On a routine visit to the Henry Miller Library, Hippie Sven stumbles upon “Howl,” and with it, the transforming power of poetry and “emotions.”
He also discovers that Philip Glass will be accompanying poets at the Library on August 31st, at 8 pm. More info at Philip Glass’ Days and Nights Festival website.
When the Big Sur International Short Film Screening Series began six years ago, the films were shown, literally, on a projector screen on our old, sad-looking stage. The average attendance, at first, was something like, 15-20.
Of course, it was awesome; it had a spunky, up-from-your-bootstraps kind of vibe, which I think it still retains. But it has come a long was since then. I guess that’s kind of an understatement.
The Series is one of the best in the world – there’s no submission fee, for example – and this year, we received more applicants than ever. And after rolling out 51 films (out of around 600 submitted) this summer, it all now comes down to this – the final night, the grand gala, the big enchilada, the hot pastrami, the pipin’ hot clam boat.
You should come.
From 7 to 8 pm, we’ll be holding a reception with beer, wine, chocolates, and of course, popcorn. There’ll also be a very special guest: the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, an incredible world-class string quartet whose recent performances have included China, South Korea, and South America.
Then…the films. The winners. The cream of the crop. The wheat from the chaff. The shrimp in the paella. The shrimp in the bouillabaisse. The tripe in the menudo. The cookie dough chunks in the cookie dough ice cream.
We’ll be showing the best films from the summer, as chosen by our illustrious jury, which includes Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Michael Polish, Kirsten Dunst, Vilmos Zsigmond, Susan Littenberg, and Lawrence Inglee.
And, of course, there’ll be the audience award winner, as chosen by you, the um, audience.
I, personally, plan on wearing a V-Neck. Last year, a locally-renowned bartender rolled up in a full tuxedo.
It ruled.
Making fun of religion, particularly the Abrahamic ones, is like shooting fish in a barrel.
I mean, after 4,000 years of theological heritage, the three major Western religions believe that God/Yahweh/The Trinity allowed 18,000 people to die in the recent Japanese earthquake because a woman who never existed was induced by a talking snake to eat an apple.
What’s up with that?
It’s silly if it weren’t so tragic, but alas, it is both silly and tragic, which is why everyone likes to laugh when people make fun of religion because a) it stimulates endorphins or whatever d b) it needs to be done as long as religious sociopaths want to impose their medieval will on law-abiding, consenting adults in our constitutionally secular republic.
Which is why we’re excited about “American Heretic,” on Friday, September 16, 2011 at 7:30 PM at the HMML.
Which “American Heretic” would that be, specifically, you ask?
Is it, say, Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father, author if the Declaration of Independence, and rabid Deist/atheist who doubted Jesus’ divinity*?
Or perhaps that madman Abe Lincoln, who once famously declared, “The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession?”
No. Close, though. It’s MAD Magazine’s Joe Raiola, a dynamic comedic force and one of the country’s most passionate defenders of free speech. In the outspoken and irreverent tradition of George Carlin, his new show, American Heretic, is a powerful evening of provocative comic theater.
“My goal is to tear false things down,” Raiola says unapologetically, “so God and country seem like a good place to start.”
But Raiola is probably at his best when riffing on religion. His outrageous “Theory of Holy Books,” which postulates that you can’t trust a Holy Book with more than 200 pages or weighing more than a half pound, is not to be missed.
I, personally, hope that Joe tackles head-on the wild thematic divergences between the Synoptic gospels and Paul’s near-silence on transubstantiation juxtaposed with his fervent misogyny and anti-Semitism.
One can dream, eh?
* TJ’s quote: “The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”
The other day I was in Target and had a great sensation.
There was a sign that said, “Back to School” sale or “End of Summer Sale” or something like that. Normally that would plunge my spirit into a deep existential abyss; after all, school sucks and summer rules, and for those of us who grew up, say, out East, the end of summer and the encroachment of winter only means one thing: decay.
Actually, I lied. It means, like, five things: decay, Seasonal Affective Disorder, chapped lips, soft weeping, eating a lot of pie, and undiagnosed alcoholism.
