Think Again magazine #42 by Think Again

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NOVEMBER 07

Prague’s city magazine

INTRO

The More Things Change… This month marks a bit of a change-over for Think Again. Starting November of this year, your favorite Prague Magazine addiction will no longer be bi-lingual, choosing instead to split into two versions, an all-English edition and an all-Czech. So, all you English speakers will be able to enjoy each and every word as you read about the Mezipatra gay and lesbian ﬁlm festival, a piece examining the work of Canadian writer/photographer/ﬁlmmaker Bruce LaBruce, an exclusive interview with Deerhunter, an entirely new 5X5 section, and a new monthly self introduction by promising local young artists. Things keep right on changing and it’s up to you to keep up! Enjoy and let us know what you think.

8-9

10-11

12-13

14-15

20-21

22-23

24-25

26-27

32-33 5

URBANITE

Bollywood

Famufest

Keep a Breast

Roxy, the clothing brand, presents a unique traveling exhibition called Keep a Breast to increase breast cancer awareness by having artists create plaster forms of the female torso that are then auctioned oﬀ. This event, appearing for the ﬁrst time ever in the Czech or Slovak Republics, features an exhibition of plaster casts of a variety of famous female artist and celebrities including DJ Ladida, singer Tonya Graves, photographer Sára Saudková, singer Dara Rolinc, yachting champion Lenka Šmídová, and others. Their casts are decorated by local artists and designers such as Jan Bačkovský, Krištof Kintera, Jan Saudek, Vladimír Franz, among others and then auctioned at the event December 7th at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Proceeds go to the Association of Mammodiagnostic and Mammahelp. An online auction has been set up at www.galerie-vltavin.cz so that everyone can take part. Moreover, you can participate in a contest by building your own plaster of a bust (girlfriend, wife, babička, chick you meet at Mecca, etc.) and sending its photo in. The best busts received through the contest will also be auctioned. For more ino, a manual on working with plaster, or to donate to a very good cause, visit www.roxy.com/czech.

This year Famu festival is apparently reaching outside of its close-knit community to create a show that goes beyond their usual fare. Famufest traditionally presents the works of students studying at the Film Academy and brings together not only local cinemaphiles, but all sorts of local creative for a fun-ﬁlled get-together. This year, Archa Theatre will turn into an epicenter of audio-visual menagerie packed with dope concerts, workshops and installations. The Pitchfork darlings Deerhunter will headline alongside hip hop tinged Al-Haca and Strapo, plus Noel and Please the Trees. There will be a wide array of intriguing seminars, including a feature about a new breed of “analogue” music videos, animated visuals on the internet, ﬁlm posters, and lots more.

22/10–2/12

8–11/11/07

Czech and Slovak shopping centers

Archa Theatre

www.roxy.com/czech

www.famufest.cz

Meet Factory

nights

Cold winter nights might easily be warmed with a bit of hot comedy if you make your way over to the Fringe Comedy Nights this winter. Some of May’s best shows will be reappearing as well as some new acts well worth a watch. Bitchy gay comic Scott Capurro (Nov. 20th), Stephen Frost and his improv team (Nov. 27th), and the leather clad Fringe favorites Topping and Butch back for the sixth time on the 18th of December. Others to look for include Irish David O’Doherty making his Prague debut on the 4th of December. Enjoy.

Without question Prague has lacked decent space for art and music shows; thus the opening of the 5,000 square meter warehouse near Smíchovské nádraží is a welcome addition to the city. A multi-purpose venue, Meet Factory, brainchild of artist David Černý, incorporates artist studios upstairs and has three large rooms downstairs, each of which is dedicated to arts, ﬁlm, music, dance and theatre. “The mission of the Meet Factory cultural center is to connect Prague through international cooperation to the contemporary arts scene in Europe and the world.” www.meetfactory.cz

URBANITE

Fringe Comedy

www.fringe.cz

Filmasia Aero and Světozor cinemas will host the third annual Asian film festival Filmasia. This year, the festival focuses on Hong Kong cinematography. Over the four days of the festival, Filmasia will show thirty Hong Kong films, including Friday’s dedication to the films of Johnnie To, one of the most successful directors in the Hong Kong film industry for the last 18 years. Saturday night will be dedicated to Hong Kong’s take on the horror film. Filmophiles should not miss this intriguing look at Hong Kong filmmaking that is far and away the best of its kind to hit Prague yet.

29/11–2/12/07

Aero, Světozor, www.ﬁlmasia.cz

New New! Festival 2007 It’s easy to forget that there’s a whole world out there when you live in Prague. If you were to ditch your Prague-centrism for one gig in November, it should be for the annual New New! Festival which aims to present cutting edge electronic music and ﬁlm over the course of four days. This year’s highlights include shows by electronics master Murcof, the dark dubstep-grime act Milanese, laptop pop princess Tujiko Noriko, German Bodi Bill’s experimental techno pop, and ﬁlms by Michaela Grill, Josef Daberning and others. What’s more, there will also be a discussion on how to run a DIY label in Central Europe and an experimental opera show.

15–18/11/07

Brno, www.newnew.cz

THINK TANK

DEERHUNTER Text by Lucia Udvardyová

The fact that Deerhunter, one of the most captivating bands to emerge from the US indie scene, is coming to Prague was reason enough to have a chat with the band’s charismatic lead singer Bradford Cox about music, ﬂesh, and memories. When did you start making music? When I was about eleven or twelve on cheap tape recorders.

things that surround you, your ﬂesh, consumer electronics, credit cards, anything we apply meaning to.

You had quite a tumultuous time recording your debut LP Turn It Up, Faggot. In retrospect, what does it mean to you now? What memories does it conjure? There was a lot of chaos. I look back on those times and see that we were really trying to turn a big mess into something worthwhile. It makes me miss my friend Justin. It also makes me realize how diﬀerent I was then in some ways and how, alternately, I haven’t changed at all.

Your latest EP Fluorescent Grey is a description used for the color of a dead boy’s ﬂesh. What relevance does the body and ﬂesh have in your work? I think at times I am attracted to visceral images. That song was just a sad way of reminding myself that no matter how beautiful someone is to me or how obsessed I get with them, they eventually will rot and decay.

What were the major differences between recording your first LP and the second one, Cryptograms? The addition of my best friend from high school, Lockett Pundt, was the defining change. His guitar playing and other experimental tendencies had a lot to with it. Also the rhythm section of Moses and Josh became tighter and more fluid. What does “Cryptograms” stand for? Cryptograms had a lot to do with the idea that life is kind of encrypted in the

Whirlyball 7”, your EP, was only available in a Georgia record shop and it was also a ticket to your live show. Why did you decide to make this step? We didn’t. We had very little to do with that whole thing. It was Henry’s (Chunklet Magazine Founders) operation all along. Deerhunter is renowned for its live shows. How important are live shows for you and how do you prepare for them? I think my main point of concentration now is putting on a show that depends

more on musical delivery than the types of things I was doing that were perceived as shocking. Some people who were looking for a freak show might be let down. What was the best live show that you have played so far and why? That’s a tough question. There have been many that I really enjoyed. I liked playing at the Seaport festival in NYC because the wind was blowing in our faces. You seem to elicit fairly extreme reactions from your fans – both during your live shows and after. How important is the feedback from your audience for you? I elicit fairly extreme reactions from people just by going to the grocery store. I was sitting perched on a stoop in Harlem yesterday and this old man came up to me and asked I was from space. I don’t care about any of it anymore. I just want to make songs that help people. Your sound oscillates between ambient and more song-based stuﬀ, where do you see Deerhunter going in future? Back to the 50s.

