Bertran Projects

1. Full spectrum lights
Full spectrum lighting sounds pretty lame. But when you literally bask in its glory you’ll never be able to go back. They even have timers that simulate the sunrise each morning. I’m hanging around my friend Ben’s lamp until May.

2. Synecdoche, New York
If you’re into mind-fucks. It’s also set in my home town of Schenectady, New York of little to no fame.

3. Roots and Culture Screening Series
Really great selections and a good way to spend some time.

4. Roy Orbison Wrapped in Clingfilm
Weirdly peaceful.

5. Epicly Later’d
Apparently I like watching people skateboard and talking about skateboarding.

July 1949, Loomis Dean

6. Ox-bow
Students, old folks, teachers–everyone should go once.

7. This Wheel’s on Fire
My dad has played pedal steel in country music bands forever, and we couldn’t agree more how much The Band rules.

8. Carl Baratta (http://www.carlbaratta.com/)
Not just great, exciting too.

9. Omer Fast at SAIC
I saw “The Casting” in Vienna last year. But it was especially cool to see friends in “Looking Pretty For God”.

10. MASS MOCA
The best museum to visit in the fall. There’s always something really good and the drive is twice as nice.

Kate Ruggeri is a Chicago-based artist.

Man, I feel guilty soaking up so much of Britton’s blog with TWO top ten lists, but I make this one every year, anyway and Britton was interested, so:

Typically, I make a top ten list of the best individual dishes that I have eaten over the year. This year I am switching it up- maybe I have eaten too much stuff to catalog every dish that I have loved this year, but I think that there are other factors at work. Last year, my list featured exotica from several over-indulgent eating tours of other cities. Due to economic circumstances I travelled a lot less this year (well, maybe one really great culinary tour early in the year- it was practically 2007- see number 2) I also feel like I ate out a lot less, especially in the second half of the year. There were definitely amazing restaurant moments- many adventures in Chinatown with Danny Z- stir fried duck tongue, octopus hotpot, and , unusual seasonings chicken to name a few highlights. Pork belly ramen and ssam at Momofuku noodle bar in East Village was definitely my away-from-home high water mark. Most recently, a meal at the never-disappointing Avec of escargot and pheasant sausage is at the tip of my tongue. These moments were all memorable, yet I am feeling more reflective about other culinary experiences. Many of my more memorable food moments took place while cooking both at Ox-Bow and home. Several entries on the list highlight specific ingredients or cooking methods, specifically drawing attention to economically thrifty goods and methods. Another aspect of dining that I find essential is the communal aspect of the act- the best meals are always shared with company. Also, I have found that the best dining establishments are those with great hospitality- testament to the passion and commitment of the ownership and the chef. A great example of this- too new to make this list, but worth mentioning- is a fantastic new Palestinian spot on Chicago Ave. in the old Bleeding Heart space called Chickpea. The chef here is the owner Jerry Suqi’s, mother, Amni, who will prove to be the West Town area’s new neighborhood matriarch- not only does her cooking reflect a loving home made touch, but she herself, presiding over the dining room, shares particulars about the chow and also warmly engages in conversation, providing a welcoming homey vibe. These are the kinds of eating experiences that I am interested in documenting these days, so several of these offerings have everything to do with the social nature of eating.

From left to right: Hen of the woods (Maitake), Chicken of the woods (Sulfur Shelf), Bear’s head tooth, Chicken Fat Suillus.

1. Foraging for wild mushrooms
My main guy in the kitchen at Ox-Bow, whose side I came up by- Mikey Henderberg, is the most resourceful dude you’ll ever meet- he taught us how to brew beer- even makes bread from the spent grains from the brewing process; he’s a master gardener; he disassembled and single handedly re-installed the engine to his van- I could go on- he’s the guy to be around when the world starts to really fall apart. He’s also a man of many tinkering little hobbies that I often do not pay enough attention to. This fall he got way into mushroom hunting. The psychedelic fractals of fungus that he started pulling into the kitchen intrigued me, but not quite enough to get me out there. He would slice them up, saute them in butter, and eat them for breakfast. When he finally shared a little taste of hen-of-the-woods with me- Holy Shit! the most savory fungal flavors I’d ever had. Enough to get me out in the woods every morning. This experience really thrills me on so many levels- poking around dark and mysterious necks of the woods- hanging out with the beetles and amphibians, the rush of discovering wildly ornate and colorful specimens that you can bring into the kitchen and make super simple, delicious, and far out snacks. This is an incredible experience for the nature loving cook. Find some woods and start hunting! (Though, I regret to inform you, it is illegal in Cook County, and please, please be careful and bring a detailed field guide!)

2. Mexico City street vegetarian food
Everyone knows how Mexican cuisine has a way with meat- from the slow cooked pork of carnitas to smoky char-grilled carne asada. They also tell you to never eat the vegetables when you’re down there (water-borne pathogen issues), especially not off the street. But on my last trip down there - with a vegetarian companion- we intrepidly did it up and ate an awesome array of surprising delicacies- huitlacoche (corn fungus) and zucchini blossom quesadillas, chilatole- a soup of roasted-chile-flavored masa porridge speckled with blue corn kernels, and this beautiful blue corn tostada- like snack that I have yet to find a name for, draped with nopale cactus, sprinkled with pungent cotija cheese and topped with fiery salsa:

3. LTHForum
Every foodie in Chicago should know about this site already. I first started “lurking” in 2005, clued in by Mike Sula’s writing for the Reader. At first the site seemed like too much to sort through- it’s a forum open to anybody and there are quite a few banal posts like folks looking for recommendations for taking their elderly parents for brunch in Lake County or places to eat after dental work. My advice for new comers is to scan through the “Great Neighborhood Restaurants” , a system of awards for neighborhood spots that are nominated by posters and voted on by consensus. Part of the charm of the site is its democracy and accessibility to the general public and I know that this is often a pain in the side of industry professionals - in this Yelp era of the omnipresent amateur critic. There are folks on this site that comb the entire city searching for interesting places to eat and this eyes-everywhere approach is a benefit to us all. Without LTH I would be in the dark about many of my favorite places to eat (and shop, and drink, and read). Examples (many of which will pop up later in this list)- Khan Pakistani BBQ on Devon, Sun Wah Chinese BBQ on Argyle, Uncle John’s BBQ on East 69th St.- these guys like BBQ, clearly. So I first started posting in Jan. 07- using an old kitchen nickname “Jefe” as my moniker, and my participation since has snowballed. Many of the core group of posters frequently host events at restaurants and have quite a social community- I attended a few of these events this year and I must say that this is a group of highly diverse, interesting, fun loving folks that have such a breadth of knowledge about food of all kinds. The foodie craze and the spread of laissez faire journalism on the internet are great things as far as I am concerned- everyone should be this informed and enthused about their food (that is maybe until too many of them swamp our favorite haunts like Kuma’s and Hot Doug’s).

4. Chicken
Last year my top ten was pretty chicken heavy- pollo frito at Habana Libre and chicken piri piri in Portugal, but ultimately it was more of a pork year (and as some of you may know I had at least one pork related disaster this year). Pork is definitely my true love, but maybe not my first. In these days of boneless skinless breasts- faceless, tasteless, franken/vegetative meat-like cartridges- its easy to forget about the bird. Chicken is humble, cheap, enjoyed as a protein source the world over. And when its done right- crisp fried, garlicky grilled, or tenderly roasted- it can be the finest of meats. This year one of my absolute favorite dishes was the Chicken Boti at Khan BBQ - marinated in yogurt, garlic, cilantro, and curry spices, then tandoori grilled. I quite successfully reverse engineered the recipe on a charcoal grill at Ox-Bow. The citrus fried chicken at Sun Wah is quite remarkable too- tangy, crisp, and super moist. We also scored a great new vendor for organic free range birds up in Michigan from Providence Farms. My favorite way to cook these birds is Judy Roger’s recipe from her Zuni Cafe - a fast high heat roast that requires a lot of rotating, yielding an almost fried crisp skin.

