One Night Stand: A Biblical Epic on Mastication

By David Moody

Lord, forgive all my foxiness. Remember us humans, us cruising
to nightclubs and not braking to dead stop, us stepping—
no hand rail—in black pumps and boot-cuts up to the slut box
then forgetting to dance. Us keeping secrets. Our leaving no tip.
Sometimes in a good fuck I speak carpentry—spackle and jack
tape, Jesus rib, caulk. I awoke this morning naked as a jay bird. Buzzed,
wearing glasses, I held on to no one but my body pillow, Sacagawea,
keeping her warm. Almost a godsend, God, almost.

I confess I want guidance. Guide me to the country of Charity,
that hard-knuckled woman, her deep ankle boots. Can she have red
hair or is black a must? I imagine her hips as I often do hips—chisels
and axes that hack at a crowd thralled to some DJ.
This woman shapes through body’s rhythm her own thrumming
god. Fox beast, incisors, torso warped thing. Its own twisted shape a way
of confessing. To choke without a throat, slowly, on praise.

From what is this thing we have gnawed happiness? How
has it tasted all of our lives? God of Smudged Chins. God of
Half-Virgins. We wedge fingernails into the gaps between backboard screws
and corner beams. With a wonderful quickness we know bed as world.
God, what I’m saying is that I suspect heaven
was planned with a right hand drawing blueprints on napkins,
the left hand still-buried in some idle fur.

Forgive me but nightclubs are like your mouth, like my bedroom
with its ceiling too low. The off-kilter whir of fan blades replace
any belief in collar-starch morals. Forgive the room’s stucco.
Forgive the drunk nothings this tile floor revibes. No,
nothing’s wrong with yesterday’s meats. Sometimes, though, I am
little more than gaps found between words—good and then
morning. A click-click that lingers. I cannot tell if its high heels or teeth.
If I am flea, Lord, and not a fox, I insist one thing: you must bite, hard.




David Antonio Moody writes out of Tallahassee where he pursues a PhD in poetics at FSU. Former poetry editor for SawPalm and Juked, David is production editor of Cortland Review and Southeast Review. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Sweet, Eleven Eleven and Spillway.

THE WEEK/WEEKEND: Oct 18-24th.


Ashley Wood/Jeremy Geddes

Jonathan Levine
Oct 20 — Nov 17, 2012

Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to announce Machine Sabbath, a series of new works by Australian artist Ashley Wood, in what will be his debut solo exhibition in the United States and exhale, a series of new paintings by Melbourne-based artist Jeremy Geddes, in what will be his debut solo exhibition in the United States. On Saturday, October 20th, there will be a print released at 1pm, and the opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 6—9pm.

Music for Voice: Cycles, Mashups, and Machinic Rhapsodies
Le Poisson Rouge
Sun., October 21, 2012 / 5:00 PM and Tue., October 23, 2012

Join Metropolis Ensemble’s celebration of song and contemporary lyricism in a concert featuring 3 extraordinarily talents from a new generation of star singers, Kate Lindsey, Kiera Duffy, and David Babin (along with members of his celebrated band from Paris, BabX). Music for Voice will be an unforgettable evening of kaleidoscopic textures, soaring melody, and elegiac poetry.

Leave The Bass Alone, 5 Basses
Harvestworks
Installation: Sat/Sun, Oct 20/21, 4 -7pm
Reception and live performance: Friday, Oct 19, 7 – 9pm

Inspired by this quote from Morton Feldman to Stockhausen and studies of dramaturgic developments of different human and natural soundscapes, Leave the Bass Alone is a collection of sound installations, field recordings and performances exploring the depths of the double bass’ spectral world. In “5 basses”, five double basses are amplified and feedbacked with each other. The strings and the bodies of the basses resonate with their ambient surroundings, thus creating an interactive drone in which the basses are controlled both by their acoustic vibrations and their environment. Seemingly simple acoustic/physical principles take on the complex role of the composer, creating forms and structures surprisingly similar to those we find in our everyday life.

