2004.10.20 17:17
Re: Pop Life: Los Super Elegantes
Found this while doing The Odds of Ottopia research:
In the article "The Day Pop Art Died," Katherine Kuh maintains that on the opening day of the World's Fair, April 22, 1964, "Pop art died a natural and undramatic death, inadvertently eliminated by Robert Moses when he turned the New York World's Fair into a gigantic spectacle that out-pops all competition. Instead of interpreting the banality of our mass produced environment, the pop artist merely reproduces it. . . . At the Fair, the model so completely overwhelms the copy, as to make the latter obsolete... No one interested in Pop Art should hiss the hotdog stands... each topped by what resembles huge scoops of glistening whipped cream . . . or the eighty foot tire that the U.S. Rubber Company has turned into a ferris wheel."
Katherine Kuh has been a part of The Odds of Ottopia since 2004.03.22.
2004.10.20 21:55
Re: Pop Life: Los Super Elegantes
from: www.carolmoore.net/sfm/jdl.html
A tragic event that galvanized American Muslims and Arab Americans was the murderous attack on the Ismail al-Faruqi family last May. Dr. Ismail Raji al-Faruqi was a prominent Islamic scholar at Temple University. On May 27 a knife-wielding man broke into the Faruqi home in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, and viciously attacked al-Faruqi, his wife, Lois, and their daughter, Anmar al-Zein. Al-Faruqi and his wife died from their wounds and the daughter survived, but required 200 stitches to close her wounds....
At about the same time, ADC published an eight-page "Special Report" on the murders, including a detailed account of the crime, its victims, and the current status of the investigation. Although nothing was missing from the house, some investigators working on the case believe the murders resulted from a bungled burglary attempt; however, the police lieutenant in charge of the investigation described the incident as an assassination, saying that "someone took it upon themselves" to kill al-Faruqi. In view of the rise of violent anti-Arab and anti-Muslim incidents in recent years, the report suggests that the murders could very well have been politically motivated. In addition, the report mentions al-Faruqi's status as a visible pro-Palestinian spokesman, notes the strength of the Philadelphia chapter of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), and cites an article about al-Faruqi's anti-Zionist positions in the Near East Report (the weekly newsletter of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee) as evidence that the professor was in the "zone of danger" described by the FBI earlier this year. The FBI, however, has not become directly involved in the case because it sees no evidence of a federal offense.
Related information from dawanet.com/history/amermuslimhist
His murder was predicated without name by the president of Jewish Defence League one week before his death in the Village Voice, New York by claiming that within a week an outspoken Palestinian professor will be eliminated.
in The Odds of Ottopia since 2004.04.28.
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2004.10.20 23:25
acceptable margin of error?
On 17 July 2004 Rita Novel reported, among other things, that...
Marie Antoinette is getting a real kick out of how Martha Stewart is reenacting her these days--so Hameau Tableau. She's also wondering if 6 October will again have some significance.
Maria Antoinette and the Royal family were forcibly removed from Versailles 6 October 1789.
Martha Stewart began her prison sentence 8 October 2004.
2004.10.22 11:46
Tafuri deathdate ?
Anyone know the date of Manfredo Tafuri's death in 1994?
I searched the web and can't find any specific date except for what appears to be note of Herbert Muschamp's Tafuri Obituary published 8 May 1994.
Thanks in advance.
Tafuri is "dying" for an invitation to any of the 2005 events of the Horace Trumbauer Architecture Fan Club Convention, but John the Baptist Piranesi continually insists that Otto and Maria not invite him.
"Then again, if you do invite that cobweb-head, I could trick him into one of my prisons."
"Why don't you just design a new sarcophagus for him?"
"Ha! As usual Maria, you're brilliant!"
"You can say that again. Oh, and by the way, are you coming to our next dinner party? Isma'il (Raji al-Faruqi) and Lois (Lamya al-Faruqi) are a 'for sure' and Lois is bringing some of her famous saffron rice."
"You're funny too Otto. You know I never miss an opportunity to dine with the last Palestinian Governor of Galilee. Besides, I'm bringing Melania the Older and the Younger--they gave it all up for Galilee too."
"Good. You'll be enjoying saffron rice, and Tafuri will be eating his heart out.
...and speaking of Colin Rowe('s sense of humor)
Julian, James and John are busy, busy, busy. Ben's given his blessing, but "Jacques Strap" Gréber thinks it a bit rash and itchy for them not to be playing with him too. "It is after all my original design that they are interpolating!"
"Is it true that Ottositions and Ottober magazines are secretly being worked on?"
"I'd say you're dead on."
2004.10.24 10:52
Re: Tafuri deathdate ?