Deerhunter Famufest 8/11, Archa Theatre www.famufest.cz

INFOBOX Deerhunter was formed in 2001 by singer Bradford Cox and drummer/keyboardist Moses Archuleta; the band was later joined by guitarists Colin Mee and Lockett Pundt and bassist Josh Fauver though the set-up of the band has changed several times throughout its existence and was also hit by the death of a band member. The band’s debut album, which was released without a title, but became known under Turn It Up Fagot, appeared in 2005, followed by the sophomore LP Cryptograms, which came out on the respected Kranky record label, same as the latest EP, Fluorescent Grey. Deerhunter is renowned for eﬀervescent live shows that in the words of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O are akin to a „religious experience“.

SUBCULTURE

Prague Turns Pink: Mezipatra 2007

Text by Travis Jeppesen

The theme of this year’s Mezipatra Festival is Rebellion and will focus on the work of two exceptional queer ﬁlmmakers, John Greyson and Ulrike Ottinger.

Aleš Rumpel, the queer film festival’s director, recently explained that the reason for selecting such an idiosyncratic theme had a lot to do with last year’s legalization of civil unions in the Czech Republic. Says Rumpel, “We realized that for many years the local community has been promoting the image of gays and lesbians as respectable citizens who live like the mainstream society and long for the same rights and institutions. Such an image is, however, too limited as it excludes punks, anarchists, gender and sexual experimenters and everyone who doesn’t fit into the norms of the ‘respectable’ society of the market economy and monogamous life.” As such, the work of Ottinger in particular seems to fit in well with this idea. Ottinger came of age in the

New Queer Cinema of the 1960s; unlike her German counterparts, however, Ottinger’s work was decidedly more experimental and hyper-stylized. Mezipatra will feature an overview of her filmic oeuvre of the years, including such gemstones as Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Popular Press, Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia, and Freak Orlando. Ottinger herself will be present throughout the duration of the festival. John Greyson began his career as a journalist, before branching out into video and performance art in his native Canada. His first feature film, Urinal, was released in 1988. Greyson will be in Prague for the festival to present some of his most important films, including the well known Lilies and Zero Patience. The Rebellion theme will be rounded out by a twentyfifth anniversary screening of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final film (and his only film in English), Querelle. Based on the novel by Jean Genet, Querelle is notorious as something of a flawed masterpiece. As he was deep in the throes of addiction during the making of the film, Fassbinder’s awesome powers had clearly begun to wane.

Still, the film is undoubtedly a classic of highly stylized queer cinema and is thus worth catching on the big screen. This year’s festival also includes a special section called “Passing the Test,” which is meant to evaluate the representation of homosexuality in Czech cinema of the past eighteen years. This is something of a dismal prospect, considering the fact that the subject has only rarely been explored in Czech film, and where it has, it is often done in a desultory manner. In this fashion, Mezipatra has chosen to screen Šeptej (Whispers), a David Ondříček vehicle that was notable in the mid-90s for focusing on gay life in Prague during that decade. Towards the end of the film, the main character figures out that he is not gay after all, and seemingly goes on to live a healthy, normal life, while his abandoned lover spirals into a binge of self-destruction and insanity – certainly not the most sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality to be seen at this year’s festival, but perhaps typical of how gays in the Czech Republic are viewed by the mainstream. And I still don’t understand how Nuda v Brně (Boredom in Brno), a film about two

(straight) mental retards who want to lose their virginity to one another, qualifies as a “queer film,” unless the festival organizers are inferring that homosexuality is a form of mental retardation—a position to which many cynical gays would likely concede. More promising is …a bude hůř (It’s Gonna Get Worse), a new film by director Petr Nikolaev (Kousek nebe). The film takes a look at a group of young people living in Czechoslovakia under communism who have purposefully built a lifestyle that completely rejects all of the instituted norms of Normalization. This rejection includes long hair, group sex among both genders, and a refusal to work. Why not? Rebellion might be extreme, but it can also be quite sexy. Let’s leave it to the punks at Mezipatra to show us how it’s done.

MEZIPATRA – 8th Czech Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 5 – 11/11/07 www.mezipatra.cz

11 2

FASHION

Kebab Pool

Palladium, Náměstí Republiky Mon – Sat 9.00 – 22.00 Sun 9.00 – 21.00 www.kebabstore.com If you want something quirky, original, and fashionable for the coming winter season head over to the newly opened street-art-design shop Kebab Pool at the Palladium Shopping Center. Prague’s second Kebab (the ﬁrst Kebab opened December 2006 on Dušní Street) also aims to be innovative and unconventional with a mix of cutting edge labels like Supremebeing, Skunk Funk, Desigual, and Aemkei. You will also run into the new label Boxfresh which goes for the rave and hip hop looks with the slogan “We are You!” Goorin Bros accessories come from a company with a century of experience in hat making that manages to somehow combine the best of vintage with an occasional ﬂash of the progressive. Kebab Pool features an interesting and original shop design created by two young designers, Daria Podboj and René Šulc from NDR studio. As the name indicates, the entire interior is built as a swimming pool with lockers, lanes, and water. Kebab Pool is a welcome addition to an already vibrant design scene here in Prague and you’ll enjoy oy a visit whether you go to actually get something or just to appreciate a rather unique store.

CHIC

CHIC FASHION

Trendy objects

Banana Guard Original music shirt It’s kind of cool, displays lyrics from fave tunes, and should help loads on Karaoke night. www.originalmusicshirt.com

Bruised and mushed bananas are a bummer that can now be easily avoided with the clever Banana Guard. Bananas? Maybe—but useful. www.bananaguard.com

Super Hanger Original, but it might give away your secret identity. We don’t think the real Superman uses this. www.comunistar.com

Ruler Gun

Chain Mail T-Shirt

It measures and is useful at banks for withdrawing more money than you actually have…lots more. www.atypyk.com

It’s really Chain Mail, and you can really try stabbing yourself with a broadsword to make sure. Just remember, it doesn’t stop bullets… www.thinkgeek.com

TECHT3 3

FASTER, STRONGER, BETTER

Text by Gordon Walker

Orgasmatron Read the directions before you try and use this gizmo or you might get seriously hurt. The Orgasmatron features eight copper arms that work a kind of magic on the scalp and neck creating an awesome tingly feeling of pleasure and relaxation. It’s not exactly an orgasm, but close enough to satisfy. www.ﬁrebox.com

Samsung / Bang & Olufsen Serenata The Serenata might appear to be simply an extremely high priced upside down iPod, but that’s where you’d be, well, mostly right, but not entirely. You see, it’s also a mobile phone. The MP3 player aspect features great sound, all kinds of storage capacity, and great sound quality. The phone gets by on the bling factor alone. www.bang-olufsen.com

Koncur stix Serious snowboarders didn’t know they need it, but here it is anyway—a telescopic pole that measures snow conditions, temperature, bearing, altitude and so on. It also has an emergency whistle that’s more useful for using right next to the ears of really annoying skiers. www.myspace.com/expansion17

Lasonic Boomboxes appeared to be things of the past as iPods have taken to ruling the streets, but with the Lasonic Ghetto Blaster iPod Dock, a cool merger has taken place that brings a groovy new look to MP3 players. You’ll be the Man as you cruise through the hood with this monster on your shoulder belting out your fave Carpenter tunes! www.lasonic.com

LED Invaders Door Mat If being a recluse is the name of your game, this doormat should be right outside your door. It not only ﬂashes space invaders to warn others that there’s a geek to beware of inside, but the green invaders light the way to the proper doorstep when you’ve had twelve too many. It might ruin your dating life, but then that’s what being a recluse’s all about, right? www.thinkgeek.com

Loit Eagle audio system The Russian Lebedev Art Studio has designed another piece of serious art that also functions nicely in the home. The new Loit Eagle Audio System is a high-end CD player that sits atop a sweet looking ampliﬁer. This is the kind of item that sets the serious players apart from the mere posers. www.artlebedev.com

SaY Mobile Phone It’s fun, small, minimalist, fully functional, and made of rubber. The SaY mobile phone will quickly set you apart from the hordes of Nokia and Sony users out there without having to spend a bundle. A nice quirky addition to the nonconformist collection. www.bluemapdesign.com

5X5 Radeq Brousil

Aleš Rumpel

Demonica Coca

Artist / Photographer

Director of Mezipatra

Burlesque dancer

www.myspace.com/pgint

www.mezipatra.cz

www.pragueburlesque.com

Top 5 things that come into your mind when you think of Prague

Top 5 Queer ﬁlms

Top 5 things that I love about burlesque

1. Atmosphere

1. Beer Beer Beer

1. Caravaggio

Beer Beer

(Derek Jarman, UK)

2. Women Women

2. Lilies (John

Women Women

Greyson, Canada)

Women

Beer Beer Beer

Beer Beer

4. Women Women

3. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, USA)

Women Women

4. High Art (Lisa

Women

Cholodenko, USA)

Beer Beer

Beer Beer Beer

November at the

Lesbian Film Festival Among his upcoming

Mezipatra, November

projects—excepting beer

5th – 11th

force STRČPRSTSKRZKRK.

