“Happiness and the absurd

are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable.”

Bowing at the altar of Laurie Anderson

FW: You’ve produced an amazing amount of work. What keeps you going?

Anderson: I don’t mean to sound shallow, but it’s the best way to have fun, you know? For me it’s just sort of goofing around. It really is – it’s like “Oh I think I’ll make a cartoon today. No, I think I’ll make a song.”

You know, so when you call yourself this amorphous mutlimedia artist thing, you just do whatever you feel like and people go “oh that’s your work, ok fine,” and that’s how it is.

FW: One last question. As someone who’s been incredibly successful with their work, do you have any advice for those of us living here, holding down three jobs just to pay the rent and trying to find the time to make art?

Anderson: You know when I started being an artist I had this friend who said really irritating things to me. I would say “Look Richie, you don’t understand. I really wanna do my work, but, I’ve gotta pay my rent.

And he would just kept saying “Just do your work.”

And I’d say “No no, Richie, come on, it’s just not practical, I mean I have my rent is due in like a week, I have to be practical.”

And he would just keep saying “Do your work.”

And it made me so mad, but I finally realized what he was saying. He was talking about priorities. What do you really want? What do you put first? If you do your work, and you put all of your best energy into that, everything else will fall into place. And, you know, if you make paying your rent your very first priority, well then it will be harder to do your work. If you want this amazing apartment that looks like an artists loft or whatever, you’ll get that, but you might not be able to do any work because you’ll be putting all your energy into getting that place.

I found that at times very hard to take, but it’s really true. Because you know, it’s trusting yourself. That you have something good to say, and that it’s worth saying. That’s what you have to do as an artist. Nobody else’s really going to do it, everything comes from you.

[free williamsburg]

my dad should write for pitchfork.

I was listening to Devendra's latest album; Dan goes, "Is this Jack Johnson?"

Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest: "Is this Harry Nilsson?"

Also: "what's the name of that band I really like, the guy who plays really interesting music?" He was referring to the Dave Matthews Band.

Dan just sent me an op-ed by Bono from the NYT: "Bono is such a great person."

The New Lexicon of Hip

From Vice....brillz



A couple of nights ago a lot of hipsters on Twitter retweeted someone’s assertion that they were “So sick of the word ‘hipster’. Seems like it’s been ten years of endless articles sneering at young people interested in music, art, fashion, fun etc. as ‘hipsters’, like that’s some sort of strange crime against society.”

Of course, because society has lost it’s mind on the internet, the term has managed to take on an amorphous cultural significance, but in reality, like “scenester” before it, and “fashionsta” before that, “hipster” has simply become as tired and ubiquitous as a pair of jeggings (and footless-tights before them).

Well worry not, because I’ve taken it upon myself to find the heir to the hipster brand. Observe:

Coolies: Incorporating the vital hip, fashion, or trend-like prefix, “coolie” also has an interesting association with red-shirted railway servants and poorly paid laborers. And who among us doesn’t appreciate a slave-like, sweaty adherence to newness and counterculture?

Neatos: It rhymes with Doritos and Wheetos, two extremely cool grain-based snacks, and has the requisite allusion to 1960s slang. A winner by any measure.

Snazzers: It’s been far too long since I heard a piece of graphic design described as snazzy. Which means, according to the great tombola of ironized coolness, that it is just about ripe for a revisit.

Trendster: I like this for a number of reasons. Firstly, it sounds like Friendster, which is surely due for a retro rebirth. Also, we used to call the people who wore Fubu tracksuits and Nike Air Max “trendies” at my school, with the sort of withering disdain only available to a bunch of overweight, middle-class dweebs in flares.

Stylistes: French; it’s sexy, non? Le cool, oui? Absolutement de rigeur, bien sur.

Hepcats: If “hipster” can transcend its 1960s, mung bean-eating, LSD-addled connotations to become a by-word for 21st century youth, then just imagine what we could do with a phrase like “hepcat.”

Funkinistas: I like the combination of cultural signifier, plus Spanish military jargon. It has a nice, hedonistic revolutionary feel to it. I’d probably start using it to describe Rick James, and move on from there.

Fabios: Who doesn’t want to be reminded of a long-haired male model at loggerheads with George Clooney every time they try to describe a new club night?

Slimmers: Over the years I have drawn up a pretty definitive list of what’s cool; sex, drugs, smoking, swearing, booze, and being thin. Sadly, the latter has been overlooked for far too long in the lexicon of cultural analysis and now is the time to right that wrong. Also, the word “slimmers” opens up a whole opportunity for terms like “slim-hard” and “thinsters” for people who try just that little bit too much.

Modals: You see, it sounds a bit like model. As in professionally cool and good looking. Also, it’s kind of a jazz term, and jazz was pretty much the birth of cool. So it’s both shallow and betrays a knowledge of culture beyond what people might expect you to have. Perfect.

NELL FRIZZELL

A note from our Brothers in Christ

"Sisters in Christ, you really have no concept of the struggles that guys face on a daily basis. Please, please, please take a higher standard in the ways you dress. True, we men are responsible for our thoughts and actions before the Lord, but it is such a blessing when we know that we can spend time with our sisters in Christ, enjoying their fellowship without having to constantly be on guard against ungodly thoughts brought about by the inappropriate ways they sometimes dress. In 1 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul presents believers as the members of one body – we have to work together. Every Christian has a special role to play in the body of Christ. That goal is to bring glory to the Savior through an obedient, unified body of believers – please don't hurt that unity by dressing in ways that may tempt your brothers in Christ to stumble ."

this pretty much goes without saying.

l337 animal bros!