Friends Write 03.11

Friends of b>side offer their reviews, recipes and raves on all things creative…
Not wishing to get caught up in the latest must-haves, we want to share a diverse range of endeavours that has stopped us in our tracks.

The Greenhornes, Four Stars No, that’s the actual name of the album, although I would go close to giving it 4 out of 5 stars. The Greenhornes have been recording and touring since the late 90’s and although I’m not too familiar with their past recordings, I’m very glad this latest album released late 2010 didn’t fly in under my radar. Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch best describes the album on the liner notes as, British Invasion, 60’s garage, and original psychedelic amongst other things. Basically its clean, melodic, original rock, that’s definitely worth a listen. (Clyde)

Psychedelic Cowboys, the fashion shoot in the March 2011 issue of Warhol’s Interview magazine, styled by Marie-Amelie Sauve, photographed by Craig McDean. These images made me go WOW, as all good psychedelia ought. To my mind the blend of Bowie’s glam rock, western chic and psychedelics is, quite simply, both inspired and transformative. Andy would be proud. (Fiona)

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/psychedelic-cowgirl/

b>side listening post for March
The National, Alligator
David Bowie, Hunky Dory
Grinderman 2
Lee Scratch Perry, Arkology: Reel 2 Dub Shepherd
Radiohead, The King of Limbs
P J Harvey, Let England Shake
Iron and Wine, Kiss Each Other Clean
Dear Times Waste, Spells
Dimmer, Degrees of Existence
The Mots, Eugene Told Me You Were Dead
REM, Collapse Into Now

Recipe for creative people on a budget, Udon Noodle Soup
1 serving precooked udon noodles
400mL dashi (fish stock) per person
1/2 carrot, chopped, per person
1-2 Chinese cabbage leaves, chopped, per person
miso, to taste
chilli paste, to taste

Bring fish stock to a boil and add the carrots and Chinese cabbage spines. Simmer until almost cooked. Add the udon noodles and Chinese cabbage leaves and simmer until the leaves go limp. Turn off the heat and add miso and chilli paste. Serve immediately.
Note: Chinese chilli paste – found in the Asian import section of most supermarkets. Once you have bought the base ingredients, it’s really cheap to make again. (Isabella)

Favourite song for a funeral She Left Me For Jesus by Americana musician Hayes Carll. Check out his live performance on The Bob & Tom Show, a syndicated US radio programme by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at WFBQ in Indianapolis. Ya can’t argue with that! (Kate) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wdF84qS_4o

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
A fiction story by Leanne Shapton (2009), about a relationship and it’s eventual break-up… all very obvious subject matter, but the quirk of this book is the way in which the story is told. It is played out through a fake auction catalogue of the detritus of their relationship. Each object had been photographed in a very matter-of-fact way in black and white, with carefully detailed captions. The love story and it’s struggle emerge from the evidence illustrated in the book. Some have criticised it for being yuppie crap, but you know what? Who cares… (Fiona)

Justin Townes Earle should have had Auckland’s Power Station packed, but there was still room for more. Maybe Americana doesn’t have a huge following here, but for $37 a ticket this was a great deal. (Even better with a pass won on BFM, then generously donated… thank you Clyde.) I managed to catch one of the opening acts, Bernie Griffen and The Grifters, from Auckland. I feel I know Bernie, his Sunday night Border Radio show on BFM is a must for Americana fans like myself. Live he didn’t disappoint either, managing to keep a diverse crowd swaying on their heels.

Justin too commanded a respectful audience. I’m not a music critic, so won’t dissect each song, but it is enough to say everyone – myself included – had a rollicking good time. Except perhaps for the guy somewhere up the front who must have over indulged in something… Justin actually stopped mid-song to check if he was OK. I guess people have looked after Justin himself over the years.

So for you folks out there who didn’t brave the wet and humid Saturday night, you missed a mighty fine gig. (Kate)

Snowhite Gallery at Unitec recently hosted two shows as part of the Auckland Arts Festival. Both were connected by the oil industry; one by photographer John Malcolm, the other a video piece by research organization CLUI (Center for Land Use Interpretation).

Malcolm’s photography was shot in the eighties whilst he worked on an oil rig (concealing his camera). The photographs alternated largely printed wide angle shots of the rig itself, some presumably taken by helicopter, with smaller close up portraits of the workers there that had a more intimate feel. The large prints, grainy and black and white lent themselves well to the complex abstract feel of the rig, and made an effective contrast to the portraits, many of which were shot with the informality of friends.

The video by CLUI, was quite a long piece documenting the Trans Alaska Pipeline’s epic 800 mile journey from the north to the south coast of Alaska. Shot in sequence as kind of a road trip for the viewer, the video was in fact made up of still photographs charting the journey from it’s beginning to end. Stop offs for the viewer included pump stations marking otherwise wide-open expansive plains, slightly odd visitor centers catering to the pipeline’s tourist industry, and sculptural relics of retired old equipment. All of this was shot unpretentiously in an almost snapshot manner, with captions underneath each image detailing technical matters along with a narrative charting its history and some of the environmental consequences of it’s creation. It was left up to the viewer to decide it’s merits and ethics, the only tone given being that of the soundtrack’s composer by Alaskan John Luther Adams. A darkly beautiful rolling post minimalist piano score, almost ambient in nature, it perfectly suited the barren dirt landscape which made up most of the pipeline’s journey. (Julius)