RIP J.G. Ballard

Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78 Ballard was best known for the novel Empire of the Sun The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness. His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill "for several years" and had died on Sunday morning. Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead "picturing the psychology of the future". His most acclaimed novel was Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China. I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on JG Ballard Obituary: JG Ballard The author of 15 novels and scores of short stories, Ballard grew up amongst the ex-patriot community in Shanghai. During World War II, at the age of 12, he was interned for three years in a camp run by the Japanese. He later moved to Britain and in the early 1960s became a full-time writer. Ballard built up a passionate readership, particularly after Empire of The Sun, a fictionalised account of his childhood, was made into a film by Steven Spielberg. He said of his experiences: "I have - I won't say happy - not unpleasant memories of the camp. I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on, but at the same time we children were playing a hundred and one games all the time!" Director David Cronenberg brought Ballard's infamous book about the sexual desires stimulated by car crashes to the screen in the film Crash. The film caused a media stir, adding to Ballard's reputation for courting controversy. In later years he wrote other acclaimed novels such as Super-Cannes and Millennium People.

DJ playlist @ Three Clubs

Music is My Boyfriend
@ Three Clubs
April 17th, 2009

Portishead "Silence"
Squeeze "Cool For Cats"
Plastic Bertrand "Ca Plane Pour Moi"
The Kills "Cheap and Cheerful"
Bill Nelson "Flaming Desire"
The Duke Spirit "The Step and The Walk"
Primal Scream "Can't Go Back"
CSS "Pretend We're Dead"
Crystal Castles "Vanished"
Hot Chocolate "You Sexy Thing"

Jean Knight "Mr Big Stuff"
MIA "Paper Planes"
The Ting Tings "That's Not My Name"
Ladytron "Playgirl"
Hot Chip "Ready For The Floor"
Yaz "Don't Go"
Bow Wow Wow "I Want Candy"
Soft Cell "Tainted Love"
Air "Sexy Boy"
Missing Persons "Destination Unknown"

Grace Jones "Pull Up To The Bumper"
New Order "Bizarre Love Triangle"
MGMT "Kids"
Gary Numan "Cars"
Blondie "Dreaming"
Human League "Fascination"
The B52's "52 Girls"
The Jam "Beat Surrender"
Lene Lovich "New Toy"
Echo and The Bunnymen "The Cutter"

Kraftwerk "Pocket Calculator"
The Stooges "Shake Appeal"
Generation X "Ready Steady Go"
The Damned "Wait For The Blackout"
Bowie "The Jean Genie"
The Strokes "Last Nite"
Talking Heads "Crosseyed and Painless"
Joy Division "Isolation"
Peter Gabriel "Shock The Monkey"
Devo "Secret Agent Man"

Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood"
Klaxons "It's Not Over Yet"
Ladyhawke "Paris Is Burning"
Duffy "Mercy"
Roxy Music "Virginia Plain" (headman remix)
Santogold "Creator"
Goldfrapp "Strict Machine"
A Place To Bury Strangers "I Know I'll See You"
Arcade Fire "Rebellion (lies)"

all vinyl

+ some Daft Punk, Prince, Jackson 5, Kylie, KC and the Sunshine band and more on the ipod.

Music is My Boyfriend: THIS FRIDAY

Alessi's Ark in LA

Alessi's Ark Tour: March 2009

March 24th: Alessi's Ark @ The Mint 8pm

March 25th: Alessi's Ark @ Marathon Live (Three Clubs) 10pm

March 26th: Alessi's Ark @ Open Books Long Beach 8pm

Primal Scream @ Club Nokia

Setlist

Kill All Hippies
Cant Go Back
Miss Lucifer
Suicide Sally
Jailbird
When The Bomb Drops
Beautiful Future
Higher Than The Sun
Beautiful Summer
Deep Hit
Exterminator
Suicide Bomb
Sick City
Shoot Speed
Swastika Eyes
Moving On Up
Rocks

---

Damaged
Necro Hex
Country Girl
Accelerator

REX BRUCE @ LACDA tonight

Rex Bruce
"Inversions"

March 12-May 2, 2009
Reception March 12, 6-10pm

#4 © 2008 Rex Bruce

Rex Bruce gave up his car and spent two years riding public transportation recording images of the L.A. sky-scape as a meditation on the climate crisis. The camera is always aimed towards that which daily absorbs tons of greenhouse gas: the atmosphere. Stills and video are shot through dirty windows of buses traversing Hollywood and central L.A. and composited at different frame rates, compression levels, resolutions and varied states of digital degeneration. The resultant damage is visually appealing and painterly in texture and form while generating an atmosphere of technological and urban overkill, Los Angeles style.

Video and photography from this series have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Laznia Center for Contemporary Art (Poland), Guggenheim Gallery (Chapman University), California Museum of Photography (U.C. Riverside), New Media Center Santa Ana, Found Gallery, Start SOMA San Francisco, Center for Political Graphics (L.A.), Niche.LA Video Art, Silver Lake Film Festival, Downtown Film Festival–Los Angeles, photoLA, photoSF, and L.A. Center for Digital Art.

The Onions "Norwegian Wood"