Engineer's Daughter

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now see this

Dennis Gallagher

Through March 8 - Dennis Gallagher: Shape / Structure at Rena Bransten.  Unless they've closed the show a smidge early ahead of their move to Minnesota Street Project (yay!) you have one more day to see Dennis Gallagher's intensely absorbing sculptures and works on paper at Rena Bransten Gallery.  Gallagher was an important artist and teacher in the local scene before his death in 2009, and he is still very very much missed.

 

 
Eleanor Friedberger

March 8 - Eleanor Friedberger at the Independent.  I just saw her a few months ago when she did a free show at the Brick & Mortar to premiere songs off her album New View, and I can't wait to see her again so soon.  Certified goddess.

 

Lauren McKeon

Through March 13 - Bodily Engagements at Interface Gallery.  For the past two months Interface has been bringing together performance and visual artists into exciting juxtapositions, and the project series concludes with sculptures by Lauren McKeon and a movement piece by Renée Rhodes and Melissa Lewis entitled Endless.  I saw it yesterday and highly recommend swinging by this Saturday to view for yourself.

 

Mel Prest and Martha Clippinger

Closed (sorry!) - Mel Prest and Martha Clippinger: Project 9 at c2c project space.  This was one of the best shows I've seen yet in Kirk Stoll's intimate exhibition/live/work space.  Both artists have an innate grasp of color, optics, and form that is sheer pleasure to behold, with Prest's paintings contrasting nicely with Clippinger's more sculptural work, and they clearly had a lot of fun working together to make best use of the space too.

 

 
John Mulaney and Nick Kroll

On a recommendation from my friend Carrie, who is never ever wrong, I impulse-bought a ticket to go see Nick Kroll and John Mulaney perform their "Oh, Hello" characters from Kroll Show at Herbst last week.  And just like that now I'm officially a huge Nick Kroll fan.  That was some serious comic genius, and yes there was Too Much Tuna.

 

 
Renée Fleming

And last but definitely not least, please enjoy this clip of Renée Fleming singing the most beautiful aria of all time.  meriko whisked me off to see her recital at Zellerbach Saturday night, and while the monsoon raged outside we thrilled to her renditions of Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Patricia Barber(!!), and selections from The King and I.  All unamplified, bitches.

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ostře sledované vlaky

 

I have little to no use for the Academy Awards, but every once in a while they manage to reward a truly great film, as when they gave Jiří Menzel's Closely Watched Trains the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1968.  Set in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, the film humorously depicts the sexual growing pains of young Miloš (portrayed with perfect wide-eyed sincerity by Václav Neckář) as he half-heartedly attends to his post of apprentice dispatcher at a tiny train station.  Milos is much more concerned with losing his virginity than with his duties or with the war, though reality (and tragedy) does eventually creep in almost by accident.  Menzel worked closely with author Bohumil Hrabal to adapt his novel for the big screen, and the result is one of my favorite films to come out of the Czech New Wave.  The "stamping" scene is one of sexiest things committed to celluloid, in my humble opinion.

agenda 03.02.16

Oh, Hello at Herbst Theatre
KALX
Bodily Engagements at Interface
Portal
Bishop O'Dowd vs Justin Siena
Word for Word at Z Space

truchman

Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland.  May 25, 2008.