Happy Summer Solstice 2025!

Happy Summer Solstice 2025!

The longest day of the year. Enjoy.

After today, the days grow shorter as we begin our descent into autumn...

JUNETEENTH 2025

https://www.juneteenth.com/

BEAUTY: Art and Book--Christopher Fry

After posting artist Christopher Fry's beautiful hares some time ago, he contacted me to let me know that he has published a book featuring his gorgeous artwork. Fry's site says of the plot:

"HARE is a fable, with disarming allusions. Each page is illustrated, layering a deeper genre which can be interpreted on different levels - immersing readers of all ages. Beset with existential woes, Hare visits his doctor - setting in motion a series of unforeseen events; all prompting mythical and mundane revelation. Hare is fain to seek the elusive Green Man. With his fate-found friend; Hope, a girl-minx, they are involved in an extraordinary incident caused by a soldier fleeing from an invading army - commanded by the narcissistic Generalski. Together, the two companions endeavour to thwart the occupation of their homeland; along the way encountering characters both dangerous and delightful."

I particularly love his hares in moonlight...

Visit his site to purchase his book!
https://christopherfryauthor.com/

"I'm Not Done" by Fever Ray

Ah, Fever Ray--the nom de musique of Karin Dreijer--just released a fantastic re-worked version of the song "I'm Not Done" from her first album. And the video brings together some of the wild and unsettling characters she has portrayed in the last many videos from subsequent Fever Ray releases.

https://feverray.com/

It's That Time Again...June 2025

Regular readers know that twice a year, I blog about all the fascinating, beautiful, mesmerizing, strange, puzzling, outrageous, outstanding, unusual, artistic, inspiring sartorial creations coming out of the exquisite imaginations of designers, and down the runway. Regular readers may have also gleaned that I follow fashion the way some people delve into the art world. I think of "fashion" as "costume" or "performance"--as a way to convey an idea or a concept. I appreciate what some designers do the same way one appreciates what an avant garde sculptor or painter or performance artist does. And in a way, these designers are performance artists. For me, it is not about what is hanging on racks in stores, but what these artists are creating and the ideas and concepts they are working with as an influence on their marvelous creativity. It is moving sculpture. It is theater. Fashion and clothing at this level serve as a kind of visual shorthand. A piece of clothing in the hands of a designer can evoke a place, a region, a country, a specific time or an entire era, a work of art such as a novel or film or painting, a class of people, even a social, financial, or spiritual element... and the combination of such pieces of clothing, as well as their harmony or contrast, can tell a fascinating story. And there are a lot of stories to tell at this particular point in history, a lot to reflect, a lot to call out. Some might say that at such points in history, things like mere "clothing" or "fashion" seem trivial, but I say it is precisely at such points that the arts and expression--and protest--are needed the most.

Here is the season schedule...

JUNE 2025 FASHION SCHEDULE -- FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2026

Pitti Uomo
June 17 - 20, 2025
https://uomo.pittimmagine.com/en

Milano Moda Uomo
June 20 - 24, 2025
https://milanofashionweek.cameramoda.it/it

Paris Fashion Week Homme
June 24 - 29, 2025
https://www.fhcm.paris/en

And London isn't until September!

London Fashion Week 

September 18 - 20, 2025

https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/

I Miss My Dad

Take one if you miss your dad too.

Democracy at a Crossroads

I am proud of my governor for his fearless speech and actions. And he is right, the theatrical overreaction from the Empire of Darkness was for show, to intimidate, sow fear, and escalate the tension; the situation in L.A. was not dangerous. 98% of protests were peaceful. The L.A. Times published an article, here, refuting the idea that the city was on the verge of collapse and calling out the grotesque distortion of reality.

"California may be first but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next, democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we feared has arrived."

https://campaignfordemocracy.com/
https://www.gov.ca.gov/

"Nite Flights"

Ok...this is crushing me...

From the original by Scott Walker (previously here) and The Walker Brothers...

There's no hold
The moving has come through
The danger brushing you
Turns its face into the heat and runs the tunnels
It's so cold
The dark dug up by dogs
The stiches torn and broke
The raw meat fist you choke
Has hit the bloodlite

Glass traps open and close on
Nite flights
Broken necks feather weights press the walls
Be my love, we will be gods on nite flights
With only one promise, only one way to fall

Glass traps open and close on
Nite flights
Broken necks feather weights press the walls
Be my love, we will be gods on nite flights
With only one promise, only one way to fall

On nite flights
Only one way to fall

https://www.davidbowie.com/
https://4ad.com/artists/scottwalker

R.I.P. David and Scott.

R.I.P. Sly Stone

R.I.P. Sly Stone (previously here). You were a true pioneer. Thanks for the music and cultural evolution.

Just sayin'...