Demonica at the show on the 29

8th Czech Gay and

an audio-visual tour-de–

Page or Dita von Teese

Prague Burlesque

about beer, or women

Bohemian Like You, and

5. Charismatic women such as Bettie

Sweden) Talk to Aleš at the

gallery, the club night

4. Period costumes

(Lukas Moodysson,

I think it’s mostly

exhibition in a Montreal

3. Elements of comedy

You can check out Tillsammans

…hm, just kidding

and women—is a solo

2. Style

Bordo club.

5X5 Michal Brenner Experimental promoter www.myspace.com/efha

FUNKFU

TOP 5 EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER

Artist, designer www.funkfu.net Top 5 Brands whose design I like

1. My geek heart fully recommends the lecture “Animated GIFs: The Symptomatic Moments Culture” by Palo Fabuš at Famufest. Saturday Nov 10, 4:30 pm at Archa Theatre. As I know Palo, it’ll have some hilarious, edifying, and deviant moments. For those brave to stay until

1.Apple 2. Wesc

6 pm, there’ll be a bonus selection of new generation music videos called “Analogue is the new Digital”.

2. November 22

in Roxy = Bulva Fabula, a project by David Beránek

(also curator of Sperm Cinema) presenting ﬁne audiovisual performances

3. American Apparel

and vj talents, this time as “Game Theory Edition”. New 8-bit project

4. + 41

soundtrack for his isometric housing schemes and swans), video-console-

5. Hotel Metropol

1a2v1 (VJ Kolouch has, thanks to Jaro Haro, ﬁnally found a suitable boy Panama Joe + DJ Dustman (aka Anhedonia), Stanzim fresh back from New Zealand with VJ D.rama and more. Free entry.

3. The Slovak ultra-intellectual “contemporary music festival” NEXT is Watch out for

so ubercool they don’t have a program yet… and haven’t conﬁrmed date

Funkfu’s fashion,

and place either. But I love them anyway. Last year they brought Pan

posters and exhibition

Sonic or Otto von Schirach to Bratislava, so even if they’re playing the

coming soon.

“unexpectable” position, there are some hints—probably in November and probably in Bratislava’s A4 club. Keep checking www.nextfestival.sk.

4. Sigur Ros will release a new record on November 5—a great Christmas present for your slightly depressed girlfriend or the perfect tranquilizer for the upcoming holiday season. There’s a rumor that thanks to some polar-day-celebrating’n’booze-selling corporation they’ll play Prague again next year, but don’t tell anyone. Also in November: a live CD by Daft Punk and remix album by Nine Inch Nails. Dinosaurs need some coke money from your Christmas pockets again.

5. You may have missed the grand opening with all the artist chit-chat and tetrapak wine, but don’t despair: the art is *still* there. “Still—another exhibition of painting” is running at Futura gallery at Smíchov until Nov 25, so go and enjoy the renaissance of this classic art technique. Don’t be fooled by some lately-too-familiar names (Hošek, Bolf, Šerých), there’s much more.

TRENDS

The Serious Business of Shopping

Text by Laura Baranik

it out of my sight. Well, since I’m already trying one thing on, I might as well try a couple more, I decide. The sales assistant promptly performs the same disappearing act with every item I pick up. When I enter the fitting room, there they all are, hanging expectantly on the rack, just begging to be bought. If I’m trying on so many, I should buy at least one, right? And so it goes. On Saks Fifth Avenue’s newly opened shoe floor (which is apparently large enough to have been granted its own zip code, 10022, by the United States Post Office), a sales rep compliments me on my bracelet and asks what I’d purchased earlier that day. At DKNY, they give me a cold bottle of water to drink while I’m browsing. After years of enduring cold shoulders at boutiques in Prague, the undue attention feels both wonderful and nauseating. I know that each time the salesperson asks my name or does me a favor; I’m going to feel that much more obligated to buy something. I know that these are sales tactics, and that these people work on commission and can lose their jobs if they don’t sell enough. By walking into their stores, we agree to play their game, to participate

I’ve spent the past week in New York City, the unoﬀicial capital of

in a make-believe world where the salesperson really is interested

all things excessive. My trip so far has ﬂown by in a blur of social

in how you’re doing today and where we, the consumers, have

engagements, gargantuan portions, hour-long subway rides, and

unlimited funds to spend on clothing we don’t need.

chance encounters with some of the strangest strangers on earth.

As I went from store to store in Soho and Midtown looking for my

Also featuring prominently on my activities list is a good deal of

winter coat and sweaters, I discovered a community of women who

time spent shopping – or trying to shop, as it’s turned out.

seemed to be experts at playing the shopping game. In fact, they

In the grand scheme of international shopping destinations, New

approach shopping as seriously as someone else would approach a

York teeters maddeningly between shopper’s heaven and retail hell.

job. I’ve watched them march into boutiques armed with shopping

Quirky boutiques, ﬂagship designer shops, and huge department

bags, demanding the Prada Mordoré bootie in gunmetal grey in an

stores abound; with enough time and money, you can ﬁnd just

eight and a half please. If said bootie is sold out, drama happens:

about anything. The current weak state of the dollar makes

the customer grimaces menacingly, and the sales clerk runs to

shopping here relatively pain-free for foreign visitors, particularly

telephone other branches. He returns triumphant.

during sale season, when prices are slashed more dramatically than

“They have ONE pair left in an eight and a half at the Fifth Avenue

in most European countries.

store,” he discloses. “They’ve put it on hold for you until six o’clock.”

I came to New York intending to purchase the following: a laptop, a

“Thank you,” the woman says earnestly, as if the clerk had just

winter coat, a sweater or two, and a few yet-to-be-determined items

rescued her newborn baby from the path of an oncoming train. She

that would catch my eye as I browsed around. As soon as I walked

strides oﬀ, leaving a cloud of Chanel #5 behind her.

into Bloomingdale’s, I knew there was going to be a problem. The

I can only assume that this woman has at least ﬁfty pairs of shoes

yet-to-be-determined items were everywhere. All of a sudden, I

in her closet. Did the additional pair make her a little happier

needed a new pair of jeans, some winter boots, a pashmina, a fall

than she was before? It’s hard to say. I found my winter coat, and

jacket.

my sweaters, and my laptop, and my now-determined yet-to-be-

“Let me start a ﬁtting room for you,” a perky sales assistant says,

determined items. I’m not happier, exactly, but I am most deﬁnitely

grabbing the t-shirt I’d been looking at from my hand and whisking

relieved.