Photo courtesy of Stevez at LTHForum

5. Sun Wah BBQ
This is my favorite new (for me) restaurant in Chicago this year. It has long been an LTHForum stalwart, but I just never seem to make it to Uptown that often- parking is such a bitch up there. We finally made it one afternoon in the late summer for their $28 five course Beijing duck service - the best, best, best restaurant deal in town. We were kindly greeted by Kelly Cheng- she and her sister Laura have recently joined the family business, retooling the menu and adding gourmet flourish to classic dishes. We foolishly figured that a $28 dinner could not possible feed the four of us so we ordered Singapore noodles- the best I’ve had, and octopus whiskers- the crispiest, spiciest version of calamari ever. And then on to the duck- for the first course: well roasted dark meat quarters with daikon salad; second course (the best): expertly carved tableside duck breast served with bao- steamed rice buns (a Cheng sister remix on the classic wrapper of tortilla- like pancakes), with house made hoisin sauce! and scallion garnish; without notice at this point Kelly had swept the remaining parts of the duck carcass back to the kitchen and then re-emerged with the third course: an elemental broth made with the carcass with winter melon; fourth course (now we’re getting gluttonous)- a fried rice made with the meat scraps; and for desert a blackberry sorbet. Kelly presided over the meal with charm and mesmerizing knife skills- I could to marry this woman! We left almost unbearably stuffed. Our second meal there was for the LTH Great Neighborhood Restaurant award ceremony and we had a head spinning array of dishes that you’d better just check out on this link, so as not to clog Britton’s blog with hyperbole more than I already have. My favorite was the citrus fried chicken (see above). There is a fantastic video podcast taking a tour off Sun Wah’s facilities here , produced by Michael Gebert for his amazing video blog, Sky Full of Bacon.
Sun Wah BBQ
1132-34 W. Argyle St.
(773) 769-1254

6. Joong Boo Market
I’ve been shopping at Joong Boo, aka Chicago Food Corp. for years. At first it was a slightly out-of-the-way, but closer-than-the-alternatives, stop for Asian goods. Back then I knew nothing about Korean cuisine, but made do with their selection of Japanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian ingredients for more familiar cooking styles. Once I started to try some of the many Korean eateries in town, my interest piqued in learning how to cook this food. Kimchi was an obvious first step and when I discovered gochujang, fermented chili paste, I was able to reverse engineer some of my favorite dishes. At this point Joong Boo opened its doors wider and I began to buy unfamiliar stuff to experiment with. Also, I landed a job in Albany Park off the KImball exit, so Joong Boo has been on my everyday route home from work since. It is now really my main grocery store. Their produce section actually smells like a farmer’s market even in the dead of winter- some of the veggies even have dirt on them still! They also now carry a line of dirt-cheap organic Asian produce as well. The frozen seafood is at rock bottom prices- though always inspect for freezer burn. For entertaining they sell better-than-most sashimi trays which go a long way for their value when entertaining. The meat selection is top notch- they sell heirloom Kurobuta (Berkshire) black pork at regular pork-at-the-grocery store prices. Their beef even is pristinely fresh and available in certain cuts impossible to find elsewhere- dig the below picture of well-marbelized rthinly sliced short rib. Take caution at their eat-in cafe- they make super cheap well rounded meals- bibimbop and bulgogi are safe bets. The beef stew isn’t bad either, but last time I ordered cod fish and tofu stew, it contained not only super fishy chunks with bones, skin, and all, but also an unidentifiable organ meat that I later identified as cod sperm sacs. Its not that they were bad tasting- and I am rather cavalier in my willingness to try new things- I’m just saying things here can get funky.
Joong Boo
3333 N Kimball Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 478-5566

7. Tampopo
I don’t know what took me so long to finally watch Juzo Itami’s 1985 “Ramen Western”. Friends had been recommending it to me since undergrad. Its got everything I love about film- outlaw characters a la Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, a non-linear narrative, romance, and ultimately super deep passion for and knowledge of Japanese cooking. I now scrutinize my stocks so much these days- is it clear enough, rich enough? How the hell am I going to learn how to pull noodles by hand? In what order do you eat each element from a bowl of noodle soup? This is kind of a ramen-less town. I had a pretty good one at trendy new Urban Belly that didn’t exactly shake a stick at New York’s Momofuku, but why should this Japanese street food cost $14 anywhere? But back to the film- joyous, action filled, postmodern, and food centric. Top ten in several categories!

8. Slow Cooked Meat
I’ll skip out on filet mignon any day for slow braised short rib. I prefer my beef fork tender and layered with luscious fat than a bloody $30 steak any day. Pork, too- with so many delicious ways to slow cook this king of meats- smoke it slow and low, braise and fry like carnitas, brown and slow braise for countless stew recipes. And did I mention lamb? Slow cooking elevates the cheapest cuts of meat to alchemical, elegant feasts. The main investment- time. Nothing wrong with the old crock pot either. Remember though to brown your meat well first, it deepens the flavor. Highlights this year were a recipe for Mark Bittman’s braised short ribs that worked amazingly, and then I took the dish a step further, amping up the spicing for a sort of Mexican barbacoa served with Mexican garnish as shown below. My award wining pork carne en chile wasn’t too bad either (see #10.)

9. Mondays at the Depot American Diner
What’s not to love about the Depot- fresh fried donuts to order with piping hot mocha sauce, house made roasted turkey and corned beef for the sammies, blue plate specials, gravy on fries, brisket sandwiches with frizzled onions, coke in a bottle- this place is the real deal for hand made American classic diner food. In less considerate hands, this kind of fare can be a little pedestrian for my tastes. The real lure, though, is the company. Monday is a good day for us gallery folk to extend out the weekend a little- at least for the morning. Danny, Carmen, and I often adhere to this leisurely schedule and try to at least once a month do a lunch out together- in 08 the Depot was our spot. Its a great moment- good friends, good food, enjoying each other’s company without booze, guiltlessly slacking off just a wee bit. And the staff at the Depot is as warm and inviting as the grub- but what ever happened to Alex? We miss her.

10. R&C Chili and Pie Cook Off
I feel a bit guilty stating that perhaps my favorite event at Roots & Culture this year was the Chili and Pie Cook Off. I know, I know, we are a contemporary art gallery with a mission to support emerging artists. I am absolutely committed to our program and fully believe that 08 was our finest year of programming. This night, though, had a special feel to it- I have never seen so many smiles at one of our events. Another facet to my vision for the place is to connect people and build community- with sixteen fantastic entries by art world folks and five insightful judges, we practically had a party going without all the other supporters. It was almost too much amazingness to try at once. The winners clearly stood out- Lauren Anderson’s Southern charmed peanut pie, Katie Scanlon’s (one of our greatest veggie cooks) veggie chilli that I am embarrassed to say I didn’t have a chance to try, some old school Mexican take on the classic with like twenty different chiles made by some smug chump who wins at his own game, and Marc Benson’s very classic grilled steak chile that I believe was the most archetypal of the offerings. Everybody really pulled through though- to name a few more- Carrie Schneider’s best crust, Glenn Hendrick’s late entry tomato and onion pie, Julia Fischbach’s (the originator of the pie component) uber- pecan pie, Noah Singer working double time in both categories, and Phillip von Zweck’s complex mole-like veggie chilli. Hats off to all and I am way proud to belong to this community of creative thinking gourmands!

Eric May is the proprietor of Roots and Culture and a very generous chef.

Barkley L. Hendricks, next to his painting “Misc. Tyrone (Tyrone Smith)” in the Nasher Museum. Photo by Derek Anderson.

1. Barkley L. Hendricks

Mr. Hendricks was on a top ten list I did back in 2005. Now he’s back in 2008/9 and I’m thrilled the world is catching up (and I’m also gloating a bit). The sad thing is I haven’t even seen this show and have only seen one of his paintings in real time (I did pick up the excellent catalogue though). There are a lot of younger imitators out there and now we can all bask in the glow of a true pro.

2. Gary Numan - M.E.

Of course I had known of this song in the past but I rediscovered it this year and it has been on all my mixtapes and in my ear constantly. It also represents my 100% obsession with the post-apocalypse this year. That would include the best book I’ve read in years: The Road by Cormac McCarthy and a shit load of movies: The Omega Man, The Road Warrior, A Boy and His Dog, On the Beach and The Quiet Earth. The apocalypse and post-apocalypse is also becoming a major theme in the contemporary art world (see the Unmonumental show at the New Museum, Prospect 1 in NOLA and, another favorite, Barnaby Furnas).  Goodbye Failure.

