Obama as poet

I was just discussing the absurdity of  a president, cultured or not,  influencing the arts in America.
Then I read this:
Pop
by Barack Obama
Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and broken
In, sprinkled with ashes,
Pop switches channels, takes another
Shot of Seagrams, neat, and asks
What to do with me, a green young man
Who fails to consider the
Flim and [...]

Obama as muse

Much has been said and written recently about the potential impact our new president could have on the arts in America. Obama is literary and tech-savvy. When he described the prose from a book he was reading as “sparkling,” the loins of writers everywhere briefly tingled. There’s even a petition circulating to add [...]

Scott Jacobs: the soup thickens

On Friday, I received a letter from the woman Scott Jacobs rented from, whom he alleged kicked him out for “being an artist.” If I am to believe her letter, and I have no reason not to, then my instincts were right: Jacobs was lying about the circumstances surrounding his celebrated unoriginal painting of Obama. [...]

Treasure hunting at the F.O.T.M. yard sale

I dropped by the Focus on the Masters‘ fundraiser sale on Saturday only to find them practically cleaned out by 11 a.m. I was hoping to find an art piece in my price range for the office. Unfortunately for me, much of what was unsold had a Native American theme, which I’m not so [...]

New Spires

One of my favorite bands from Ventura, the Spires—who also operate Beehouse Records—have released a new songrecordvideo. Enjoy!

Calendars and resistance to change

From the time I was about 12 until my early -mid ’20s, every Sunday morning (whether morning was at 8 a.m or 3 p.m.) I would furiously flip through the delicious layers of the Los Angeles Times to find the Calendar section.
Back then it was all about music critics Robert Hilburn (loved and hated by [...]