Review of Billy Bathgate

E. L. Doctorow’s novel Billy Bathgate is a first person point of view account of a 15 year-old Bronx boy who has been raised by his mother as his father abandoned him. Set in the 1930s, Billy is distinguished from his peers by his cleverness and daring. While juggling one day, a metaphor for his dexterity and speed both physically and mentally, he comes to the attention of the most notorious local gangsters, Mr. Schultz, who is known colloquially as The Dutchman. Billy’s receipt of ten dollars for his skills starts him on a path away from his childhood friends into that gang soon even becomes Mr. Schultz’s protégé. Billy’s fondness for the criminal syndicate that he soon enters is clearly linked to his upbringing in grinding poverty, his lack of father and feelings of distinction from those in his neighborhood.

One of the things that I enjoyed about the book was the manner in which the narrator, Billy, is able to express a complexity of thought that is unlikely for him to have without it seeming unrealistic. It makes for more compelling introspective monologues and makes the other characters increasing reliance upon a child seem more believable. While this is part of his carriage as a character – someone smarter and more able than other – he is not some untouchable character on a wholly upward ascent. It is there, in those moments when Billy’s ego is hurt that allows him access to the greatest insight. He sees what’s going on as an outsider, a child not yet fully involved in the decision making apparatus that he’s attached himself, yet also as an insider for he has greater access to what’s going on than most. This tension is both a sort of anxiety for him and, in the end, a source of security.

If I were to give the book a feminist reading I’d say that the relationships that Billy and the other male characters have with women all fit into the category of plain objectification. But I would also qualify this as endemic to the time and complicated by a variety of circumstances. For instance Drew, the lover of Bo, Mr. Schultz and later Billy, presents a complicated case requiring more depth of analysis. While she does seem to be the typical rich party girl in the mix with the wrong crowd, she is also able to exercise a large degree of autonomy and prescience over her situation. Thus she knows that at times she is in danger, she still continues to stay amongst them out of an affected, privileged boredom until her position there is no longer tenable. Billy’s mother, in contrast, suffers from some mental derangement, is largely absent once he begins this new life and then is someone that needs to be taken care of rather than is able to take care of Billy. The brief “love” between an adolescent prostitute and Billy also bolsters this notion of women as objects but also is complicated enough so as to blur any clear classification.

One of the more interesting aspects of the novel to me is that as I’ve just finished writing my novel’s first part on Jesse, I see so many overlapping plot elements within our two works. Now there’s a number of major differences and the stylistic elements between my and Doctorow’s work is great – but I’m still amused by this. I think in a way it has to do with something that is propounded by Otto Berman in the book. When he is speaking with Billy he tells him how all the number in the books that he has with information related to Dutch Schultz’s various illegal doings could be thrown up into the air and then come back down on the page and tell a whole other story. I’m dealing with many of the same variables so there’s really only a limited number of ways that the interactions can come together. Additionally, that this story can be considered literature while having many of the same elements that I have in mine, though admittedly not in as graphic detail as I use, gives me premature hope against imagined future detractors.

Reading by Roxane Gay

Today I went to see Roxanne Gay read several selections from her books Bad Feminist and An Untamed State at Florida Atlantic University. I enjoyed the readings from the novel very much and intend at some time in the near future to buy and read An Untamed State. The readings from Bad Feminist were compelling and yet light-hearted, playfully witty and yet with an implied gravitas.

I was most amused by her cavalier attitude towards the questions that followed her reading. The MFA students all asked about her writing process, which she was quick to answer dismissively. Another asked about her relation to Haiti, where her parents are from. I was simultaneously pleased and disappointed with her identification as a privileged person unable to speak about the realities there. True she can’t authentically speak as an envoy of some sort as it relates to the conditions of the major underclass there as her family are part of the elite, but this does not mean that she is unable to speak about such realities. Physical location of birth, a point which Gay referred to thrice in her identification as “Haitian-American”, and class do not themselves prevent people from speaking about others realities – otherwise there would be exceptionally prohibitive limits on various academic disciplines such as History, Political Science, Art, etc. They are, however, qualifiers that contextualize the discourse about speech acts made about the region/time.

With this in mind I think it would have been interested to discuss with Roxane about how it is that her novel An Untamed State came into being as Mireile, the novel’s protagonist, seems to be almost a stand in for her own fears from having visited the country repeatedly and being unable to hide from herself that her family was part of the ruling elite. From her reading and my subsequent perusal of articles detailing the plot of the novel, this makes the depiction of Haitians as a people of extreme violence take on an interesting valence. She is telling a story, yes, but perhaps projecting her own fears of location. Perhaps this is why she does not make the effort to learn about events there, it is “that which shall not be named”. At the time, however, I didn’t ask this. Instead I followed up on her comment that she liked the Ying Yang Twins by asking what other rap artists she liked – especially fitting as I was wearing my Run The Trap hat due to the frigid air outside. She said that she liked Common, Lil John and Usher and then proceeded to make multiple humorous comments about the narrative implausibility of Usher’s song “I Don’t Mind”.

Floridians for a South Florida Land Management District

Floridians for a South Florida Land Management District (FSFLMD)

Phase 1: Project Formation

Statement of Need for Project Initialization

The Seven50 Plan for Prosperity outlines a number issues facing the South Florida region including but not limited to such issues as:

(1) Continuing population growth that requires the Region’s local governments to make major investments in infrastructure, to both maintain and expand existing services such as transportation, water, wastewater, solid waste and education for both existing and new residents.