2 February 1590 death of St. Catherine de Ricci
2 February 1861 birth of Solomon Guggenheim
3 February 1994 death of Manfredo Tafuri
23 April 1522 birth of St. Catherine de Ricci
23 April 1950 death of Julian Abele
3 November 1949 death of Solomon Guggenheim
4 November 1935 birth of Manfredo Tafuri
"Look at this! Peggy's invited us to a party in Venice after the US elections."
"Gosh. There are no depths to which Tafuri will not stoop."
Papers of the Horace Trumbauer Architecture Fan Club Convention
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2004.10.25 14:31
Re: Yinka Shonibare
I haven't see the exhibit yet, but will go this week—the Fabric Workshop is always a worthwhile place to visit (and a close friend has a studio in the same building).
Anyway, Sigma Sound Studio, home of TSOP, The Sound of Philadelphia, was on 12th Street, just a block or so east of the Fabric Workshop, so Shonibare is being very (skillfully? uncannily?) site-specific.
There was a girl from Cardinal Dougherty High School that went down to camp out at Sigma Sound Studios everyday that Bowie recorded Young Americans there. Story goes Bowie invited the 'groupies' in one of the last days. Gosh, thirty years ago already.
(I may be wrong, but) wasn't the (original) theme song of Soul Train actually entitled The Sound of Philadelphia?
2004.10.25 16:31
Re: Pop Life: Los Super Elegantes
Saw Warhol (again) the other night in his cimematic debut where he first met Liz Taylor way before that Love Boat thing. I'll let Andy tell you the title, even though he was in it less than a minute. Do you think Vanessa Beecroft ever saw the opening scenes? Sure looked like one of her works.
Anyway, haven't finished my viewing yet, so my favorite scene is yet to come. No, not the terrorist explosion at the Altar of Peace. Actually, "What time is it?!?"
2004.10.26 08:56
Re: Yinka Shonibare
Penelope, yes, like they say on WDAS (the 'still around' black radio station of Philadelphia) I'm definitely "old school."
Until recently, US Post Office 19120 played WDAS behind the counter, thus making trips to the post office actually somewhat enjoyable. Most of the clerks are "old school" too. One day, while being served during a particularly lively tune, I said to the clerk, "It's real funky in here today." And he just laughed out loud.
2004.10.26 11:09
Re: Halloween costumes
Twenty years ago...dressed up as Indira Gandhi (the day she died). Wrapped in a white bedsheet sari with sneakers and mirror sunglasses, bopped around town announcing "I'm now a cow!"
2004.10.26 13:42
Re: Halloween costumes
hope you still have the Halloween Costume—wear it this year and tell everyone you're a stem cell (or actually David Rimanelli?)
2004.10.26
Mercer House auction catalogue
...taken apart one of the Mercer House auction catalogues, and there are seven full page views of the house interior. These pages will be apposed with laser prints of the single page jail letters. If the letters, albeit reduced in size, come out legible, then the resultant work will indeed be copyright infringement, thus not really for sale. . . . At least they will be Artifacts of Ottopia.
...have the portraits cut out and new collage art "inserted", plus new text could be laser printed and the title of the pieces are lines from the jail letters.
...text about the letters could be printed on a number of the pages to comprise a small book.
2004.10.26
auction catalogue pages
Like the idea for the Mercer house portrait pages, the paintings represented on catalogue pages could be manipulated into new works of art...
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2004.10.27 14:36
Voodoo Valley: Philadelphia's Newest Hoods
by Julian Walker
Northeast Times Staff Writer
The recent discovery of dismembered animal remains in a trash container in lower Frankford was nothing new to police or local animal-protection agencies. It was another reminder to authorities that Philadelphia, besides being a hub for diverse populations, is home to practitioners of various non-mainstream religions that many people probably aren't aware of.
Inside a commercial metal Dumpster on the Coastal Gas Station lot at 4067 Frankford Ave., two trash bags filled with goat heads, the bodies of several chickens — their heads and legs cut off — and a mutilated dove were discovered by attendants on July 23.
The bags contained other oddities: Pieces of flowers and coconuts. Candles and some honey. Even a can of spray paint.
The only discernible crime, according to police, is illegal dumping. And since investigators don't know who tossed the remains in the trash bin, they can't say for sure what inspired the mutilations.
But some have a feeling. Several sources consulted by a Times reporter after the discovery agreed that the goat and bird remains seemingly were ritual sacrifices consistent with the practices of Afro-Caribbean religions.
The religion mentioned most often was Santeria.
Also known as Olukumi or La Regla Lucumi, Santeria often combines the worship of Yoruba deities and Catholic saints, and its practice in Cuba enabled the religion to spread to other parts of the Caribbean and even the U.S., with the arrival of Cuban emigres.
Though it's believed that the religion predates Christianity, scholars think that the modern form took root around 1517, during the slave trades.
