The Tears of Things

THE VEIL IS THIN

Digital Art, Paranormal Photography and Narrative by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

The veil between worlds is thin in our backyard. See how the orbs drop by to skip and dance before my camera.

RETURN OF THE BEAUTIFULL STRANGER

Paranormal Photography by Catherine King, December 25, 2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

THE BELLRINGERS

Nature Photography by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

RINGING IN A NEW DAY

Nature Photography by Jerome du Bois. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

A few minutes after I took this photo of The Bellwether, Catherine captured the wild little flock. See the very next posting.

NIGHTFALL

Digital Photography by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

ONE TREE IN THE LONGEST NIGHT

PLUS:

NOW YOU SEE IT.

AND NOW YOU DON'T.

#2 in the series The Ghosts of B*df*rd F*lls. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

WELL . . . BYE

Well --- Bye.

BELLWETHER

New Series: The Wild Parrots of B*df*rd F*lls.
Nature Photography by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

STRANGERS NO MORE

Strangers No More. Nature Photography by Catherine King, December 16, 2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

And here is love
like a tinsmith's scoop
sunk past its gleam
in the meal-bin.

--Seamus Heaney, "Mossbawn"

The Handsome Stranger

The Handsome Stranger. Nature Photography by Catherine King, December 15, 2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

Oscar Wilde's Curative Couplet

Oscar Wilde's Curative Couplet. Digital Net Word Art by Jerome du Bois, 2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

TREE WITH AND WITHOUT SPIRITS

These digital photos were taken five seconds apart on December 12, 2005, in the early evening. (Photography by Jerome du Bois. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.)

Introducing The Ghosts Of B*df*rd F*lls.

TAKIN' OUT THE TRASH, V.2

By Catherine King

To our loyal Tears of Things readers:

I have never lied to you and I never would. Every word and image have been 100% genuine. The words have been labored over and the images have been unadulterated from the beginning. . .

I want to explain why the sidebar items we set up only yesterday are no longer there. The links about all the local trashy Phoenix art scene are still active in our postings. That's so that you all can be informed of how incompetent yet nonetheless invulnerable that scene was up to and including December 12, 2005. For the record. 'Cause we did a lot of investigative cultural journalism for the purpose of elevating the cultural climate around Phoenix.

But we do a lot of other things as well. Our own art and writing. So I did not notice until this afternoon just who is on the f*ckin' Board of Directors of Artlink. What a hoot: "Board of Directors." People, when you hear that term, you just automatically think classy culture.

Except when you're talking about Phoenix's Artlink, you're talking about something so skanky, I asked Jerome to remove the slimy organization from our sidebar and you will never read one more new word about these tw**k*rs on The Tears of Things. Because we just don't care how skanky the Phoenix art scene gets anymore.

Eat my dust, Artlink.

Catherine King for The Tears of Things
(and I'm right there beside her --Jerome du Bois)

PS. Speed kills --not soon enough, though.

JAMES 3

James 3. Digital Net Word Art / Concrete Poem by Jerome du Bois, 2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET, V.2

Fashion Art Photography by Jerome du Bois. Styling and Accessories by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

EVERYVERBEVERREVERBERATES

Digital Net Word Art by Jerome du Bois, 2001/2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

They're Laughing At You, Phil Gordon

Mr. Mayor:

If Mr. Alexander Scott Hughes was telling the truth when he wrote the following to us--

I am one of the artists that exhibited work at Artlinks 9th Annual Juried Art Exhibition. My work is solid and from the soul. I do not condone how Artlink has handled this exhibition. The works feel as if they were haphazardly hung, the lighting was poor, and the public was uninformed of the event. I was there opening night from seven till around eight thirty. It was about that time when one of the other guests told me that he overheard that the awards would not be handed out. There was no announcement, they simply left. I have called the Artlink office twice this week to ask about this unsettled matter and still have heard nothing back.

-- then Artlink can get away with anything and not have to justify their behavior, no matter how badly they screw up.

