel completely otherworldly. Who knows about the rest of the world?

In this state, I have awkward conversations with people starting with things like, "Over the course of my life, I always wanted to be Jesus, but I think I'm growing out of it." In response to questions like, "What do you want on your toast?"

Awkward. Really awkward. Like anyone wants to hear anything that starts: “Over the course of my life…”

Then you can't take it back and the words and words and words starts swirling and spiraling and shit - there's a whole hidden chapter you never saw before but have to WRITE DOWN NOW THIS VERY SECOND about spreading Jesus on toast.

Wow. Professionally digressing again.

I wanted to see No Country for Old Men because:
a. It’s a Coen Brothers movie, and
b. I heard it was sickeningly violent.

Not sure why that was such an enticing line, but damn, it was!

I had to get myself all sort of bolstered up to be able to stand the carnage and expected to be shivering to myself, and holding my own hand.

The theater was packed. On a fucking Friday at noon? A lot of people must geek out on violence, thought I.

No Country For Old Men was a terrific flick. I'm debating what to say in particular, because I don't mean this to be a spoiler, but the film had a POV switch that actually sort of challenged me. I had to really think about why it was used and since I haven't read the book, had to guess whether or not it was a Coen invention (I think not). Hmm. Enough on that, hard to continue w/o plot giveaways.

The more striking debate for me in the film, was the ongoing question of the morality of 'right'. This is the point of this blog if you managed to get this far... Now ya know!

As per my last blog entry, I'm seeking to find clues of our political environment in the contemporary art around us. Yes, mostly in my PDX happy-land, but I'm cool with thinking national for a few minutes.

The discussion of what was 'right' popped up over and over in the film. All of our protagonists (there were several) were morally twisted by their insecurity about what choice was the 'morally right' choice.

The utter lack of ‘good’ options (i.e. where the outcome of the situation was completely positive) made them feel like moral failures. The anguish of moral ambiguity was expressed with astounding grace.

This distinctly contrasted with the views of the utterly creepy villain with the 70’s porn star hair, who steadfastly maintained his 'goodness'. His 'goodness' lay in the purity of his purpose and word. If he said he was going to kill someone, he'd kill them. Don’t matter none hoss, if the killing was no longer necessary, or if the killing wouldn't benefit him financially, or even if the killing put him in actual danger. It was a contractual obligation that translated for him into a moral obligation.

I realize that this book was written a while ago, but I maintain that the effect of the presence of our ever-unique atmospheric soup, i.e. media, pop culture, politics, environment, and war, brought this film into being. It's not like the Coen’s couldn't have chosen or written another story, fer crying out loud.

The film could have been about a villain who was simply draconian, but the insistence of his moral superiority over the course of the two hours, was probably the absolutely best fucking metaphor I have ever heard about our administration’s stance on, well, everything.

I continued this conversation with Todd Cobb (author of Ghosts of Portland). When did ‘good’ start meaning this? How have we as a country been sidetracked into an argument about moral superiority based on a platform of psychotic inflexibility?

The beautiful and encouraging aspect of this film was the gentle reminder (yes, gentle, if you can believe it), that good people always question their own motives in difficult situations. They always wonder if they could have made a different choice. They always wonder if they could have made a better choice. Good people do not believe in the impunity of their goodness.

XOXO

- JB

Movement

So, I've been thinking. It's one job to schedule and plan D'Merde Salon, but I'm not sure I should let its actual purpose go unnoticed and unexamined.

I've said this more generally, but I believe there is a very singular movement occurring in PDX as a response to hedonistic 'eco'-culture, deadly war culture and sickening consumer culture.

Wrap all of that around a fabulously creative nouveau atmosphere of tech savy individuals who all just discovered that they speak a brand new language in common, ie. CMC, and there is really no denying the potential if not the actuality.

I talked about this with Shannon Mayorga yesterday morning (actually, totally babbled at him because it was sickeningly early, like 9:15).

Happily, he babbled at me as well, or at least, that was my perception which made me feel better. I still feel his babble was much much more cohesive than mine, but as my job is to raise impossible questions, I win, whatever.

Wow. I'm tanGential! That should be one of the status options on myspace and facebook. I'm feeling like, totally tangential. Maybe a subject for a tattoo?

But I digress, professionally.

The real question: If there is a movement going on in Portland linking art, music, and writing, what is the soul crunching mutual problem that we are all approaching from our individual viewpoints?

When I try and pin down this same question with regards to the beat poets or the Parisian salons I am influenced by, it seems to be a matter of Form, rather than content that they struggled against.

Am I wrong?

To require a movement in which it takes the bravery of a group of individuals to suggest a new path, the path must be pretty fucking scary, indeed. Otherwise, someone would have already nailed it and gotten on the Oprah book club list with a lil' discussion section at the end (nod to DSB).

Shannon and I seemed to identify more questions than answers, but that's a very good thing for me as I tend to think I absolutely 100% figure out a problem (with huge and complex significance) the first time I consider it. Wrong. Don't worry, I know. Thus more questions.

