When I was a kid, household appliances were not designed to also be cute, just because they were meant to be used by children. Specifically, I recall a humidifier that we had to have in the bedroom I shared with my brother when we were probably 3 and 4 years old respectively, because he suffered from asthma. That thing looked like a spacecraft from War of The Worlds — and while it might have relievedmy brother’s breathing difficulties, it was pure nightmare-fuel for me.
If only Crane humidifiers had existed in the sixties, my parent’s might have been inclined to purchase a model from their Adorableline — featuring, well, adorable animal-shaped, multi-function humidifiers — thus sparing my tender psyche from an enduring trauma. Because, seriously, how darn cute is a little pink Unicorn?
I made my first appointment to get the Covid vaccine on the exact day that NY State opened eligibility for my age group, and was fully vaccinated by April. Being vaccinated allowed me to safely fly across the country to meet up with my sister (who is also vaccinated) for a mind-blowingly fun road trip across the state of Utah, which I will remember for the rest of my life. My time in Utah more than made up for hardly being able to leave my house of the better part a year. I feel that I owe not just my physical health, but the triumphant return of my mental health to the Covid vaccine. Thank god for medical science!
If you’ve already been fully vaccinated, thank you, and please congratulate yourself on doing your part to keep yourself and others safe as we attempt to beat this fucking virus, which as we can see is not backing down so easily.
From Situating Helen Frankenthaler’s Wizard by Louise Byrne
Completed in 1963, Helen Frankenthaler’s Wizard stands apart from her then contemporary paintings, with its vertical orientation, body-sized scale, and figural allusion in both name and form. One of the last paintings Frankenthaler worked entirely in oil, Wizard should be understood as a crucial experiment in both method and medium, presaging key changes in Frankenthaler’s established approach. The artist’s works of 1962 show the last influences of didactic expressionism, where apparently unguided drips and blots of oil punctuate wide expanses of unprimed canvas, each piece emerging as an autonomous work.
Yesterday I made my first trip in years to Governors Island to check out the art galleries they have installed inside each room of the turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival houses that formerly were occupied by military families. Both the art and the houses themselves were mind blowing! Sponsored by NADA House (New Art Dealer’s Alliance) the exhibits end today (8/1) so if you’re interest in seeing them you need to make your plan now. Visit This Link for all the info! Be sure to follow me on Instagram@Worleygigdotcom to stay informed on all my rad goings-on around the town!
Above Image Courtesy LA Art Show. All Other Photos by Geoffrey Dicker Except Where Noted
This is a Guest Post by LA-based Correspondent Geoffrey Dicker
The WorleyGig has gone bi-costal! The Summer Edition of the 25th Annual LA Art Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center has returned as one of the first major art events in Southern California since the pandemic started in 2020. I attended the VIP preview on July 29th to catch a glimpse of what’s on view for West Coast readers of The ‘Gig.
Damien Hirst, Gold Cat From Egypt (Ai Bo Gallery)
The show features an eclectic mix of art, including favorites such as Damien Hirst, massive installations such as The Grind by G Bauerbach (pictured below) and the hottest commodity in the art world, the ubiquitous NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens).
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you might recall that I recently attended an art event at the National Museum of Mathematics (aka MoMath). On the way out of the museum that evening, I decided to pop in to the gift shop, where I noticed something at first seems a bit incongruous: a tiny Pink Bathtub . . . that was in use as a bin to hold little soaps shaped like the Pi symbol. Oh, the cleverness.
Joey Jordison (Center) WithThe Murderdolls in 2003 (Image Source)
Musician Joey Jordison, best known as the legendary original drummer for Slipknot, and guitarist for The Murderdolls, passed away on Monday, July 26th, 2021 from the neurological disease transverse myelitis, which he had suffered with for many years. This is very sad news, not only because Joey was an extremely talented musician, but because he was a cool guy who was just too young to go.
This interview, which was conducted in person by me for the now defunct MK Ultra Magazine, took place in 2003, while Jordison was doing press for The Murderdoll’s debut, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls. I pulled this from my archives this morning, to re-post here on The ‘Gig. It is not available in its complete form anywhere else on the web, so I thought it would be a nice remembrance for the enjoyment of Joey’s fans, and those who loved him. Goodspeed, Joey.
Rock You To Death
An Interview with Murderdolls Guitarist, Joey Jordison
By Gail Worley
The most important lesson I learned from conducting the following interview with Murderdolls guitarist Joey Jordison is to never, ever do an interview in a conference room that has no ceiling, especially when the floor outside said conference room is a highly polished wood floor. Because here’s what happens whenever someone walks by the room: not only does your tape recorder pick up the clomp-clomp-clomping of their shoes as they walk the hallway, but the echo from their clomping footsteps rises up over the walls of the room in which you’re trying to do the interview, creating an echo chamber wherein, upon playback of the recorded tape, every single one of my questions and every single one of his answers sounds like the chorus to a Morbid Angel song. Live and learn.
