From: Tony Conrad (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jun 28 2009 - 08:20:40 PDT
Almost every word a propos Jack Smith or his works touches a hot button.
This is because Jack died intestate, leaving no clear instruction as to what
might be done to put his work before the public; the residue available to the
living has comprised three very different indicators. There is the internal
evidence of Jack’s work (itself subject to notoriously varied interpretation);
there is the legal issue (that is, the matter of Jack’s estate and its
ownership); and there is the continuing involvement of Jack’s various associates
and others who have exercised caring attention to his legacy (including in
particular members of the “Plaster Foundation”, who presumably saved his personal
effects from the dumpster, and film director Mary Jordan, who has assembled
reminiscences of Jack comprehensively among those who knew and worked with him).
To tighten this down, the Barbara Gladstone Gallery now lists the estate of Jack
Smith on its website; presumably rights attached to that estate should be
negotiated accordingly. However, the Plaster Foundation has seen to the sale of
film prints, including those at Kino Arsenal in Berlin -- which will host “Live
Film! (jack smith)”, a 5-day screening and convocation devoted to Smith, at the
end of October this year.
Jack was alternately extremely generous and then again sometimes not so. To
speak for the generous side: when he and I lived at 56 Ludlow Street in the early
1960s he gave me outright the only extant outtakes from Flaming Creatures, “in
case I might want to make a movie myself someday.” He also recorded hours and
hours of material not only for his film Flaming Creatures, but for my archive of
personal recordings. Much of this was later released by Table of the Elements on
two CDs. Jack credited me with the soundtracks for both Flaming Creatures and
Normal Love, but this was not simple generosity, since I worked extensively on
both projects.
I will be participating in Berlin in October, and I am also good friends with
Mary Jordan, and hopefully with all of the other players in the remaining tangled
skein of complaints and disagreements. Do I have my own personal beefs? Sure. For
instance, I can’t countenance the (unapproved) soundtracks that the Plaster
Foundation has married to both Flaming Creatures and especially Normal Love. My
advice in regard to Normal Love was sought and freely given, then ignored.
Nevertheless, I respect each of those who have aided the sustenance of Jack
Smith’s enduring influence and legacy, and the visibility (however bright or dim
that may be for the moment!) of his works.
--------t0ny
On Sun 06/28/09 12:31 AM , elizabeth mcmahon email suppressed sent:
> The New York Public Library purchased their newly struck print from
> Jerry Tartaglia, who's restored and made newly available many of
> Smith's works; contact info is on his own web site. Elizabeth
> McMahon
> --- On SUN, 6/28/09, THOMAS BEARD __ wrote:
> From: Thomas Beard
> Subject: Normal Love
> To: email suppressed
> Date: Sunday, June 28, 2009, 12:14 AM
>
> Hey Frameworks,
>
> Anyone know the print source for Normal Love?
>
> Thanks!
> TB
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at .
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at .
>
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://us.mc509.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=PipChod@aol.com
>
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.