!WAR Premiere at the Whitechapel Gallery

Finally, after 40 years in the making, the documentary tracing the history of the Feminist Art Movement in the United States is, as they say, in the can!

"!WOMEN ART REVOLUTION A Secret History" by Lynn Hershman Leeson will be screened at the Whitechapel Gallery on October the 15th at 3PM; followed by a discussion with the director lead by Whitechapel's Chief Curator Achmin Borchardt-Hume.

Tickets are £6 (there are also concessions for members, students and OAPs)

To book tickets, please click on the link that is this post's title.

Visit: www.womenartrevolution.com

Don't miss the opportunity to witness history!

Coming Soon...New Album by Cat Power

Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) is currently adding the finishing touches to the eagerly antecipated follow up to her last album, The Greatest (2006).

In the meantime, get yourself acquainted with the soulful frailty of this great American chanteuse.



Performed on Later with... Jools Holland, 2006.

The Price of Sex - a film by Mimi Chakarova

The real price of human trafficking:



from Women Make Movies' YouTube Channel.

www.wmm.com

www.catwinternational.org (Coalition Against Trafficking of Women International)

Dorothy Parker - Writer (1893 -1967)

I've recently purchased (on one of my meandering through the local Chatsworth Market) a second copy of Dorothy Parker's biography "What Fresh Hell Is This?" by Marion Meade. I have just started reading it, but I can tell already I'm in for a treat.

I do not know much about Parker's life at all - apart from the bohemian lifestyle which became part of her legend; and of course her sharp wit and melancholic cynicism at life's many disaventures.

I thought it'd be nice to share some of the wit for which she became renowned for and synonimous of. Her writing was a clear verbal portraiture of the carelessness and dissatisfaction of the times she was living in - the 1920s - the days in between the ravages of the WWI and WWII, when the former needed to be forgotten and the latter was seemingly unforseen.




A Certain Lady (1924)


Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head,
And drink your rushing words with eager lips,
And paint my mouth for you a fragrant red,
And trace your brows with tutored finger-tips.
When you rehearse your list of loves to me,
Oh, I can laugh and marvel, rapturous-eyed.
And you laugh back, nor can you ever see
The thousand little deaths my heart has died.
And you believe, so well I know my part,
That I am gay as morning, light as snow,
And all the straining things within my heart
You'll never know.

Oh, I can laugh and listen, when we meet,
And you bring tales of fresh adventurings, --
Of ladies delicately indiscreet,
Of lingering hands, and gently whispered things.
And you are pleased with me, and strive anew
To sing me sagas of your late delights.
Thus do you want me -- marveling, gay, and true,
Nor do you see my staring eyes of nights.
And when, in search of novelty, you stray,
Oh, I can kiss you blithely as you go ....
And what goes on, my love, while you're away,
You'll never know.

Search (2008) - Video by Luciana Francis (nee Saldanha)

Video by Luciana Francis (nee Saldanha).
London, 2008.
See more Luciana Francis' videos on Vimeo.

Andrea Arnold's film version of Bronte's classic novel

Edna St. Vincent Millay - Poet (1892 - 1950)

An Ancient Gesture

I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
Penelope did this too.
And more than once: you can't keep weaving all day
And undoing it all through the night;
Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight;
And along towards morning, when you think it will never be light,
And your husband has been gone, and you don't know where, for years.
Suddenly you burst into tears;
There is simply nothing else to do.

And I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
This is an ancient gesture, authentic, antique,
In the very best tradition, classic, Greek;
Ulysses did this too.
But only as a gesture,—a gesture which implied
To the assembled throng that he was much too moved to speak.
He learned it from Penelope...
Penelope, who really cried.

Bjork on Biophilia - BBC Radio Interview 2011

Broadcast on BBc Radio on the 13th 0f July 2011.

The exceptional Krystle Warren

I must confess I haven't heard of her immaculate performance at Jools Holland in 2009,nor have I heard of the concert at the Soho Theatre last year.

So I was in for a very special introduction to this extraordinary singer and performer as she entered the stage - in her shorts and plimsoles, carrying her estimated acoustic guitar - at the Shepherds Bush Empire prior to the eagerly anticipated performance of Joan as Police Woman that evening.

The voice, ladies and gentleman, this lady has it. And as with the late and much missed Jeff Buckley, dare I say, it's not only the earnest poetry of the lyrics but the way she delivers them; it's her singing that gets you. She sings with her face, her throat, her lips, her nostrils. And she cracks good jokes in between songs too. A talent that makes you feel at ease in her presence, not intimidated by it. Refreshingly inspiring, to say the least.


Krystle Warren performing Circles, on later with Jools Holland in 2009.

For the Love of Joan!

If you were at one of the gigs on the current tour you will know what I am talking about. If you were not, I urge you to catch this lady live.

Joan Wasser (aka Joan as Police Woman) is, unashamedly and generously, emotional and equally dignified and kick ass in her performances. Her concert (accompanied by Tyler Wood on his magic keyboards and Parker Kindred on his understatedly talented drumming) in London last Friday (Sept 09th 2011) was pretty much the most complete; the best performance I have ever seen - and I've seen a few.

I will do a separate mention to her mate, the exceptional Krystle Warren, next.