The DAMMIT! Diatribe

2011: THE GOOD, THE BAD and the F'n RIDICULOUS (Part 2)

2012-01-11T04:13:00.000-08:00

I start part two of this ever culturally relevant, yet handsome year in review, with a touch of nostalgia, and more than just a touch of, "where have all the good times gone", sadness in my heart. When I was but a teen, I was already in love with making lists (and with making love...but that would be a lie, as I was probably still a virgin....I digress). I Couldn't wait for December to come around; not for the humungo-snow falls that would close down our school, or even Christmas, that would bring us globs of new albums, like the Ted Nugent's, Double Live Gonzo, or, Steve Miller's, Book Of Dreams, but that it would be soon time to make my top 10 lists. Top 10 albums of the year, songs of the year, movies of the year, books of the year, etc. And I certainly wasn't the only one...no, my brother John, my friend Steve, the whole gang who hung out, and bought the mighty brit metal mag, KERRANG!, and our imported, not released in North America metal albums from the Record Peddler on Queen Street East.

The year end would find us all a-tither, writing, crossing out, re-writing our "best of" lists, wondering how the hell we were gonna whittle it down to only 10 albums. Why did we do this? Well, because we could then share and compare our picks and excellent taste with each other. To show our fellow list enthusiasts just how culturally aware we were of what was going on in the only things that really mattered in our lives. I remember that flight from Toronto to New York City (actually Newark) in the 80's, and we made our top 10 album list at 35,000 feet. Steve and I exchanged lists just as we were headed for our landing. WOW!!!! Holy Shit!!! We both had picked Queensrych's metal opus/concept album, Operation: Mindcrime, as our No. 1 Lp of the year!!!! No way we could argue that one! Yes...that all important argument on why our lists blew away their lists, WAS also one of the main reasons...the discourse...the damn discourse!

Fast forward over 25 years...and I am embarrassed, and sad to admit I have no idea what is "really cool", music wise, out there. I think I bought a whole 2 Cd's this year, Titus Andronicus', The Monitor, and Amy Winehouse's posthumous collection, Lioness (which come to think of it, I didn't even buy, but got as a Christmas gift). Why did I stop listening, or even more importantly caring, for the latest in the cutting edge, alternative (got over metal decades ago when I realized just how bad the lyrics really were) sounds and bands? I still listen to a lot of music, from The Jesus and Mary Chain, to The Replacements, Tom Waits and Nick Cave to Billie Holiday and Hank Williams. I think I have a better, much more eclectic taste in music, than I've ever had in my life...but It bothers me so much that I have no idea what The Black Keys, or The Weekend, sound like...know what I mean? What happened (a lot of blame goes to that "snobbier than thou/ we broke that band first, but now we hate them 'cus more than 4 people bought their sophomore disc" new music web site, Pitchfork)???? I can make a great, even snob-esque, list of my top 50 cinematic moments of the year, but music? Huh???? I could blame it on the lack of time I have in a day nowadays, but I'd only be telling a half-truth, I think. A sad, regretful state of affairs my fine friends.

I am gonna give you a "Top whatever" lists of lists....but...ya know that guy Steve that I kept mentioning, We have always remained great friends, stayed in touch (seeing each other for an hour or two every 18 months, when he drives into town from his home in beautiful, downtown London...Ontario, to catch a concert, by an amazing new band that I have never even heard of) , he still knows what is cooler than cool in today's music scene, and still makes those year end lists. In fact I noticed he posted his Top 10 albums of 2011 a couple of weeks ago on Facebook...I kid you not...I only recognized one band name...pathetic. Sooooo...I bring you a special guest columnist's list of the Top 10 Albums of 2011 (now, I just have to go fucking find it somewhere on his FB page. Lovely.)

(Jeez I so fucking hate that new facebook TimeLine page..have people never heard of design and composition...it's just all over the place...What am I suppose to look at first???!!!)..Anyway....Ohhhhh... Stevie's given us a whole Top 20 list...stick that knife in a little further will ya Tide?!!!

Stephen Cribar's Top 20 Records of 2011

1. Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
2. Glasvegas – Euphoric Heartbreak
3. Kvelertak – Kvelertak
4. Okkervil River – I Am Very Far
5. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
6. Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania
7. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
8. Jonny Corndawg – Down On The Bikini Line
9. Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
10. Bomb The Music Industry! – Vacation
11. Dirty Beaches – Badlands
12. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
13. Wilco – The Whole Love
14. Deer Tick – Divine Providence
15. Jack Oblivian – Rat City
16. Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
17. Xray Eyeballs – Not Nothing
18. The Horrible Crowes – Elsie
19. Iceage – New Brigade
20. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Hal

* (Ok...I've heard of 7 of these artists...but have not listened to even one of the aforementioned albums...and I consider Glasvegas one of my favorite bands!)

Thank you so much Steve for sharing...A big round of applause for my friend/cutting edge music aficionado, and list maker, Stephen " You've Never Seen DEVOTCHKA LIVE?!" Cribar!!!!

SHIT!!!! once again this post is longer than I'd like it to be...so no room for my year end lists 'til part 3. Hey...your loss...now you have to wait to see who won, "Best Boobs of the Year"!

Joey DAMMIT!

2011: THE GOOD, THE BAD and the F'n RIDICULOUS (Part 1)

2011-12-31T11:42:00.000-08:00

Here we is...Here we is. Welcome 2012!!!! Last night, I personally took the year 2011 down to my hidden, sound proof basement, and did everyone I know a favour. I tortured, killed, and then with trusty chainsaw in hand, chopped up that fucking year, a la Dexter. You're more than welcome. Alas, that does bring us to the subject of this entry, yup...yet another year end review/ lists/awards thingy-thing-thing. It's been such a fucked up year for a good majority of the citizens of this deteriorating blue planet, that I'll never be able to do it justice. Still...the fans demand it (you must have seen all the angry crowds on the news), so who am I to deny them?

Like I said, there will be lists, awards, op-ed rants of all the important news headlines of last year...and if there's time, I may even do a lil' song and dance routine for y'all. Let's just start with a biggy, get this baby right out of the way.

And now this year's DAMMY Award for "The Most Fucking Ridiculous Food, Plant, Place, Person or Thing", goes too (drum roll please)...Toronto Mayor Rob Ford!!!!!! I know...I know...if you live outside of Canada, you're now going, "Huh? Whooooo?", and for that I apologize, but for my fellow Torontonians, they totally understand how and why he easily walked away with this prestigious honor. Take a bow big fella. Look I can be here forever, describing him, and all his boneheaded moves, but to help you Americans out a bit (see most recent photo of famed Toronto Mayor above)...take one of your far right wingnut candidates vying for Presidency, give them a partial frontal lobotomy, add a good deal of weight, remove their neck, tighten their tie...and you have our award winning right honorable mayor. Like your Republicans, and fellow Tea Partiers, he has finally proven the out-there theory, that dumb, ignorant and stupid, is, in fact, the "New Genius"! You get the picture, right?

Moving right along....let's do a little of the ol' "Love/Hate" list-a-majig that you all love so well....

LOVE...the way that social media like Facebook and Twitter have played such a gigantic role in helping those protesters, especially in the heavily censored middle east, win their revolutions over power-hungry, greedy, blood -thirsty tyrants, dictators and regimes.

HATE...the way that social media has become so powerful, so adored, slobbered and made love to by the masses, that it has practically killed real human contact, and destroyed one of mankind's greatest inventions, the art of the stimulating conversation (you know who you are...shame on you!).

LOVE...watching the news. I am a certifiably, grade A, government inspected news and information junkie. That's why I'll always beat your ass, but bad, in Trivial Pursuit, NTN, or a good ol' fashion bar argument that the winner has a pint comin' to them.

HATE...watching any news program that treats Battle of the fucking Blades, or The Bachelor, or American Idol as a news story. NO! THIS IS NOT A NEWS ITEM...IT'S A FUCKING COMMERCIAL FOR A PROGRAM THAT WILL BE ON THE AIR LATER, ON YOUR SHITTY, GODFORSAKEN CHANNEL!!!! I'm basically down to PBS and BBC news. I mean, they're the only one's left that realize that a protest in Libya is more important than who's gonna be the next loser off the fucking island!

Let's go back to the DAMMY's, shall we...........

BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR: (envelope please) Oh!!!! For the first time in our long (????) history it's a tie! The winners are... THE TREE OF LIFE and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO!!!! Yes, two very different films, made by two of the best directors of our time, Terrance Malick and David Fincher, respectively. Both are masters of great visuals and atmosphere. Both films also have something else in common...both are either loved very, very much...or detested very, very much!!!! There is no middle ground in this one. Now, if you're one of the aforementioned haters of these 2 films, and wonder why I would put them right at the top of the list, there's an easy answer. I have great taste in film...and you have shitty taste, and wouldn't know a good movie if it hit you with a 2 by 4!!!! Now scat...don't even argue with me...just go watch your Transformers 4 , or any movie that Kate Hudson stars in (not including Almost Famous, of course). God, I love being condescending and holier than thou when it comes to movies!

Now to be fair, there are so many movies that I have yet to see that have gotten great reviews,
eg; The Artist, Hugo, Carnage, Shame, Drive, and at least another dozen...but those two were easy winners out of what I've seen this year. Actually, I wholeheartedly agree with what I've read from more than one film critic, this has been a year full of great performances...but not Great films.

WORST MOVIE of the YEAR: TRESPASS, starring Nick Cage, and Nicole Kidman. WHAT?????!...Look with Cage you gotta go in knowing that there's a 96.3 % chance that it's gonna stink to high heaven, but NICOLE????!!!! Huh??!!! Did you really need the money THAT badly????!!!

BEST TV SHOW of the YEAR: BREAKING BAD ('nuff said, but it would be nice if Mad Men got over it, and came back on the air!)

WORST TV SHOW of the YEAR: Look buddy, you don't have the time, nor I, the space, to list them all...there's a good chance that if it's on network television, it's on the list. Excluded, is NBC's Prime Suspect. No, not even close to the BBC's version, which starred the incredibly gifted Helen Mirren, but for an American network show...not bad at all.

BEST BURGER I'VE HAD ALL YEAR: The house special burger (rare) at Allen's on the Danforth, in Toronto. It's probably the only burger I had all year (What? I told ya I was eating better this/last year), but it was such an orgasmatronic-heavenly dining experience that it still brings saliva to my mouth just at the thought of it. In fact I'm drooling as I type (you really didn't want to picture that, did ya?).

BEST MARTINI of the YEAR: INSOMNIA (563 Bloor St. W. at Bathurst, in Toronto)

BEST BARTENDER of the YEAR Who Understands What Ya Mean, When You Say "Dirty, With Extra Olives", and Still Refuses to Flirt Back at You, Though She Has Her Reasons: DAMARA HUYNH (Insomnia)
...and No,neither Damara, nor Insomnia have paid me in any way for this publicity...thoughhhhhhhhhhh it wouldn't hurt them either, if they started sending over a few martinis or tequila shots, gratis, as I sit there at the end of the bar, sketching, writing, or hopelessly hitting on someone.

Now, Ive been hearing through the grapevine (by the name of Elaine) that my blogs are too long...soooooooo....we'll end part 1, here...and I'll post part 2, tomorrow, or next week, or..............

I leave you with my only mantra/resolution for 2012:

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."
-T.S. Elliot

Joey DAMMIT!

THE STRANGE CASE OF JOEY DAMMIT!: The ARTizone Interview

2011-07-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a nifty idea...though it can also be seen as laziness on my part (you decide). You know those books that are published posthumously (after the author has passed away Einstein!)? Take the late, great David Foster Wallace (he of Infinite Jest fame), who just had a fine, brand new novel, The Pale King, published, though he committed suicide in 2008. Or, how's about the long dead author of the "Millennium" series, (a.k.a., that cute, tattooed punk/goth babe), Stieg Larsson, who may or may not have a new novel out...eventually. The publishers of said series, are in talks and in court, trying to get their hands on a supposed three quarters of a fourth novel in the series, on a laptop now in the possession of his partner, Eva. She has stated that finishing the book is a task she is capable of doing. Can you say, Ka-ching...Ka-ching...Ka-ching???!!!

"So? What Joey? Planning to write a book? To die soon?" Not exactly...though as Gilbert Grape was fond of saying, "I can go at any time." I was interviewed in May for a new arts and culture magazine called, ARTizone. I believe they were aiming for a Canadian version of JUXTAPOZ magazine (one of the best art mags out there), but alas, I just heard that the project has been "shelved for the time being". Thus, my interview has been banished to a Hell where unwanted magazine stories and interviews go to be tortured for all eternity.

So...I didn't die, but looks like the magazine did. But wait...I do have the "famous ARTizone interview manuscript" (what? Okay...not exactly famous...Yet!), that was never published, hidden away in my hard drive..."GASP!", you say (or maybe not)! See...note how I was trying to tie it all into the "published posthumously" thing, and with a twist to boot. Daddy knows you like those twists at the end.

The Strange Case of Joey DAMMIT!: The ARTizone Interview

I met the infamous Canadian Pop artist Joey DAMMIT! in his favourite neighborhood drinking establishment in downtown Toronto. Surprisingly, for an artist, he was not only on time, but was already there when I arrived, sitting at the bar, talking up an attractive bartender, and nursing what he insisted really was his first martini. Aside from the bartender, and a couple having lunch in the far corner table, the place was deserted. Perfect for a one on one interview. DAMMIT!, I have to admit, has been one of my favourite contemporary artists in the country for some time now, though we had never met before. He seemed to be in a particularly talkative mood (not out of the ordinary, or so I've been told), the Motown tunes were sounding great, and he had already ordered me my very own martini, so I was more than raring to go.

