TAG SALE COSMOLOGY

Patrick McGuinn and Carousel of Death

Patrick McGuinn is an awesomely bizarre filmmaker whose Desert Spirits (1994) inspired me and Jennifer Sullivan to make Double Vision. That’s how we first heard of him, and there’s much more to say…but I’ll save the details for later posts so the various eccentricities of individual works can be properly digested and appreciated.

We turn our attention now to Carousel of Death - McGuinn’s high school death-pop band. McGuinn’s youtube channel includes two videos of the band from the early 80s. The first is a videotaped live performance of “Death Spectre” on a sparkly-backdropped stage in L.A. McGuinn leads the song with staccato pop-punk vocal stylings while wearing a white suit, medallion, and long white-ish blonde wig. He has conveniently placed subtitles on the image so we can make out the song’s lyrics, which adds much more value and viewing pleasure than you might think.

Carousel of Death - Death Spectre

We see that same white-clad look in the music video for “What Happens Next?” but in a different context. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so just go ahead and watch it all the way through. After a steadily paced narrative, I was surprised to see so much plot crammed into the last 30 seconds or so. It’s a total roller-coaster of bizarre plot twists and cool details, the dark campy quality offset by lovely, breezy shots of the band’s two female members spinning hula hoops. Oh yeah - the song’s pretty good too!

Carousel of Death - What Happens Next?

The Early Films of Mary Ellen Bute

I saw a program of Mary Ellen Bute’s short abstract films a couple weeks back at Anthology and was really impressed. Bute was a pioneering and innovative female filmmaker and animator whose work is still not widely known. Much of her early films function a bit like music videos. She called them “visual music” - she creates graphics through analog means in order to accompany a piece of music. Later, she incorporated digital imagery as well - her 1952 film Abstronic featured oscilloscope patterns dancing to the tune. Interestingly, many of her short films premiered at major venues like Radio City Music Hall as the supporting act for feature films.

Seems to me she would have gotten along swimmingly with Doctor Who theme composer Delia Derbyshire, whose lost experimental audio work, including a techno predecessor from the 60s, has recently been uncovered.

More on Mary Ellen Bute HERE.

Below I’m including those films that are available on youtube, presented chronologically. The last two are in color.

Rhythm in Light (1934)

Dada (1936)

Spook Sport (1939)

Tarantella (1940)

Performances - Friday and Saturday

I’m doing a new performance (music + dance + video) at A.I.R. Gallery this
Friday, July 18th, at 6 pm as part of a performance night curated by Emily
Harris.

Performance Night at A.I.R.
Friday, July 18th at 6 pm

ELIZA FERNAND, ERICA MAGREY, ARI TABEI & ROB VAN ERVE
Artists create and incorporate fabric and costume with performance.

ARI TABEI, “Dress for Today #6″ In her 6th garment of the current series,
Tabei packages her body with eggshells, plastics and discarded papers to
shelfter herself, exposing her struggle and desperate hope to get through
today. Performance will continue throughout the evening.

ELIZA FERNAND, “Gushing” In her handmade costume, with vocal sound
effects, Eliza Fernand performs the gushing explosion of lava and smoke
from a dancing volcano.

ERICA MAGREY, “New Horizon” is a story of transformation and empowerment
told through movement, light and sound. Original music by Magrey’s
alter-ego Metalmags.

ROB VAN ERVE, “Need Your Love So Bad” Performance and Installation.

Click on thumbnail for full flyer:

A.I.R. Gallery
511 West 25th Street #301
New York, NY 10001

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I’m also participating in Jennifer Sullivan’s performance/variety show
It’s a Process on Saturday, July 19th at 7 pm at Cakeshop.

Click on thumbnail for full flyer:

Both events should be super fun.

Hope you’re all staying cool…

TAKE ME

I thought about posting this video on youtube for a while but had this idea that I wanted to ask permission from Patrick McGuinn, the filmmaker behind Suroh: Alien Hitchhiker, since I used so much footage from it. And of course I didn’t know how to contact him and so I put it off over and over again UNTIL I had the bright idea to check myspace. And he was there! He responded very kindly to my note, so I now offer you TAKE ME…

See excerpts from some of McGuinn’s videos HERE.

From the video description:
Found footage collage by Erica Magrey, 2005. This video was made in response to an assignment to recraft found footage into a new work. It was inspired by and borrows heavily from Suroh: Alien Hitchhiker by Patrick McGuinn (the first five minutes are almost all re-edited or shortened scenes from Suroh), but also incorporates footage from the following: Doctor Who - Planet of Evil, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by D.A. Pennebaker, Barbarella, dir. by Roger Vadim, Glam Rock music video collection, and various music videos. The music is also from Suroh: Alien Hitchhiker.