VIDEO

Bruce LaBruce Text by Travis Jeppesen

When surveying the landscape of underground filmmaking of the last two decades, Bruce LaBruce is a name that is impossible to ignore. Having launched the queer punk movement in Toronto with fellow filmmaker G.B. Jones in the form of the notorious zine J.D.s, LaBruce would go on to fuse pornography and a left wing political agenda with a decidedly guerilla approach to filmmaking throughout the 1990s and up to the present day. Always witty, usually brash, and never afraid to go where others refuse to tread, LaBruce has become something of a countercultural gay icon with his highly intellectual low budget porno trash comedies. His latest work, Otto or Up With Dead People!, a zombie movie, was filmed this summer in Berlin and is scheduled to be premiered next year.

Hustler White (1996) Starring: Bruce LaBruce, Tony Ward, Vaginal Davis, Glen Meadmore, Ron Athey

No Skin Oﬀ My Ass (1991) Starring: Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Klaus von Bruecker, Caroline Azar

Starring fashion model and former Madonna love interest Tony Ward as a Santa Monica boulevard hustler, LaBruce co-stars as visiting writer Juergen Anger – an amalgam of Juergen Bruening, LaBruce’s long time producer, and legendary underground director Kenneth Anger—who becomes obsessed with him. Hustler White is in many ways a tribute to classic Hollywood filmmaking, while also being a very contemporary tribute to Los Angeles counterculture (the film features cameo appearances by such underground legends as Ron Athey and Vaginal Davis.) Throw in some amputee sex, and we’re reminded that this is not just another gay movie—it is a Bruce LaBruce skin flick!

Famously lauded as Kurt Cobain’s favorite film, No Skin Off My Ass stars LaBruce as a punk hair dresser who becomes obsessed with a skinhead. No Skin Off My Ass is in many ways a homo response to New York underground filmmakers such as Richard Kern and Nick Zedd. Super 8½ (1993) Starring: Bruce LaBruce, Mikey Mike, Stacey Friedrich Loosely based on LaBruce’s relationship with lesbian punk filmmaker G.B. Jones, Super 8½ is undoubtedly LaBruce’s most theoretically sophisticated movie, if still rooted in heavily in the lo fi ethos of No Skin Off My Ass.

Skin Flick (1999) Starring: Slava Mogutin, Steve Masters, Terry Richardson, Bruce

LaBruce, Eden Mille A continuation of the themes explored in No Skin Off My Ass, Skin Flick may well be Bruce LaBruce’s most underrated picture. It was famously billed as LaBruce’s first “legitimate” porn film; it was given a dual release, in a (censored) theatrical version and as a porn video (under the title Skin Gang) by the German gay company Cazzo. What it lacks in plot it certainly makes up for in style and energy. The Raspberry Reich (2004) Starring: Susanne Sachsse, Daniel Baetscher, Andreas Rupprecht, Sherry Vine LaBruce’s latest film takes on “terrorist chic.” It follows the misadventures of a group of queer terrorists in Berlin, loosely based on the Red Army Faction. Fusing high fashion aesthetics with Frankfurt School ideology, The Raspberry Reich shows us why heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses.

- www.brucelabruce.com

FOCUS

What do you like best about Prague trams? Photo by Joanna Davila & Ashley Norton

Brent – 23 (Book seller)

Getting asked for my tram ticket and actually having it.

Martin – 17 (Student)

The privacy.

Tereza – 21 (Student)

I can read on the tram.

Riina – 18 (Student)

They have heated seats.

Vukasin – 22 (Student)

They are better than the metro or bus.

Ivana & Roman – 20, 22 (Students)

The good view. They are everywhere!

Trash Fashion is part of the British nu rave bandwagon that’s been inadvertently kick started by the Klaxons and propelled by Myspace self-promotion. Their debut EP “Mom & Daddy” was only released this October, but Trash Fashion is already inciting a media furor all over Blighty. Trash Fashion’s “Guntronic Disco Warehouse Rock” ﬁts

Radost FX 16/11/07

BEST SHOW

Trash Fashion

Plastique

somewhere between dance, rock, rave, emo, hardcore, and hair metal—a statement that becomes all the more evident during their live performances. “Convincingly menacing and cute, Trash Fashion are Motley Crue meets The Muppet Show with a splash of Beastie Boys chucked in the mix,” is the way the nu rave bible Super Super put it. 23

SEX

Sex-O-Scopes November Scorpio (24 Oct.-21 Nov.)

Taurus (20 April -20 May)

If the lovin’ has been a bit lukewarm, you’ve got what it takes to heat things up now. Single? You’ll be irresistible. The weather may be cooling down,

Amazing things to do without spending a crown: walk in the park, wedding crashing, sex in public places. The stars encourage you to do some version

but you’re sizzling.

of all of the above.

Sagittarius (22 Nov.-21 Dec.)

Gemini (21 May -21 June)

Some people work well with others: soccer players, conjoined twins, Communists. Others are more of the loner-rebel type: outlaws, gunslingers, Dick

Searching for your soul-mate? You’ll ﬁnd him or her somewhere—parties, social soirees, even work conferences will feel like they’re taking place

Cheney. Choose your side and live it.

under a disco ball, and you’re the life of the party.

Capricorn (22 Dec.-19 Jan.)

Cancer (22 June -22 July)

Much as yoga instructors preach, stay ﬂexible. A relationship may demand your attention when an important project beckons; a loser gives up; stretching

Travel is in your near future. You may not hop a ﬂight to Fiji as your travel might be of a diﬀerent sort—a new class or a book club, perhaps.

properly allows you to tackle both with ease.

Aquarius (20 Jan.-18 Feb.)

Leo (23 July -22 Aug.)

Follow the bears’ lead; I’m not encouraging hibernation (or to stop waxing your back), but you’ve had a draining month. Simply get in touch

Pay close attention to your health; the stars say heed tiny aches and pains, and you’ll stop them from becoming potential pains-in-the-ass. A little

with your inner bear; rest and restore yourself.

prevention today.

Pisces (19 Feb.-20 March)

Virgo (23 Aug.-22 Sept.)

You may have a lot on your plate right now, but you’re lucky in love. Work may be stressful, but you’ll ﬁnd you’re up to it. And as for love, you’re

Expect a bit of relationship drama. If you have unresolved issues from the past, they might come back to bite you in the ass. Any communication

absolutely irresistible.

skills you’ve built up lately come in handy.

Aries (21 March -19 April)

Libra (23 Sept.-23 Oct.)

In touch with your inner Angelina Jolie lately? Is all your energy going to saving the world, adopting children named Zahara, and forgetting to

Take care of yourself, visit the doc, or start that exercise program. They say the secret is to ﬁnd an activity you like; a half-hour of sex burns 100

eat? Slow down; stay in bed; eat something.

calories, just so you know.

EXPERIENCE

On Helping A Nutria Die

Text by Sinclair Nicholas

I had just returned from a few hours of

only drag its back legs behind itself, then

something very real about it, it was not

hunting mushrooms in the forest (and

it collapsed again, breathing in deep gasps

a McDonald’s experience, it was not the

man were there plenty) when I heard the

as it stared at me. I could do nothing but

act of shopping and purchasing packaged

dogs get into some kind of uproar outside.

talk to him gently so that his death might

and prepared food from the supermarket.