Where were you born?

I was born in Madeira, Portugal. I Immigrated here to Toronto with my family when I was but a wee tike of almost four.

Is Joey DAMMIT! a sort of stage name? Or is this your real name?

Oh yeah... completely my real name. NO! Of course it’s not my real name. I consider it more of an alter-ego, more like a Superman/Clark Kent thing. Being a marketing/self-promo whore, I realized that DAMMIT! ("last name ALWAYS in CAPS with an EXCLAMATION MARK!"...as he forever reminded me) would always stand out in print, and let me tell you…people remember the name better than …I dunno, Kowalski.

Did you grow up knowing that art was something you wanted to pursue?

Kinda...I knew from the age of 5 or 6 that I wanted, more like, HAD to be famous…rock star…writer…actor...artist. In fact why not all of them at the same time? I recall, watching, at a very young age, what must have been a mini-series of some kind on Leonardo DaVinci on TV. From that point on I knew that I wanted to do everything creative, be a Renaissance man like good ol' Leo. The funny thing is, and it's really quite ironic considering everything, and everybody thinks I'm just pulling their leg whenever I say this, but I was an altar boy who really did have every intention of becoming a priest.

So, what happened to your calling?

Puberty. At first anyway. I mean, what?! No women?! No sex?! Ahhhh, yeah... Adios Mon Signor! Soon after, it didn't take long to see just how much of a fairy tale, how hypocritical, how dumb this supernatural crap that we call religion really is. Look, don't get me started.

OK, next question then. What artists inspired you? Which artists excited you most?

I was certainly inspired by comic book artists first. “Fine artists”...and I so hate that term...only started influencing me in the last decade or so. Dave McKean's Sandman covers, Nick Bantock's Griffen & Sabine trilogy , film makers like David Fincher and David Lynch. I mean the opening credits of Fincher's film, "Seven", is so much more thrillingly creative to me than anything I've seen at the MOMA. Any time I'm in a creative funk, I put on that DVD, and watch the opening credits over and over again. Also, music, especially the work of Trent Reznor, with or without Nine Inch Nails, influenced me tremendously. If you listen to what Reznor did with the soundtrack to the film, "Natural Born Killers"? It's the audio version of my art work. Exactly like it. It's musical collage...Manic Montage.

So no one artist’s work struck and had the most impact on you?

No...not just one. I mean an artist should be influenced by many artists, you know, variety, spice o' life and all that. They should be influenced by all that surrounds them. Most people spend their lives sleep walking 95% of the time. Wake up...look, listen, touch. Who are my favourite artists? Ralph Steadman, Dave McKean, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean- Michel Basquiat, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and Caravaggio…but again, the art of cinema really influenced my vision and my art more.

How would you describe your images?

"Dark -Tongue in Cheek- Chaos Collage-Pop Art!" I mean, I hate labels in general, but if I have to, that'll do just fine.

What techniques are you using in your art pieces? I notice some great textures and collages.

It seems that with every show I do, I throw in a new technique or two. Too many artists find a certain style that they get known for, get comfortable with, and then never, ever move forward again. That's just plain playing it safe, and playing it safe should never go hand in hand with any art form. Me, I want to keep growing, or I would die of boredom. I love texture, layers and layers of collage. My work is really getting much more ambitious, for a lack of a better word. 3-D galore on the new stuff I’m working on, and I don’t mean like Avatar. I get bored very easily, I guess that's where the Renaissance man thing comes in. With mixed media, anything goes, thus, boredom never enters the picture. I use my own paintings or drawings, manipulated photocopies, collage, thickly layered posters that I carve off of street posts and construction sights. Textiles, t-shirts, and I'm really getting into adding found objects...oh, and I have always loved Catholic icons. Acrylics, oils, water colours, pastels - even my good old Crayolas are broken out occasionally. Fun? Wow!

What is your mission or goal when it comes to your work? What impact do you want it to have on people?

Most importantly, I want to entertain the viewer. I’ve always maintained that I’m as much an entertainer as I am an artist. I know...I know...that'll get the art snob's/purist's knickers all in a bind, but looking at one of my paintings should be like watching a film in a theatre. There is so much to look at, that even if you stare at it for hours, you’ll always find something new, something you never noticed before. My mission? Hmmmm...I want to be rich and famous while I'm still alive. I think I hear the purists whining again. To have enough in my bank account, that on a whim I can take a bunch of my friends off to Paris for dinner and drinks. Now, if anyone is thinking that I'm not "serious" about my art, well, they'd better think again. I'm as serious about it as you are, oh you long suffering, tragic, starving artist. The great writer Harlan Ellison said it best; "The meaning of life is doing something that you love so much, that you would do it for free, yet get paid handsomely to do it." Ditto. Look, I'm far from rich...far, but I've hit a point in my career that I can make a living doing just my art work. No full or part time job. I can pay the rent, the bills, put food in my fridge, and still have a little left to pay my bar tab. Don't listen to them kids! There is nothing romantic about being a starving artist! Unless you're still living in the '20's in Paris, that is.

Do you have a studio that you work in? Whereabouts?

I truly am the luckiest man alive. I live in a very large high rise, in my favourite neighborhood in Toronto, The Annex. Well, one day the superintendent, knowing I was looking for a larger space, took me down to the catacombs of the building. He showed me this area that used to be the gym, swimming pool, party room, even very old saunas in the mens and ladies rooms. Right out of a David Lynch dream sequence. It had caved in ceilings, rubble everywhere, like Berlin right after World War II. He said, if you wanna clean it up a bit, it's yours. Really? A free, humongous studio?! Like I said, luckiest man alive. I call it, El Corazon Negro de Diablo Studio, and that would make total sense if you knew the full address. And no, I'm not gonna let you print it.

I know you have had a long history with depression, and you don't seem to be at all afraid to shout about it. Trying to destroy that stigma, are you?

Yup! That stigma doesn't stand a chance. The sooner people stop being so afraid to voice this thing, the sooner we can nip the fucker in the bud. I notice it's getting easier now that a lot of celebrities are coming out of their mental health closet. That's why I love being connected with the Mood Disorders of Ontario, and Workman Arts. I'm over three years depression free, and honestly, never felt better in my life.

Speaking of which, you're involved with that annual Touched By Fire show at the Royal Ontario Museum, correct?

I've been on the Touched By Fire planning commitee right from it's debut show at the Gladstone Hotel in 2007. I am amazed, and yes, very proud, that within it's four year history it's moved on up to the prestige of the ROM. Honestly, I don't think any of us on the committee saw it coming. Not at this speed anyway. I think the secret to it's success is two pronged. The amazing people on the committee, it's really become a very tight family. Incredible how much sweat and passion they put into this event every year.Then there's the artists, who suffer from all sorts of mood disorders, and hundreds of them submit pieces for this juried show. You can't imagine how hard it is for some of these people to just try to get out of bed some days, believe me, I know. Yet, they find the strength somewhere, to create, photograph, and submit this amazing work.

It's become a passion for me, in fact I give the show, the people that all help make it such a success, full credit for the sudden disappearance of my depression. I believe this "something" finally gave me a purpose. Giving artists with mood disorders a chance to show in a gallery setting, in an iconic venue, where 700 people can see, and buy your art, is one of the greatest feelings a person can come away with.

And Workman Arts?

Same thing can be said about Workman Arts, and the fine folk over there. Incredible people who really, really care about people who suffer with mental health and addiction. I'm on their Visual Arts advisory board, and I get to not only show in their own annual art event, "Being Scene", which is actually a traveling art exhibition that usually can go for the full year, but I also get a chance to do some public speaking. Called, "REVELATIONS:Living Experiences with Mental Illness/Addiction and Creative Genius", It gives me, and a handful of other Workman Arts artists a chance to travel from one audience to another talking about our personal stories, our creativity, and successes. They're even giving me the chance to be an instructor of my own course called, "The Manic Montage & Chaos Collage". It'll be a 6 week course where I not only teach other artists the process of what I do, where they get to create their own collage works, but also a history lesson on the imprint of collage in art history. They have no idea what they're getting themselves into!

Wow! Busy Boy.

Yeah. Maybe too busy. I have a terrible habit of always saying yes to every project offered me. That habit has cost me of late. I haven't had a solo show of new works since April of 2010. I mean that's how I make most of my living, so my new year's resolution was, is to say "NO" much more often. You know who you are, and you have been warned.

So, can I ask if you have a new show coming up?

The answer is yes. Actually I'm about to get started on the very first piece for this show called, "ALL ABOUT EVE". It's not a pure solo show, it's a two person show with a friend, and terrific artist, Lorette C. Luzajic. She also works in collage, but our style's are very different. That should make for an interesting, and great looking show. I should have started on the new pieces a while ago, but I had to finish a few commissions first. One for a very well known celebrity...but don't ask, I can't tell you...yet. Believe it or not, I actually have been sworn to secrecy. I've been lucky enough to get quite a lot of commissions in my career, and you just don't turn them down. Not only do these personal pieces pay well, but it's always more of a challenge. You HAVE to please the client. I've also been very lucky that most of my client's let me run with their idea's. They seem to trust me with the finished piece. No complaints so far.

But the new show is certainly the top priority right now. I actually miss the whole process of putting on a new show. You know, coming up with ideas that go with the theme of the show, sketching, creating the pieces, the promo, the media...and the grand opening. And believe me, the openings are always Grand!

So I have to ask, what's the theme of this show?

Let's just say it has something to do with the female nude in art history, thus the title of the exhibit. The theme was actually Lorette's idea, knowing fully well I wouldn't say no to that particular theme of course. Smart dame.

When can we expect this grand opening?

Yikes. Did I mention how stupidly busy I've been? Lorette and I first envisioned it to open on my birthday, Halloween...but considering I'm just getting started on the first new piece, I'd say closer to Christmas, and hey, nothing says "the birth of the baby Jesus" quite as well as hot, naked women, no?

You'll get no argument from me . Let me end it with this question. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Exhibiting in interesting spaces around the world. Living in a nice apartment in Paris, with a fabulous studio loft in New York. Oh, and happily married to Winona Ryder, of course. My soul mate.

-Stephen Tyde

Joey DAMMIT! can be reached at www.joeydammit.com and dammit@rogers.com

THIS IS MY BRAIN ON PURGE

2011-03-31T05:59:00.001-07:00

"Hey Joey, you've been kinda quiet, dare I say lax, on the blog front. What up with that homey?"...Yeah, I know, it's been a subject that has been mentioned to me a surprisingly number of times in the last few months. I mean, who woulda thunk it...I have more than 3 readers of this thing? But to answer your question of why I've been so quiet on this front...I really have no idea, Bucky. Yeah, I've been busy as always with all things creative...just started a large 3 month (or more) long retrospective exhibition of my art from 2000 to 2010, called, POP, CULTURE, and FULL FRONTAL NUDITY at Black Line Studio (577 King St. West) in Toronto (kids listen to yo' uncle DAMMIT!, never skip an opportunity for shameless self-promotion...DAMMIT! rule #9 for World Domination!). I was asked if I'd like to do their window display...I said "sure", I mean, Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns all did window displays in New York before fame came a-knocking. I forgot that I was dealing with a very large 20 foot, by 10 foot window. I have never worked so hard...but damn I'm proud of it. It's up for six months, if ya have a chance, go down to the King West neighbourhood, have a gander at the window, and walk into any of the great, local restaurants, and pay 50 bucks for a salad and a beer (I'm just sayin'...)!!!!

I do think that is actually a very poor excuse for the lack of my special brand of post-modernist literature, that I spew here. My best guess...laziness. A sin I've never been accused of before...you know, maybe a case of the winter blahs. Not very motivated to tell ya the truth...in fact as I type this, I haven't the faintest on what this entry is gonna be about (some of you have already guessed that, haven't you? Smug bastards!). Sooooooooo....hows about we do one of those stream of consciousness kinda things...whatever comes to my mind...whatever is pissing me off...makin' me glad I'm alive...you get my drift, right? I'm tellin' ya, this could be blog gold...or a big piece of doggy poo. Shall we begin???

Like almost everyone I know, I am royally pissed off that we Canadians are off on yet another Federal election! What? Fourth one in seven years??!!! You gotta be kiddin' me! I mean you gotta be a complete moron (or NOW magazine, and it's loyal sheep/readers) to not know that it's gonna end up like the last two elections...A Tory minority. Look...Harper is a crook, corrupt to the core... you just have to look into his beady, spinning eyes to know he's a-keepin' a lot of secrets from the people...and what's with the Final Net hair, and ironing board stiffness? Still, the rest of the country is not downtown Toronto (don't gimme that...you secretly wish you lived here in the only great and important city in this whole country)...we'll never vote for the Conservatives, but the rest of the country love him, and will certainly vote for him. Look, truth be told, the ruling party usually has nothing to do with it when escaping a world wide crash in the economy. But Canadians don't know that. All they know is that we came out smelling like roses compared to so many other countries. Most still have money in their wallets, a job, and a solid roof over their head...or let's put it this way, "IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE ECONOMY STUPID!"

