Ralph Lemon “About a Paradance:”

What I saw last night. Ralph Lemon at the Tinker auditorium at the French Institute. Passed the flagship Apple store on the way to the theater and saw the tributes to Steve Jobs. This blog would likely not exist without my Iphone 3G so that is my tribute. That and I might get the new 4s for better pictures…Another lecture in the auditorium this one centered a great deal around what he performed at BAM last year. Still he is a skilled reader and this made a nice addendum to that work.
Elements: film, talk, animated dog & giraffe
Title: “About a Paradance: the inherent protest and emigre nature of performance (and how it could belong nowhere)”
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Xavier Le Roy

What I saw last night. Xavier Le Roy at the Tinker Auditorium at the French Institute. Lately I have seen a lot more of these shows where the talk is the performance. In this a former molecular biologist explains how he went from cancer research to performance. It was interesting in a career path sort of way but the post show Q&A was rather weak. Too many performers in the audience that wanted to hear themselves talk.

Elements: talking, film, chair, pillow
Title: “Product of Circumstnaces”
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Raimund Hoghe

What I saw last night. Raimund Hoghe at Le Skyroom. A diminutive man with a spinal deformity and a passing resemblance to the first George Bush had a solo show ostensibly on reminiscences about September 11. The best part is that there was no overt mention of the day but you could see how his actions and musings could be related if you want it to be. Musical accompaniment included Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Maria Callas etc. The Skyroom itself is a cool space well suited for this show.

Elements: magnifying glass, small chandelier, black jacket, spoken word
Title: “Skyroom Project”

Ryoji Ikeda

What I saw last night. Ryoji Ikeda at Florence Gould Hall. A bit like seeing Laser Floyd at the planetarium this was a Japanese noise electronica artist who created pulsing and throbbing soundscapes while a screen projected streams of data and points that reacted to the music in the manner of the old lighting plasma storm ball my roommate had in college. Was surprisingly compelling for the most part although at one point the screen went dark for too long and the momentum was lost. I am not sure this was an artistic choice or a failing of the tech people at the theater.

Also it was fashion night out in NYC and so the neighborhood featured crazy fashionistas in impossibly short animal print skirts with shoes that were to high to be walked in properly while being greeted by obsequious Amerasian pan sexual hosts at the door of almost every apparel accessories boutique in the city.

Here is a runway show of store clerks at Ann Klein as an example.

Elements: loud music, film, ear plugs
Title: “datamatics [ver. 2.0]”
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