Beth Wiemann, Composer/Clarinet with Geoffrey Burleson, Piano and Maria Tegzes, Soprano
Firehouse Space
October 20, 2012 8:00 pm

Performing compostions with and without video accompaniment, including, Sharp Nostalgia, for bass clarinet and piano, The Primary Tool is Soup, for soprano, piano and DVD, The Star Theatre, for clarinet, piano and DVD and other short solo works. Link to earlier performance of one of “Star Theatre” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6bRTph9MxY&feature=plcp

Hindsight is Always 20/20
Closing Nov. 7
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Walkway near the Carousel

Originally commissioned for display during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Hindsight is Always 20/20 is a large public sculpture consisting of 43 light boxes.  The work examines the history of American political discourse through the metaphor of vision. Drawing from the annual State of the Union (SOTU) addresses given by Presidents to Congress, Hindsight consists of a single Snellen-style eye chart for each president who gave SOTU addresses from George Washington through George W. Bush. Instead of the typical characters present in an eye chart, the piece employs words drawn from their speeches, presented in order of most frequent (top line) to least frequent (bottom line) word. The result is a startlingly clear snapshot of the lexicon of each presidency, containing a mix of historically topical keywords and rhetoric unique to each president and the time period in which they served in office.

THE CELLAR AND POINT/FLORENT GHYS – SOLO PERFORMANCE DOUBLE BASS-LAPTOP
Cornelia Street Cafe

Wed Oct 24th

The cellar and point is an adventurous “garage-chamber” sextet whose musical universe comprises the detail of modern concert music, the emotional directness of alt-rock, and the improvisational sensibilities of downtown jazz. Formed in 2010, the group features an impressive cross-section of young talent from NYCʼs classical, jazz, and new music scenes.Ghys is one of a new breed of composer/performers who thrives on performing the music he composes. He creates highly contrapuntal, post-minimalist chamber music showcasing intelligent multi-tracking and inventive use of electronics and sampled speech. On the surface, his music is lighthearted and easily engaging, with whimsical loops and repetitions dancing around each other, creating clever and pleasing rhythms. Acoustic bass lines interweave creatively and buoyantly with layered instrumental tracks, electronics or processed speech. These seemingly simple elements are carefully crafted, however, and pieced together very deliberately.

Landscapes of the Soul
La Mama
October 19 – October 21, 2012

By using an array of musical traditions from around the world, composer and multi-instrumentalist Nacho Arimany offers a ritualistic expression that engages the audience in experiencing free interaction between different artistic disciplines. The incorporation of Jazz , Video-Art and Live Digital Drawing opens the space for tradition to be transformed and actualized by a new experience of collective creation.

TYPES WE CAN MAKE & TYPE@COOPER
Cooper Union
OCTOBER 23 – NOVEMBER 17, 2012

“Types We Can Make”- A selection of contemporary Swiss typeface design curated by ECAL/University of Art & Design Lausanne (Switzerland), in association with The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography. “Type@Cooper”- Graduates of Cooper Union’s Typeface design program, Type@Cooper, will exhibit a diverse range of their works.

Dead in August
Site 95

October 19 – November 16, 2012

site95 is pleased to present “Dead in August,” a group exhibition organized by Meaghan Kent and Sara Maria Salamone. “Dead in August” is part of a multi venue project that uses additional spaces in New York to create in depth exhibitions highlighting emerging New York based artists. The exhibition will be held at NYCAMS, New York Center for Art and Media Studies, New York. Artists include: Nils Folke Anderson, Agnes Barley, Jude Broughan, Matthew Brownell, Peter Demos, Nathan Dilworth, Roberto Carlos Lange, Francesco Longenecker, Christian Maychack and Alexandra Posen. A panel discussion moderated by Andrea Hill will be held Thursday, October 25 at 6:30pm.

PAMELIA KURSTIN with PETE DRUNGLE
Barbes
Thu 10/25

Invented in 1919 by Russian scientist Léon Theremin, the Theremin is one of the oldest electronic instrument – and the fact that it doesn’t need to be touched to produce a sound, makes it also the most magical. Pamelia is widely considered one of the world’s greatest theremin player. On an instrument primarily associated with horror and science fiction soundtracks, she can be lyrical. Her pitch, her technique and her taste are equally perfect. She can play microtonal puzzles and walking bass lines. She can sound like a violin, a human voice or an analog synthesizer. Out of what was once a symbol of modernism, she plays music of a very emotional order. Pamelia has been based in Vienna for a few years, and this is a rare chance to catch her here – and then with Barbez for the later set. She will be joined by pianist Pete Drungle.

How to Break
Here Arts Center
Oct 18-Nov 4

In their first co-producing endeavor, HERE and the Hip-Hop Theater Festival present the world premiere of How to Break, a collaboration between playwright Aaron Jafferis, reknowned breakersKwikstep and Rokafella, beatboxers Adam Matta and Yako 440, composer Rebecca Hart, and director Christopher Edwards. Recipient of the 2012 Thomas Barbour Playwright’s Award,How to Break sneaks into a hospital room with a fake ID, a potty mouth, and a bad case of heartsick.