So what about this: What IF this is a movement of content (I will get to what kind of content later) AND of form? In this movement however, the form isn't the format of the pieces and images and MS's as it has been in the past, but instead of the altered manners of communication we have all recently developed and are now playing with - just as freely as the early modernists played with representation.

There were no pioneers. There were no rules.

Not sure if this is understandable (or if it should be! Without the vagaries of language here, I seriously risk excluding an important voice or ten).

In our post-modern era, where it seems every medium has been tried, I am gratified to see projects like the bands that are collaborating over the internet, all over the globe, track by track to create an album. This is absolutely and completely different than anything that has ever happened before. The poster (on myspace) created for the last D'Merde was a two day collaboration between two people on opposite coasts. Absolutely impossible before now.

Also, the effects of this sort of communication (I believe) are also influencing all my local dear hearts, as well. Not just the world at large.

That's theme number one.

Theme number two is content.

What the FUCK is happening these days in the world? I'm as happy to meet you at Stumptown and drink an 8 oz Chai and chat about promoting your band as anyone, but do you think Anyone out there can really be unaffected by the fact that our government actively supports, and finds new territory for torturing human beings?

That we are finding oil rich countries and planting shit on them (like one of those lame cops, sticking you with a bag of weed), except we fucking Kill hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds (I could continue for quite a well since the number is really thousands and thousands but, yaknow....)

We are an observant city in our own overly white and classist manner. My dear brother and sister creatives, I don't think most of you are murderously fucked up assholes.

In which case, necessarily, you are disturbed on some level and this Must be showing in your work.

Thanks to Cheyenne Glasgow for indulging this line of reasoning this evening and giving me a little focus.

What I see emerging, are pieces of scathing self-study. Horrified by the emotional narcissist escapism of a pseudo-medical industry that has perfected the granting of mental indolgences without the confession (think early Catholicism), but terrified by a complete lack of self examination allowing untold horrors to be visited upon our global neighbors, we are carefully, humorously, sickeningly, jubilantly (!) identifying our faults.

And thus, our humanity.

I went to Dark Horse Comics the other day for a chat and tour. It's sort of easy to forget that cute lil' business in Milwaukie is actually the largest cartoon company in the country owed by an individual. (As opposed to Marvel and DC, the two larger co.s which are owned by other companies or conglomerates or something like that)

Not sure why I have such a hard time connecting Dark Horse with their big projects, but I think I sort of re-remembered that Dark Horse was the origin for "The Mask", "Hellboy", that new film "My name is Bruce" plus iconic comics Sin City, Predator, the continuation of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and "Star Wars". Phhewww. That's a lotta shit.

And that list doesn't close to touch the variety Dark Horse turns out. They do about a million other comics, graphic novels (which isn't much of a surprise), and also a few books of an incredibly eclectic nature. Not sure I got the gist of the book press: Narrative history? In partnership with cartoons, sounds like a bitch of a marketing pitch. (Imma poet. I know it.)

Speaking of marketing, I was really interested that I don't see much evidence of Dark Horse using interactive or buzz strategies in their marketing. It's not exactly like that's impossibly weird, but it's occurred to me lately that if there are three echelons of business (this is simplistic but bear with me) small businesses (who are ready to put it out on the line and are thus creating some of the most original campaigns around), big businesses (who have the money to follow all the little campaigns and copy cool looking shit even if it doesn't work), and mid-level businesses who used to kind of run things in the 90's when it came to branding and marketing, but now seem sort of hesitant.

Dunno. It's just that Dark Horse is such a ringer for an interactive campaign with all their die hard fans.

I'll keep ya updated...

Anyone wanna go on tour??

I met with the absolutely adorable Amanda K. (of Good Egg Productions) last night at the Delta Cafe to talk about Music promotion and booking bands. I've been around in the PDX music scene for a while (and thus, typically, think I know everything about it) but most PDX bands stick around town or go on a one stop tour.

Amanda's originally from Oklahoma, and works with a diverse spectrum of bands from Jazz to Experimental to Pop and from the East Coast to the South to the West.

We talked about why it is that shows are packed in small towns and large towns but PDX often has a low turn out. Her shows around the rest of the west coast are packed! We agreed PDX is over-saturated. Sucks to live around so many rock stars... ;)

Here's her myspace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=73835882

Sub-Atomic rocks my world

Yay Steve Libbey and Charity! These two have started an independent Portland press with a couple of titles already up for grabs - notably, BloodBaths, which just came out in November. We all got together to talk publishing and synergy and eat Middle Eastern food. Yum, all around.

They have some interesting titles coming out over the next few months, and auspicious plans for their release. This is definitely a press to keep an eye on. They are both super talented. FYI in webland - they are publishing (and accepting) national manuscripts, not exclusively local.

Blogspot STILL hates my guts sooooo here's another unlinked link: http://www.subatomicbooks.com/

Busy Busy...

