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Tracey Thorn on John Martyn

I'm "friends" with Tracey Thorn on her MySpace page, which has been pretty great as she's written about production on her new album (bit more folky, less electronic, much of it recorded in Berlin) and she's quite frank and real-not surprisingly, but still. And she posts new work there from time to time. Just got notification of a post from her on her thoughts on hearing of English singer-songwriter John Martyn's passing today, and it's a simple, evocative piece that recalls her first exposure to his music with a bittersweet beauty. As Thorn has talked about her inspirations on MySpace I've checked them out and it's been a gift to be turned onto artists I'd never heard of. Knew a bit of Martyn's work, but not well. Very inspired to explore that now.

.....was just in the kitchen at lunchtime eating a sandwich with ben, when the news came on radio 4 that john martyn had died today....now this couldn't truly be said to be "shocking" news, in the true sense of the word, but still, what a sad day....i remember the first night i met ben, over in the student union building, and we had a few drinks in the bar and then went back to his student bedroom....and of course the first thing i did was to rifle through his record collection, and discovered that we had precisely TWO records in common (vic godard, and the durutti column)....at which point he pulled out an album i had never even heard OF, let alone heard, and it was john martyn's solid air.....ben had only arrived in hull earlier that afternoon, same as me, but he'd already re-arranged his room to suit his preferences....the desk, that item you might imagine being central to a student's bedroom, if not very existence, he had stashed away safely out of sight on top of the wardrobe, and in its place now stood an old, battered trunk with a record deck on top, and to either side a huge pair of speakers, the like of which i hadn't seen before....on went solid air, and it filled the room, and that was that.....the first record we listened to together, cheers to you john martyn, bless you and the weather....xx

TRACEY THORN MYSPACE PAGE

Ultimately Meaningless As Always, Awards Season Reedeems Itself.

Popularity contests applied to art are appalling, in my book, although now and then I get sucked in at this time of year-I am American, afer all. "Oh, Penn really deserved it." Sure he did, but so did Richard Jenkins--The Visitor was the most subtle, authentic film I've seen in years and Jenkins' performance was so deeply felt that I've been quixotically rooting for him and growing ever more bitter as he is, quite predictably, overlooked. But Poehler and Krasinski at the SAG Award make me forget the grating hype cycle and red carpet static--and, for a moment, I almost dare to open my heart, just a little, and maybe, just maybe, I can learn to love again.

Photo Portfolio Launches

Well, "launches" might be a little grand given the chilly climate for marketing expenditures, but I've just put an online photo portfolio up at jasonrowanphotography.com. The other day a friend who is a menswear designer launched a new website the day after one of the apocalyptic congressional hearings (Banks? Cars? Hard to keep track anymore.) and we were laughing at the non-event of it, contextually speaking. Funny thing is, the site has done well, and despite the slew of layoffs and cutbacks sweeping the nation I keep getting little flashes of sunshine--another friend who works at a major Chelsea gallery said that the day after the inauguration the art was moving.  So anyone who wants some softcore lifestyle porn marketing campaigns conceived for their destination or hotel, check it out! I also shoot cocktails. But only if I'm able to drink them after. Many thanks to my guys John Hunt and Greg Needham for putting this together for me, and thanks to Carolina (above) and Ben (below), recent subjects.

Friday Music Cue: Stand Back (Eli Escobar Remix)

Now, I post this 80s classic without the detached, ironic, blank posture that afflicts the hipster community as described in horrified detail in Adbusters here. These hipsters have helped keep all this 80s music in the cultural mix long past when I, who was a teenager the first time it rolled around, would have imagined. In 1984 there was a sharp divide between bubble gum pop and hair metal, and the cool stuff like Bowie, X, The Smiths and The Talking Heads. Pop was a guilty pleasure at best, insipid and grating at worst. Sometimes those two aspects overlapped, of course. See: Madonna. But the synth heavy hits that MTV persuasively sold with narcotic visuals felt trifling even if they were catchy, and I figured history would soon discard them, along with my adolescence. But after a brief respite in the 90s bars and parties welcomed Corey Hart and Pat Benetar and post-Fleetwood Mac Stevie Nicks back with open skinny arms, creating a bizarre musical Groundhog Day for those of us who lived through it all the first time around. A lot of catchy tunes, to be sure, but the layer of froth on top relegates much of it to mere nostalgia. Then I discovered Eli Escobar, who may be rewriting musical history and redeeming an entire decade.

DJ and remix artist Escobar strips these glossy pop concoctions of that synthesizer pulse that, too me, dates the material badly, and he brings the beat forward, crafting a more timeless, and certainly a more funky version of the original. I first heard his work on this insane mix of Janet Jackson's 'The Pleasure Principle', where he used the existing beats like a weapon against the keyboard hum that undermined the radical edge that drove the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis produced jam--making it harder, stranger and certainly funkier. On Stevie Nick's 'Stand Back' he's outdone himself--the 7:46 verion here is tight, driving, fresh--he keeps the signature synthesizer hook but anchors it with a tighter, angrier beat and bassline. All these 80s artists should just commision Escobar to go back and remix their stuff, peeling away the sacharine icing and revealing the true song, and the true beat, beneath it. Escobar DJs Wednesdays at Bang! on Rivington Street in NYC; his website with other cheese--and irony--free remixes is here.

Last Shot

This was towards the end of the 'return to key west' shoot, and we were all sunburned and weary from too much work and even more play. We'd spent the day in the back country--anytime you get on a boat you get so nice and tired after. We drank through it, naturally, and after dinner at 915 we headed upstairs to their cool little lounge called point five. Of course I was shooting pictures the whole time, obeying my urge to somehow bridge the staged scenario with a spontaneous snapshot sensibility. "Never not being watched," observed Ryan, wryly but also good-naturedly. After we were "done" we retreated to the back porch where my assistant Che promptly fell asleep, and Ryan sort of reclined against him. I pulled out my G9 and snapped it. I finally broke through the preconceived image and found something 100% real.