suddenly: where we live now
24 January — 12 April 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, 24 January, 5-7 pm

by Leslie Kaufman

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Rick Clark’s garage is loaded with fast toys for playing in the sun. He has a buggy for racing on sand dunes, two sleek power boats for pulling water skiers, and a new favorite: 48 solar panels that send his energy meter whirring backward.

Bronzed and deeply lined from decades of life in the desert sun, Mr. Clark is not one to worry about global warming. He suspects that if the planet’s climate is getting hotter, it is part of a natural cycle and will probably correct itself. “Experts have been wrong before,” he said.

But late last year, Mr. Clark decided to install a $62,000 solar power system because of a new municipal financing program that lent him the money and allows him to pay it back with interest over 20 years as part of his property taxes. In so doing, he joined the vanguard of a social experiment that is blossoming in California and a dozen other states.

The goal behind municipal financing is to eliminate perhaps the largest disincentive to installing solar power systems: the enormous initial cost. Although private financing is available through solar companies, homeowners often balk because they worry that they will not stay in the house long enough to have the investment — which runs about $48,000 for an average home and tens of thousands of dollars more for a larger home in a hot climate — pay off.

But cities like Palm Desert lobbied to change state laws so that solar power systems could be financed like gas lines or water lines, covered by a loan from the city and secured by property taxes. The advantage of this system over private borrowing is that any local homeowners are eligible (not just those with good credit), and the obligation to pay the loan attaches to the house and would pass to any future buyers.

The idea of public financing for home solar systems began two years ago in Berkeley. While it took months to untangle the legislative knots at the state level and get banks lined up to back the project, the concept took on a life of it own.

Cisco DeVries, who developed the program for Berkeley but has since moved on to a company that administers and finances similar programs for many towns, said: “I’ve never been part of something like this where the power of an idea has grabbed so many people so quickly. It is viral.”

In California, about a half-dozen cities including San Francisco and San Diego are already committed to their own solar programs. And outside of California, at least a half-dozen states, including Arizona, Texas and Virginia, have introduced bills to allow municipal financing. Colorado has already passed a version of the law, and the City of Boulder is on the verge of beginning a program.

Municipal financing comes on top of other government supports. California residents receive a straight rebate for about 20 percent of the cost of a solar power system. In addition, a federal income tax credit for 30 percent of the cost of installing solar panels was extended to participants in the municipal loan programs as part of the economic stimulus bill passed by Congress. And there are efforts to change the federal tax code further so that cities can borrow the money to lend tax free.

But public financing of solar power also has critics, who say government is essentially subsidizing and encouraging a form of energy production that would otherwise not be cost effective. Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute in Berkeley, who is concerned about the proliferation of the programs, said, “It would be better for local governments to do energy efficiency and skip the solar panels.

“If you count the full-interest cost without the tax subsidy, residential solar panels never pay for themselves,” he said. “We shouldn’t be making it a major public priority.”

However, cities, which are charging 7 percent for the guaranteed loans, do not have the same financial risk as the consumers. And for cities like those in California that are required by state laws to reduce their carbon emissions, officials have to make calculations other than costs and are going ahead anyway.

No city is as far along as Palm Desert.

Instead of waiting to get financing through third parties as other cities have done, Palm Desert tapped into $7.5 million of its own reserves to run a pilot program. In what is widely seen as a measure of public demand, the program was almost immediately fully subscribed. Already, nearly 100 households have been approved for solar panels, and about half of those have already installed them and have a system up and running, according to Patrick Conlon, director of the city office of energy management.

From its arid climate to its conservative politics, Palm Desert could not be more different from Berkeley. But with 350 days of sun, the city is making a calculation that has nothing to do with saving the Earth.

“We live in a severe climate,” Mr. Conlon said. “To cool our buildings, we have to be energy gluttons. So renewable energy is important here as an economic choice. It’s bigger than politics.”

For Mr. Clark, that is certainly the case. His monthly energy bill for a 3,400-square-foot home and a guest house routinely surpassed $1,400 in summer months when the air conditioning ran all the time. Now his solar panels are producing more than enough energy in the daytime to power his home. The additional power is sent back to the grid and is credited on his utility bill against night and summer hours, when he might consume more power than he produces.

Mr. Clark estimates that at the rate he is going, his power bill will be at most $500 for this year. The savings will be great enough that, taking into account his investment, he will still save $3,000 a year or more.

The blue panels above his garage and his meter — which also tells him how much of the heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide he has avoided creating since the panels were installed (over 2,200 pounds) — have in fact had a kind of viral marketing effect in his upper-middle-class neighborhood. Homes here run well above $1 million, yet solar power was a rarity until the city program started.

