Rubin Recommends

Jaimie Warren is one of those artists whose style feels so familiar because their aesthetic has basically become part of the  dominant Youth Culture marketing strategy. She has a style that is uniquely her own, but still resonates with the larger culture. Her work has appeared in Nylon, The Fader, Vanity Fair, XLR8R, Vice and a whole host of other publications here and abroad. You can check out here entirely impressive portfolio and resume at dontyoufeelbetter.com.

She also created and runs Whoop Dee Doo, which is easily the craziest live entertainment/kids weirdo show available on public access television. Truly insane things happen on Whoop Dee Doo. Quite naturally, she lives and works in Kansas City.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Warren: Well, hmmmm, I am in a radical new Rizzoli publication called SHOOT: Photography of the Moment that released recently at the New Museum in New York and has an accompanying exhibition that is traveling to PARCO Factory in Tokyo, Galeria Yautepec in Mexico City, Colette in Paris and the Ullens Center in Beijing, which is rad! There are 26 photographers including Juergen Teller, Wolfgang Tillmans and Nan Goldin and I’m in there too!! OMG! Also, I have a new interview in Nylon Mag coming out in April. I recently closed my first solo museum exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and I’m doing lots of video and performance work. My DJ troupe “Booby Trap” is busy taking the country by storm, and I am really focusing on studying Roseanne Barr in my spare time. I am also desperately trying to figure out how to make it financially feasible for me to be in Brazil for a few months this time next year.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Warren: I just got back from India!! I got a grant to go there for a month, and I was working on a new series of my weirdo self-portraits, as well as a Bollywood edition of “Whoop Dee Doo”, which is a faux public access television show based in Kansas City lead by me and my good buddy Matt Roche (The Werewolf Host). We travel it all over to places like New York, Chicago, even Sweden!! It’s sort of like a totally crazy kids show for adults, where you’ll see professional drill teams, opera singers, break-dancers, Celtic bagpipers, Christian mimes, Civil War re-enactors, drag queens, punk bands, science teachers, tap dancers, R&B singers and dog trainers all in one room together dancing to the Notorious B.I.G. or something like that. It’s super weird and FUN! And we do kids programming for underserved youth, and we are currently on the hunt for a permanent space so that we can do shows on a regular basis.

Here is a cool show we just did – make sure to check out the end, where there is an amazing death metal head-bang-off between a 12 year old girl and a 43 year old man. Oh yeah! And Whoop Dee Doo will be in a new book project and exhibition through Deitch Projects called WILD FILE that will debut in NYC this summer.

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Warren: Eek! I have absolutely no cool factor with music. You’ll find me only listening to Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and the Annie soundtrack. Ooopsies….

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Warren: My favorites are Succotash (I work there!!), Genghis Khan Mongolian Barbeque, T-Rex in Legends mall and Vietnam Café. But most often I’ll be having a Lean Cuisine meal and a giant Diet Dr. Pepper. Gross, I know.

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Warren: Sure! We just did a little mini-video with Peaches you should check out really quick and, I want to say that you need to check out Peggy Noland’s radial clothes!! And Ari Fish’s radical clothes!! And I want to say I LOVE KANSAS CITY!!

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Alex Prager is a wonderfully nice talented artist living in Los Angeles California. I remember discovering her photography a few years ago and just always coming back to look at it. I was pretty excited that our photos were next to each other at the THIS gallery show that happened a few weeks ago (photo.) It looks like she’s up to a lot of amazing things, so keep up with her work.

Name: Alex Prager
Location: Los Angeles, California
Age: 30
Occupation: Artist/Photographer
Website: http://www.alexprager.com

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Prager: Right now I’m working on a secret project. Hopefully I will be finished with it before June so I can exhibit it in London for my June 8th show.  Another thing I’m excited about is my photography series called Week-end that opened in New York and Los Angeles a couple weeks ago.. It’s opening in Japan in April so I’m definitely going there for that.

Rubin: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Prager: The last place I went was Florida for Christmas to visit my Dad. I’m trying not to travel right now because I’m going to be doing so much of that starting in April. It’s nice to be home right now for a bit.

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

Prager: I’m listening to Pheonix, Pavement, Charlie Wadhams, and that song Blue Steel by Bot’Ox.

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Prager: I love Local in Los Angeles…the veggie reuben sandwich. It’s right down the street from me. They get their fresh produce from local farms and if you ride your bike there instead of a car, they give you a free smoothie.

