WAR!

Who(is) the Hell (R) Gregory J. Pleshaw?

2011-10-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

OFFICIALLY FAMOUS FOR BEING SUPER WEIRD(tm)

gregoryp™ is the web identity of real-life American journalist Gregory J. Pleshaw. Pleshaw began his career in the 'zine culture of the late '80s before moving on to newspapers and magazines that include The New Mexican, Wired, Fast Company, The Industry Standard, New Mexico Magazine, the Boston Phoenix's Erotic a section, the Seattle Gay News, and many, many others.

Past beats include arts, entertainment, politics, social justice, technology, business, Internet security, online gaming, SEO, music, software, real estate, social networking sites, travel, and sexuality and gender issues. He spends an inordinate amount of time on the Internet, particularly facebook, twitter, and various blogs that he maintains. In 2004, he released a book entitled, The Collapse of Time: Confessions of a Quantum Humanist for Plaza Rat Press of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The book sold out to subscribers prior to publication, but Pleshaw declined to do a second printing, favoring his ongoing electronic publishing efforts. His "fan base" exists whenever he writes and publishes online.

In 1994, Pleshaw wrote a polemic about what he believed were two emerging forms of literature - "living-in-a-narrative" which he described as "memoir on acid," and "exploded narrative" which was intended to illustrate the ways in which the online world was intersecting with real-time to allow for rich-media narratives. His latest book, SubDrop, (release date: December 21, 2010, from Strident Press) is an example of the former idea and with the arrival of the e-book and the iPad, the technology has finally reached the time when the latter may be more fully explored. Pleshaw hopes to do this, both as a real person and a web identity. The pseudonym of gregoryp™ was born when Pleshaw wrote an essay on his website in 1997 on Monsanto's proposal (and subsequent approval) to be allowed to trademark seeds. The essay was titled Trademark Yourself before Someone Else Does, and thus gregoryp™ was born.

"The Pure Process Exploded-Narrative Trilogy"
(an editing fiasco)

In the spring and summer of 2009, Pleshaw's carefully constructed external reality and internal identity began to unravel - and then implode - as he realized he was fast approaching forty with the screeching howl of Johnny Rotten's "No Future"s still ringing incessantly in his ears.

Chronicling his own demise (and subsequent re-birth - yes, even sinners get a renaissance) - Pleshaw employed a method of narrative memoir that he had previously dubbed as "pure process narrative" whereby the writer follows the emergent tale of their own useless existenceto whatever actions and conclusions they lead the writer towards and accept each result as a necessary component of an unfolding narrative. No Future? Sure. And No Regrets either, and the result is a trilogy of works in which Pleshaw explores a multiplicity of ever-weirder themes, including identity, insanity, risk, addiction, internal & external discoveries, liminality, time, space, danger, sex, extreme circumstances, trangsgressive non-fiction, health, yoga, religion, redemption and finally - the complete dissolution of both the constructed self the notion of "privacy" through a process known as "pure process transparency" live on facebook with the final book(s) of the trilogy, otherwise known as 'Stumbling Towards Enlightenment" & "the Greatest Love Story of the Century."

A staid work in comparison to the last, the initial foray into this pure process explosion was a linear process narrative called "SubDrop," that explored the author's relationship to self via sexuality, gender and his lifelong battle with bipolar disorder. Briefly "sold" to a press that wished to publish it as an e-book, Pleshaw examined the book's contents in a cheap hotel on the Thai-Laos border and realized that if he could go public with such a work then no stone should be left unturned in what he was willing to write about, and he quickly penned "Tales from Thailand," a 200-page collection of essays and stories about the sex and prostitution culture of Thailand from the context of one who felt as if he were "living in exile" as an expat in Thailand on the eve of the then expected 2010 Thai "revolution" and rumored coup d'etat by the former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Fearful of the tense environment that gripped Thailand following the February 26th, 2010 Decision Day that determined the fate of the former PM's assets and also deeply intrigued by the possibilities that Eastern religions might offer him, Pleshaw withdrew "SubDrop" from publication and held back on the edits for 'Tales from Thailand" to plunge forth into the third and final narrative, "Stumbling Towards Enlightenment," an experimental novel/"live book" that began when Pleshaw fled Thailand and arrived in New Delhi in April of 2010 and posted his first India-based facebook status report.

At the time, (as is still the case) facebook was the #1 website in the world with close to half a million daily readers. Pleshaw would later dub it "the global newspaper," but long before that point, he saw within it an emergent venue for a new kind of literature - unfolding status report by status report and easily "contributed to" by other random "writers" from one's pool of "friends."

"Stumbling Towards Enlightenment" had many themes, but it's underlying praxis lay in one simple question, "What is a Friend?" a theme that Pleshaw would return to repeatedly as he posted status report after status report about yoga, gurus, street hustlers and World Cup updates from his four-month residence in Dharamsala, the home of the exiled leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama. While the estimated number of status reports from what ended up as an eight-month experiment number between 1500-2500 posts, "Stumbling Towards Enlightenment" offered Pleshaw's 1200 friends a thrice-updated unfolding of a narrative adventure that even had its own romantic subplot, for prior to heading to India, Pleshaw met Dee Dee Clohessy, a writer from Buffalo, New York, whose seminal work "facebook status reports I hate," attracted Pleshaw's attention to the medium in which they were living.

As Pleshaw traveled and posted, Dee Dee, a denizen of cyberspace on the 24-7 clock thanks to her tireless smart phone, provided Pleshaw with technical, logistical and emotional support and soon became the better half of The Greatest Love Story of the Century, which quickly gained its own website and hundreds of fans who ponied up a buck to send Dee Dee to Thailand to meet Pleshaw, following his much-publicized proposal of marriage to her on facebook four months after their initial online meeting - but three months away from their actual face2face meeting in Phuket, Thailand. In the words of Pleshaw, "anyone who wants to share our innermost thoughts on facebook and youtube and then agree to marry me sight unseen - yeah, that's the kind of person I want to marry, no question about it."

In addition to many many status reports, Pleshaw's output during this period also included at least a dozen long-form "Notes" about everything from seeing the Dalai Lama to finding a cure for his psoriasis to "burying the meds" one full year after deciding not to take them anymore. Dozens of different friends contributed to the threads that Pleshaw seeded via both status report and "Notes," "contributing writers" all to both the journey and the unfolding narrative. Off-facebook, hundreds of emails, Skype calls and chats built a broad subtext of the many convergent and divergent notions, ideas, and themes that Pleshaw chose to explore during the course of the "Stumbling" project.

Originally intended to only encompass the period that Pleshaw spent in India, the "live book" format ended up perfecty illustrating the axiom that "sometimes even the best experiments can go awry," when upon returning to Thailand, Pleshaw's use of a tantric meditation technique caused him to go astral for nine straight days - a phenomena described by others as a Kundalini Awakening and whose revelatory nature took both Pleshaw and his astounded readership into triple-overtime - with the narrative only coming to a final "Stumbling" halt on January the 1st, 2011.

Currently, Pleshaw has disappeared into the remote provinces of Isaan, Thailand to teach English and learn the Thai language. At this time, all three books and their intended vehicle Strident Press are in hiatus pending further reflection and edits. In his words, "it was quite a process, y'know," and he intends to spend whatever spare time that lies ahead of him breathing deep, practicing yoga, drinking beer...and...editing. For more information...check out Strident Press from time to time. There might be something there you want to see.

Original Post - needs a seamless edit, but I am on the fly at the moment

Less than two years ago, Pleshaw joined facebook and immediately recognize its potential as a journalistic medium. Similar to the seminal WELL project of the mid-1990s, the use of asynchronous threading made it possible to treat the status report as a "column" with a threaded conversation beneath from "friends." Abandoning his other blogs (just google) he began to use the facebook status report as a place to "micro-blog" and was in the process of developing theory about "micro-journalism" when he stumbled across Deedee Clohessy's hilarious essay of "facebook status reports I hate" and he immediately friended her. A furious "lovers of the mind" relationship ensued as the two began sharing writing, ideas, feelings, thoughts, and emotion with one another - perfectly exemplifying exactly *WHY* social media blows traditional journalism out of the water -- by removing the intermediary of the "publication," (with all its attendant horrors of bias, so-called "objectivity" and the notion of bylined "author" as the center of all discourse,) social media and the Internet in general allow one-on-one communication *and* one-to-many communication simultaneously across the planet, as well as feedback loops from both "writer" and "audience," smashing any distinctions between the two, eliminating the "fourth wall" of communications forever - and completely re-defining what "news" really is.

Taking the "microjournalism" praxis to the next level, Pleshaw decided to write a "live book" on facebook about his experiences in India, status report by status report, and Deedee Clohessy was his constant co-presence companion on this four-month madcap journey ("personal, political, & mystical") which included at least 600 status reports and is now known as "Stumbling Towards Enlightenment" (available from Strident Press in May of 2011) with Clohessy as emotional support and love interest.

Okay - we admit it. Our love is a po-mo literary fantasy, perhaps, but we both actually believe in our Strange Kind of Love. We're both bookish and writers enough to know that 90% of love comes from our minds, and romantic enough to believe that the best kind of partnership evolves when you find that special someone who "gives good email." Deedee gives the best (her chats are pretty rad too) and I really love her mind. Please support our weird project. Cyberpunk isn't all doom'n'gloom after all - maybe this time around, the matrix actually will lead the two of us - and the rest of you - to understand that sometimes, the matrix really leads to true love.

Infamous Heard Show Essay Gets BUMPED! from top slot! (soon)

2010-04-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

{By the way, in addition to getting strange calls in the dead of night and having America Meredith attack me and refuse to talk to me (we had previously been pals of a sort, we're both big drunks and we liked to party together) and then spread a rumor that I would be barred from her show at Indian Market 2009, I also was sorta threatened with losing work from a couple of magazines and was also not "invited back" to write copy for SWAIA, but hey, you know, sometimes you speak your mind and they cut you off and you just have to LICK IT UP, and you might have to someday also if you want to make ART and not PRODUCT, give it a shot, it feels good but you may have to leave Santa Fe to pull it off because..well, because it's expensive there.}

THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET OF INDIAN ART MARKETS
by Gregory J. Pleshaw, aka "gregoryp(tm)" circa March 2009

In a dramatic reversal from last year’s Heard Museum’s Indian Art Fair & Market, tradition trumped contemporary art on the roster of prize-winning pieces. Nowhere was this better exemplified than in the choice of an ornately beaded cradleboard by 5th-year Heard Show veteran Molly Murphy as the winner of Best in Show. It was a conservative piece of work for decidedly conservative times, at least fiscally speaking. But it may have been an apt choice given the relatively lackluster entries into the Fair’s judging in all categories, but especially on the contemporary side of the fence.

Many people at the Heard Show wanted to blame the judges for returning such a traditional-heavy roster of winners but the fact remained that there just weren’t a lot of heavy hitter works coming in for fans of contemporary art. Painting, for example, was mostly a total wash, with a couple of standouts that might work as merely decorative pieces, rather than actual notable works of art.

A little caveat – in the five years that I’ve been covering this beat, I would have to say that never have I seen so little work that actually inspired me. Perhaps I’ve just seen too much stuff, doodads, paintings and artifacts of all stripes that I now possess a completely jaded eye, but it seems to me like the artists involved in Market(s) aren’t really trying to push the envelope, instead opting to find a good Market niche and sticking to it because that’s what brings home the bacon. However, the tough market has made it so even those who stuck with the tried and true were punished for their efforts at this market, as sales took a nosedive even for market stalwarts, (who for obvious reasons spoke off the record and therefore cannot be named.)

As I said in my last report from the Heard show, the most unwelcome guest at the party was without a doubt the economy, which seemed to bring a lot of empty wallets and overdrawn checkbooks to the show. Artists who were previously used to selling out by Saturday at noon were still lingering at 4:30pm on Sunday, anxiously looking around for one last sale that could justify the expense of coming to the show in the first place.

Last night, while driving home from Arizona I had several epiphanies about the Heard Show and Native Markets in general (this would include Santa Fe’s Indian Market as well.) Is it possible that because these events are by their nature MARKET-driven that they encourage pandering to that Market and that a lot of mediocre work gets created and sold as a result? A number of minds are prone to think so, especially those who have decided for whatever reason that they won’t be participating in any Markets, regardless of how much fast cash might be available in them.

Some of the strongest voices in Native Art today would include Rose Simpson, Gregory Lomayesva and Tony Abeyta. All three simply choose not to do Native Markets for their own reasons, ranging from the vehement disapproval of Markets in general by Simpson to a total disinterest in “begging from a booth” by Lomayesva. But all three of them had a strong presence at the Heard Show through strong shows in the Museum (Abeyta & Simpson) and works in the Berlin Gallery (Lomayesva.)

It’s an interesting paradigm that the Markets which ostensibly exist to drive a Native art scene nonetheless see their heaviest hitters refuse to participate in their machinations, which again strive to be the primary showcases of Indian arts exposure and sales, but it speaks volumes about the power or lack thereof of these Markets to really be a driving force for serious Art-with-a-capital-A. Rose Simpson’s work is beyond serious – it is beyond a doubt in my mind that her clay sculptures in the “Mothers & Daughters” show were hands-down the most arresting pieces of work I saw the entire weekend. Tony Abeyta’s one-man show “Underworldness” feature black and white charcoal murals that seek to explore the sublime meanings behind Navajo spirituality and they again showcase the visionary talent of this fine artist.

Meanwhile, in a show of tragicomedy that may underscore the role that institutions may play in a continual rewarding of weak work and lackluster talent over really innovative vision, Gregory Lomayesva was on his way to permanently severing his ties with the Heard's Berlin Gallery over a display of censorship that is utterly laughable for a gallery that claims to have a contemporary edge in its curatorial direction. On the heels of two successful one-man shows with Ursa Gallery in Santa Fe and Gebert Gallery in Los Angeles where Lomayesva showed both his woodworking pieces and paintings in a tour de force of narrative artistry, Lomayesva was asked to participate in a three-man show with top-flight Native painter Norman Akers, (who, incidentally, also doesn’t do Markets) and deceased Native icon Fritz Scholder. Included among the pieces that Lomayesva brought to the show was a sculpture of a woman shooting up heroin and a sculpture of a couple copulating. The Berlin refused to show the works in question, citing “inappropriateness” and “an inability to sell the works,” according to Lomayesva. After a heated exchange, Lomayesva cried censorship (and rightly so) quit the Berlin Gallery and immediately drove back to Santa Fe.

“I had thought the Berlin Gallery was supposed to be a cutting edge space,” said Lomayesva. “What their actions said to me was that they’re only interested in the Indian art of pretty pictures and noble savages. After we spoke there seemed nothing more to say, so I split.”

The Berlin gallery commented with a boilerplate statement that completely avoided the real issue at hand, (as perhaps they must.) Anyone who knows Gregory Lomayesva knows that he can be a real maverick when it comes to defending his work and he has to be – he has long existed quite well outside of the Market system, with galleries and acclaim across the nation and around the world. The synthesis of this particular anecdote is that when Native artists do step up to the plate with edgier and more interesting work, the very institutions that are supposedly there to help them shut them down with spurious claims about the value of the work – since when is “inappropriate” a reasonable word to use when rejecting a work of art? This kind of attitude on the part of these institutions shows a pandering to a Marketplace, a paternalistic attitude towards artists, and creates a situation where it makes it difficult to create an arts scene that can be taken seriously beyond the level of a crafts fair.

Over the course of the weekend, I had an opportunity to meet with Sheldon Harvey, last year’s winner of Indian Market’s Best in Show prize. Harvey is a bright, well-mannered and engaging fellow whose biopic could be called “Rez Dog Millionaire,” the heart-warming rags to riches tale of the high school dropout with no artistic education who bravely bootstrapped his way into stores and galleries with his inspired Navajo folk art sculptures and allowed him catapult his way to the top of the heap. Along the way, he picked up painting – as if painting was a skill that could be learned in a weekend without any formal training whatsoever and somehow managed to win, at the tender age of thirty, (for a painter that’s a child) what SWAIA would like to believe is the very top prize in Native American art.

Now, don’t get me wrong – Sheldon is a nice guy and I hope he still calls me to come check out his studio after this piece runs – but he can hardly be called a great painter and I would go so far as to say (as I did to him, mind you) that giving him that award did him a terrible dis-service by saying, “Evolve no further – you are already the Best,” when nothing could be further from the truth. While “The Trickster Way” (the award-winning work) is a competent painting, I think it was a grave mistake to call that piece the Best in Show of an event that touts itself as a world-class Indian art market, because here’s what it says: It says that Native Art is unschooled and not very competent, that it is perhaps filled with lovely people and inspiring tales – but NOT that it is in the business of fostering great art. If “The Trickster Way” was really the very best piece of art that Indian Market had to offer last year (and I can’t say for certain because I wasn’t around) then perhaps Indian Market should have considered not offering the prize to anyone at all.

It all comes down to a question of standards – and I’m not talking about the voluminous pile of standards that SWAIA puts out every year. Lots of people in the insider’s circles of Native art shows would like to see this work and these shows covered by publications like Art Forum and Art in America, but the dirty little secret of the Native Arts world is that most of this work simply isn’t good enough to go there. For many artists who participate in Market(s) – and certainly many of the traditional ones who learn their crafts at grandmother and grandfather’s knees – it is simply a question of not having enough of an art school background to be able to make really strong enough work to step out of the realm of craft and into “art.” For those on the contemporary side of the fence who may have spent some time at IAIA or those vaunted few who even managed to get an MFA somewhere along the line, the glittering prizes of pandering to rich white collectors with mediocre “hybrid” statements of one kind or another holds greater promise to them personally than the prospect of really digging deep to produce great art. And the Market system is partially to blame for that sad state of affairs.

A painter friend once said to me, “Paint what you want, and die happy.” But most serious Native Market contenders are making what the Market wants and aiming to die rich. Consider the new Native artist – no longer a lonesome Rez dog with a plastic bag for a suitcase but a well-heeled power broker driving an SUV and wearing a Tag Hauer watch on one wrist and a Pat Pruitt or Fritz Casuse or Maria Samora bracelet on the other. Over the weekend, one prominent Oklahoma gallery owner suggested that what was needed was a return to the idea of the starving artist who will do anything to facilitate his truest visions. The artist he introduced me to as “proof” of that kind of sacrifice said he’d be willing to starve so long as he didn’t miss a payment on his BMW. Clearly, this is not a crowd of people willing to go to the edge to make really quality work – these are folks who’ve seen the writing on the wall and will paint or sculpt or draw or fabricate where the money is in exchange for a grip of cash. The results are many many works of excellent craft quality but poorly thought out statements that do not exalt the greatest ideals of anybody’s art school – Western or Native American.

From my perspective, the Heard Show and Indian Market both have a challenge that has been thrown at their feet, and that’s to either figure out how to bring their greatest talents back into the fold and start cultivating really outstanding work within their spheres of influence – or they need to utterly admit defeat as purveyors of serious art. The latter would require them to encourage the really serious talents in Native Art not to waste their time joining their markets but instead to focus their time and energies on more schooling and on making work outside the Native Art Market system. But Market artists also have a challenge before them, and that is to challenge themselves to make stronger work that isn't about pandering and is about pushing the envelope. The Market(s) as they are right now might not reward them, but history might - the question is, what do artists care about most?

More Thoughs on Georgelle Hirliman, Santa Fe's Writer in the Window

2010-02-04T22:11:00.000-08:00

Georgelle Hirliman died a few days ago, and I am remembering her from Thailand.

Here is the original post from facebook:

"Georgelle Hirliman was without a doubt one of the most gifted writers and witches I have ever had the pleasure to know. As "Writer-in-the-WIndow" in the mid-1980s, she provided a generation of Santa Feans (and visitors from other places without a doubt) with advice that has quite similar to the vein of pop occultism later popularized by writers like Rob Brezny. I used her astrological services on several occasions when it seemed certain that the constructs of modern Western psychology and psychiatry did not contain nearly often poetry to explain the strange existence that I began to lead as a teenager and continue to wind my way through to this very day. In fact, she is *precisely* the sort of person I would like to speaking with now. Her death is a loss both to the community and to me personally, but I shall always remember her wry humor and genteel grace in trying to articulate solutions to the twists and turns of minds and heart troubled by the ineffable of the Santa Fe cosmogony, rife with problems both real and imagined, sensed and intuited, visions, notions and strange and dangerous ideas. Were I to attend a memorial for her, I would certainly cry, for she spoke to my heart - and so few people have either the courage or the ability to do that, and if they do have it, they do it so rarely. om nava shivaya, Georgelle - I always recognized the light in you, but without a doubt you saw in it me also and were occasionally able to help me see it."

- gregoryp(tm)...

The courage of that woman in her Writer-in-the-Window project had just an enormous impact on me as a teenager. She had balls and she had commitment to a community that now no longer exists, IMHO. In any case - her work there was art and politics and philosophy and answers and inspiration and courage and strength and hope, and in the past 24 hours I have come to love her in her death a great deal more than I did in life. She has become an icon in my mind, as great people do when they die, and I am indeed very happy that I actually knew such an incredibly courageous person at least once in my life - but fortunately for me, I have also known a great deal many more...

the very act of sitting down to a blank page or facing an empty studio and making the decision to create is not just a courageous act, but an act of treason in a culture where the dominant discourse rests on consumption and apathy and hiding in your house. To create IN PUBLIC and on display is to challenge authority on its deepest levels. Whatever else Georgelle Hirliman was in her life - and I have indeed, heard many many things that I will gloss over completely in remembering the strength of that project - as Writer-in-the-Window she created a moment of temporal anarchy that resulted in a rich rich discourse that was primarily local (as all good projects should be) but that created global resonance that is affecting me with great profoundity as I sit here typing on the banks of the Mekong in Thailand. Goddess knows how many other hearts and minds she touched with what was essentially a dada exercise in creation for the sake of it. Do not forget her, even if you never knew her. Goddess knows, though I may forget the woman I will never forget the work - on par with DuChamp's urinal, to a degree, taking the piss at an art culture that was only just evolving in Santa Fe at the time, where creativity and process where trumped entirely by the need to create decorative work that enlivened the expensive homes of the dull-minded and well-monied.

I really could go on and on, but just remember this - it takes tremendous courage and whimsy to sit in a storefront window and present to people the idea that they have questions and you will make a stab at answers. All those AMAZING questions - and her answers - helped define the cosmogony of Santa Fe during the period in which she worked, and for a generation of Santa Fe youth, she was our oracle.. God bless her soul.

Is there an archive - someone should curate a show. Wish I could, honestly.

What Santa Fe Means to Me

2010-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

From a long-form narrative inside my notebooks. Posting this to remind myself and you that I'm not quite the bitter queen I sometimes think I am.

"Where are you from?"

"Santa Fe, New Mexico," I said proudly, as I always do when I'm out of town. Santa Fe means magic to a lot of people, myself included, and though I've lived there most of my life and have known its darkest underbelly and its glaring contradictions, it is nevertheless a place of history and tradition, beauty and spirituality, and in my most hopeless hour in that sometimes wretched place, I have found salvation more times than I care to count, it is the place of my family and friends, and though I've left it a million times, I always return, for love it or not, it is my home and I am loved there, strangely enough, at least enough that I can always stop there and recuperate, and learn to love and live and dream again.

