First we take Manhattan...

[imomus]

I'd like to apologize to the readers of Time Out New York for the appearance of Momus and Mai Ueda in not one but two sections of your magazine this week. We have a review and photograph in the Art section, and an interview and photograph in the Music section, as well as listings for the art show and our concert at Tonic this Friday.



It's one thing to be a "wildly prolific artist" in the privacy of one's own bedroom or art gallery, quite another to be in your face on several different pages of New York's premier listings magazine. (Rumours that my recent proclivity for skirts was an attempt to get into TONY's Gay and Lesbian section are completely without foundation, by the way.)

Mai and I would like to emphasize that in no way did we intend to subject New York to the cultural equivalent of the Full Spectrum Dominance so dear to Donald Rumsfeld and his chums. We would draw your attention to the fact that next week a new edition of Time Out New York will appear in which we won't feature at all, having boarded planes and returned to the European cities where we live, and where no-one gives a blue damn about us. First we take Manhattan... then Berlin ignores us completely.

Comments

[red-scharlach.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! All your recent acclaim is deserved and heartwarming. I wish I could be in NY for the show on Friday. One of these years you'll have to make it out to the west coast.

Any thoughts on releasing a DVD or CD of some hilights from the show?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It's impossible, because we're not recording any of it. But I encourage people to come in with small handheld recorders or video cameras and blog the show themselves if they want. We're into P2P, grassroots "distributed archiving".

[in-dig-ent.livejournal.com]

that is too cool for school.

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

good work! now that the city is yours you should paint it something other than grey!
i was just looking at Time Out a few days ago but i guess i got last week's issue. the thing about weekly mags is that they have almost no memory.

& i second that you should go west.

Spin

[(Anonymous)]

Trust the press to put a spin on the piece ie "relationship demise". I was wondering how you were fairing as this must be an exhausting show to perform each day (especially given the humidity in the city).

Has the piece changed or evolved and do you feel it has altered you in anyway ( aside from the hardships you are enduring )?

Richard

Re: Spin

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It's true Mai was a bit restless the first week, especially the day Time Out came by. She was in a much better mood the following week because her boyfriend came from Paris to visit. We sort of set the "relationship" angle up by using the phrase "platonic love affair" in the press release (it was Mai's phrase), so fair enough.

I'm used to that sort of line; used to get it when working with female artists like Kahimi Karie. People don't really believe that men and women can work together without there being a romance. But the fact is that many, many of the artists I like most are female, from Bjork to Anne Laplantine, and I think men and women make a great team, complementing each other and compensating for each other's weaknesses.

Re: Spin

[becki1111.livejournal.com]

2nd paragraph: very well put.

It is a complete catch 22. I think it goes beyond artistic collaboration as well. Growing up, it was assumed that as a girl or young woman going to shows I was there either because: a. my boyfriend brought me. b. my boyfriend was in the band. or c. I wanted to make someone in the band my boyfriend. It was infuriating that the underground scene was such a boy's club. You wondered in what century you were living. Was it truly that hard to believe women could be just as passionate about music as men...and that passion could be directed at the music itself, not those creating it? I should qualify this and point out that it was mostly punk shows I was going to at the time. I do think attitudes shift depending upon the genre.

Now that a good 12 years have passed, it has either improved, I've paid my dues, or I've just managed to ignore that general attitude. But I often wonder if 16 year old girls that love music are met with the same skepticism I was...

Funny how both sides get screwed from the general public's insistence that there must always be an element of romance.

Re: Spin

[(Anonymous)]

"But the fact is that many, many of the artists I like most are female, from Bjork to Anne Laplantine, and I think men and women make a great team, complementing each other and compensating for each other's weaknesses."

So why don't you get your finger out and marry one of them you plonker?!

[jameysburning.livejournal.com]

if it anyone ends up taping it, I'd love to see it.

Momus video!

[(Anonymous)]

as commented in the previous post on fashion...

<<
http://www.travelersdiagram.com/MVI_1160.AVI

I took off early from work to check out Momus and Mai Ueda yesterday. I took the above video on my mini digi. It's a shame you can't hear his voice. The stories were excellent. He described St. George slaying display dragons outside Chinese restaurants in NYC. The lovely Mai was mostly languid for the half hour I was in the gallery, save for the moments on this video. Enjoy. -tim.paul@gmail.com (travelersdiagram.com)

Re: Momus video!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

If anyone wants to download that, a link (http://www.travelersdiagram.com/MVI_1160.AVI) may help.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

You stink of ink, sir. Huzzah.

[wenchboy.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try to make it to your show. I'm coming up for other reasons, taking the chinatown bus on Friday, so hopefully I'll get there on time.

[facehead2k.livejournal.com]

Not to get completely off topic, but are you a Cohen fan or were you just being clever? The first time I heard Circus Maximus, I heard a bit of Cohen influence that I couldn't quite place. Maybe it was the guitar.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge Cohen fan, yes.

[jbmurray.livejournal.com]

Cohen rocks. (Well, not really. But he's very good in his own understated way.)

[mcfnord.livejournal.com]

The sun pours down like honey on our Lady of the Harbor.

[(Anonymous)]

You know, I have a theory that, in the name of democracy, every one should have a right to be beautifully photographed at least once in life, you know? We live with so many awful photos of us that is a shame.
I´m sure you´ve had your share of good photos, but that of you with mai is a beutiful one.

[(Anonymous)]

Anti-American feeling is strong in London at the momemt. 'Just fuck off and leave the rest of us ALONE you plump, thick, loud-mouthed fuckers' seems to be the general reaction to the bombings. Like the Unlucky Friend, there's a time we all gotta call it a day. England, USA, Germany, France, Japan? When is Momus going to stop courting the capitalist world and work somewhere underdog?

[uberdionysus.livejournal.com]

I showed up at LFL too late to see you yesterday. Maybe tomorrow.

[anti-peace-riot.livejournal.com]

Alas, everyone at my workplace is taking a vacation and I'll be stuck with their shifts, otherwise I'd be in New York now waiting until tomorrow's performence where I would try and stay the whole five hours. I really wish I could be there, but hopefully, when I move to Berlin in about a year or so, I'll be able to see some of your performences there.

How does the New York culture differ from the culture found in Berlin?

[cerulicante.livejournal.com]

Ink time in New York is as rare as good sashimi in South Dakota.


Good on the both of you!

[i-am-a-hot-sale.livejournal.com]

That was a really good interview! Like damn good.

[discreet-chaos.livejournal.com]

I agree.