Forget Coachella, We're Going to the Austin Psych Fest

The Black Angels 

Austin, Texas has long been considered the counterculture capital of the American Southwest and the primary birthplace of the psychadelic rock movement, and this year’s Austin Psych Fest, which takes place from April 29th-May 1st at the Seaholm Power Plant in downtown Austin, will be the fourth annual synaesthetic three-day tribute to that title, showcasing and celebrating innovative visual art and experimental psych-rock from across the country.

Curated by the Reverberation Appreciation society and Austin-based band The Black Angels, this year’s music lineup includes The Black Angels, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Prefuse 73, Atlas Sound, Crystal Stilts, Dirty Beaches, Crocodiles, Tobacco, The Growlers, Black Ryder, Indian Jewelry, Beach Fossils, Pete International Airport and ZaZa, among many others.

This past December, Alta Real Pictures released Oswald James’ documentary of last year’s Psych Fest, which features performances from The Raveonettes, Spindrift, Pink Mountaintops, Warpaint and others. Watch the trailer below for an idea of the festival’s ambiance.

Full reportage on Psych Fest 2011 to come.

For tickets, full lineup and more information, visit www.austinpsychfest.com

Text by Annabel Graham Photo by Alexandra Valenti

[Cinema] Let There Be Rock

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A little over a month of rock n' roll films? Starting April 29 at the Queensland Cinémathèque in Australia, 'Let There Be Rock' brings together a wide range of documentaries and feature films capturing the rebellious spirit of rock music culture. The program features intimate portraits of bands and musicians, showcasing their magnetic stage presence and musical talents, as well as the fans, collaborations and locations that surround them.

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Wild experiments with rock operas and musicals illustrate the blending of rock music and cinema into a unique film genre. Concert films and live recordings capture bands in full flight and the transformation of stage performances into visceral experiences. Iconic music events caught on film also chronicle rare pieces of music history and their ensuring influence on new generations of music fans. http://qag.qld.gov.au/cinematheque

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[FASHION] Gary Graham Spring 2011

Gary Graham is a designer to watch. Hailing from Wilmington, Delaware Graham's background in costume and textile design has attributed to the unique signature of his brand: strong heritage, luxury and richness of creativity in the meticulous craftsmanship of his pieces that are hand dyed, hand sewn, and hand finished. Gary Graham lives and works in New York. www.garygrahamnyc.com

Duelling Pistols at Bonhams: Objects of Beauty and Death

A Very Fine Pair Of 30-Bore Flintlock Duelling Pistols By Robert Wogdon, London, Circa 1785 made for the Duke of Bedford.

It was indeed a dueling pistol made by the Robert Wogdon of London gunsmith company that killed Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey.  Usually the goal of the honorable duel was often not so much to kill the opponent as to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it. Even though it was illegal after the 17th century, one was rarely persecuted. This late April a dozen pairs of dueling pistols, including a set made by Robert Wogdon of London - by far the most synonymous manufacturer of dueling pistols, will go on the auction block at Bonhams. The set of pistols are expecting to fetch between £2,500 to £60,000 as "items of historical interest and fine workmanship, not death and destruction." And o' how glorious these pistols are in their intricate perfection - objets d'art that were once symbols of masculinity, honor, and inevitable permanence. Dueling Pistols at Bonhams: Objects of Beauty and Death will go on sale Wednesday 20 April 20 in Knightsbridge. www.bonhams.com

[LEGENDS] Nomad, Poet, 20th Century Prophet of the Wild West

Everette Reuss by Dorothea Lang

In 1934, at the age of 20, poet and nomadic wanderer Everette Reuss travelled into the red rock canyon lands of Southern Utah with two burros and vanished without a trace. In 2009 his apparent remains were found, but upon further analysis were called into question as to their authenticity. What happened to Everette Reuss? Some say he was murdered by natives for his burros, some say he simply drowned or fell off one of the many jagged cliffs, and some legends recount that Everette Reuss fell in love with a Navajo woman and ran away with her tribe. The life, disappearance  and legend of Everette Reuss has been an enduring mystery, an American saga exemplar to our own imaginings of the great adventure.  A new book, Everett Ruess: His Short Life, Mysterious Death, and Astonishing Afterlife, due out this summer on University of California Press examines the life and legend; going "...beyond the myth to reveal a troubled, idealistic adolescent who flirted with death and lost." www.ucpress.edu