3. Kathernator

I don’t know Kathy Grayson and I’m not sure I would wanna be best buddies with her because she makes me feel old, but her myspace blog is utterly addicting. She is a director at Deitch and dutifully photo-blogs her daily whatever with cryptic, funny and snarky comments. I don’t agree with all her likes and dislikes but she is pretty damned prolific and I admire her battle with photobucket’s anti-naughty bits policy.

4. Skull Skates

I’m pretty sure I bought the last “Mini-Souldier” longboard available in the US (you have to order from the Vancouver-based shop now) after my first board got ran over last year. I only fell once this year and although I did end up in the hospital, I am still loving it. Riding this board is like riding in a Cadillac – smooth, durable, stealth and heavy. The company itself has been around since the late 70’s and the graphic sensibility is everything I could ask for. I see more and more Chicagoans riding longboards (we are on prairieland) and I hope it continues. Go here to get started. And go here to check some crazy ass videos.

5. Charlotte Street Foundation/Kansas City, MO

I went to Kansas City for the first time a couple of months ago and met with David Hughes of the Charlotte Street Foundation. Kansas City turned out to be pretty amazing itself. All of the places I visited and people I met (minus the exception of one organization which shall remain nameless) were badass. CSF stood out though. I’m not going to say much except rather than actually being a Foundation, this organization is more of an Enabler and an Example. Artists in the Midwest need a lot of help and no other organization I know of has done more to support them than this place. Christopher Cook of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the newly minted Kemper at the Crossroads gets a shout out as well.

6. Francis Alys at the Renaissance Society

My favorite art exhibition of the year. (This was not a great year for art in Chicago at commercials galleries, museums, larger non-profit’s or alternative spaces though I am looking forward to a more promising 2009 starting off with Jim Lutes at, yes, the Renaissance Society.) This exhibition was much more than the sum of its parts and represented to me the complexness of relationships in the meta sense as well as in the personal sense. Best of all were the reactions of my students whose “ah-ha” moments were going off left and right. I think they actually got it.

7. Nick and Mr. Graziano

I have never had a year when more people I actually knew died than 2008.  This must mean both that I am getting older and I know more people:

Gallery peeps in the West Loop have known the secret of Graziano’s Italian Subs for the last two years and now I understand the word is getting out even more. I also found out recently that Mr. Graziano himself passed away. He was one of the nicest, most gregarious and pure Chicago individuals I ever met. I can’t tell you how many times he let me walk without paying the full amount - trusting me to get him back the next time. I’m not even going to mention how tasty those Subs are.

Nick was the most original Chicagoan I have ever met. Nick was also the laziest bartender I ever met. He was also a movie extra, a fixture at the bars near Division and Wood (Goldstar then Phyllis’ Musical Inn), the slowest driver ever (sober or otherwise), a food lover like no other, a mama’s boy and for a brief time my contractor at the first 40000. He also relentlessly flirted with every woman I walked into Phyllis’ with. I really miss him. Next time you’re at the Goldstar look for a portrait of a man with sunglasses, a mustache and a big shit-eating grin on the wall above the bar (where it should be).

8. The Neil Young Archives

I know there are a ton of Neil Young fans out there – closeted or not. Well, now is the time to let your freak flag fly because Mr. Young has finally started releasing his Archives: a series of super awesomely enhanced live shows on CD and Bluray DVD (he was apparently waiting until the digital realm caught up to his standards before he released this stuff).  It’s part of his Archives Performance Series.  Live at the Fillmore East was released in 2006, Live at Massey Hall 1971 dropped in 2007 and this year’s is the perfect Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 (which is the one you should get).  For video and other info – go here.

9. Helen’s Two Way Lounge

I moved to the Logan Square neighborhood this past September and discovered this bar that at some point was rated the #1 white-trash American dive-bar in the US by Maxim magazine (unconfirmed) as well as dubbed the new Rainbo (also unconfirmed).  What I can confirm is that this place is awesome.  Cheap drinks, old school, smells like fart and is constituted with some of the most fascinating regulars I have ever seen.  I am not a regular - thank you very much - but lets just say that every time I am there something fascinating happens.  It’s located right across the street from The Whistler, which would have made it somewhere in #10 but isn’t even deserved.

10. RANT/The Bottom Ten
Here’s a list - in ten sentences - of things that are fucked up both in Chicago and elsewhere:

Why is the 7-11 so damn expensive? Will Chick-fil-A please open a franchise in Chicago? Why won’t Alan Artner (Chicago Tribune visual art critic) either retire, learn about contemporary art or admit that no one takes him seriously anyways? Speaking of the sorry ass state of Chicago art writing… someone tell the Chicago Reader to cut it out already – make a clean break. Facebook is… fucked up. The fact that I can’t use Firefox anymore because my computer won’t support a new operating system with its processor size. Why haven’t breakfast taco’s (like the kind they make in Texas) been introduced everywhere else on the planet? Youtube – it pains me to watch shitty video quality – figure it out! Wealthy young professionals who collect knock-off vintage wine posters instead of contemporary art. Organized religion.

Top 10 things that have made me crazy happy at one point or another.

1. Cuteoverload is by the far the best website ever made. No matter what mood I’m in, as long as I can access this site- I’m happy. A nice counterpart is ugly overload.

[you’ll have to use ur imagination]

2. Kuma’s Corner: Amazing burgers, great music, two types of whisky on tap and a huge selection of craft beer. What else could you ask for? Kuma’s does have an unbelievably long wait – usually 45 mins to 1 1/2 hours- but it’s so worth it. All of the burgers have metal band names. My favorite is the Iron Maiden: Avocado, Cherry Peppers, Pepper Jack, Chipotle Mayo.

3. Margie’s Candies. Huge portions of ice cream with home made fudge, chocolates galore, and the interior looks like a grandmother exploded inside. The one place I take everyone from out of town to.

4. Red Door Animal Shelter. Everyone should adopt a pet, and this is a great place to adopt. I adopted one of my rabbits from Red Door and I go back to buy hay from them a few times a year. Playing with bunnies and kitties fills me with such joy! They have multiple fundraisers and events, one of them being an art auction where I’ll be donating a piece. They also have a facebook group

5. New Glarus. The notorious Spotted Cow comes from New Glarus, WI- but for me, Fat Squirrel is the best beer these guys brew. They don’t distribute in Illinois, so when you know someone who is going to Wisconsin, bribe them to bring some back. Or you can go and see the place yourself; the brewery is located in a sweet little town, with amazing Swiss food and antique shops.

6. House on the Rock. Close to New Glarus lays the House on the Rock. Recommended by a few people in the community, this place is indescribable. A huge collection of collections and crazy architecture- just go.

7. The Story
I subscribe to The Story’s podcast—it’s cheesy, but I love it. Sad stories, inspirational stories, happy stories: just a collection of oral tellings.

8. Alex Jovanovich: Minor Things @ Old Gold
One rainy evening, I experienced really bad art at an opening. I was as depressed and defeated as one could be. This was, until, I stopped by Old Gold for Alex Jovanovich’s opening. It was one of the best shows I’ve seen. Methodically placed artwork was accompanied with an endearing floor plan of the space. Not only was the work intriguing, well made and genuine, he had the nicest pedestals I’ve ever seen.

9. Biking. I have a love/hate relationship with my bike. It’s usually just love- until now. Biking in the winter sucks. Regardless, I’m trying to bike all winter long. Other than the bad weather, a bike is the quickest and cheapest way to travel around Chicago.

10. Cooking. I love cooking (and eating), and am really impressed with spaces that combine cooking with their programming. inCUBATE has their Sunday Soup: once a month brunch is cooked by a guest chef and the donations collected for the meal are then recycled back into the community in the form of a grant. Roots and Culture had a Chili and Pie cook-off a few weeks ago, which I hope will become a yearly tradition. In the new year, I will be introducing some sort of food program at mini dutch.