Is it just me, or can you never get enuff of that talking baby in those Etrade commercials? MORE TALKING BABY! MORE TALKING BABY!...Pissed off that I can't come up with a great scheme to get all my Facebook friends to hand over 5 bux (the win a date with Joey DAMMIT! silent auction didn't go over as well as I thought it would), so that I can spend this spring in Paris...Put my name on the video store's waiting list to rent season 4 of Mad Men, which came out yesterday. Me thinks that their list is a long one. Guess I'll have to continue fantasizing about that threesome with January Jones and Christina Hendricks...Happy that I live in the greatest country in the world, even if it is run by a very stiff, corrupt, evil Emperor...Why? All you gotta do is watch the news and see what's happening in every other country. Do you people know what the biggest story in all of Toronto media is? Oh...the Maple Leafs might still sneak into the Stanley Cup play offs!!! I kid ya not.

Very happy for my musical hero Trent Reznor, who wisely put his Nine Inch Nails into a retirement home, so that he could finally spread his musical wings, and not be held back by Industrial music, and lyrics about his impending suicide, or wanting to "fuck you like an animal". The man rightfully won a well deserved Oscar for his brilliant score for The Social Network. He looks pretty dapper in that tux too...and a hot wife to boot. Well done....Intensely happy that I have my choice of thousands of DVDs at my sticky fingertips. Yup, my Wall O' Movies comes in handy, especially since I don't have HBO (or the like), and I would be stuck watching nothing but Charlie Sheen, and his boring/predictable/fake/money making machine/suckin' you in- rants! Hey, get this...on my never ending, life long quest to be seen, and called, a Renaissance Man (blame the Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Scientist, Philosopher, Genius documentary I watched when I was 8 or 9), I am now gonna add art teacher to my ever bulging CV. Workman Arts have asked me to teach an 8 week, class/workshop to other Workman Arts arteests on how to create my style of artwork. The course, called, MANIC MONTAGE & CHAOS COLLAGE, runs thru May and June of this year. I actually get paid very well for it...class #1, how many shots of tequila should one down before starting on their canvas.

I poo-pooed it away at first when a friend mentioned this, but me thinks she has a valid point. The quite important observation is this; Have you noticed that both here, and in the States, the Conservatives have by far the hotter looking female politicians??!!! It's true... I mean, logically you'd think the more Liberal the sexier the clothing, etc....but Noooooooooooooo... Thank gOD, I still consider brains, an important, and very sexy quality in a woman! This last detail will no doubt bother Tea Party members, who have gone on record as saying that intellect is vastly overrated. Sorry Sarah.

Okay...to get all those year end, list makers off my back (not even one person actually...Ouch!), here are my Top Ten Films of 2010:

THE SOCIAL NETWORK
NEVER LET ME GO
127 HOURS
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
THE AMERICAN
BLACK SWAN
THE RUNAWAYS
HOWL
TRUE GRIT
THE KINGS SPEECH

All very good films...but all in all...Jeez...crappy year for movies! Had to scrape some to get even those ten...

You've probably read/heard all the rave reviews for BILLY ELLIOT, the musical that has just opened here in Toronto. Maybe it's that I hate musicals with an extreme passion (second only to the Religious Right...Cabaret the play and the film excluded), but why, is the simple thought of just sitting through 5 minutes of this theatrical tour de force, make me certain that I would prefer being repeatedly water boarded by Dick Cheney?...Hey, I love ya to pieces PBS, and I love your show, American Masters...BUT GLEN FUCKING GOULD WAS CANADIAN!!!!! GOT IT??!!!!

Sheeeeee-it! Think my mood disorder must be acting up...or something...CBC News Network keeps telling me every 5 minutes that the whole country has something called ROYAL WEDDING FEVER!!!! Really???? Hmmmmmm...Do you????? I don't even have ROYAL WEDDING SORE THROAT!...I had to stop buying Rolling Stone magazine...in the last few years, they have had many award winning articles...great writers and journalists...But what's with these fucking covers???? I am not gonna get on the subway, reading a magazine with Justin Beiber, or the cast of True Blood, or even more recently Snookie, or whatever the bimbo's name is from that Jersey Shore show. A show I proudly have never watched. " So, how can you judge a show that you've never seen Joey? Huh???"...well Bucky...I don't have to set myself on fire to know that I'm gonna get burned...and it's gonna hurt like Hell! I'm sorry, but the book, or magazine you're reading on public transit (I know..I know..."huh...read...when you have a cell phone???) says so much about you...as do shoes of course...The kind of shoes you wear in the outside world speaks volumes about you. If you know me, you know you won't see me in sneakers/running shoes, unless I'm going for a run, or heading to my studio to paint. I have to agree with novelist/journalist, and Canada's most stylish man, Russell Smith. In his men's style column in the Globe and Mail, he proclaimed, "running shoes should only be worn at the gym" (and working in your studio). AGREED!!!! So buddy...yeah, you in that really nice Kenneth Cole suit...take off your fucking Converse already!!!!!!

Now...I could go on, but how on Earth can you top a post that ends with..." So buddy...yeah, you in that really nice Kenneth Cole suit...take off your fucking Converse already!!!!!!"...You can't!

Joey DAMMIT!

Photo by Barry Shainbaum
www.barryshainbaum.com

NOT ANTI-AMERICAN...ANTI-IGNORANCE!

2010-11-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...ya missed me. It HAS been months since my last entry, and word has it on the mean streets of the blogosphere (god how I hate that term), that many of ya DAMMIT! DIATRIBE junkies have been jonesing but good. Much like Renton, Ewan McGregor's character in Trainspotting... suddenly going cold turkey. I can only say, I'm sorry, but daddy's been a very busy man. If you follow my fabulous, amazing, and quite flummoxed adventures on FakeBook, than you know that my proverbial plate has been runnething (how's that for a word?!) over for quite a while now...got committee meetings, deadlines, postcard designs,media interviews, artist talks, TV and radio appearances, planning after parties, putting up my hand and volunteering for just one more thing, etc., etc....just a lot has to be done if yours truly is gonna obliterate the stigma of mental illness. And, no, certainly not by myself, but with the help of all the good folk at The Mood Disorders Association of Ontario, and Workmen Arts -two not for profit organizations that really give a damn, and really do help those with various forms of "Brain Fuck" (my term. Words like depression don't begin to tell you the sheer horror and terror that one goes through)! I know I had a daily cage match with Brain Fuck for over 18 years!!!! The M.D.A.O. are the people who are bringing ya the amazing Touched By Fire art event at the Royal Ontario Museum on the 25th of November (and this year, we have the Flamin' After Party as well), and Workman Arts are the fine citizens who bring ya, not just the great traveling art show Being Scene, but the world renowned Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival (to name but 2 of their many projects).

So, now I sits in front of the fab DAMMIT! Mansion's new, cool, and very sleekesque new computer, stretch my fingers, and decide which of my many adventures I should write for ya...huh??? NOT! Gadzooks...my mind is shooting blanks. So it is true. Yours truly is indeed officially burnt out big time. So, how's this... lets do a stream of consciousness kinda thingy...just type whatever comes to my mind???? Don't take too much time to think...just type DAMMIT! type!!!!

OK...ahhhhhhhhhhh.....Alright, gonna start with a serious even controversial subject that has been gnawing away at me for awhile now. Barack Obama. You've all heard of him...President of that fine, though at times quite curious and frustrating country we call the United States of America? I was lucky enough to be in his home town (well... ya know what I mean), Chicago a few weeks ago taking care of some art and Touched By Fire business, while simultaneously being blown away by the quite mind blowing architecture and everything else this city has to offer. Now, a lot of you know that I'm a complete news junkie, so while on my hotel bed, after the hookers had left ...KIDDING....I watched as much of the thousands of 24 hour news channels that the TV could throw at me. This was when the mid-term elections were hitting fever pitch, and the election ads were dirtier than my own mind.

See, this is something I believed before Obama was elected. Believed it even more when he won the Presidency. I believe that there is a larger than you'd imagine group of citizens that just can't wait for this President to meet his very own personal Oswald. For the young, and the moronic, Lee Harvey Oswald was a chap down in Dallas who assassinated JFK (if you don't know who JFK is...it's too late for you...you're officially brain dead). I know, It's not something I'm looking forward to either, but you know it as sure as you know the sun will rise again in the morning. Look, I'm not even saying it's just in the U.S., I've spoken to a couple of people right here in T.O. (Toronto, for ya out of towners), who have spoken about this subject to me, with just a little too much glee in their voices..BUT...the United States, or a certain demographic, is still very much a bigoted and racist society. No, of course not as bad as say, when Dr. King marched into Selma...but still...all you have to do is listen to "the common man" (a term coined by the great writer Harlan Ellison) on the street being interviewed on Fox or CNN or NBC. Is it still worse in the Southern states? Was the Pope a fuckin' Nazi??!!!

If you're an American reading this, maybe even a friend, or ex-girlfriend(lots of those around)...You know how much I love your country( god knows where else I would get all my ideas for my art), and that I'm not talking about the vast majority...but, c'mon...you know I speak no lies here...be honest with yourself. But, Why? Why would certain ignorant factions want the leader of their country, a man they barely even know, killed???? Here's two reasons...Yes, the idea that a man of (half) negro persuasion, could be elected into the highest office not only in the country, but perhaps the planet, just bugs these fucks way too much. In the first couple of months of his Presidency, the F.B.I. reported that Obama had already had more death threats made upon him, in that short amount of time , than any other President serving two full terms.

But, it's not just the rebel flag waving red necks who have problems with the tint of the Commander and Chief's skin colour (that's Canadian for color) that are doing the threatening. I've also noted that a lot of Americans have trouble that he's smarter, more intelligent than they are. Instead of being proud that they have finally elected somebody who can recite the whole alphabet (ahem-W-ahem), and that the rest of the world respects...they are not only intimidated by his smarts, but actually hate him for being, dare I say it...an intellectual. They (re: the Tea Party for one) think that being as stupid as they and their kin are, would make for a better leader. They call this type of person elitists, and (gulp) Liberals. The good news for this special breed of hillbilly is that in 2 years, you can correct this mighty slight, and elect President Palin. No threat of education or intellectualism there! I'm afraid it's not if this sad event will happen, but when. You know I hate being wrong...but I would love to make an exception to that little rule this time around.

Again, I am not saying that's the majority of Americans, but to you out there reading this, you know who y'all are...asking who the fuck do I think I am, passing such judgement???? I'm just some foreigner with an opinion, someone who gives a shit. You can just call me the elitist Liberal from Kanada! Oh, I know elitist and Liberal is "fightin' words" to many people. Me? I consider that a compliment. What, don't tell me that you still subscribe to that ancient myth, that all men (and women) are created equal? Not true, and it has nothing to do with skin colour there, Billy-Joe!

I know...I know...what happened to that quick fire, stream of consciousness, multi-subject blog entry that I promised in the beginning. Sorry about that...it's that passion thing that always gets me in trouble. I apologize (again).

Now, before a good portion of my U.S friends (and enemies), start packing heat, and book a flight to this fair city (yes...Toronto is in the province of Alberta)...let me say this is NOT an anti-American rant...it's a anti-ignorance/idiot rant!!!! And, to not only save my skin, but to keep at least some of my my American "FakeBook friends", I now present a list of 35 things I love and admire about our trading partner to the south.....

1- Winona Ryder (future wife)
2- Chicago (I have to agree with Johnny Depp, my new favourite American city)
3- Vanity Fair magazine
4- PBS
5- Trent Reznor (He was Nine Inch Nails...an honest to goodness genius)
6- Marilyn Monroe
7- Marilyn Manson
8- The Kennedy Boys
9- New York City (too many reasons to list here...the women for starters)
10- The Charlie Rose Show ( Best education I've ever received...counting all schools)
11- Hot Dogs
12- Bob Dylan
13- Invented Rock n' Roll
14- The Empire State Building
15- The Chrysler Building
16- Pop Art
17- Mad Men
18- The Wire
19- David Foster Wallace
20- Jean- Michel Basquiat
21- Hollywood (Despite 90% crap...you guys still make the best films in the world)
22- Harlan Ellison
23- Bill Clinton ( Brought the Bad Boy back to the Presidency)
24- Cool Flag (yeah, ya guys have tainted it...but I'm a sucker for stars on anything)
25- Natalie Portman (Hot, smart, and a helluva actress...just like m' Nonie)
26- Norman Lear
27- M*A*S*H
28- New Yorker magazine
29- New York Dolls
30- Muhammad Ali
31- David Letterman
32- Victoria's Secret
33- Orson Welles
34- Tom Waits
35- Big Mac

...now, I could go on and on and on, but ya get my drift, right????
Now...I'll publish this...before I really get on a tirade about the Christian Right!!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

ART, BLACK DOGS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING DAMMIT!

2010-07-13T01:33:00.000-07:00

So, there I was, minding my own bee's wax n' all, when I was contacted by the editor of Lucid Media magazine, and was told that they were very interested in doing an article on me for their upcoming July issue. Four or five pages...full colour...big spread on my art! He mentioned that they were on a deadline, needed an interview and lots of pictures of my pieces, and basically how did I feel about doing it? Well, being that I'm a Grade A, government inspected media-whore, what else could I say? SURE!!!!

