I am a complete Joni Mitchell nut. I once went for nearly a solid year listening to nothing but Court and Spark
and Ladies of the Canyon
in the car. I’ve easily played those two albums, 500 times each. My life has been immeasurably enriched by her music. There is nothing better to listen to when you are really, really sad, but her more joyous tunes can have you dancing around the house singing along like a fool.

When the we’re all dead and gone and future musical historians write the history of the 20th century’s greatest music, I have no doubt whatsoever that Joni Mitchell’s artistic contribution to our culture will rank alongside those of Lennon and McCartney, Miles Davis, George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.

And if you want to know how I really feel…

Here’s a stunning performance of a very young and very beautiful Joni Mitchell (then going by her maiden name of Joan Anderson) on the “Let’s Sing Out” TV show, hosted by the renowned Canadian folk singer Oscar Brand. Here Mitchell sings her own composition, “Urge for Going” which is better known as Tom Rush’s cover version.
 

 
I also found this clip. The audio is less than stellar, so turn it up, but what’s interesting about it, is that you can really see her hands playing the guitar. As a child Mitchell caught polio and it left some residual damage in her hands. So to get around this, she created custom tunings that allowed her to play exactly the sound that was in her head, and what her hands would have otherwise had trouble doing. It’s an extraordinary thing to see.
 

 
Back in June, I was lucky enough to be in Venice for the opening of the 53rd Biennale.  After 3 days of gorging on works from artists both established and emerging, I would have to say I was sucked in most fully by the work of Hong Kong’s Pak Sheung Chuen.  He’s a prankster, for sure, wittily combining Sophie Calle‘s exploration of self with the Situationist mandate to expose (and sometime pick at) the seams knitting our world together.  One of Chuen’s more whimsical works involved his renting of an apartment in Busan.  He lived his daily there as usual, but he collected every single one of his breaths into transparent plastic bags until they completely filled the space.  The project took 10 days to complete, and, by the end, Chuen felt as if, “part of his life was absorbed by the apartment.”

Touching video of an Asian elephant birth and new mum raising her calf at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.  Taronga Zoo sez, “The elephant calf Luk Chai can be seen most days out in the paddock with his mum Thong Dee. They are usually bathed in their barn mid-morning and sometimes visit the waterfall in the afternoon, especially if the weather is fine.”

Elephant Diaries

(via Arbroath)

Had a wonderful day in Pasadena, California interviewing the very charming David Tennant and Russell T. Davies for an upcoming episode of Boing Boing Video.

At first my reaction to meeting them in Pasadena was “Isn’t bringing someone from England to Los Angeles and sticking them in a hotel in Pasadena a bit like inviting a Yank to London and putting them up in Croydon?” but the Langdon Hotel (formerly the Ritz-Carlton) is in fact a lushly opulent palace on 23 nicely landscaped acres with a Michelin star restaurant. It was a great place to shoot.

I got a chance to talk with the former Timelord about what if was like to turn in his TARDIS for the very last time and ask Russell about writing his final “Who” script, the recent Transatlantic triumph of the “Torchwood: Children of Earth” mini-series and about his recent move to Los Angeles (sneak preview: he’s been here for six weeks and he already misses the rain!)

Meeting the Mighty Boosh (and seeing them in concert last night at The Roxy) and then sitting today with David and Russell has made for a very exciting 24 hours.

Look for Xeni Jardin’s Mighty Boosh interview—if you were standing in that monstrous seven block line last night, you’re probably going to see your bad self in the final piece, at least briefly—and this one to show up next week on Boing Boing Video.

A special thank you to Devin Johnson of BBC America for making this happen.

 
In today’s fascinating NYT piece on American writer/champion of the dispossessed, William Vollmann, and his new 1,300 page opus, Imperial, reference is made to his friendship with Leonard Knight, Sean Penn cohort and architect of the religious-themed folk-art sculpture, Salvation Mountain.  Imagine what might happen if the Blue Meanies found Jesus Christ and needed a desert hideaway to worship in and frolic, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what Knight’s been making out of clay for the past 25 years.  He’s also, since then, launched a website packed with photos, all lovingly documenting his monument to faith, love and tenacity.

 
William Vollmann in the NYT

Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain

My very good friend Kelly McKay’s fashion magazine Swoon is launching its latest issue, a split publication devoted to the New York and Los Angeles music scenes. Issue five, arriving immanently, is available for pre-order?

Over the weekend I saw a talk by Canadian cartoonist Seth, whose work I’d heard about for a long time but hadn’t gotten around to actually reading. His stuff is great?

Maybe we should add a new “WTF?” category:

NASA started to beam the song towards the North Star, 431 light years from Earth at midnight GMT on Monday, drawing congratulations from former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, who mused that it marked “the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe.”

But today’s New Scientist asks whether such signals could expose us to the risk of attack from mean spirited aliens.

Beatles space broadcast ‘risks alien attack’

Thank you Mister Mark Jordan of London, England!

Impressive stop motion video with plasticine by samuelle3. Samuelle3 explains borrachos, ” Stop-motion animation tribute to Oskar Fishinger. Using black plasticine, paper and wire over a precarious light-box and my tripod fixed to the wall.”

Totally worth checking out!

samuelle3

Oskar Fischinger

Etsy user darkvomit sells original oil paintings, kinetic art and Christmas card sets. From his listing:

“The Pope of Trash” by Kelly Hutchison (aka “Dark Vomit”). Original oil painting… Gesso…Painted… then varnished on wood panel. Measures 26 inches by 31 inches with the gold frame (frame comes with purchase) Ready to hang on the wall as is. Signed and dated by artist.

The Pope of Trash - John Waters