Lucia Fabio is an artist and the proprietor of mini dutch

photo credits:
1) cuteoverload: from cuteoverload.com, 3) Margies: tastychicago.com, 4) Red Door: toni greetis, 5) New Glarus: farpointforums.com, 6) houseontherock: author, 7) thestory: thestory.org, 8. alex: part of alex’s floorplan, 9) biking: Robert Andrew Mueller, 10) cooking: author 

“Here are 10 male celebrities and their original birth names in no particular order. Have fun guessing which goes with which!”

Archibald Leach
Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo
Esteban Echevarria
Angelo Siciliano
Bernard Schwartz
Vincent Damon Furnier
Eugene Michael Orowitzc
Ivo Livi
Volodymir Ivanovich Palahnuik
Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg

Sze Lin Pang is a Chicago-based artist.

The Hospitals self titled LP (In The Red)

As Dan Anhorn put it “American’s no longer have to sew Canadian flags on their back packs when they go to Europe.”

Kateřina Šedá (Renaissance Society)

Sic Alps

Doug Ashford’s talk at the MCA’s Art and Democracy conference

Paul Nudd’s paintings (College of DuPage lobby)

Santiago Sierra

Brian Kapernekas (65GRAND)

Siltbreeze Records

Deborah Stratman’s Or’ the Land

Simpach’s trailer (Marfa Ballroom, Texas)

Dead Center/Marginal Notes (Western Exhibitions)

So, I was contemplating my favorite albums of the past year and I realized that three of my faves were DJ produced mixtapes. Clearly, in this age of .mp3 downloads, the currency of the LP is quickly diminishing. Popular music has returned to the singles format and the “everybody’s a DJ” mentality of the iTunes generation points way to the eminence of the mixtape. As for what caught my ear this year, well dancehall reggae, surprise, surprise. What I find so exciting about this music form these days is how music producers from all over the place from Miami to Toronto to London to Tokyo are reinventing and tweaking the sound with new cultural twists. Dubstep was big time this year and the tracks that I found most appealing were pairings of hip producers with deejays (MCs) with Jamaican dancehall and ragga chatting styles, such as just about any track from one of my favorite albums of the year, “London Zoo” by the Bug. Warrior Queen in particular, was everywhere in 2008- a Jamaican born, London based deejay with a holler to match Lady Saw and more side feminine reminiscent of Sister Nancy. Check out her flow over Heatwave’s “Piano Rhythm” off the “Things Change” single on the number five entry on this list. Dancehall reigned supreme, but wider reaching and further thinking fusion sounds from the global bass underground tickled our ears on many superb new mixes interweaving hiphop, dancehall, and electric beats with language and music forms from all over the globe. Unclassifiable sounds that ring with the immediacy of the soundtrack of contemporary urban chaos. Hip Hop was not so much on my radar this year- more on that later- with all the damn Auto-tuned out vocals- I wish everyone would go back to actually rhyming.

++++++++

1. “The Very Best” Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit

This is the most joyous music I heard all year. Esau Mwamwaya is a London based, Malawian born singer “discovered” by hipster dance production duo Radioclit after Mwamwaya chatted up one of the Radioclit guys while selling him a bicycle at a London neighborhood junk shop. What entails is a reverse engineered cultural crossover that trumps the awkward African music mining of the 80’s- the likes of “Graceland” and unmentionable Sting bullshit singles. It takes a certain reverse- imperialistic approach to pop music with a tremendous amount of joy and serious pop music love. Mwamaya and Radioclit have reclaimed and re-Africanized indie pop music’s best cultural pirates of recent mention. Here we have so-hot-even-a-year-later beats from M.I.A.’s “Kala”, an exuberant remix of “Paper Planes” as well as a hands waving remix of “Boys” where Mwamwaya calls out “if you’re livin good then represent your block, tell me where your hood’s at” with a response of “Malawi!”- love that. We get a reworking of preppy African- mimicking Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” which apparently the group re-recorded with Mwamwaya on the mic and the result sounds more comfortable than the original . Its amazing how many of these songs transform their source material into music that sounds like awesome modern age African jams- I would never have pinned the first track “Kamphopo” as originally being a track by Architecture in Helsinki. The mix unfolds with even greater surprises like a version of “Birthday” by the Beatles that would sound at home on an Animal Collective record and the closer which unironically extends out Michael Jackson’s “Will You be There” from the Free Willy soundtrack. This is truly contemporary music at its best, dissolving pop music’s fascination with Africa and in the end sounding like truly great pop music. This ones free, click the free.

2. “Uproot” DJ/rupture

This is another example of the global bass underground’s ability to transcend geographic specificity. This elegant mix weaves sounds from far flung places such as Brazil, Finland, and Morocco around a skeleton of dubstep and sub bass. Rupture is about as dorky as it gets in his passion for record collecting and much of this mix contains tracks I had never heard by artists that I didn’t know. He released a companion piece called “Uproot: Ingredients” that separates each track- a mighty generous move by a DJ who is in every classic sense of the trade a “crate digger”, dispelling the notion that the DJ is a pretentious specialist with access to stuff so obscure that they will never divulge their source and ultimately take ownership of someone else’s music. The first time I heard this mix I thought it was all Rupture’s original material- its amazing how seemless he can make such a disparate batch of songs sound so flowing and coherent. What you have here is a moody and beautiful record that sounds oddly classical even when it erupts in woofer vibrating dub bass. And it will introduce you to a bunch of cutting edge artists that only some one as passionate for collecting as DJ/rupture could discover and share with us. This one you have to buy, iTunes has it.

3. “Top Ranking” Santogold Vs. Diplo

I did not buy into the hype around Santgold’s record that was released earlier in the year. I mean there is something cool about a thirty something black woman spazzing out in day glo spandex belting out rock songs that sound like Tegan and Sarah. It does make pretty good pop music (she was originally a songwriter for pop acts such as Ashlee Simpson and Lily Allen). What I was more disappointed with was the beats produced by shit hot production duo Switch and Diplo. Where was the oftentimes challenging and wide reaching beats of M.I.A.’s “Kala”? This time around we’ve got cheapo emo pop with a singer that sounds like M.I.A. lite- even though she has way better chops as a singer. Then this mixtape dropped and its just, well, a totally rocking party that dissects Santo’s influences from new wavers the B-52’s and Devo, to dirty southers Three-6 Mafia, to rocksteady champs and dancehall growlers. All jams that we love in one place. They contextualize the original tracks from her album as well- when Mavado drops in on LES Artistes’ easily skippable retro 80’s sound, it takes on a cross-cultural amalgam that sounds super fresh. Its all about Diplo, say what you will about this tastemaker, he takes crazy ass risks that put him clearly on the top of the game. Who else places “Marijuana” by Richie Spice over a Ratatat beat which switches over to “Shanty Town” with Spice still crooning about the herb. Black Flag bassline with Cutty Ranks toasting anyone? Also awesome is the reworking of the Clash’s “Guns from Brixton” with Santogold swapping it for “Guns from Brooklyn” and the cover of Bad Brains “Right Brigade”. This mix will rock any party. You’ll have to search around a little for it. Or get it from turntablelab.

4. “Love in this Baltimore Club” by Dave Nada

This one is a charmer. I’m a sucker for most B’more club music. It usually sounds kind of juvenile, though- anyone heard the “Dora the Explorer” mix? This mix shows the more adult sexy side of this regional dance sound. Bring back Andre 3000’s “Prototype”- hells yeah! Always an under rated jam. So sexy. Jill Scott, John Legend- I can’t get enough neo soul now. Blaqstarr croons “All the girls around the world, need me, completely” over flamenco guitars- sophisticated playas we are. Even “Everybody Everbody” by Black Box sounds ready for its retro moment. This mix will aurally seduce you and just may help you woo that special someone tonight. This was a podcast episode from Mad Decent Radio. Subscribe and have access to hours upon hours of mixes including this one. Click the link

5. “An England Story” From Dancehall to Grime: 25 Years of the MC in the UK 1983-2008

This is not technically a mixtape. This is a really important collection of Jamaican influenced Deejay music from Britain complied by super hot production team Heatwave on always amazing Soul Jazz Records. 1995 for me was a year on nonstop jungle music. I really liked the stuff with the growling ragga guys on it the best. I knew nothing about dancehall at the time, but the rough neck quality of the vocal sound really did it for me back in the day. It made rave music seem a lot tougher. Dancehall thrived in London since the early days- Jamaican immigrants brought reggae to the UK in the sixties and the sounds developed parallel their Jamaican influences. These sounds eventually morphed and took on their own life as producers in the nineties fucked with the two step beats and the harsher sounds of ragga vocalists, which spawned drum and bass and countless sub-genres. Much of this collection was new to me. Old School toaster Tippa Irie was familiar- the 80’s productions represented have a classic dancehall sound that reflects the Jamaican style. The later material represented is where sounds get co-mingled and hybridized. A lot of these jams are hard to pin down stylistically- hip hop beats with dancehall chatting, bass heavy proto- drum n bass, newer clubby sounds, dark, minimalist grime and dubstep styles. With the preeminence of the dubstep sound these days, tracing the lineage of English Jamaican music is a timely effort. This one you have to buy- directly from Soul Jazz if you want.