Again, my deepest apologies
gregoryp(tm)

Read About Me In Mitote?

2010-01-31T21:07:00.000-08:00

"Santa Fe freelancer Gregory Pleshaw is still enjoying time in paradise — he has been in Thailand for the past several months. But friends and readers can keep up with his adventures at http://gregoryp.blogspot.com."

- Santa Fe New Mexican, January 31, 2010

If you want to know what I'm doing on a daily basis, go to http://www.gregoryp.net and friend me on facebook. I miss green chile, but SE Asia is a source of endless fascination. Thanks for coming by.

- gregoryp(tm)

A Visa Run To LaosStep-by-Step Instructions for Those of Us Who Find Border Crossings Make Us Neurotic Wrecks

2010-01-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

Kip, the Laotian Wonder Dog, photo by Jana Haentjes

30 tips, 30 hours, three currencies and an excellent meal.

What you'll need: a passport, a pen, a notebook, an overnight bag, a laptop, (not necessary, but there's a bit of wifi to be had) a couple thousand baht, (depending on your eating, shopping and party needs,) and a place to crash because you will spend the night in Vientiane whether you want to or not.

Yeah, it was time again, time for another Visa Run. So I made one to Vientiane, Laos, without a doubt one of the more pleasant capital cities in southeast Asia.

But that wasn't why I made the trip to that particular place. Rumor had it across Thailand that Vientiane was the place to obtain a double-entry visa. A double-entry means 90 days times two - for a total of 180 days to hang out in Thailand. For more information on what that means, visit Thaivisa.com.

Caveat: Lots of great info in the forums on ThaiVisa.com - however, posting can be a bit of a bear. People are not terribly kind there. Post delicately.

Here are the basics of making said Visa Run:

1) Get your ass to Nong Khai. There's a night-train from Bangkok that costs less than 600 baht.

2) If you're smart, you'll get a tuk-tuk from the train station to Mut Mee Guest House and hang out for a day or two. Even if they don't have rooms, there are CHEAP guest houses nearby. Try 150 baht a night for a fan and hot water bungalow, which is super-cheap if you're coming from the south. Nong Khai is a pleasant little "proper Thai" border town (meaning its cheap and it don't really cater to farang.) There's a famous Buddhist-Hindu sculpture garden there that you can ride a bike to and you'll find out all about it if you go there. If you want tubing or discos, don't bother with Nong Khai.

3) The Visa Run itself is appromixately a 30 hour process. You need: a small bag with a change of clothes, toiletries, a pen, a notebook, $36 in US cash (available at Mut Mee or any exchange place) two passport photos and enough dough to drink, eat and crash in Ventiane. (budgets will vary, I will reveal mine along the way.)

4) Get a tuk-tuk to Friendship Bridge. Just say it to the tuk-tuk driver. "Friendship Bridge." He knows what you want and where you want to go and he'll take you there. From Mut Mee, it cost 50 baht (and it's a long ass drive, in all honesty.) It may be less from the train station...get off the tuk-tuk, walk past the uniformed Thai Immigration guy and get in line, but don't forget....

5) Inside your passport is a Thai DEPARTURE CARD. Fill it out before you get in line, perhaps in the slumber-land of the Mut Mee or perhaps in haste on the bus on the way over. (This is where the pen comes in handy, but it will come in handy later, so bring three of them, since others will no doubt have forgotten to bring one, and its fun to share.)

6) At Thai Immigration, stand in line. Prepare to pay 500 baht for each day of Overstay. (ps: Overstay is name of a super-cool guest house in Bangkok that you should stay at if Burroughs and P'Orridge flip your wig. Otherwise...) (They'll make you pay it, up to 20,000 baht ($600) and they might arrest you if you've really OVERSTAYED. So don't. Get to a border before Overstay.

7) Once you've cleared Thai Immigration, it's time to cross Friendship Bridge. 15 baht will get you a ticket on a bus (walking across is not an option, so just pay and get on the bus) that will take you across the bridge. A hush descends all over the world when you enter Laos. It's a new country. A new language, though the food is similar - but better. Eat the laab. It kicks ass, but that comes later...

8) Get off the bus before it stops and RUSH to Window #2 and get an application. There will be 10,000 farangs who think, (like you) that hanging out in southeast Asia is better than being in the West. They are both comrades and competitors. You are aiming for the same goal - a visa that will allow you to keep kicking around Thailand.

9) Fill out the application AS YOU STAND IN LINE AT WINDOW #1. Use your passsport as backing to write that app. Just fill it in, whatever you don't know, leave blank. This is, as are many things in SE Asia, a total shill. They just want your $35 and some kind of effort on your part to show that you want to enter their country. It's $36 if you need photos, so dress neatly - a torn t-shirt and a ratty pair of shorts is not the best way to ask for entry to another country, but they'll probably let you in anyway - after a bit of a WAIT. They know you want to get the damn visa in time to GET TO THE THAI EMBASSY BY NOON, but they'll torture you anyway. Meditate on the pain of their existence and remain calm.

10) Wait like a nervous teenager waiting for concert tickets at Window #3. Efficiency is not the Laotian aim - they have business to do, and it will take at least an hour to get your passport back with your new Laos visa. Talk to the other drop-outs and learn their cover stories - you will see them again in 90 or 180 days somewhere else, and they might have valuable travel information - this is where the notebook comes in handy.

11) Fuck the local bus (number 14) - I would presume its cheap, but it probably takes forever. Bargain for a tuk-tuk - I arranged for the travel of two - myself and an elderly gent from Denmark - for 150 baht from the border to the Embassy - the ride was so freakin' long and so much like a car chase that I gave the guy 200 baht for effort. A 50 baht tip may be too rich for your blood, but remember, these people live on dirt when you're not around.

12) Important points: Get to the Embassy before noon or they'll shut the gates and tell you to come back tomorrow, meaning an extra day in Laos, which really is lovely, but frankly, you're on business.

13) Arrive at the Embassy - the ABSOLUTE FIRST THING YOU DO is GET A FREAKIN' NUMBER. Walk up to the main window and there's a door on your left. Knock gently and someone will open the door and hand you a number. If you've forgot your passport photos, you can buy them across the street for 120 baht for eight, (you only need two, keep the other for later runs or give to people you like) a photocopy of your passport is available for 15 baht upstairs at the Embassy, but again, you could do this in advance, but you might not bother. They take your picture, print the photos, cut them up and glue two to the application for you and give you the rest to take home. Just beneath the photos is a slot for entering your request of 2 entries. Writea BIG 2 and pray for rain and that double-entry visa, because you don't want to do this again for at least six months.

14) My number was 486 - 4+8=12+6=18. 1+8 =9. I was very excited because 9 is the luckiest number in Thai numerological and lottery systems. (it has to do with the sum of the number 108, which is a sacred number in Buddhist and Hindu systems.) Sit and wait for your number to be called. You can smoke in the corner of the Embassy grounds. There are seats under shade but there's also a lovely patch of grass to sit on. Wait. Smoke. Pray. Meditate. Wonder what you'll do next if they deny your visa app, (people do a lot of this in Laos - some more than others, certainly.)

15) When your number is called, stand in line (they call lots of numbers at once) and when you reach the front, hand in the application. There is no fee for a Thai tourist visa until March, 2010, but there's a rumor that will be extended. There are also rumors that they will eliminate the double-entry visa entirely or that farangs will be thrown out of the country. Ignore all these rumors and listen to the last person who did it him/herself - or head to ThaiVisa.com if you really want to see all of them. They wil give you a receipt consisting of a piece of wax paper with a number written on it. Fold it up carefully and stick it somewhere in your wallet. DO NOT LOSE IT. I didn't meet anyone who did, but I was very careful with mine.

16) FREEDOM! Until 1pm the following day, you are a tourist in Laos. Welcome to this fine country. Ventiane is small, but here's the route we took:

17) In more or less the center of town, there's a fountain. Laos word for fountain is "Namphu." Bargain for a tuk-tuk there - ours was 100 baht for three people and an absurd amount of luggage. (some people carry their whole lives on a visa run - find a place to stash the majority of your crap before you cross the border and travel light, IMHO.) Guest houses can be found all over the place. We stayed at a place called Phone Paseuth for $21 US a night for three and got a big bed (for the two women I was with) and a small one for me. There was a tv we never turned on, so perhaps it worked. Next time, I might ask for a tuk-tuk to the Orchid Guest House - it's right on the river and it was about the same price. Ultimately, you don't care - you want a place to stash your stuff & lay your head. This isn't an extended holiday.

18) Ventiane highlights:

* Around the fountain is the famous Scandinavian Bakery. They serve smela, which I must be spelling incorrectly but it was described as a pastry stuffed with marzipan with whipped cream on top and a "hat" of more pastry. Sadly, they've only got it on Saturdays, so I didn't have one. They have wifi for 6000 kip per hour (less than a dollar.) You pay in advance and they hand you a card with login and password. Coffee includes a REFILL, (otherwise totally unheard of in SE Asia.)

* Riverside: Go there. Proper restaurants along the street-side - street stall restaurants by the river. opt for the latter for some of the best damn laab, som tam, morning glory, noodles and anything else Laos people eat. We went to the one across from the second riverside Wat, (there are two and they sort of mark the beginning and end of the main strip.) A ladyboy served us Beer Lao (the best lager in SE Asia without a doubt - Thai beers are mostly horrific) and we ate like pigs for less than 600 baht.

* The Wats. Pretty. If you've been to Chiang Mai, you've seen them already, but go have a contemplative moment anyway - you've crossed a border after all. Give yourself a moment to collect yourself.

* The Market - happens as the sun goes down and until around ten o'clock. Chock-a-block handmade goods, mostly textiles, dolls, bags, etc. The usual. I bought two beautiful handbags (one blue for a friend, one hot pink for myself) for around 200 baht (50,000 kip, to be precise.) A cool t-shirt with the Laos alphabet for 40,000 kip. A stuffed dog for a new friend (whom we've named Kip in honor of the Laos currency) for around 30,000 kip, I think.

* Ventiane does party, but we never found it - there's a rooftop bar somewhere and we got into an absurd tuk-tuk rally with about 25 Westerners and three tuk-tuks looking for it. It was the most fun I had all night (other than dinner, which was really stellar. Laab Moo is wondrous in Laos. Kow Niou (sticky rice) is perfect. The som tam was a little off - too sour for my taste, but the Morning Glory was the best I've had ever.

19) Day Two: Get up and go have coffee and check your email (if you brought a computer) at the Scandinavian Bakery.

20) Loll around until noon. Yes, there will be more lines, but you'll stand in the sun regardless, so why rush?

21) Bargain for a tuk-tuk back to the Thai Embassy. Three for 150 this time. Your mileage may vary.

22) Stand in line to the right of the entrance. Get a water from the street stall and wait. They open the doors at 1pm and you enter the Embassy in single file.

23) You'd think it would be an Orwellian nightmare - men in camo with submachine guns - but it's just like queueing up at the bank. There's an INCREDIBLE picture of the King and Queen behind the counter, with an ornate silver frame featuring an image of Garuda. Kicks ass, this portrait. Look for it. I want it for my bungalow. ;-)

24) Did you remember your receipt? The one you got when you turned in your passport yesterday. DO NOT LOSE IT. Got it? Right. Hand it over to the persons behind the counter and glance at the hundreds of passports from dozens of nations arranged on the counter. Yours is in their somewhere.

25) Get the passport - and open it up. It's kinda like Xmas and a trip to the dentist - you just don't know if it will be happiness or pain. MINE WAS DOUBLE-ENTRY! I wanted to scream with joy, but I just smiled brightly and we all left the Embassy.

26) Out front, bargain for a tuk-tuk to Friendship Bridge. Again, inside your passport now is a DEPARTURE CARD from Laos. Fill it in before you arrive at Friendship Bridge. 150 baht for three again, I think.

27) Laos Immigration is, again, slow. Slow to enter, slow to go. More torture than coming in because you've got what you want and you just want out. Practice patience and breathing slowly. Don't feel grumpy. It's really almost done. When you reach the front of the line, hand in your passport and Departure Card. Get them back and walk away. Congratulations! You've left Laos. Now - you must enter Thailand. Again.

28) Pick up the shuttle bus over the bridge - 15 baht for a ticket - or 4000 kip. Change your money before you get on the bus. Kip is lovely, but useless in Thailand. (Note: Laos will take any currency - kip, baht or dollars. Probably Euros as well, I didn't have any.)

29) By now you're really knackered, honestly, and it's hard not to be grumpy. Cheer up. Your almost there. Step off the bus before it stops and race to Window #2 and get an Arrival Card. Fill it out while waiting in line at Window #1. Hand it in, get it stamped and bingo! YOU ARE IN THAILAND.

30) Bargain for a tuk-tuk back to the Mut-Mee. 40 baht each for three. Wait patiently as the driver hustles for other passengers. Hold your breath while the tuk-tuk stops for a dog who is napping in the street. Arrive home, step out, grab your bags, pay the man. Tip him. You are done.

How to Rent a Motorbike in Koh Tao & Avoid Passport EXTORTION

2010-01-11T03:44:00.000-08:00

Simple steps really:

1) Do not ever surrender your passport as a deposit on a motorbike.

Your passport doesn't belong to you - it's a document issued to you by your government, but it's essentially a gift that you cannot give away. Do not surrender it to anyone ever - should you do so (and I did, so I know how obvious it can seem) there are ways to get around it should you be caught in the Koh Tao Motorbike Scam.

2) Give a deposit that you can afford to lose.

Koh Tao's motorbike agencies operate thusly - they make their "real money" by jacking tourists for the smallest scratch or accident. Imagine my surprise when a fall of the bike to a sandy road at 2kph resulted in a bill for 12K baht - you could buy a whole new bike for that and the scratches were QUITE minor. A competing shop told me he could fix it for 2500 - and I got a bill for five times that. I didn't pay it - don't you do it either.

3) Give a fake name.

In case they decided to come after you.

4) And a fake guest house.

Because after all - everyone likes to pretend that Thai *hate* confrontation. Nonsense - they're masters at passive-aggressive confrontation, such as handing you a bill for 12K baht when the proper bill is less than 3K. If they want to find you - make it harder for them. Now - how's that for passive-aggressive?

If you have fallen for the Koh Tao Motorbike Scam and they've handed you a deliriously large bill and they've got your passport - don't despair. Bangkok isn't far and chances are good that your country has an Embassy there. Call first and tell them what's happening. Extortion people for money for their passport is a CRIME in the United States and it's not looked upon too favorably when people in other countries attempt to do it. A replacement passport will run you $97 plus two passport photos and your physical presence in BKK - you have to go there most of the time to leave the country - and I'm thinking Bangkok will be looking plenty refreshing after this particular rip-off, here, on the otherwise lovely island of Koh Tao.

US Embassy Information located at 95 Wireless Road in Bangkok.
http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/faq/frequently-asked-questions/

Learning to Dive in Koh Tao Hats Off to Crystal Dive Resort!!!

2010-01-04T23:16:00.002-08:00

Summing Up: Crystal Dive Resort is RECOMMENDED as THE PLACE to learn to dive in Koh Tao.

Ever since I was a kid growing up in the middle of the DESERT, I've always dreamed of learning to SCUBA dive. Similar to surfing, it's always represented to me the ultimate aquatic adventure & sport. Though one can learn in New Mexico, I was never too keen on taking a class there, since all dives end up at the "Blue Hole,"an extremely narrow "lake" of sorts located in Santa Rosa. Nevertheless, when one is raised on re-runs of "The Undersea World of Jacques Costeau," (as I was in the 1970s) the excitement of going underwater to breathe is marked by the ability not just to be under water, but to see all the things that live there.

Previously in my travels, I once had an opportunity to try diving in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, but it required a course of 4 days and a $300-$500 outlay. Pricey, particularly if I ended up not liking it. What if I felt too uncomfortable to do it more than once? That would be some real cash wasted and so I never bothered to try it out.

All that changed when I first came to Thailand, where PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors) offers a one-day introductory diving course for less than $100 called a Discovery Dive. If Thailand is one of the cheapest places to try out diving, then it is rumored that the island of Koh Tao, located in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand in a chain that includes Koh Samui & Koh Phangnan, is the cheapest and best place to learn to dive simply because of its small population (1400 people) and numerous dive schools (around 45.) Dive gossip has it that Koh Tao is one of the largest dive certification centers in the world - believed to be around 2000 per day on this one island.

Despite its reputation as a great place to learn to dive, it's really important, as I learned on a recent trip, to pick a GOOD SCHOOL to go to in order to get the very best instructors for your first time in the water. I define "best" instructors as people who are kind, patient, smiling, polite, and helpful to a newbie who isn't exactly brimming with youth and machismo. In other words - a diving instructor should be prepared to hold people's hands - if PADI wants to make diving a sport that everyone can enjoy. Instructors should be more than willing to calm your fears about whatever neuroses you might have about strapping on a tank of air and allowing weights to pull you 30 feet/10 meters beneath the surface of the water and onto the ocean floor.

SCUBA is by no means a trivial exercise, as there are many hazards that can occur through improper training, including but not limited to:

1) lung over-inflation, (caused by holding your breath underwater);

2) pain, discomfort, and even injury to ears and sinuses, (caused by not "equalizing" properly as you descend from surface to floor.)

3) And vertigo, which can lead to panic, which can lead to a very strong desire to rush to the surface, which can lead to "the bends" (i.e. decompression sickness, which can be fatal and often requires several days inside a hyperbaric "recompression chamber.")

Now, I had to learn the hard way the value of good, kind, warm-hearted instructions who give a shit enough about good diving to hold someone's hand. And I can't say I wasn't warned. When I first arrived on the island, I asked a diver friend where I should go to "lose my dive cherry" and without hesitation, she suggested Crystal Dive Resort. I visited the place in each Sairee Beach location before blithely deciding it was too "rough around the edges", and I instead (mistakenly) opted for the slickest-looking operation that I saw, a place called Ban's (which ought to be BANNED, IMHO.)

Ban's looked the part that I wanted to see - a top-range resort (admittedly, that I couldn't afford and would never stay in anyway) with a swimming pool in a beautiful garden, a bustling reception area, bar, restaurant, classrooms and lots of important-looking people running around with clipboards. Even better, I had heard (again, gossip, I fact-check little here, rumor is everything to a traveler) that Ban's was the most popular diveshop on the island by sheer volume, having issued over 9,000 certifications in the previous year - actually making the shop one of the top three in the world. Surely, I would be safe there.

Sad to say, my experience at Ban's was less than stellar. My dive instructor seemed quite hungover, and was certainly a surly chap, refusing to answer what I considered reasonable questions, but he deemed "outside the scope of this course." By the time we reached the sea, I had little confidence in either him or my ability to dive, and in my making my first ascent, experienced considerable "equalization" problems with my ears that forced me to abandon the dive. A subsequent complaint letter to Ban's, once I realized that the problem didn't lie with me but with less than stellar procedure and training - went totally unanswered - hey, that shit might fly in Thailand, but seriously, you cater to Westerners, so get with the program. Answer your mail, dickhead. (Rumor, again, unsubstantiated, has it that recently Ban's received an offer of $550 million USD for their silly resort and beach front strip in Sairee Beach in Koh Tao, so I guess they don't need to care too much about a 2000 baht dive course - something you might also want to keep in mind should you be wanting a decent experience.)

The lesson? Don't judge a book by its cover - and choose the best dive spot in Koh Tao - Crystal Dive Resort - the first time around.

Shaken, frightened and more than a littel ashamed by my first experience, I went with my tail between my legs over to Crystal Dive Resort, whose main location is on Baan Ma Haad (Mae Haad Beach) near the main pier. I told them of my experience with Ban's. Much to my surprise, they already had a bit of an idea what had happened with me there. For while there are many dive shops on the island, the main spot for first-time divers is at a place called Twins, located in a small cove on the west end of the beach that intersect the two islands off the northwest coast of Koh Tao. Every day, in fact, that spot resembles a Dive Boat rally of sorts, and the afternoon I went with Ban's, there were at least half a dozen dive boats hovering around.

"I saw the whole thing, mate," was the statement of at least three Crystal employees. "You jumped off from the top part of the boat, rather than in the middle, you didn't have your regulator (breathing apparatus) in your mouth when you dove, your boat was too close to another boat, and no one helped you ut of the water when you came up early."

That was just the beginning of the "mistakes" that Ban's made during my inital Discovery dive, but it IS imporant to point out that out of a Discovery class of twelve, I was the only person who didn't complete the dive. The fact is simple - your first time is SCARY, at least to me it was - check it - you deflate your jacket (BCD) and your eyes drop beneath the surface of the water, and you're to hold onto a rope that will lead you to the bottom. You see a cacaphony of water, bubbles, and other SCUBA divers, (particularly at Twins, which resembles an underwater rock concert at absolute slo-mo) but the strongest sense may be coming from your ears, which thunder with the sound of your own breath inhale (think Darth Vader) and exhalation which sounds like a stampede of water buffalo.

As you get used to all these sensations - sight, sound, and the incredible feeling of weightlessness, you're supposed to hold up your BCD hose to deflate fully with the same hand you're to use to "equalize" your nose by pinching the nostrils together and blowing (gently) as you descend UNDER THE WATER. My first time included perfect visibility (not as ideal as it sounds) because from the surface (I was last in line) I could already see my classmates pooling on the bottom of the ocean floor in kneeling positions and from where I "stood", it seemed like quite a long way down. I didn't descend nearly as quickly as I thought I would, and soon a DiveMaster pulled me to the surface to tell me I should face downward and swim for the bottom - not a recommended procedure AT ALL I would find out later, and my ears quickly poppd quite painfully and I panicked and made my way to the surface and went back to the boat alone.

Most people would've just said fuck it and assumed that SCUBA was not for them, but I was determined to try with another company - I knew that the people at Ban's were assholes, I just needed to find another company that wasn't so lame. At this point, of course, I had significant doubt as to whether I was capable of doing it at all. I spent most of the following day miserably second-guessing myself and since I've now managed to dive sucessfully with another company, my advice to you is simple - STAY AWAY FROM BAN'S and pick the right company the first time around - and on Koh Tao, my vote for that is the Crystal Dive Shop.

I visited Crystal and EVERYONE was nice. Dead serious - people are so kind it's like summer camp. I met a cool guy and asked him if my instructor would be hungover and he laughed and asked if I went to Ban's - they have a reputation for being party animals too, which is great if you nkow what you're doing, I GUESS. I was handed over to Mark from the UK for one-on-one pool skills, then over to Laurie from Scotland who literally held me hand on my first descent and guided me through my first two dives - yep, I liked the first one so much (with Crystal, anyway) that I immediately bought another one.) And then I liked that one so much that I took the Open Water Dive Course, a 4-day, 4-dive course that was totally awesome and which I just finished about two hours ago. PADI-certified diver am I now, thanks to Crystal.

My instructor for OWDC was the equally kind, patient and competent Iain from the UK, who got me through all the silly skills I had to master even though it must've been clear to him that all I wanted to do was swim with the fish.

All told, the experience(s) cost me a little bit over $300USD. The initial Discovery Dive was 2000 baht (approximately $60) with that 2000 discounted of an Open Water Dive Course (generally 9800 baht, but reduced to 7800baht.) Accomodation is available for dive students @ 200 baht a night in (very) simple (but nice) bungalows. The location is ideal for those coming to Koh Tao just to learn to dive - try 100 meters to the left/north from the island's main pier - no taxi needed!