(2) Environmental changes as a result of climate change that will have a major impact on South Florida’s land available for human use.

(3) The need for economic diversification, an increase in research and development projects and the creations of conditions that lead to the retention of postsecondary talent.

Despite these broad calls to action, however, there is no single group currently advocating for a comprehensive response for these issues that affect all of South Florida.

The two organizations that do concern themselves with such issues the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (which focuses on Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties) and the South Florida Regional Planning Council (which focuses on Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward Counties) currently act merely as think tanks without the ability to enforce their rational, long-term oriented models for land-use and development.

Project Charter

In accordance with Chapter 186.502 Paragraph 3 of the Florida Statutes:

The regional planning councils are designated as the primary organization to address problems and plan solutions that are of greater-than-local concern or scope, and the regional planning council shall be recognized by local governments as one of the means to provide input into state policy development.

However Planning Councils are limited by section (4)

The regional planning council is recognized as Florida’s only multipurpose regional entity that is in a position to plan for and coordinate intergovernmental solutions to growth-related problems on greater-than-local issues, provide technical assistance to local governments, and meet other needs of the communities in each region. A council shall not act as a permitting or regulatory entity.

As such the members of the Floridians for a South Florida Land Management District (FSFLMD) seek to create a regulatory body (South Florida Land Management District) able to do more than propound limited suggestions as to what ought to be done. This regulatory body will be guided by the findings in the Seven50 Plan for Prosperity and will consist of, but not be limited to, the following powers:

Act as a regional regulatory body with various competencies that supersedes the powers of local and county governments.
Act as an arbiter for local governments in inter-jurisdictional conflicts.
Examination and rationalization of the motley patchwork of laws and taxation structures that discourage vertical development.
Encourage the implementation of long-term plans for growth and development aligned with the goals of Sustainability, Connectivity and Responsibility.
Creation and implementation of cost sharing strategies and savings plans between local governments to minimize the need for duplicative efforts.

Project Objectives/Success Criteria

Create a detailed contact database of associated stakeholders, industry groups, professional and technical associations, subject matter experts and opinion makers.
Identify the actors that would seek to constrain or assist the FSFLMD.
Develop a coherent, consistent and multi-media call to political action on behalf of the FSFLMD.
Create a detailed organizational outline, based upon the South Florida Water Management District, for consideration by the State Legislature.
Determine the legal areas (ie. government Standards, industry standards and regulations) that would be reformed by the SFLMD
Formation of a 501 (c)(3).
Determine Goals, Indicators, Baselines, and Targets for Phase 2: Project Implementation.

Rules of Volunteering

Work smart, not hard.
Document everything.
All outbound requests/deliverables get final authorization by Prof. Sheen.

Interview with Stitches

Screen-Shot-2014-05-16-at-6-26-05-PM_vice_970x435 I first met Stitches outside of his now infamous show at Propaganda in Lake Worth. Halfway into the set he left in order to chase after his baby-mama, who was upset with him for giving out cocaine to some scantily-clad female fans on stage. I’d write more about it, but the video is, of course, available online. A few weeks later I started a correspondence with him. After he became convinced I wasn’t trying to do a hit piece similar to the one previously published by New Times but simply learn his thoughts about the role of drugs in music and society, he agreed to speak with me. He asked for my address, which I hesitantly gave, and said he’d be in contact with me. Three days later I received a letter in the mail. On it was a piece of paper “No photos bc GPS” and on the back an address with a date and time on it. When I put in the address snailmailed me into Google maps I became a little worried. I promised I wouldn’t say where it was, but this particular neighborhood has an sketchy reputation. I put aside my reservations and went anyway.

I pulled into the driveway and noticed immediately that the paint on the house was peeling like an albino gumbo-limbo tree. The metal bars over the windows and doors had a similar texture, but from rust slowly chipping away and explosing a vector for tetanus transmission. Once in the house with the unassuming exterior, the façade of normal poverty quickly dropped. Two large men guarding the door answered my knock and brusquely patted me down. “Back on the right.” one of them grumbled. He sat in an ornately decorated oaken chair with red velvet backing and a border of shiny circular metal grommets. His normally poofy mohawk was done now in spikes that stood straight up several inches. In front of him was a similarly baroque desk with a cut-open brick of cocaine sitting on top of a large mirror. Next to it was a hunting life that looked straight out of Rambo. After I declined his offer of a line of some “straight off duh boat pure flake” I began the interview.

Ariel

“So I guess my first question is why do you like selling blow?”

Stitches

“Man, you even listen to my lyrics? I don’t like selling blow. I LOVE selling blow! And why, because of all the money man. I ain’t doing it anymore though cause I got too many eyes on me. Know what I’m saying? I don’t want to risk my son having to grow up without a father like I did, so I’m just making music now.”

Ariel

“You’re not selling blow anymore?” I say while motioning with my head to the desk and the house we’re in.”

Stitches

“Heh, don’t worry about none of this. Nothing’s in my name.” he said with a grin that showed off his numerous gold teeth.

Ariel

“Ok… Let me my second to last question another way. I know you come from a relatively privileged background and I can tell by the way you’ve managed to get so much attention for yourself that you’ve got some marketing savvy. If making money is your goal why do it by drawing all this negative attention via the tattoos on your face and the messages in your mix No Snitching is My Statement and just devote those skills of yours into a different career.”

