Realignment Of Power Among The Entitled

All Pretense Of A Manageable Disguise

This Happenstance

Crocodiles - Bottom of the Hill

The Plot

Stable Enough

Wide Open, Truly

Disordering The Senses

Finally had a chance to see the Robert Frank exhibit at the SFMOMA, and man, was it thrilling. Not only did they have all 83 photographs from The Americans, his seminal book, but they had a room dedicated to his early work (the photos of Welsh miners are haunting), those he was influenced by (Walker Evans, in particular) as well as those he inspired (Lee Friedlander, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, etc.). They also had a magnificent display of outtakes (8 x 10 proofs), contact sheets, and the original, handwritten introductions that both Walker Evans and Jack Kerouac wrote for the book. Needless to say, I was walking on water as I examined every detail, my excitement palpable, and it was no surprise that I shelled out fifty dollars afterwards for the revised edition of The Americans, a massive annotated book I now carry with me each day to the gallery.

Here's an interesting article on Frank's 2008 visit to China, my favorite passage towards the end of the piece:

“Robert Frank is an enigma: hard and empathetic and melancholic all at once. He abhors schmaltziness and syrup. I asked him if he would like to see a photograph of my baby. He answered, 'Why should I want to see that?'”

British Sea Power's third album, Man of Aran, is the conceptual soundtrack to an obscure 1934 docu-drama of the same name, a film that "chronicled the difficult daily lives of the inhabitants of Western Ireland's remote Aran Islands." It's the polar opposite of Do You Like Rock Music? - one of my favorite albums of all-time, and yet the instrumental tracks are just beautiful, proof that this is an intelligent, uncompromising band that isn't afraid to go against the grain. (As a side-note, here's their epic performance last year at Bottom of the Hill, one that I'm still reeling from.)

J Bennett Fitts's photographic series, No Lifeguard on Duty, is gorgeous.

William Elliott Whitmore's debut on UK television, and a beautiful new session over at Daytrotter. Trust me on this one. Will is the real deal.

Inductive Irony

A Glimpse Into the Inpenetrable Interior