We made plans for the writer, Duane Rollins to come on over to my El Corazon Negro de Diablo Studio, and him and I would do our interviewer/interviewee thing. Meanwhile, the magazine, who were in the middle of re-vamping their look, changed their name to White Elephant, and then to UNHIP...cool with me. Everything went as planned, Duane came over, we had a very good talk...in fact, as you can imagine I did 95% of the talking...Duane would try to squeeze a question in when I took a sip of my martini.

So, July 1st comes and goes, and my spider senses start a-tinglin'... I've e-mailed said editor twice in as many days, and have not heard a peep. This from a guy, who in the past got back to me faster than I could click the send tab. Hmmmmm....I write Duane, and tell him I smell something most fishy in the state of Denmark, what-up man...have you heard about the new issue hitting the stands yet??? He answered that he'd look into it...and yup...as usual my instincts were bang on (this is how I always knew a week in advance when a girlfriend was about to dump me), in Duane's words..."I got the news today that the magazine has, indeed, gone boobs up. I'm going to see if I can find it a home". I had, by the time Duane got back to me with the bad news (not surprising really...this is not a first for me, nowadays mags are pulling a Titanic left, right and center), had a chance to read his full article, and it was good, damn good...it captured being an artist caught in the bowels of depression as well as anything I had read on the subject in the past. So, as I let Duane look for a new home for his article ( Toronto Life, New Yorker...anyone!!!!)...I've decided, as he has given me permission to put it on my web site, to print it here on the Diatribe. I hope Duane won't mind, I added a title, as the magazine would have. I think it fits his piece well.

ART, BLACK DOGS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING DAMMIT!

In many ways, it was a miracle that Joey DAMMIT! even answered the telephone that day in late May 2008. Deep in the depths of depression, he wasn’t much in the mood for conversation. Yet, on that occasion, he did manage to pull himself from the couch to make the 10-foot walk to the phone.

“I can still see myself standing there,” DAMMIT! says from his downtown Toronto home.” It was an old friend and she wanted me to take part in a show that was happening at the Cameron.”

DAMMIT! says he wasn’t much interested. The show was on cars. He wasn’t much of a gear-head.

“I don’t know anything about cars,” he dispassionately told his friend. “I’m not interested.”

It’s hard to know what it was about this interaction that made DAMMIT!’s friend snap. But, lucky for him she did.

“She said to me ‘Oh fuck off Joey. Think about it. How did Jayne Mansfield die?’,” she said. Suddenly, unexpectedly something was sparked. Putting down the phone, he walked to his bedroom where he knew there was a book that featured a photograph of that graphic Hollywood death. Opening the book up and staring at its grizzly details he was suddenly interested in cars.

It had been 18-months since he last painted. Three days later the painting that would re-launch his career was complete. Even more importantly, the darkness that had engulfed him for nearly 18 years had lifted.

In the two years that have since passed, he’s never gone more than three days without painting. He’s done both commercial and gallery work and has worked tirelessly to promote mental health issues. He jokes that, as an artist, he was almost required to struggle emotionally. However, if you spend more than a few moments talking to him it becomes clear just how much his depression has affected him and how relieved he is to be past it.

For DAMMIT! depression wasn’t sexy, something to give him emo cred. No, it was a crippling disorder that prevented him from truly succeeding. Talent allowed him to fake it, but those closest to him knew better.

“I used to need to get wasted to deal with my openings,” DAMMIT! says. “It was the only way that I could deal with the depression and – as I always say, its partner that is always there – anxiety.”

The question, then, is does the depression influence DAMMIT!’s work? And, if so, how much?

DAMMIT! isn’t sure. Although he has dubbed his style “Manic Montage” he is not 100 per cent convinced it’s all about the illness.

“I don't think my depression has in anyway shaped my creativity, or subject matter,” he says. “At least that's what I believe, but subconsciously and unconsciously I sometimes look at a finished work -- and it could be pictures, or words in a massive jungle of collage -- and I'll be damned if the depression, and my battle with it, hasn't reared its ugly head.”

DAMMIT! doesn’t fully understand why the depression lifted. Medication could have played a role, but even his doctors aren’t sure, DAMMIT! says. However, he does have an idea of how he survived it. During the many years of his depression – DAMMIT! says that he only experienced two brief periods when the darkness lifted in the previous 18 years prior to 2008 – he never lost one friend. It would be months between seeing them in some cases, but they maintained a level of loyalty and dedication that he is eternally grateful for.

“There were times when I just wanted to fucking off myself,” he says without self-consciousness. “But the reason I didn’t was my family and friends – I didn’t want to leave them alone.”

Of course there was also the art.

“I’m not really a religious person, but I like to talk about this thing, the universe,” he says. “The universe kept saying that there is a reason you are here and it was for the art.”

It’s now been almost exactly two years since the phone call. DAMMIT!’s life has changed dramatically, he says. He’s active. He enjoys time with his friends again. And, he’s been incredibly productive. Yet, he still worries about a return to his old ways.

After 18 years of that shit you don’t take anything for granted. Even today there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wake up and go ‘Oh fuck, oh fuck do I feel good today?’

“But then you realize that you are and you move on with the day.”

These days that likely means a walk down the hallway to ride the elevator to his basement studio. A testament to the effect DAMMIT! has on those around him, it’s a space that was given to him. It’s also a space that fits the aesthetics of an artist that embraces the absurd and morbid in society without ever losing his sense of humour.

After walking past a abandoned swimming pool that wouldn’t look out of place in a really bad horror b-movie -- 1970s era exercise equipment lined up along the deck along with several TVs in various states of working order – you find yourself in a colourful and cluttered space that instantly makes sense.

Magazines are everywhere on the floor. Paint cans clustered up against the wall and the painted faces of pop culture icons from the Beatles to Kurt Cobain stare down at you from the walls above. This is DAMMIT!’s space. It’s a place where he says that he finds inspirations and where he can lose hours of his life engrossed in his work, while loud music blares from a stereo.

He keeps an air mattress in the space for nights that go longer than anticipated. Sometimes, he says, he just sits down there to think.

It’s from this space that his wonderfully bizarre collages emerge. Like many artists, DAMMIT! can’t really explain where his ideas come from.

“There is no such thing as an accident in art,” DAMMIT! says. “Even when something doesn’t work out you layer something else on, or put something else in and it all becomes a part of the final thing.”

The chaos of DAMMIT!’s work is what makes it unique. As a Pop artist he gets compared to Andy Warhol, but such comparisons are surface at best.

DAMMIT! doesn’t have an easy answer to why he does the type of work that he does. When forced to guess he jokes that he must resort to cliché.

“As much as I hate saying things like this, I don't think I ever had a choice.” He says. “The genre, Pop Art, was in a way presented to me in much the same way I imagine John the Baptist’s head was presented -- on a proverbial creative silver plate. I started with the exact same intention that I have today when it comes to creating my art – to please one person, myself.”

DAMMIT! says he is likely most influenced by movies. At the height of his depression, the movie theatre was one place that he felt right, and that love of film has stayed with him now that he is healthy.

Perhaps above all else, DAMMIT!’s work is human. It’s accessible a bit irreverent and decidedly unpretentious. You can stare at a DAMMIT! piece all day and still not find the inside joke. That’s by design DAMMIT! says.

“I consider myself both an artist and an entertainer, “he says. “That’s always been important to me.”

What’s also important to DAMMIT! is making the most of his remaining time. For 18 years darkness engulfed him. Now that it’s lifted he says that he wants to make the most of the opportunity, creating and inspiring.

“Joey’s happy,” he says. “DAMMIT! loves his life right now,” he says.

-Duane Rollins

dgrollins@gmail.com

VIOLENT OPPOSITION FROM MEDIOCRE MINDS: Part 2

2010-05-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

...and here...as promised is part two....the 2 photos above are the whole work...type tray n' all!!!

See, there still are good people out there. Good, creative people who were (almost) as royally pissed -off about this ludicrous censorship as I was!!! Again, Chris Mitchell, the Visual Arts Manager for Workman Arts, along with the Gladstone Hotel's President Christina Zeidler come to the rescue.....kinda like Mighty Mouse...HERE THEY COME TO SAVE THE DAYYYYYYYYY!!!!

I got this e-mail from the lovely and talented Ms. Mitchell a week ago...

"Your banner is up at the Gladstone and it is installed on the 2^nd floor in the public washroom – that may sound weird but there wasn’t really another space due to other bookings and I liked the idea of the “gorilla install” presenting the work to a “captured audience” so to speak – it looks really good – you should check it out. I’m putting together some signage to send them to give context to the work..."

The Washroom...where trash/crap like this belongs DAMMIT!!!!!! Love it...have a gander at the sign......

PROPOPSYCHOGANDA!

Stroll along Queen Street West during the month of May and you will see PROPOPSYCHOGANDA! A series of street banners created by Workman Arts artists for CONTACT Photography Festival. Mark Belvedere, Joey DAMMIT!, Peter Mulcair, Denise Parent, Helen Posno, Annette Seip, Susan Spagnuolo, Jordan Stone have created photo-based artworks in response to the festival theme Pervasive Influence. Each banner presents a message of purposeful persuasion relating to issues of mental illness and addiction. PROPOPSYCHOGANDA! is installed along the south side of Queen Street West between Shaw Street and Dovercourt.

However! This particular banner created by artist Joey DAMMIT! is installed here at the Gladstone because the City of Toronto’s Transportation Services Street Events Permit Office expressed “content concerns” regarding this artwork which depicts Albert Einstein’s famous quote “great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”. This banner will eventually be reunited with the other seven in future installations (which will not require City of Toronto permits).

Joey DAMMIT! Is a mixed media pop artist and three time winner of Toronto’s NOW magazine’s “Best Visual Artist” award.

Thank you to the Gladstone Hotel for providing space for this work.

To find out more about Workman Arts visit www.workmanarts.com

VIOLENT OPPOSITION FROM MEDIOCRE MINDS

2010-05-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

If you're anything like me, you like a good, juicy censorship story. Especially when it's one of them David and Goliath battles. Ya know... David is a local artist, and Goliath happens to be some person or department from some Big City Government!!!! Entertaining, if nothing else...but, hey...it's all fun n' games until someone loses an eye! And it's not so much fun when it's me that gets to play the part of the artist/David, and Goliath in this case is my own hometown, Toronto. So gather 'round kiddies, 'cus I gots me a helluva tale to tell. No names have been changed to protect the innocent, 'cus, c'mon...who the fuck is innocent anymore????

First of all, some pertinent details...if ya don't already know, I'm a fairly well known visual arteest in this fine city of Toronto. I've been branded a pop artist, a mixed media/collage pop artist to be exact...and since I am a big fan of said artistic genre, I have no problem with this branding. Yes, I have been known to push the proverbial envelope, but (and this is important), only when called for. Oh...and because this is important to our tale, and I am, incidentally, on a mission to eradicate the damn stigma surrounding mental health, mood disorders, etc., you should know that I have suffered, at times greatly, from depression for over 18 years. Hey...you know...you're not a "real" artist 'til you've been diagnosed with some form of mental illness...it's just... "sexier"!

I have volunteered for the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario, for years, and am now also on their committee for organizing their amazing, annual art event, Touched By Fire, which gives very talented artists with mood disorders, a chance to exhibit and sell their work in a large gallery setting. I have recently also become involved with Workman Arts, another terrific and important organization who do great work with artists of all stripes, also with mental health and addiction problems, and help tremendously with their craft and their career. Working with the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH to you bub), they're probably best known for their Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival, but they do so much more!

I am not a photographer, nor have I ever claimed to be, so it came as quite a pleasant surprise when the Visual Arts Manager for Workman Arts, Chris Mitchell, asked me to join seven other creative types and do something for the 2010 Contact Photography Festival. Hey, I mean, from what I understood, it's the worlds largest photography festival, bringing with it famous, infamous and not so famous photographers, and all sorts of creativours (yes, I did just make that word up...why?) from around the world together to Toronto... I thought to myself, "Hey, genius... it will take you one step closer to that elusive goal of yours. No...not the Dallas Cowboy cheerleader fantasy, but to one day be considered a Renaissance man." Yes...a Renaissance man...that IS what I said!!!! Ever since watching a Leonardo Da Vinci documentary when I was 8 or 9...I've been on a quest for that title. What did the great artist Francis Bacon say? "It is all so meaningless, we might as well be extraordinary", 'nuff said bubba!!!! I still wasn't sure I could pull this Avedon gig off when I walked into that first meeting. But, by the end of this little get together, I was full of confidence, already had a great idea, and, what the Hell, had even given our group show it's name...PROPOPSYCHOGANDA...I thought it was a good/odd/catchy title considering our theme were Pervasive Influence, being the 30th. anniversary of Marshall McLuhan's death, plus, of course we wanted to add our mental health angle as well. One of the few things I have always been credited with is coming up with good titles and slogans ( I had a ball in college during my 3 years in the Advertising and Graphic Design course...Don Draper/ Darren Stevens...eat your hearts out!), and it passed my rigorous album title/t-shirt test! It has to sound good as an album title (check), and look cool on the front of a t-shirt (check). So...yeah... I WAS IN...BIG TIME!!!!