Artlink has a website which can be easily updated. They also have a discussion forum where they're quick to whine if the City asks them to obey laws, but where they're totally silent when it comes to answering questions about the Wearable Art Auction and the Juried Art Exhibition awards. (E.g., They couldn't come up with $300? Where's the membership money going? Who's looking at their books?)

Instead, they're hosting a stinky party about us. And they're laughing at you, too. For example, here's Bernard Schober, a loudmouth from Mesa:

. . . Apparently, Phil Gordon will be so shamed by this that he's going to cut all Artlink funding, have Jeff Falk executed, bulldoze the Grand Avenue galleries, and have Catherine King design all the Phoenix city uniforms (well, not so much design them as add fringe to them).

That's how seriously they take a situation which might amount to fraud. We really think you should be ashamed by your support of these irresponsible people; and you ought to begin to hold them accountable by looking into Artlink's accounting records. These clowns on the forum might stop laughing if, for once, someone forced them to stick to the subject at hand, instead of indulging in their usual arrogance and slander.

Sincerely,

Jerome du Bois
Catherine King
The Tears Of Things
kinganddubois@cox.net

Artlink Continues To Fall Apart

by Jerome du Bois

We're outsiders. We don't go to First Fridays or other openings, we don't schmooze with any of the art people in this town; too many enemies. We don't know what motivates these people, or their supporters; we just report on what emerges in public, in their statements and behavior, and their events.

We didn't review the 9th Annual Artlink Juried Art Exhibition because we had decided we were going to ignore Artlink from now on, and not say another word about them. We also decided not to announce that fact. So we posted the photos and left.

Then some jerk put his doggerel about us up on the Artlink Forum, so we had to respond. (I predict that thread will be taken down by the end of the weekend, when the webmaster realizes once again that he can't afford to host the slanderers, skanks, and liars that collect like filthy flies around such rotten logorrhea.)

Now we have received an email from one of the artists in the exhibition, Alexander Scott Hughes. It is one of the most civilized emails I've ever received. Refreshing. (I've reprinted the whole thing after the jump.) He chides us --correctly-- for lumping all the art together as "crappy." I acknowledge that; we were just sick to death of Artlink, every member of the board, and everything it stood for. We figured pictures tell thousands of words, as well. Let people judge for themselves.

But Mr. Hughes was at the opening, and he tells us about it. First, though, read this part of the announcement about the exhibition, published on the Artlink website:

Artlink is sponsoring an Opening Reception during Artlink's First Friday on December 2nd from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. Artlink First Friday shuttle Buses will be stopping at City Hall that evening between 6:00 and 10:00 PM. This year's prestigious panel of jurors included: Carolyn Robbins, curator of Education; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; John Spiak, Curatorial Specialist; Arizona State University; and Terry Ward, Midday Host; KJZZ. Recipients of the Juror's Awards ($100.00 per Juror) will be announced at the Opening Reception.

Now, read Mr. Hughes's experience of that night:

I am one of the artists that exhibited work at Artlinks 9th Annual Juried Art Exhibition. My work is solid and from the soul. I do not condone how Artlink has handled this exhibition. The works feel as if they were haphazardly hung, the lighting was poor, and the public was uninformed of the event. I was there opening night from seven till around eight thirty. It was about that time when one of the other guests told me that he overheard that the awards would not be handed out. There was no announcement, they simply left. I have called the Artlink office twice this week to ask about this unsettled matter and still have heard nothing back.

We have been telling people for a long time that Artlink is unprofessional and unaccountable.

Again, we don't know what motivates these people. But the world can judge their public behavior.

It's unexplicable and despicable. But that's the Artlink pros for you.

For you. You can have them, Phoenix. In fact, you seem to be stuck with them.

Why is that? we wonder.

[Here is Mr. Hughes's email.]

