Top 10 by Robert Duncan Gray, Artist, Musician, Writer
TOP TEN LIST: WHAT THE DEAL IS, EXACTLY
Editor's Note: At Smalldoggies Magazine, we feel that a vibrant part of community comes in the form of spreading the word to others, about our inspirations and influences. In TOP TEN, we ask creative people -- including artists, writers, musicians, dancers, choreographers, teachers, actors and more -- to talk about ten points of culture that have always stuck with them. Scenes from movies, lines from songs, single works of art, music videos, an entire back catalog of a defunct magazine -- anything and everything is fair game. If it's something they returned to when they needed to remember why they were making their own work in the first place, then we want to know about it, and we want to know why they found it to be influential. And now, they're sharing it with you.
Contributor #2: Robert Duncan Gray is an English writer, artist and musician who currently lives and works in Portland, OR. His maternal Grandmother once shot herself in the foot in Cyprus. In his free time, Rob does crimes. His favorite film is Bedknobs and Broomsticks. He likes the Wu Tang Clan. He is the proud owner of a Smokey Joe barbecue. He is friends with a rabbit named Stanley Kubrick and a cat named Owl.
Rob can actively think sixteen different thoughts at once and possesses the ability to lie and tell the truth at the very same time. Robert Duncan Gray is what most Yiddish fluent housewives might call a Luftmensch. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Find out more about him at his website: SillyRobChildish.
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1. SMEER
SMEER is a public art project, or perhaps graffiti or perhaps vandalism, depending on who you talk to. A quick google search leads me to believe that there are multiple artists who go by SMEER, but the one I am concerned with is local to Portland, OR.
I do not know who SMEER is, but they get up all over the city, mostly on the east side of the river. I have seen the name drawn in pastel crayon on trashcans and traffic signs, etched into the mirror at my favorite Thai restaurant, spray painted by the side of the freeway at seemingly impossible angles. I am a fan.
Many of SMEER's pieces are modest and well placed. I appreciate the sense of humor and the playful nature of their tags. So much graffiti takes itself too seriously. The competitive nature of vandals and the boring writers having "beef" and "destroying all lines" and being "king"---it's an outdated and ridiculous way of thinking about drawing on public property. SMEER has a solid aesthetic understanding of the work and its surroundings, a strong line, a sense of design and neat handwriting. I just dig their drawings when I see them. They brighten my day. I guess that's all I know about SMEER for sure.
2. EN VOGUE - DON'T LET GO
This is my favorite song of all time. I have nothing clever to say about it. It's just so fucking good.
3. THE OLD MAN AT THE HOLLYWOOD CAMERA STORE IN NORTHEAST PORTLAND
The Hollywood Camera Story is located on Sandy Blvd in Northeast Portland, between 40th and 41st. I go there to get my film developed and to ask the old man who works behind the counter why my cameras don't work and why my photos are shitty.
He is always very kind and helpful. He is basically a walking talking photography encyclopedia. The last of a dying breed.
When he wants me to sign a reciept, he asks for my autograph and giggles to himself.
4. SUICIDE by Edouard Levé
Suicide is a short novel by French writer and artist Edouard Levé, who committed suicide 10 days after turning in the manuscript to his publisher. It is a wonderfully strange book written in a style that evokes memory rather than narrative. There is a lot of discussion surrounding the book and Levé's actual suicide, a connection one can't escape from whilst reading it, constantly overshadowing the novel and the reader's experience. As I sit down to write this, I cannot force myself to put to words why I like this man's work so much. It is simple and honest. Here is an excerpt form an essay by Levé, published in the Paris Review last Spring, which servers as better explanation:
"I do not write memoirs. I do not write novels. I do not write short stories. I do not write plays. I do not write poems. I do not write mysteries. I do not write science fiction. I write fragments. I do not tell stories from things I’ve read or movies I’ve seen, I describe impressions, I make judgments. The modern man I sing."
That. What he said. I like that.
He produced a fair amount of writing in his lifetime, the great majority of which has yet to be translated into English. I hope someone translates everything sooner rather than later, because I don't really feel like becoming fluent in French. In the meantime, find Suicide online at Amazon and check out the Paris Review piece, which exhibits not only his writing, but also his photography, which is great.
5. JOKES TAG, DOWNTOWN SW PORTLAND
If you exit Powell's Books on Burnside facing south and look up and out, you will see a wonderful tag on top of a building. It says JOKES and it makes me smile every time I see it.
6. DAS RACIST - RAINBOW IN THE DARK MUSIC VIDEO
7. HONEST JON'S RECORDS
Honest Jon's is a rad record shop and label. The shop is located on Portobello Road in Ladbroke Grove, London, and has been around since 1974. I went there last year and it's a tiny place filled to the brim with a really great selection of records. As a label, they release a lot of old and obscure recordings. One of my favorites is called London Is The Place For Me, which consists of a selection of Trinidadian Calypso music made in London from 1950-56. It is a fun album, an enjoyable listening experience. Another amazing Honest Jon's release is called Give Me Love, Songs of the Brokenhearted, Baghdad, 1925-1929.
