The Bob Newhart of art

[imomus]

In my unreliable tours at the Whitney I seem to have turned into a cross between "droll" comedian Bob Newhart and an elevator bellboy.



On Sunday I made recordings of the cock-and-a-bull stories I tell in the museum, and I've slung them up here today in the form of a 30 minute mp3 file.

Unreliable Tour Guide (stereo mp3 file, 27.6MB, 30 minutes, a bit of a slow load, sorry. If you want to download the mp3, try the quicker YouSendIt version).

You can also read a third-party account of an encounter with the Tour Guide by New Yorker cartoonist (and tizzy-making beauty) Carolita Johnson, Momus Among Us, on Newyorkette. The New York Times covers the "Bob Newhart of new art" next Sunday.

Update: It seems I'm also on the Associated Press wires today.

Comments

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I got the shirt made up at a little shop in Greenwich Village. The curators actually prefer me to be ninja-like, but I rather like having the title of my performance printed on me, it adds a structure to the piece the same way a song title can lift a lyric and play off it contextually, creating something ironic and 3D. For instance, I can say "I'm reliable" and my T shirt can contradict that.

Maywa Denki would have been good too. And yes, I do swish in those fishmonger pants.