Mr. du Bois

I am one of the artists that exhibited work at Artlinks 9th Annual Juried Art Exhibition. My work is solid and from the soul. I do not condone how Artlink has handled this exhibition. The works feel as if they were haphazardly hung, the lighting was poor, and the public was uninformed of the event. I was there opening night from seven till around eight thirty. It was about that time when one of the other guests told me that he overheard that the awards would not be handed out. There was no announcement, they simply left. I have called the Artlink office twice this week to ask about this unsettled matter and still have heard nothing back. This was very unnerving. I have been in the art scene downtown for a long time and actually stopped exhibiting when one of my works was stolen from the Mainstay Art space in April of this year due simply to the owners outright neglect. Now I consider not showing downtown until there is some stability.

I do not on the other hand take lightly my art being called "crappy."
"Looks real good for Phoenix, doesn't it, Phils? Keep up the crappy work. These are the people who are now exhibiting in your City Hall, and their supporters."

I understand frustration with the art world in Phoenix all too well, but shotgun blasting in generalizations is unfair. I am one of those artists who have worked hard to fine-tune my craft and I also take great pride in the art that I produce. Nothing was ever handed to me nor have I ever asked for a free ride. I hope you consider this when writing about art and artists in Phoenix, there are good artists here, they just need the opportunities that places like New York, L.A., and Chicago have provided to make there communities blossom into strength. This however takes time and the right guidance.

sincerely,

Alexander Scott Hughes

[Readers: this is the way to communicate with us.]

[UPDATE: Also, The Tears Of Things --Catherine King and Jerome du Bois-- would like to say that, in our opinion, Artlink owes Mr. Hughes $100, since his is one of the three best pieces in the exhibition.]

SECRET-KEEPERS

Fashion Art Photography by Jerome du Bois. Styling and Accessories by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

Just Look At The Skanky Whores The City Of Phoenix Supports: Open Letter To Phil Jones & Phil Gordon

by The Tears Of Things

Okay now-- anybody there at City Hall watching? Just look, Phil Jones, Phil Gordon, "Krista" Gordon: what your precious Artlink is doing now! Yeah, we Phoenicians should just open our pocketbooks and throw more money at 'Krista's" old friends.

Your thuggish old friends and their lame gophers are too thick to realize that they leave telling images that may be captured for evidence, perpetuity, whatever. . .

Back in October some skank posted this on Labelhorde, another City favorite. And now yesterday a so-called poet called EtienneX, who has sent us several infantile emails, reposted something he posted six months ago on artish. It's right there right now on artlink's forum --a stupid personal attack. (We've reprinted it after the jump, for the record.)

[Update: and now I've deleted it.]

Looks real good for Phoenix, doesn't it, Phils? Keep up the crappy work. These are the people who are now exhibiting in your City Hall, and their supporters.

A Pagan Christmas Card

The Gospel Of Thomas. Digital Net Word Art by Jerome du Bois, 2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

BETTER'N BETS'

Fashion Art Photography by Jerome du Bois. Styling and Accessories by Catherine King. Do not reproduce in any form.

Note by Catherine King

It was so romantic when Jerome bought me this Betsey Johnson corset-style top a couple of years ago! I loved the fabric and admired the construction of the garment from the very beginning.

The silk is a very deep wine-colored very small plaid. I feel I remember it from the Nineteenth Century. It's so evocative it makes me want to play some Civil War music and cry. . .

Anyway, the corset has six long tapered bones and fourteen sets of hooks. The detailing is superb. That's why I never could understand for the life of me why on earth Betsey put all that effort into such an impressive piece of couture, and then dropped the ball when it came to the finish.

I had to acknowledge that the way Betsey slapped the lace along the top of the corset was as disappointing as the rest of the garment was satisfactory. What was Betsey thinking? It just goes to show you, never put anyone up on a pedestal, not even one of your favorite Female American Couturiers.

Okay, so now I had admitted to myself that my Betsey Johnson corset top needed some help. But what to do? I didn't want to take off the lace that was already there. But when I tried to picture covering up Betsey's stretched, skimpy lace with more lace, well, there was no way to do that smoothly, seamlessly.

Then it occured to me --add the required improved lace to the inside of the top of the garment, behind Betsey's deficient lace, not covering it up. And my favorite old black slip was longing so for another incarnation.