I was, at the time still working on my next solo show that I was gonna exhibit at the Gladstone Hotel...and I was still a long way from having enough pieces completed...but hey, I loves me a good challenge. Now, I could have, and maybe should have, just aimed my camera at what ever caught my fancy, something interesting...and... Walla....signed, sealed, printed and delivered...photographic magic!!!!! But noooooooooooooooooo, that wouldn't be like me, would it? No...Joey fucking DAMMIT! had to try to re-invent photography as we know it! DOOFUS!!!! Like a handful of contemporary artists that I admire, I've noticed that, like me, we are for some odd reason, fascinated by those somewhat creepy, vintage baby dolls...especially their big, bulbous heads. I had one of these little buggers crazy glued onto one of my larger paintings in my studio. I wanted to photograph this doll, especially because what was hand painted on it's old, cloth body, "violent opposition from mediocre minds". What the hell does that mean DAMMIT???? Hold your horses there Duke...I'll tell ya...it's the second half from my favourite quote of all time. One given to us by that rather intelligent chap with the accent, Albert Einstein. Heard of him??? The whole quote reads, "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." See, those words really hit me where I live. It's got a biographical significance to me, both as an artist who has had his share of controversy, but also as a person that has lived so long with the fiendishly evil disease, wrongly titled, depression... and the ignorance of those around me. Thus, my quest to eradicate that stigma that continues to be a bitch to kill!!!

Step one: Borrow my good friend, Monkey Head's beautiful, and (gulp) expensive camera, get that there doll in focus...and shoot! Step two: White out that half of the quote, and paint on the first half of it... focus...shoot! Step three: Enlarge the two photos to 8 x 10" (looks great). Step four: Enlarge the two 8 x 10's even more...about 3 feet tall. Step five: Get this...tear and cut this enormous doll photo into little pieces...and then, using various types of tape...put the whole thing back together, in a haphazard way. Step six: Add some rough painted brush strokes, paint splashes, and some collage to it. Step seven: Now...I grab an antique type tray that I own, and carefully tape the roughed up, re-taped , giant doll photo to it. Step eight: I now take objects like pills, x-rays, toys, found objects, etc. and glue them into any pockets from the drawer that are not covered by the photo. Step 9: Take Monkey Head's camera, and shoot this structure that I created. I call them MEDI@CATION: Part 1 & 2.......
Now, why two separate photos??? Because my work, plus the works of my fellow Workman Arts artisticons (yup, made that word up too...why?), are gonna be printed on 5 foot vinyl banners...double sided (that's why 2 photographs)....and hung from street light posts in front of CAMH on Queen St. West. Problem...because of the dimensions of said banners (60" x 22"), when the specs are applied, and banners cut and sewn...you don't really see that antique print drawer that I lovingly filled up with "stuff"! Still...I love the finished pieces, very striking, very powerful, very DAMMIT! Couldn't wait to see it hanging above Queen West for the whole month of May!!!!!!

Ahhhh...NO! THIS IS THIS WHERE THE STUPID HITS THE FAN!!!! One afternoon, just before the banners are suppose to be hung, I get a call from Chris Mitchell, "Joey, we seem to have a problem"...NOW WHAT??!!!..." The city has some concerns about your pieces, and may not let us hang your banner." WHAT??!!! CONCERN?! ABOUT WHAT??!!! There is absolutely nothing wrong, or controversial with the photos!!! I mean I went out of my way...REALLY OUT OF MY WAY, to make sure Workman Arts would not encounter any trouble with my evil ways!!!!! Chris said they never gave a good reason aside from their "concerns"!!!! And, I know Chris, she fought hard for me! So...come hanging day..and yup... I AM FUCKING CENSORED!!! Look I'm not stupid, and if you know me, you know that I'm more than just a little media savvy. I certainly realize that there is no such thing as bad publicity...I mean...where would Madonna be without controversy? I mean, like I said, I've thrived on it myself in the past...BUT!!!!!...I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF CENSORSHIP!!!!!!! I WORKED SO DAMN HARD ON THIS PROJECT...ONLY TO BE CENSORED BY MY OWN FUCKING CITY!!! To be exact, the City of Toronto's Transportation Services Street Events Permit Office. In the end the only reasons I got were, "Content Concerns"...and they were a little disturbed that the word "violent" was on the banner. WHAT?????!!!!!! YOU DO SEE THE IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, and THE MAJOR IRONY HERE, RIGHT??????? Einstein's quote, painted plainly on the doll is, "GREAT SPIRITS HAVE ALWAYS ENCOUNTERED VIOLENT OPPOSITION FROM MEDIOCRE MINDS"!!!!!! HELLO???!!!!! YOU GUYS ARE DOING EXACTLY WHAT EINSTEIN IS PREACHING ABOUT!!!!! WHAT HE'S WARNING ABOUT!!!! When this quote and this irony was brought up to these cretins, these bureaucrats attention...they just scratched their heads and shrugged. You decide. The 2 photos are at the top of the page..."CONTENT CONCERNS"??? WHY THE CENSORSHIP????? PLEASE! TELL ME!!!!!! And to answer the question, that so many of you, who know about this have asked. DAMN RIGHT I'M GONNA TAKE IT TO THE MEDIA!!!!! I think the ridiculous irony alone makes for a great story...but the media of all people understand the evil of censorship...especially this kind ...you know...THE KIND THAT MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER!!!!! At least I hope they see what I see. Gonna send it off to our art loving mayor, and my MP as well. Hell...I'll send them this whole blog. Yes..I realize that the festival is almost at it's end...but that's not the point!!!!! I mean...IS IT ONLY ME ????!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

THE BESTESTEST: TOP MOVIES of 2009/00's

2010-02-10T06:48:00.001-08:00

YEAH...I KNOW!!! "Hey DAMMIT!!!!, aren't these here year end list thingies...SUPPOSE TO BE AT YEARS END???!!! Huh? Huh?"...Fuck off!!! I have a much busier life than you (and odds are, more interesting too), and, so it's a month or so late! So this is gonna be a 2, or 3, or 4 parter...we'll start with the movies, then music, books, whatever I please really. And...what do you call that last decade??? Dunno, so the "00's" it is...if it's good enough for fucking Rolling Stone magazine, then, Hell, it's good enough for The DAMMIT! Diatribe..."ALL THE RANTING AND BITCHING THAT'S FIT TO PRINT"!!!

This has been a banner year for film...Impressive array of good to great movies! And then there's the BLIND SIDE...A FUCKING OSCAR NOMINATION FOR A MELODRAMATIC, MADE FOR TV PIECE OF CRAP!!!...and there's always the consistent, horrible genius of Michael Bay films (hello Transformers)!!!! But we're here to celebrate my favourite films, not my worst films...that, my fine feathered friends, is another post. So, because I know you're all a-tither with nervous anticipation, I give ya Joey DAMMIT!'S TOP TEN FILMS OF 2009.....

Actually, this is a first for me, I gots me a tie for number one.....I thought about it, and thought about it...used my uncanny skills of great taste, deduction and discernment...even thought of just flipping a coin, or throwing a dart (nah!)...I GIVE!!! They are both SO good, delivering on all the important stuff from writing, to acting, to cinematography, to directing... They are both near perfect films, both are war movies (well...kinda)...and then narrowing it down to ten was damn near impossible! So, take a deep breath or two, dim the lights...make sure your Orville is a-drownin' in butter (Fuck Becel...or so I'm told), and let's see what sticks!!!!

1. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS/THE HURT LOCKER

2. THE INFORMANT

3. AN EDUCATION

4. A SERIOUS MAN

5. UP IN THE AIR

6. DISTRICT 9

7. MOON

8. ANVIL!: THE STORY OF ANVIL

9. TWO LOVERS

10. PRECIOUS

TIED FOR 11: THE HANGOVER, UP, IN THE LOOP, TYSON: THE MOVIE, AVATAR ( though I didn't think much of the story n' all...it is indeed going to change movies forever...everybody should experience the feeling of actually being taken into another world with those fuckin' stupid glasses on!!!!)

There!!! Now, I had intended to write a small opinion piece under the title's of each movie, but then I thought...nah, fuck it, I don't feel like it. Just let me say this, both INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and THE HURT LOCKER should...SHOULD be seen on the big screen...not on your fabulous plasmahi-defbigscreenorgasmatronic glass teat...and CERTAINLY NOT ON YOUR FUCKING COMPUTER SCREEN!!!! in fact, if you have, or do plan to watch it on your computer, and we happen to bump into each other on some sidewalk...DO NOT tell me...because I can guarantee that I will stick a very long, sharp knife into your fucking gut, and you will deserve it!!!!!!

Also...You may have heard that Tarantino's Basterds, set in World War Two Nazi occupied France, is a fantasy...revisionist history, and so on...WRONG!!!!! It is 100% true!!! This a historical account of how the Third Reich was brought down by a group of scalp-collecting, mutilating, killer American Jews!!!.....Oh...and if Kathryn Bigelow doesn't win the oh-so well deserved Oscar for Best Director for her stunning work on The Hurt Locker, then there is no God (oh-oh!)!!!!!

AND NOW MY BEST FILMS OF THIS PAST DECADE, "THE 00's" !!!!.....you can imagine how tough this was...I basically went through my GIANT WALL O' MOVIES, and wrote down in my sketchbook, titles of movies that I liked from the year 2000 to 2009 (if I in anyway liked a film...believe me, I bought it!). Now some of you more astute film geeks/snobs/elitists (Hey! I totally admit that I am one of said folk) may find one or two titles that may have been released in 1999, and on the back of the DVD it said 2000. Yes, I should have Googled it, or something...but again...my time is too fucking precious to waste even a few minutes doing this kind of fact checking...problem with that buddy??? Look, go back to your room in your parent's basement, learn a lil' more Klingon, and I'll forget this whole thing ever happened!!!!!

Oh....one more thing, and I think my fellow decade end list makers will agree with me on this, you're gonna notice in the following top 10 list, that I've lumped two films together as one. I think when you come to them you'll understand why...I mean each film stands on it's own, but....Oh, you'll see...number 1 is the best example...........................................

1. THE BOURNE TRILOGY

2. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

3. CROUCHING TIGER,HIDDEN DRAGON

4. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

5. THE HURT LOCKER

6. KILL BILL PT.1&2

7. OLD BOY

8. RATATOUILLE

9. MEMENTO

10. THE PROPOSITION/THE DEPARTED ( TIE )

TIED FOR 11: THERE WILL BE BLOOD, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, MYSTIC RIVER, CHILDREN OF MEN, DOWNFALL, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE ( ...and tied for 12th.....243 other movies!!!)

See, for my top film, that whole Bourne series of movies, all 3 of 'em could not be broken down into which was the better one...These movies were not only entertaining as Hell, but set a new standard for the so-called action film...it proves you can indeed have great car chases, shoot 'em ups, sex and violence AND still be very smart films with great scripts, acting, directing and so on...So no Mr. Stallone...it isn't good enough to make things explode and to be fucking stupid in every way!!!

So, think we'll call it a day right about here...there's a couple of cold ones in the fridge with my name on 'em, and Charlie Rose is coming on soon...two great reasons to leave it be for now...next Bat episode...MUSIC!!!!!! 'Til then, buy one of the 3 great DAMMIT! T-shirts, and go see what we've been tinkerin' with on my new, improved web site...www.joeydammit.com!!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

THE ENTERTAINING (AND PRETTY COOL) DEATH OF THE KING OF POP!

2010-01-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

WHAT???? C'mon you could not take your fucking eyes off it...and you know it!!!! Especially when it was first announced (TMZ broke it first), that afternoon...Michael "I named myself The King Of Pop...and then everyone just started calling me that...cool" Jackson, was in a rumoured comatose state, in an ambulance speeding to the hospital! Then, (again TMZ reports it first...notice that they always get that all-important initial scoop first?...way before the CNN's and BBC's of the world)...could it really be true???? Michael Jackson...DEAD???!!! That's when it got real good...and again, admit it, just like me, first thing you thought of was...DRUGS!!!! JESUS...first the news of Farrah's death...sooooo sad (and it was), so painfu....HOLY SHIT ....He's much bigger than that Charlie's Angel's chick!!!! Both??!!! ON THE SAME DAY??!!! Gotta fuckin' tune in to Larry King tonight fo' sure!!!!! That was Real Reality TV...and why did you keep watching it?...because it was great ENTERTAINMENT!!!!! Sorry, not gonna apologize, not gonna suddenly become politically fucking correct to appease the fans and the overly sensitive...and when we knew it WAS indeed drugs, perhaps even... MURDER!!!!....c'mon COOL DEATH or what???!!!

Let me start by saying that this was gonna be a (fairly...well...) straight forward review or rant of a new book by one of Toronto's finest young writers Lorette C. Luzajic. The book, titled, "GOODBYE, BILLIE JEAN: THE MEANING OF MICHAEL JACKSON", was just released, and I gots ta admit...very cool cover artwork by noted local pop artist, Iaian Greenson (thus my competition, thus an enemy of mine!). Now...let me lay my proverbial sticky fingered cards right down on the table... I know said writer, in fact we've been friends for years ...and that's all ya need ta know you snoopy little fucks!!!

Lorette writes regularly about all sorts of interesting people (yes, she's interviewed me in the past), pop culture, madness and death (and ya wonder why I love her?), so the topic was certainly up her alley. She sent me a copy of GOODBYE, BILLIE JEAN via e-mail...a fucking stunning 316 page trade paperback!!! One...I'm old school, I read real books, you know...love feeling the paper touching my finger tips...YES!!!...I live for fucking paper cuts....and OK, because it's Lorette, I would have still read it, but not as it's 4 in the morning and I'm going through a major, MAJOR bout of insomnia!!!! So..I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, reading for close to 90 minutes......