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

Prager: My sister Vanessa Prager is a bad ass. She paints with oils which is something I cannot do but wish I could.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

I first discovered Mark Duplass through the band he was in Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! on Polyvinyl Records. Then I saw he was writing/directing movies and watched every single one of them. You might know of some of them The Puffy Chair, Baghead, Hannah Takes The Stairs, Humpday, and his most recent CYRUS (starring John C Reilly, Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei.) He’s also one of the stars of the show The League which was one of my favorite shows last year.

Name: Mark Duplass
Location: Los Feliz (east side of LA)
Age: 33
Occupation: Filmmaker/Dad

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Duplass: My brother Jay and I are preparing to direct a film we wrote that starts shooting in a few months in New Orleans (our hometown). We’re in that fun phase of dreaming about what the movie will be, picking locations, making friends with the new crew members, etc. It’s like showing up at summer camp on the first day and trying to guess what the next 3 months are gonna be like.

Rubin: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Duplass: We just got back from Sundance where we showed our latest movie CYRUS. Also went to Ann Arbor to show CYRUS as part of a Sundance outreach thingy. 2 frozen tundras in one month. Geez. But, somehow, I had the best BBQ I’ve had in about 10 years in Michigan. And, I used to live in Austin, so that’s kinda saying something big.

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

Duplass: Midlake. Knocks me out every time. That mood is so timeless. It’s like Steely Dan, but less ironic and more heartfelt. But still has that amazing musicianship. I don’t know. I’m really into the earnest thing right now. All this said, Survivor’s “I Can’t Hold Back” made me cry at the end of Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I’m not kidding.

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Duplass: In my ‘neighborhood, it’s all about the Korean BBQ. Soot Bull Jeep. In Koreatown, in LA. My wife brought me there for Valentine’s Day. I ate so much I pretty much ruined the rest of the date. Totally worth it, though.

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

Duplass: My 2 year-old daughter and I are watching “Elmo goes Potty” right now. Life rules.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

I met Nick Helderman my first week in New York when he was in town shooting Dutch bands during CMJ in 2008. Since then I’ve had the good fortune of visiting him in Amsterdam and seeing his joint exhibition with Shawn Brackbill as part of Le Guess Who? in Utrecht. The Handsome Dutchman (as he’s known by his American friends) is in high demand these days for his music and documentary photography. You can check out his work at www.nickhelderman.com.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Helderman: In 2008 I photographed Ethiopian saxophone player Getatchew Mekuria and Dutch improv/punk band The Ex on a tour through Washington DC, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and New York, and I recently showed these photos in Utrecht and Groningen (The Netherlands). Both were amazing exhibits. The one in Groningen is part the Popview 2010 exhibit and will move to London and probably Berlin later this year.

Right now I’m working on a plan to actually travel to Ethiopia and meet up with all these great musicians for a photo project. This has been getting me pretty excited lately.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Helderman: I recently went to New York for CMJ and got to stay at a friend’s place for a couple of days, which gave me the time to do stuff such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and walking on the Brooklyn Bridge (haha). Next month I’m going to Stockholm in Sweden for a week or so to stay with friends, and hopefully SXSW in Austin. Really looking forward to that.

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Helderman: That question instantly makes me black out, same thing as walking into a record store. But right now I think that would be Dungen, Sleepy Sun (their new album is going to be amazing), Patrick Watson, Kurt Vile, Mahmoud Ahmed, Animal Collective, Megafaun and Tune Yards.

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Helderman: Last weekend I went to Café Bern in Amsterdam and they had a delicious cheese fondue. It just added another dimension of quality to the whole cheese fondue concept. I don’t remember eating anything in New York that wasn’t good, but the cheese fondue just beats it.

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Helderman: Yes! You should listen to this new song that The Ex just released on 7 inch. First release with Arnold de Boer on guitar/vocals after G.W. Sok left in 2008. It’s such an amazing song.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Here’s the first installment of a Weekly Check In with another Rubin in the world (who I’m not related to). Jeff Rubin is a funny guy. I’ve been enjoying his stuff on Collegehumor for some time now, enjoy his stand up and his newest show Bleep Bloop (a show about video games).

