Margot Mifflin >> Do you feel yourself to be capable of being manipulated?

Margot Mifflin - "Backlash"

(Arrest Records, 1992; reissued by MuWorks Records, 1993, & Atavistic Records, 1996)

This is on the tremendous and varied compilation State Of The Union.  It originally came out as an LP on Zoar Records in 1982, obviously without this song.  I have the 1992 CD version on Arrest Records and the dramatically expanded double-CD 1996 version on Atavistic Records, both of which do feature this song.  (I ripped this mp3 from the 1996 edition.)  The gimmick is that every song on all versions of SOTU is about 1 minute long, making each artist really strive to get to the point quickly, often with fascinating results.  See the full tracklisting of each edition by clicking the links under the "Notes" section here.  Some of the more well-known contributors: John Lurie (of the Lounge Lizards and an ill-advised acting career), Arto Lindsay (DNA, etc.), the late actor Spalding Gray, turntable virtuoso Chrtistian Marclay, Adele Bertei, Tuli Kupferberg (of The Fugs), noise rock producer Martin Bisi, Fred Frith, Borbetomagus w/ Voice Crack, drummer Ikue Mori (DNA, Death Ambient, etc.), God Is My Co-Pilot, Marc Ribot, John Zorn w/ Yamatsuka Eye, Nicholas Collins, Syd Straw, Mofungo, Henry Kaiser, John Duncan, Ui, PainKiller, Penny Arcade, Chris Haskett (Rollins Band guitarist), Maggie "Hey Baby" Estep, Allen Ginsberg, Lenny Kaye, DJ Spooky, Andrea Parkins, Sim Cain (Rollins Band drummer), Zeena Parkins, Lukas Ligeti (son of György), Kurt Ralske (a.k.a. Ultra Vivid Scene), M. Doughty (of Soul Coughing), and a Mars Williams / Ken Vandermark sax duo.  However, most of the artists are complete unknowns, with baffling and/or awesome names like Krackhouse, Grafted Media Devil, A Thousand Tiny Fingers, Circuit Redux, Pharmacy Lounge, Sonorexia, Babytooth, Jody Dunaway (she plays balloons... really), and Dim Sum Clip Job.  That was honestly not an attempt at keyword spamming.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, this song doesn't feature Mifflin herself on vocals, but maybe the intro yodel is her, or maybe the closing voice?  The song has an abstract feminist undertone that can be ascertained by the line of condescending questions asked by the sampled male voices; the female voice at the end ties it all together.  It's amazing that this was done 20 years ago, considering how many bands would be considered edgy and fresh if they were to put it out in 2012.  The layered mechanical drumbeat is almost industrial in some parts.

The bio on Mifflin's website says: "Margot Mifflin is an author, journalist, and professor who writes about women, art, and contemporary culture. The author of Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo, she has written for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Believer, ARTnews, and Salon.com. Her book The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman was published in April, 2009. An associate professor in the English Department of Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY), Mifflin also directs the Arts and Culture program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where she teaches arts journalism. Mifflin has appeared as a lecturer and keynote speaker at dozens of colleges, universities and museums, including Barnard College, Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design and Los Angeles MOCA. She appeared in MSNBC’s documentary “Women and Tattoo” (2001) and CNN’s “Women of the Ink” (1998). She was raised in a Quaker family in Swarthmore, Pa. and now lives with her family in Nyack, New York."

Here is a film piece called Atlante by Grazia Toderi that was being shown at the CAC (Contemporary Arts Center) as part of Prospect.2.  I think this is the entire thing, and I've read that it was shot in Portugal.  It was projected simultaneously onto two screens on walls that were slightly angled in towards each other:

On Saturday I stopped by at the monthly (last Saturday of each month) Arts Market on S. Carrolton for the first time.  Most of the art was pretty tourist-y.  Some freak wind gusts came through and blew some vendors' shit over, which actually amused me.  Then I went to National Art & Hobby to get an easel my parents had gotten me for my birthday.  (I've never owned one.)  I picked up a free flipbook-sized publication there, by some publisher called America Sutra.  It's simply titled Love Song on the cover, with no author name or publishing credits, and is full of intentional typos.  The back cover just says americasutra.com, and going to that site told me that their books are apparently by someone named Amit Desai.  I think this must be some sort of teaser for their upcoming book series.  Or maybe it's some elaborate hoax?  Very cryptic.  You know I love palm trees, hence you know I had to post this sample:

That line reminds me of House Of Sand And Fog, in which the main guy cuts down all the trees on his new property that block his view of the ocean.  After leaving the art store, I drove down Magazine St. a mile or so and then pulled over to check out a garage sale.  After picking out three CDs sans cases (Sade - Love Deluxe, Chet Baker - Let's Get Lost - The Best Of Chet Baker Sings, and Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly), I found a dollar bill on the ground, and then went to pay for the goods.  "Just give me a dollar," she (I overheard that she's a photographer named Alex Bono) said.  Yeah, I felt a little guilty.  But factoring in the hundreds of CDs, tapes, records, books, etc. that I've given away to thrift stores over the years, I don't mind getting my karma returned once every so often.  The Sade CD was quite a coup, since I'd been wanting it for a long time.  Fun Fact: I could've also bought Public Enemy's Apocalypse '91 CD there, but just looking at the names of the terrible songs printed on the CD elicited a flood of memories and emotions, bringing me back to the day I bought it (namely, the week it came out in October '91).  I had to put it down and walk away.  Let some other shmuck waste 33⅓ cents on it.  Then I went to a Goodwill on the way home and came across what I always think of as a "suicide donation" or "death donation."  By that I mean lots of obscure albums by someone who must've been savvy enough to know he/she could get some good money for them at any used CD store.  Hence the presence of them in a thrift store means the person probably died, and his/her parents or spouse just gave the music away.  I got CDs by Christian Marclay, Black Box Recorder, Lync, Themselves, Furry Things, Morcheeba, Slowride (a pre-True Widow band), Lamb, Blackalicious, M83, Myshkin, and Breaks Co-Op.  There was even one by annoying drone merchants Pelt which I passed on.  I also passed on a recent one by Trail Of Dead, whom I used to worship back when they didn't suck.  Anyway, R.I.P. dude or dudette, and R.I.P. Don Cornelius.

Planets with similar climates: Negativland - "Methods Of Torture" (1987), Emily XYZ - "Put A Little Distance" (2000), The Art Of Noise - "Beat Box" (1983), Was (Not Was) - "Dad, I'm In Jail" (~1987), Kallabris - "Untitled (#2)" (1987), Public Enemy - "War At 33⅓" (1990).