This anthology, curated by the lovely and talented Ms. Luzajic, includes not only her own musings, but a lineup that includes Tibetan monk Jamyang Khedrup; Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times writer Chris Hedges; Toronto’s celebrity drag queen, Donnarama (who I noticed crowned Lorette with the following, Brilliant title,"Courtney Love Meets Margret Atwood"...THAT'S LORETTE EXACTLY!!!...PERFECT!!!), hilarious celeb-skewer Rohin Guha; Harvard Divinity School and queer black activist Reverend Irene Monroe; creative think tank Pat Kane (who also incidentally, opened for Madonna with his band back in the ‘80s); famous poet John B. Lee, award-winning journalist, author and personal friend of Michael Jackson, Jonathan Margolis; Jungian analyst Coline Covington; Russell Bowers, host of Daybreak Alberta, CBC’s most popular breakfast radio; Congo and Rwanda journalist Georgianne Nienaber; Iranian writer Javhad Rahbar; and many, many more...including the electric poetic waxings of my buddy, Toronto arteest, and poet Ralph "Rottweiler" Martin...Gad-Zooooks...colour me impressed!!! I think that instead of only one writer, or a ton of local half-ass writers oozing their love for Mikey....what makes it so interesting, even if you're not a Jackson fan, is the variety of voices and styles.

Now you're thinking...so Joey isn't exactly a big fan of Jacko, is he??? Truth be told, love the guy' s genius (and holy shit...he certainly was that), hate what he became! I think he was a a total freak (which by the way, I adore freaks, being one myself), and, like Marilyn, and James Dean before him, death was the best PR/marketing move he could have made to save a very dead, pathetic career (unfortunately, he apparently did not leave anything close to a beautiful corpse behind according to the autopsy reports)...and don't even try to argue with me on how his career was NOT dead, and how the new tour would put him on top again...'cus that is just SO MUCH BULLSHIT, and deep down inside, you know it!!!!

Three things stand out about Michael that will always endear the beautiful freak to me......

1) BEAT IT, from the THRILLER album, is still one of my favourite songs of all time, featuring the best guitar solo of all time, performed by Eddie Van Halen (or the great Steve Stevens, Billy Idol's guitarist, depending who you ask).

2) The night he unveiled the "MOONfuckingWalk" for the first time, on national television...Live at the Apollo, or some dumb music award show. MY JAW DROPPED...I mean...I kidya not...how on earth??? That, my friends was pure, PURE GENIUS and SHOWMANSHIP of Biblical proportions!!! Gonna put an excerpt from the book in here, a poem of all things, because it beautifully defines that moment to me, and because Ralph is a good friend of mine...and it's my fucking blog...and I will continue to do as I please...PROBLEM WITH THAT BUCKY???!!!

When Jackson Danced by Ralph Martin

When he danced …
... there was no beginning,
and, he danced until the end
Step slide, slide step, step slide step …
The entertainer strode,
He leapt and he flowed, his joy in every jerking
Jump, step slide, step slide, step jump …
Till he’d land and he’d bow, then he’d tip, and he’d bend
With the music inside him, he
Stepped slide, slide step, step slide splits …
Then up again with arms like wings, his soul in flight and
His body in tune
The fedora flew
and the gloves and the shoes …
When he danced …
... the children danced too.
1958-2009

3) And this... is most important of all...Michael's theme song from the movie "BEN", was the song I danced my first slow dance ever to. It was in grade 5, and I was dancing with Brenda Cross, my first true mad, love/crush!!! I still, once every few years still go through my old class pictures, just to look at her one more time...betcha she turned into a Grace Kelly look-a-like......coincidentally, another celebrity that died tragically before her time, but left behind a damn fine beautiful corpse.

To read a ton of Lorette's work, run, don't walk, to www.thegirlcanwrite.com...and she certainly can!!! And, because she can...she has put up a truly fascinating/strange/and sometimes down right fucked Blog about all things Jacko.......www.michaeljacksontattoos.wordpress.com ...

So...what have we learned today class???...That Lorette is a rising talent that you should keep yo' eyes and ears on....that Michael Jackson was one fucking extremely talented genius.....that he was also a side show oddity on the grandest scale....and for God's sake...if you are gonna die, or off yourself...eat well, drink lotsa water, and work out very, very hard first!!! Class dismissed!!!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

THE GREAT MOVIE HEIST '09 (Part 2)

2009-12-19T18:08:00.001-08:00

So...where were we??? Oh yes...we had gone through the movie listings, pocket sized notebook in hand, trying to find a theatre that is showing 3 or 4 films that are on my "To See" list...Bingo! Oh good it's a Cineplex-Odeon...the big honcho...Nice!!! Just a 15 minute walk away from Casa DAMMIT! too...vunderful!!! Hmmmmmmm....they're playing 4 films from my list..next, and this is where you have to do some calculating and some guess work...so yes being a genius/criminal mastermind comes in handy. If movie A starts at this time...I have 10 minutes before movie B starts! Now, and pay close attention kiddies...you have to keep in mind that if the listing says ....say 1pm...the movie itself probably won't start until 20 minutes or so later, depending on such time wasters as commercials of cute polar bears drinking Coca-Cola, and don't forget ALL those Coming Soons that WILL give away the whole plot....so that has to be factored into the blue print!This part can take awhile to figure out, sometimes rather frustrating...I mean, hey... 4 full movies...have patience and keep your eye always on the prize ...which is???? That's right...good for you... watching a wad of films, while at the same time fucking these giant Money Machines, a.k.a., "THE MAN", for charging so much for a movie, and even more for the bare necessities like popcorn and pop!!!!

OK...so this heist went down in January of this year...almost a year ago...so, like I said, lots of Oscar quality movies were playing all at once. The movies I pick for this particular special day of cinema thievery are, in order of viewing; Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Doubt, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I leave my apartment with my ever present portfolio, which contains, among other things, my sketch book (which I never leave home without, plus I'm planning on keeping a journal of this day), a book (to read just in case you have to sit in an empty theatre with half an hour or so to kill before the next film starts...I mean, really...you CAN NOT read those stupid free movie magazines they have waiting for ya there...it actually hurts and bruises the fucking brain...YES! THAT DUMB!!!), snacks like almonds, M&Ms, a sandwich, couple o' cans of Diet Pepsi, bottle of water, etc. This way, you don't give "THEM" the satisfaction of charging you 45 bux for confectioneries.

Ok...were at the box office, look up at the board and have a curious look on your mug...act like, "Oh my, what time does my movie start?"...very good, nice piece of acting there Brando... Step #1: Buy ticket for the first movie on your list, like I said, for me it happened to be Slumdog Millionaire...smile at the ticket taker, and memorize what he/she looks like, this is very important 'cus they can become a big problem 4 or 5 hours later. Next, a very, very important step #2; This is when you pull out your pocket sized note book, and as you slowly, casually, inconspicuously make your way to the men's/ladies room at the other end of the corridor, you are scanning and writing down the number of the cinema that your movie's are playing. Remember, you know what time your movie's start, but up 'til now, you didn't know the exact location of said crime scene. Ahhhh...very nice Milk is in cinema 4, nicely positioned directly across from Slumdog...very good...very good.

Step 3; Nonchalantly, walk into the assigned cinema. I sit down, middle row, aisle seat, get comfortable, take out snacks and beverage and the lights grow dim...and enjoy the magic that is the art of film! Shit...set your cell phone on vibrate Joey!!!...credits...hmmmmm.... very good movie...but Oscar????....don't think so (DOH!!!)...3:18pm...end credits still running...I casually walk across the hall, no more than 15 steps...I tell myself my new mantra, "be cool...be Barack"...and a minute later I'm in cinema 4, in my seat. Wait, gotta go to the can! That's okay...the first commercial just started...in fact...ahhhh...what the hell, it's the movies...go ahead buy yourself a popcorn and pop (see, it's happening)...be cool...pay what seems like your life savings, feel guilty about all that butter, but hey...the ticket taker (which you should never take your eyes off) doesn't even look in your direction...back in my comfy seat in time to still watch 2 more coming soons...(Oh boy a movie about college kids who have lotsa sex, party a lot, and throw up on their date!!!...NOT!)...now, watch Milk!

6:00pm on the dot, just as I had calculated...very nice m'man...now it's time to push your luck, make it a little more exciting...you only live once...Doubt doesn't start for another 40 minutes, let's head to the V.I.P. lounge and have a beer..."be cool... be Barack"...check out the ticket taker. YES!!! A new ticket taker is on duty! Looking very confident (this is very important...body language will always give ya away), I saunter into the V.I.P. lounge and order a beer...HOW MUCH???!!!...for a bottle of fucking BEER???!!!...fine, fine...this is a vacation of sorts. Oh, what the hell (huh?), have a second one, still time to kill...Hey...it's a heist...you gotta spend some to make some! Down that baby...man...Sean Penn was brilliant, as usual, in Milk...bet he takes the golden statue home this year! Get up, don't even put on your coat, you're living dangerously man...it's like having sex some place that there's a chance of getting caught...makes it that much more exciting (what?..of course...why, you haven't???)!!! Then thank the nice man behind the bar/counter, and I make my way to watch Doubt which should be starting in less than 5 minutes.

Ahhhhhh...our third movie of the day...feelin' a little tired, kinda burned out...must be the beer making me feel a little...sleepy? Yes, another good film...you can't go wrong with a movie that pits a prudish, bitchy Meryl Streep, as a nun, against the always great Philip Seymour Hoffman, as a priest!!!...credits up...Benjamin Button, directed by one of my all time favourite directors David Fincher, starts in about 15 minutes...and again...right across the hall...easy as a hot knife through butter. But, as I slowly make my way down the (too) dark steps on my way out.. I'm really feeling pooped...and shit man...Button is supposedly 3 hours or so long!

I'm standing in the middle of the hallway...just in front of me, cinema 6 and a fourth film...to my left...the exit...and nice warm apartment...I hesitate a moment longer...What the fuck...we can do this again next week, and hey, Gran Torino is also playing here...and you'll feel fresher. Home it is!!! As I'm walking along Bloor Street, I start calculating to myself....hmmmmm...13 bux for the first movie...10 or more bux for the popcorn and pop...14 for beer, not including the fuckin' tip that I just had to give the guy who is only making less than minimum wage...aaaaaaannnndddd...wait a minute.. that's..what?????... 39! 40 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!! Yup, "THE MAN" beat me again...3 movies...40 FUCKING BUX!!!!! SOME FUCKING HEIST GENIUS!!!

So this January... Whoah...lots to watch still...A Serious Man, which I hear is GREAT (It's the Coen's...come on!!!), is playing this week at The Bloor Cinema...brilliant (The Bloor's cool...leave 'em alone)!!! And then...I still have; Up In The Air, A Single Man, An Education, Precious and Fantastic Mr. Fox to watch...God I hope they're all playing at THAT same theatre, I got me some BIG GET EVEN to do!!!!!!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

THE GREAT MOVIE HEIST '09 (Part 1)

2009-12-14T05:43:00.001-08:00

I have a confession to make. Earlier this year I stole from Cineplex Odeon...clearly broke the law...and have committed this crime many times before. I admit it, and I plan to do it again shortly. I also admit it makes me feel great, because it feels like I'm stealing from the people that rob me blind every time I go to the movies. Yeah...like a modern day cinematic Robin Hood meets John Dillinger meets Patty Hearst and gang (huh?)! Let me explain.

As a lot of you know, I LOVE (!!!) movies...especially sitting in a theatre with a big screen, big sound... a giant popcorn and a giant Diet Pepsi or Coke ( I'm a Diet Pepsi man myself given the choice...and yes, of course there's a fuckin' difference!!!). Always an aisle seat...I go to the can about 2 times per regular 1 hour 48 minute feature (which lasts closer to 4 and a half hours if you count the commercials, coming soons, and are with people like my brother who must see ALL the end credits), and I always feel I'm ruining everybody in the theatres movie going experience, when I have to excuse myself, step on feet, and knock over their drinks as I literally crawl on them to go do my thing (and repeat the whole embarrassing ritual on the way back to my seat). So I can usually be found on the far left aisle seat, around the middle row. Sooooo...recap...love, LOVE movies... own over 800 dvds (and about 500 vhs...which most are now in storage...(Eeee-gad, and now with BluRay...never mind)... but nothing can replace the movie going experience...A movie (or a good portion of them SHOULD be watched on a big screen, not on TV...and dear God, DON'T FUCKING GET ME STARTED ON HOW GREAT IT IS THAT YOU CAN WATCH MOVIES ON YOUR COMPUTER!!!!! That is SO FUCKING WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS........AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...(breathe Joey, breathe...)... that's another blog post.

Now...as most of ya know...if you go to a regular run movie, at one of those Godforfuckingsaken multi-plexes...A ticket for the film is what...between 11 and 13 bux (insert coughing, gasping sound here)??? Then (and yes I condone sneaking everything in), you go for the classic popcorn and pop (What the fuck is it with the nachos and fucking melted Cheese-whiz at movies anyway???), that costs you, for just a regular size popcorn and drink, more than the movie ticket itself. By the time you get to your seat (and have already spilled a quarter of your popcorn)...you are steaming 'cus you realize that you've already spent enough to put a fucking down payment on a starter home or condo!!!! Oh yeah...and then...because these multi-fuckin'-plexes need to make money too (huh?...they do???...wasn't my $25 popcorn suppose to take care of that???)...34 commercials, followed by 12 coming soons that naturally show and give away the whole fucking movie anyway...and yeah..I'm a-fuckin' homicidal mad man by now!!! Let's not even go into the cell phones, the fucking basketball player, or horny lovers that are sitting directly in front of you, and the 5 best fuckin' friends for life directly behind you that won't stop squealing and yapping through the movie, until you calmly turn around and tell them how you're gonna pull a fucking Hannibal Lecter on them if they dare to say one more word before the end of the fucking film!!!