Stitches

“That’s a long fucking question with a lot of presumptions in them. Yeah, true, my fams wasn’t so poor that we were on EBT, but you know that’s not even the point. I just never felt that the drug laws, not to mention a number of other laws, were fully something I could wrap my mind around. I mean I understood that they were there, but they weren’t rational to me so I never felt the need to follow them. Those are rules for lesser people, you know what I mean? That said I’m not going to lie, man, part of why I started flipping bricks was because of the thrill it gave me, not out of need. The feelings of excitement involved in the game are just so fucking strong. On the way to a pickup there this tension of wondering whether or not a cop is going to fuck with you. Then right before the meet you stress about things like: “Am I gonna have to pull a gun on someone?” While you’re their you’re on full alert. Afterwards it’s like, “What am I gonna buy with all this cash?” That shit is all a high in itself. Reading a bunch of books to become a fucking marketer like you’re talking about, man, that shit just isn’t for me. That’s for Last Men. I knew early on I’d rather study the streets and learn my lessons from there.”

Ariel

“So, would you say that a motto you live by is if it makes you feel good, do it?”

Stitches

“Naw, man, that’s some basic shit right there. Take a wider view of things. Contextualize this within the War on Drugs. Now people always talking about how it’s failed, but that all depends on what you define success as – right? “

Ariel

“True. So then how do you view the War on Drugs?”

Stitches

“Glad you asked. So, like, this cocaine right here started its production cycle in Colombia. Some broke ass farmers, whose major misfortune was being born into a region with limited choices for crops, into a family lacking any capital resources or ready legal access to it under a corrupt government still marked by colonial features that could give two shits about creating the economic conditions that will allow all but those that are already rich to thrive. Get me? So these people take this huge risk growing cocoa, cause their own government and the US government is trying to eradicate all their shit, because even though they’re making only a fractional percentage of it’s final street value they still make more than if they was growing maracuya, lulo, bananas or whatever the fuck. Now their doing this isn’t going to give them the money to send their kids to a private International school to get the kind of education and connections that will allow them to obtain true upward social mobility, but at least shit’s better and their not in as grinding a poverty if they were growing something else, right??”

Ariel

“Right. But, well, I mean they face a greater risk of death and dispossession…”

Stiches

“Spot the fuck on, man. Now think about it, that’s some real heroic shit right there. They’ve got super limited options in the conditions that they were born into and they decide to put their lives on the line to produce a product that people want just to make a little more scratch. Not to rob people or kill them, but just to be creators, producers of something. I respect that.”

Ariel

“So in your mind the war on drugs is a war against small-business entrepeneurs?!”

Stitches

“Nah, man. Like I said, think bigger and map out the connections. You’re thinking is positivistic and reified.”

Ariel

“What do you mean by that?”

Stitches

“Ok, so what I’m doing is deconstructing these positivistic notions that you and a lot of other people have about the War on Drugs. According to Frederic Jameson reification is defined as the removal of traces of production from the product. Now included in the production process are all the traces of distribution and legislation associated with it. I was just talking about the production side, then there’s the work that’s involved with processing and distribution – which is where the gangs come in.

These people are also subject to extra-national legislative pressures and policing powers that have terrible effects on the social order. Look at Mexico, man, when are people gonna start talking about that place as a failed state? Anyway, so the War on Drugs isn’t just this overreaching government attempt at the regulation of social mores, it’s really about means of partial control of countries through U.S. military aid. Not only do they give money to buy U.S. produced military equipment, but by training foreign soldiers at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of America, the U.S. is able to place sympathetic military functionaries throughout the top echelons of those governments.

That ain’t the limits of product’s life cycle though. Many minds much more astute than mine have pointed out the debilitating social effects of mandatory minimum sentencing in America and how it mirrors Jim Crow policies. It’s all just a method of social and political control. A large number of businesses have attached themselves to this legislation and perpetuate the continuation of these failed policies simply because they make a lot of money off it.”

As I tried to wrap my mind around his unexpectedly intelligent answer to my questions a ferret with hair as white as snow freshly dropped on a Denver mountain peak came into my peripheral vision. It had in its mouth a small bag of money. It scurried past the rosewood desk. It, I presumed, climbed up one of Stitches legs. Stitches rubbed the creatures head. It cooed, dropping the bag. I noticed as the side of the animals mouth was rubbed that it’s teeth wasn’t what it was born with but was a golden grill. For fear of upsetting Stitches I held back my smirk.

Stitches then put the bag into a dropbox installed in the left drawer area of the desk. With his right hand still rolling circles onto the furred dome of the creature he then opened up the drawer to the right. The attention of the creature turned to the now visible booty. Stitches distracted the animal with by saying to it “Dineras is a good girl” repeatedly in a baby voice and a steady rubbing between the eyes. After quickly grabbing the treat from the small plastic bag he closed the drawer, turned the lock and brough the treat close to his chest. Dineras turned around. He moved the hand that had been circulating between the eyes and the top of his skull to it’s back. It ate the food from between his fingers and then continued.

Ariel

“Can I take a picture of her?”

Stitches

“Naw, the government’s tracking everything. I don’t want you uploading a picture that’s giving away the location of my trap house.”

Ariel

“Her name is Daenerys? Like G.O.T.?”

Stitches

“Huh? Don’t know what you’re talking about. Her name is like Spanish for money, Dinero, but cause she’s female it’s Dinera and because I want a lot of money it’s plural: Dineras”

Ariel

“Oh… Ok… Anyway, So I’m not going to lie, that was way more insightful than I was expecting. To follow up let me ask two things, first let me be clear, you admit then that you play a role in the perpetuation of this order of international domination.”