They were not ﬁghting with each other,

seem more calm; I told him I was sorry he

For many thousands of years, we took our

yet it was some kind of battle, and this of

had met such a violent and sudden end,

food from the land. Only very recently

course caught my attention. I looked out

that he was a noble and beautiful creature

did we create giant slaughterhouses and

the window and saw they had surrounded

with those strange puﬀy paws, his sleek,

supermarkets.

a large “nutrie” which I just learned is

furry body and long thick tail; his beautiful

“nutria” in English. I always thought these

pale blue eyes steadily gazed at me, then

We have specialized and diversiﬁed to the

semi-aquatic mammals were “muskrats” in

watered, and I imagined how it must be for

point that something has gone wrong, and

English, but no, muskrats are smaller and

him, dying and staring at the world through

this is what I understood as I gently pulled

look diﬀerent than nutria. I read that nutria

those pale, watery blue eyes, leaving the

that Nutria’s spleen out from between its

were brought up from South America to

world behind in a liquid blur of light. I

liver, that men were in many ways much

Louisiana for the fur farming industry, but

watched him go.

happier living connected to nature. Millions of people came from the countryside to

then they got loose and have lived in the coastal wetlands of America ever since. I

Nutria have very healthy meat to eat, and

work in the big city, and they generally

do not know their story here in the Czech

I must admit I hunted and ate a few from

made big-city wages, bought their fancy

Republic. Perhaps there has long been a

those ponds, though I considered this

cars and big houses in the suburbs, yet even

European variety of nutria.

the same way the Native Americans do.

this is largely over for those masses in the

Several years ago, I found a few orphaned

Whenever an American Indian kills a deer,

big cities all over the world—and just the

baby nutria at a nearby lake; I raised them

he talks to it, and tells the animal, “I am

same it is an artiﬁcial world that has slowly

for a few months and then relocated

sorry my brother, I did not wish to kill you,

robbed us of our happiness. Americans

them to a couple of secret ponds in the

but I must feed my family, and I love you

watch their TV wars, and the world suﬀers.

back ﬁeld. They had grown, after several

even though I have killed you. Forgive me

We were all much better oﬀ when the mass

generations, into a population of about

brother-in-the-big-spirit, I will join you

media still seemed like the fake world, and

thirty, and you could always see a few

soon.” It felt like that nutria understood me

we directly worked for our livelihoods in

swimming to and fro or entering the

as I gently talked him into his death. But,

the real world, a world of nature. Possibly I

tunnels they dug on the banks beneath

since he was dead, I proceeded to chop his

am not a real writer because I would cease

the tree roots, a network of caves that held

head oﬀ, skin him, and otherwise prepare

pecking on this keyboard if I could spend

their entire tribe. But then some of the

him for the oven. Yes, it was sad to see the

all my time earning my living oﬀ the land.

villagers found out I had a gang of nutria

death of such a beautiful creature, but

I would love to disappear in this paradise

thriving there, and they came and hunted

since it was too late to help him, I decided I

forever, for I have nothing to prove to

them all clear into extinction. I had checked

may as well eat him.

the rest of humankind, cannot stop this

repeatedly over the past several months

I have spent this day, up to now, gathering

artiﬁcial world from overheating the real

and never saw one at either pond—yet here

up the food I will eat. I love to ﬁnd a small

one, and I believe even these words help

lay a big one, dying at my feet.

spot in the forest where there is a cluster

others very little, and so prefer to speak

of large healthy mushrooms, and even

soft words of beauty to an unfortunate

I made the dogs get away from it; the

though skinning and cleaning that nutria

nutria who hears my gentle and assuring

nutria tried to get up and walk, but could

was unpleasant, I realized that there was

tone while he calmly leaves this world.

INTRODUCING

CINEMA

Lucky Miles Lucky Miles is another solid contribution to an already impressive collection of Aussie films. A comedy comprised of unlikely parts—a Cambodian and an Iraqi refugee, Indonesian people smugglers, and Australian reservists—Lucky Miles examines the very human foibles of each of its characters while providing beautiful shots of the stunning Australian outback. Director Michael James Rowland, in his first feature film, does an excellent job of alternating between the playful and the deadly serious while providing the viewer with all kinds of reasons to become ever more involved in the story. This is a film that might easily be overlooked amid all the heavily hyped Hollywood fare; it should not be.

Adventure/Comedy/Drama, 105 min, Australia

Sicko Sicko is Michael Moore’s most recent jab at the powers that be. In Sicko, his fourth feature length documentary, Moore takes his typical leftward leaning, no-bones-about-it partisan look at America’s health insurance industry; unsurprisingly, he finds it to be a very sick patient indeed. Sicko may well be Moore’s finest piece to date—he spends much less time on himself and on stunts, delivering instead a serious, though at times humorous, comparison of countries that have socialized systems and America’s for-profit system. Moore’s portrait of the American system is damning, and this is true even though he barely touches on the millions of Americans who are uninsured. It’s a troubling picture Moore paints, but one that all Americans and most others should heed.

Documentary, 123 min, USA

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a reasonably compelling though seriously ﬂawed look at the two characters mentioned in the unwieldy title. Director Andrew Dominik delivers an excellent beginning in which we meet Jesse James at the end of his illustrious train robbing days along with his brother and the makeshift band, including Robert Ford, the James brothers have assembled to take the place of their original gang, most of whom are now dead or in prison. The ending, Jesse’s death, is also excellent. Unfortunately, getting there is a bit of a chore. All told, the ﬁlm is worth watching, but if you need popcorn, get it midway through.

Biography/Crime/Western, 160 min, USA

THEATRE

Trains

The Mandrake

Trains is a multimedia composition of live music, sounds, film recordings, and projected photographs collected in and around railways over the last year. Trains attempts to bring the viewer into the unique ambiance of trains, railway workers, passengers, ticket agents, and the like by exploring the sounds, solidity, passage of time, grittiness, and nearly lyrical movement that comprise this singular world. It is interesting to be led out of our age of information and technology into a world that thrived on the brute muscle of iron and coal and continues to some extent to do so today. Whether or not it is successful is difficult to say, but it is definitely an unusual and dynamic composition that should be checked out and thought about.

Švandovo Theatre recently opened the sexy and subversive Machiavelli play, The Mandrake (Mandragora). A comedy, The Mandrake takes place over the span of twenty-four hours, telling the story of Callimaco; a young Florentine who has lived in Paris for 20 years and one day overhears a fellow Florentine talking about a woman of extraordinary beauty back in Tuscany. Compelled to see her for himself, Callimaco returns to his native land and, overwhelmed by her beauty, determines he must have her. Unfortunately, Lucrezia is married and determinedly virtuous. Undeterred, Callimaco enlists the help of Ligurio, a weasel of a marriage broker, and plots to have his way with Lucrezia. Machiavelli’s genius for both verse and observation of human nature are evident in this sometimes shocking sometimes hilarious play. Better by far than most of the cinema fare out there.

When: November 29 – December 1 Where: Alfréd ve Dvoře www.alfredvedvore.cz

When: November 3, 12, 14, 22 Where: Švandovo Theatre, Štefánikova 57, P5 www.svandovodivadlo.cz

ART

Jindřich Chalupecký AWARD Text by Lucia Udvardyová

The Jindřich Chalupecký award to young, up-and-coming artists could be described as the (slightly less glamorous) Czech equivalent of the Turner prize. The award, established in 1990 by Václav Havel and artists Jiří Kolář and Theodor Pištěk, aims to select the cremede-la-creme of the local arts scene. This year, the following artists are in the ﬁnal: the multi-media artist Zbyňek Baladrán who works with video-projections, installations, drawings and text; the much

Conrad Armstrong Text by Erica Carlino This month the Muddum gallery features Conrad Armstrong’s exhibit entitled “Painting and Boxes” until the 23rd of November. His use of imagery and color in his paintings and small vignette boxes is surreal and dreamlike. The boxes are particularly interesting, using a mixed media approach with small black silhouettes of clear plastic suspended on a bundle of strings, possibly alluding to memory and the mind. Present in the artist’s work is the theme of inequalities in the modern world. Armstrong says of himself, “My current painting work is mainly based on memories from my childhood in Kenya, my time spent in Pakistan and Indonesia, as well as other vignettes from my kaleidoscopic life. I gravitate to the particular locales of

hyped painter Jakub Hošek; Arts Academy student Eva Koťátková whose multi-facetted oeuvre encompasses drawings, sculptures and performance; Jan Nálevka who subverts corporate graphic techniques and Pavla Sceranková who works with sculptures. The winner will be revealed at a ceremony in Roxy on the 14th of November; you can judge for yourself, as all the nominated artists have exhibitions in several Prague galleries until December 2.