Okay, now for the cool breaking the law part...So now, around this time of the year, is when most of the really good movies are released, just in time for Oscar consideration...This part of the movie year, is to me, what the play offs are to your super-duper die hard spots fan (yeah...why, if they sell fucking nachos at movies, don't they sell fucking wings???)!!! And since there's so many movies on my "Movies To Watch" list...and realizing the time constraints, and how much films I want to watch, but obviously will never have that kind of money in the bank for...it's time for The Great Movie Heist for yet another year!!! Now, I love heist films...the planning , the execution, the thrill of the opening that safe...Ocean's 11(the Clooney, not the God awful Rat Pack version), The Italian Job (not the ridiculous Michael Caine original)...Oh, and of course The Sting (buttttt...was that really a heist film???)! Time to put the genius of this God-given criminal mind to work, and put together a blue print for the Perfect Cinema Crime!!!

So the heist is now at stage one: The planning stage...it all starts here, my fine feathered friends... I sit down with newspaper on coffee table, pen and pocket sized (note, this is important) notebook in hand, and start scanning the movie listings...looking for one theatre that is showing 3 or 4 of the films I want, NO...make that NEED to see! Now, I was gonna get right into the fun, breaking the law part... was gonna keep writing, explain exactly what and how I did (do) it...but...I'm feeling totally guilty that it's already that time, and I'm still here in front of this fucking computer, while I have paintings to do down in my studio...soooooooooooooo...this is now Part One...followed soon by part two! C'mon...you love a great cliff hanger, and you know it!!!! So stop your belly aching will ya!!!!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

FAT, BOOZE, PILLS, and the FINE ART of BEATING DEPRESSION!

2009-12-03T04:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes...even before you're "officially" awake...you JUST know it's gonna be one of those fucking days!!! Today is one of 'em!!! Again, fourth night in a row...so hard to fall asleep, and when I finally do...I keep waking up...weird had a dream that it was my first day at work in an office out of Mad Men...I mean it wasn't the same office, or people as the show...but you just knew it was Mad Men! Sleep has always fucked with me...from the very first second I was born...on! So now, no matter how many Red Bull's or Diet Pepsi's I drain...still gonna feel sleepy, drained, blah all day, thus screwing up my creativity!!! Now that I bitched about that ...I can bitch about the following. Love it when you have no idea what you're gonna write about...and you just start typing.........

I have been complaining forever and ever about my weight gain. I have gained well over 30 lbs. in a lil' over a year and a half. Why? Well, my official answer that I give myself and others is the fucking meds!!!...and it is... especially one of 'em...if you're on this baby...you are gonna balloon like the kid in Willie fuckin' Wonka...NO CHOICE!!! What I'm not admitting while blaming this pill, is that the weight gain would not have been so bad, if I exercised, ate less (and not so late), and did not drink SO much beer!!!

This pill, Serequel (probably the wrong spelling...who really gives a shit), is an anti-depressant. You gain weight on it even if you don't eat at all, and just suck in air all day! Soooooo, ya ask..."why not just get off it Joey?"... A great question there Skippy...the answer? For over 18 years I have suffered with fucking, horribly debilitating Depression. The disease, the disorder that is...and not, "woe is me...I hate goin' in to work 'cus the guy in the next cubicle is an asshole"...or, "the love o' my life left me...she was my kindred spirit, and I'll never find another." The name is the same (and man did they give this baby the wrong name), but it's two different things. The late, great American writer, William Styron (who suffered from it and wrote about it in a great little book called Darkness Visible), hated the name "depression" with a passion, as do I. He said "brain storm" would be great, alas, it was already taken. I used to always call it BrainFuck...even in sessions with my shrinks...they loved it. There really should be a campaign to change the name...Churchill called it the Black Dogs...it's a good start!!!

See...there I go....where was I???....oh yeah...18 years with this sinister, demonic dark hell inside you...you lose all hope, you lose all the things you love and are interested in most, you lose your self-esteem, social life...hell, you lose the will to live...REALLY!!! You don't even have the..."thing" to even crawl to the damn kitchen and get a bowl of cereal, 'cus you know you really should eat something...if you don't have the "thing" to do that, then you certainly don't have the "thing' to plan out, and then actually go thru all the trouble of killing yourself. Unfortunately, some people do have it, and do end it all.

A friend of mine, a local radio DJ here in Toronto (a lot of you know who I'm referring to), committed suicide, quite a few months ago now. And you don't know the frothing, rabid dog of anger I became when I heard the words "coward" and "selfish" mentioned when referring to him and his untimely suicide. If you truly believe that...FUCK YOU!!! It is not cowardly, nor selfish!!! What it is, is a pain so CRUEL...So fuckin' UNFORGIVABLY AGONIZING, that you actually can't imagine living with it for one second more. You think it's cowardly, huh?...then allow me to put a good ol' fashion curse on you...one solitary day with Depression from Hades..like the one I and millions more suffer for years and years...let's see how you feel about said coward then! Good, glad I got that out...if this blog thingamajig is good for nothing else, at least I get a chance to vent, and write sentences like that last one!

Soooooooooo....yes I want to get off this and all the other meds...and I honestly don't believe it was the pills that one day in May of 2008 made me actually say, "hey...hold on a minute...I feel...different....wait...is the BrainFuck gone...holy shit, I think it is!!!???"...and it was...and has not (knock fake wood...but with this fucker, you just never know) come back since. How do I know it wasn't the pills...I just "know it...I know how it felt inside...I just do...can't explain it"...but the real truth is, I DON'T KNOW...not 100% anyway!!! So it's my choice, get off the meds, take a chance, but maybe go back to that pure sheer Hell of darkness or stay on it and complain about my weight. I see (though, God knows I try hard to avoid it) pics of myself at various functions on FakeBook, and it bothers me SO FUCKIN' MUCH!!!! I saw some pics of me at the fabulous Touched By Fire art show last week...Eeeegad!!! Meat Loaf Re-visited!!!...got into such a bad, self-loathing mood...that I jumped into a cab, went to one of my favourite places (hey...my art is there...I'm the arteest in residence) WATUSi to partake in the fine art of warming the bar stool! Drank beer and tequila all night...made even more dangerous because some of the drinks were on one of the owners that was going thru a heavy issue as well!!! Stupid? Yes!!! Very!!!...and not the best way to lose that unwanted weight it turns out, which was the reason I pulled the self-pity act in the first place...genius!!!

But here's the thing...on the morning of Touched By Fire, last Thursday, while Ralph "Rottweiler" Martin and I were preparing to "hang" the show...I was on my knees, at the far end of this gorgeous gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum , unwrapping a piece of someones art, looking forward to seeing what was under the bubble wrap, kinda excited ...when out of no where it hit me, that I was already, though it was still morning, not only looking forward to the next day...I was excited to see what life was gonna throw at me tomorrow...I mean it actually thrilled me because I didn't know what was still in store!!! What a fucking difference from the days of the Black Dogs, where I was terrified to go to bed at night, 'cus I was so afraid of the morning!!! Oh that fucking horrible morning, and what it held for me!!!! I realized this...and that is why I stay on this muthfkr...because...I want to always look forward and get excited about what the future holds in store for me tomorrow!!!

So...we'll do the usual new year's resolution thang...eat better, less, and exercise like nuts, like Rocky F'n Balboa...even hit sides o' beef if I havta...if that, the weight, is my biggest problem in life...whew!!!... we can do something about it...I'm one of those really strange guys that can actually, one day get angry enough, and actually go to GREAT lengths to prove that I can do it just to spite life, or God (who still doesn't exist) or a fucking pill or disease!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING!

2009-11-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

You know how they always say that Seinfeld was a show about nothing, which is actually a bang on description...well today's post/column/rant is also about nothing. I'm gonna ramble on here about whatever comes to my mind. Basically, it's been a while since my last post...so I figured it was about time. Soooooooooooo...how are ya? Nice to see ya again! Did ya bring the J.D.(eeeeeeeek...too early even for me)?

Gotta start off with the big, real-deal art event, TOUCHED BY FIRE, that went down this last Thursday night. Great venue...I mean shit...the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)??? Whooda thunk it???...This is only our (I'm on the TBF committee) third year, and man, has it grown fast. The first 2 years was on the second floor of the legendary Gladstone Hotel, and it was an amazing spot, everyone there was really good to us...but man, we must have broken some fire regulation codes...I mean it was so packed that it would take you half the evening, trying to get across the room to the bar (and you can imagine the pure, unadulterated Hell that must have been for yours truly)...so, a new, much larger spot was needed, badly...thus the ROM!!! Again, packed to the rafters, great art, great people, great beer!!! A huge success in every way....butttttttt...if I may...when I had time to think the next morning, sufferin' from a wee hangover, and a ton o' exhaustion...I kinda missed the Gladstone...this spot is so big that it was a little impersonal. Like I said, we had no choice...but, hey...I have this space so that I can voice my opinion...which reminds me...I'm gonna raise hell about the prices of the wine and beer...c'mon...it was a fucking art opening...probably some stupid governmental rule...but c'mon!!!!!! I IS IRKED!!! Still, it was really all about the art and the artists that night...their time to shine...I had one (ONE???) piece in the show, "Consider The Bee" (that's it up there at the top of this 'ere article), and yes it was priced higher than most, but...I did not care, or expect to sell anything that night. It just so happens that it's my favourite piece, and the judges so happened to pick it...want it to be my best work, if I'm gonna be showing at the ROM (well...ya know). So a big CONGRATS to the Touched By Fire folks, the volunteers, and especially the arteests!!!

What next????....Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....so fuckin' much happening in this suddenly blessed life, and right now, because my brain is still fried, I can't seem to think ...shit, no Diet Pepsi in the fridge...not a huge fan of coffee, already had a green tea...thus no fucking caffeine (waiting for the variety store across the street to open...let me take a look outside for a sec...excuse me for a second.......SHIT! Still closed...I got up very early)!!!

Actually once I have my nectar of the Gods (the morning Gods anyway), I'm going to make my way downstairs to my studio and work all day on the next painting for my next (real) show/exhibition...The Much anticipated (well...by me anyway) "THE SODOM AND GOMORRAH VARIETY SHOW" at the aforementioned Gladstone Hotel...I try to have one big show there a year. I have about 5 paintings done for it need around 10 to 12 more, so I postponed what was to be a mid-February opening and changed it to late April...Opening on Saturday April 24 to be exact. I found myself so...SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCKING BUSY with so many other projects (and yes I admit, too many hangovers), that I knew if I was gonna make that February 13 deadline, I would have to rush these new paintings like crazy, thus putting up a sub-par show...never done it...never will...So I said fuck this, called up the lovely and talented (and Gladstone owner) Christina Zeidler, explained why I needed more time....and WHALA (is there even a correct spelling for this word....oooooops...almost broke my own first rule for this blog....don't give a shit if something is spelled wrong!)!!!!

Next...Oh wait it's exactly 8:50 am...the stupid store has to be open....NEED my Diet Pepsi fix (better get a 4 pack of Red Bull while I'm at it)...gimme a sec........YES!!!!! I can see the red neon "OPEN" sign from my balcony...So...throw on my old sneakers, my leather jacket...and run, don't walk...smack a vein...and go buy a large bottle of the good stuff....and, then...crank the music and PAINT!!!! Today's album of the day: URGE OVERKILL: SATURATION... So, I guess this is where we part my love...don't forget to meet me at the top of the Empire State building on New Years eve!!!!!

Joey DAMMIT!

THE BEST BREASTS IN THE HISTORY OF FILM!

2009-11-17T05:21:00.000-08:00

OH UMA!!! I remember when the brilliant film Dangerous Liaisons was first released in 1988 , I was very interested in going out and seeing it. Great story...Lust, Seduction, Revenge (what's not to like)! Great cast...John Malkovich, Glenn Close and the yummy Michelle Pfeiffer! Great director...Stephen Frears! Plus I had read a rave review of the film in Movie Line magazine, that also mentioned a certain young actress named Uma Thurman, and a great scene in which this up and comer's breasts are revealed. The critic noted that the whole audience let out a gasp during the screening because of the wondrous orbs that this Uma possessed. I ran, not walked to the theatre!!!

So, last night on FakeBook, because, as usual I couldn't sleep...I did one of their supremely stupid polls. This one with the mega-cerebral title of something like: "5 HOT PEOPLE"...so I put down five names, not including the "Too Hot Already...Stop It!" Megan Fox (but God...she is SO Fucking Hot!!!!!)! I listed Grace Kelly (maybe the most beautiful woman who ever lived), Selma Hayek ( I just want to see her and Penelope Cruz do it...I'll pay anything you ask Selma!), Rita Hayworth ('nuff said), Kate Beckinsale (who just may be replacing Megan as the hottest babe in the world at this moment)...and UMA!