If you think you want to SCUBA dive - all I can say is DO IT. It fucking rocks. I don't have the words yet, but may soon enough. By the end of the Discovery Dive you'll know if it's something you want - just make sure you go with the right company *THE FIRST TIME* - and that company for me is the Crystal Dive Resort, located on Koh Tao.

Making A Visa Run in Thailand

2009-10-20T06:21:00.001-07:00

(this short article on Visa Runs is by no means comprehensive. Rules change all the time. Consult thaivisa.com or better yet, ask another ex-pat who's been here awhile.)

Making a Visa Run is an essential part of a ex-pat's existence in Thailand, as I am coming to discover. When you arrive in Thailand from most countries, (including the United States and Europe) you will be issued a FREE 30-day Tourist Visa (at least until March of 2010) at the airport. When that visa expires (as mine is about to) you must a Visa Run or risk Overstay, a situation which costs 500 baht per day and can also get you deported and potentially blacklisted from EVER entering Thailand again.

A Visa Run involves leaving the Kingdom by foot, bus, train or airplane and going into another country, (including such neighboring nations as Burma, Cambodia, or Malaysia or anywhere else on earth with a Thai embassy) entering that Thai embassy with your passport, filling out some forms, paying a fee and waiting for your passport to be returned with the appropriate stamp.

What you want to get out of your Visa Run is the most amount of days that you can legally stay in Thailand upon your return. I have been told by multiple parties that if you cross a border by land, you only get fifteen additional days to stay in the country before you have to make another Visa Run. That ruled out travelling by foot, bus or train to anywhere, so I figured I would fly somewhere. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is closest to Phuket, approximately 50 minutes by air, and tomorrow I will be flying there to see if I can get what's called a multiple-entry visa.

A multiple-entry visa can be either a double or a triple, as I understand it. A Double allows you to stay in the Kingdom for 60 days plus another 60 day extension which can be obtained by leaving and re-entering the country. A Triple allows you to stay for 180 days, leaving and re-entering every 60 days. Dizzy yet?

The reality of this situation and why it's so complicated is simply this - Thailand is very keen to have foreign tourists in Thailand for periods of up to a month - but it is less interested in foreign nationals (farang) who want to stick around and make a home or a haven out of Thailand for very long - even if they have the money or a damn good reason (like teaching or other work) to do so. Nevertheless, Thailand's tourist economy as well as its English language learning industry requires that a certain number of English-speaking people live in the country for at least part of the year - which is why the Thai government issues the non-immigrant B visa for foreign nationals who wish to work legally within the country.

Two quick points on that - the ability to live in Thailand for a year is what encourages so many Westerners to get TEFL certificates and teach here for low wages so they can get this Visa. DO NOT WORK WITHOUT ONE. You can get into very serious trouble. Legally, you can't even VOLUNTEER here without a Non-Immigrant B Visa, so be careful.)

Had I known about all this before I left the US, I would've probably used a service like this one to get a multiple-entry non-immigrant visa, (good for one year with a potential for a three-month extension) which can only be obtained while you are still in your home country. $500 for a visa to stay in Thailand for a year without Visa Runs might seem steep, but if you honestly think you want to stay for a bit, you'll save yourself much more than that in money and hassles at foreign embassies. I have even heard that there are certain embassies in the UK that will issue this visa without charge to UK citizens and this might even be true with the Thai embassy in Houston, Texas for US citizens. (The map is not the territory - call them if you want one.)

One last thing - today I heard of something called a Media Visa (officially known as "Non-Immigrant M") for foreign press. The Lost Boy (an excellent blog, btw) has one, but I don't know if it's possible for freelance press to obtain one - yet.

Teaching English In Thailand

2009-10-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post something about this eventually, but the Stickman has already done it for me. Unbelievably comprehensive post. It took about two hours to read the whole thing.

Check this out: (italics added)

...English teachers do not have a particularly good reputation amongst the expat population in Bangkok. Other than the people who sit on a telephone all day trying to sell those bogus share issues to potential investors in other countries, many foreign expats see English teachers as just about the bottom of the barrel amongst Bangkok expat society. The words I'm an English teacher are not always spoken with a great deal of pride in Bangkok because any English teacher will truly know that many of their farang peers are a bunch of sex tourists, beach bums, misfits or no hopers. Getting a job as an English teacher is as easy as getting into a taxi. Sad, but true. Fortunately, Thai society does view teachers in a quite different light.

Seeing a Doctor in Thailand

2009-10-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

In my two visits to Thailand, I have seen doctors in at least three cities - Pattaya, Chaing Mai, and now Phuket. The routine is just that - a routine that I can now confirm is efficacious in getting you what you need.

Most Thai doctors and nurses speak at least some English - most M.D.s have a reasonable degree of fluency, as many of them have studied outside of Thailand and usually in the United States or England.

1) Find out the name of a reputable hospital in your area using either the Internet or a friendly Thai informant.

2) Find out the exact address of the hospital and get a taxi to it, preferably with the aid of a Thai-speaking person to tell the driver where you are heading.

3) BRING YOUR PASSPORT. They will need it. Treatment of foreigners is within their declaration of human rights document regarding medical treatment, and I believe it is regardless of ability to pay.

4) They will ask you what you need. Tell them the truth about what you are needing.

5) There will be forms to fill at each hospital and then you will receive a card so that you don't need to re-register each time. I have cards for hospitals in Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Phuket.

6) Generally, you will see a doctor on the day you arrive, and my experience is that the wait is not long. Thai hospitals are very conscientious when it comes to receiving foreign patients. In one case, because I asked to see a specialist, I was told to come back the following day - I later discovered while they had a psychiatrist on staff the first day I came, they wanted me to see their best one and so had me come on the following day when his schedule was not so full.

7) Your doctor will invariably speak English. Describe symptoms, ask for what you need - I find Thai doctors to be much more compassionate than their Western counterparts.

8) If you have needs just for medication, you may not need to see a doctor. My first visit to Thailand, I lost all my meds on the plane coming in - I visited a small pharmacy near where I was staying and they directed me to a Wondrous place called Fascino, a truly Disco-pharmacy, very sleek and modern and well-stocked. Lithiums were 3 baht a piece - they basically let me have anything I wanted and the prices were beyond decent. I bought a three-month med supply for less than $250.

9) Most small pharmacies will sell benzodiazepines of all kinds (Valium, Ativan, Xanax, etc.) sexual aids (Viagra, etc.) and even heavy meds like Percoset over the counter for very reasonable prices.

10) A small warning: Hospital pharmacies are rumored to be more expensive than their commercial counterparts, but doctors are required to write scripts for their hospital pharmacies. Ask for a seven-day supply - once you have the name of the drug and prescription envelope in hand, you can get the script filled in any other pharmacy in Thailand - generally speaking, that has been my experience, but of course it might not work everywhere. For the last round of benzos I had prescribed at a doctor's, the price was 140 baht for a 14-day supply in a hospital pharmacy - 10 baht per pill. (roughly 30 cents a pill.) A lot less than you'd be expected to pay in the US, that's for sure.

What follows is a short list of hospitals in the cities I have been:

Bangkok Hospital Pattaya (in Pattaya on the baht bus route)

Chiang Mai Ram (located just outside the moat, as I recall)

Bangkok Phuket Hospital (located in Phuket Town)

For those of you concerned that you might need in-patient for a psychiatric illness, I have heard there is an outstanding facility in Hat Yin, but I have no direct experience of it. As always, try your best to meet Thai people who also speak English and ask around of them as well as seasoned ex-pats in your area.

Getting Around in Bangkok

2009-10-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

Last time I was in Thailand, I spent most of my time in Chiang Mai and rode a motorbike. This time around, I landed in Bangkok and had a world of trouble with taxis and tuk-tuks. Here are my hot tips for getting around BKK:

1) drive private (car or motorbike you are driving) whenever possible

(but really not practical if you just arrived, so)

2) choose public transport (subway, bus, or skytrain) whenever possible. Subways and Skytrain have all sorts of friendly people who speak English behind the counters who will put up with your silly questions. The fares are FIXED and so are the routes. A bus map can be had around town for 65 baht, and sometimes I paid as little as 8 baht to go awfully far.

3) NEVER take a tuk-tuk except for fun.

Tuk-Tuk drivers are basically the worst of the lot - these people will tell you all sorts of nonsense to get you in the back. Ride one once or twice maybe when you're wasted drunk and you want to go somewhere general, like Khao San Road or something, and never get on one alone

4) take a cab ONLY when you either

a) know the EXACT address in phonetic Thai (many drivers cannot read unless the address is in Thai) or

b) telephone a friendly Thai who can speak English to convey the location to the taxi driver. But even that's no gaurantee. My experience is that cabs are quite perilous in Bangkok - one way to have the best shot of getting where you're actually going is to approach a hotel concierge at what looks like a reputable hotel, slip them 20 baht and ask them to hail a cab for you.

5) water taxis, though not publicly run, have fixed routes, BUT they do not always stop at every berth, so while they're romantic and all, they're not terribly efficient for getting you exactly where you want to go.

Computer Saved - Opportunity Missed.

2009-10-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

"We finally got to Central Festival and Ling held my arm as we walked up the escalator. I got to the counter and my guy who I’d given the machine to was nowhere to be seen. My laptop was on the counter, closed. The other guy got on the phone and spoke in terse hushed tones. I knew it, I thought. They couldn’t fix it. Everything’s fucked. It was really the motherboard. The kid hung up the phone and moved towards the laptop, saying nothing, and he opened it up and switched it on. I buried my head in my hands, peering at it through my spread fingers. And it was ….beautiful. Like a brand-new machine. I lost all my applications, as I was told I would, but it’s like having a fresh start – there was probably a lot of crap on there anyway. All my documents, all my pictures, all my fucking MP3s were there. It’s going to take a bit of time to organize everything, but it’s up and running and beautiful and I gladly handed forth 1500 baht."

- from today's Strident.org post.

Well, my nightmare's finally over. It'll take awhile to get everything back the way I like it, but all the data's there. Praise goddess. In other news, I found out that the teaching job I wanted in Krabi was already filled - another lesson learned. If they want to interview on Monday, don't fucking wait. Going back to Krabi on Friday to talk to them anyway, but need to start networking Phuket and/or Bangkok, but by now I'm sorta sold on teaching in a beach area if I can. I've always wanted to live near the beach - Bangkok could be a challenge for another time, once I've got some teaching under my belt.

MAC GREY SCREEN OF DEATHIf A Mac Crashes in Bangkok, Can Anyone Revive It?

2009-10-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

My first night in Bangkok was spent in the Hotel Bossitel in Chinatown, the second in a youth hostel in Pink Lao, where my Mac crashed while installing an update. When I re-booted the machine, I got the now famous, (to me anyway) GREY SCREEN OF DEATH, also known as a kernel panic. I cannot even begin to tell you the amount of stress and anxiety this particular problem caused me, particuarly being in a foreign country where I speak zero Thai and many people do not speak English.

And let that be a lesson to you - I really thought I should back up my hard-drive before I left for Asia, but I didn't make it a priority and right away, I was forced to deal with the terror and anxiety of losing my data. BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE YOU LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY. Had I done that, I would've saved myself a lot of time and worry. As I did not, I've got a lot of tips for someone who might have this problem in the future...

At the hostel, another guest had a copy of Disk Warrior, which would've installed a rebuilt director on top of what I had in there already - but I afraid to lose any data, so I didn't do it. I ended up spending a lot of time at Pantip Plaza, rumored to be the largest IT Mall in southeast Asia, but I was stymied from doing anything about it because I also ran out of money just as this happened - enough to live on until a check came in from the States, but not enough to solve my problem with - and still save my data. Lots of places offered to do a clean install of the Mac O/S for about 1500 baht, which I didn't have anyway, but backing up the data would've been an additional 1500 baht, which I also didn't have. I put the computer on ice and waited...

I travelled to Krabi as scheduled and local ex-pats told me not to even bother trying to fix it anywhere but Bangkok or Phuket. As luck would have it, my money came in while in Krabi and I was supposed to go to Phuket anyway...on my first day there, I found a Mac re-seller inside the giant Central Mall, and met a cool guy named A who offered to first back up the data, then do the clean install (btw, a clean install will wipe your data so make sure you have a backup!) then put the data back...for 1500 baht. A total deal, right? Except I couldn't see entrusting a total stranger in a shopping mal who barely spoke English l with my data....

Did I mention to BACK UP YOUR SHIT BEFORE YOU LEAVE YOUR HOME COUNTRY?

Had I done that, I could've just had a clean install done and moved forward with my life. As it stood, I was left with this set of instructions, which I may now have to follow:

From my dear friend Canton Becker:

In your situation I'd need to have TWO computers to do the job -- yours and one that works.

1) buy an external drive

2) install the backup utility superduper on a borrowed WORKING macintosh, call it computer "B"

3) plug ext. drive into "B"

4) boot your computer ("A") into "firewire target mode" and plug it into "B" using a firewire cable. BTW if "A" and "B" do not both have firewire ports, then these instructions don't work.

5) use superduper on "B" to make a mirror of "A" onto the external drive

6) using "B", browse the external drive, make sure it looks like the files are all there

7) boot from DVD on "A"

8) format "A", install new OS

9) after booting from nice clean "A" plug in external drive and copy the files over you want to keep.

caveat emptor:

I don't know how to make a backup of a bad computer without having a 2nd working computer on hand. I'd probably leave it to the pros if I were you.

After reading all of this, I am probably going to bite the bullet and take it back to the kid in Central Mall and just let him do it. If I lose data, it's a hard lesson learned. A VERY HARD LESSON LEARNED.

This blog changes now

2009-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Formerly known as New Mexico Art News, well, I've moved to Thailand. So from now on, this blog will be about my travels in Southeast Asia. It is the sanitized version - the uncensored stuff will still be located at strident.org - if you want that, email me for a login and password and maybe I'll give it to you.

The Long Walk

2009-08-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

So the word on the Street at Indian Market this year was that Monty Singer got robbed - that his spectacular pastel piece "The Long Walk" shoulda won *something*, probably shoulda won Best in Classification, but didn't win nuthin' at all because of the political content of the piece, which skewers, (and rightly so) casinos, which in a sad twist of fate has become THE sacred cow of the Native World.

I didn't attend Indian Market this year, so I can't really say for sure. I had planned to attend the show at Max's Cafe that many said was the talk of the event, but didn't because I got wind of a plan that artist America Meredith was going to have me *BARRED FROM THE VENUE* were I to show up. Tickled me pink to know I have that much impact even from far far away. I decided at the last minute to avoid the drama and do something else with my weekend, worked on my latest novella, cleaned my room, did my laundry, and spent time with my family. My phone rang non-stop from various artists and collectors who were sad not to see me, but sometimes you just have to assess how the wind is blowing and walk the other direction. Besides - sometimes you just don't know what you mean to a society until you've got reason to say no to it. Perhaps next year. Perhaps not. There's a lot else out there to write about, you know.

Untitled

2009-07-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

- Newton’s Third Law of Motion

Imagination is reality. Dreams, thoughts and delusions are no less real than the "outside" world.

- Antonin Artaud

For believe me: the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and greatest enjoyment is — to live dangerously.

- Friedrich Nietzche

As of 5:14am on July 17, 2009, the URL http://gregoryp.blogspot.com/2009/07/swaia-hires-inflammatory-blogger-sam.html is Number One on google for the search string “Sam Haozous.” If you ever contact me or ANY member of my family again, I will put it back permanently, and our fates will be forever entwined in the archives of the Internet. This collaboration is officially over.

- gregoryp™, Friday, July 17, 2009

My Friends Are So TalentedMicro-blogging, Danny Solis & NMYO

2009-06-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's been two whole months since I've logged a blog post. Mostly, I've been focusing on the micro-blogging phenomenon, which for me consists of posting status report updates on my facebook status or my twitter account or both (I've got them connected so one updates the other) and mostly doing the updating from the convenience of my Black Berry...The BB upgrade has been an intense leap forward - I still carry my laptop around everywhere, but I open it only to WORK, not fiddle around on the Internet - all of that is now on my phone and it's been an amazing shift in my use of two devices - the laptop gets used less, the phone even more, which, given my use of the device before it was Internet capable, is pretty amazing. The phone is my CONSTANT companion now, and not just on my ears. My fingers have become nimble on the keyboard (and yes, even when I DRIVE) and I'm constantly in touch with facebook and my email, which for me is excellent, because I am more driven to distraction than YOU - which I've realized just means that silence frightens me, making me quite in touch with the true nature of the Western modality of living - keep moving or else you might become AWARE, and who wants awareness when there's a new update on facebook?

Okay - enough. There's been plenty of cool shit going on in the world of New Mexico arts, though I've had my head in the sand to a lot of it because I've been re-arranging my own world to fit in a movie that I've been working on called "I Was a 7th Grade Dragon Slayer." Produced by New Mexico natives Ryil Adamson and Gavin Gillette, the movie is about three kids who play a role-playing card game called ElixirQwest in the sewers of Albuquerque. In the course of play, they find a real troll (well-played by Albuquerque actor Richard Sellers) who reveals to them that a real Dragon named Darksmoke is in their midst and they must join the fight to slay him. Made for under a million bucks, this scrappy children's action adventure movie is being made almost entirely with a student crew from the CNM Film Technician's Training Program (FTTP) but features a name director (Andrew Lauer) and several name actors, (including Lea Thompson, Wendy Malick, Eric Lutes and Amy Pietz, all alums from the television show "Caroline in the City") as well as a number of child actors including Hunter Allan, Jordan Reynolds, Abigail Victor and Ryan Norris. My job is the Unit Publicist, and it's been a real educational experience both about how movies are made and how things get done on and off set.

My talented friends: Last Saturday night, the city of Albuquerque became the first city in the United States to designate a "Slam Poet Laureate" position. Determined by public acclamation via the slam poetry process of competition and scoring, the winner of the event was poet Danny Solis, who won with his previously award-winning poem "Song for Solomon." Solis has been a fixture of the Albuquerque slam scene for over a decade, winning many events and awards and serving as chairman of the National Poetry Slam that took place in Albuquerque in 2005. He has competed at the national level in at least a half dozen National Slam teams, and in 2006 took home the International Poetry Slam individual championship title with "Song for Solomon," a chilling poem about love, loss, and restraint in the face of the terrors of tragic circumstances.

A proven piece of work by a proven talent, Solis' win was quickly attacked in the local alternative weekly The Alibi, when writer Gene Grant offered the truly provincial suggestion that the poetry within the event should've been about the area in which the poet lives. It's a shame that universal themes such as the ones offered by Solis failed to cut the mustard with Grant, who conceded that Solis will make a fine poet laureate but that poet Damien Flores may have made a better one because he wrote three poems about Albuquerque. When all was said and done, however, the Slam Poet Laureate of Albuquerque was chosen by Slam Poets rules with judges plucked from the audience - and not by writers like Grant with axes to grind. Grant's criticisms undermine not just Solis and the Poet Laureate process, but Slam Poetry itself, because it suggests that maybe this time, the judges - the people - are wrong. Grant's criticism of the event's lack of criteria towards "local poems" is also a direct assault on the people who determined the rules of the event - namely, organizer Zach Kluckman, without whom there would not have been a Slam Poet Laureate contest in the first place. Maybe next time Grant can can hand-pick the judges himself and whisper his criteria in their ears so that his pal Damien Flores gets the prize. For now, however, Albuquerque's Slam Poet Laureate will be Danny Solis, despite the sour grapes of writer Grant, who really shows total arrogance in suggesting that both the organizer - and the judges who are the real people to decide - are wrong. Thanks Gene, for your faith in the process - next time we'll let you decide, promise.

Did I mention Danny Solis is a good friend of mine and a fine-ass poet to boot?

And for another talented friend - this week New York-based artist Josh Schrei came back to New Mexico to screen his latest project, a short film called NM Powered, which was shown at Warehouse 21 in Santa Fe. Schrei, who grew up in Santa Fe, has been many things in this lifetime, including the lead singer of the SFe alt-rock band Mobius Trip; a spoken word artist who once wrote and produced a 90 minute long monologue piece called "Katmandu," about his experiences in Nepal; the chairman of Students for a Free Tibet and co-producer of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts; a writer, a DJ, a poet, a photographer, and currently the VP of DrillTeam Media in New York City.

The film, titled "NM Powered" was produced in conjunction with New Mexico Youth Organized, (NMYO) and featured camera work by 25 youth leaders, each of whom was given a 15-minute long disposable video camera and told to shoot footage of their lives in New Mexico. The resulting footage was then sliced and diced by Schrei, and shown as part of a fundraising campaign for NMYO. The event at Warehouse 21 also featured excellent performances by poets Hakim Bellamy & Rose Simpson, as well as a special show by human beatboxer Say What?

An interesting exercise in remote collaborative film-making, the finished project highlighted the diversity of New Mexico youth and the potential that our community has in using the arts as a means to organize young people towards positive futures. It's definitely worth a watch, and can be found right here.

Stephanie Hatfield & the Hot Mess

2009-04-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Rockin' and rollin' at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame last night was the four-piece act Stephanie Hatfield & the Hot Mess. I have to admit - I haven't seen a whole lot of local music lately at all, but these guys really rocked my socks off. Stephanie is the lead singer and she's got killer chops - reminded me a bit of the singer from Four Non-Blondes, but the band dishes up a wall of sound that is a fine accompaniment to her rich husky voice. While at the show, at least three people shoved flyers in my hands urging me to vote for them as the Best Band in Santa Fe for the Santa Fe Reporter's annual round up o' the Best o' Santa Fe. Like I'll remember to do that. In any case, this is definitely a band worth seeing for $5 - but if they keep at it, you might have to shell out more to see 'em in the future.

Sheldon Harvey's response to Dirty Little Secrets

2009-04-12T22:59:00.001-07:00

hey Greg,,,

JUS READ THE BLOG ON MYSPACE, "REZ DOG MILLIONAIRE"
??? HUH WHAT DA FUCK DOES THAT MEAN!? HA HA DUDE,,, DON'T GET WRONG, YOUR STILL INVITED TO THE SHOP...

SHELDON

Some people in this art world have a sense of humor, thank goddess.

Until Further Notice....

2009-03-28T01:44:00.000-07:00

This blog is closed.

Heard Show Happening at Halo

2009-03-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

In Phoenix this weekend for the Heard Art Fair, the spring warm-up to Santa Fe Indian Market in the summer. The unwanted guest at the party is without a doubt the economy - many artists (Native and non-Native, it's fair to say) have seen flat sales for weeks, and many are showing up here with the grim hope that this weekend's buyers can pull them out of a slump. With the Dow dipping all day long on Thursday and GM stocks in the toilet it seemed unlikely, but some folks decided to just throw an opening and see who might show up.

The opening featured jewelers Pat Pruitt, his brother Chris Pruitt, and Cody Sanderson, (who incidentally was the winner of last year's Best in Show at the Heard) along with painter Marla Allison, (winner of this year's Innovation Award at Indian Market.) All three jewelers are putting out really good work - Pat Pruitt with his stainless steel pieces, Cody with his high-polish silver work, and Chris Pruitt with a really interesting body of work that features what I call traditional-contemporary hybrids (including use of gold overlay and intricate coral inlay on one ring that was just outta sight) - but the show's real stand-out were Marla Allison's paintings.

