Go Padres! (San Diego punk rock, and the National City Sluggers)

O.K. so like any new blogger I am bursting with blog energy, and am posting like a madman. But I promise it will tail off, one of these days, huh, wait, that's not a good thing. I would like to post maybe once or twice a week, it's like band practice, too little and your band will suck, too much and your girlfriend will leave you!

I was clicking around the Swami Records board and I found a link to this live concert featuring the Hot Snakes, live at the Paradiso, in Amsterdam. The same Paradiso, in Amsterdam, that the live Joy Division record was recorded.
The Hot Snakes concert sounds pretty damn good, way above par, sounds like a soundboard recording, this would be a helluva bootleg, rock out.
Live SSSSSSnakes

Also coming from San Diego, is icon of conceptual art, John Baldessari. I always thought he would make a good Santa Claus, no really, I think someone needs to make an art piece about him, John Baldessari as Santa Claus.
Anyway, John Baldessari has a big exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MUMOK) here, in Vienna. It's a major retrospective, of one of the pillars of contemporary art. The exhibition is roughly divided into three sections: Paintings and photos, conceptual and documented work, and film based work.
One treat featured in this exhibition is, some of his early paintings, that survived his cremation project, are on display. Some of the artwork is really showing signs of age, and maybe need to be re-stored or even re-made. Interestingly enough, in this particular exhibition space, his paintings display really well, while some of his more famous photo based works, are looking pretty beat up, and seem to work better in reproduction (they're photos after all.)
In Typical Viennese fashion, the exhibition is presented with complete earnestness and seriousness. Maybe it's just the art world that takes itself too seriously, but there is a certain silliness to Baldessari's work, and with the work serenely displayed on pristine walls, the humor gets sucked out of the room. But still it's great to see his work presented together in this manner. And on top of that the Museum is free this month, so lots of people are flooding the museum, checking out his work.
MUMOK Wien John Baldessari