Where: NoD, Gallery etc, Gallery Jelení Gallery Entrance, Gallery etc. When: 26/10 – 2/12/07 www.jchalupecky.cz

Kenya, Indonesia, and Pakistan as I see them as places where the realities of an unequal world can be very clearly seen; and as such hold a particular resonance and reveal the contradictions of our ‘modern’ world. Representations of walls, gates, children playing, cars being checked for bombs, street scenes, and enclosures have all repeatedly found their way into my work. I see these elements as the infrastructure of a thoroughly unequal world, and it is this inequality that I see as the underlying inspiration for many of these Pictures.” As a whole, Armstrong’s work is beautifully illustrated, with the complexity of his ideas woven into engaging images in diﬀerent mediums. Each individual work resonates like a memory or dream and can be looked at for quite some time.

Where: Muddum gallery, Kostelní 24, P7 When: till November 23rd www.muddum.cz

The newly opened Sirius Smart Sounds store, a branch of the Dutch Sirius party universe, brings together the two inherently connected elements of clubbing—great music and (smart) stimulants. Located in the heart of central Prague, in the narrow street off Národní Třída heading towards National Theatre, Sirius helps you rediscover the beauty of the physical, an antidote to the impersonal world of online shopping. The minimalist design of the store, courtesy of the Dutch designer Maurice Mentjens, overwhelms one with serene white walls arching above a fine selection of vinyl and CDs. Disposing of the arguably finest selection of vinyl you will find in Prague with the current Berlin house and minimal, Detroit techno, electro, hip hop, soul, jazz, breaks, dubstep, drum’n’bass, and electronica. Labels like

SHOP

Sirius Smart Sounds

Text by Lucia Udvardyová Photo by Standa Merhout

Playhouse through Planet Mu to Ed Banger are on display, and you can listen to on the state-of-the-art sound system. Sirius is also one of the leading Dutch producers of herbal stimulants, and the Prague store has a wide selection of all kinds of energizing herbal goodies catering to varied tastes—all safe and legal. Thanks to a passionate attitude towards music and club culture, Sirius is a bright light in Prague’s nighttime cosmos.

Sirius Smart Sounds V Jirchářích 1285/12, P1 Tel.: 222 520 902 Open: Monday – Friday 10:00 – 20:00 Saturday 12:00 – 20:00

www.siriussmartsounds.cz, www.myspace.com/siriuspraha

SOUNDS Marbert Rocel

Future Sounds of

Playgroup/Alter Ego

Henrik Schwarz

Speed Emotions

Jazz vol. 11

Kings of Electro

Live

Compost Records

Various Artists

Rapster Records

Compost Records

Marbert Rocel is a trio

FSOJ vol. 11, compiled

The “Kings of …”

One of the most

consisting of Marcel

by Michael Reinboth of

series, which previously

prominent proponents of

Aue (producing, DJing,

Compost Records, returns

featured a hip hop and

the new German sound,

mixing), Robert Krause

with more unstoppable

funk editions, continues

Henrik Schwarz, returns

(producing, mixing), and

techno beats with a disco-

with an electro oﬀering

with recordings oﬀ his

Antje Seifarth (vocals),

jazz attitude—especially

mixed by German projects

live sets which he played

all from Thuringia,

the opener, “Salome”

Playgroup and Alter Ego.

all over the world, from

Germany.

which is an exclusive

Playgroup’s selection is

Tokyo to Istanbul. Live is

“Speed Emotions” runs

from broken beats-nu

a little more varied with

a selection of 16 tracks

at a fast pace--the house

jazz producer Joash, from

tracks like Chris & Cosey’s

all produced, remixed

inﬂuence is clear, but it

London, and followed by

“This Is Me”, Whodini’s

or co-produced by Mr.

is a toned-down house

Koop’s “Drum Rhythm

“Magic’s Wand”, Ryuchi

Schwarz bearing his

with pop sensibilities

A—Christian Prommer’s

Sakamoto’s “Riot in

trademark sound of deep

and smart lyrics. The

Drumlesson Mix” is a

Lagos” and “Pleasure

Chicago and Detroit-

band describes itself

revival of Detroit techno

Boys” by Visage. The

infused techno-house and

as “House-Jazz-Frickel-

in an upbeat jazz suit.

second CD, which is just

incorporating his love for

Elektroniko-vinyl-tinned-

Another exclusive, the

as brilliant as the ﬁrst

jazz and funk. Among the

music-performance.” But

Invisible Session’s “Till

one, is a journey through

highlights are remixes

what is “Frickel”? It is

The End” sounds like a

Detroit sonics, with gems

of Sun Ra’s jazz hymn

German for “ﬁngering the

soaring 70s disco-club

like Daniel Bell’s “Baby

“Lullaby for Realville”,

pots” meaning playing

anthem, and if any thing

Judy”, Psyche’s legendary

a stellar refashioning

with the eﬀects, making

else, the closing remix of

“Neurotic Behavior”,

of James Brown’s “It’s

computer beeps, etc. So

the Brass Construction’s

Maurizio’s “M4” and

a Man’s World” and his

there is lots of that, but

“Movin” by 400 Blows

Galaxy To Galaxy’s

collaboration with Ame &

it is submerged enough in

is reason enough to have

sublime “Jupiter Jazz.”

Dixon on the massive club

the beat, so that it works

this on hand at all costs.

hit “Where We At.”

in good low doses for this emotional, though not at all teary, speed trip.

8/10

Tony Ozuna

Lucia Udvardyová

SOUNDS Fany & Nasty

Murcof

Cobblestone Jazz

Oh No

& Jaro Cossiga

Cosmos

23 Seconds

Dr. No’s

Beat Apetit

Leaf

Wagon Repair

Oxperiment

Beam Label

Stones Throw

Beat Apetit has to be

Murcof creates

the ﬁrst beatbox album

monumental music

in the Czech Republic.

that begs to be used

It was produced by Jaro

as a ﬁlm score to a

Cossiga with the help

slightly macabre movie

of beatboxing meisters

and with Cosmos, his

Fany & Nasty and an

latest album, he only

array of guests. Beat

prove this. Cinematic

Apetit stands out mainly

soundscapes spread

because of Cossiga’s

over six tracks with the

production skills. The

shortest lasting seven and

record follows in an

a half minutes and the

experimental hip hop

longest reaching nearly

vein, but there’s also

thirteen minutes. Now

a reggae track and a

that’s what I call an epic

few downbeat numbers

track. With Cosmos, he

surprisingly inﬂuenced

delves deeper into a dark

by IDM – “Česká Daska

electronic stratosphere,

feat. Mc Lady & Lu-Ting

accentuating his

& Mbk”, for instance,

infatuation with modern

contains Black Dog-

classical music and

tinged sections—and

combining it with the odd

is interspersed with

minimal beat. The tracks

various samples with

slowly build up and let

the addition of six live

the listener ﬂoat by

beatbox instrumentals. A

freely in Murcof’s sublime

noteworthy album.

acoustic cosmos.

The Canadian trio is one of the few real live-bands in the techno world. They are not just showing up with a laptop, but actually with real equipment, leaving plenty of space for improvisation. By using computers as well as analogue equipment, they succeed in combining many inﬂuences. The fusion of minimal, techno, trance, deephouse, electro, all with a topping of jazz has made sure, that they have fans in all kinds of genres. This album is delicious for listening, but also suited for the danceﬂoor. The double CD presents new tracks

By using samples from psychedelic rock originating from South-East Europe and the Middle East, this record is an interesting “tool” to work with. The 5-year-younger brother of the famous samplewizard Madlib delivers twenty-eight stunning tracks on an album, with a maximum track-length of one and half minute. Expect an album with some serious tunes that contains unusual samples and some unpolished beats by Oh No; a bit like Madlib’s “Conducta series”. No stereotype Hip Hop, but nonetheless raw. Nice as background for the livingroom!

together with material previously only available on vinyl. CD2 contains live-versions.