I've written a couple of pieces about Marla in the past year (one of them that hasn't been published yet) but I haven't really fallen in love with a painting with hers like I did last night. Marla is known for her pieces which combine painting-on-canvas with a video monitor attached that provides extra subtext for the painting's flat surface. In her stand-alone paintings, Marla's work features a really strong palette with lots of blues and greens, making some of her subjects feel like they're underwater. The strength in this particular painting comes (I think) from the way in which this strong palette exists as a backdrop for an equally strong foreground image (in this case, a skeleton that looks fairly anatomically correct to my eye.) To me, it's one of the most forthright images that Marla has painted that I've seen, with exception to some of her video-canvas combo pieces. (I do not yet have a .jpeg of the work, but will post one soon.)

The show was well-attended by a band of artists and collectors and scenesters like me who count as the Usual Suspects. Artist Marcus Amerman and his lady Staci Golar (the IAIA PR & Marketing honcho who without a doubt has the BEST rolodex on Native Art in Santa Fe) were there, as were artist & art scholar John Paul Rangel. I was thrilled to finally meet arts writer Aleta Ringlero, (who wrote just an incredible piece on Gregory Lomayesva last year) and also ran into this year's Santa Fe Indian Market poster artist and jeweler Maria Samora and her husband Kevin.

But the most welcome guests of the evening were without a doubt Bill & Jane Buschbaum. The ultimate Native art insiders, the Buschbaums are like everyone's favorite aunt and uncle - and they collect nearly *everyone* who's anyone, so people are always happy to see them arrive. Dressed like your grandparents, they looked awfully out of place amidst all the hipster black, but no one was looking at them for their fashion - they were merely wondering where the checkbook was atand whether or not their names would be on those checks.

Didn't manage to see any red dots by the time I left, though. Maybe I was squinting hard enough. The real news will come tonight at the Best in Show/Preview.

Site Santa Fe Can Kiss My Ass

2009-02-13T18:19:00.000-08:00

Get ready for another fine dispatch from Mr. Cranky Pants. I’ve been weighing the merits of this decision for minutes, calling friends, talking to various people, and just generally wringing my hands over an experience that I’ve chosen to share with you, my adoring public.

How many of us are carrying cell phones on our person 24 hours a day? How many of us consider our phones an essential and crucial tool for personal communication and expression? How many of us find it woefully ironic that an institution that might claim to be dedicated to dialogue and communication would deny us usage of our phones inside its walls?

I was at the opening for “Pretty Is As Pretty Does”, admiring what is, without a doubt, a thoughtful and well put-together show. And yet my singular most important moment at Site Santa Fe tonight came when I felt a tingle in my pocket and opened up my phone to read an incoming text message. I was about to reply to it when a docent approached me inside the PACKED house and asked me to put my cell phone away, because they aren’t allowed inside the gallery.

“I can’t even TEXT a message?” I said, incredulous.

“No, you need to go the lobby.”

Whatever spell had been laid upon me by the art on the walls had just been broken. Once again, I was treated to the notion that what lies up there – on the walls – is important, but whatever I have to say is unimportant and needs to be communicated elsewhere. Mind you, what I have in my hands is a Personal Communication Device – I could be making a phone call, I could be texting, I could be writing notes for a blog post, I could be posting to facebook or twitter about the wonderful show that Site is having and inviting all my friends to come down and visit it – but I can do NONE of those things inside Site Santa Fe, and I just find it trivial and annoying and reductionist that such a rule exists.*

(* Because let’s face it - the rule exists to keep some annoying twat from talking loudly to their broker in the middle of the “sacred space” that the art world likes to believe its galleries are. And like a million other pernicious laws in our not-so free society, it takes into account only the actions of the lowest common denominator and assumes that everyone is that ungracious. I AM NOT THAT UNGRACIOUS and I resent Site Santa Fe for assuming that I am.)

You can’t have it both ways – make a real LAW that everyone Must Be Aware Of. Post a GREAT BIG SIGN out front that tells people clearly that they can’t use their PCAs inside your building. I could’ve left mine in the car you know. Fuck it – I could’ve just stayed at home and spent my energy promoting something cool like Meow Wolf’s opening tonight, which by the way rocked the house and where I was not once prevented from calling my friends and texting to my heart’s content.

There’s something elitist and fucked up about preventing people from making a call or texting a text. It says that your communication is not permitted here. I’m sure that I have better places to be.

Dangerous to Wear Great Works and a Kick-Ass Opening

2008-12-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

Richard Campiglio Bubble spike, sterling silver black jade and turquoise points

This piece was meant to come out *before* the opening this afternoon and evening, but technical difficulties (Internet connection down) prevented that from happening. So you missed the opening because I didn't post it soon enough. That's okay. Lots of people were there.

So what does an M-70 firecracker on a bracelet and a ring with a razor blade have in common? They're both part of "Dangerous to Wear" art show that opened tonight at the Cruz Gallery at 616 Canyon Road. Featuring the work of such artists as Daniel Werwath, Aldous Register, Jennifer Joseph, Cody Sanderson, Pat Pruitt and others, the theme of the show was to make something, well, dangerous, and these artists have certainly delivered.

In truth, however, though the art on the walls and in the cases was super fine quality stuff that you should drop by and check out, (including lots of spikey rings and bracelets, a torquoise-studded cap gun, and a spiked collar by Pat Pruitt that would look good on the most stylish of submissives) the best part of the opening was, well, the opening, which in typical Cruz style featured three rooms and a backyard packed floor to rafters with all kinds of crazy cool kooky people.

When was the last time you went to an art opening where they served posole? I'd have to say NEVER, but DJ Justin dutifully ladled up bowls of the stuff in the backyard as people warmed themselves near the outdoor fire pit. Inside, folks like the Sombrero Man, (dressed like Santa Claus but complete with his sombrero cape) and some gorgeous man in drag jostled with artists and onlookers past the display cases, which were filled to bursting with the main show's pieces as well as Cruz's usual stunning objets, and the walls featured paintings by Cruz owner Richard Campiglio and photos by Antonio Lopez.

All throughout the space, people were button-holing one another and giving out Xmas hugs. Conversations started, stopped, drifted, then picked up on some other side of the room as people moved with the flow of the crowd through the gallery. People stepped outside for cigarettes and then went back inside to escape the cold. In all, it was a long and eventful opening, one of the best I've been to in quite some time. Don't miss the next Cruz opening - in addition to excellent art, you can generally gaurantee a damn fine time.

ps: I've *Never* reviewed an opening before. Is this even allowed???

Local film writer and film-maker Jason Silverman gets a Sundance grant for his movie on Senegalese filmmaker and novelist Ousmane Sembene.

2008-12-09T12:18:00.001-08:00

Recently, local filmmaker and CCA Cinematheque Director Jason Silverman and friends were awarded a grant from the Sundance Institute's Documentary Fund for a documentary about the life and work of the Senegalese filmmaker and novelist Ousmane Sembene. Silverman and I chatted via email about his film and the impact that the award will have on his production.

Gregoryp™: What about this particular subject, filmmaker and novelist Ousmane Sembene, that intrigued you enough to make an entire film about him?

Jason Silverman: One, Ousmane Sembene is one of the most amazing people I've ever studied (he died last year and I never met him). He was a completely self-taught man, having been kicked out of school in the sixth grade. He fought in World War II, became a dockworker in France and then a leading activist and labor leader, taught himself to write, published three successful novels in France and then, on the day that Senegal declared its independence from France, returned home, hoping to tell stories that would galvanize and liberate Africa. And that's what he did, for the next 40 years. Doing that meant taking a radical, daring leap. Knowing that his intended audience was largely illiterate, Sembene decided to become a filmmaker. The first African filmmaker. That's ballsy.

He trained in Moscow and in 1962 brought home the first African-owned movie camera. He used it to direct several award-winning shorts and then, in 1966, the first African feature, which won a major award in France. And his subsequent career was incredible: doing battle with the post-colonial and African powers-that-were, raising his own money, making truly magnificent works, no matter what it took. Just in terms of his creation, he's one of the greatest artists of the past 50 years, and he worked with a level of dedication and political commitment that is unmatched, as far as I can tell, in contemporary culture-making. So his personal story is mind-boggling, worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. I couldn't pass up trying to tell it ...

Two, Sembene's biographer, Samba Gadjigo, is himself a great man, and I was eager to work with him. We had together programmed the CCA's African Effect festival for three years. He knew about my film production background (I produced two feature films in the 1990s) and asked to help him do something with the 30 hours of footage he had shot of Sembene. We decided on the spot -- this was about 10 months ago -- to make a film together. The opportunity to work with him was one I had to seize.

Three, I believe that our commodity culture is an extraordinarily corrosive force. We are shopping ourselves to death. I believe the engine behind this culture is modern storytelling, created by the profit-driven corporate-owned media machinery. I mean, the WTC is bombed, and these people who have the megaphone are telling us to shop. That flies in the face of the function of storytelling through the millennia.

Fortunately, we do have a vibrant alternative media, a media that asks us to think, to connect with reality, to be bigger than our consumer profile. Promoting and creating this kind of media is as important work as anything we can do in this culture. It's something I've tried to do throughout my career, with the Taos Talking Picture Festival, with CCA and with my writing and consulting work (though I'll admit to my sell-out moments).

Sembene was to my mind the very greatest member of this (unaffiliated) resistance movement. He was the greatest independent filmmaker and the greatest media activist who ever lived. He saw that the images and stories Africans were seeing and hearing and reading were literally killing their culture, and so he dedicated his every ounce of strength -- and he was an incredibly strong man -- over the course of a remarkable period of time to creating a new storytelling mode for Africans, one that was forward-looking yet respectful of tradition, deep yet funny, steeped in the real but not afraid to venture into the dreamlike and surreal. Africa's still swamped with the same sort of mind-numbing media as the rest of the world, but Sembene, at least, showed that alternatives are possible.

This film's intent is to connect an emerging generation of engaged African and African Diaspora youth with the gospel of Sembene. New Mexico's not our target audience, but if we do our job well, I think his story will be of interest to just about anyone who thinks about the power of storytelling and the necessities of cultural preservation.

gregoryp™: How many other people are involved in your film?

Jason Silverman: We've got a small crew -- the director, Samba Gadjigo, our associate producer and director of photography, Filip Celander and our business manager, Lacey Adams. A wonderful Senegalese novelist and screenwriter, Boubacar Boris Diop, is helping us with the writing. We are getting lots of help from Anna Celander and Javier Hernandez, and a great filmmaker Ed Radtke has also been really valuable to us, along with the local non-profit Little Globe. Probably most importantly, we've got a large and quickly growing family of consultants, advisors, helpers, donors, supporters, which is what it really takes to get a film like this done.

gregoryp(tm): What is the impact of the grant likely to be on your film?

Jason Silverman: The grant encourages us to work all the harder. It brings us into the Sundance family, where we are connected with other filmmakers and funders. And it's a sign that there are people outside of our circle that are eager to see this film. It's a major boost for us.

gregoryp™: Your official title locally is Cinematheque Director at the Center for Contemporary Arts. How do you possibly have time to make movies too?

Jason Silverman: Living in Santa Fe hones one's skills at career multitasking. I deeply believe in this project and I'm finding that this level of commitment feeds and informs my curating and writing work, too.

gregoryp™: You visited Senegal to do this movie. How long were you there and what were the logistics like?

Jason Silverman: We went with a small crew for 12 days, and it was amazing. We hopped off the plane in Dakar and went to work, starting on an ambitious list of interviews. We went to Sembene's birthplace, in the south of Senegal, and then built a screening -- using a portable projector, screen, DVD player and a generator -- of Sembene's final film, Moolaade, in a Bambara village. It was my first trip to Africa, but our director, Samba Gadjigo, is something of a superstar there, and he made it all go remarkably smoothly. He even (almost) convinced us that pigeon, when appropriately barbecued, is a delicacy.

- A collaboration between Jason Silverman & Gregory Pleshaw

SWAIA Executive Director Bruce Bernstein Announces Intention to Continue to Create New and Expanded Opportunities for Contemporary and New Media Artis

2008-12-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

Indian Cowboys, by Monty Singer

SWAIA Executive Director Bruce Bernstein Announces Intention to Continue to Create New and Expanded Opportunities – Possibly Whole New Shows – for Contemporary and New Media Artists

What began as a rumor – that SWAIA might be looking into the possibility of creating a whole new show for contemporary and New Media artists – was confirmed Wednesday night via telephone interview with SWAIA executive director Bruce Bernstein.

Bernstein said he is interested in all ideas that would expand the horizons for what people consider to be viable Indian art. He said he’s sees the horizon in Santa Fe as potentially limitless in the kinds of art that can be brought to Indian Market.

“Why wouldn’t SWAIA at least want to have the discussion of having new venues for artists who work in mediums that don’t fit in a booth?” he said. “We’re interested in looking at the viability of showing performance, installation, and digital art to the people who normally convene each year for Indian Market.”

But he didn’t rule out the possibility that a contemporary or New Media show might have its own venue at a time other than the standard Indian Market festival which convenes each August in downtown Santa Fe.

““First thing I want everyone to know is that the presence of Santa Fe Indian Market on the Plaza in Santa Fe is immutable,” said Bernstein. “That having been said, I also want it known that as the director of SWAIA, I’m wholeheartedly invested in making sure that we continue to represent the artists that we are known to represent,” he said. “But what we’re also interested in is in making sure that all the art forms that Indian people engage in are shown. This may require a separate show for Indian arts that don’t fall in line with what we’re calling ‘the portable arts’ – i.e. work that can only fit in a booth.”

Bernstein said he was bothered by terms like ‘authentic’, ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ and said that he was trying to steer clear of such terms because in the long run, they just don’t mean much when it comes to describing Native art forms.

“We know from the historical record that what was once ‘contemporary’ becomes ‘traditional’ later on,” he said. “There’s a sorry perception that all that Market does is churn out traditional work, but the fact of the matter is that what’s traditional and contemporary is always evolving as Market evolves. Indian Market is a living entity, one that balances contemporary and traditional and one that is now actively seeking to include all the art forms that Native artists are working in, regardless of portability.”

The announcement brought enthusiasm from two stalwarts of Native American contemporary art, 2008 poster artist & Cochiti painter Mateo Romero and award-winning Cherokee painter America Meredith.

“It’s important to recognize that what we’re talking about here isn’t so much a ghetto-ization of contemporary and New Media artists,” said Romero. “This is about taking artists to other venues outside the country and around the world.”

“I’m impressed by SWAIA’s vision insofar as looking to create new possibilities for Native arts,” said Meredith. “It seems that there a techtonic shift in Indian art these days and I’m impressed with their ambition in trying to address these changes through new shows and new approaches to showing art.”

The announcement comes on the eve of the Grand Opening of another SWAIA venture – that of the partnering with the Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino on the opening of a SWAIA retail store inside the casino, where the wares of SWAIA artists will be available for purchase year-round. Scheduled to run from 5-8 in front of the store on the second floor of BTR & C, the Grand Opening will feature a fashion show of coats made by Native artists, as well as a show of Christmas ornaments made by artists and their children.

ps: the above illustration is a new charcoal drawing by artist Monty Singer. If any artist is interested in showing their work on these pages, please feel free to send me images at gregoryptm@gmail.com

Profile: Rory Erler Wakemup

2008-11-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

"My Baby Girl" complete by Rory Erler Wakemup

"Sacrifice" by Rory Erler Wakemup

"My Baby Girl" detail, by Rory Erler Wakmup

Native Underground 2008 unearthed at least one stellar talent that deserves a little ink. Rory Erler Wakemup, who’s now sloughing through his eighth year at IAIA, (he says he’s having trouble passing his writing classes(!) is an artist who creates elegant constructions of incredible depth and texture, using such materials as recycled iron, molded epoxy, monoprints and backlit displays, all gloriously welded together into pieces that mimic both paintings and sculpture but are actually neither – or perhaps are both and can fit only into the category of mixed media.

Recently, Wakemup had a show at the Primitive Edge Gallery at the Institute for American Indian Arts. Consisting of a half a dozen pieces of intense aesthetic and narrative qualities, the show was conceived in the wake of a 2006 motorcycle accident and is appropriately titled, “Chaos.” Each piece is a gorgeous construction of depth and texture, whereby materials such as Plexiglas, urethane, epoxy and acrylics are painstakingly layered on top of one another to capture the artist’s vision of a number of intense experiences, from the birth of his new baby in “My Baby Girl,” to the dizzying experience of “Sacrifice” that happens in the course of the Sundance rituals of his tribe.

Wakemup’s works all have narrative back stories that are as fascinating as the artist – who talks almost non-stop about the intricate symbolism of each color and nuance in any given piece – but visually and aesthetically, these pieces speak for themselves, each one offering forth broad displays of the artist’s obvious talent at manipulating diverse materials.

“My Baby Girl” is perhaps the most visually arresting piece in the show, consisting of a rusted bed springs suspended from the ceiling and backlit by black lights with a Plexiglas womb that holds a fetus constructed from motorcycle parts (from his crashed bike) and a rat skull for a head. Behind the bed spring lies a web of ropes that signify the web of life and the rituals of life that one must go through in order to reach the fulfillment of dreams.

But it was the smaller and quieter piece “Sacrifice” that stole the show for me. The piece features rich reds and orange colors captured between two layers of Plexiglas and signifies the Sundance rituals of both the Anishnabe and Lakota tribes whereby the skin of tribal members are pierced and then they hang backwards by their own weight. It is a ritual that Wakemup has himself experienced four times.

“The ritual is part of a living tradition of our people and has different uses for different groups of people,” said Wakemup. “Warriors, medicine people, women, men – all of them have their reasons for performing the ritual and engaging in the practice.”

In order to achieve his record of the experience, Wakemup brewed a chemical soup that included epoxy, urethane and acrylics as the base for a monoprint that is loaded with texture and colors that range from blood red to burnt orange, encased within Plexiglas and welded to an iron frame.

Work like this is exciting and deserves to be seen and appraised by the community at large. Though he missed the deadline for this year’s Heard Show, Wakemup is planning to apply to India Market for the first time this year. Here’s hoping you see him next August manning a booth.

(Side note: Does anything else think it’s a little weird that that Native American art school’s art gallery is called primitive edge? I’d love to hear comments on that one…)

New Kid on the Block ABQ Arts Review

2008-11-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

The work of Amanda Maes, from ABQ Arts Review.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told artist that they simply MUST get a website. It doesn’t have to be very fancy – I just need to be able to google the artist’s name and somehow reach at least one image so I know what the art looks like.

Enter the ABQ Arts Review. The brainchild of Albuquerque based network consultant Jon Kulas, the ABQ Arts Review bills itself as “Albuquerque’s Ultimate Arts Resource,” a claim I’m not prepared to argue with. What ABQ Arts Review offers is more important than what it claims – namely, the online portfolios of over two dozen artists, with many more to come as artists discover that this service exists for them.

“My hope is that people will be a little more proactive about their ability to add their own images to the site,” said Kulas. “The intent is to have a self-managed area for artists to use and fill in as they see fit.”

Aside from a little ad in the back of the Alibi, ABQ Arts Review is growing primarily by word of mouth. The site also offers discussion groups and bulletins about local arts events and shows. Kulas started the site (which he builds in Jumla) as a free alternative to New Mexico Artists, another online site for New Mexico artists.

“It’s a really nice way to meet people in the arts world, even if it’s virtual,” said Kulas.

Though nothing prevents artists from anywhere from joining the site and uploading their images, Kulas said he is planning to open up the site so it’s more than just Albuquerque artists who are served by the site.

“We might change our name to NM Arts Review,” said Kulas. “We want all New Mexico artists to feel like this is a service they can use to upload their portfolio and communicate with each other about the arts.”

Native Underground 2008 at MIAC

2008-11-14T12:03:00.000-08:00

Wanna know who’s up and coming in Native American contemporary art in Santa Fe? Look no further than tonight’s Native Underground event at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on Museum Hill.

This yearly event often features artists who are just beginning to make their mark in the contemporary Native art world. The event has also become something of an annual conclave as artists, art students, collectors, press and others gather to check out the new work and converse about upcoming trends and ideas in Native contemporary art.

This year’s panelist/honorees include mixed media artist Rory Erler Wakemup, aerosol artist Jak, jeweler Jacqueline Smith, Painter Micah “WereWulf” Wesley, photographer/filmmaker Eve-Lauryn LaFountain, and writer and indigenous peoples advocate Sara Marie Ortiz,

Sponsored by Avant Garde, the young members’ group of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, the event is free to Museum members, $5 to non-members, and will include a panel discussion with the six artists followed by a performance by local DJ Ginger.

Feast Day at Tesuque Pueblo

2008-11-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

So today I went to Feast Day at Tesuque Pueblo, where I got stuffed like a goose and had to roll my way out of there. This particular feast was the November 12 Feast of San Diego, and I went there to meet my old friend John Pen La Farge, author of "Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog." I was running late so I just wandered around the church on the Plaza until I ran into someone I knew - David, a local videographer and skateboarder. He pointed me in the direction of a house where his mom Tammy Rahr, the beader, was seated with a cast of a dozen people - eating. That's what people do at feast day, they eat, and soon, I was eating too.

No sooner had I finished than I was invited to another house, and then another. Six houses in all I ate something at each one, and then I settled in a chair to watch what we were obstensibly there for - the deer dancers.

Ever seen Deer Dancers dance? They stoop across the Plaza on these little half canes to the sound of a slow and steady drum beat. Something about watching them made me feel really rooted to this place, really proud to live here even though this is only my culture by extension, only my culture because I bother to show up, eat my fill, and watch the Deer Dancers dance.

Video Pick of the Night: Wholphin

2008-11-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

Currently, I'm sitting watching Spike Jonez documentary of Al Gore from the first "Wholphin" video. Wholphin was a cool idea by the people who brought you McSweeney's - a video 'zine where film-makers could stick their weird shorts. I'm sorta surprised that given the ubiquity of the video camera that there aren't more video 'zines out there - it's sorta like a mini-film festival on a DVD. I think this thing is still happening and you can subscribe to it like a magazine. I borrowed mine from a friend.

This Blog SUSPENDED

2008-07-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken inside Buddha Cave by Rick,

the Language Corps instructor.

I'm in Thailand for the next six weeks. If you want any posts about what i'm up to, head on over to http://www.strident.org/

Cheers
gregoryp(tm)

The Throwdown Lowdown:Collaborative Art in the DMZ

2008-07-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

Rose Simpson on Indian Market CENSORED!

2008-07-08T10:55:00.001-07:00

Feral Children's "Jaundice Giraffe" is One Killer Pop Song

2008-07-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Feral Children:

Were I reviewing your GREAT song "Jaundice Giraffe" here's what I would say about it:

"What do you get when you cross the multi-part harmonies of The Arcade Fire with the artful and nonsensical wailing of The Pixies? The answer is a band called Feral Children, whose new single "Jaundice Giraffe" kicks ass with its haunting rhythms, screeching voices and harmonic vocals."

I was at some radio station party like a week ago and they had a truly terrible act from the same CD sampler on as the showcase band. They were called Two Tone Tea Party and they sounded like Journey. They sucked, basically, and we left after a couple cups of free beer. I didn't take the t-shirt, but I did slip the sampler into my pocket. Everything else on it totally blew, but your song caught me right away.