Marilyn Minter: Paintings from the 80s

Porn Grid (#1-4) 1989 enamel on metal 4 panels, 52 x 64.5 inches overall

Marilyn Minter, who was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1948 gained recognition with her first series of photographs: images of her drug addicted mother. During the 1980s Minter explored pornography and erotica with a style that can be described at pop art.  Marilyn Minter: Paintings from the 80s is on view at Team Gallery until April. 30. www.teamgal.com

The Renaissance of Photojournalism: Antiphotojournalism

Photojournalism is in the midst of a remarkable, and singularly unexpected, renaissance. New practices, strategies, viewpoints, techniques, and agents have radically transformed the institutions and the fundamental concepts of the field. Whilst it has become fashionable to lament the death of photojournalism, actual events suggest that something quite different is taking place. The group exhibition Antiphotojournalism charts these new developments in exciting ways. Antiphotojournalism is on view until June 8 at Foam, Amsterdam.  www.foam.org

Fear & Loathing in San Juan: The Rum Diaries

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Its a tale all too Hunter Stockton Thompson. In 1958 he completed his first novel, The Rum Diary - he was in his late 20s.  Letters around this time, Hunter Thompson was a voracious letter writer - he kept a carbon copy of almost every letter he ever wrote since his teens and lasted until his suicide at 67 as some kind of obsessive, seemingly feverish, prophetic preservation of his legacy, before and after completion of the Rum Diary,  paint  a Hunter Thompson excited about finishing his first, real novel - after hopscotching from one one horse town newspaper to the next throughout much of his early journalistic career. But letters also show the harsh side of rejection and many letters to the effect from editors, as well as replies back from Thompson with belligerent threats of murder, revenge and spilled teeth.  The Rum Diary tells the tale of a young American journalist disillusioned by a hopelessly bland America under Eisenhower who moves to a pristine San Juan, Puerto Rico to work for a flailing newspaper and becomes obsessed with a young blonde fiancee of a cohort. Its a tale all to Hunter Thomson: reportage of the strange world from behind the bullet proof glass of his own conciousness, a consciousness too big in a world that at same time made him feel so small. Rum soaked and covered in white tropical sand, The Rum Diary is a tale of bliss and abandon from a young writer finding his voice at the apex of an entirely American 20th century, groping madly for the American dream up the fuzzy blouse of some young, dumb secretary.  The Rum Diary wasn't published until 1998, nearly 50 years after it was completed.  This October, a film, entitled The Rum Diary, will bring this incredible book to to the silver screen.

Exhibitions: Deep Water

Max Dupain 'at Newport' 1952, Sydney

Deep Water, a new exhibition which just opened at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia, explores photography in its relationship with water. is a ubiquitous. "Water is a ubiquitous and mutable substance. It is the fundamental element that enables and sustains all life on earth, but possess a deadly and destructive power. Since the nineteenth century, water and its environs have presented an endlessly fascinating subject for photographers." Drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, the exhibition is split in two sections: freshwater and saltwater - it includes photographs of Antarctica, seascapes and coastal scenes, inland water ways and rivers, and images of swimming and bathing. www.ngv.vic.gov.au

[Lost Generation] Voyager avec Annemarie Scharzenbach

An overview of the work of traveler, journalist, writer, photographer, Annemarie Scharzenbach, is set to be released as a collaboration publication with the French journal La Quinzaine Littéraire and Louis Vuitton. Annemarie, born in Switzerland in 1908, was an icon of the Lost Generation and the live fast die young ethos of the Weimar Republic, an interwar era of morphine and fast cars. Voyager avec Annemarie Scharzenbach - La Quête du réel is the first in depth look at her work, accompanied by about forty photographs taken by Annemarie herself. The book is set to be released in May. www.quintzaine-litteraire.presse.fr

[PRESS] DNA interview with Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Designers and Artists recently conducted an interview with Oliver Maxwell Kupper - publisher of Pas Un Autre. From DNA: "We recently caught up with artist, Oliver Maxwell Kupper, to discuss his online journal, Pas Un Autre, which covers an interesting mix of art, fashion, music, photography and more from the perspective of artists and contributors from around the world." Read full interview HERE.