Stitches

“Bitch please, that shit ain’t on me. The majority of American’s are so apathetic to politics that they would rather let continue this sitch wherein their tax dollars finances civil wars in most of the countries that produce and traffic cocaine and pays for widespread violation of the libertarian intent of the Constitution through militarized policing just because to do otherwise would time away from their television watching.“

Ariel

“Ok, second question. So do you think that drugs should be legalized?”

Stitches

“As a tax-payer, yes. As a Christian, yes. As a libertarian, absolutely. But as someone that’s in the game and an American, hell no! The regulation that would be involved in something like that would rapidly deflate all the bumper profits from the trade. Plus without this means of controlling Latin America it’s possible they’d unite and be able to more seriously compete with to our economy instead of being crypto-colonial appendages to it!”

Ariel

“So who are some of your favorite producers and musicians right now?”

Stitches

“Mike Will Made It and Juicy J are killing it. I’d love to work with DJ Holiday and Southside. Trap Back is just fucking killer, man. You know what I’ve been playing on repeat though for the past few weeks, Run the Jewels I and II. Those tracks Oh My Darling Don’t Cry and Early, man? Fire! Speaking of which! You got to see this.”

Stitches got up from his chair and went into the other room. I looked at the large pile of white powder with curiosity and thought about whether this was not a set up like some of the other stunts that I’d read about. I wanted to know if it was real but didn’t want to actually try it. Right after the thought left my head he came back in with a tortoise in his hands. Every inch of its shell was various colored jewels. Green sapphires, red rubies, purple amethysts and what looked like a few diamonds were all arranged in such a way as to give the creature a motley pattern. He put it down next to me. Each step looked pained to it, as if it struggled under the weight of all the precious stones attached to it.

Stitches

“That’s Run the Jewels. I call him that cause he’s covered in jewels and he can’t really run. It’s ironic, get it? I also call him El-T, like El-P, cause he’s a Tortoise and Killer Mike cause he likes pizza. Get it? Like the Ninja Turtle? Hahahaha!”

Ariel

“That’s pretty funny… So, I’m curious, why you selling your donk?”

Stiches

“Got tired of getting pulled over in it and don’t want people to forget about me while my next mixtape is in production. I wish someone would buy it already cause I’m donating the money that I get from it’s sale – because I’m such a baller and respect the people that helped me gain the fame that I currently have – to a Colombian collective farm so they can use the money to buy more livestock and thus more quickly multiply their standard of living conditions.”

Ariel

“Ok, before I leave. I got to ask, is that real?” then nodded my head to the bag of cocaine.

Stitches

“What do you mean, is it real? It’s there in front of you isn’t it?”

Ariel

“Yeah, I get that. But, well, I haven’t seen you do a single line of that powder. Is it actually cocaine?”

Stitches

“You’re welcome to try it.”

Ariel

“No thanks. Can you just honestly answer the question?”

Stitches turned a little bit in his chair. It was the first time that I saw his swagger falter. A little turn in his chair, that’s all that it took. I went on the attack.

Ariel

“Why won’t you answer? Do you have something to hide?”

A tear came to his eye.

Stitches

“No. No man, ok, no. That’s not cocaine. It’s flour. Truth is I used to work at Panera Bread, and I love baking bread. Waking up really early, mixing and baking things that would feed lots of people gave me an incredible sense of purpose. It was one of the best times in my lives. The smells. Rye, barley, rosemary… Anyway, I got fired from there after I got caught smoking herb on my break. My songs are really just a celebration of that time that I felt such purpose and connection to the people around me.

He was now sniffling to hold back tears.

My song Brick in Your face? I came up with that when I was working there. While making stuff I’d rap about what I was doing, you know? Cause I was happy? So I was all like at my station making a sourdough and I get this feeling inside and just blurt out “I love pounding dough!” which later became the chorus of “I love selling blow!” And cause I was always curious with what kind of fillings people would put between the slices of bread I’d made I was all like “I put that loaf in your face! What’re you going to do with it? You like that taste best give me respect, bake u bake up bake up!”

And Mail? Man I’d just been thinking about how I’d know that if people were willing to buy my pastries via the mail then that’d mean they really respect my skills as a baker.”

Ariel

“So the tattoos of the AK-47 on your face and the stitches across your mouth..?”

Stitches

“Are just part of a carefully crafted image designed to give me and my music the aura of illicit drug culture authenticity that unsophisticated audiences require while simultaneously arresting the drift of all of my creative significations as an musician to reference all of the colonialist, racist and classist ideologies that various state and private apparatuses use to justify micro and macro management of fears through various forms of repression and policing while also indicating the need for people to speak up and be active against the perpetuation of such widespread human suffering so that a a few people can profit.”

***

You can watch the video for Stitches new single Facts below.

As indicated about, Stitches currently has his donk available for sale.

Also, as you can probably tell by now, I’ve never actually met Phillip Katsabanis/Stitches and this entire interview is fictional. I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Thanks for reading!

Art Basel, Miami Project and Aqua 2014

Three days after I’d received complimentary tickets to Art Basel, Aqua, Red Dot and Miami Project I drove down 95 and across the causeway to Miami Beach. Having gone three other times over the past several years I knew to get there early lest the traffic and parking be, respectively, slow and far away. Surely enough I was able to park across from the convention enter right before it filled up. I waited in line at the entrance and was one of the first to enter.