I see from your band profile that you've got a record coming out TODAY and I think that's totally awesome. I will be looking for you if you ever decide to come play Santa Fe.

Sincerely
Gregory Pleshaw
Santa Fe Arts Writer.

Site Santa Fe Biennial & Jenny Holzer at Evo

2008-06-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

The interior desing of Site Santa Fe is just the tip of the iceberg of their new show, which had a press preview tonight. I wandered around and looked at a lot of video artifacts of other "offsite" installations that I haven't seen yet - this time around, SSF has a lot of "in the community" installations that I will go look at tomorrow.

Across the street at Evo, I looked around the walls and found them blank, for the real show was on the floor - a Jenny Holzer installation that has Holzer koans carved into stone tiles on the floor. It was exciting somehow to see a genuine Holzer - rumor has it that someone had already bought it - but for the moment it was there for me to see, even though soon it might make an exciting patio for someone.

Friday night in Santa Fe

2008-06-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

It began by following a link to a non-existent art opening on Facebook - sadly, I never found the place but then I scooted over to Eight Modern to check out the new Ted Larsen stuff. Ted tends to make "constructions" and this time was no different, though these were wall-hangings and I couldn't really figure out - are they "decorative" and thus not much more interesting than something you'd find at Target or Pier One - or is it "art"?

I shouldn't split hairs. Eight Modern is a *serious* art gallery so the work must be serious. And I like Ted, so arguing on the side that his works of art are works of art shouldn't be that hard for me. The materials used and the colors were MUCH more interesting than what you'd find at those other stores. But I guess I just didn't like the work...next time I run into him at Downtown Sub I'll ask him what I was missing.

Went to drinks with a friend at Del Charro and was texted a message that the Billy Collins poetry reading was *the* place to be at St. John's. I was in high conversation with my friend so didn't get. Ended up the night at Biome Neuro Norb, aka Meow Wolf, to goggle the weirdness before I went home.

Penis Pix & Talking Heads

2008-06-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

Man, have I ever been slack about posting to this blog lately. Well, here's a little story that might make up for it, and it falls under the "rumor and innuendo" subcategories. It seems that there's a certain publisher of arts news in Santa Fe that likes to show pictures of his penis to women he's hitting on. It seems that the publisher has a really big dick and shows the pictures as a means to entice women to have sex with him. To which I say - if you're brazen enough to show someone a picture, why not just WHIP IT OUT and show them the real thing? Extra points if you do it somewhere especially hoity-toity, like say, an O'Keefe opening...

Enough gossip! This just in - David Solomon, curator for the 707 Contemporary Gallery, has just sent me a very small release about a new show called Talking Heads, opening on June 13th. He promises fantastic art but says nothing more. Maybe there'll be free wine and some other cool reason to be there. At 707 Canyon Road from 5-8pm.

2008-05-26T03:14:00.001-07:00

Meow Wolf's Not Dead YetBiome Neuro Norb

2008-05-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

I think it’s entirely possible that there are only two reasonable reactions to Meow Wolf’s latest collaborative installation piece “Biome Neuro Norb.” And that is that you’ll either love it or hate it. Either way, the show is bound to provoke a strong reaction – and that’s precisely what the show’s sixteen talented artists had in mind when they built it.

“As we were building it, we fantasized about people walking through the door and having uncontrollable fits of prolonged vomiting,” said organizer Vince Kadlubek.

My personal reaction? Spontaneous bursts of laughter at everything I saw.

These staggeringly creative kids have built an environment that feels a lot like the set of a ‘70s sci-fi movie, complete with caves you can crawl around in, miles and miles of mylar tubes, alien heads hanging from the ceiling, and a master control panel in the center of the room that lets you the viewer interact with spinning tops, a wild soundtrack, lights and various things that go bing. The walls of this little space have been obliterated by foam insulation-forms that wind around and cover the ceiling completely.

In all, the space presents a total piece, but there are sections you can pull out for further examination. “The Clean Room” is just that – the most uncluttered section of the space with white walls and mylar tubes and strange contraptions. There are the aforementioned caves where you can go inside and relax on mylar couches and stare at cool stop animation movies. There’s a day-glo orange accented forest, as well as a little office area with ancient family photographs of a family that belongs to no one in particular.

To find materials for this endevour, our intrepid artists journeyed into the depths of the local Salvation Army dumpster and made a visit or two to the venerable Black Hole of Los Alamos. Whatever they found, they used, or so it seems – you can make out all kinds of debris and detritus in the many installations that fill this space to bursting.

Above all, this show reminds me of one of those wacky roadside attractions where some kook labors for decades to build some outrageous shrine to some totally made up deity. An art opening where they served absinthe rather than white wine and no one talked about their stocks. This is one of those shows that you Absolutely Cannot Miss. Who knows? You might HATE it. But I didn’t. I loved it so much that laughter still haunts my mind whenever I think about.

ExquisiteCorps1: An Experiment in Twitterature

2008-05-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends:

This is an announcement for a new little project on Twitter called "ExquisiteCorps1: An Experiment in Twitterature." I have created a new twitter profile called "ExquisiteCorps1" located at http://twitter.com/exquisitecorps1. Here's the basic idea. You decide you want to participate so you complete the following steps:

1) start following exquisitecorps1

2) write to me (gregoryptm@gmail.com) and I'll give you the password (laughably easy) for the profile.

3) promote exquisitecorps1 to your feed of followers.

4) Whenever you see an exquisitecorps1 post that you want to add to (in the manner of the "exquisite corpse" parlour game explained in detail here, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_Corpse) logout as yourself, login as "exquisitecorps1" and make your post, then logout again to give other a chance to pay.

I have limited this invitation to four people I know with twitter accounts. Please, feel free to pass this along and to pass along the password once you know it if you think someone is interested in playing. It's just an experiment and I want to see what happens to it.

cheers
gregoryp(tm)

Did that artist really starve a dog?Commentator Zane Fischer rebuts

2008-04-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

So yesterday or last night or this morning, I got a forward about an art piece that seemed really grotesque, along with a plea for me to sign an online petition about it. I forwarded it to various arty-activists friends and waited for someone to tell me it was all a hoax. Here is the original email:

Fwd: Starving a dog is art? Boycott the presence of Guillermo Vargas "Habacuc" at the Bienal Centroamerica

This is a very serious matter...

In 2007, the 'artist' Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved him to death.

For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful 'masterpiece' based on the dog's agony, until eventually he died.

A selected picture of the "starving" dog on display.

But according to Zane Fischer, arts columnist for the Santa Fe Reporter, the fact that the dog was starved to death is really a hoax. Read below for a commentary from Fischer:

"The dog was actually fed every day and then released back onto the streets. Dude. You've been to Mexico. You've seen the situation with stray, starving, wild dogs. To extrapolate, you've also been homeless. Everybody walks around, tolerating these situations and basically turning a blind eye, pretending that everything is well and healthy. Dogs and people are chained to unbreakable situations and starving to death and dying in front of us all the time. Put the situation is a display dynamic in a gallery and people have horrific reactions because it is "on view" in front of them and they believe the dog is being allowed to die. It's happening to thousands of dogs just outside the door, but they're not forced to confront it. The fact that people will actually organize a petition to stop one artist from injuring one dog (who is destined to a horrifying death anyway), perfectly exemplifies the point that people will mobilize to confront what offends them personally, while still being to fucking lazy to address the actual root of the problem."

Fischer, of course, pulls no punches in his quest for the truth. He dares suggest that you, the viewer, is the true guilty party in this "brilliant" art piece. I get the point but I still think it's kinda sick, whether the dog starved or not. For yet another perspective on the "Starving Dog Art Project," check out The Extraordinary Pet Blog.

Buffalo Horn-Rimmed Glasses by Kevin Pourier

2008-04-16T20:31:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of Kevin Pourier,
this new work represents his
latest evolution in working with
carved and inlaid buffalo horn.

Best New Photo Exhibit

2008-04-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, driving back from a 24 hour hiatus in Truth or Consequences, my lady and I were lured by a sign that beckoned us to go see the "El Camino Real International Heritage Center" located near but not in San Antonio, New Mexico off Interstate 25. We're total suckers for memorials and roadside attractions of any kind, but the turn-off looked so desolate we were certain we were headed for a big let-down, you know, maybe a plaque by the side of the road with some old geezer handing out brochures about the "wonders of Socorro County."

We couldn't have been more wrong.

The Heritage Center is in fact a real state of the art building with a totally kick ass interpretative display room inside detailing (and I mean detailing) the impact of the El Camino Real on North American trade. But something that really brought it all home for me was a display as you walked in the door, an art show by Christina Preston. Preston spent about a year or more travelling up and down the El Camino Real on foot, horseback and by car taking pictures of the middle of nowhere Camino Real and the modern one alongside I-25.

The El Camino Real International Heritage Center is located in the middle of nowhere along I-25. It costs $5 to get in and it's well worth it. But don't miss those pictures. They're real winners.

Golden West Burns to the Ground LaunchPad Closed Until Further Notive

2008-03-27T03:23:00.001-07:00

Tonight I went to a party for IQ Magazine and I ran into a young woman who has carrying a box seeking donations for Launch Pad employees. To most of you, what I have to say will probably be old news, but I reiterate it here because it is just so note-worthy: At some point in the last month or so (probably while I was in Mexico) the Golden West Saloon, one of the original downtown venues, burned to the ground and a wall that was shared between it and the Launch Pad collapsed, leaving the Launch Pad closed.

I'm not one of those shows junkies who can tell you every damn show I saw in both of these venues, but I will say the loss of the Golden West is a significant one for me. Tonight I spoke with Joe Anderson of the Launch Pad and he says that the Launch Pad will rise again once all the various insurance companies are sorted out. (Of course, he also told me details were available on the Launch Pad;s site and I wasn't able to find out anything.)

I could wax long ang hard about both of these venues, but for tonight, I am just leaving a placeholder...

Thinking “Outside the Booth”How SWAIA Plans to Address the Concerns of Contemporary Artists at Indian Market.

2008-03-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

In 1922, a group of Native art supporters gathered their forces together to hold the first Indian art fair in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sponsored in part by the Museum of New Mexico, the event has evolved over the years to include between 1200-1500 artists in a variety of categories including pottery, textiles, jewelry, painting, sculpture and photography. It is estimated that today’s event, now known as Santa Fe Indian Market, annually draws over 100,000 people to Santa Fe, and has a two-day economic impact on the community of over $20million. Not to mention that fact that for many of the artists who participate, Indian Market represents a large portion of their annual income.

On March 3 of this year, I reported that it was possible that a certain artist had made decisions regarding which venue to show their work because one venue - the Heard show – might be a bit more progressive than Indian Market when it came to viewing contemporary art work. As I have since reported elsewhere, I thought the comment fairly innocuous – but Bruce Bernstein, executive director at the Southwest Association of Indian Art, (SWAIA) which runs Indian Market, was very interested in what I’d had to say. He wanted to know if there were people thinking in that same direction, and so I posted an open call for information.

Today, I had a meeting with Mr. Bernstein, artist and board member Nora Naranjo Morse, and SWAIA Director of Media and Artist Services John Torres-Nez to discuss my findings. The specifics of the meeting are not important, really – I took spotty notes at best because the conversation was so interesting. What emerged from a two-hour meeting was a feeling that the new SWAIA, under the tutelage of Mr. Bernstein, is very much interested in the concerns of artists and wants to do what it to encourage dialogue around the issues.

According to my polling, the issues are really quite simple. I will outline them below and then offer some responses based on the conversation I had today:

1) Not one artist would speak on the record. This points to a fear factor that should not be present at all in an arts festival which scores and admits its artists based on a “blind” entry process. Is this in fact the case? Would SWAIA now or has it in the past kept artists out of Market because of their willingness to speak up or complain? The fact that people won’t speak out suggests that there might be a record of such behavior.

Fact: No one at the meeting had any idea if people had been kept out of Market for speaking unfavorable opinions. The reality as to why people don’t want to speak up or want to do so anonymously may have a lot more to do with cultural issues of being Native American.

As Nora Noranjo Morse said it best, (and I paraphrase) “It’s an unspoken condition of Native American life, particularly among older folks, that there is to be very little confrontation when speaking. Part of this is the result of being the product of small communities, where speaking aloud is heard almost instantly by everyone else in the village. The process of being a colonized people also makes “speaking one’s thoughts” a little harder than it would be for other people,” e.g. white folks like me, one imagines.

Thus, while I could only read something sinister on the part of the organization (SWAIA) in the requests for anonymity, Naranjo-Morse pointed to a bigger issue in Native life in general that of course hadn’t occurred to me.

2) Most artists agreed that the problem doesn’t lie with artists getting themselves and their work into Market – most concerns had to do with what happens with the art and artists once they get in the door. There is a persistent belief among the contemporary artists with whom I spoke that judging in all categories is skewed towards traditional work with traditional themes.

Fact: Imagine my surprise when Mr. Torres-Nez presented some findings of his own – which is that traditional artists believe that contemporary artists are in fact squeezing traditional work out of Market to make room for themselves. It is clear that there is a schism between traditional and contemporary artists, and a rather real one. One suggestion I made was to simply split the categories across the board into two separate divisions, traditional and contemporary, with artists self-selecting which category they belonged in. “It may mean more awards,” said I. “Which is already happening,” said Torres-Nez, and in hindsight may lead to a diminished value of the awards being given. But the possibility is on the table and is discussed and often implemented, as was elucidated in America Meredith’s fine post:

“There are two “Artists' Choice-Peer Awards for Exceptional, Innovative Work in Any Media,” one award for “Most Creative Use of Stamp Work” in jewelry, one for “New Innovative in Clay” in Pottery Plates, one for “Creative Use of Mixed Stone in Abstract Form” in Sculpture, Awards for “Most Innovative Using Traditional Technique and Materials” for Textiles and Basketry, for Diverse Art Forms, and for Beadwork and Quillwork, and the “IAIA Distinguished Alumni Award - For Excellence in Contemporary Native American Arts.”

Simply put, there are lots of awards for lots of categories already. Is it necessary to split the divisions up even further? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

3) The schism between traditional and contemporary has led to wide discussion, (among both artists and outside observers with whom I spoke) to A Contemporary Indian Art Market, created either by a more clear delineation between contemporary and traditional arts, with artists self-declaring their ‘camp’ when they apply to Market – OR, another show entirely that would see contemporary artists jumping ship and creating their own show, similar to the scenario with Spanish Market and Spanish Contemporary Market. The latter option seems, in my opinion, more divisive than is necessary. In order to avoid it, it is possible that changes must happen in the former option, though admittedly these changes should take place slowly over time and most certainly should be vetted through artists before changes just automatically take place.

Fact: No one really wants to see this, but ideas that were bandied about today included the possibility of “Thinking Outside the Booth” and creating exhibition spaces that would allow the most cutting-edge contemporary work – installation, video, performance, and dance – to have their place at Indian Market. Surely, none of these forms fit “in the booth,” (a space which I once described as “a three-walled dwelling in which Native artists live as they travel from art fair to art fair in their SUV caravans…”) but instead belong in a formal exhibition space that would dovetail nicely with the booths around the Plaza. I recalled the way Indian Market has already extended itself to the Center for Contemporary Arts, which hosts the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival, and how a couple years ago the “campus” of Indian Market included CCA and a rollicking performance by the Bastard Fairies and Chocolate Helicopter. Mr. Bernstein pointed out that these types of partnerships were something that he was really interested in pursuing, and which this year will include a photography exhibition at the Andrew Smith Gallery during Indian Market week.

In general, I found all three persons who attended this meeting to be actively thinking about options that would make Indian Market as inclusive as possible to the myriad of talent that presents itself each August on the Plaza. As Mr. Bernstein put it, (and again, I paraphrase), “SWAIA is more than an arts organization that throws an arts festival. It is an organization that advocates for artists, and is also responsible for advancing the cultural context through which the art is created.”

So we shall see how the conversation will continue...

“Is Indian Market open to new forms of Indian art, or does its standards committee stifle innovation?”

2008-03-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, I posted a notice via e-mail about whether or not Indian Market is closed to innovation. It read a little something like this:

Dear Friends:

My latest column about the Heard show (http://gregoryp.blogspot.com/2008/03/heard-show-cody-sanderson-takes-best-in.html) has generated some controversy about whether or not SWAIA’s Indian Market show is inclusive to contemporary art. The question is fairly simple: “Is Indian Market open to new forms of Indian art, or does its standards committee stifle innovation?”

This is an open call for information and dialogue, which will appear in a future New Mexico Art News column should the din prove loud enough to warrant it. I will take comments on or off the record as sources demand. There are a number of you I expect to hear from - if you know of anyone else whose voice would add to this topic, please feel free to forward this mail - contrary to popular belief, I don’t have *everyone’s* email address - yet. For those of you who do so, please feel free to cross-post to myspace. Write me back here or call me at 505-514-4774.

namaste
Gregory Pleshaw

A flurry of communication between myself and SWAIA Executive Director Bruce Bernstein ensued, a positive exchange about what could be unearthed if I got people talking about the issue.

Today, I received word that I am to meet with Bruce and the Standards committee co-chairs next week. All I can say for certain (other than that, yes, I am a bit intimidated) is that either a) they think they have something to worry about, or b) that SWAIA is really very interested in hearing what people have to say on this issue.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. I didn't report what I reported to slam Indian Market - I thought it was such an ingrained legend that Market isn't open to innovation that everyone just simply knew. I didn't expect anyone to react to it at all. It was like an inside joke at the bottom of the paragraph...

But what I really mean to say that I've said before and I'll say again is that "I'm not interested in throwing out the baby with the bath water." And I mean that. Indian Market is a lot more than just a big show - it's a paycheck for 1500 artists and I'm less interested in slamming it for what it isn't than I am in celebrating it for what it is.

That being said, however, I so think that Market has a fine line to walk in terms of satisfying two main objectives. The first objective is that SWAIA and Indian Market are, to a degree, responsible for maintaining a sound and integrated definition of Indian Art so as to promise the collectors of such objects "the real McCoy." On the other hand, as the standard bearer for an evolving conversation about "What is Indian Art?" SWAIA and Indian Market also owes its artists the opportunity to evolve with new materials and new technologies. How can SWAIA walk that fine line and satisfy both needs?

This is a most interesting conversation, one that I figured would garner lots of people wanting to speak out and have a say. So far, however, ALL of the artist who have contacted me - say a half dozen - have been reluctant (at best) to speak on the record about the topic. Even artists whom I would consider "untouchable" (and you can make guesses but I'll keep my mouth shut) have told me point-blank that it benefits no one to be labeled "a trouble-maker" with SWAIA. They too refuse to speak on the record...

So what ends up happening, (and you'll excuse my boldness) is that two non-Indian non-artists (myself and Bruce) are basically the only people having this conversation, which strikes me as downright silly. I really don't have anything in particular to gain by talking or writing about this, particularly if there are no artists who want to talk about what is happening or even that its happening at all.

What I would ask of you is this: If you know of anyone out there who wants to address this issue, on or off the record, please have them get in touch with me. I will be pleased to let you know that most of the artists who have contacted me don't have what I'm after, which is *specific* instances of how the Standards committee kept their work or work of someone they know out of Market. Most paint a broadly generalized picture of a BELIEF that IM keeps down contemporary art, but again, they lack a specific instance that someone could hang their hat on (or that I could hang a story on.) And then they refuse to testify about that belief to anyone but me, which is flattering but not terribly helpful.

The pot, as they say, is stirred up. Now it remains for someone to hand me something with which I can fill it.

regards
Gregory Pleshaw

2008-03-14T14:48:00.001-07:00

This Just In"Indigetronics" Native Arts multimedia festival.

2008-03-11T23:20:00.001-07:00

Hey Gregory, I'll get you more information about it when I get it, but
Tahlequah, OK April/May 2009 will be the home of "Indigetronics", a
Native American multimedia arts festival - featuring Native computer
animation and digital art, hosted by the Cherokee Arts and Humanities
Council and Cherokee Robot.

- posted by America Meredith

The Heard Show: Cody Sanderson Takes Best in Show Pat Pruitt's Stainless Marvels

2008-03-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

Cody Sanderson's "Outside the Cube"

At the 50th Annual Heard Indian Fair & Market this past weekend, I spent about an hour following Santa Fe artist Cody Sanderson as he made his rounds through the booths. Sanderson, 43, is an artist at the top of his game, having won the Heard’s Best in Show for his jeweled marvel entitled “Out of the Cube.” Succinctly put, the piece is a cast silver working model of a Rubik’s Cube which featured six repousse faces rather than colors in homage to the famous cubes that so boggled minds and fingers in the 1980s.

Sanderson shook hands, delivered compliments and received many congratulations as he walked from booth to booth. “Shaking hands and kissing babies,” is one of his many sales techniques, which he claims rival his abilities on the workbench. If that’s really the case, maybe Sanderson should take up sales full-time, because he has consistently delivered cutting-edge objets d’art since becoming a silversmith less than ten years ago.

“Shocked,” was how he described his feelings when he heard that he received the award. “I mean, sure, it took me about six solid weeks to make this thing and there’s a lot of work in it that cannot be calculated,” he said. “But there are people in this market who have a lot more experience than I do and who take a lot more time to make their pieces. Some people are saying, ‘A toy won best in show?’ and they’re shocked and on some level I can really feel for them.

Words cannot describe the beauty of this object, which features six sides of nine matching motifs that make up the game aspect of the device. Though the object screams “Play with Me!” it was handled only by the artist while wearing gloves. Such protocols are perhaps necessary when one is handling a toy with a value of $10,000 and over a pound of pure silver in its architecture. It can also be taken apart, just like a regular Rubik’s Cube, revealing a number of individuals pieces as well as the spoke-like central axis that allows the faces of the cube to spin in any direction.

The astonishing thing about the win is that it probably wouldn’t have been possible at The Other Big Indian Market, namely, the Indian Market in Santa Fe, whose winners tend to be more from a traditional bent than Sanderson’s pieces. Though Sanderson said he finished the piece just in time for this show, it may have been a strategic move on his part to enter this piece into the Heard Show first rather than Indian Market.

“My experience has been that the Heard is a lot more open to artistic innovation than Indian Market,” said Sanderson. “They care less about the political correctness of materials and more about the artistry that goes into the work.”

A notable artist who may benefit from that attitude was displaying work alongside Sanderson’s. Laguna/Chiricahua Apache artist Pat Pruitt is a metalsmith who works exclusively in stainless steel, producing jeweled objects that have become the hot ticket for young Native artists and collectors alike. Sanderson sported a Pruitt on one of his wrists, and Pojoaque potter Melissa Talachy also was seen wearing one. In addition to his killer jewelry, Pruitt also makes stainless steel sculptures, one of which won a Best in Category award at the Heard show.

In general, the Heard show had a more intimate feel than Indian Market, which certainly owes itself to the fact that it all takes place on the grounds of the Museums and all it's closed to all but a paying public. Regardless of those differences, one thing that remained the same was just the incredibly diversity available to those of us who are fans of Native Art. It's a community that re-unites itself at shows like these and presents a "family" of sorts of different people, personalities, tribes and mediums, with everything from traditional weaving to the latest cutting-edge offerings of folks like Sanderson and Pruitt.

