07.13.10: Remembering Harvey Pekar

Harvey Pekar passed away yesterday.  In 2003, Harvey invited me to his home in Cleveland after I asked him to record some voiceover narration for a documentary of jazz musician Albert Ayler I was producing.  Harvey and illustrator Gary Dumm (also the brains behind "American Splendor") created an incredible series of panels on Ayler's life.  I found Harvey to be incredibly gracious and extremely passionate about music and art (and everything else, it seemed!)  His work has always been a...

07.10.10: Christian Marclay at the Whitney

Christian Marclay was one of the biggest influences on my radio show Free Association. The Whitney Museum in NYC is presenting a festival of Christian Marclay exhibits through September 26th.  I'm going to try to make it when I'm in NYC again.  More information here.  Here Christian is performing on the short-lived television show Night Music.  To the casual observer, he's just screwing around.  Closer inspection and listening reveals a methodical approach to spontaneous block composition.  For example, fast...