After two hours of looking at the works hung from the walls or placed on the floor I started to feel that the most interesting subjects was not the art but those gazing upon them. There was a short, stout Argentinian wearing a mix between a
pirate’s shirt and an artist’s smock whose lilting style of Spanish carried over into his English when speaking with his associate about the investment value of a particular artist. I saw Kristen Ritter, one of my favorite actresses of Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23 and Breaking Bad fame, walking along the aisles. There was a couple in their late forties dressed up in haute steam punk style and a wide variety of the Miami hipsters.

The primary reason I stopped paying attention to it, besides the feeling of overload of so much in such a small apace, was that a lot the art was exceptionally abstract and I didn’t relate to most of it there. Pieces of string going through a piece of glass, symbolizing I’m not sure what, stylized text repeated on large wooden boards, and colored circles against a stark white background just don’t get me excited. What I thought was the most interesting and exciting piece was an interactive art installation from a gallery in Brazil. Loud music came out from a room while a woman dressed up like the Chiquita Banana woman on LSD encouraged passers-by to come into the room filled with brightly colored pictures, masks, inflatable animals, bric-a-brac and toys. After her encouragement I stayed and played in there a while.

Requisite photo of a Shepard Fairey work.

After almost four hours looking at art I was quite hungry. I left the exhibition, sold my tickets outside, ate a Cubano and some pastelitos before crossing the bridge back to Miami. Once at Red Dot, my affinity to the pieces of art there was raised dramatically. Here were the works made by artists that didn’t think that innovation was done by the rejection of forms and tropes followed for hundreds of years but through novel use of them. Gone were most of the abstract pieces and instead there was a number of highly imaginative works that didn’t require years of art-schooling in order to be able to understand it.

Some of the standout pieces, for me, were knitted pictures of Lindsay Lohan, a small rendition of a mosque made out of used bullet casings, a portrait of black girl in white face with the clothes typically found in portraits of royalty, Dave Eggers’ unusual illustrations and sayings, Niccolo Cosme’s Mater Dolorosa Conflictus and an enormously large and intricate tapestry depicting the Tower of Babel called Allegory of the Prisoner’s Dilemma made by Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth. The vibe, too, was also better. The people walking around were less concerned with embodying highly idiosyncratic avatars full of esoteric knowledge on the relationship between artists and market values and were more interested in the work itself and having a good time.

After completing circulation of the exhibition hall, it was a short walk to Aqua. Aqua was, in a word, amazing. It was, however, also too good to be so big that it was thus big for it’s own good. While smaller than Art Basel’s space, because the art was so good that it made me stop more often that after almost four hours of walking around I didn’t even see everything there!

Another piece that I found to be particularly interesting was the Family Tree installation by Charlotte Potter. The installation, represented by Heller Galleries, consisted of a number of cameos that were connected to one another in chains. Above the black and white images were water spigots with blood coming out of them. Immediately below that they were tied to others cameos to represent the marriages and births created from those relationships. Such a graphic representation of a family was not groundbreaking, but it is notable for it’s aesthetically pleasing play with the notion of bloodlines and the chains that connect families together.

Upon exiting Aqua I was again, surprisingly, searched. When asked why I discovered that someone had stolen Pablo Picasso’s Visage Aux Mains the night before and the security staff suspected that they had placed it somewhere in the facility and were going to take it out at a different time. I was rather shocked by this. I was more so upon reading, a few days later, the following commentary on the theft by Art Miami director Nick Korniloff to be interesting:

“We have issued a $5,000.00 reward for the return of the work with no questions asked— based on our own internal conclusion that whomever took the piece knows nothing about art and took it based on the fact that they thought it to be solid silver. […] It makes absolutely no sense that this work would be targeted by anyone with knowledge of art. We hope that the piece is returned to the owner to preserve the existence of the work for future generations.”

I find it interesting because not only is the reward for an object purportedly worth $85,000 so low but as this authoritative person in the art world states that that someone trying to obtain this Picasso is, essentially, a fool. Considering the feelings evoked by most of the work in the Art Basel exhibition hall, hearing this made me feel less of a philistine and less that I wasn’t the fool in the room that thought much of what was there was “great art” and “really valuable” outside of what gallery sales personally can convince someone to believe or pay.

All in all I had a great time. I’m very happy that art-world entrepreneurs have attached these other events onto the more recognized Art Basel, much in the same way Ultra has assisted the growth of Miami Music Week and Winter Music Conference. I look forward to going again next year!

Interview with Kimmy Drake

The first time I met Kimmy Drake was in Manhattan in 2010. I read the announcement of her upcoming show date in Brooklyn Vegan and was excited to go out and support a band on tour from my native Florida. I’d heard about them from friends before, so knew it would be good. Sure enough the concert crowd was invigorated by the musical energy of the band and danced wildly. I too got really into the music and while hanging out with the band afterwards drank to excess. I went into homing beacon mode and luckily for me a friend, photographer Vanessa Rondon, lived near me and made sure I didn’t fall asleep on the L. We got off at Morgan Ave, parted ways at the Wreck Room and I woke up the next day with a hangover mixed with a smile from having enjoyed every bit of the night before so much. Lucky for me, several years later she agreed to sit down and talk with me about her musical process, touring and where she finds inspiration.

Ariel
So as an artist myself I’m curious as to other people’s creative methods. When you approach songwriting, do you have any special process for coming up with a song?

Kimmy
Not really. I feel that as soon as you sit down and pick up an instrument you’ve already started to do something creative. The intention is there, it’s just a matter of letting it come out. And, of course, recording it. Which with the iPhone makes it easy to never lose anything because you don’t have a way of capturing it.