Such diversity makes Native Art a joy to cover, because there's always something new to uncover and learn about. Perhaps one of the biggest highlights of the show for me came from listening to a relative of artist Merced Maldonado recount the history of the Yaqui Indian tribe and their struggled with both the Mexican and U.S. government.

Shows like these are more than just markets - they're opportunities for artists and fans alike to meet each other and talk about the work and the ideas and communities that inform that work. The Heard show brought that all back home for me this past weekend - and now we wait until Indian Market in Santa Fe does it all again.

ps: "Outside the Cube" sold for its asking price to a private collector on the final day of the show.

Addendum: Cody Sanderson was quick to point out that Indian Market has always treated him well personally, but that he has seen other jewelry artists who have been stifled by the process of getting into Market. We'll be discussing this issue in upcoming articles.

I have issued an open call for information regarding the stifling of artists at Indian Market. It's posted over here.

In Mexico for the month of February Read My Other Blog

2008-01-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

I am happy to say that I am currently in Mexico for the next month of February. If you would like to see what I'm up to, I invite you to check out my other blog at strident.org.

Too Cool: Weird New Mexico blog

2008-01-15T02:23:00.001-08:00

As reported tonight on Fox 2 News, check out Weird New Mexico.

Six Sentences Publishes Little Old Me

2008-01-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

Six Sentences is New York-based blog that challenges writers to write something cool in Six Sentences or less. I answered the challenge while I was exhausted in NYC and they decided they liked it. (They liked me! They really liked me.) Check out the damn post.

Bill Richardon Drops out of the Race

2008-01-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

Big Bill Faces Reality

For the record, I honestly never thought the man had a chance, never believed anyone who told me he wasn't running for Veep or Secretary of State, and if someone tries to tell me a deal wasn't cut with the Clintons to give Hillary the state of Nevada, I'll call that a lie too. I honestly believe that Nevada was Bill's for the taking, but something tells me that the Clintons wanted it more than Bill did.

Nevertheless, I believe in Bill - just not as a Presidential hopeful. I believe in him as our governor, I believe in him as an incredibly able diplomat who *should* have a place at the table when it comes to discussing world events and possibly executing diplomatic missions. But I'm glad he's going to stay at home with us for awhile. In my lifetime over living in New Mexico (over 25 years) I have never known a more can-do and competent leader. For those that might point out that that might not be saying much, I will say this:

a) he pulled off the Film Industry Rebate initiative, which has brought more jobs and money to this state than anything I've ever seen here;

and b) he may not be capable of making the trains run on-time - but after a quarter century of hearing about the *possibility* of a train being built, I am now SEEING ONE BUILT right up the middle of I-25 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, a move that will change the way this state operates for the better.

Plus, at one point, helped design the governor's website, when I worked for some nameless web design firm. I had fun with that project. I hope that Bill can just settle down and enjoy the rest of his term.

We Get Letters: Springtime in Santa Fe

2008-01-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

Hi Gregory-

I came across your blog via Google. I'm planning a trip to NM this
spring, and I'm going to both Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I'm a graphic
designer with a love of printmaking, modern art, good music, and
Spanish/Mexican cinema. I don't want to take up too much of your
time, but are there any places I should visit during my trip that I
won't easily find on the internet? I'd appreciate a heads up on any
good spots, and I'll continue to read your blogs. Thanks!

K. Robb

Dear Kerry:

Hmmm....good set of interests there. I think you should make sure you check out the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque - right now, a look at their site shows some interesting stuff though nothing yet for "spring" but they tend to have a lot of good shows going on.

http://www.nhccnm.org/

I wouldn't miss the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe either - I know both of these are findable via the internet, and yet I figured I'd remind you and recommend them. I'd also call the Santa Fe Art Institute and see what kind of shows/lectures/such they might be having while you are here - they are home to the Santa Fe Printmaking Center but their website is kinda crappy, though here is the address:

http://www.printmakingcenter.com/

I'm also going to post this Q&A to my blog and see if any of my other readers have suggestions. The fact is, probably the best thing to do is try to get copies of Pasa Tiempo while you're in Santa Fe - Albuquerque Arts is also a good rag to get your hands on once you hit town.

Film Rebate Program in Jeopardy Bill Richardson Races to the Bottom

2008-01-09T18:04:00.000-08:00

Seems like some nitwits over at the 'Ledge wanna mess with a good thing. There's a meeting to protest this nonsense - too bad it's on a Saturday. If only Bill Richardson were around...oh that's right, he's too busy being a five percenter on the national scene to bother with little old us. Thanks Bill!

URGENT Message regarding film in NM
>
>
> The legislative finance committee (the top budget committee of the legislature) is discussing a proposal this Saturday (1/12/08) that would put a cap of $30m on the rebate program for motion pictures. This would have an immediate detrimental effect on the entire film industry in NM as even discussing potential caps would encourage pictures to look elsewhere. We currently have enough pictures on the books for 2008 to exceed a $30m cap. The film rebate program has been the most successful economic development initiative in the history of the state of NM and there are now thousands of workers and hundreds of businesses who rely on motion pictures. I’m asking that anyone who has an interest in this (and everyone who receives this email should be interested) attend the committee hearing to show their support for the film business. Any questions call me at 505-670-7381. The meeting is in room 322 at the State Capital in Santa Fe (Paseo de Peralta & Old Santa Fe Trail) we are third on the agenda of the afternoon session which begins at 12:30pm.

W. Richard West Ungrateful for NMAI Salary

2007-12-29T02:56:00.000-08:00

This story is just damn sad.

Stolen From Boing-Boing:

For the past 18 months, Jacqueline Trescott and James V. Grimaldi of the Washington Post have covered the never-ending scandals that have plagued the Smithsonian, reporting for which they deserve the Pulitzer Prize. They've broken the story of the resignation in disgrace of the previous Secretary, the subsequent resignation in disgrace of the previous Deputy Secretary, and then the resignation in disgrace of the "CEO" of Smithsonian Business Ventures. Enough for one year? Not on your life!

Today, they bring us the story of W. Richard West, Jr., who as head of the National Museum of the American Indian, felt that the taxpayers should foot the bill for $250,000 in "first-class transportation and plush lodging in hotels around the world, including more than a dozen trips to Paris." (Paris being noted as one of the centers of American Indian culture!)

What struck me particularly hard was a quote from West buried deep inside the story. When asked about his $292,000 salary and his outrageous expenses, all West could manage to say was:

"I am grateful for at least the past year to have been the highest-paid director of a museum in the Smithsonian. Even at that status I have yet to earn even two-thirds of what I earned as a private attorney in my last year in private practice."

Jeez. What is amazing is not that one greedy lawyer tried to bilk the taxpayers, what is amazing is that the Regents of the Smithsonian (which includes 6 members of Congress, the Vice President, and the Chief Justice) let him get away with it without objection. It shows how deeply institutional the problems are in our attic.

2007-12-26T09:26:00.001-08:00

Extruded Video Engine, by Peter Sarkisian

A show like this one, Peter Sarkisian at James Kelly Contemporary, makes you wish that someone had composed an animated .gif of the image so you could see and understand what all the fuss is about, but this is a show not to miss. Sarkisian is a master of video scultpture - in this lively show, he takes an exploded view of the interior workings of video components, and re-animates them via video projections onto injection molded 3-D plastic sculptures. Give me some time and maybe I can explain it better - but you should just GO LOOK at this amazing stuff between now and February 23, 2008. I hope to be speaking with the Sark soon about his process and such mundane details as software and other rendering tools for this truly astounding body of work, so maybe we can all get some insight into what he's been working on for the past year or so.

I Got a New BLOG for Xmas!

2007-12-25T13:37:00.001-08:00

Some might call it the silliest gift ever - I just can't believe my good fortune. My friend Canton Becker gave me the gift of a new domain name, as well as a ready-to-blog blog built right on top of it. This will probably be a more personal blog than this one, though I suppose there might be some morphage. But you might be asking yourself - who could keep up with more than one?

It's a good question. Since starting to blog in around 2004, blogging has become one of my primary "pursuits" on the Internet. It's mostly a way to pass time, spread information that interests me, and "log" time and stuff that happens in real life and online. So what good is another one?

I am currently working on a Secret Project(tm) about Virtual Worlds, spaces like Second Life and Active Worlds and others, where it is believe that 80% of us will have an "avatar" by 2012. (Aka - five years from now.) I find that hard to believe, but you could think about each of my blogging personalities as avatars. You could think of each of my social networking accounts, (currently myspace and facebook) could count as avatars of a sort. I'm seeing a future convergence, with my research, where you really will have an avatar with a blog in a 3-D space...so long as someone figures out a way to make it fairly seamless (current examples are way too complex, IMHO).

We shall see. Continue to watch this space for NM Arts Stuff, and my other blog for more personal things like what I got and gave for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to Everyone!
gregoryp(tm)

Some Random Moments

2007-12-20T02:26:00.000-08:00

So today I went to the The Ark and threw the I Ching asking about how my book is coming along.

I got back Hexagram 53: Gradual Progress.

Last week, I asked the universe for a person to talk to about some of the Mayan issues in my story.

At the Pojoaque Snow Dance, I was introduced to a woman who asked me if I could write a bio for her. Her major work is called "Popul Voh: The Creation Myth of the Maya."

Tonight, my friend Gregg and I locked ourselves out of my giant house-sit. We were on our way to the hot tub so of course we were *naked*. I'm glad we figured out how to get in through the dog-door.

Floyd Red Crow Westerman, R.I.P.

2007-12-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

the few times I saw Floyd around Santa Fe he always looked really elegant, almost dapper, filled with the wisdom of having been around the block a few times. I regret I never got to talk to him, but may he find happiness in the afterlife.

Dec. 13, 2007 - Renowned musician, activist, and elder, Floyd Red
Crow Westerman passed on to the spirit world at 5:00 a.m. PST this
morning at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after an extended
illness and complications from Leukemia as reported today by the
Native American Times and News From Indian Country.

Floyd Red Crow Westerman participated and performed in the First
Annual Native American Music Awards in 1998, was the recipient of
NAMA's Living Legend Award in 2002, and was recently awarded Best
Country Recording for his recording, "A Tribute To Johnny Cash" at
the Ninth Annual Native American Music Awards in October 2006.

With music as his first love, Westerman left his home on the Lake
Traverse reservation in South Dakota with a suitcase and an old
guitar as a young man. He traveled across the country playing country
music and his own original songs.

In 1969, he signed his first recording contract and released his
first album, the highly acclaimed, "Custer Died for Your Sins" which
captured the Indian movement's pathos and ethos during its formative
years. In 1970 he released his second recording, "Indian Country".

As a member of the American Indian Movement, and spokesman for the
International Indian Treaty Council, he traveled around the world to
improve social conditions for indigenous peoples. In 1982, he
reflected those sentiments in his third recording, "This Land Is Your
Mother."

In 1996, he attended the first Native American Music Awards and
performed with Joanne Shenandoah in a tribute performance for Hall of
Fame Inductee, the late Buddy Red Bow.

In 2002 he was awarded the NAMA Living Legend Award at the Fifth
Annual Native American Music Awards with Keith Secola accepting on
his behalf.

In 2006, he was won Best Country Recording at the Native American
Music Awards for his last full length recording, "A Tribute To Johnny
Cash" released by Henhouse Studios.

During his music career and before his entrance into many films and
television shows, he played and collaborated with a number of notable
musicians, including; Willie Nelson, Kris Kristopherson, Buffy St.
Marie, Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelsonm Jackson Browne, Harry Belafonte,
and Sting.

Westerman's film and television appearances include the role of the
Shaman for Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's "The Doors" and a Ten Bears
in "Dances With Wolves" His television roles have included playing
Uncle Ray on "Walker, Texas Ranger", One Who Waits, on "Northern
Exposure" and multiple appearances as Albert Hosteen on the "X-Files".

Westerman has received numerous other awards including; a
Congressional Certificate of Special Recognition, the Award for
Generosity by the Americans for Indian Opportunity, Cultural
Ambassador by the International Treaty Council, Lifetime Achievement
from the City of Los Angeles and the Integrity Award from the Multi-
Cultural Motion Picture Association.

The Native American Music Awards has been honored by Floyd Red Crow
Westerman's participation and contributions over the years and he
will always be remembered with great fondness, admiration and respect.

The Native American Music Awards & Association
www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com

Committing Poetry in Times of War.

2007-12-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend this movie about censorship in the schools and the poetry activist community in Albuquerque. I saw this movie at the Film Center this summer and I was really blown away by it. I think it's something that all educators and students should see...

my review from the July issue of discoarse

Blogged by DoseNation!

2007-12-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

I just got blogged by DoseNation for my book excerpt "Crack: That Portable Anti-Christ."

A Keeper Quote

2007-12-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

Thought I could use it in my .sig file, but it's a little long, so I'll archive this gem here:

There was nothing wrong with the Indians. The Supai are a charming cheerful completely relaxed and easy-going bunch, all one hundred or so of them. But I had no desire to live among them unless clearly invited to do so, and I wasn’t. Even if I was invited I might not have accepted. I’m not sure that I care for the idea of strangers examining my daily habits and folkways, studying my language, inspecting my costume, questioning me about my religion, classifying my artifacts, investigating my sexual rites and evaluating my chances for cultural survival. So I lived alone.

- Edward Abbey, in
Desert Solitaire

San Francisco Liberal Radio Host Bernie Ward Busted on Child Pornography Charges

2007-12-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

Anyone who cares about free speech and the government prosecution of liberals should read this report by Hart Williams. Anyone who doesn't (like Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and all the other liberals who say impeachment is off the table) should read it anyway so when they lose in 2008, they can know it's because they're a bunch of gutless turds who stand for nothing and fall for everything.

Lucky Seven: Team Curation for the Site 2008 Biennial

2007-12-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

Now this sounds pretty interesting. For the 2008 Biennial, Site Santa Fe announces a TEAM of curators from all over the globe to curate the show, (assembled by Lance Fung.) Also - works from the show wll be site-specific and will "cease to exist" (can we burn them???) after the show closes. From their release:

The emerging artists range in age from their twenties through their sixties. All of the works will be created on site, and will presumably be informed by this specific locale, harking back to the first SITE Biennial. Fung’s concept resists the notion of art as commodity in that the works will cease to exist after the close of the exhibition. Furthermore, much of the show will occur prior to the opening, on the ground in Santa Fe, and prior to that, in virtual space, as ideas, proposals, and thoughts are transmitted around the world. Fung invites the audience to engage in the process, as the core of what we view as art, in this case, is the process itself.

This honestly sounds like a really meaty pretext to me. I'm betting this show will actually be one you really don't want to miss. The list of curators seems impressive based on their affiliations, (I'd be bald-faced lying if I said I was "familiar" with any of them) and according to the release, the list of artists is not finalized but will contain a wide range of contemporary talent.

Enquiring minds (mine) wants to know - when they say that the art will "cease to exist" following the show does this mean:

a) works will be comprised of decomposing material so that they will simply ROT away at Site until they're gone?

b) works will be virtual and will be erased via giant magnet?

c) CAN WE BURN THE ART ONCE THE SHOW'S OVER? (showing off my Burning Man roots, clearly) And you know which one I'd vote for...

Sounds like fun beginning in June and *ending* (with a fireball, maybe?) October, 2008

A Memory: Justin Toast at Bar B, Feb. 8, 2004

2007-12-03T23:48:00.000-08:00

So last night I went to the wrap-party for the Film Festival. What a total scene - one of those Santa Fe parties where it starts out "exclusive" and then they just open the gates because whoever shows up is obviously supposed to be there. Mobbed, I tell, completely mobbed, and tinged with that kinda bittersweet afterglow of people congratulating each other about what a weird artsy town we get to live in.

I almost left after about a half hour - it was so crazy I couldn't even buy a Heineken (the official sponsor of the Film Festival and required drinking) - but I got pulled back in by some cool people who wouldn't let me leave. I screwed together some courage to buy a drink for that sassy lady who faithfully ran the Jean Cocteau/Film Museum venue all weekend, and ran into this cat Justin Toast while I was waiting at the bar.

He asked if I was a writer - he remembered my name and said that I'd once said really nice and encouraging things about him and his band at a gig at Bar B about ten thousand years ago. For a moment, I was totally lost, and then, I remembered that gig and his band and that night, so today I wrote him a letter about it:

Dear Justin Toast:

I don't think I could possibly forget that gig....there's a kinda weird story as to why. I was staying at the youth hostel in Santa Fe and I was in between houses - miserable time of my life. Anyway, there was this cat at the hostel who was on vacation from Scotland and wanted to go out and drink. I told him I couldn't take him around because I was broke. He flashed some cash, said it was on him, and suddenly, I found myself at Bar B.

There was this really weird band playing (yours) when we walked in, and I kinda wanted to bail because I sorta thought Rod Oliver was a bit of an ass and i didn't think I really liked his stuff. (As it turns out, I was really impressed with him too by the time the night was over, he even gave me a record that I still own and play.) I figured we'd stay for one drink and then maybe go to El Farol or something. We finished that one drink and I said, "Let's bail," but he just bought me another drink and told me to sit tight. Turns out he was flirting with this girl who worked behind the bar.

So I was more or less stuck - the guy who was buying wanted to stay, there really wasn't anyone to flirt with, so - I was stuck watching the music. I got into your band and the guy who I'd brought kept an eye on me - everytime I was half-way finished with a drink, he'd order me another. God love those Scots...

Anyway - he went home with that chick (we stayed until closing) I got HAMMERED, and flirted unsuccessfully with a couple girls, and got really into the music because I had Nothing Better to Do. I sorta fell in love with both acts in that way that you do when you're stuck getting drunk in a place.

As it turned out - Ian (the Scot) MARRIED that fucking girl. From what I hear, they're living happily together in Edinburgh. And whenever he comes back to Santa Fe, he buys me drinks until I'm fucking pickled. I woulda told you that story last night but it was too fucking chaotic in there to say much more than, "Oh yeah...that gig. I remember your band..."

My PIcks for Saturday.

2007-12-01T00:45:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for Friday's wrap-up, click here.

Here are my picks for Saturday, in case you're lost:

11:15am - Eyes of Van Gogh - feature about Van Gogh's tenure in a mental institution. @ Tipton Hall.

1:45 - We Walk As Dine - a collection of eight shorts about life on the Navajo Rez. @ MIAC.

3:45 - American Meth - a gotta see in my mind. I've been trying to catch it for months. Doc about meth narrated by Val Kilmer.

7pm - Searchers 2.o - Feature about two cowboy actors who must save themselves through knowledge of Sergio Leone movies. Seems un-missable. @ the Armory for the Arts

Toss-up
either Monster Camp at 9pm @ CCA (my gf wants to see it) or Gimme Skelter (another local horror flick) @10:30 at the Film Center. Both sound kind of awful, so neither would have to be that good to impress me.

Off the Rocker Celebrates the New OldLocal feature "Necroville" Blows "Tuesday Morning": An unforgettable short

2007-11-30T21:04:00.000-08:00

(A scene from "Off the Rocker: The Senior Side of the Strip")

Blew off the past two days of the Film Festival because I was DOWN for the count with a freakin' cold. Got back on my feet tonight amidst medication drowsiness to go see "Redacted." What a powerhouse. I wish kids would see films like this before they volunteer for the military - support the troops, sure, but if kids stopped signing up, the war would disappear.

I was standing in line when I ran into Matthew Bardocz, maker of the film "Off the Rocker: The Senior Side of the Strip." As a juror for the film festival this year, I must've seen 200 shorts - this one was a stand-out that I forgot about (when you see a lot, they blur) but remembered instantly when he handed me the card.

This 47-minute documentary is one of those hard-to-place pictures - where does it go, you wonder, or, as I did while watching it - whose idea was this movie? It follows the lives of a group of senior citizens who get up early for exercise and stay up late to dance and party. As I said to the film-maker - "It's a gem and it has an audience, and that audience is anyone who is certain they're going to get old but unclear about a beautiful image to go with that reality."

I loved this movie and stumped for it when it came time to rally for it. Blame illness on why I forgot about it. You can check it out all by yourself on Saturday, December 1st (that's today) at 4pm at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Tickets $10 unless you've got a pass.

* * * * * *

Capsule review of "Necroville": Who can resist a cheesy B grade horror flick, especially at a film festival? Tonight I trudged over to the Film Center in the rain to catch the 10:30 showing of Necroville. I'll see any kind of horror movie - genre pictures are often predictable, but they often have hidden gems within them, particularly devotees of the genres try to make one of their own. This one looks like it was fun to make - it had all the earmarks of a first film, and it looks like everyone's friends were involved. It had fairly good production values, fairly decent acting, and a Troma-inspired premise where you are already living in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies, vampires, and other creatures of the dark are part of the landscape.

I left after an hour. I only stayed that long because the entire movie was made in New Mexico, obviously by local cats who are fairly serious about making a watchable film. I found it unwatchable because of two elements - a sub-plot involving a completely bitchy girlfriend, and a scene where fifteen goth kids "had to be killed." I know it was supposed to be funny, but it just made me groan. The film had likable elements, but it just wasn't enough to keep me for the full movie. This film does have the makings for at least a local cult classic, the kind of movie people mark as a film that inspired audience members to make films, or inspired film-makers to make better movies next time around.

* * * * * * * *

Wandering around tonight, my memory was jarred to recall two shorts that I watched as a juror that are completely unmissable. The first is called "Damned to Heaven: Escape from Polygamy," a documentary about that weird little town in Utah where old men trade 14-year-old girls around like chattal to satisfy their religious belief, or so they claim. The story of Warren Jeffs has already made national headlines - for those of us who like the state to stay out of religious beliefs, (I'm actually one of those people), this story forces reality to be recognized. There really *is* something wrong with forced marriages for people under eighteen, and this whole cult needs to be examined for the wrongfulness it perpetuates on its children. Don't believe me? Watch this movie, and then decide.

The other movie's name escapes me, so I can't even tell you if it's on the schedule, but it was without a doubt the best film I saw this year in jurying. It was a 24-minute documentary about the before, during, and aftereffects of the Columbine shooting. Absolutely riveting, a first film and one of the gutsiest things I've seen in years. Here we go - I found the name in my mail queue because I wrote to people in other places about it. The film was called "Tuesday Morning" and it didn't make the cut. A true shame. It was one helluva movie, a real tough piece of work. I guess I should've hassled Steve and Jon a bit harder. Hopefully, this film will see many audiences - it was really a great one.

Santa Fe Film Festival Opens Leading Film Pooh-Bah Thinks Content Creators who haven't been as successful as he is are whiners

2007-11-29T01:46:00.000-08:00

Just came from the Film Festival opening at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame - I honestly would've forgotten about it if I hadn't seen the klieg lights spreading the news across the skies. I haven't yet picked up my pass (a film maker's pass, can you believe it?) so I had to pay $7 at the door, but it was nice to see a packed house and listen to the sounds of Joe West and the Santa Fe All-Stars, drink a Heineken, and hem and haw my way through the inevitable question of what I thought were the Must Sees of the film festival.

In all honestly, the only thing I want to see is "Control", aka "The Ian Curtis Movie." Ian Curtis was the lead singer of Joy Division, which is probably in my top ten of all-time favorite bands...listening to Curtis belt out "Transmission" or "Leaders of Men" is definitively one of my favorite things to do to this day. Recently, I got to watch "24 Hour Party People" and the Joy Division parts brought goosebumps to my whole body.