8.5/10

8/10

9.5/10

7.5/10

Lucia Udvardyová

Sirius Smart Sounds

SCENE

Robots in Disguise A band made of two cute girls sporting fancy dresses and fashionable hair-cuts are bound to make it big in the music biz. It doesn’t come as a big surprise then, that Robots in Disguise, aka Dee Plum and Sue Denim, have been criss-crossing the world with their retro indie-electro-rock-dance sets since meeting at a Le Tigre concert. Their self-titled debut LP appeared in 2004 on the French label Recall, followed by Get RID! with the single Turn It Up that was featured in the series Ugly Betty. Their upcoming LP, the aptly entitled, We’re in the Music Biz, was produced by Chris Corner from IAMX. 22/11 Lucerna music bar, www.myspace.com/robotsindisguise

Midnight Sun Norway is a hotbed for electronic pop music, and the Midnight Sun series of gigs should transplant the northern sound into Prague’s Palác Akropolis. The series of events kicks off with a concert by the Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band who have garnered a sizeable fan-base in the Czech Republic with their catchy downtempo that draws from a wide range of influences including dub, Kiss, and Kraftwerk. Their breakthrough LP, “A Special Album,” appeared in 2002 and spawned a number of hits. Sharp Knives & Loaded Guns is their latest album. In it they profess their love for film scores, pop, and funk. 18/11 Palác Akropolis, www.palacakropolis.cz

Adult Detroit natives Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus are part of the second wave of Detroit producers who emerged in the mid-nineties. Adult made electro way before it was hijacked and processed by European trendies. The machine-driven beats concocted with analogue synths combined with Kuperus’ dead-pan vocals enchanted electro-heads everywhere. Apart from releasing records and remixes, they also run their own electro label, Ersatz Audio. Miller and Kuperus, who both have degrees in art, managed to utilize the best of the art and music scenes, resulting in an audiovisual menagerie visible on their record covers, photo shoots, and at live gigs. 5/11 Bordo, www.myspace.com/recyclit

SCENE

Gentleman If you fancy a bit of groovy vibes and dope beats, which might come handy in the gloomy November days, pop by the RealBeat festival warm up gig featuring the German reggae star who, without any stylistic hindrances, merges reggae, dancehall, and hip hop. Gentleman is currently jet-setting the world with his Far East Band in support of his fourth album Another Intensity. “…the ﬁrst encounter mi did get wid Reggae music is when mi was 13….and when me did 17 mi go a Jamaica di ﬁrst time and a deh so it really start and mi realise well, a my music this and mi want to do it,” he said in his own unique way. 21/11 Lucerna, www.realbeat.net

Andy Fletcher DJ Set Are DJ’s rock stars or are rock stars DJs? You can judge for yourself how Andy Fletcher, better known under his DJ nom de plume DJ Fletch, fares behind the wheels of steel. It’s clear Andy has big time rock star credentials as he is one of the founding members of the rather well known group Depeche Mode and the owner of Toasted Hawaii record label. In his DJ sets, he incorporates old-skool electro records and mixes them with his latest ﬁnds, and the odd Depeche Mode track thrown in for a good measure.

22/11 Abaton, www.depechemode.com

Gogol Bordello The sounds of inane Ukrainian Roma Eugene Hutz have become notorious for their crazy concerts. Their unbridled ethos has in the meantime become so renowned that the trend-hopping Madonna can’t keep away. Gogol Bordello’s sound is a chaotic mix of speed, metal, gypsy music, and rock’n’roll from ﬂamenco to perestroika punk. GB is currently promoting their new album Super Taranta! According to Mr. Hutz: “With this album, we are recharging the world. Everything is on an even higher level than before: more direct, more abstract, more centered, with more black humor. The dub parts are deeper; the fast parts are even faster; it’s pure orgasm.” 24/11 Archa Theatre, www.archatheatre.cz

FLASH

2. 11. Friday/Pátek ABATON: CzechPoint 5: DJs Reverb, Mystif, Kyanid, Ark DAYLONG: Candy: DJs Skála, Richie CHATEAU ROUGE: Blackmania Special Night!: DJs Master J.C., Kaz D MISCHMASCH: DJs Jakub V., Brian, Eagle PALÁC AKROPOLIS: live U-Prag RADOST FX: Falling Beats: DJs Traﬁk, Petr K., Horn, Ricardo ROXY: Róisín Murphy U MALÉHO GLENA: Roman Pokorný Fusion-Jazz Q ZERO: Surge Wattage: DJs Scarcoke, Kristo, Lillou

3. 11. Saturday/Sobota ABATON: Hip Hop Allstars: Live Kontrafakt, Nironic, Wich, DJs Mike Traﬁk, Orion, Rawal CROSS CLUB: Dobrejk Večer: Backdraft, Kapsak, Tofa DAYLONG: FTV Party: DJs JayDee, The Kaos Boys CHATEAU ROUGE: Boogie: DJs Lucas Hulan MECCA: Classics from 90s: Djs Tráva, Loutka, Dejw MISCHMASCH: Mixx Maxx: DJs Jakub V., Milan Kroužil RADOST FX: DJs Dutty P, D Tone, Big J, Rico, 12play ROXY: Vortex: DJs Human Blue U MALÉHO GLENA: Saxtime XT3: Funky Hot Saturday: Live Velmi Krátké Vlny, DJs Funfreak ZERO: Club Uncut: DJs Tuko, Swordz

9. 11. Friday/Pátek ARCHA: Famufest: live Al-Haca, Strapo, DJs Robot ABATON: Sázava Fest: Moimir Papalescu & The Nihilists, Magnetik, Love Gangsters, Cobra Killer, Lola Angst, Sunshine CROSS CLUB: Imperialistic Night: Stanzim, Medis, Anus DAYLONG: Ultimate Orange: DJs Jay C., Peter Kay

DJs Tommy Rogers, Peet CHATEAU ROUGE: Grande Noche:

FLASH

DUPLEX: Moscow Style: DVJ Bazuka,

DJs Jan Drahota, Lukáš Mička KLUB 007: Adam bomb, Vibrathörr MATRIX: Mindfuck Party: DJs Urna Sound, Delta Kwadrant, DWC MECCA: Rehab: DJs Nesquik, Sly Antra MISCHMASCH: DJs Jakub V., Brian, Eagle PALÁC AKROPOLIS: The Ex RADOST FX: Lollypop Red Ribbon: DJs Lumiere, Vilém ROCK CAFÉ: Boom Bang Baby!: Live Franz & Shape, Dolby-Anol, DJs Tvyks, The Voracious ROXY: Elektra: Djs Airto, Bontrip, Martin Frank U MALÉHO GLENA: Libor Šmoldas Trio XT3: Fitipaldi is Dead ZERO: Deep Space nine nite: DJs Chris Sadler, Dita

10. 11. Saturday/Sobota ARCHA: Famufest: Live Midi Lidi, Sporto, Undo, Audiofenky, The Models ABATON: Sázava Fest: The Prostitutes, Priessnitz, Rybičky 48, The Slots, Air Fare CROSS CLUB: Mooove it!: Dave Brooks, Chris, Morph, Tomas, Kel DAYLONG: DJs Diana d´Rouze, Pete Walk, E-Lite CHATEAU ROUGE: Showstaarzzz: DJs A.L.I., Babylon Rocker MISCHMASCH: Mixx Maxx: DJs Jakub V., Milan Kroužil RADOST FX: DJs Rikardo, LP, Big J, Rico, 12play ROXY: Zen: DJ Blake Jarrell U MALÉHO GLENA: Steve Clarke ZERO: Cartoon Clash night/Andys bday!: The Fakes DJs BOHEMIAN LIKE YOU PHOTO BY JOHANA POŠOVÁ BOOM BANG BABY PHOTO BY LUCIA EGGENHOFFER