6. South Rakkas Japan “World Riddim Cup series”

Dancehall Sound System competitions have become a global phenomena. This mix was entered in a competition in Japan- the Japanese are ravenous for dancehall and frequently win their own DJ battles. South Rakkas is a DJ crew from Florida via Toronto via Jamaica. This mix features mostly their own productions, strung together in a “rhythm ride” style. They have risen to acclaim as producers with an ear for the club. Their brand of dancehall is quick paced, dancey and drenched in retro electro sound. I would be just fine listening to the first 20 minutes on repeat- a mix over their “Chinkuzi” rhythm, its bouncy sound is high energy and infectious- a jam we would rock at the end of the shift to keep ourselves on our toes. The whole mix is great- I love their version of “Under Mi Sensi” with Mr. Vegas singing the chorus. They work with all the a-list dancehall greats from Jamaica and even some Reggaeton dudes. This sprawling mix has hundreds of tracks and almost as many deejays. Another party rocker! This is another Mad Decent podcast.

7. Black Chiney Sound “Black Chiney 8.9″

This is another Florida based dancehall DJ crew. They are originally Jamaicans with mixed Chinese and African heritage. Since 2004 they have released these mixes, which showcase all of the biggest hits of the year. Be prepared- airhorn samples up the wazoo (Carmen and I invented a drinking game where you drink every time the airhorns go off), also offensive skits, and endless self shout outs. They known for sprinkling American hiphop in the mix and in the middle of this mix there are some rather successful remixes with Jamaican chatters doing their thing over Kanye’s “Flashing Lights” (I think they upstage Mr. West himself), Snoop’s “Sexual Eruption” and “Calabria”. A few mixes here get me going- there is some real deep scary hiphop beat (which I can’t place- anyone who can name it for me I will buy a beer) with Bounty Killer sounding equally as menacing. I also love the rhythm ride of my favorite dancehall track of the year- Erup “Click Mi Fingers” with a seriously funny and off colored verse from “Prince Zimboo from Africa” where he boasts himself as the “Punanny MacGuyver”. If you want to brush up on the year’s dancehall champions, this is your mix. Free link.

Image credit: Vince Dermody (via Vice Magazine)

8. DJ Fwench “Negusa Negus” mix

Gotta give some love to my crew. I was feeling a little down and Ryan Fenchel- half of the Healing of the Nation Sound System with myself- dropped me a little Jamaican sunshine. It alternates from fun b-sides- the x-rated “Ride Me Mommy” riffing on one of my all time favorite jams “Ride Me Donkey” by the Tennors to deep rootsy reggae. Of course I have none of these tracks as Fench quickly surpasses my collection with his deep crates of 45s. Check us at Danny’s third Mondays of the month. I might have to burn this one for you if you want it.

9. DJ Fashion Bath “Top 13″

More crew love. Mike Thibault reps the other half of my taste as a DJ- basically anything with super dope bass. He is a consummate music lover of all styles and one of my favorite folks to talk music with. Over the summer I dared him to make a mixtape of his favorite 13 songs and I did the same. It proved to be no easy task- I personally made a list of 25 and then mixed songs together that sounded like a coherent mix in two installments. I’m not sure about Thibault’s selection method here, but this is seriously one of the best friend-to-friend mixes ever. The fun part was identifying everything at first listen and I think I did alright. There is a heavy presence of proto-electronic stuff that has always tickled my fancy- Yellow Magic Orchestra, the Silver Apples, Suicide, and Psychic TV. True music dork stuff. Some of the moodier indie instrumental stuff had me head scratchin- This Heat and Slint were never in my rotation. You’ve got sentimental classics- “Teen Age Riot” by Sonic Youth, “It’s Alright, Ma I’m Only Bleeding” by Dylan. There’s a couple of really deep lonesome tracks by Daniel Johnston and Karen Dalton which are offset by back-on-your-feet breakup jams- “You Keep Me Hangin’ on by the Supremes and “I’m Beginning to See the Light” by the Velvet Underground. I’m not sure Mike would want to call this an official release and there is something deeply personal about these mixes. Thanks Mike, this is about a musical conversation with a good friend.

10. Lil’ Wayne “Tha Carter 3″

Now I’m totally breaking the rules. Its just that this was really the only hiphop that I rocked consistently this year- well save for maybe Cool Kids “Bakesale”. Maybe I just don’t have enough sources for new mixes. This shit was ubiquitous this year- dropping while I was in the cultural bubble of the southwestern Michigan woods. Dan Johnson cruised up and dropped this on us and it was as infectious in the woods as everywhere else. It does what every great hiphop record should- you got party bangers, contemplative street tales, some a little personal, a-list producers, and at the center a charismatic, absurd, goblin from New Orleans who is just about the most unlikely superstar hiphop has ever seen. What else can I say, this album was a nationwide phenomena. That said, I am worried about his next move- everybody’s gotta put the damned Auto-tune down and realize that they can’t actually sing- they rap, thats why they are called rappers. Kanye should go back to producing excellent jams like “Let the Beat Build”. I’m not going to publicly link a way to get this free, but mainstream releases such as these I have loose ethics about procuring.

Eric May is the proprietor of Roots & Culture and spins with DJ Fwench at Danny’s third Mondays of the month.

1. Printed Matter. It’s been around for a long time, but there is nothing like it anywhere in the US and it made my trips to NY this year all the more worthwhile. And they know how to write an annual fund letter.

2. Henry Flynt. In general, and in concert at the Empty Bottle this fall.

3. Managing as Designing. A compilation of short essays, it reminded me why artists/designers can and should contribute to questions of management and administration, and why we in the art world should not uncritically adopt dead-end models from the corporate world.

4. Joan Didion’s White Album. The first and certainly not last Joan Didion book I read. She knows how to write about the texture of life.

5. Persepolis, the movie, made all the better to watch by the fact that I saw it with my Iranian friend Marjan, who looks exactly like the main character and said that the movie could have been her life up until about age 14-15.

(image from markmahaney.com)

6. Mary Ellen Carroll. It’s been how many years? I finally began to grasp what her artwork is all about, thanks to spending a lot more time this year visiting and exchanging emails. This is what I call friendships as accidental art education.

“Resistance: Anti-Baudrillard” at White Columns, New York, 1987

7. Doug Ashford. Been a fan since grad school of Group Material’s work and finally got a chance to meet him this year. Lucky those who study with him.

8. Brennan McGaffey @ VONZWECK. Yes, AE and I sometimes like the same things.

House, Horizon, Fences, 2007 (Image from Sikkema Jenkins & Co)

9. Merlin James at Brent Sikkema. It made me want to paint again.

10. Bonnie Prince Billy Lie Down in the Light.

Jackie Terrassa is the Assistant Director of Public Programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Photo by A. Tanski (via Flickr)

1. Color Chart at MoMA
Lot’s of great works, like a selection of On Kawara date paintings ranging from bright red to a dark green and the emblematic sooty black along with a selection of binders containing swatches for each date painting. Richard Serra’s film of his grubby fingers flipping through brilliantly colored sheets of paper, Bas Jan Ader arranging some pretty flowers and a Sol Lewitt made from coloring the wall to the point that it looked like caked on purple wax. The guards didn’t do such a good job restaging Daniel Buren’s striped vests, they kept trying to cover them up with top coats. An Andre Cadare casually leaned near the entrance paired with a Nieli Torini site-specific systems painting, it all rhymed perfectly. The strongest situation was the Rodin Balzac statute on the landing of the main stairs, standing defiantly on a striped field of Jim Lambie tape — HOT. All the images I’ve seen of it, though, don’t do it justice. So here is a shot of a late, vibrantly colored Donald Judd overlooking some “Found Monochromes” by David Batchelor.