Curtis made his mark by writing killer rock songs and having the good luck to have Factory Records record them suckers before he hung himself at the age of 23. ***23***! We should all be so lucky to write great shit before 50. Curtis and his band were a GIANT influence, not just on bands but on people like me who wanted to write the absolutely most honest things we could possibly say, be it in a pop song or in real life. To quote my most favoritest song, "Auto-Suggestion":

"So take your chances step outside.

So lose some sleep and say you tried.

A point of view creates more ways."

The film won a standing ovation at Cannes in May, but it's mostly word of mouth that has reached me, through the Internet and fan 'zines and such. Little else about the fest really excites me, though that might have something to do with my role as a juror. I easily watched 200 films (mostly shorts, but still) this year, and there's not that many that stand out for me, sadly. The fact is that most of the compelling content I've watched in the past year has been on YouTube or via sharing networks (aka "bootlegs") which brings me to The Other Thing I did tonight.

I have a minor flame war happening on the MISP list. Basically, someone posted something about how Jaron Lanier, former cyberspace "visionary" and now basic writer slob like the rest of us, has finally figured out that unless you're riding high on the wave of some fad, a content creator can have a fairly crummy existence in the Information Age. Much of the *best* content out there is created - and distributed - more or less for free, leaving content creators with an Inbox full of "favoriteds" and not much else. I happened to point this out, whereupon a veteran of the industry and co-creator of the MISP document, Frank Zuniga, (himself riding high at the moment thanks to his fine networking skills and killer connections) basically posited that anyone who didn't clam up and take the lumps of the inequities of the business was a big fat whiner. (I think he was talking to me, but who knows really?) To quoth Frank,

"Filmmakers and content providers have chosen a career that high risk and should be driven by a passion for what they have to offer. For me, this has always been a feast or famine existence. My passion is what keeps me looking under every rock and expanding my network to find those who find my work/content marketable. There is no panacea. It takes a lot of hard work and persistence to make the slightest progress. If a filmmaker/content provider finds a need to whine every time they get a turn down or don't hit the motherlode, they really should seek another way to make a living. If it was easy, anybody could do it.

The internet is embryonic and needs to develop systems that level the playing field. It is not someone else that is going to develop the systems that make the glass slipper fit your foot. It is your hard work and tenacity that is going to get that done. Otherwise, get out of the kitchen."

I honestly wonder if Mr. Zuniga would've said this without his extensive experience and ties to the industry. I honestly wonder if Mr. Zuniga honestly thinks that the way to grow the film industry is to provide more or less zero protections for people who might create content. I honestly wonder if Mr. Zuniga would seek to stifle the debate of labor protections only in the case of his own personal exalted creator class, or if his opinions would extend to other film-workers, such as laborers below-the-line in the film world. Does Mr. Zuniga think that the writers currently on strike in Hollywood are whiners also?

According to his bio (which he was kind enough to post on the list as exemplary of his outstanding credentials in this industry) Mr. Zuniga was the Director of the New Mexico Film Office for the years 2003-2004. Thus, here we have an industry heavyweight with

with ties to the current administration that claims up and down the street that they wanna support the Industry in every possible way is basically saying, "You're totally on your own, and if you bitch about the terms, you're a whiner."

That is so excellent. Thank Frank, for all your kind words.

The fact of the matter is really that the entertainment industry in particular, and the content world in general, is in something close to total turmoil over how to deal with the fact that a lot of the content that people eat up isn't being created by people who are getting compensated for their work. To state that creatives who are fed up with that particular state of affairs are nothing but a bunch of whiners who should go elsewhere is essentially stating that an entire class of workers are not entitled to the same protections, benefits, and rights as other types of workers. This is nothing new - people in positions of privilege frequently feel that Horatio Alger style "hard work and tenacity" is what separates them from the rest of the failing populace, but the reality is that changing conditions in the way we produce and consume content and media means that there WILL have to be changes in the way we compensate people for their work.

This demands meaningful dialog and support from those in a position to have influence on the situation. Calling people who want to be fairly compensated for work they create "whiners" isn't exactly the best way to go about it. Acting as if all workers go it alone and either make or break it isn't really owning up to the reality of the situation, which is that content creators are a remarkably large group of people, not just a bunch of writers like me hanging out in lofts waiting for their big break.

I was remarkably saddened to discover that the guy who called for those who aren't quite making it in the new paradigm whiners is actually in a position to make changes within the very industry that so much of New Mexico's economic re-development is based around. Zuniga's comments are remarkably callous - I certainly hope he continues to ride the wave that he's on. Should he fall, perhaps he'll see that the strategies that have worked for him aren't necessarily panaceas for the rest of the populace either.

Old Home Day at the Whitney & Other New York Stories

2007-11-12T11:08:00.001-08:00

"I Will Not Make Anymore Boring Art."

- by John Baldessari (now housed at the Whitney Museum)

So the other night I went to the Whitney. It was Friday night to be precise, and much to my surprise I arrived there and found a line snaking around the block. It was pay what you can night, but I still paid $5. The Whitney wasn't nearly as massive as I expected it to be - sure, there are five floors, but it just wasn't that huge compared to its reputation but I digress.

I was there to see the Kara Walker exhibition, which was so great I almost left in disgust. Not really disgust so much as a sense of being totally overwhelmed with these wild cross-hatches of brutal honesty and over-the-edge irony. It was completely intense, this show, beginning from the moment you get off the elevator and see a stylized silhouette cut-out of a black girl sucking off a white boy. And then there was the cartoon of the black slave girls who take over the plantation and gang-rape the plantation owners with broom sticks. I felt like I'd actually seen that before, either at IAIA or Site Santa Fe, but familiarity didn't make it any less difficult to watch. I did leave, eventually, driven out by this strange sense of shame after watching this school tour of black teenage girls - say 18-24 year-olds - walk around and react to the show. It was just *odd*, the whole damn thing.

There were safer things to see elsewhere. I really dug Mark Bradford's stuff on the first floor. I guess the deal is that this guy roams around his neighborhood pulling flyers off posts and walls and then manipulates them on these giant canvasses. I liked the way they looked and I was especially pleased once I knew what he was doing - I kinda like the way people will map out physical terrain by taking pieces of it home and playing with it. I like that kinda thing because it makes me think it would be something I might do, or could imagine myself doing if I actually managed to play around with visual art things. It's kinda like collage without any clear context but texture, but I dug that pretty well.

I was heading upstairs for the modernism stuff, (which turned out to include a few de Koonings I hadn't seen before and a terribly compelling Hopper that I adored but not much else) when the elevator door opened on a lower floor at the "Two Years" exhibition, which showed off the museum's acquisitions from the past two years. From the corner of my eye I could see across two rooms a drawing of a horse that reminded me of a Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and I hopped off the elevator to satisfy my curiosity. Bam! Wouldn't you know it? QTS Smith's "War is Heck" soon filled my view. I guess I saw it at the UNM show a couple of years ago. She is, of course, a New Mexico artist and quite a fine one at that.

Right next door to her painting was a video installation, (only Nauman gets away with calling a television with a VCR attached an "installation") that I actually recognized also, a Bruce Nauman from the late '80s called "Green Horses." Nauman. His content is so easy to understand. Why he's in all these important collections with what seems to be such uninteresting stuff is the real puzzling mystery. However, he too is a New Mexico artist, as was his producer for this bit, Juliet Myers, (now a curator at Site Santa Fe) and Visulka Studios is in Santa Fe, of course. I sat and watched the whole thing about ten times (it's about a minute long) and was pleased to have some place to sit.

Food, drink, & transportation

With the notable exception of $50 I spent on a pair of shoes (I walked into a store and a woman told me my Converse hi-tops were UGLY and I wasn't allowed to leave unless I bought new shoes) and $15 I spent on a gift for my mom, every last dime I've spent since I've been in NYC has been on food, drink, and transportation, with the bulk of it being on food and drink. I'd like to say I've had all kinds of crazy expensive meals, but the fact is that I've been eating A LOT of pizza. Lots and lots.

It's easy and its everywhere. Just today for lunch I had two slices of pizza - one was a slice of pizza rustica margherita, which means that there's whole patches of sauce showing without any cheese on it, and the cheese in this case was freakin' fresh mozarella. The crust was paper-thin on this puppy, and the basil was fresh full-leaf pieces. $2 at a place called L'Asso on Elizabeth and Lafayette. Nearby was a place called Pomodoro - home of the vodka slice. Vodka sauce is basically a hyped-up marina with (yes) added vodka and a little pureed action to make it shocking pink. It was heavenly ($3.25) and included one of the special aspects of really nifty slices of pizza - the crunchy crust that also seems to magically melt in your mouth. I can't explain it, I really can't.

There's so much to see and do here - you just have to pick what's do-able. Below is a picture of the legendary Store Where Rice Pudding is King. I've included a picture because after all this pizza, it was enough just to have found the place. Going inside is something I'll have to do the next time I'm here...

Semi-Local Boy Does Good Soul Jerky Passed a Funding Round

2007-11-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

click to greatly enLARGE

Somewhere back in the mid-1990s, I found myself living in the back office of the Offsite arts space, located in the DMZ in Santa Fe. Offsite at that time was in its first incarnation in a former auto body shop, a big shotgun space with concrete floor and one little room that housed by Mac LC2 with a dial-up connection. The roof of the office was where I slept, in a little loft area on a futon.

It was here that the Waxaktun Space Station project touched down one bright weekend when a bunch of counter-cultural luminaries from Santa Fe and Taos took the place over and proceeded to cover the concrete with sod to make for a comfy dance floor. Art critic Dean Balsamo, media critic Antonio Lopez, Reign of Toads publisher Kyle Silfer and Spiros Antonopolous, DJ and founder of the Souljerky Whirling Infinity Research Labs were among the co-conspirators. As Antonopoulus said at the time, "We're here to create an intersection point for making the aliens among us feel at home."

Whether the point of the project was to bring the aliens in from the cold or bring out the aliens within us all was never made clear, but it was one wacky party, that's for sure. Few of the folks present, (other than Balsamo, who was definitely from another planet) were wackier or more out there than Spiros - but who could've imagined that half a lifetime I would find myself in New York City witnessing him - and his company, now simply known as SoulJerky - receiving their first big round of funding for what is becoming a rapidly evolving yoga lifestyle and media company?

Yes, Virginia - EVOLUTION happens. What began as a rave production company in the nineties is now something "completely different." One thing that hasn't changed is that Spiros is still dedicated to creating intersections to allow interesting things to happen, and SoulJerky is certainly no exception. Arriving in New York City six years ago with his partner Erin Flynn to become a full-time professional DJ, Spiros took some yoga classes and found that the pull towards the lifestyle of yoga was more magnetic than the one towards being a DJ.

Souljerky.com, which at the time was just a blog, began to be used as a vehicle for some of Spiros yoga-inspired projects, which included TeaStall, where he dished out Chai Tea for New York yogis at six o'clock in the morning, every morning, as well as various yoga-related fashion, writing and travel projects. One memorable project had Spiros pre-selling 108 t-shirts for $108 a piece, then taking the shirts to India where they were blessed by wandering saddhus.

Today, Souljerky is a number of existing and planned projects all centering around the yoga lifestyle. While the blog is still the most visible and consistent aspect of the company, plans include yoga videos, an aruvedic cooking show, food products such as homemade ghee and chai mixes, and other wacky that I think are probably not for public consumption at this time, but which would certainly strike you as ambitious and fun. Also undisclosed is the amount of funding that the company has received - but let's just say they've got a fairly swank office a couple blocks from Canal Street in SoHo.

"What we did back in the day was to try to make the process of life more fun," said Spiros. "This isn't much different, except we're not partying now. But we're still living in the madness of being alive - only this time around, we're being a bit more contemplative and hopefully more engaged with ourselves and the world.

Live from Alphabet City

2007-11-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

Up late last night twitching on the couch at Courtney's, I'm always like this before I leave for a trip, not so much nervous as just trying to put things in order at least in my head before I get any new stimulus. I decided security checkpoints at airports are really just about performance art - how slowly can you get undressed and how many of those grey boxes can you fill with your various stages of possible suspects?

The plane rides were one Giant Nap after another - i put a blanket over my head and pretended I was somewhere else and just disappeared. the fun began at LaGuardia... I abandoned plans to take a city bus and subways and took a private bus to Grand Central Station for $12. On seeing it outsie the bus window in all its grandeur, I could've wept and I knew that all of it had been worthwhile, even the jostling on the subway downtown to Spring Street...

I walked to the offices of Souljerky (more on them later) and there found Spiros in a room full o geeks with laptops and a media company with more ghee than any other media company I've ever known. We walked from there to a friend's house where I was fed the most delicious cleansing gruel, and from there we walked to Alphabet City...I sit now exhausted and naked with a computer across my knees, looking forward to the morning and all the good things I will do...

Leaving for New York City on Wednesday

2007-11-05T01:34:00.000-08:00

So I'm up late, researching all the museums I want to go to. I feel like such a hayseed. I'm going to New York, I'm going to New York!

I've been before but it's been years. I promised myself a trip there this fall in exchange for blowing off Burning Man this year. I wanted to see a real city, a place that *wouldn't* disappear in seven days. How novel...

I have plans. I'm staying with some friends who run this cool website about spirituality. I hope while I am there to see my friends Turi Mckinley and Josh Schrei. But mostly, I am hoping to troll museums and maybe some galleries, in particular the George Gustav Heye Center, the MOMA, the Met, and the Whitney.

I'm only there a week. I just want to get on subways and look at people and architecture and art and eat hot dogs on the street. My friend Spiros sez he's taking me to some lecture on Buddhism at Columbia. Columbia! You mean that big ol' college where all the smart people hang out? Take me there, for ANYTHING. I'm so fucking there.

Mostly, I just want to feel the pulse. I don't really have any hidden agendas. Yes, I'm bringing my portfolio and samples and a resume but I hardly think I have what it takes to live there. It is, however, without a doubt, the last big American city I would consider living in. Not forever, mind you, maybe just for a couple of years. I get all excited just imagining what it would be like to have some little hovel and some weird hobbies and stuff there.

More and more I'm thinking that if I don't get new stimulus, I'm going to do something other than write stuff. It's a really tough gig but I don't know what else I'd do. I feel sorta terrible at it - I have all these smart friends and acquaintances like him, him, him, and her who've put out big splashy books and I'm just kinda inching along in blog-land, with stars in my eyes, just wishing. I have all these smart artist friends like him, and him, and her and him who are putting out great work. Maybe I am destined to be just sorta average, writing about cool people but never really doing something exciting like this guy.

Sigh. Well, who knows? Wish me luck!

Daniel Pinchbeck on Mayans & Time

2007-11-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

This one goes out to my buddy Walker B. : The ice is thawing and so is my ignorance. Rock on, motherfucker.

Spotlight on: Bunky Echo-Hawk

2007-11-02T09:23:00.001-07:00

Bunky Echo-Hawk, painter, poet, DJ, graffiti writer, etc. is above all a great activist in the Native American art community. Is there anyone alive at this point who hasn't received an email from Bunky about some cause or another? Is there anyone left on myspace or facebook that isn't Bunky's pal? I get his news everywhere I go. Within days of joining a new social network, he finds me, as does whatever he's promoting or involved with. Like the other day, when I got this announcement that Bunky will be donating a live painting to Red Ink, a student publication from the University of Arizona:

Nawa Tsatiks-si-tsatiks . . .

I am very proud to be able to offer this opportunity. My art is being featured again in the upcoming issue of Red Ink Magazine, a student publication produced at the University of Arizona. The issue release party is coming up, on November 9, in Tucson, AZ.

Here's the goodie. At this premiere party, I will create a 'live' painting...48" x 60". This is a big painting, needless to say. This size canvas sells, off of my easel, for $4,300.

HOWEVER...I am donating this painting to Red Ink Magazine. They are pre-selling raffle tickets (online, too!), as a fundraising effort to sustain the publication. You DO NOT have to be present to win!

So, please consider purchasing AT LEAST ONE raffle ticket, for $5.00. Your generosity will empower artists, the students, the future of the magazine, and ALL who read it. You can have a hand in the Native Art Movement!

You can purchase online at: www.redinkmagazine.com

Ta'Tura Tsiksu (With Much Respect),

Bunky Echo-Hawk
(Pawnee/Yakama)

I first met Bunky Echo-Hawk thanks to America Meredith, who told me I had to meet this crazy artist activist from Colorado. If America thought he was cool, he probably was, and so I sought him out at Indian Market 2005. We shot the shit over drinks at Evangelo's in Santa Fe, and I found out about a few of the things that Bunky was into, including NARF (the Native American Rights Foundation) and NVision, the youth arts organization that he co-founded and currently serves as the Executive Director. Bunky is a cool guy and his enthusiasm for Native America's art and people is infectious.

As a painter, Echo-Hawk uses a bright, almost flourescent palette that is reminiscent of rock'n'roll silk-screen artists like Frank Kozik and others. His style reveals his skills as a graphic designer, and most of his paintings are like wild cartoons, each of which has a "punchline" that tends to comment on Native issues. Echo-Hawk style de guerre is to deliver the meme within the punchline and spread it far and wide through whatever the medium, be it paint or poetry or through his activist existence.

As Echo-Hawk says on his myspace profile, "I live to be a voice. I live to see, in my lifetime, change for the better. I live for proactive action. This is how I’m living. How are you living?"

To own or collect Echo-Hawk isn't really so much to cultivate a great fine artist as it is to assist and support a master propagandist with what I'd call a damn righteous agenda. Buy a raffle ticket and support the cause - of Native art, and Echo-Hawk. He may never win any grand prizes for his paintings, (thought he certainly paints better than I do) but for his unending support of everything and everyone Native, Bunky Echo-Hawk is in a class by himself. And that makes an Echo-Hawk in the living room an utterly priceless objet d'art. (I don't yet own one - but I bought three tickets for $10.)

For more Bunky Echo-Hawk paintings, click.

2007-10-28T22:36:00.001-07:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8
embedding disabled at the request of the uploader.

So thanks to technology and the World Wide Web and BitTorrent, I am currently listening to a ripped video of "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, (coming at ya on the DVD player in the living room) and ALSO listening to "Mmmmmm....Skyscraper, I Love You" by Underworld, courtesy of pandora.com. Both of these entertainments come at voume eleven...my house sounds like a discoteque of two different era, one '80s, one '90s, but both of them more or less expressing the apothesis of their particular times.

In the course of researching something last week for a personal project, I inadvertently downloaded the so-called Top Thirty Music Videos of All Time, and to the surprise of no one, the top of the list was none other than Michael Jackson's Thriller video. I wish I had some kind of tremendous insight to offer about this seminal project of early MTV land - I don't, really, except to say that I just watched it and I was just goddamn stunned at what a fucking masterwork it was for the time in which it was made.

Art, oddly enough, can be found anywhere. And what makes art ART, IMHO, boy and girls, is when people look at what's going down in the zeitgeist and says, "I can make something better, something that synthesizes the totality of the context in which THIS THING is being expressed - and i can take it to the next level." VERY FEW ARTISTS *EVER* DO THIS. (I'm one of them, so I know.) What makes a critic like me really cream is when someone dares to look at the context and make something brilliant - even if twenty-five years later it looks a little cheesy. Thriller looks cheesy today - but remembering what it was like to watch it then, and knowing what was going down at the time now, makes this video a MasterWork of art that will actually stand the test of time. Can you say the same for your work? I can't. But can you? Please jesus, I really hope so...if just for my sake alone.

Native American Arts Foundation (NARF) Announces Winners of Young Native American Artists Competition

2007-10-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

"Untitled" from the IAIA War Paint show
by Monty Singer

The Native American Rights Foundation, (NARF) located in Boulder, Colorado, announced the winners of its competition for Young Native Artists for its Modern Day Warrior show last week. Thirty-nine artists from thirty-four tribes made the final cut, including X number of artists from New Mexico. They are:

NARF also selected three Modern Day Warrior "Best-in-Show" artists, including NMAN alumni and Navajo artist Monty Singer, who won for his piece "Old Fears, New Rituals" shown above. Singer is also showing a piece (shown below) at the IAIA Museum's "War Paint" show, which opened two weeks ago to local and international acclaim.

NARF is a non-profit organization that provides legal representation and technical assistance to Native tribes, individuals and organizations in order to provide equal access to the justice system for Native Americans. This show is their 2nd Annual and is a fund-raising event for the organization. The show will be held November 10th in Boulder.

"Old Fears, New Rituals"

by Monty Singer

How to Make a 'Zine

2007-10-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

This shit totally rocks. Check it out and then MAKE ONE.

Tenacious D has a posse

2007-10-13T10:49:00.001-07:00

From the "egregious promotion of friends" file:

So a few years ago, I lived in a compound across the way from what I can only call a classic Santa Fe transplant. His name was Mike Brown and he spent his days writing, reading, taking photograph, making visual poetry and playing his guitar. He LIVED the DREAM of the true Santa Fe art dropout, and someone in that vein myself, we had a lot to talk about.

Now, Mike Brown has moved to La Mesilla, the little town within a town in Las Cruces. Why *anyone* would live *there* to be an art dropout is beyond me, but this video is a product of his down-south efforts. Enjoy at your own peril.

24-Hour Party People

2007-10-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

Joy Division performs "Transmission" from 24 Hour Party People

There's so many movies out there to watch, and so many are just absolute drek. If you'rea fan of the band Joy Division, can I just say I watched something that had me glued to my seat tonight? You know some movies make you say, "I want to make a movie like that." This one made me think, "I want to live a life like that." Check it out. I BitTorrented my copy.

Escort Services in Santa Fe?

2007-10-02T17:06:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems like they exist. And it seems like there are a lot of them.

A few months ago, a client asked me what I knew about escort services - as if I'd know. But I became a bit intrigued. Surely, you don't have 300 conferences a year in a city and not have a sex trade spring up, but I'd never had any direct experience with it. Still haven't, but according to a few phone calls, it's not as expensive as you'd think.

$200 an hour plus tips seemed about average. Okay, pricey for dinner, but maybe not for sex. Who knows how it actually plays out? Does anyone? Write and tell me what you experienced - I'm interested, though not really enough to try it myself....

The new Kevin Kline movie "Trade" might keep you from trying out a prostitute, here or anywhere, since after all, they might have been kidnapped at age 13 to satisfy your carnal needs. (I'm sure it's not that bad for most...I kinda like to think of prostitution as a potentially liberating profession.) Local MOVIE STAR Barbara Mayfield in this delightful romp in the hay as ...you guessed it! A Waitress!

James Luna Comes to Albuquerque

2007-09-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

James Luna and toy pose as coloful pomo Kokopelli
Saturday, September 29 at 3:30 pm at the IPCC in Albuquerque

In 1987, a then relatively unknown artist James Luna enacted a piece for which he would become as famous as Native American performance artists can hope to be. The show, which went up at San Diego's Museum of Man, was titled "The Artifact Piece," and it featured Luna lying inside a display like an anthropological "indigenous man," mocking Western modes of objectifying Native American bodies and artifacts.

