Thursday, May 21, 2009

A Clean, Well Lighted Place: Zaha Hadid

Being a native Angeleno and having a mother and father who were curious worked to my advantage. I grew up in a very liberal home in a sea of Catholicism that was and is East Los. The popular image of LA is Tinseltown but many aren't aware that it is a world class city for architecture, and because of the slight edge I had with my upbringing, I was always receptive to creative things. At a young age I can remember being aware of the Bradbury and LAX's "space restaurant" (The Pereira & Luckman's "Theme Building" which included a team of Welton Beckett and LA's Paul Williams, one of the pioneering black architects).


By far the biggest impact on me as a kid were LA's movie palaces, the classic Hollywood premier locations of Broadway (The Orpheum , Broadway & State) and of course the granddaddy, Grauman's Chinese. Again, timing is everything, and I was fortunate to be a kid at the tail end of the last flickers of life they would have. In fact, I saw Taxi Driver by myself because I wanted to concentrate, so I went to the State, as I recall, and sat in the first row of the balcony.

As a kid, the palaces were spectacle themselves, so over the top and full of the pop baroque pretensions the moguls themselves had. But to a kid into music, MAD Magazine, comics, and movies, it was gone. It influences you in ways the empty sterility of the "starbucks theaters" have no inkling of.

Later, when the Music Center opened it wasn't the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion I noticed but the Mark Taper Forum, also a Welton Beckett project. Beckett's greatest influence upon me, with a nod to Bucky Fuller, was his Pacific's Cinerama Dome.


That's pop or "Googie architecture." The serious stuff of LA's architecture must be pursued, partly because of our sprawl; the other half is that it just isn't a popular notion to associate with the city.

Many of the modern greats have rolled through here; the work of Julius Shulman attests to that.

Eames House


Pierre Koenig's Case study House 21


Neutra's Chuey House


Just last weekend Fish and I went to the Schindler/Kings Road House, which I hadn't been to in at least a decade. With age and more history in my noggin, it was inspiring to think that both Schindler and Neutra inhabited it. I was also reminded of something Zaha Hadid once said, and I paraphrase, that architecture is - should be - about well-being.

It's such a perfect answer, because when you consider the role of design in the world, it's everywhere. Although I'm not a Wright groupie, anyone who has stepped into the Ennis House or a well-designed space knows what she means.

Hadid would be one of my guests at a living artists dinner; it'd be interesting to hear her current views on Iraq, which she only recently touched upon on Charlie Rose's show. I like her work which appeals to my searching nature - by that I mean the feeling her work produces in me appeals to my restless spirit. I also like the organic, biomorphic quality that appears now and then. Hadid's not always my cup of tea, but at the same time, when she's on, I think she's one of the most talented of the living designers.







Monday, May 18, 2009

Guitar Hero

The 60's & 70's in music were a fascinating time in rock music for obvious reasons. One of the by-products then was the elevation of the (lead) guitar player. First popularized by the 60's phrase, "Clapton is God," names like Beck, Page and Hendrix soon became very well known.

In the late 60's something happened; certain jazz musicians were listening and incorporating rock elements and turning out what would be called "jazz fusion," or simply, fusion. Miles was among the first with his Bitches Brew, and the great Tony Williams (and Miles alum) would shortly follow suit with his "Lifetime" band.

Yet another Miles alum,Chick Corea, jumped on the bandwagon. By now (early 70's) fusion was primed and pumped for a "superstar" group, and Chick seized the moment with his band, "Return to Forever." (rtf)

First, what a dumbass Trekkie name. Let's be honest; it's fruity. I remember looking at the album back and if memory serves correctly, it had a quote by L. Ron Hubbard, who was really into "space opera" as scientologists have told me. Yes, Chick had become one...

Second, rtf had a young - I believe he was only 19 - axeman; Al Di Meola. He became fusion's guitar shredman posterboy.

Personally, I never liked his playing or his pretensions; just go down the list of his solo album titles. You think Chick's head is full of "space" grab a fork and get a load of Al's bullshit; "Land of the Midnight Sun," "Soaring Through a Dream," "The Infinite Desire" ... yeah, these folks are serious. Either that or they say, "Get a load of this crap I'm gonna make 50 g's on..."

Once I saw him in a later incarnation with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia doing their faux flamenco thing, all three seated on stage. Eh, not my cup of tea, but I went to catch up to see what McLaughlin was up to. Anyway, the most hilarious thing was that Al would start his patented shred runs, and at the climax - invariably on a high note - he'd literally lift up out of his seat, as if the run was goosing him up the ass. When I pointed it out to my friends, we'd crack up every time it'd come to Al's turn to solo.

Following is one of the most hilarious vids I've seen in a while. I owe these guys because I was feeling kinda shitty and then found this; These guys literally had me in tears.

from "lootheessence":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_pWWspVjv8

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Wizard's Curtain: Paddy Chayefsky's Network

One of the markers of the 70's was the great renaissance in film within the studio system, and Paddy Chayefsky's Network is in the pocket.
I'm writing about it now because it was just recently screened on cable, and even though I've seen it at least ten times I never cease to marvel at it. On every level it's remarkable and so in your face with its prescience. When you consider the theme Chayefsky talks about and the way he pulls back the wizard's curtain it's a wonder that it even got made.

Courtesy of the great Sidney Lumet, sadly, one of the last of a dying breed, here's one of Peter Finch's/Howard Beale's famous rants

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