It combines the nature-based tenets of African and Caribbean religions, which emphasize communing with both the earth and the divine, and some Christian influences.
"The origins of the religion were a means by which enslaved Africans could continue their own beliefs and practices under the guise of the imposed religion of the day — Roman Catholicism," says Margarite Fernandez Olmos, a professor of modern language and literature at Brooklyn College.
"Different (Caribbean) islands had slightly different beliefs based on indigenous practices," she continued. "In Cuba, the worship of saints, or santos, hence Santeria, is really the Yoruba religion of Africa mingled with Catholicism."
Olmos, co-author of the book Sacred Possessions: Voodoo, Santeria, Obeah and the Caribbean, said the belief systems of such religions rely heavily on divinatory practices and contact with the spirit world for worship.
Central to the belief is ritual sacrifice.
Police and other experts think that's probably what happened to the chickens and goats whose heads and carcasses were discarded in that Frankford Dumpster last month.
In Philadelphia, the remnants of apparent animal sacrifices are found from time to time in city parks — specifically Pennypack and Tacony Creek parks. That's because the parks represent nature, a key element in the religion, and "it is a confluence of creeks, roadways and railroads" that provides isolation, said Stan Zakrzewski, a community outreach officer with the 35th Police District in lower Northwest Philadelphia.
Zakrzewski said the remains are often placed in the parks because believers think those wide-open locations offer the quickest means of transport for their sacrifice to the gods.
The veteran police officer said that his patrols of Tacony Creek Park occasionally bring him upon the remains of sacrificial offerings, and, in a couple of instances, he has crossed paths with religious practitioners, who were in street clothes rather than the white garb often worn by Santeria followers.
The officer's response in such cases is low-key and consistent. As long as he doesn't see them actually sacrifice an animal on the site, and if they're not violating park curfews, Zakrzewski politely asks them to be sure to clean up their ceremonial location and then continues on his beat.
The police officer, who makes it a point to keep informed about any groups and activities as part of the job, isn't appalled by the religious rituals that apparently are being practiced in his district.
Though the humane treatment of animals is an issue in the debate of religious expression, Zakrzewski thinks back to his own childhood in the area and how animals paid the supreme price in another way.
"Growing up in Bridesburg, a section that was home to many Polish immigrants, it wasn't unusual to see people raising chickens and ducks in their yards that became Sunday dinner," he said.
The followers of Santeria offer sacrifices for a variety of reasons. They may be part of a ceremonial worship of an orisha, or deity, or could be part of the celebration of a holy day or season. In some cases, the animal sacrifice is undertaken to rid a believer of a malady.
Then again, the sacrifices don't always involve animals. The offerings can be as simple as fruit, herbs or flowers.
Ernesto Pichardo, a founder of the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye in Hialeah, Fla., said the sacrifices typically are performed to honor or appease orishas.
The religion seemingly has an infinite number of gods; it acknowledges 601 deities and countless other ancestral spirits.
"Most pre-Christian religions, you will find, are equivalent in that they all are primarily animistic," he said, referring to the strong belief in the soul. "Each is fundamentally different from a cultural point of view because each came from different regions of Africa.
All of these religions are grouped under the generic word 'Santeria,' but the practice is not the same thing in the Caribbean as it is in Mexico, which has no retention of African traditions, or Colombia. Each has an entirely different structure."
Pichardo's church, established in 1974, touts itself as the only officially organized body of Santeria practitioners in America. That's not to say the religion is foundering. Empirical evidence seems to suggest that Santeria is growing and attracting more followers.
The National African Religion Conference, an organization committed to certifying the clergy of such religions, held its annual conference earlier this month at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City. Estimates are that as many as 100 million people worldwide practice Santeria.
How many of them exist in Philadelphia is undetermined. But several sources said that Santeria activity tends to thrive in areas where botanicas — stores that sell such worship supplies as small altars and idols, herbs, Florida (holy) water and other accouterments — exist.
There are perhaps a half-dozen botanicas in the city that sell such religious items, mostly in the Port Richmond and Kensington areas.
According to Pichardo, the reason Santeria isn't widely known or practiced openly in America can be traced to its rituals. There is indeed a stigma attached to animal sacrifice, he said.
"There are so many misconceptions about it because it is not in the framework of the Judeo-Christian system," he explained, noting that there are many references to animal sacrifice in the Bible. "People are quick to call us primitive or barbaric because our practices do not fit in with their ideas about the assumed Christian monopoly over truth."
Pichardo says that rituals involving sacrifice at the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye in Hialeah use a "sharp instrument that severs the carotid artery and causes amnesia to the brain" of the animal. He claims that the method meets federal regulations for killing animals.
Olmos, the author and Brooklyn College professor, agrees that the term "sacrifice" probably evokes sinister images for many people.