Overnight, the Native American art world had "discovered" (or perhaps had thrust upon them) their own avant-garde weirdo performance artist, on par or exceeding the mainstream's heroes like Laurie Anderson, Karen Finley, and others of the period. Through spoken word, performance, and installation, (including digital installations like this one), Luna was certainly been at the forefront of the movement to fashion a new kind of Native Art, one that is quite far away from the "stuff for tourists coming off the train," that a lot of us would like to see a whole lot less of in the Native Art world..

The National Museum of the American Indian seemed to think very highly of him when it sent him as their sole representative to the Venice Biennale in 2005. There, Luna, (a member of the Luiseño Tribe of California Mission Indians) performed a piece called "Emendatio", which was dedicated to a Luiseño leader named Pablo Tac who, in the 1830s, was sent to Rome to learn Western ways and Catholicism, but died before he could return to his people.

Research this fellow, if you've a mind for that new kinda art, for this cat is the real McCoy, as interesting an artist as anyone working today, Native or not. And now you have a chance to see him, this Saturday, September 29 at 3:30 pm the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Show up to the event on Saturday at the IPCC in Albuquerque - it should go without saying that I have no idea what kind of performance Mr. Luna will enact - but I'm sure it will be interesting and worth yer precious time.

Admission $6 for adults, Native Americans free.

Best New Rumor of the Week: CCA

2007-09-27T23:38:00.000-07:00

The best rumor I heard lately in Santa Fe, better even than their former ED was forced out after misappropriating funding and having a very public affair with an heiress which ended his marriage, (go figure) is that the Center for Contemporary Art is about $168,000 in debt and that a bunch of board members (including, perhaps, board chair Alan Fleischer) are about to jump ship to avoid the heat when ...the shit comes down? Like what, when the super CCA-friendly Reporter seems to have no stomach for investigating its own ken? Doubt it. The New Mexican seems an unlikely spot for blowing the place up - did anyone even bother to report the Actual Truth that the last ED resigned under extreme duress? If someone did, I missed it completely...

True or not, CCA is a veritable hotbed of rumors these days - the best entertainment happening over there, sadly, is neither on wall nor stage nor screen but in watching the wacky antics of board and staff experience the growing pains of become a full-grown institution. And you know what they say about institutions...

War Art

2007-09-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

O How the Mighty Have Fallen

2007-09-24T01:37:00.000-07:00

I used to write things in my blog - lately, I spend so much time on the Internet looking at different web phenomena (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, blogs, SEO stuff) that I just have nothing to write about.

So look at this!

Because I don't get accosted in public enough ;-)

2007-09-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

Elissa Beaton, "Sacrificial Lamb" 54" x 36" mixed media $2800

Okay - so every month or so I get an announcement for the latest Salon Mar-Graff, which loyal readers might recall I reviewed over the winter, and most of the time I go but not always and I guess when I don't, my absence is noted.

So maybe I shouldn't have been too surprised when I was accosted by Elissa Beaton, one of this week's feature artists at the SMG, while standing in line at Trader Joe's. According to a picture that came as part of the e-mail announcing the September Salon, Beaton's work seems like a kind of mixed media sculpture thing. Interesting, but without seeing her work in real life, I'd say it must be *special* because she was so willing to hassle me to show up and see it.

It's really true - I don't get accosted nearly enough in public. Folks should be stampeding me wherever I go to implore me, as Ms. Beaton did, to show up at their shows in that vague hope that *maybe*, just *maybe* I'll be inspired and write something cool about it.

I haven't seen it yet. All I've got is this picture. I think it's pretty cool - but it's not what's inspiring me to go - my fear of seeing Elissa at the Trader Joe's again is inspiration enough.

Salon Mar-Graff goes down on Thursday (5-8) & Friday (6-9) night, 9/20 & 9/21. It is located at 25C Big Tesuque Road. If you haven't been yet - go. Check their website up top for more info...

Brandi Carlilie Sings "Hallelujah" in Portland

2007-09-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

Santa Fe's El Paseo Bar & Grill Sucks Don't Go There

2007-09-10T22:04:00.002-07:00

Tonight I had an evening of such fine entertainment that it could have only happened here. This was the night that my friend Gentry Bronson was to have played The El Paseo - with luck, he's playing there now, but I won't be there to see it, for reasons I'll explain.

The evening began when my friend and I decided to take in dinner at Del Charro, where we each had one beer with a GIANT hamburger, all for less than $25 with tip. As usual, the service at Del Charro was exemplary. We were very conscious of only having one drink because since Gentry was playing a gig, both of us were likely to be up all night, or at least until bar closing time.

From dinner, we went over to the El Paseo. I drank water at the bar, absent-mindedly watching the football game while Gentry set up his rig. Should I spell it out? W-A-T-E-R. Okay, the deal with the gig was that Gentry wasn't to actually until Monday Night Footbal was over, which meant we had some time to kill. So we decided, once our photographer Nate Duran arrived, to talk around town and shoot pictures.

We went to the Matador and shot there. We went to the Lensic and shot there, and then to the Father Earth Mother Sky Gallery. Then we went to the Matador and had ONE BEER. One. For a total of two beers spread across three hours with food.

So afterwards, about ten-thirty, we headed back to the El Paseo. I went inside alone because Nate wanted to smoke and Gentry said he had to get something from his truck. I sat first at the bar, but then remembering that *I wasn't planning until drinking until the gig started* (and I'm dead serious, I was thinking this) I sat off in a center banco bar stool.

The bottom line is this - One: there were a bunch of DRUNK-ASS frat boys types in the bar watching the game. They were in there for HOURS drinking, yet somehow, I was held up for scrutiny and they weren't. Two - my friend's car was fucked with RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BAR and yet no one saw it - and YET, someone did *supposedly* see me trip or "stumble" somewhere in front of the bar. When? Who?

Matt Ortiz is playing a dangerous game when he decides that lunk-heads should run his door. The Matador ALREADY has the majority of my bar business - and after this, you can make goddamn sure I will NEVER be going to the El Paseo EVER again. If your bar is full with a bunch of snitches who can't see straight and somehow can't manage to see a car robbery going on right in front of them - can anyone else see the irony here? - what makes you think I would trust you to show me a good time or pour me a beer?

ps: I tip well. Ask the guys at the Matador, you dicks.

Santa Fe's El Paseo Bar & Grill Sucks Don't Go There

2007-09-10T22:04:00.001-07:00

Know Any Kids Who Blog?

2007-09-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

Please feel free to forward.

Hi. My name is Gregory Pleshaw and I'm a writer in New Mexico who will soon be teaching a class on blogging at an Albuquerque middle school. I am surfing the Internet looking specifically for "kids or teens who blog" to give my students a sense of what they can do with a blog.

Are you or do you know a kid or teen who blogs? My students will be in the 12-14 year-old range, but if you know anyone who would be willing to pass on their blog URL to an educator looking to show examples, any age under 20 would be great. Any nation or topic is acceptable.

My real-life blog is located at http://gregoryp.blogspot.com, my myspace is http://www.myspace.com/gregoryptm. Thanks for your help.

cheers
gregoryp(tm)

Tody's cute puppy

2007-08-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

the level of intrigue

2007-08-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

that can be generated by an arts space is completely overwhelming. It's going to be so much fun over the next couple of weeks to watch people trip over themselves in trying to re-phrase Steve Buck's firing as some kind of "transitional" leadership change. Why is everybody just so full of shit?

Gary Famer Contemporary Has Issues

2007-08-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

How One Artist with a Myspace Account Can Ruin Your Whole Day

published Saturday in discoarse.com

CHAMISA MANAGEMENT mildly capitulates....Can't Wait to See 'em in COURT!

2007-08-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

So today I received a check in the mail from a strange source - Chamisa Management! You'll remember them from previous posts wherein they decided to charge me $22.50 AN HOUR for 23 hours as penance for cleaning the house I just moved out of - an amount that totalled $517.50, more than half my security deposit.

I lost my mind. I went BANANAS. $517.50 to clean ONE HOUSE? I mean, I know this is SANTA FE, and all, but some of us do WORK for a living. If I could get $517.50 to clean a house, I would CLEAN HOUSE all day long.

But the reality, of course, is that NO ONE GETS $517.50 to clean a house. No one on earth, I'd bet. Certainly not in a city with an Amnesty Law that enables a workforce of Mexican nationals free reign to hang out behind the Department of Labor all day long, actually willing to LABOR (like, lay bricks and shit) for $10 an hour. I realize the Living Wage here is $10.50 an hour and I suppose they could reasonably get away with charging $10.50 an hour to clean a house. Then I even read my lease and it said they could charge me $12 an hour to clean my yard - but that's still not ***$22.50*** an hour to clean the house.

But today, they sent me a check - they said that they too had actually READ MY LEASE and that they had to admit, they can only charge me $12 an hour to clean my YARD. So they were refunding $10.50 for each of the 9 hours they claim it took to clean my YARD, amounting to a refund of $94.50.

Well, dear Chamisa Management - I want to thank you for actually GETTING AROUND to READING MY LEASE. That was so damn thoughtful of you, I could *almost* cry. Thank you for admitting *after the fact* that my lease CLEARLY STATES you can only charge me $12 to clean my yard. Had you noticed that bit in the first place, I might have actually NOT GONE BANANAS when I received my pitiful and poorly calculated security deposit refund check. But had I NOT gone BANANAS, chances are good you would've NOT sent me this additional refund - which leads me to believe that your CASE is not that STRONG and that I might actually WIN if I continue with my CERTAIN PATH of TAKING YOU TO COURT.

For those of you just stepping in, I AM SUING CHAMISA MANAGEMENT for the ENTIRE AMOUNT of $988.50, because I believe they UNLAWFULLY calculated a time of 23 HOURS to clean my house, and then UNLAWFULLY decided to tack on an ARBITRARY WAGE of $22.50 an hour to clean it. The current total I have received from CHAMISA MANANGEMENT is now at$565, slightly more than half the original amount.

I may have to amend my CIVIL COMPLAINT LAWSUIT against CHAMISA MANAGEMENT ever so slighty in order to take into account this RECENT ADMISSION OF GUILT regarding the calculation of my deposit refund. Nevertheless, I plan to hire whatever process server I need to in order to SERVE STEVE YABLON, agent of CHAMISA MANAGEMENT, with a SUMMONS to APPEAR in MAGISTRATE COURT, to see what a JUDGE has to say about CHAMISA MANAGEMENT's calculation procedures when it comes to REFUNDING SECURITY DEPOSITS.

$517.50 is an awful lot to clean one TWO BEDROOM HOUSE. $423 is STILL quite a LOT to clean one TWO BEDROOM HOUSE. Keep working the numbers, kids, but something tells me I'll be SEEING YA IN COURT!

Will the real owner od CHAMISA MANAGEMENT please stand up?

2007-08-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

So we may have solved the problem as to why Chamisa Management is the plaintiff in 129 cases on nmcourts.com but is the defendant on none.

You can't *serve* a corporation with process papers in a court case. A corporation *can* be a plaintiff but cannot be a defendant. Fascinating, huh?

According to a google search, Steve Yablon is listed as an "agent" of Chamisa Management Corp. I had good reason to believe beforehand that Steve Yablon is the owner of Chamisa Management Corp., so he is who I listed on the paperwork.

But what if you had no idea whatsoever? What if you needed to know the name(s) of the actual people you wanted to serve if you wanted to sue your management company? How would you find out?

This will be today's burning question. I have a call in to landlord-tenant hotline, and a call to a wonky pal whose very smart about this sort of thing. If any of you have any ideas, please, pass 'em on. And remember - since you can't shoot 'em - SUE 'EM!

How to Sue Chamisa Management Corp./Vista Property Management in Small Claims Court

2007-08-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

Just before I left my perch to head over to the court house, I ran a quick check on Chamisa Management at nmcourts.

(by the way, Chamisa Management also operates under other names, including Vista Property Management, which I'll check later when nmcourts is back online. Oddly enough, Chamisa Management isn't listed, on google at least. Neither company has a website.)

It seems that my former landlords were involved in no less than 129 court cases at the moment I checked. We can presume, perhaps, that most of these were for late or non-payment of rent, as in every single of one of them, Chamisa Management was the plaintiff. Aka, the one sue'ing someone else.

Amazing, thought I, that a company could spend so much of it's time in the right while the rest of us are always wrong. Perhaps it's a koan or a lesson, me fellow poor folk - the rich get richer because they have no fear of using the courts. And at this point, neither do I.

(addendum: A possible reason why no one sues Chamisa Management Corp. - as I was leaving court, the clerk told me they couldn't serve a summons to a P.O. Box, which is what Chamisa Management Corp. (of course) lists on their paper work. Fortunately, I used to hand-deliver my rent - their physical address is 227 E Palace Ave # H Santa Fe, NM 87501, in case anyone wants to know.)

As I headed to court, (the one for small claims, by the way, is MAGISTRATE, located at the bleeding end of Galisteo Street on the other side of St. Michael's) I thought about what my arguments are against what I believe is a totally *excessive* cleaning fee. $517, by the way, in case you've forgotten. Here they are, in glorious detail:

1) I did not originally rent the property from Chamisa Management, but instead from Jane & Bill Buscher. Sometime during the winter, my house was sold to Chamisa Management - traded, actually, for another property on Alto Street. When I found out that Chamisa Management owned the house in which I lived, I asked them about "the future" and was told that my lease would not be extended beyond the original agreement I had with the Buchsers. I was told by one employee of the company that they planned to renovate the property and jack up the rents. I was later told by people in the office that it would be renovated and sold. Whatever the case, it was my understanding that the property would be renovated as soon as I moved out.

Indeed, I was offered in March that if I were to move out early, before my lease was through in July, I could have a free month's rent in April, an offer I declined. Clearly, Chamisa Management Corp. was in a rush to get into the house and renovate.

In the month before I moved out, I called Elaine Herrera at the office and left messages asking her if there was any specific check-list I should follow in cleaning the house. She never called back. At one point I spoke with someone in the office who told me, "they're just going to renovate, it doesn't matter too much."

I find it hard to believe that 23 hours was spent just on what I left behind and nothing else - like, say, for example, debris and cleaning from a renovation.

I dispute this cleaning bill because I simply do not believe that the activity of cleaning the house rested on my "mess" alone. I would like it to be proven to the court that the defendants went into my house after I moved out, cleaned it for 23 hours, and then renovated and cleaned it all over again with none of the cleaning from the renovation being included as part of my cleaning bill.

2) I would like to dispute the time time supposedly spent cleaning the house. 23 hours is an extraordinary amount of time for even the worst house-keeper. I would like to know how it is possible to spend 7 hours cleaning a washer, a dryer, and refrigerator particularly when I believe I cleaned those items before I left. I would like to know why I would be charged for painting - there were no visible stains on the walls when I left, and wouldn't that fall under normal wear and tear anyway? Given that the plaintiff to renovate, I'm a little confused why my deposit should pay for their upgrades.

3) I would like the dispute the hourly fee for cleaning the house. Santa Fe's living wage this year is at $10.50 an hour. How is it possible for Chamisa Management Corp. to more or less arbitrarily decide that $22.50/hr. is what they will pay to clean a house? Carpenters make $22.50/hr. if they're lucky. In the lease I signed, there was no provision which stated that I would be charged $22.50/hr. for house-cleaning. Can Chamisa Management Corp. charge me whatever it wants? I should think not.

It costs $67 to file in Small Claims Court. I'll do it for no better reason than to waste their time. They took my money. I want them to have to prove that a $517 cleaning bill is totally reasonable for a house that costs $985 a month. You mean I could've lived there for two extra weeks if I just cleaned it better?

By the way - the place was pretty clean when I left. Not picture perfect, I'll admit, but since I kept being told that they'd be renovating. With a charge like that, I should've trashed the place. But I didn't. Treating a tenant like they're total trash is evil. I can't wait to go to court - either I'll win or I'll get to see the judge side with these parasites and I'll have a much clearer understanding of the kind of person I should be in the future.

A Declaration of Investigation:Let's Hope No One is Safe

2007-08-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

On the day I decided, once and for all, to post the Gary Farmer Gallery story on discoarse.com, I went to the post office to find a check for $470 from my former landlord, Steve Yablon, aka Chamisa Management. The check was less than half of my original $985 deposit. I had been charged for 23 hours worth of cleaning at $22.50 an hour for a total cost of $517 as my "exit fee" for having been removed from this property by these consummate flippers. They kicked us out to renovate and then sell. We cleaned the place fairly well, I thought. Now I get to go stand in a small claims court just for the pleasure of hearing a judge say, "Mr. Pleshaw, I think it's completely fair that you were charged 7 hours at $22.50 to clean a washer, a dryer, and a refrigerator. These folks who own this building (of course) have more rights than you."

Let me state with no equivocation what's wrong with this country. People with big money get to screw people like you and me and there's very little recourse. We, in turn, as the happy poor are supposed to just suck it up and walk away. Not me. Not anymore. I've got the Internet - so, it turns out, do kids like Micah Wesley. I've been through a lot of hand-wringing over that piece, mostly because I didn't want to be "unfair" to a business that had potentially screwed people over. As Deborah Lamal said to me, "We're talking about $400."

Well let me tell you - $400 is close to a month's rent for me. It's a month worth of groceries for many. It's around half of the next damn security deposit that someone like me has to pull out of thin air when some property manager decides to jack you just because he knows he can.

The courts do next to nothing for people like us. If a business or a person decides to be unscrupulous to a regular guy like me, all I can do is get angry and try My Level Best not to go Postal. Newspapers rarely want to run such stories because they're so scared of getting sued that they tend to err on the side of the business that's doing the screwing.

This is why blogs exist. The Lewinsky story, odious as it was, might never have broken without Matt Drudge. I am *waaaaay* lesss interested in the President's sex life than I am in knowing which businesses screw little people when, in the hopes that the court of public opinion and public pressure will get people to change their ways and play fair.

Whoever doesn't play fair with me or my friends will get blogged. End of story. You don't like it, then LEARN TO PLAY FAIR. In a perfect world, perhaps, we'd move into the actual vigilante stage. Call this the information vigilante stage. Reputation is everything in the age of the Internet. Think about that as you plot your next move.

dis.Coarse

2007-07-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

Today I joined the "staff" at disCoarse.com

Founder and publisher Zane Fischer probably has some fancy copy for what it all means, but I just call "a boing-boing for local stuff."

My very first piece is about a movie you should see. Go read the piece.

Letter to Colin Scanlan, A Busker from Ireland

2007-07-18T00:11:00.000-07:00

Any day now, I'm going to re-title this blog. It doesn't have a damn thing to do with New Mexico Arts. It's about all the weird shit in my head....

In the summer of 1990, I met a young busker playing music on the streets of Ireland. I followed him around for a bit and saw the kind of Ireland that stays with me 'til this day. Recently, Colin tracked me down on Myspace and wrote me a note. He's got an EP out and about 7000 friends on myspace. Here is my reply to him:

Dear Colin:

It's taken a bit of time for me to get 'round to writing back to you, and it has less to do with a lack of time to do it in than with a thought about how honest I might actually be. And yet, as a shadow out of time, such as you are, and from a place that I often dream about, it seems that to speak the truth is the only way to go about it.

I became a writer, as I so longed to be back then - I've even written a bit of a book, though I often refer to it as "the demo" rather than the real deal. It was humbly published by yours truly just a few year ago, 2003 or so, when I realized that I might go my whole life without having one if I didn't publish one myself. It was called "The Collapse of Time: Confessions of a Quantum Humanist." Send us an address and I'd be happy to send you a copy.

Let's see - I became a journalist, mostly an arts journalist, initially with a focus on music (imagine) and eventually, as now, with a focus on the so-called "fine arts" of painting and sculpture and such. In the middle nineties, as you know, the web "happened" and I got involved, eventually reporting on Internet business things for a number of national publications. That portion of my life has recently re-surfaced with a commission to ghost-write a book on Search Engine Optimization, or, as I tell most friends, "I've been hired to write a book that you will never read," though secretly I'm rather pleased about it. It will be keeping me busy for most of this summer...

However...since 9/11/2001....I am so at odds with the country in which I live. Any notion that America was a good place - a notion, I'll have you know, that was crashed to death by my short time in Ireland in 1990 - is now pretty much gone completely. I have become one of those sad old lefties that hangs on to the hope that people will get hip to just how fucking stupid the President is, (and Tony Blair for following him, but that's another matter) but I know for a fact...I know for a fact that fascism is really just a natural tendency in people, and if given the free reign to exercise those tendencies, they'll do it...reason, my friend, and higher ideals are like fairy tales that people attempt to live by, but when the dykes are broken, the water floods in and people seem to feel perfectly justified in creating tyranny for the sake of security and safety.

Now - both fortunately and unfortunately, I am actually one of those Americans that has a Way Out. In the past five years, I've watched countless numbers of friends, acquaintances and colleagues do whatever they can to emigrate elsewhere. Most of these folks are brilliant minds - they're now being brilliant in the EU, Australia, Central and South America - anywhere they can get away from the more or less zero-sum equation - "You're either with us or against us" - of living in the United States. And that mentality, sadly, isn't limited to the White House - it is, quite simply, everywhere. Just tonight I saw a movie about a high school in Albuquerque (sixty miles from where I live) where the *poetry* teacher was fired because a student wrote a poem against the war. He sued. He settled out of court for $200K - it hardly matters what he got, what he lost and what the school lost was immeasurable...

Go look if you like:
http://www.committingpoetry.com

In any case...as I said, I am lucky to "have a way out." I am a citizen of Ireland, though outside of that month in Ireland in 1990, I've never exercised it. After what I saw there, I've been afraid to return - there's something really quite monumental about wanting to leave your country, particularly, I think, as an American, when you're told your whole life that everyone wants to come here. Friends are aghast when I tell them I have an Irish passport, most can't believe I'm still here, and yet there has been something that has been keeping me here, perhaps guilt or a refusal to believe that America is now a place that is really held hostage by these horrible fascists and their narrow-minded reality tunnels.

Nevertheless, I *need* to return, I've come to realize, if only to see what the EU has become and if it makes more sense than what my nation has turned into. I joke with people that my life would be rendered meaningless without a government to loathe - and yet, I wonder what *that* would be like...I have a group I'm involved with where we speculate about how illnesses are treated in nations where governments are involved in helping people to pay for them (go see "Sicko" if you have a chance) and a part of me wants to know if the great humanity that I saw in people in Ireland, back when I was but a child, is still there or if it was all a part of a fanciful imagination.

So. That has what has kept me from writing sooner. A fanciful imagination that isn't, sadly, limited to me - the idea that the notions of democracy and freedom that we've had rammed down our throat isn't just a little bit saner somewhere else. Like where you are. In Ireland, which everyone claims is such a radically wonderful place now, but which I've felt is so very far away in this strange and terrible country called America.

Don't get me wrong - I have a nice life for a person who lives in books and notebooks. But it's limited in ways by the people who make the laws and decide on the rules of the public millieu. And it is not sane. And it certainly isn't very progressive or life-affirming either.

I'm writing a story for a newspaper now on the Indian Market - art made by the indigenous folk of this region. Those people and that art uplifts me because it's so much older than this country. I do get asked on occasion why I "don't know my songs or my dances," meaning the life of my ancestors. That's all there where you are - perhaps at some point I'll actually get to go back, go "home" for a bit to see if any of what I long for, when I think of Ireland, is there or if it's all a bit of a chimera that I've made up in order to imagine that there's someplace just a bit saner than the USA.

regards
gregoryp(tm)