Ariel
That way you say that makes me imagine that you have a bunch of iPhone b-sides.

Kimmy
Oh, so many! Today I used it to record two songs I wrote on the piano, which I haven’t done for a really long time!

Ariel
Why haven’t you written from the piano in so long?

Kimmy
Haha, well… I couldn’t get to my piano because it was behind the drum kit for like, the last year and a half. It’s been trapped and I literally couldn’t get to it! Last night, though, I pulled it out and I wrote the beginnings of two new songs that I’m super excited about.

Ariel
Did you find that starting to write with an instrument you haven’t been able to play in a while brought out a different emotional tenor to your lyrics?

Kimmy
Oh, definitely! Like lately I’ve also been writing a lot of stuff on bass guitar, which I almost never usually do. I’ve found that the last three songs I wrote for the band started from bass and they’re just a totally different animal from the songs that start by me playing chords on guitar. The songs I wrote on the piano today were also something totally different. It’s still in the same garage music vein, but a little different. Lots of stomping. Moving around the whole body around when you’re making music kind of stuff.

Ariel
So when you and Skyler are playing around with a new song do you normally find yourself coming into agreement about what sounds best.

Kimmy
Yes. I’m the bandleader so I, you know, lead. I’m not a drummer so it’s hard for me sometimes to explain what I have in my head, but I can make enough sounds with my mouth to convey what I want that he gets it. I’ll do like choo tsk choo tsk tso he knows which ones to hit. Sometimes he’ll come up with something and fight me over it but that’s rare. Normally it works out at the end that we have a consensus.

Ariel
So can you tell me a bit about your musical training?

Kimmy
Well I went to school in Kendall for music. The school was divided between the classical people and the jazz people. I was doing classical, vocal stuff when I probably should have been doing more jazz, though I really wished there had been a rock and roll class because that was, that is, my passion. Being in an orchestra or something like that was not my dream, I always wanted to play rock and roll, so I dropped out after a while. You know. Talking about this is reminding me, going back for a moment to the piano we were talking about earlier, how my last instructor there would rap my hands with a ruler. I really hated that!

Ariel
My childhood piano teacher did that to me too! What’s with that?

Kimmy
I don’t know! But if any of them read this interview hopefully it’ll encourage them to stop doing it to their students! Hahaha!

Ariel
At the school was there a special teacher or friend there that inspired you to follow the rock and roll path?

Kimmy
I feel like there should be, but there really wasn’t. Being into what I was there made me an outcast. I still feel like I don’t fit in anywhere.

Ariel
I can definitely relate to that and also makes me wonder where your attraction to garage and surf-rock come from?

Kimmy
Ever since I was a little kid that’s all I wanted to listen to: the oldies station. I feel like I’m a time-traveller. Like wait, should I be here. Back there. I honestly feel like that. I feel dissatisfied with current stuff. Like it was a more pure, more fun time. More pure, I guess.

Ariel
I get that. Yesterday I was reading an article the other day talking about people’s attraction to superhero films, Mad Men and other such shows. It was talking about how the root of people’s attraction to this stem from dissatisfaction with contemporary, mass-produced culture and the current economic system perpetuating such economic disparity. All of these possibilities and desires are presented and yet there are very real limits as to what people can have.

Kimmy
I get that. As for me, ever since I was a kid I would watch 60s reruns.

Ariel
TV Land!

Kimmy 10904026_10205686104368906_479159826_n

Yes! Hahaha! Exactly! I wanted to be Samantha from Bewitched. I thought she was the best. I loved her clothes, her personality everything about her. I thought she was just the coolest thing ever. And I’m like: where am I now?

Ariel
Hah. That’s great! Now, to give the next question some context let me first ask: Do you know Tim Yehezkely from The Postmarks.

Kimmy
Yeah, I know of them. Tim has such an amazing voice!

Ariel
Yeah she does! Memoirs at the End of the World is really great. Anyway, so she and I first met in a poetry workshop at FAU, wow, over a decade ago now. She put some of the pieces we’d gone over in class to guitar and started performing them at the open mic night at Nakamal. A couple of month’s later she’s all like “Oh yeah, I’m producing an album and going on tour!” Point of all this backstory is that I’m curious if in addition to writing lyrics to music and music to lyrics if you also write poems?

Kimmy
Well I used to write a lot of poetry when I was younger. I do that sometime when the inspiration hits, but that’s really rare. Maybe once a year, when I have something that I know won’t work as a song. I actually just wrote one the other day.

Ariel
Are there any creative disciplines that you maintain in order to develop and practice your art. Or is it that the inspiration comes and you follow it?

Kimmy
I feel like discipline is something that I’m working on. Now, normally, it’s like whenever the inspiration hits, no matter what time it is I have to run to the guitar and grab my iPhone so I can record it. That’s how it is for me whenever the inspiration hits. But I think it’s good to be more disciplined. I’m trying to do that as I have a couple of other projects and I have deadlines. And that’s making me be more disciplined.

Ariel
I totally understand. I’m writing a book right now and I find that the time between periods of writing can be very long. And when that happens I don’t want to say that I hate myself… but I do have to fight my mental voices from reprimanding myself as that starts a negative internal dialogue that doesn’t encourage creativity.

Kimmy
I know what you mean. And no, that absolutely does not promote creative production.

Ariel
So what are some of the other projects that you are working on?

Kimmy
I can’t say. I can’t talk about them right now so just scratch that whole statement.