MONICA BILL BARNES & COMPANY
NYU Skirball
OCTOBER 20 / 8:00 and OCTOBER 21 / 3:00

Monica Bill Barnes & Company return after their performance in This American Life Live! last May. Ira Glass will introduce these performances and join the company onstage for a post-performance discussion.

JENNIFER & KEVIN McCOY: TWENTY ONE TWELVE 
POSTMASTERS
October 20 – November 24, 2012

Postmasters is pleased to announce Twenty One Twelve, its sixth exhibition with Jennifer and Kevin McCoy and their 10th year with the gallery. Pioneering new media artists whose works explore both time-based and physical reality, the McCoys are perhaps best recognized for constructing subjective databases of film and television material and for creating miniature film sets with live video cameras. The integration of sculpture and video continues in their new exhibition. Pointing to a time 100 years from today Twenty One Twelve connects current trends with future failures and potential transformations. For this show the McCoys have created a series of ten sculptures which depict the landscapes of today and tomorrow. Corporate campuses, parking lots, man-made mountains, resort architecture, and factories all collide with a globalized media infrastructure. This framework exists to support utopian goals, even as it rests upon resource depletion, financial instabilities, and entropic decay. The problems of environmental and economic collapse persist in the face of the rhetoric of the assumed benefits of continued economic expansion and a technological future.

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TRACK ONE: song for a significant other.



TRACK ONE: song for a significant other from Tommy Becker on Vimeo.

“pulling down the sky to give you the sun”

Track Number One: song for a significant other | 1min 50sec | DV | 2005
After piecing together a yellow outfit from second hand stores, the simple act of jumping is turned into a performed act of giving as a figure struggles to transform himself into the sun. Track Number One was a belated birthday present and is a gift to be shared with others, especially the artists who continue to exercise their light and amuse their imaginations.

video & music – written, recorded, performed and edited by T.Becker | 2005

WEBSITE.

The Weekend: Dec 10-11.

SATURDAY:


Vaudeville Park presents…Noir Night
Come out to our 4th Installation of Noir Night, this Saturday at Vaudeville Park. Rare Noir Films & TV, Dark Synth Jazz, Bloody Red Cocktails, Free PopcornVillains of Vaudeville play sullen & dark synth jazz homages to Dark Shadows and Vertigo.

Seven in One Blow – 10th Anniversary Production!
For the tenth consecutive season, Axis Company will present its winter show for children, Seven In One Blow, or The Brave Little Kid. Adapted from the classic fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm, this interactive play with music is conceived by Axis Company and directed by Randy Sharp featuring Axis’ signature blend of advanced technology and live performance. Children in the audience will be encouraged to participate in many of the Kid’s challenges with singing and organized “shout outs.”

A-Lab Forum: ARTE UTIL
centers around the works of artists whose practice involves social and political engagement.  Through actions, performances, situations, and in may instances the reference to the object(s) , participating artists explore possible ways to bridge the gap between audiences and art experience.  Taking as departure the notion of Arte Util (Useful Art), first introduced in the 1960’s , the forum will open the dialogue to offer a possible re-formulation of  ideas behind artistic creation, aesthetics, alternative narratives, and public participation. Selected artists were invited to present their work and share their approach, ideas and experimentation with art that can be found in the streets outside the white box of a gallery or museum setting.

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THE WEEK: Dec 5-9.

MONDAY:

Photographing the Dead: The History of Postmortem Photography from The Burns Collection and Archive
Postmortem photography, photographing a deceased person, was a common practice in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These photographs, from the beginning of the practice until now, are special mementos that hold deep meaning for mourners through visually “embalming” the dead. Although postmortem photographs make up the largest group of nineteenth-century American genre photographs, until recent years they were largely unseen and unknown. Dr. Burns recognized the importance of this phenomenon in his early collecting when he bought his first postmortem photographs in 1976. Since that time he has amassed the most comprehensive collection of postmortem photography in the world and has curated several exhibits and published three books on the subject: the Sleeping Beauty series. Tonight, Dr. Burns will speak about the practice of postmortem photography from the 19th century until today and share hundreds of images from his collection.

FIRST BOOK BROOKLYN HOLIDAY PARTY & FUNDRAISER
first book–brooklyn is a nonprofit organization dedicated to getting new books to children in need.  join us tonight for their first annual holiday party and fundraiser.

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The Weekend:Dec 2-4.

FRIDAY:

TED BROOKLYN:
We’re living in what is commonly referred to as the “Information Age.” With the emergence of social networks, we build new communities by pressing the “Like” and “+1” buttons and becoming fans. As we become increasingly interconnected with the Brooklyn community in these new ways, we find ourselves grasping for a new common ethos. In other words, we are striving to refine and define “better.” On December 2 at Brooklyn Bowl, we will address these issues with talks from the best and brightest minds of Brooklyn and beyond.