Name: Jeff Rubin
Location: New York
Age: 28
Occupation: Editor of CollegeHumor.com
Websites: http://jeffrubinjeffrubin.com / http://www.collegehumor.com/bleepbloop

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Jeff Rubin: One of the nice things about the website is we’re always working on a few different things. We just had Chuck Klosterman, who is one of my favorite writers, on my videogame show Bleep Bloop and we’re almost done editing. I can’t wait to post that. I wrote a few scripts that are going to be videos soon (including an Electric Slide parody) so that’s always exciting. We’re currently plotting a CollegeHumor Live event at the Gramercy Theater for February. It’s the biggest venue we’ve ever done by ourselves, so that’s going to be a lot of fun.

Rubin: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Jeff Rubin: We just did a live show in Notre Dame which is great. We’ve got a show at the end of the month in Utah, so I’m hoping to spend some time in Zion national park.

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

Jeff Rubin: It’s always fun when someone asks that. I’ve been listening to nothing but MF Doom (who I only recently discovered) and Rod Stewart.

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Jeff Rubin: I try to do a bit of pizza tourism anywhere I go and on a recent trip to San Francisco I recently tried Tony’s (in North Beach). It wasn’t just a good pie for San Francisco (a wonderful town cursed with bad pizza), it was a great pie for anywhere.

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

Jeff Rubin: Rod Stewart is good! Really! He had some of the best musicians of the era on his early solo albums, and his work with The Faces and the Jeff Beck Group is criminally underrated.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Sophie Curtis is a very talented young photographer based out of England. She has what feels like 100’s of websites that she contributes to, one of my favorites is titled Samesies, and she always continues to inspire me. I hope someday I can take a photos as magical as hers.

Name: Sophie Curtis
Location: South-east England
Age: 20
Occupation: Trying to work out how to accomplish everything I want to and enjoy everything too
Websites: http://flickr.com/sophiecurtis http://pus-eye.com
http://outhereoverthere.blogspot.com http://cashmereclubhouse.com

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Curtis: I was recently asked by a small record label to take a few series’ for them to use as promos and so on, I am really excited about that! The label releases pretty experimental music so I am enjoying the brainstorming part of the project, its made me consider taking photos that would have taken alot longer to come to me otherwise. And I’m trying to move away from what I almost feel like is my “safety zone” and its actually more fun than scary so that’s gooood.

Rubin: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Curtis: I have spent a fair amount to time on trains and buses since the start of January, because when I’m not working I like to go see friends who are dotted about in England studying at various universities. The nicest trip I’ve taken this month was to the Cotswolds, I was there for a week and we got 10 inches or so of snow and everything looked really lovely. I’ve been trying to see lots of different people recently so I can get used to taking photos of people properly again, I don’t show faces enough in my photos!

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

Curtis: I don’t know if it’s because I have someone back in my life from when I was 13, or because I have felt a bit weird about suddenly no longer being classed as a teenager, but I’ve really reverted to music I loved when I was younger, like 60s rock and roll. I will always always always love is Joanna Newsom, Cat Power and BJM. I like anything really, especially if it makes me feel strange or unreal or lifted (unfortunately this sometimes makes me like really crap music.)

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Curtis: Spiced chai tea milkshake on a train. And the enchiladas my mum made for my birthday.

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

Curtis: The person I like to photograph the most is Rianna Cox, she wears lovely sparkly things that I can’t help snapping. She doesn’t post all over the place like I do but I think everyone should know about her because her photos are magical and wonderful! Her Flickr is http://www.flickr.com/effluo and I want to mention another really good friend Dan Price because I always want him to put more photos online and this might get him to do it haha – his Flickr is http://www.flickr.com/annemariefrank. And and and people should look at Alex Howard and Simon Nunn and Hannah Davis and Dave Geeting and Bobby Doherty. There are more but I’m just being ridiculous! Thanks!

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

I’ve been trying to watch everything comedian/actor Paul Scheer has done since I saw him on his show Human Giant. He’s been doing so much since then with the most recent thing (which I thought was amazing) being The League (with Nick Kroll and Mark Duplass.) If you haven’t seen it, check it out on Hulu now. You should follow his Twitter and his blog. He posts some amazing stuff.

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Scheer: Just did an episode of PARTY DOWN, where I play Martin Starr’s nemesis. I got to be a huge Hollywood douchebag, dress like a wannabe JT, and do blow in a nightclub bathroom. It’s the role I’ve been preparing for my entire life.