I've a lot to catch up on! OK - As for some of the other D'Merde Salon highlights, O'Grady played an amazing experimental set with noise, vocals and readings from Mike Daily's book, Alarm. Really affecting, really beautiful. Enticing noise created by loop tracks and soda cans (among other splendid audio concoctions). Girls Girls Girls. I always wanted to work in a factory, too! Also, here I am wearing the cute shirt - Buy it!

I would put the fucking link to his site here, but blogspot clearly hates my guts. Here it is unconnected: mickogrady.blogspot.com

D'Merde Post Mordum

(A Painting By Jason Moreno, picture here)


It ended up being absolutely exactly what I hoped it would be. So many people contacted me the next day with new project ideas, mixed media project ideas, collaborative project ideas.

The artists were terrific, Cheyenne Glasgow (photographer) had a photo/sculpture piece, photos mounted on a cabinet. It had Cheyenne's distinctive look of a slightly melancholy dreaminess mixed with an odd forced practically that makes me question my own views of what being pragmatic actually means.

I had only seen Shannon Mayorga's paintings online before the other night by even on the blinky little screen, his lush use of color and striking sort of controlled looseness is absolutely lovely. Kind of edible or something. The piece that he brought was actually a print but looked so much like a painting - I need to learn more about this.

Jason Moreno is another artist I had only seen online, as well. (Damn I was so incredibly lucky, considering). His paintings are intricately odd fantasies. Some maybe nightmares. (my favorite) There's a frantic quality of meta-think, a brain whirring with uninvited images. Jason brought four painted metal masks to D'Merde that he hung in a criscross of wire on the wall. The masks were reminiscent of both the Day of the Dead as well as Balinese masks I've seen (the mouths, in particular).

I'll write more about the readers/performers later, they highly deserve their own blog.

XO

Gigs n' Rockstars

Fuck. I haven't gone out and seen a show in I can't remember how long. I mean, I see music, but music in my living room, or at a party, or... how to differentiate - Quiet music. Yeah, I see that.

Maybe I was somewhat ruined by working at a punk club for too long. It was all so fun until I stopped living in that bourbon soaked hole. And after that, I had no inclination to return for any reason.

In any case, that is sort of circuitous background info to a 'what the fuck I did last night" blog.

I've been writing for this company, Writers of the Round Table, for a while but had never met any of the project managers in person. It's all telecommuting and shit.

So the woman I work with most often (Eva) is married to the drummer in the Zappa plays Zappa band (Joe Travers). She flew into Portland to meet him while he was on tour and she and I got a chance to meet Eva in person. What a kind and collected seeming soul! I was quite touched by her sweetness.

God, I'm rambling. This was supposed to be about rockstars. OK Rockstars. Eva got me tickets to the show and backstage passes. I forgot how much I love that shit.

For a nosy person such as myself it is pure bliss to be able to walk where you want sans security.

The group of guys (and one girl) in the band and their techs were very down to earth.

We all went to a strip club after the show.

The end.

Rain, man.

Waking up with an incurable desire for donuts, I talked Myles (my 8 year old son) into walking to the store (in the rain) and getting some. Wow.

After he came back he told me that he planned not to be outside for longer than 90 seconds the rest of the day. "The amount of time," he explained "To get into a car."

Sweet child. My daughter, Zane and I snuggled in bed reading fantasy adventure books. Eragon, Anyone?

I used to fucking Hate that shit, but it's way more fun to read with a kid. All those dwarfs and dragons and all...

Though, I must confess to strongly hoping she doesn't become one of those d&d teens. "yes, dear, of Course all your friends can come over and role play... Just make sure Xdathern doesn't have another accident tangling his cloak and sword..."

Yeah.

Before that, she told me that she likes to read books that are sad - either where the beloved dog dies in the end or where children or other sympathetic characters endure horrible situations.

Now that's something I can get behind. My kind of book!

Myles basically reads manuals.

And Fuck! In Rolling Stone last month, there was this totally freaky story about how climate change has been underestimated by even the most pessimistic. He said that of the 6.5 billion people on the earth, 6 billion of them will die in the next 80 years.

I googled Alaska and found this Canadian Bear-Man Real Estate agent.

10 acres, I said. Above sea level.

He didn't seem to think it was weird. In any case, to buy 10 acres in a nice location with lots of moose, in Alaska (with nothing on it, obviously)is about a thousand dollars an acre.

Or, 2k and $50 a month. i.e. Less than cable.

Today on the front page, a similar prediction (though less dire), was the top story.

Preparations for D'Merde

I'm so totally gaga over the brilliant abilities of my fellow creatives in this dark and rainy city. Anything with light! Wild red paintings and glowing torch pretty much get me off.

Someone asked me if D'Merde Salon was some kind of coffeehouse.

Fuck, no!

It's a wood stove smoldering fiercely at another furiously elated soul, toasting me with absinthe, with a thousand charcoal scrawls, with absurd desperation mixed in equal parts with lawlessness and beatitude.

My enormous platonic crush on about 500 souls has gotten stronger.

Oh, I do love you!