Category: Events

Frida and I go way back, to ancient times where she wasn’t this popular icon of feminism and empowerment she’s become ever after the movie with Salma Hayek. I had seen a panel of hers, a monstruous affair with a crippled woman at the center held aloft in the sky and held together by braces – an icon of pain bursting forth in a starfield of passion.

Having grown in two cultures, I have always felt the duality of the passionate Italian and the rule-bound German curse me. As I saw the panel, it struck a chord within me, almost talking to this conflicted side of mine, speaking of the inner anguish that comes from having to live by two very different sets of rules.

Turns out, I found out much later, that Frida had that thing in common with me: she was the daughter of a German from Pforzheim and of a Mexican of mostly indigenous descent. That gave me an instant connection with her that has a degree I cannot share with most artists, as dual upbringing is quite rare.

It so comes that, because of the personal nature of my connection to her, I am always surprised by the popularity she enjoys. The exhibit at the SFMOMA, then, had all the trappings of the most popular ones: long lines, timed entrance (“Do you want to get in at 2:30 or 3:00?”), a creepy creeping line that snakes its way through the exhibit.

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In the pantheon of photography, there is always room for someone that has spent the last 50 years taking pictures of America as it has grown and changed. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art decided to honor Lee Friedlander, just such an artist, with a giant exhibit.

With an ouvre that vast, the gallery decided to go for a roughly chronological setup, showing the artist's work from the 60es to present times in a series of walls that, mostly, each come with a thematic setup. When I say that you easily get lost as to what the next wall should be (left or right?), you'll just as easily guess that Mr. Friedlander shows a remarkable unity of style from the first to the last picture.

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Well, one of the things that was amusing at the Mika concert was the number of cameras pointing at the stage throughout the night. Indeed, sometimes the glow from the cameras was stronger than the light on the stage. I guess that’s what you get in the capital of geek!

I made the comment to my friend Julie that half the videos shot that night would be on YouTube by the end of the evening. Now, it wasn’t half, and it wasn’t until the day after, but there are indeed 6 videos that match the search “mika warfield” on YouTube. 

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From a blog post on the net, more information on the drummer in Mika's concert that left such a huge impression. The original location is this.

I’ve been a little bit quiet here because I’ve just got a new job. Hooray! It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to work for ages and combines both my radio and web skills. Ace. Now I just need to get back into coping on little sleep after djing. A call to arms Londoners – where is good for lunch around Brick Lane/Shoreditch High Street area?

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For those of you who don't know Mika, you have probably already heard at least one of his songs. In a good mood, he delivers "fun" music that is very catchy, instantly memorizable, but somehow too generic to have a particular imprint.  He's very young, so he probably is still working on a particular style, but right now he fits the mainstream glam rock category quite well, with other acts like Scissor Sisters.

When I moved to Silicon Valley, I stopped attending concerts. Who has the time to keep up with the event schedule, or even to attend a concert at night when there is another catastrophe looming on the next day? So I let my love of music rot in the basement of stress. That is, until I realized I had missed Annie Lennox. Turning 40 makes you think of the many lasts you are going to experience in the future, and I suddenly had the feeling that might have been my Last Chance to see the amazing Diva live.

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