Ariel
What genre of music would people be surprised if they knew you listened to?

Kimmy
Oh… I don’t know if I listen to anything that would surprise anyone. I listen to mostly garage music and 60’s stuff and girl groups. Maybe something that people would be surprised about is that since junior high I’ve been super obsessed with The Cure? I’m also really into Fugazi, Descendants and other punk stuff. But I don’t know how surprising that is as we’re kind of punky too.

Ariel
No guilty pleasure artists that get rotation on, say, Power 96?

Kimmy
Haha! Absolutely not!

Ariel Ok. So then who’s your favorite artist currently producing music?

Kimmy
I love Sune Rose Wagner from The Ravonettes. I’ve always loved what he does. Love The Kills. Oh, and Mark Ronson I mean, he’s produced Black Lips. I think he’s a phenomenon. I’d love to work with him one day, that’d be my dream.

Ariel
So you’ve been to a lot of places on tour, especially New York. I’m wondering if in your experience you feel South Florida’s a more difficult nut to crack as it lacks an urban core that brings people together? Wait, let me restate that. Do you feel the vast sprawl of South Florida has an impact on audience and how you write and perform? For example, I’ve never seen you play at the Hollywood band shell but I know it’s so different from, say, Respectables and I know few people that will really commit to seeing bands they like if they have to drive more than twenty minutes to see them.

Kimmy
I get what you’re trying to say. And yeah, I mean it does. But, well, every town is different. Some towns you’ll play these amazing shows but everyone just sits like they’re in a movie theatre. They just don’t dance in that town. Some towns everyone is dancing and going nuts. It just depends on the town. Every one is completely different and Hollywood, well, is like weirdo central. You never know what you’re going to get. It’s like a wild card.

Ariel
Oh yeah! Last time I was at the Hollywood band shell I would swear it was like the “Indigent Jimmy Buffett Fans” Convention, which is fitting considering they’re building a Margaritaville there. The time before that it was filled with all these German tourists in speedos!

Kimmy
Hahaha! I can see that. Anything can happen in Hollyweird. It’s wide open.

Ariel
Do you enjoy traveling with the band?

Kimmy
It’s super fun! You get to know people really well cause, well, you’re stuck with them for a long time in the car, at the hotel, on the stage.

Ariel
You don’t find hotel living to be tiresome.

Kimmy
I mean it’s not the best, but that’s just what it is so you adapt.

Ariel
Unless you’re able to stay someplace like the Sourpatch Band Space in Brooklyn. Did you hear about that?

Kimmy
Yes, I did! I’d love to stay there. The space looks awesome. Plus Sour Patch Kids are a delicious vegan candy and that rules!

Ariel
So you’re really pretty and fit. How do you work out on tour?

Kimmy
Honestly. I don’t work out too much. Like hardly ever. If I feel myself gaining weight than I’ll just eat a little bit less. And I’m vegan. I think that helps a lot. But I’m not focused on it that much. I don’t know. And in fact, I usually lose weight on tour cause you just don’t eat as much. It’s a weird thing. You eat only two times a day. Breakfast and dinner. And I’m never like: Hey, I wanna go get burgers! Let’s eat McDonalds! Haha. Though last tour we were sponsored by Taco Bell. They sent us $500 in gift cards so we ate a lot of Taco Bell. That really helped with the cost of everything because there is no money in touring for a small band like us. And I appreciate my bandmates so, so much for that.

Ariel
Speaking of money, that reminds me. I went onto The Pirate Bay to see if you were being shared on there and sure enough there were people seeding your music. How do you feel about that?

Kimmy
I think that’s fine, honestly.

Ariel
I can understand why. With this whole Taylor Swift thing I looked at some of the break downs of what artists are actually paid on Spotify and Pandora that people had posted and with so much going to the intermediaries I don’t blame her from taking it off!

Kimmy
I definitely feel like if an album comes out and it’s on Spotify, why would you buy it? You can just go to Spotify and listen to it for free. When I know that something is coming out I usually want to go get and the vinyl, but I’m different, I want to go get the record. I’ve always been like that. I can honestly say I’ve never personally pirated music. That doesn’t mean that someone hasn’t given me a copy of something they pirated! Cause they have. I use Spotify as like a listening station at a record store. If I listen to a few songs from a band and I really dig it, I’ll go get the record! If I don’t, well I won’t be listening to them anymore anyway.

Ariel
So the stuff that you said before that you’re starting to record now – can you tell me a little bit more about it?

Kimmy
Well, we’re not yet sure where we’re going to record. We don’t have a plan. We’re working on more videos for the record that came out in August. Other than that we have no plans. It’s so wide open. I find that kind freedom exciting actually.

Ariel
Well I have an idea, albeit a derivative one.

Kimmy
What’s that?

Ariel
I say this knowing your love for Hollyweird. Have you seen the movie Begin Again?

Kimmy
No.

Ariel
It’s with Adam Levine, Keira Knigtley and Mark Ruffalo…

Kimmy
Oh yeah, I did hear something about that!

Ariel
It’s really good. Anyway, the last part of the movie the protagonists set up portable recording studios all over New York to capture Keira Knightley’s “breakup album” thing. I don’t normally like musicals, except for something like Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but this was really good. Anyway. Last question! I know you just came back from touring, but do you have any plans for another?

Kimmy
We’re definitely touring in March. The next thing we’re going to is Atlanta on the 22nd . Besides that we’re just having a break because we’ve pretty much been touring non-stop for the past two and a half years. We’re just chilling. I also want to give myself time to process so I can start writing the next record.