[PARFUM D'UNE FEMME] Petite Mort / The Scent of an Orgasm

La petite mort, French for "the little death", is a decidedly poetic metaphor for an orgasm. The question of capturing "the elusive substance" in a bottle, much less a scent, seem's daunting.  With his first foray into perfume, such was the task for Marc Atlan, an art director for clients such as Comme des Garçons, Yves Saint Laurent, and Tom Ford. So how do you capture that moment of climax? You don't really.  You create a conceptual representation, which in and of itself, if you have ever had an orgasm is a pretty intense.  With the rise of artfume, a term I just coined,  more and more perfumers are exploring and inventing wholly new, post modern twists on the classic eau de toilette. Think M/Mink, a line of perfume with the scent of Korean calligraphy ink. According to Petite Mort: "...its a scent based on the paradox of impossible ephemerality." Only 100 bottles of Petite Mort (Parfum D'Une Femme) is available in bottles designed specifically designed and numbered.  www.petitemortparfum.com

tobias wong / BULLET PROOF

Bullet Proof Rose Broach

Arguably contemporary design's most nimble provocateur, Tobias Wong staged his debut in 2001 and continued — until his untimely death at age 35 in 2010 — to produce an extraordinary body of work he designated "paraconceptual" and "postinteresting." Drawing inspiration from various anti-art practices, Wong probed and subverted design's complicity with the culture of late capitalism, exposing its smoke and mirrors while exercising his own sleight of hand. With a unique mix of critical intelligence, courage, sincerity, and mischief, as well as a cadre of talented collaborators, Wong steadily pursued his obsession with the interplay of anxiety and consumerism in the years following 9/11. The allure of luxury goods; the cult of the celebrity designer; the stubborn failure of objects to provide the benefits demanded of them: these are among the concerns he explored across a protean body of work that encompassed objects, furniture, lighting, jewelry, installation, and performance. This is the first in-depth presentation of Wong's work in a museum and will be presented alongside an exhibition drawn from the permanent collection called ParaDesign. On view till June 19, 2011 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern art. www.sfmoma.org

[Nouvelle Vague] Jean-Paul Belmondo Canonized at Cannes

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Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless 1960

With his rough and tumble good looks and eternally dangling cigarette, Jean-Paul Belmondo has been a fixture in French cinema for nearly six decades. Belmondo, the actor who defined "New Wave" cinema with his debut roll in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless will be canonized at this years Cannes Film Festival with a grand fête apropos for the celluloid icon; as well as the premier of Vincent Perrot and Jeff Domenech’s documentary Belmondo, The Career. The Cannes Film Festival runs May 11 – 22.

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Jean-Paul Belmondo in Philippe de Broca's That Man From Rio 1964

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Claudia Cardinale and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Mauro Bolognini's The Lovermakers, 1961

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Jean-Paul Belmondo in Jean-Pierre Melville's Léon Morin, Priest, 1961

Belmondo, Jean-Paul

Belmondo as Belmondo

[FILM] The Face Behind the Mask (1941)

Peter Lorre in The Face Behind the Mask

The Face Behind the Mask is the story of a hopeful new immigrant, Janos Szaby (Peter Lorre), who, on his first day in New York City, is trapped in a hotel fire that leaves his face hideously scarred. Refused employment due to his appearance although he possesses tremendous skill as a watchmaker, the only way he can survive is by turning to theft, using his skilled hands to disable alarms. Eventually he becomes the leader of a gang of thieves, and raises enough money to commission and wear a realistic latex mask of his own face. Janos then falls in love with Helen (Evelyn Keyes) a blind woman who sees only the good in him, and attempts to leave his life of crime behind him. Unfortunately, his gang come to believe that he has betrayed them to the police, and attempt to kill him by car bomb, an attempt on his life that he survives but that Helen does not. In retaliation, Janos disguises himself as the pilot of the private plane the gang is flying out of the city with, which he lands in the Arizona Desert and lets out the fuel, suicidally stranding both the gang and himself without food or water, dooming them all to a slow death. At the film's end, Janos's body and that of his enemies are discovered by the police.

Post by Dustin Lynn