"Big Empty Country" by Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe

It is a match made in heaven: a collaboration between ambient pioneer Brian Eno and conceptual artist/musician Beatie Wolfe has produced a pair of albums, "Luminal" featuring Wolfe on vocals, and "Lateral" featuring eight glorious tracks of classic ambient sonics which both describe as "ambient-landscape-dream-music" and "like the familiar, but better." These tracks are a tonic for these ailing days...here are four of them...

https://www.brian-eno.net/
https://beatiewolfe.com/

BEAUTY: Painting--David Palmer

These floral still lives by artist David Palmer walk a great line between Impressionism and Pop Art...the colors are wonderful! And I love the rough color fields behind the blossoms.

Visit his site to buy originals or prints!
https://davidpalmerstudio.com/index.html

"Catching Feelings" by Christine and the Queens and Cerrone

Rahim Redcar has revived the band name Christine and the Queens for this infectious, dance-y collaboration with Cerrone, the legendary disco musician, composer, and producer. "Catching Feelings" sounds like something I might have heard on the radio growing up...

https://www.christineandthequeens.com/
https://rahimredcar.com/
http://www.cerrone.net/

Pride Month: You Are Not Alone

*LGBT National Hotline: Call 888-843-4564 for confidential support and resources. This hotline is available Monday–Friday from 4 PM–12 AM ET and Saturday from 12 PM–5 PM ET.

*Youth LGBT Hotline: Call 800-246-7743 for confidential support and resources for youth 25 and under.

*Senior LGBT Hotline: Call 888-234-7243 for confidential support and resources for those 50 and above.

*Coming Out Support Hotline: Call 888-688-5428 (888-OUT-LGBT) for a safe space to discuss coming out.

*Trans Lifeline: Call 1-877-565-8860 for peer support from trans people. This hotline is available 24/7 in the United States.

*Trevor Project: Call 1-866-488-7386, text START to 678-678, or chat online.

*SAGE LGBT Elder Hotline: Call 1-877-360-LGBT (5428) to connect with friendly responders.

*National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call or text 988 for crisis or suicide support. This service is available 24/7 anywhere in the United States.

*THRIVE Lifeline: Text "oSTEM" to +1 (313) 662-8209 for text-based crisis support.

Happy Pride Month 2025!

June is LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer/Questioning) Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969 (look for my annual blog posting about this important date on the 28th).

Why Pride?

Despite the fact that Pete Buttigieg, an out and proud and well adjusted and brilliantly smart gay man ran a highly successful campaign for President of the United States (remember how everyone said that we no longer have any racism in the United States because a black man was President?), we still have a tremendous problem with homophobia here (especially with the new administration of darkness attacking LGBTQ rights) and around the world. Pride Month is a positive stance against the daily shame, social stigma, discrimination, and violence that the LGBT community still faces here in the United States. In fact, a recent report from the policy research Williams Institute at UCLA showed that LGBT+ people in the United States are NINE TIMES MORE LIKELY THAN NON-LGBT+ PEOPLE TO BE THE VICTIMS OF VIOLENT HATE CRIMES. Gay children are routinely kicked out of their homes and disowned by their families, gay kids and teens and young adults are routinely bullied or attacked or beaten and many end up committing suicide because they are told they are sick or going to hell, and many gay men and women are attacked and beaten and murdered--sometimes in their own homes, while political attacks against the LGBTQ community have increased with destructive, radical conservatives insisting that anyone who stands for LGBTQ rights is somehow "grooming children" for sexual exploitation. In fact there were over 800 anti-LBGTQ bills introduced last year alone. Yet that pales in comparison to some other unfortunately backward places around the world where gay men and women are routinely tortured and slaughtered--sometimes by government-sanctioned assassins, governments who insist that there is no such thing as homosexuality and that such ideas are evil imports from the Western world (Ghana imposes actual JAIL SENTENCES for anyone just identifying as LGBTQ).

The LGBTQ Pride celebration is about the right of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals to exist without being prosecuted, persecuted, tortured, or murdered, not about "not being straight."

The rainbow flag is a universal symbol of hope for LGBTQ people around the world. It first flew in San Francisco's United Nations Plaza for Gay Pride Day, on June 25, 1978. It originally had eight colors--two more than today's version--and was designed by Gilbert Baker, an openly gay artist and activist who sewed the whopping 30' x 60' flag by hand. He had been commissioned to design a symbol for the LGBTQ community by his friend Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California.

Gilbert Baker, heading the Stockholm Pride Parade in 2003.
(Credit Fredrik Persson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

Baker died in 2017, aged 65. In a 2015 interview with CNN, here, he revealed the rationale behind the design of the flag. "We needed something to express our joy, our beauty, our power. And the rainbow did that," he said. "We're an ancient, wonderful tribe of people. We picked something from nature. We picked something beautiful."

https://gilbertbaker.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag_(LGBT)