So I cut the bust off of the slip and sewed it, lingerie straps and all, right into the top of my Betsey Johnson corset. It looks way better with two sets of straps showing. Then I looked at the bottom of the garment. It must be said, Bets' cheated a little there as well. Wouldn't the bottom of the corset look better with a ruffle all around? And so I cut the lace hem off my old slip and gathered and sewed it along the bottom of Better'n Bets'.

Well here you go-- with Better'n Bets' I introduce to you Upgraded Couture from The House of Not For Sale.

Next: My GaultiQueen, wherein a Gaultier kilt and a McQueen pencil skirt get hitched.

SETTLE

SETTLE. Concrete poem by Jerome du Bois. 2005. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

It's a depressing trend. American women seem to be pathetically eager to minimize, denigrate, and demean themselves. They are overdue for a new feminism, with ovaries.

There's a big difference between a major and a majorette.

"And between a wonk and a Wonkette," Catherine adds.

Modern American women need to study on those differences.

RECITE!

Digital Net Word Art by Jerome du Bois. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

This is the first word of the Koran, which I formed from fragments of an Hijazi Ultraviolet photographed by Gerd-R. Puin. It is not in Arabic --I don't know the Arabic word-- but that is completely irrelevant, since recitation, not understanding, is paramount in the Islamic catechism.

(And after all, Mohammed was illiterate, let's not forget, during a time when even travelling merchants spoke and wrote in three or four languages. What an exemplar! Not the pen, the scimitar! Bloody bastard.)

I made this piece instead of ranting about the dhimmitude swallowing Europe and lapping at our shores. Both Georgetown University and Princeton University are trembling to host any group which might criticize Muslims --for fear of violence. That's right, they fear Muslim students on American campuses. Ooooo, I'm skeered. I say we stand our ground and tell them to get used to it; get used to criticism and satire and angry denunciation. And if they break our laws --if they break a single window, a single bone-- we jail them. If they keep it up, we deport them. Simple as that. We should do it soon, too, since ten thousand Saudi students are about to start streaming to our shores.

And so I take the opportunity to repost "Seven Statements For Muslims," after the jump. I repeat that I mean --and understand-- every word of it.

[Originally posted November 2, 2004.]

No dhimmis here. Ever.

by Jerome du Bois

Today we vote, and the war against Islamofascism is the central issue, and blogs everywhere will speculate about this and that, and what it all means.

A few hours ago, a Dutch filmmaker named Theo Van Gogh -- yes, of that family -- was stabbed and shot to death by a Muslim man for making a ten-minute film about Islamic domestic violence against women, with Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The message is clear that in Europe, Muslims will kill you for criticizing them.

I'm about to start criticizing Muslims, including American Muslims, right now. (Reminder to locals: I'm lethally armed, and I don't call cops.)

"Questions for Muslims" appear on any number of websites, some sponsored by, for example, evangelical Christians -- 60 Questions Muslims Don't Like To Be Asked!" -- and also Muslims, including the curious Before the Wedding: 150 Questions for Muslims To Ask Before Getting Married. And then there are the invaluable illuminators Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes, ex-Muslims like Ibn Warraq and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and bloggers like Charles Johnson constantly peppering Muslims with questions.

I don't want to ask any Muslims any questions. Their arrogant sense of superior spiritual sanctimony makes me nauseous, and I work to advance their humility. I think it's time non-Muslims simply made statements to Muslims. Here are some of mine:

1. The Jews are not a question mark. (Thought experiment: Imagine a history of the world without any contributions by Muslims. Now imagine the same without Jews.)

2. Women are equal to men. They are not property or chattel or anything less than any man, and indeed superior to any man who thinks women should be anything less than any man.

3. The Qu'ran was not orally or mentally channelled inerrantly to Mohammed by the Angel Gabriel. It is a palimpsest, edited, abridged, and extended over many years. This is just historical fact, attested to by the Hijazi Ultraviolets.