Which brings me back to that deep existential abyss. Specifically, how I didn’t plunge into it.
I waltzed on by it, whistlin’ Gershwin.
Why? Because summer starts in September; it’s the hottest month in California! October? Second hottest month.
And the winters aren’t bad. Rainy, sure. A little cold, fine. But scrape-ice-off-your-windshield-in-a-barren-17-degree-off-white-January-nightmare-scape-and-then-get-strep-throat cold?
No way.
It’s called endless summer dudes.
So while our good pal Adam Joseph at the Monterey County Weekly, in his nifty preview of today’s Dodos show (tickets still available here) accurately notes that summer is, technically slowing coming to a close in a Farmer’s Almanac-y kinda way, I guess we disagree.
Summer is a state of mind ya’ll.
And besides, we have almost two more months to go. Got a few more tricks up our sleeves.
This is how it works.
Every year, we get, like, 600 submissions to our Big Sur International Short Film Screening Series from over 100 countries.
We pick the best 30 or so and show them across Thursdays in July and August. Then we take the best of the best and send’em on up to our screening committee, who then pick the very, very, very best.
The screening committee consists of the following individuals: Laurie Anderson (performance artist/composer), Philip Glass (composer; 3 Oscar nominations), Kirsten Dunst (actress), Mark and Michael Polish (film directors), Susan Littenberg (film editor), Vilmos_Zsigmon (cinematographer; 4 Oscar nominations, 1 win), Lawrence Inglee (film producer.)
And tonight, Thursday August 25th, we’ll be re-showing the winners of 2010, which are:
* 1st Place: BEAST, by Lars P. Arendt
* 2nd Place: Born Sweet, by Cynthia Wade
* 3rd Place, Vs, by Ben Bruhmuller
There’ll also be live music by Laura Shera.
And of course, don’t forget the grand 2011 gala finale on Sunday – info here! Dress to impress!
I was fortunate enough to see Allen Ginsberg perform at NYU before he passed away.
I was a Beat-freak teen and I took the train into the Big Apple back in the 90s; mind you, this was during the Dinkins administration, when the city was alive with vibrancy and a mild menace, before Bloomberg turned Manhattan into a Disney-fied playground for billionaires and drove all the interesting people out to Secaucus. (Shakes fist and looks at sky) Bloooombergg!!!
But I digress.
The show, of course, was sold out, and everyone there was like me: young, awestruck, and mildly buzzed, because in a pre-Guiliani New York, the bodegas would gleefully serve any 12 year olds with a fake SUNY drivers license. (Shakes fist and looks heavenward) Guiliani!!
Allen was spry, spunky, and vim-filled. He also performed with a guitarist and sang some of his tunes, including one about how nicotine has killed 3,000,000 people, but marijuana has killed zero. [Well, maybe two: one dude giggled themselves to death; the other munchie'd themselves to death.]
But now Allen Ginsberg is dead and I’m not sure what, exactly, is the next best thing to seeing him live.
But I know what one of the next best things is, and it’s going to be poetry night with Philip Glass @ the HMML on August 31st.
Yes, Philip Glass will be performing live on our stage, accompanying an army of poets who’ll be reciting some Ginsberg classics (he and Philip were pals.)
I mean, do you realize how cool this is?
The performance is part of Mr. Glass’ Days and Nights Festival, which is cruising along to rave reviews, and we couldn’t be happier or prouder host his incredible event. Ticket info here.
OK, important stuff regarding the Big Sur International Short Film Festival. Basically, it’s almost over.
Tomorrow, Thursday the 25th, we’ll be showing last year’s winners along with music from Lauren Shera (who’s also in Honeymoon.) Come hear her play her gorgeous and mellifluous tunes from her new disc “Once I Was a Bird.”
You can check out last year’s winners here. If I’m not mistaken, I recall being very enthralled by “This is Alaska.” It is a subtle and absurd tale of hipsters braving the Yukon wilderness in a search for “ultimate freedom.”
Ahh if only these kooky self-aware Swedes ran for president instead of Alaska’s other freedom-loving sociopathic export.