"Sacrifice is an element of every religion. It's the basic principle of 'You've got to give something to get something,' " Olmos said. "In Catholicism, the sacrifice of Mass has simply been sublimated into wine over time."
The U.S. Constitution, of course, ensures protection of religious freedoms. But opponents of animal sacrifice believe that the practice represents cruelty. Others simply don't want the remains disposed of in commercial trash bins, or in city-owned parks.
For the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the concern is whether sacrificed animals are euthanized and how they are disposed of, spokeswoman Charlene Peters said.
Most animal activists acknowledge that sacrifice is legal.
Pichardo's Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye was at the center of a landmark 1993 case that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Most police officials and animal-rights activists have come to concede that the resulting decision affirmed sacrifice as a legal practice.
Hialeah, the southern Florida city that is home to the church, had passed a series of ordinances in the early 1990s that banned animal sacrifice, slaughter, and keeping animals for those purposes.
It was widely acknowledged that the six ordinances — which provided an exception for the slaughter of animals in properly zoned areas, such as meat-packing plants — were designed specifically to prevent the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye from conducting animal sacrifices during worship services.
A challenge of those ordinances culminated with the high court's ruling in June 1993. Deciding that the municipal codes had targeted one group and its right to religious freedom, the court overturned the ordinances.
The ruling largely has been regarded as a sanction of animal sacrifice. But one observer, Rutgers University Law School professor Gary I. Francione, doesn't see it that way.
Francione, a longtime animal-rights activist, thinks the ruling merely addressed the propriety of any law that is drafted in response to the activities of a specific group.
"Very simply, the City of Hialeah enacted ordinances targeting Santeria, which resulted from a public debate about people not wanting Santeria in the community," said Francione. "What the Supreme Court specifically said is that 'this is not a neutrally drafted law that addresses the humane disposal of animals, it's a bunch of people who have singled out a religion.' But to say that these practices are legal as a result of the ruling is, I think, an irresponsible reading of the decision."
Francione is an avowed vegan who has worked on several high-profile animal-rights cases. In 1987, he successfully represented the American SPCA in court when it was sued by a New York-based Santeria group, which claimed that a state law violated its right to free exercise of religious practices.
Francione acknowledges that much of the persecution of such religious groups is motivated by racism. His particular concern, he said, is his belief that the animal sacrifices violate the federal Humane Slaughter Act, which stipulates that an animal must be unconscious or otherwise unfeeling when it is killed.
The secretive nature of Santeria ceremonies, Francione said, makes it difficult to monitor the treatment of animals during sacrificial ceremonies.
When it comes to the discussion of Santeria and its practitioners, Lawndale resident Bill Kranz doesn't really care what kinds of sacrifices are going on. He's just concerned that they represent yet more debris that must be cleaned up in Tacony Creek Park.
Kranz has seen sacrificial remains in the park for years. The trend has declined in recent years, he said, but it still can be a problem.
"We don't care what they do," said Kranz, vice president of the Friends of Tacony Creek Park. "We just don't want them to leave it in the park."
The Friends group, which has long been devoted to the park's preservation, performs monthly cleanups of the grounds.
Over the years, Kranz said, he and other Friends members have found the apparently sacrificial remains of dogs, cats, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys and doves.
Such animals — particularly goats, chickens or doves — can be purchased at auction.
But John Foster, director of the Women's Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, based in Bensalem, isn't convinced that the discovery of animal carcasses is an automatic link to Santeria. When the sacrificial remains of dogs, cats and other larger animals are found, it's usually the work of a satanic cult, Foster said.
Police in the past have documented apparent satanic activities in Tacony Creek and Pennypack parks, as well as on the secluded and rundown grounds of the old Philadelphia State Hospital (Byberry) in the Far Northeast.
As offensive as animal sacrifice might be to some folks, it is, even as an expression of Satanism, a constitutionally protected ritual of some religions. So what's the worst that can happen to anyone involved in killing animals in the name of religion?
Assuming the sacrifice is done humanely, said Zakrzewski, the 35th district police officer, the only crime someone might be guilty of is illegal dumping — if that person is caught throwing away the remains or leaving them behind.
The crime is a misdemeanor. In 1997, for example, two men were convicted of dumping animal remains in Tacony Creek Park, but their sentences weren't unduly harsh. They had to take part in six monthly cleanups at the park.
Jeff Moran, a spokesman for the city's Department of Health, said his agency primarily would be concerned with the sanitary disposal of the dead animals or birds. Butchering an animal is not illegal in the city if done humanely — for example, a licensed deer hunter can preserve the venison or make a trophy of his prized kill, Moran explained.
And the containment of animals?
Because Philadelphia originally was established as a farming community hundreds of years ago, laws are still on the books that allow the ownership of "small farm animals," said Moran.
2002.08.21
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