OPERA ON TAP/Roulette Sisters.
Opera is fun. Most people don’t seem to realize how much fun it really is. In order to prove it, Opera on Tap has taken its act to barrooms where they found out that beer on tap enhances the operatic experience. The company is made up of young singers and instrumentalists who relish the direct contact with audiences not inhibited in their reactions by the looming menace of giant chandelier.The Roulette Sisters have been turning heads and stopping traffic since forming in the cold winter of 2003. Noticing that their warm velvet harmonies and spicy hot licks were melting the snow outside, the sisters realized that they had started something not only weather-altering but soul-stirring as well. The sexy sisters play a hip-shaking blend of American country blues, traditional songs, popular tunes and old timey music from the first half of the 20th century. With Mamie Minch: resonator guitar, Meg Reichardt: electric guitar, Megan Burleyson: washboard, Karen Waltuch: viola.

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THE WEEK: Nov 28-Dec 2.

MONDAY:

TALK SERIES: Poetry After the White House Jam: A Panel Discussion on the nature and Role of the Avant-Garde
This talk will focus on poets Alison Knowles (founding member of Fluxus) and Kenneth Goldsmith (Conceptual Writing figurehead) and their inclusion in the 2011 White House Poetry Jam. Specifically, thinking about Knowles and Goldsmith as “avant-garde” figures: whether there can be an avant-garde that is current and representative, and how that impulse affects/is affected by an institutional context such as the White House. Panelists include: Rod Smith,Sandra Simonds, and Steven Zultanski.

THE WEEK: Oct 24-28.

MONDAY:

BROOKLYN FOLK ARTS DAY
Brooklyn Arts Council, in partnership with The Cultural Strategies Institute invites your participation in a Folk Arts Town Hall Meeting celebrating and strengthening folk and traditional arts in Brooklyn. This first of a kind meeting will inaugurate Brooklyn Folk Arts Day, an annual gathering of Brooklyn’s traditional artists, traditional arts organizations and communities they serve, teaching artists and educators, funders, elected officials, and other friends of folk and traditional arts. Moderated by BAC Folk Arts Director Kay Turner, this gathering will address ways to preserve, sustain, encourage, and expand traditional arts practices in Brooklyn. In town hall fashion, we hope to hear ideas and concerns from a wide range of people attending. The reception provides further opportunity to meet and greet across Brooklyn folk arts communities and genres of practice.

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THE WEEKEND: Oct 21-23nd.

FRIDAY:

UGLY ART ROOM PRESENTS: ALL THAT REMAINS

Mathilde Aubier, Paul Burgess, Cless, Virginia Echeverria, Fred Free, John Gall, James Gallagher, April Gertler, Ashkan Honarvar, Colin Jenkins, Gordon Magnin, Clarita Mata, Jeffery Meyer, Tom Moglu, Randy Mora, Julien Pacaud, Lilly Pereira, Dave Plunkert, Ciara Phelan, Eduardo Recife, Kareen Rizk, Javier Rodriguez, Valerie Roybal, Katherine Streeter, Leigh Wells, Charles Wilkin, Lionel Williams, Bill ZindelFrom its abstract roots in Cubism to the political and counter culture movements of Dada and Punk, collage has always been a product of its environment. With the rise of 24 hour media cycles, social networks and search engines, contemporary culture has effectively rendered print media obsolete, creating a virtual boom in discarded paper ephemera for collage artists to examine and reinvent. Through these discarded remnants collage artists have become the archivists and activists of this post modern age, paralleling the frenetic pace in which we live while exposing the voyeuristic and often disjointed nature of popular culture.INTERVIEW WITH THE 22.

Doomsday Film Festival
The 2011 Doomsday Film Festival explores our collective obsession with the Apocalypse in film, art, and culture.From raptures, plagues, meteorites, nuclear holocausts, aliens, zombie attacks, ecological catastrophe, and cybernetic revolt to the 2012 doomsday predictions, the Festival will touch upon all possible permutations of our collective demise. We’ll be screening films from across the board, with works ranging from premieres to established classics to rediscovered gems. On the schedule for the 2011 Festival are nuclear fallout cartoons, early ’60s atomic parables, ’80s zombie punk, award-winning independent shorts, and much more.The event will incorporate a panel-based symposium featuring authors, artists, and all manner of experts on the End of Days. We plan to tackle the Apocalypse in all its forms, and hope you’ll join us for the ride!

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