4. Allah isn't alone. He shares the world with all the gods in Mecca's cave, and Yahweh, Shiva, Chango, and many more.

5. I don't trust your words. You have a practice called Taqiyya: "Muslims hold that the Islamic version of dissimulation is applied only externally with the tongue and not internally (on the heart, spirit, and soul). In other words, a Muslim is allowed to say untruths to a non-Muslim if in their heart they still respect the truths that they externally deny." (Definition from fact-index.com.) And you want us to trust Muslims? No. Because of taqiyya, I cannot believe a single thing any Muslim says.

6. There is nothing spiritual or mystical about the Arabic language. It may not even be of Arabian origin; evidence suggests it originated in the Levant. So chanting anything in Arabic, or writing it down, is no different than chanting or writing in English or German or Spanish or Esperanto.

7. There will be no more one-way tolerance. "One man, one vote, once" don't go here. Submission is not in our law, our tradition, our Constitution, or our blood, habibi.

Enough for now, except to repeat the original line: No dhimmis here. Ever.

As far as I'm concerned, Islam is anti-life.

LUCKY WOMAN WITH APPLES

Fashion Art Photography by Jerome du Bois. Styling and Accessories by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

COSMIC WESTERN V.2

Fashion Art Photography by Jerome du Bois. Styling and Accessories by Catherine King. "Green Doubloons," Studded Self-Fringed Jeans-Leg Bag, by Catherine King. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce in any form.

Artlink's 9th Annual Juried Art Exhibition: A Non-Review, With Pictures

by The Tears Of Things

In an earlier posting we described trying to review this show, and how it wasn't up yet. Now it's up, but whoever set it up needs some lessons in basic communication.

You walk into the giant City Hall building and look around in vain for any sign or poster about the exhibition. Nothing. When you finally find it, in a wide hallway on the east side, what you see is some grey accordion dividers, familiar to millions of cubicle dwellers. Artworks hang from the dividers, but nowhere can you find an explanation of what you're looking at. Did some employees assemble this thing to display their amateur stuff? One of the dividers is completely devoid of artwork, making the whole thing seem unfinished. Nowhere do you see the word "Artlink."

The wall labels for the artworks show a little thumbnail photo of the piece, the title, and the artist. That's it. No other description, especially of the media used in some of these pieces. This is elementary. Shari Bombeck and Michael Hudson and Steve Gompf and all those clowns should know better.

And where's the poster? Where's the proud colorful announcement? Where's the schedule of events? Who won prizes? How would we know?

* * * * * *

. . . And now a day has passed since we wrote the above words. We've decided they will be close to the last we will say about Artlink and the downtown clowns. They are simply not worth the effort.

The last words are addressed to Artlink's sponsors --these organizations and people: New Times, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, The Arts & Business Council of Greater Phoenix, Copper Square Downtown Phoenix, the Friends of the Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix College, Arizona Arts Supply, Bentley Gallery and Stephen Rodgers.

Take a good look at the photos below, and reconsider your sponsorship. We predict these photos and two postings will be the only record of this exhibition and will shoot to the top of their Google page, since Artlink's directors continue their legendary incompetence. Really, it's as if they share a single brain among them, and a stupid one at that.

Here are 17 photos by Catherine King of 17 of the twenty-four pieces in the exhibition, presented without further commentary.

1. L'il Chief, by Alexander Scott Hughes
2. Sanctuary, by Heather Green
3. Midnight Walk, by Alyse Tartell
4. SEWN/Typewriter Keys, by Kaori Takamura
5. Blue, by Allison Templeton
6. Spencer, by Allison Templeton
7. Red As Night, by Catherine Hammond
8. Box of Sins, by Kate Timmerman
9. Filaments in Flight, by Candace Greenberg
10.My Orange Tree, by Trilby Van Deusen
11.Family Tree, by Daniel Friedman
12.Starburst, by Charles Taube
13.Blood Sacrifice II, by Judy Wurtz
14.Glory Box, by Hewlaine Von Bretzel
15.The Tumbler, by Cynthia Feig
16.Florence Lovers, by Renee Palmer Jones
17.100 Years of Humiliation, by Joan Yen