Ariel
It’s definitely good to get settled to get back into a creative place.

Kimmy
Absolutely. Also it’s good to be home for the holidays. The whole month of December, It’s awesome. I love Christmas, I’m obsessed.

Ariel
Big fan of Santa’s Enchanted Forrest?

Kimmy
I haven’t been in a few years but this year I’m definitely going, yeah!

Beach Day’s next show is on New Years Eve at Respectable Street Cafe. You can find more info by going here!

Also, be sure check out their video for their song “How Do You Sleep At Night” below!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Yesterday I entered a competition held by Verso Books to differentiate between quotes by G. W. F. Hegel and L. Ron Hubbard. The prize was a copy of my former professor Slavoj Žižek’s new book Absolute Recoil: Towards A New Foundation Of Dialectical Materialism. I am quite happy to say that not only did I get a 10/10 on the quiz but I was also chosen to win and thus will be getting the book for free. Needless to say, I’m very excited to read this!

Protected: Book Chapter

The Secret of Embodiment’s Role in Achieving Your Goals

Since the publication of The Secret in 2006, the Laws of Attraction have gained currency amongst many that have sought to bring increased intentionality and positivity to their lives. In helping people to realize that they are not trapped by habit and history in whatever situation they are in it has been phenomenal. However what is missing from such admonitions to change your life is that thinking is merely a first step. It is not enough to merely THINK about what you want to get, you must wholly EMBODY that desire if you want to achieve it. Your body is your unconscious mind and if it is not fully committed to your intention in its core you will have inner conflict that causes attention to be disrupted by the doubtful or opposing intention or thought. The unconscious mind/body is like an iceberg: most of it is beneath the surface. As every thought creates a biological reaction when the body and emotions are not fully aligned then the bodies three brains sends out mixed messages and creates confusion. Neuroscience has clearly demonstrated the importance of the body/mind/emotion alignment for generating strength and focus. This is why it is important to remove and release any opposing thoughts and feelings as they biologically and mentally sabotage success.

To make an analogy, if like-attracts-like is the Law as it is written, than your body’s embodiment of those desires are the enforcers of those desires. Your body can either express a strong, muscular desire or a weak, flabby one. The law can either be followed so that order is maintained or an arbitrary and unjust rule will reign over your actions. As it relates to developing attentiveness, you are likely now wondering which embodiment is most effective for your obtaining your goals. The answer is multi-faceted and depends on what your intention is.

First, you need to have a clear vision of what you really want in a situation. Determine what it is you desire and then write down what steps you need to take in order to obtain it. This reminds you of what needs to be done and allows you to cross them off the paper when you’ve completed a step so you can see that you are progressing towards your goal.

Second, you need to determine the intensity level of your intentions through self-calibration to evaluate which embodiment will be most effective to fulfill each task. Let me give two examples of what I mean. If your intention is to relax at the beach on your vacation, you don’t want to be standing in a rigid position. If you have encountered an immanent threat, you don’t want to lay down. Self-calibration isn’t limited to just yourself, also consider your social and professional network to help you determine what barriers you might encounter. If you don’t have support you can count on, think about how you might be able to get some.

You also want to learn to be able to rapidly adjust to any situation, as they may change during your quest to obtain your goal. Embody a position of strength, but also flexibility. Regardless of external conditions, the collapsed embodiment of an apathetic person destroys attentiveness just as the puffed up embodiment of an enraged individual or the rigid embodiment of a frightened individual causes imbalance and weakens the ability to focus. An attentive embodiment is a strong physical and emotional structure abiding in peace, presence and is congruent to the existent conditions.

Third you want to bring into your awareness any negative inner dialogues you have concerning your desire. A fear of failure because of earlier failed attempts, a feeling you are inadequate and unworthy to reach your goal or a sense of guilt you still carry from hurting others to get what you wanted, all must be acknowledged and forgiven before your core power is totally focused.

Lastly you need to continually self-calibrate. How you feel in each moment allows you to make small adjustments to keep yourself centered. Just like a car, you need to be aware of your fuel and water level, your temperature and speed as otherwise friction and heat can lead to malfunction. To do this you need to have excellent self-communication skills. These helps you manage your internal impulses while maintaining the ability to interact with others in a peaceful connecting way. Inner awareness also helps you establish mutual interests. Self-sensing of your body, emotions, attitude and spatial feelings provide a present time feedback mechanism to direct and guide your thinking, decisions and actions. When not calibrated to your body you live in the virtual world of your mind. You become caught in idolized pictures of perfection, unfulfilled desires and fears. Your goal is to live life with confidence and focus and not to get caught living a virtual existence solely in thoughts. Thinking and imagining certainly have their place, but being present to experience the magnificent diversity of life is far more enjoyable and satisfying.

This month in Philosophy and Pop Culture…

Philosophers write a lot about pop culture, but the popular artists are often very silent towards philosophers. Not so this month…

Not only did Alain Badiou get some unusual press as a result of one of Taylor Swift’s friends carrying a tote bag with his 2012 book titled Philosophy for Militants but Eugene Thacker had an entire RadioLab episode devoted to the somewhat unusual appearance of his book In the Dust of This Planet in multiple mass media outlets. Does this mean that an increased cultural awareness of life’s potential on Earth to end as we know it is beginning to make itself known? At a time when there is an ongoing mass extinction of species this could be a significant shift. Maybe. However I imagine that Eugene would say that it, like life, is completely meaningless.