Rubin: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Scheer: Joshua Tree, CA – which this year has an equal number of Joshua Trees and Meth Heads.

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

Scheer: Cymbals Eat Guitars and Girls.

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Scheer: Jitlada- The Best Thai food outside of Thailand.

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

Scheer: Donate to Haiti, even if it’s a little bit and always carries a stake in your car in case you are attacked by Vampires

@paulscheer on Twitter and http://paulscheer.com

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Kevin Morby is a guitar/bass playing extraordinaire from Kansas City who now shreds locally in Brooklyn. In addition, he’s pretty much universally recognized as the “Nicest Person Alive”. He’s full-time bassman with Woods (Family Creeps) (obvious patriarchs of the Woodist family empire) and co-singer/guitar in The Babies. Both bands are great and definitely worth your undivided attention. Did I mention that Kevin is the Nicest Person Alive?

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Morby: The Babies are recording next week, Woods (Family Creeps) is teaming up with our buddy Pete Noland from Magik Markers for a two hour set at Monkey Town on January 19th (two days before the venue closes down forever) and I just played some percussion on the new Vivian Girls record. I was in Spain last month and it’s inspired my new kick/twenty-ten resolution of learning some Spanish. Slowly but surely, I’ve got a few phrases up the sleeve at this point.

The Babies just played a FaderBowl Party with Real Estate at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. It was the most fun I have had in a long time.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Morby: As far as this month goes, only from mom and dad’s in KC to here in Brooklyn – and thank god.

The last 6 months of ‘09 I did a life time’s worth of traveling, mainly on tour with Woods. We did 6 weeks in America, 3 weeks in England, Scotland, and Ireland, a week in Spain and even played a show in Moscow. Now I’m back in NY ’til March when we tour down to Austin, so the only traveling I plan on doing is from my bed to the corner store, heh.

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Morby: The Mantles from San Francisco have a new record out on Siltbreeze and that’s gotta be my favorite jam right now.

Also been rockin’ Sonny and the Sunsets (thanks Kelly, thanks Mike), Lee Hazlewood Cowboy in Sweden, Animal Collective Fall Be Kind, Kurt Vile Childish Prodigy and Ducktails Backyard.

On our last tour I got really into Golden Dawn Power Plant and The Witch Lazy Bones. Find and download those! They are such gems!

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Morby: I love this question! I recently had the best Pho ever at this new Vietnamese restaurant on Bedford and North 9th in Williamsburg. I am so bad, and don’t remember what the spot was called but it was so good! I had some outstanding mashed potatoes at Diner in Williamsburg, I eat a Chipotle Chicken Torta from Jesse’s Cafe (Bushwick and Montrose) close to 4 times a week, and the Fish Tacos from the Endless Summer truck on Bedford are a pretty safe bet. I also highly recommend the Caracas Arepas Bar.

When I was in Spain I ate the most romantic and exotic food of my short 21 years. I had octopus, fried baby squid, razor clams, mussels, anchovies, whole fish, red pepper stuffed with tuna, chorizo, sausage lentil soup, so many good cheeses, and torrone.

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Morby: Absolutely. There is 60-something-year-old woman who lives below me named Evette. She is a grandmother and a cancer survivor, and lives with her husband and grandson. She never minds when Woods plays music or whenever we have parties/BBQs in the yard during the summer. In fact, whenever we throw big parties she comes out and smokes cigarettes and introduces herself to our friends and tells us stories of when she was our age and living in Puerto Rico, going to the beach with some sort of pink alcohol in plastic cups and telling everyone that it was only milkshakes.

Once, sometime ago, on a chilly October night I was sitting in our courtyard eating oatmeal for dinner when she came out, saw what I was eating, waved her finger in my face, said “uh-uh!” and disappeared back into her house with my oatmeal. Moments later she came back out with my bowl overflowing with chicken and rice.

A few weeks after that, when it had gotten real cold, Woods was playing music and being loud way after dark, which we always get nervous about because in a perfect world we would want to respect our neighbors as much as possible, but sometimes once we get rolling we just can’t seem to stop. Anyway, as we were playing there was a small knock at the door and we all knew who it was: Evette. We had finally done it. We had finally broke her and she was coming to yell at us and tell us to cut it out. But of course, when we opened the door, she stood on the other side, holding Tupperware full of that night’s leftovers, probably scared to death that all we could afford was oatmeal.