They're Thinking So Much Smaller All The Time: Phoenix Writers Bloc

by Jerome du Bois

I bother with bothering Phoenix Writers Bloc for several reasons: they claim to be real writers, but they're not, and we're here to point to higher standards; some of them receive, have received, or will receive, or will apply for, public money --my money. Catherine's money. And two of them, Steve Jansen and Kevin Vaughan-Brubaker, have written critically about us. I'm just keeping up my end of the deal, boys. As for the rest of that shrinking outfit --from ten down to five now-- we'll share what they're up to this December First Friday --tonight, in fact. This month Writers Bloc will feature . . .

zines

I struggle in vain to find a form of communication more irrelevant in the age of the internet. Maybe carving glyptics on clay tablets. Where does one find these little paper treasures? Oh, you have to go to Unchanging Clichés in East Tempe, or metroflapadoodle waaaaay out in Apache Junction or somewheres. Or you used to. Now you can just go downtown, to Sixth Street Studios, to examine the printed infantilism this silly crew has tweezed from within their navels. (And if you think the epithet "silly" is too harsh, read the "bios" on this page. Just scroll down.)

From the Writers Bloc Website:

Come join us this Friday, December 2 for the Writers' Bloc Zine Show: A Celebration of Local Underground Literature. Check out locally made zines in the gallery room, including Modest Proposal, Your Invisible City, Male Pattern Radness, and Introverts Unite! Admission is free.

I searched these titles on the internet, which unearths the so-called "underground." Underground Literature. What a joke. Every one of these so-called zines is a tiny tendril in a myspace basement, a damp darkness where many skanky mushrooms grow. These are neither blogs nor sites, but maggot-white parasites. Except Introverts Unite, whose domain name is now nowhere, on the eve of the big zine show; good work, Steve Jansen, I'd expect no less from the likes of you.

When visitors step into "the gallery room," will copies of the four --count 'em: four-- zines be exhibited in oak-and-glass vitrines under spotlights, or will the visitors ackshwally be able to handle them?

Four zines.

Admission is free. But let me, with Catherine's help, provide more reasons for you to avoid this exhibition, these people, and everything they stand for.

Look at this.

This was . . . created . . . by a little brat named Brandon Huighens. Catherine and I have been gritting our teeth ever since we saw it, for at least two reasons.

First, the infantile, lazy lettering is a mere disguise. What you are looking at, viewer, reader, emerged from an aggressively talentless arrogant little prick, with aesthetic syphillis of the brain, who considered the vast expanse of fonts, colors, formats, and effects at his actual fingertips, and said, "No, I'd rather scrawl. After all, I learned all I need to know in kindergarten, where my art teacher said, 'There are no mistakes in art.' So now, you must accept whatever I put out there."

No, you twit, we don't. Both Catherine and I have created whole alphabets --clean, sharp, and all twenty-six characters consistent with one another --by hand, with wood, with lead, with plaster, with paper-- beautiful letterforms-- so you don't get away with your worthless lazy gesture, Brandon. It's beyond insulting.

Second, look again at the drawing on this announcement. This is a cartoon of Hunter S. Thompson. With a pistol in his hand.

I swear I do not understand why Mayor Phil Gordon or Phil Jones would get behind these people --I mean Cindy Dach and Greg Esser and the rest of the dwindling dingleberries down there.

Read the caption: "Writers Bloc Comes Doctor Recommended."

I wrote in my piece about Amy Silverman that she had a quotation from this evil piece of human slime posted above her desk. I haven't refreshed myself on the details of his demise, but the rough facts remain:

Not long ago, Hunter Thompson blew his brains out while sitting at the kitchen island of his house in Colorado, while on the phone with some ex-intimate, and while at least two of his adult children were asleep in the very house at the time.

You go look it up.

But now, the people who pay their dues at the failing Writers Bloc enterprise --yes, we see them casting about for local landlord lifeboats-- these people have cast their lots with a limp, dead medium and a cruel, dead self-murderer.

Good luck in the new year.