Sooooo...along comes my good friend, fellow film lover, and a great filmmaker in his own right (ya see what I'm doing, right? I want a love scene with one of his hot actresses in his next film), JaiDixit. He comments on how much he agrees with my Hot list...but poo-poos Uma. Now, I figure it out right away...the man hates Tarantino films! Now, personally I can't stand Tarantino as a human being...we had a run in a while ago in a restaurant...Biggest Asshole Ever...but that's another blog, but I sure do luvs his movies (most of them anyway)...in fact Inglorious Bastards is still my favourite film this year. But, back to Jai...so that would explain why he's dissing the gorgeous Ms. Thurman! Fine!

NOT FINE! So, because I have to ALWAYS be right (as a lot of you already know)...I wrote Mr. Dixit a rebuttal in today's FakeBook status report. It goes as follows........ "ahem-hem...Mr.Jai Dixit, UMA THURMON NOT HOT!!!??? Jai, put away your Star Trek Mega-Fab Box-Set DVD for a moment, put on the brilliant Dangerous Liaisons. The scene in which John Malkovich seduces the virgin Uma(GULP)...he tears open her blouse to reveal THE BEST BREASTS to ever appear on the silver screen!!! The whole audience in the theatre GASPED all at the same time. I've never heard anything like it! UMA IS HOT!!!"......SO THERE...Poooooey on you. And it's true, it happened in my audience as it did at the Movie Line critics screening...everyone gasped at the splendor that is Uma Thurman's great, bodacious Ta-Ta's!!!!!

That Jai, is why Uma is in MY Top 5 Hotties!!!! Anyone that is asked to portray Venus, as she did in the great Terry Gilliam's film, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen has to be HOT!!!

Jai, please don't take this personal...you're a great guy, I like drinking pints with you, I loved your last film, It Happens Incredibly Fast (I hope I got that right! I'm not just trying to score brownie points here, it really is good), you own one of the best paintings I've ever done, and most importantly...you owe me a wad of cash, but c'mon...ALL I AM SAYING IS GIVE UMA'S BREASTS A CHANCE!!!...everybody now...SING!

Joey DAMMIT!

The DAMMIT! Interview: Up Close and Lovin' It !

2009-11-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack...
Didja miss me????

Today a treat (so don't say I never give ya anything!)...Instead of given' ya a boring, ol' fashioned Bio of sorts...I thought you creative types reading this fine, fine literature would enjoy an interview I just did with the Mighty JLG365.COM...a great site that much like yours truly knows that the only important culture is PoP Culture!!! Read it here...then head on over to the REAL thing, 'cus it will actually look good, thus, making me seem much more articulate than I really am. So...Enuff self-deprecation....Ladies & Gentleman I give ya the Joey DAMMIT! Interview!!!

JLG365.COM

Let's take a ride back in time. Tell me about your childhood. Where were you born?

Well, on my first bio that I used to send out to the media, I was born in
the jungles of deepest darkest Africa, and raised by a family of
chimps...until I was adopted by The DAMMIT!'s, a family who had made their
vast fortune in the sex-toy industry. But....in reality, I was born in
Madeira, Portugal (island in the Atlantic, actually closer to Casablanca
than Portugal...and that just sounds much more romantic anyway), and
immigrated to the lovely metropolis of Toronto when I was 4 years old. Not a
weird childhood or anything....well...I really was an altar boy, was very
much into the Catholic religion and it's theatrics, and had every intension
of going into the priesthood....then came a lil' something called puberty.Oh
well...

At what age did you become interested in the arts? Why?

I get asked that a lot and the answer is...I was born an artist, and I'd be
really surprised if most "artists" don't feel the same way. I mean I was
drawing from the word go. My mom says the first thing she noticed of mine
and thought, "hey, the little fucker just may have a talent after all", was
a drawing of Samson knocking down the pillars, that I had drawn on the
inside of my Sunday school text book. Then it was superheroes, sports stars,
KISS...nude girls, and so on up the food chain. Why? I honestly don't think
I ever had a choice really. I think it has all to do with being in the
spotlight and creating. I mean think about it...altar boy, to rock singer,
to "fine" (I hate that term) artist. I was always on stage in one form or another.

When did you know that being an artist was your "true calling"?

In the middle of the night, in bed, in a manic episode, while drinking my
third large bottle of Diet Coke and writing at super speed in my journal. It
was the summer of 1993. I mean I had always known I was a good drawer, had
already made a bit o' a name as a cartoonist around town and all, but Joey
DAMMIT! was certainly born that night. The name, the Manic Montage style,
the self-promo...all that night in bed!

Who were some of your early influences?
As far as artists went , in the beginning it was comic book artists,
especially Bill Sienkiwicz and Frank Frazetta and his larger than life Conan
(and more) paintings. Then I found myself not only being influenced by
Robert Rauschenberg, Warhol and Basquiat...but even more by the genius of
Dave McKean and his graphic novel covers, Nick Bantock and his art in the
Griffin & Sabine trilogy... MOVIES!!! Like the manic-film stocks of Natural
Born Killers, and the opening credits and mood of David Fincher's
SE7EN. Brilliant!

Tell me about your artistic style ("Manic Montage"). How long does it take
you to create a single piece of work? Do you ever work on more than one
thing at a time?

The Manic Montage, as I mentioned earlier came from a very long manic
episode...seemed to fit my mood, and the mad, frenzied look of what I was
creating. Where in the beginning I could do a piece in a day or two, now it
can take a week to two or three weeks...a lot depends on my mood, how much
time I have to work, the size of the piece, etc. And, yeah...most of the
time I'm working on two separate pieces at the same time....I'll work on a
canvas until I can't go any further because the paint, or the glues have to
dry. I'll put that one aside, and continue where I had left off on the other
one. I once had this deadline to meet, and worked on four at the same
time...you wanna talk manic!

It is obvious pop culture, especially music, is prevalent in a lot of your
pieces. What is your favorite type of music as well as your favorite
musicians?

Yes, very influenced by music, but influenced by film I'd say just as much.
My musical tastes run the gamut in the same way my art is ... mixed
genres/ mixed media. I'm one of those people that get bored very, very fast...so I have
these mixed tapes (actually CDs now) that I make, called "RadioDAMMIT!" (I'm up to vol.#42...and have even sold a few to people and clubs), and
it's like sitting in a car, constantly changing the station...it can start
with Nine Inch Nails, next Tony Bennett, next Waylon Jennings, next the
Pistols and 15 songs later it ends with the theme song from Shaft or Twin
Peaks. I do have to admit I am very much a gigantic fan of Trent Reznor....notice
what he did with the Natural Born Killers soundtrack...Dylan, Patsy Cline,
NIN and Leonard Cohen back to back...that's what got me started on doing my
mixed CDs I guess. Also love the eclectic sounds of Jane's Addiction. So, it
was a helluva treat to see Jane's and NIN playing together this last summer.

Although I love all your pieces, there are a few from your galleries in
particular that I am dying for the "inside scoop" on. Will you kindly take
me and my readers through what went on in your mind when you created these
pieces:

"JAYNE MANSFIELD: HEAD" (My personal fave)

HEAD was actually a life changer literally....I had not painted or even
doodled in over a year and a half. I was going through a very long, horrible bout of depression, and
I had even told my shrink that I was done as an artist. Then an artist
friend of mine, Nancy, phoned me up and asked if I'd be interested in doing a group
show; the theme being cars, in one way or another. I actually sighed and
groaned out loud when she asked. I had absolutely no interest in doing art,
never mind about automobiles, something I have no interest in... and told
her so. So she snaps at me and says, "DAMMIT JOEY!!!...it's right up your
ally!!!!"..."In what fucking way?", I asked..."Look ...Jayne Mansfield, how'd she die
Joey???"...I said ..."decapitated in a car accident!"....SHIT! I put down
the phone, grabbed the book Hollywood Babylon, and right there, as I
had imagined, was a 2 page black n' white shot of the gruesome accident scene! I
sketched the full painting in 5 minutes, with the word "HEAD" repeated over
and over behind her...I mean the sexual connotation and all made it that
much better...it was done in a week...and I swear I have never gone longer
than a week, since that night, with out working on a painting!!! GOD! Ask a
single, easy question, and I give ya a novel. Sorry...that shan't happen
again.

"ROBERT SMITH: OLD PAINTED DOLL IN THE THROES OF DANCE"

It was for a Halloween/birthday show (yes, I was born on October 31st.
kids)...and I'm a big fan of Smith and the Cure....and I wanted to create
"CREEPY"....perfect subject matter...love the color's and mood of that
piece.

"CIRCUS CIRCUS"

Because I am so fascinated with clowns...like so many people I've met. I
think it's that they're suppose to be funny, but I see them as scary and
creepy (there's that word again)...I mean, hello...JOHN WAYNE
GACY!!!...'nuff said!

"THE BETTY BOX"

Simple...I love Betty (or Bettie, whichever you prefer, I've seen it spelled both ways), and it gave me a
chance to play around with some 3-d work....I love doing stuff in tangerine
crates!

"JESUS VS. SUPERMAN (WHO WOULD WIN?)"

OH! Did I ever get in trouble with the Christian Right over that piece!!! A
small group of them actually picketed the exhibition that painting first
appeared in. I was in full anti-Christian mode at that period of my life,
and I loved the idea and title...based on when we were young boys reading
superhero comics...you know, "Who would win in a fight if The Hulk fought
The Thing???"...that's all it was. The best part, and I swear this is a true
story, I had a group of friends around me as witnesses...One of these
bible thumpers asked me, "OK...who WOULD win???"...and with out a seconds
hesitation, I mean, it just came into my head just like that...I answered,
"neither...they're both fictional characters." Guess there may be a God
after all and he hates these idiots as much as I do.

What is your proudest accomplishment?

Don't even have to think about that one. Beating horrible, horrible 18 years of Depression, and just turn around
and do the best work of my career, and see that career take off by leaps and
bounds all in a little more than a year. Believe me...nothing else even
comes close!

What advice would you give to the struggling artist?

Don't for one second think that being a starving artist is in any way
romantic or cool. Might have been in Paris in the 20's...but now...DO NOT BE
AFRAID TO MARKET YOURSELF!!! PROMOTE YOURSELF AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN!!!! There
is no shame in that, and if someone tells you otherwise, laugh in their
face, and lend them a few coins.

Are all your pieces for sale? Do you do commissioned work? If so, how can
my readers contact you?

All my pieces are for sale. A lot on my web site are sold, so look for the red sold star. I've been very lucky, I do a ton o'
commissions...in fact right now I'm freakin' out 'cus I can't keep up...but
I love doing them. You can contact me by going to said
site...www.joeydammit.com ...take a look around then hit the contact link,
and send me an e-mail. And, we're putting up ALL of my my 2009 work and
commissions before the end of November...by far the best stuff I've ever
done!

Finally, if you could describe how you see the world in one word, what
would it be?

"INTERFUCKINESTING!"

POP, CULTURE, AND THE INSOMNIA FROM HADES!

2009-11-13T02:38:00.000-08:00

OK...Let's give it a shot shall we??? 5:40 in the morning...Huh??? I hit the sack early last night with my book, glass of milk, and 3 Dad's oatmeal raisin cookies (usually I only allow myself 2, but what the Hades (oh... I'm reading EXILE ON MAIN STREET: A Season In Hell With The Rolling Stones...great read...oh that Keif!). I have been, as per usual, having trouble sleeping, so today being a big, busy day (which seems to be everyday of late), I knew I NEEDED a good nights sleep...NOT...fucking NOT!!! NADA...I gave up at 4:45am! I'm gonna be running around all day with 2 of my partners in art crime, dropping off postcards for the upcoming, mighty TOUCHED BY FIRE event on November the 26th....sooooooo, looks like it's gonna be another Red Bull kinda day.

Now, as a quick introduction to my new blog/mondo-rant-galore page, THE DAMMIT! DIATRIBE, just wanted to lay down some rules and regs for ya....It's about the idea, the theme, the rant, the vent, the love-in...NOT the spelling, grammar, punctuations, etc. I don't give a shit if it's a run on sentence... I couldn't care less if I spelled Masatewshus (you know, where Boston lives) wrong...that's for the editor to do, and mine left me all alone here and moved to Montreal, so she could be closer to the Language Gestapo and "real bagels"! There! That's all the rules either of us need to know...and now that we know the rules, we can go ahead and break 'em. I'm still feeling my way around these parts...soon titles will be bold, maybe in some god-awful colour...look!...It'll get better OKAY!!! You'll notice a lot of exclamation marks...what the fuck do you expect from a guy who spells his name DAMMIT!

So welcome, pour yourself another shot, take another hit, wonder why you're not getting laid this very second instead of reading this thing...and ask yourself one very important question: "Why haven't I bought one of Joey DAMMIT!'s Lou Reed Limited Edition Art T-shirts yet, and Punk's already bought 2???...in fact I should buy a few, because this has to be the best fucking X-mas gift (not counting the Obama Chia Pet planter...I kid ya not, it grows green hair...I saw a commercial on the glass teat the other day) on this sad, dirty, putrid, angry, little planet !!!"

That's it for now...'cus I haven't the foggiest what I'm doing here...and Oh shit...how do I upload or download a photo again??? Hey...it's like sex...right now consider me a virgin...but you know I'll be a fast learner, and in 2 or 3 sessions....ORGASMS GALORE BABY DOLL!!!

Joey DAMMIT!
www.joeydammit.com

This is my INTRO...

2009-11-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

Hello World

This is take one. Welcome to PlanetDAMMIT!