“It can seem like a large and intimidating task,” said Valerie Van Winkle, a bank manager and a friend of Mr. Clark, who persuaded him and three other neighbors to take the solar plunge.

Ms. Van Winkle said the environmental cachet has also been fun. “I don’t even know anybody who voted for Obama,” she said.

Still she has become a proselytizer for solar power. “It just makes so much sense,” she said. “And, you know, I am happy it’s also good for the environment.”

Down the street, Debbie and Chris McNicol have a different take. Mr. McNicol used to be part of a professional drag racing crew and still races as a hobby on weekends. Their garage houses its own set of speed mobiles, including a 24-foot-long purple-and-yellow gas-guzzling dragster that goes up to 180 miles an hour. After installing solar panels, their first monthly energy bill dropped to $1.89.

Mr. McNicol is elated: “We can use the money we’ve saved to race new toys.”

image links to Lined & Unlined

COSMIC WONDER Light Source 3
Light Streams

Launch party for Light Streams, a photo book published by Nieves

Lately I’ve been listening non-stop to Emitt Rhodes, an L.A. singer-songwriter who released three LPs in the early 1970s. Rhodes wrote, recorded, and played all of the instruments, working from a home studio in the city of Hawthorne. It’s well worth tracking down his now hard-to-find material. At the time of the release of his self-titled album in 1970 rumors circulated that he might somehow figure into the ‘Paul is dead’ conspiracy or have something to do with the Beatles. Whatever the case, the songs can’t be denied, and Emitt stands on his own as true pop genius.

Check here for a good introduction. Discography here.

The International Institute of Social History (Dutch: Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, abbreviation: IISG) is a historical research institute in Amsterdam. It was founded in 1935 by Nicolaas Posthumus. The IISG is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Clip from a documentary about the friendly match between Iran and USA held in Los Angeles as a follow-up to their spine-tingling World Cup ‘98 match-up (Iran-2, USA-1).

“One of his (Günther Netzer) most fabled moments on the pitch arrived in the final for the 1973 German Cup. After a season of public power struggles with his manager, he announced a move to Real Madrid a week before this final game against Koln. The manager had him start the match on the bench. I am not sure I understand the details, but I think the manager tried to sub him in during the first half, and Netzer refused to go on the field. And then, during the second half, he shed his jacket, and said “I will go on now” and scored the winning goal. You can see that goal here, starting at about 2 minutes.”
— Jennifer

Make a donation in a friend or family members name to Wikipedia — I did.

Dorothy, a 73-year-old retired librarian, and her husband Herb, an 85-year-old retired postal clerk started buying minimal and conceptual art in New York in the early 1960s, living on Dorothy’s salary and spending Herb’s on art. Thirty years later, the Vogels had managed to accumulate over 4,000 pieces, filling every corner of their living space from the bathroom to the kitchen. “Not even a toothpick could be squeezed into the apartment,” recalls Dorothy. Their apartment was near collapse, holding way over its limit - something had to be done.

In 1992, the Vogels made headlines that shocked the art world: their entire collection was moved to the National Gallery of Art, the vast majority of it as an outright gift to the institution. Many of the works they acquired at modest prices appreciated so significantly that their collection became worth several million dollars, yet the Vogels never sold a single piece to breakdown the collection. Herb and Dorothy still live in the same apartment today- with 19 turtles, lots of fish, one cat -once completely emptied, now refilled again with piles of artworks.

“Okay, I need a minute to brag about my students who represented my school this past sunday, competing in a ballroom dance competition against 14 other LA schools.

We’ve been working for the past 10 weeks learning 5 different dances, and Sunday was the final competition, in which we selected 10 students to compete. I watched and cheered on nervously as they danced the meringue, rhumba, foxtrot, tango and swing in some fancy ballroom on the west-side of town.

I’ve never been more tense or nervous as I was when they were announcing the winner. My students had worked so hard and danced so well; I wanted them to win badly — they deserved it. The M.C. announced the 3rd place winner, the 2nd place winner, and then the 1st place winner: Culture and Language Academy of Success! We won it! I lost it. Went crazy hugging my students and hoisting our HUGE first place trophy up high. They allowed us, the winners, one last dance in front of the whole crowd. I’ve never been more happy, more proud.

I gotta give mad props to Alaysia, Damani, Evan, Crystal, Jerimiah, Jaida, Kennedy, Renard, Denzel and Tah-je. The best little dancers in all of Los Angeles.

Warmly,
Andrew Gaines

Illicit Haul: Colombian soldiers guard a semi-submersible captured last month with 1.6 tons of cocaine

by Chris Kraul

Reporting from Tumaco, Colombia — Squat, bull-necked and sullen-looking, Enrique Portocarrero hardly seems a dashing character out of a Jules Verne science fiction novel.