Every time I return home from tour and run into her in the yard she is standing up, leaning against a wall smoking her Newports, and when she sees me her eyes light up and she says: “I been asking everyone, where’s my guys?!”

God bless you Evette!

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

(photo by Mark Forester)

I first found out about Cody when I picked up his zine “Young, Angry and Rich” off the ground of the Recycled Sounds parking lot in Kansas City. That was ten years ago and a lot has changed about how his art and music are delivered and presented. What his ridiculously impressive biography doesn’t illustrate though is the extent to which Cody and a whole crew of dedicated Kansas City kids have created their own world of near-constant, well, creation.

In addition to touring and recording with Ssion, Cody’s long-running band (full disclosure: I play drums in Ssion), he’s also premiering his first movie, BOY, this year in the U.S. and Europe. It opens in LA at Peres Projects on January 16th. Matt and I will both be headed down to check it out.

Lane: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Critcheloe: I’m getting ready to premiere my movie, BOY, at Peres Projects in LA on January 16th. I’ll also be showing some drawings and creating an installation for the movie to be shown in. i just finished shooting a video for Peaches and it should be completed sometime this month. It’s wizard of oz themed and it’s basically a parody of being “styled.” Think lady gaga if she was on crack and had a $10 budget.

Lane: Where have you traveled this month or recently?

Critcheloe: I went to europe with my band, Ssion. we were opening for the Gossip. It was the easiest tour I’ve ever been on… getting stoned, goofing around, playing a show and then getting stoned again and eating a shit ton of food… I didn’t really meet anyone or go anywhere, but I didn’t care cuz I was leaving the dream, man!

Lane: What’s your favorite music right now?

Critcheloe:
Wet Look “Wou Wont Die”
Little Richard!!!!!!!!!!
Wham “Freedom”
Marc Almond and Clint Ruin covering Soft Cell’s “Ghost Rider”
Azari and III
Calvin Harris “Flashback”
Akon
Roisin Murphy “Momma’s Place”
Jason Derulo “Whatcha Say”

Lane: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

Critcheloe: My roommate brought home Dominos Pizza last night and it was sooo good! Especially smothered in garlic butter! I’m a freak for sauce!

Lane: Anything else you want to mention?

Critcheloe: Lately i’ve been worried that I’m becoming a woman (mostly mentally and somewhat physically!) Also, people need to see this: Lydia Lunch Interviews on Videowave.

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Here is the Weekly Check In with Mark Harrison. It’s probably one of the longest ones ever.

Mark plays many instruments in the band Capybara (who I’ve talked about a lot lately and if you haven’t listened yet, you should right now.) He lives in Kansas City, MO and he’s a very talented guy. I recently got to meet him in person when Capybara played in San Francisco last week and it was great. How good is that photo of him?

(Here’s a video of the first song of their show in SF shot terribly on my digital camera)

Find out more about them at http://capybaramusic.com and here’s a new video they just put up yesterday.

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

Harrison: Excitement is weird.  Being on my first tour with our band Capybara for the past 8 weeks – booking, managing, and performing – provides confusing amounts of excitement.  As I stop momentarily to search for instances of this one feeling, I am conflicted.  Every day provides exciting new challenges, and when I speak about my life on the road to friends, family, and strangers, I hear excitement in my voice that contrasts my old routine, working a 40 or 60 or 70 hour a week job in NYC, and I know: My life is exciting.  But as I sit here at 4:17, surrounded by 8 timid cats in the living room of an acquaintance’s house in Pasadena, CA with Gattaca playing as a soundtrack to this e-mail, and this is the first time this week I have been able to sit down to collect my thoughts, I am definitely caught off guard by this question.

Opportunity brings excitement, and tour equals constant opportunity.  Tourpportunity.  Therefore, I am full of excitement, excitement is my life, and I smile.  A lot, everyday.

Between recording in the beautiful mountains of Taos, NM, releasing our debut album Try Brother, establishing relationships with friends like The Record Machine, Mushpot, and Team Clermont to help broaden our base of support, traveling with Range Life Entertainment’s amazing films, playing in old funeral homes, waffle carts, and potluck parties live-on-air in the middle of a forest, or staying up all night to get on the Price is Right, my mind still wanders to what is next for Capybara.  And I can’t wait to see what happens – more music, more friends, more opportunities to learn about music as a career, the list goes on.  And yeah, I am excited.

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