2. The Big Three Killed My Baby – The White Stripes
This track is off the Detroit duo’s debut album. It comes from the heart, and from growing up in a city blighted by the auto industry. It’s not a protest song, it’s a rock song; it’s a theme song for growing strength out of squalor and being fucked over. And that is political. It is of course incredibly relevant these days and can be seen as a theme song for all the regular people in America getting throttled by the government and the business sector. And you have to love a song that references automotive visionary Tucker. The whole album is highly recommended, raw, unpolished, emotional and soulful. It is pure rock with an eye towards the form’s storied roots.

The big three killed my baby
No money in my hand again
The big three killed my baby
Nobody’s coming home again

Their ideas make me wanna spit
A hundred dollars goes down the pit
Thirty-thousand wheels a rollin’
And my stick shift hands are swollen
Everything involved is shady
The big three killed my baby yeah yeah yeah
…
Why don’t cha take the day off and try to repair?
A billion others don’t seem to care
Better ideas are stuck in the mud
The motor’s runnin’ on tucker’s blood
Dont let ‘em tell you the future’s electric
Cuz gasoline not measured in metric
Thirty-thousand wheels a spinnin’
And oil company faces are grinnin’
And now my hands are turnin’ red
And I found out my baby is dead yeah yeah yeah
…
Well I’ve said it now
Nothings changed
People are burnin’ for pocket change
And creative minds are lazy
And the big three killed my baby yeah yeah yeah
And my baby’s my common sense
So don’t feed me planned obsolescence
And my baby’s my common sense

Yeah I’m about to have another blow out

3. Another World – Antony and the Johnsons
This EP came out in the Fall, perfectly mirroring through sound the crisp nip in the air, the grey skies and the leaves dying. I have been hooked on ever since the first time I heard Hope There’s Someone from I Am A Bird Now. Antony and the Johnsons convey the haunting beauty of hope and utter despair through music that is varied through many styles. Antony is unafraid to be vulnerable, honest or campy that and his otherworldly voice makes this musician and his band completely unique.

4. The Slip — nine inch nails
Everyone likes to mention this and Radiohead’s In Rainbows for their innovation of giving the music away directly to the fans over the internet. These are both really good albums, though. The Slip is a solid record, nothing groundbreaking, but comfortable in how it sits. It ranges from raw crunchy fast paced anger to more polished satisfying pop industrialism to long textured ambient instrumentals. It is a good album and I thank for Trent Reznor and his nine inch nails for giving it to us. Also interesting is the way the medium of objectless music has been addressed. Each track has its own image and lyrics that pop up as it plays in iTunes. Users even had the option of downloading professional better than CD quality versions of the album. Also worth looking into is the multi-volume instrumental project Ghosts, again featuring tracks paired with unique artwork.

5. The New York Earth Room
In 2008 I finally made it to this installation while in New York this past spring. This is the first step in a journey I hope one day includes Marfa, Spiral Jetty and Walter DeMaria’s other masterwork, Lightning Field. The New York Earth Room is not just an art dork tourist destination, it is a captivating work of art. You enter the space and stand at the entrance to the galleries, blocked by a sheet of glass and a huge field of waste deep freshly tilled most earth. There is something daunting and funerary about it; something disturbing and wonderful about seeing a field of earth in a white cube. Mysterious of all is the slight view into the far off gallery, another room off the main exhibition space, also filled with earth, a few lights peek through the doorway. It is just a space filled with dirt as is everything before you. But it’s hidden nature disturbs and calls to you. It makes me unsettled the way I would scare myself falling asleep as a kid, thinking about what was going on at that moment in the depths of the pyramids, or a mile down at the site of the Titanic. Furthering this is the knowledge that The New York Earth Room is essentially the final exhibition at the Heiner Freidrich Gallery, carried on for the last 30 years. Closed in summers the dirt carries on seen and unseen. Heiner Friederich of course being the founder of Dia. A hippy earth trip this is not.

—–

6. Artforum Letters to the Editor
It started with Robert Storr’s summary response to the criticisms of the 2007 Venice Biennale by Jessica Morgan, Francesco Bonami and Okuiwi Enwezor. Of course they then responded. Storr responded to the responses and then Bonami and Enwezor responded to that. It was entertaining and engrossing reading the verbal sparring and careerist jabbing of these art world elites. After that, Richard Prince sent a crazy belated response to a 2003 letter from Douglas Crimp regarding Prince’s participation in the milestone “Pictures” exhibition of 1977 at The Artists Space. Prince offered an entertaining and slightly unhinged explanation that he is a liar because his parents might have been spies and that he was born in the Panama Canal Zone. All this culminated in Peter Plagens’ idiosyncratic section-by-section review of the September issue printed in December. Every time I get a new issue of Artforum, I think of going through it and reviewing it but end up not doing it.

If I were to do the December issue it would go something like this:

Everyone is mentioning Poussin or Courbet in their best of lists, trying to signal as far out and contemporary they are, they can also own old school art. A whole thing on an Yves Saint Laurent bag? Awesome. Let’s compare it to Clyford Still and Morris Louis, now it is participating with history—important painting history. Actually it looks much more like Herman Nitch’s paintings from Saatchi’s Triumph of Painting, but that wouldn’t merit an essay. What? An actual work of art in the Bruno Bischofberger back cover ad instead of a pastiche of Swiss country life?

7. The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
I read this book in a seminar on Guy Debord and the Situationists. I thought I knew what the society of the spectacle was and what this book was all about. I sort of do now, it is kind of mind-blowing and really hard to figure out. The society of the spectacle is not how we all love the excitement of entertainment and news scandals. It’s how we don’t really even live life, it’s how everything has been colonized by capitalism and all social interaction is mediated through images. It comes out of Karl Marx but is much more relevant to our times. This book needs to become a dominant text in academia and replace all the ivory tower Marxists. As was postulated in the course, this book might be a history to be read by generations not yet born. Debord is against such mainstream tastes as Roland Barthes and Jean Luc Godard, he doesn’t think you can even really ever act in a way so as to escape the spectacle, maybe just nudge it for a second. It is startlingly prophetic and accurate in describing life now. It’s one of those things that seems so right as you read it, but also so hard to describe to others.

8. Christopher Williams, For Example: Dix Huits Leçons Sur La Société Industrielle (Revision 7) at David Zwirner
I pretty much have not stopped thinking about this artist’s work since.

“Christopher Williams achieves a certain abstraction that no other photographer, or artist has. He makes you doubt everything you see, in spite of the fact that the image is so clear, so crisp and so precise. Details abound in the images themselves, and in the intricate didactics Williams surround them with. Staring at his work, depictions of things so easily recognizable, you have no idea what it is you’re looking at.” — from an essay I wrote in the show.

068- Terre Haute, IN, 2008, oil on canvas, 9×12″

9. Peter Hoffman Post-Paintings at Mini Dutch (another apartment gallery)
I wanted to write about this but when it was up but didn’t get the chance. I first thought it meant “post-paintings” as in paintings made after painting. They sort of are, mixing abstraction, representation and painting from photography, all in Hoffman’s unique hand. The phrase is a play on that, and came from the insanely generous and conceptual gesture of sending paintings to people through the mail. For a period of time you could sign up on Hoffman’s site to get a painting through the post office, as he made them. The show consisted of the body of work at that point, borrowed back from many recipients. It made me think of Warhol’s notion of making his commissioned portraits all the same size to one day present in a group as “Portrait of Society.” The strength of the project is that these are paintings made with care, not just churned out, or created on demand. Basically Hoffman is sharing his practice as it evolves.

As Hoffman states: “This is an ongoing project combining my love of the postal service, surveys, giving things away, easel-painting, and strangers.”