But law enforcement officers here have dubbed him “Captain Nemo,” after the dark genius of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” They say the 45-year-old has designed and built as many as 20 fiberglass submarines, strange vessels with the look of sea creatures, for drug traffickers to haul cocaine from this area of southern Colombia to Central America and Mexico.

Capping a three-year investigation that involved U.S. and British counter-narcotics agents, Colombia’s FBI equivalent, the Department of Administrative Security, arrested Portocarrero last month in the violent port city of Buenaventura, where he allegedly led a double life as a shrimp fisherman. (continued)

Thank Michael Jonathan· 12/14/08

Laibach, Life is Life from Opus Dei — a higher quality DVD rip.

Pantheon of Broken Men and Women poster. A tribute to those individuals who have been shattered by a certain suspension of disbelief. As Pantheons are more often than not dedicated to the victors (whether during their lifetime or via history), this is an inverted Pantheon, dedicated to the defeated. Produced in collaboration with Fillip, Slavs and Tatars, and Stand Up Comedy.

George Best Interview, Part 1 of 4.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Peter Piller, Deko+Munition

Textfield is pleased to announce the arrival of 5 new titles from Nieves; Klaus Born, Valentin Hauri and Oliver Krähenbühl, Because her Beauty is Raw and Wild; Taro Hirano, Foreclosure; Yuka Katagri, Domicile Conjugal; Taylor McKimens, This Kind of Livin’ and Peter Piller, Deko+Munition.

Textfield· 12/02/08

Capricious is very proud to present the first in a new line of limited edition artist books. The Known World is a vivid, full color book documenting the span of a romantic relationship between photographers Anne Hall and Sophie Mörner.

“For three months or so, Anne and I escaped the city, as much as we possibly could, and found the forest wrapping around us”, says Mörner. The women traveled from New Hampshire to the Catskills, to the woods of northern Florida, and back again.

The images and texts included in The Known World are candid relics, remembrances and reimagined fantasies of the magic that occurred during the months Hall and Mörner spent together. With a host of lush, large format photos of flora and fauna, and arrestingly handsome portraits of the two women, the book illustrates a tale of escape from the clamor of daily life into the wilderness. It is a visual history of freed hearts, as seen through the lens of hindsight, a nostalgic glimpse back in time to a place without hurt, regret or misunderstanding.

Though it was not conceived as a challenging or political piece, The Known World is a “potentially seminal work” in the realm of contemporary lesbian and feminist art and documentation, according to Jessica Gysel. In its sunny, tender beauty, this book provides a fresh perspective. Unlike necessarily aggressive, activist artworks of the past, the success of The Known World lies in its freedom to simply and authentically depict rather than protest.

by Glen Helfand

Like a character wrested from a lost cache of Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled Film Stills” dressed in something from Madonna’s recent roller-disco fashion spree, the subject of Zoe Crosher’s “The Reconsidered Archive of Michelle DuBois” is a tart cocktail who’s equal measure campy, pathological, and photographically astute. Crosher, who has often worked with images of constructed female identity, here finds inspiration in a found archive of photographs of a free-spirited sexual adventurer whose stylized personae peaked with 1970s bubble baths and gleaming early-’80s ABBA hairstyles. The so-called Michelle DuBois, who borrows theatrical elements of Tennessee Williams’s Blanche DuBois and Scarface-era Michelle Pfeiffer, is just one of the pseudonyms the busty lady inhabited (others are noted in a work composed of a series of signatures, forged by Crosher), and it’s one that conveys a lurid strength. The factual details here are mostly eschewed—an exhibition statement reveals that there were sexual exploits and various alter egos that blazed a self-possessed carnal trail through Pacific Rim ports—so viewers have the pleasure of imagining the soap-opera narrative that might emerge from this well-edited series of self-portraits taken by others. (A few Polaroids, with Warholian overtones, feature the subject sitting with men whose faces are blacked out with Sharpies, reducing male power positions to shadows.) Crosher acknowledges her antecedent in a group of appropriated snapshots titled The Cindy-Shermanesque, but She’s the Real Thing, 2005, and in a way, the sentiment almost encapsulates the project. Yet the subtext of truth, the notion that this is a real woman engaging in intentional masquerades, adds highly charged layers of psychological complexity. Some of the images, like a passport photo of “Michelle” in an unconvincing disguise of frumpy brunette wig and chunky glasses, seem to depict cheap Halloween costumes—but appear so knowingly theatrical that it’s hard not to view “DuBois” as her own artist, one well schooled in the ever-evolving dialogues of identity.

Artforum

chuck norris creationism