It is a really beautiful, emotional and psychedelic collection. I particularly enjoy the lonesome violin improvisations, which sound as if they come from another world. I became interested in Honest Jon's because I have a rather unhealthy and slight embarrassing obsession with Damon Albarn, who helps run their label. They also put out a lot of Moondog recordings, who is one of my favorite composers and musical entities. I highly recommend anything with the Honest Jon's logo stamped on it.
8. STEVE
Like most people, I have a friend whose name is Steve. My Steve is not your average Steve, but rather a superior Steve. My Steve is an American type of Steve, born, raised and fermented in Northern California. In this day and age, it seems important to capitalize the N in Northern California. That's just me. Steve, my Steve, would never capitalize anything. That's not true. Or maybe it is. My Steve is a mysterious Steve. Sometimes he is a Steev.
My Steve is a Bay Area Steve, but also a Steve of the world. A well traveled Steve. A south of South San Francisco Steve who currently lives and works in Santa Cruz. He is in the business of tea, magic and happiness. He is doing very well for himself.
My Steve lives in a Museum of Natural Mystery, which he curates. His place is called The Rabbit Hole. It is a crystal co-op, a wildcraft hideout for conversation and tea. It is hidden and you'd be lucky to find yourself within it's confines.
There is a lot of love in my friend Steve, which he cannot help but share. For this reason and many others, he is one of my favorites.
9. MISTER LONELY SCREENPLAY
Mister Lonely is a film by Harmony Korine, which I have never seen. I have seen a handful of his films and I think he is pretty fantastic. I was in Floating World Comics, the record shop of comic stores, in Portland, OR, a couple of weeks ago, where I saw a small book by Harmony entitled Mister Lonely, which, upon investigation, I found to be the screenplay of the movie along with some film stills and photographs. I purchases it on a whim and I am very happy I did.
I have been reading plays recently, mostly short plays, mostly by Samuel Beckett. It is nice to read works written so well, but not intended as their own final product. The text is a means to an end, not the end itself. I have been enjoying reading them as if they were the end itself, reading plays as if they were works of fiction. It has proven to be a very inspirational exercise.
The lessons I have learned have already penetrated my own writing process and expanded the confines of writing in my mind, bringing light to devices that have always been at my disposal, but which I was too blind to see. I think it is a great idea to read (almost) anything and (almost) everything as a work of literature, particularly if it was never intended to be regarded as such, and to use text as freely as possible. It is always important to keep your mind as open as possible, even though it can, at times, be an extremely difficult and painful thing to do.
10. AN EXCERPT FROM A FRANK STANFORD POEM
Three years ago I started reading Frank Stanford's THE BATTLEFIELD WHERE THE MOON SAYS I LOVE YOU. I am currently on page 44. I came upon this segment four pages ago:
just like a pair of hand-me-down britches your cousin sends you in the mail
my dreams don't fit they are tight in the seat
and long in the legs but on sundays when you wear them you find
money in the cuff
I think that's lovely. The entire work is a long strange tangle of wonderful words. I will be happy to read this book for the rest of my life without ever finishing it.
11, 12, 13, 14 & 15.: HONORABLE MENTIONS
[caption id="attachment_4562" align="alignleft" width="412"] Photo Credit: Peter Beste[/caption]
Lapham's Quarterly -- This is an absolutely fantastic literary journal. Four times a year they collect fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays from over four thousand years of history, all gathered around a single theme. The themes are timeless, poignant and universal: Education, The Future, Family etc. An extremely pleasurable reading experience every time.
Death Grips -- Rap group released album "Exmilitary" for free on the internet this year. At first it is difficult to listen to, on account of the noise being so abrasive and violent, but the more you listen, the better it gets. I have listened to it enough times now for it to have achieved the status of "FUCKING GREAT" in my mind. And still, it keeps getting better...
Pulp -- The Demos 1981-1984 (bootleg) -- Pulp are a wonderful band. Jarvis Cocker is awesome. I found this record of old demos at Jackpot Records and it is suddenly my favorite Pulp release. It's a bootleg and though the recordings are of lesser quality, they are so experimental and weird that it only adds to the experience. There are some songs on here that Pulp have since worked on and re-released. They make solid pop music now. This record is them writing songs and being young weirdos. More noise. More Velvet Undergroudy experiments. It's amazing and if you are lucky to come up on it, do not hesitate to pick it up.
Peter Beste -- Really great photographer. I recently read an interview with him in Juxtapoz and have since been listening almost exclusively to rap music from Houston and black metal from Norway. Which brings me to...
Optimo Radio -- An Internet radio station that plays Houston rap 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You're welcome.