Photo by Dan Dry (via Flickr)

10. Adaptation at The Smart Museum of Art

The exhibition, curated by Stephanie Smith surveyed contemporary video—or moving image—art that draws from literary or musical sources for influence. Adaptation is a practice long in use, for centuries in culture artists have taken stories, myths and ideas and repurposed or rewritten them. Unlike appropriation, which is more concerned with direct quotation, literal re-use and a flattening out of image and content, adaptation seeks to extrapolate and expand. The work on view ranged from cinematic feature length works like Rape of the Sabine Women by Eve Sussman & the Rufus Corporation, to the filmic multi-channel Triangle of Need by Catherine Sullivan. Both using the language of cinema to create complex narratives of allusion. Guy Ben-Ner presented playful works done with his children, complete with a rolling hill for the viewers to relax and enjoy. Arturro Herrera used a composition by Stravinsky as a system for a computer program to select images of his black and white works on paper to appear. As the music played, images appeared in sync or in response to the sound.

The exhibition’s website is worth a visit, with extensive essays and interviews, it also has something we should see more of when time-based works are shown: Clips of each of the pieces are available for viewing.

Erik Wenzel is an artist and a writer. His upcoming solo show Belief in Doubt in Painting will be staged at 65GRAND in February of 2009.

1. Sweating it out in the Salt Lake desert with Dan Sutherland and Steve Lacy while helping them make 16mm films, living it up in SIMPARCH’s Clean Livin‘. The highest point is the bottom of the barrel and the path to success.

2. Meeting curator Clementine Deliss. Her Metronome Press has been an important influence on my thinking and sharing with others. The chance to meet her not once, but over three visits to Chicago is something I never could have imagined for the year. Plus, she pointed me to the amazing folks at Section 7 books in Paris.

Psychedelic Horseshit

Sic Alps

Melvins

3. Concerts in extreme weather: Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit playing a high energy set in a packed basement during some of the coldest weather at Mr. City. Sic Alps hitting real clean, charming and quick during terrible heat in the loft space Enemy. Melvins playing a killer mammoth of a set–forget tornados, power outages and water streaming over the floor of the Double Door. Rule one: A great band will also be absolute pros–or at least rabid amateurs–and play a killer set, conditions be damned.

4. Lawrence Weiner retrospective. Language love, pure and simple.

5. Brennan McGaffey at VONZWECK. Maybe this choice is too close to the homestead, given that both are bourbon buddies and have been for years, but I dare you to prove me wrong. If you even try, there will be a KC-135 on your ass faster than you can light a propane tank.

6. Ben Russell Black and White Trypps #4. 16mm. black and white. Richard Pryor. flicker film. It’s like Ben set an Elms trap and snagged him a big ‘un.

7. Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts After Cage by Branden Joseph. Finally, the history of Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt and LaMonte Young gets some of the attention it has required for years. Hopefully this well written and fascinating book is just the beginning. This was almost knocked out of my top ten by my holding an actual copy of the broadsheet Flynt wrote and George Macunias designed in a Paris rare bookshop. Damn I hate a weak dollar.

8. Katerina Seda at the Renaissance Society. Exquisite drawings, touching gesture, heartbreaking story. Truly epic. Seda’s grandmother has better recall than I have ever had, and makes a better drawing by accident than I do by design.

9. Doug Ashford lecture at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. An honest accounting coupled with a pointed discussion of where and how we might move forward. Sometimes experience does count, and his retelling of Group Material’s failings and accomplishments felt timely.

Dead C

John Miller

10. Either the Dead C (finally an U.S. tour, and a stunner of an album with Secret Earth, both in the same year even) or John Miller’s The New Honeymooners at Metro Pictures and Friedrich Petzel (if I could finish the essay I started on this exhibition, I might be able to make a convincing argument; I’m dying out here on a limb). Either way it is about golden nuggets. And possibly the eighties. And the drift of the nineties. And nostalgia. And landing on our backs in this new century. Something like that.

Anthony Elms is an artist and writer. He is also editor of WhiteWalls and assistant director of Gallery 400.

Falafel sandwiches from Al-Khaymeih are the best. Lebanese style with pickled radish and grilled, ask for wild cucumber pickles. Stop by next door at the grocery/bakery store to pick up zatar bread and super fresh pita, find cheap spices, teas, olive oil and nargile supplies. Don’t let the bad store design fool you.

-Al-Khaymeih, 4748 N. Kedzie Ave 773.583.0999

Move over Jared, the Italian veggie sub from Bari is the way subs are suppose to be made. Fresh baked bread from D’Amatos next door (stop in and get cookies or saucy pizza) filled with pickled eggplant and other tasty bits. A 12″ will keep you full for hours, better get a Limonata to cut the oil. While your there check out the homemade sauces, giardinare, and pasta/ravioli. From what I’ve heard some damn good meats, can you say “sawwsauge”.

- Bari Foods, 1120 W. Grand Ave 312.666.0730 (defiantly call ahead during lunch rush)

Alright enough with the duck fat fries, I’m going to Huey’s for a char veggie dog. Make sure to get it Chicago style, save the ketchup for the fries that come with. Super cheap and fast. Reminds me of when I ate Vienna Beef dogs growing up in Chi-town. I hear they have a veggie chili-cheese dog, but char is the way to go.

- Huey’s Hot Dogs, 1057 W. Balmoral Avenue 773.293.4800

Speaking of Italian, when your downtown looking for good, cheap eats hit L’Appetito. Go to the original on Huron. The subs are not as good as Bari, but the tostinos are the jams. I like the Roma or Milano. Before the panini craze L’Appetito was making these tasty grilled sandwiches. I’ve been going there since 1982, when my father worked next door. Make sure to stop and get almond crescents and/or lemon knots at the coffee/bakery side, plus other tasty treats from Italy.

- L’Appetito, 30 East Huron

Next time your going to Ikea, stop off at Mitsuwa Market for good sushi, dirt cheap. This mini-mall, grocery store complex is a oasis for Japanese nationals or foodies like me. Before exploring the stores, fuel up at the food court. Sushi and other authentic Japanese dishes are served without the pomp. Inside the grocery store, you’ll find everything you need to make your own sushi, “homemade” pickled veggies, frozen unagi and rice that has harvest dates on the labels. I’ve seen better prices for Asian groceries, so stick to Japanese products that you won’t find at a Thai/Chinese grocery store (see below).

- Mitsuwa Market, 100 E. Algonquin Rd, Arlington Heights 847.956.6699

Veggie tacos at La Pasadita. I know its hard to name a favorite Mexican taco joint in a city where they are everywhere, but two words - Salsa Negra. Don’t get me wrong the tacos are good at Pasadita, but holy shit the black salsa is the king. I’ve been told, the steak tacos dressed only with onions and cilantro are super tasty as well. Make sure you hit the one on the west side of Ashland, farthest south.

-La Pasadita, 1132 North Ashland

Since Leo’s went away, I’ve been searching for a replacement for their breakfast burrito. The savory pancakes at Treat are my new favorite breakfast food. A tasty mix of Korean/American flavor that have a little heat. Three large, plate size pancakes served with a sauce that reminds me of a hollandaise on a holiday in Mexico. I’ve heard great things about the lunch and dinner menu, but I’ve yet to get past the savory pancakes.

- Treat Restaurant, 1616 N. Kedzie

Dinner specials at Soul Vegetarian East. Get your fill of soul vegan food. Greens, mac n cheese, BBQ bits, chicken fried steak. All super tasty with enough oil to help it go all the way through you. Specials can be more that $10 but you get a lot of food. Super nice staff although you best wear your patience hat.

- Soul Vegetarian East, 205 E. 75t Street 773.224.0104

Mangiamo! Back in the day, I use to live around the corner from Tufano’s. When the windows where open, I could hear locals sitting on their porch saying, “Stop busting my balls!” Not kidding. The Eggplant is the shit. Perfect melt in your mouth goodness that isn’t served on Fridays. Other favorites are the stuffed shells with the best basic red sauce, fried calamari and shells and broccoli. Get the house Chianti and eat away. Most main dishes hover below or above $10 but it’s a lot of food. Bring cash because Joe doesn’t take plastic or checks.