Ahh (again), but this is just a mere precursor to the grand finale, this Sunday, August 28th! It will be a full house for sure. Last year was bedlam; the popcorn line stretched from here to Pacific Valley. I was about to collapse from anxiety when good ol’ Dave Dildine from ex-Fernwood fame and Mr. Fix-It/Human Zanax Stan Russel came to my rescue. Thanks guys.
And it gets better. Sunday’s gala finale will also include a very special musical guest: the string quartet from the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA.)
Led by Artistic Advisor Plácido Domingo, the YOA Orchestra of the Americas is a multicultural, world-class symphony orchestra of 100 gifted young musicians, ages 18 and 30, from more than 20 countries of the Western Hemisphere.
They’re touring China, South Korea, Chile, Argentina, and now…Big Sur.
So consider us stoked and also flabbergasted that such an incredible confluence of art, music, and cinema can congeal in our sleepy little bookstore in the mountains.
It’s kinda crazy.
This Friday, the HMML will be hosting a wonderful show, triple-headed hydra, in which each head is a band: the Dodos, the Luyas and Sea of Bees. Gates at 6 pm. Ticket info here.
We’ve heard good things about the Dodos, while the Luyas played here a few weeks back, opening for, if I’m not mistaken, Blonde Redhead.
They were great. They alone are worth the price of admission. Fantastic songwriting plus welcomes forays into straight-up deep space noise. Heavy on the big muff pedal and the Memory Man. Like Can meets Judee Sill (?)
See you in the pit!
…so says the San Jose Mercury. Money quote:
The New York-based composer fell in love with this stretch of the Central Coast four years ago when he came out to perform a benefit concert at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur. A year ago, he and his staff went into high gear to make Days and Nights a reality.
The results were on display Friday, as an exceptional group of chamber musicians — pianist Jon Klibonoff, violinists Tim Fain and Maria Bachmann, violist David Harding and cellist Matt Haimovitz — gave a series of sonically rich and passionate performances.
And, of course, he’ll be performing at the Henry Miller Memorial Library: poetry night on Sept. 30 (info here), and “Dracula” on Aug. 1 (info here.)
Not to be missed!
In many ways, the entire summer down here at the Library has been leading up to these two shows. A crescendo, if you will.
And yes, the strained musical analogy is severely intended, because Philip Glass, one of the most innovative and iconoclastic artists to ever grace the planet, is putting on two shows here – one of which is a benefit for the Henry Miller Memorial Library – as part of his larger Days and Nights Festival.
This is a big deal. Check it:
Poetry Night: Wednesday, August 31 at 7.30 PM
Join us under the stars for an intimate evening of poetry and music. Some of California’s leading poets will be accompanied by Philip Glass and the YOA: Orchestra of the Americas string quartet to host a beautiful union of spoken word, poetry, sound, and vision.
Performances by Jerry Quickley, Eleni Sikelianos, Maria Teutsch and Francesco Levato; accompanied by Philip Glass and the YOA.
This event is extra-special for Philip, as it evokes his younger years reading poetry with the likes of Mr. Ginsberg in their East Village haunts. Tickets here.
And then, a mere 24 hours later, there’s…
1931 film DRACULA w/ Philip Glass Ensemble, Thursday, September 1 at 8 PM
An evening of outdoor film and music. The 1931 classic film, Dracula, will be shown on the Library’s brand new outdoor film stage, with original musical score performed live by Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble.
Enjoy a hauntingly beautiful night under Big Sur’s starry canopy; part of the proceeds will benefit the Henry Miller Memorial Library.
This event is brought to you by our dear friend Jesse Goodman, who has presented benefit concerts with Patti Smith, Marianne Faithfull, Laurie Anderson, Yo La Tengo and now, coming back for a unique event, Philip Glass! Tickets here
(Also, this Dracula poster is for sale on our online Store – buy it here.)
This particular performance has been met with rave reviews all across the States, as well as in Sicily, Rome, Paris, etc. And now it’s coming to…Big Sur.
Both shows will sell out. Get your tickets now!
