Monthly Archives: December 2007

Carnography #4

No particular narrative …

A.-A. Préault, Tuerie  (Slaughter)

Preault_Tuerie

 Antoine-Augustin Préault‘s  La Tuerie (The Killing) (1834) is a relief sculpture first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1834. Its thematic violence and stylistic daring shocked conventional taste at the Salon, one of whose visitors characterized the work as an “incredible farrago of every horror, wretchedness, misery, extravagance, monstrosity.” Tuerie was supposedly admitted to the Salon of 1834 at the insistence of the academician Jean-Pierre Cortot. Since no particular narrative was associated with the work, it was perceived by contemporaries as gratuitous carnography.

See previous carnographies

I. M. Mel Cheren

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxCJFvduu_8]

Marty Thomas sings “I Was Born This Way” (Carl Bean)

Mel Cheren ( – December 7, 2007) was a New York gay entrepreneur and owner of West End Records. Mel was romantically involved with Michael Brody, the owner of the famous Paradise Garage club, for which Mel also provided financial backing. He died of complications of AIDS.

West End Records was co-founded by Mel Cheren and Ed Kushins in New York City in 1976 and published disco music. It was closely associated with the Paradise Garage and Larry Levan. Mel Cheren and Ed Kushins had met a few years earlier, when they were employed by Scepter Records. In 2002 Kevin Hedge (half of BLAZE) became Mel Cheren’s partner in West End, as well as the President of West End Records. Much of their music has been sampled for use in other dance and hip-hop tracks. The label employed musicians, mixers and remixers such as Larry Levan, Arthur Russell, Walter Gibbons, Tee Scott and Nick Martinelli.

They released such hits as:

Other notable tracks include

  • Inez Brooks Chillin’ Out(1981)
  • Taana Gardner – Work That Body (1979)
  • Ednah Holt – ‘Serious, Sirious Space Party (1981)
  • Taana Gardner ‘When You Touch Me’ 1979
  • Debbie Trusty – Searchin’ For Some Lovin’/1982
  • Raw Silk ‘Do It To The Music’ (1982)
  • Brenda Taylor ‘You Can’t Have Your Cake And Eat It Too’ (1982)

I Was Born This Way (see Youtube clip above) is one of the most respected gay dance music anthems.

My son! My beloved! Are you hurt?

[Youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI8j-SjzUxo]

“The Mother’s Heart” by Yaqob Al-Naseem

The Mother’s Heart is a heart-wrenching tale of motherly love. Its theme has cropped up in an eponymous novel by József Kiss and La Glu, a tale by Jean Richepin. It is probably an old Arabian tale.

 

Poem:

Once upon a time a man lured an ignorant boy, with his money to get his desire ..
He said : “bring me your mother’s heart boy, and you shall have jewels and dibs and pearls” ..
So he went and he thrust a dagger in her chest, got the heart out and went back from the way he came ..
But he was in such a rush that caused him to fall down, so the groveled heart trundled on the ground ..
At that point the mother’s heart called for him : “My son! My beloved! Are you hurt?”
This voice despite its tenderness, was the heaven’s torrential anger upon this boy ..
Than he retreated to the heart to wash it, with the water that his eyes poured out ..
Telling the heart : “O heart avenge me, and never forgive me that my crime was unforgivable” ..
Then he took his dagger to stick it in his own chest, and remain an example to those who can see ..
At that point the mother’s heart called for him: “O Son stop! and don’t strike my heart two times in a row ..

Related post Don’t Let Another Man Kiss You

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 – 2007)

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sbs6wb2Fnc&]

Clickable version

Superb juxtapoem of image-to-music by Youtuber Zapple 101

Does anyone know which Karlheinz Stockhausen piece is on the audio track?

Update: regarding my previous question, the piece is “Mikrophonie 0.1”, here is more from Mikrophonie. (Studie II, 1954)

Eye candy #3

Moord in het Nudistenkamp

Moord in het Nudistenkamp (Eng: Murder at the Nudist Camp)

Honey West is a fictional character created by Gloria and Forest Fickling under the pseudonym “G.G. Fickling” and appearing in numerous mystery novels by the duo.

The character is notable as being one of the first female private detectives in popular fiction. She first appeared in the 1957 book This Girl for Hire and would appear in 10 novels before being retired in 1971. The character was also the basis for the short-lived TV series Honey West in the 1960s.

More Honey West here, from a fine collection of Dutch translations of detective novels. Probably the paratext (in this case the cover illustration) is better than the text itself.

Previously on Eye Candy.

Icons of erotic art #8

Zygotic Acceleration, Biogenetic, De-Sublimated Libidinal Model (Enlarged x 1000) (1995) [1] is a sculpture by Jake and Dinos Chapman. It depicts lifesize fibreglass mannequins of children with genital organs of both sexes attached to their faces. It was shown at the Sensation exhibition in 1997, along with Great Deeds Against the Dead.

Sexual organs attached to faces is something I have been pondering on for as long as I can remember. What would have been the solution of the human race if this had been the case? How would we have covered the “pubic” area? How would lovemaking have looked like? This work by the Chapmans is remarkable, as is much of their other work. No doubt they are one of the most interesting contemporary artists.

In case you have been wondering why I only link to the pictures in this series, instead of showing the artworks in-line, the answer is that I keep a strict copyright policy after having had a run-in with my local copyright enforcement agency, SABAM, about two years ago. Since then, I only publish artworks by artists who have been dead for more than seventy years. Such is the law in Belgium. Belgian copyright law is even so strict that it prohibits to show photographs of buildings.

Hear it and weep

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNGvlWHQCwc]

Elevator to the Gallows (1957) Louis Malle

The Miles Davis score to Elevator to the Gallows was recorded 50 years ago. It has been described by jazz critic Phil Johnson as “the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since. Hear it and weep.”

Previously on this blog: As she stalks through the night …