- Tufano’s, 1073 W. Vernon Park Place (near UIC) 312.733.3393

Bahn mi or Vietnamese hoagies from Ba Le are super tasty. The vegetarian has a nice mix of crunch and flavor. The taste will get into your head and you’ll crave one, even after you just finished eating one. Buy 5 get 1 free. They also have some tasty dessert custards and bubble teas. Go across the street to Tai Nam and buy super cheap Thai/Chinese groceries.

- Ba Le Sandwiches & Deli, 5018 North Broadway

David Roman is a foodie and the former propreitor of Standard in Chicago.

Johnny and June

1. June: No matter what you thought in February, the world underneath the ice was not dead forever. Try to get your vitamin D since you’re so deficient. Call your friends and find an excuse to linger outside. Yeah, it might get hot out, but enjoy it! If June cooperates, there should be some seventy-five and sunny days interspersed with the first summer thunderstorm. Neat-o negative ions.

Max Vorin and May Day in “A View to a Kill”

2. May: Winter has finally and completely passed. Sunny days are not common, but the warmth of the sun is noticeable. People are so crazed to feel their skin that they bare it all, with incredible paleness, to the visual chagrin of everyone else. Leaving whatever interior space you’ve been hibernating in for the last seven months is your top priority.

Time for costumes and theory

3. October: Fall is nice. Usually it is still mild until Halloween hits. And who doesn’t love the first smoky smell of autumn?

Patriotic streamers and TP rolls

4. July: Get out your patriotism because summer is in full swing. All of the green is super-vivid and burns your Chicago-adjusted cones and rods. As long as the swamp heat stays at bay its delicious outside. I’m not one to go to the Taste, I live here after all, but there is that, as well as plenty of other street festivals that have you realizing there are a lot of people here.

Earth, Wind and Fire

5. September: With global warming at our fingertips, its never really fall in September. The sky stays clear; seventy-degree days with a slight breeze are common. If there was sticky heat its blown out of town by now. The only difference is that you think you should be working on something. Maybe it’s the residual effect from a lifetime of school calendars.

Goat cheese

6. August: So the swamp heat is probably here by now, and it’s a little sad when you see signs of summer limping to the finish line. But it’s not gone yet! This is when you try to avoid taking the summer for granted. Get your ass to any and all outdoor seating before they’re gone—café patios, beer gardens, any excuse will do—like celebrating National Goat Cheese Month.

April Fools’

7. April: Taxes have been filed and that’s a relief. It’s probably still shitty out though. That one tempting day when its warm and sunny shows up about now. Thought it might stay that way? April Fools’! Get your puffy coat back out. Unfortunately with the seemingly never-ending thaw/freeze cycles, the smell of urine infiltrates all of the sidewalks and train stations.

December landscape in Chicago

8. December: It’s bearable because of the pretty lights. Since they’ve been up since Halloween you really can’t miss them.

This November’s highlight

9. November: November ’08 flew by with the excitement of the election starting out the month. Normally this would be even lower on the ranking. OK, really, this shouldn’t even be on the list. Thanksgiving doesn’t save it. And there’s nothing more annoying than figuring out how you should dress for the combination of rain and snow that I call snain. But it is a fun game to guess how much more your heating bill is this year compared to last.

Janus

10. January: I don’t know. This is only placed in the top ten because nothing is worse than February and March. At least in ‘09 we can celebrate the end of the Bush era!

Heather Mekkelson is a Chicago-based artist and a recent graduate of the University of Illinois, Chicago. Heather recently had solo exhibitions in Chicago at Old Gold and threewalls. She will also be included in the upcoming group show PhotoDimensional at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

1• Barack Obama: Of course.

2• Obama Jeep Cruisin.

Barack, Hillary and Joe cruising around celebrating the win. I don’t know who made this, but it really, really-with utter glee-expresses the satisfaction of the election results. The original is this footage interspersed with other footage and with music. I like the silent simple version linked below.

3• Remy Charlip, Arm in Arm: A Collection of Connections, Endless Tales, Reiterations, and Other Echolalia, 1969

Arm in Arm, inside cover and Remy Charlip

So I was given this book when I was 4 years old, and it was one of my favorites. I rediscovered my original copy recently and was shocked at how influential it seems to have been on me, both in terms of its goofy humor and its light but bright line and paint qualities.

4 • Olaf Breuning

Hot off the press, this piece will only last a few days: it’s a sand sculpture at Art Basel Miami. Nice to make a temporary work that invokes simple childhood creativity at a Mecca for art capital. I could take or leave the fact that it portrays a reclining woman, about which Breuning states he is trying to connect to the sexuality of the site (Miami). I just love the perversity and exuberance of the ephemeral and playful gesture.

5• Tomma Abts

Tomma Abts, Meko, 2006

I could not understand for the life of me why these paintings were garnering so much critical and popular attention, even winning the Turner Prize (the first time an artist whose work does not directly address a public realm did so). The critical responses I read where also completely mysterious because they seemed to applaud the paintings on completely formal terms, and coming from critics who don’t usually do that (does anybody anymore?). But after seeing these works in their magnificent installation at the New Museum in NY, I understood that they have to be seen in real life, and that’s really cool in this digital age. I love the way that they sample, navigate, and extend what appears to be found design. They are sensitive, delicate, and beautiful.

6• City Confidential (see also Forensic Files and Suburban Secrets)

Of these three true-crime TV shows, City Confidential was originally on A&E and was by far the greatest, mostly due to the creepy campy narration by the late Paul Winfield. The show really couldn’t go on without him and was cancelled in 2006. Suburban Secrets appeared shortly after the successful debut of Desperate Housewives, and–I’m not kidding- synched up true-crime murder investigations with a narrator and musical score that both sounded exactly like those of Desperate Housewives. It’s completely insane: silly and campy, yet dealing with actual and recent murders. Forensic Files is just straightforward 30-minutes of creepy re-enactments cut with formula stock imagery, it’s an awesome way to kick up your feet, forget your troubles after a long day, and be reminded of your mortality. This must be my dark side.

7• Groundhog Day, 1993, Harold Ramis, Director

 This movie is all about optimism and I love it. I always felt that even in its lightness, it had gravitas. This was important to me, something I’ve tried to have in my work at times: a serious buoyancy. My friends thought I was silly to take this movie so seriously so I felt vindicated when MoMA included it in a film series on spirituality in cinema, and when the New York Times wrote an article asking rabbis and priests their thoughts on the film.

8• Jason Dodge, FOUR CARAT BLACK TOURMALINE AND HALF CARAT RUBY STUFFED INSIDE AN OWL, 2007. (During the process of embalming, precious gems have been placed inside of an owl.)

I have loved his work for a long time. This recent work is so beautiful, I love how it is so full of sorrow, while suggesting a larger decadent realm, induces imaginative projection and demands a leap of faith.

9• Robert Grovesnor

R. Grovesnor, Untitled, 1997

One of the most under-rated artists working today. Though he’s shown with Paula Cooper for over twenty years, Grovesnor’s work is not nearly as well-known as it should be. His work draws on recognizable popular architectural and design elements but never fits neatly or clearly into a singular mode of experience. I love this piece which looks basically like elements from a rural or suburban yard: stone wall, Victorian parlor/garden balls, and old antenna and makes it look like a site for divination.

10• The Top Steakhouse, Bexley, Ohio

I always describe this place by saying that you almost expect Sammy Davis, Jr. to walk in. Weirdly, About.com almost says the same thing, except they use Dean Martin instead. This place has beautiful 60s modern design, a well-used piano bar, and beehive-hairdo’d waitresses slinging sour cream by the ladle to top your baked potato. II love the highly diverse and entertaining staff and clientèle. This place is old school and everything a restaurant should be. My favorite American Restaurant.

 Pamela Fraser is a Chicago-based artist, teaches at the University of Illinois, Chicago and runs, along with her husband Randall Szott, He Said, She Said in Oak Park, IL.

Images culled from (in order): 1. bagofnothing, 2. gawker, 3. flickr, amazon, 4. nytimes/themoment, 5. horsethink, via the hammer museum 6. a & e, 7. Universal, 8. Casey Kaplan, 9. Paula Cooper, 10. The Top Steakhouse