FLASH

17. 11. Saturday/Sobota CROSS CLUB: Fuse: The Cymbol live, Fatal Noise Gang DAYLONG: Kick da Night: DJs Bon Finix, Jerry DUPLEX: DISCOvery!: DJs Neo, Andrea Fiorino CHATEAU ROUGE: Breakpoint: DJs Yannick, Elektrom, Adelight MISCHMASCH: Mixx Maxx: DJs Jakub V., Milan Kroužil RADOST FX: Rico Bday Jump Oﬀ: DJs Nathan, Fingarz, Big J, 12Play RETRO: Battle Night 5: Live L.Ú.Z.A., Jackpot aka Dee, beatbox: Fany, Nasty ROXY: Climax 9th Anniversary!: DJs Olav Basoski, Chris Sadler U MALÉHO GLENA: Filip Gondolán Band ZERO: In 40s!: DJs Detong, Deﬀ

23. 11. Friday/Pátek ABATON: Stereo MCs: DJRob “B” Birch CROSS CLUB: Drumstation: DJ Fran, MC Prince Osito CHATEAU ROUGE: Digi: DJs Mulfunktion, Airto KLUB 007: Dreams come true, Stolen lives MATRIX: Rhino’s Bassmania: DJs Chica, Hellium, Frock MECCA: Opera House: DJs Lafayette, Yaroush MISCHMASCH: DJs Jakub V., Brian, Eagle RADOST FX: Remember House: DJs Marcello U MALÉHO GLENA: František Kop Q ZERO: Afrodrops nite: DJs Pat Heart, Slim Buddah

DIESEL - FUEL FOR LIFE PHOTO BY DAN KAFKA

CROSS CLUB: Siempre Latino o Muerte: Son Caliente,

FLASH

24. 11. Saturday/Sobota

Kaliyuga sound DAYLONG: Mind Games: DJ Orbith DUPLEX: Clublife: DJs Ronny, Milhaus CHATEAU ROUGE: Nightlife Underground: DJs Formi, Squint MECCA: Selectro: Scarcoke vs. Samuel Lee, Bon Finix vs Tripmain MISCHMASCH: Mixx Maxx: DJs Jakub V., Milan Kroužil RADOST FX: DJs Sai, Big J, Rico, 12play U MALÉHO GLENA: Petr Zelenka Q ZERO: Om: DJs Suza, Marwin Shamma, Fatty M1 LOUNGE: Funky Soul: DJ 12 Play ROXY: Bush: Sub Focus, DJ Ghonzales

30. 11. Friday/Pátek CROSS CLUB: Jungle DNB Session: Drumsound, T2B DAYLONG: Dance Extasy: DJ Mr.Nightingale CHATEAU ROUGE: Sheexy House: DJs Tazz, Bo.Dan MATRIX: Acid Techno: DJs NGR, Izstvi, Jime Fingaz MISCHMASCH: DJs Jakub V., Brian, Eagle RADOST FX: Maximizor: DJs Joost van Bellen ROCK CAFÉ: Qui U MALÉHO GLENA: Przemek Straczek Trio ZERO: Twist: DJs Brady, Raidem DUPLEX: Dirty Dancing: DJs Tommy Rogers, Peet, Lafayette MECCA: Meccamix: Sydney Edition SHADOW AZYL: DJs Eja, Happy M1 LOUNGE: Smokin Friday: DJ Big J ROXY: One Night!: DJs Josef Sedloň, Dan Cooley, Bela En

RECYCLIT PHOTO BY JAN FAULKNER

CLUBS

Where To Go… HAPPY DANCING Watch out! Everyone is cute, well-dressed and happy. Duplex P1, Václavské náměstí 21 www.duplex.cz Celnice P1, V Celnici 4 www.clubcelnice.com Daylong (OC Palladium) P1, Nám. Republiky 1 www.daylong-disco.com Karlovy Lázně P1, Smetanovo nábřeží 198 www.karlovylazne.cz Misch Masch P7, Veletržní 61 www.mischmasch.cz Mecca P7, U Průhonu 3 www.mecca.cz

Retro Club P2, Francouzská 4 www.retropraha.cz Radost FX P2, Bělehradská 120 www.radostfx.cz Roxy P1, Dlouhá 33 www.roxy.cz

CHAT’N’CHILL You know those kinds of places where you dance between chats? Bars or clubs with pleasant modern sound around you. Aloha Wave Lounge P1, Dušní 11 www.alohapraha.cz Bordo Club P2, Vinohradská 40 www.bordo.cz

Coyotes P1, Malé Náměstí 2 www.coyotes.cz

Rock Café P1, Národní třída 20 www.rockcafe.cz

Styx P8, Sokolovská 144 www.clubstyx.cz

Chateau Rouge P1, Jakubská 2 www.chateaurouge.cz

Vagon P1, Národní 25 www.vagon.cz

Kain P3, Husitská 1 www.kain.cz

Klub Lávka P1, Novotného lávka 1 www.lavka.cz

JAZZ Prague’s most acclaimed jazz musicians play in these well-known jazz clubs.

Lalibela P5, Holečkova 17 www.lalibela.cz

M1 Lounge P1, Masná 1 myspace.com/m1lounge Nebe P1, Křemencova 10 www.nebepraha.cz Vertigo P1, Havelská 4 www.vertigo-club.cz Wigwam P1, Zborovská 54 www.cafebarwigwam.cz Zero P1, Dušní 8 myspace.com/zeroprague

GUITARS AND INDIES You don’t have to be old fashioned to listen to guitars. This sound is immortal! Batalion music pub P1, ul. 28 října 3 www.batalion.cz Futurum P5, Zborovská 7 www.musicbar.cz Lucerna Music Bar P1, Vodičkova 36 www.musicbar.cz

Malostranská Beseda P1, Malostranské nám. 21 mb.muzikus.cz

Agharta Jazz P1, Železná 16 www.agharta.cz Jazzclub U Staré paní USP P1, Michalská 9 www.jazzlounge.cz U Malého Glena P1, Karmelitská 23 www.malyglen.cz Unijazz P1, Jindřišská 5 www.unijazz.cz

SMOKED BEATZ Styles & rhythms change daily here but the good vibes and atmosphere stay the same. Techno, d’n’b, jungle, hip hop. Underground sounds. Abaton P8, Na Košince 8 www.prostorabaton.cz

Matrix P3, Koněvova 13 www.matrixklub.cz Palác Akropolis P3, Kubelíkova 27 www.palacakropolis.cz Shadow Azyl P5, Kroftova 1 www.shadowazyl.cz Sedm Vlků P3, Vlkova 7 www.sedmvlku.cz U Bukanýra P1, nábřeží L. Svobody www.bukanyr.cz Wakata P7, Malířská 14 www.wakata.cz XT3 P3, Rokycanova 29 www.xt3.cz

Boiler RX P9, Novovysočanská 19 www.boiler.cz

AFTER DANCE It is well accepted that a party should never end. Be aware that there is no point in visiting the following places before 6am.

Club 007 P6, Chaloupeckého 7 www.klub007strahov.cz

Le Clan P2, Balbínova 23 www.leclan.cz

Cross Club P7, Plynární 23 www.crossclub.cz

Studio 54 P1, Hybernská 38 www.studio54.cz

VENUES

Café Pavlač

A neighborhood hangout in the outer district of Žižkov, Café Pavlač is a small restaurant with big style. A combination café and art gallery with adjoining beer garden, the spot is a great place to dine with a fresh menu and a good atmosphere. Hip and modern, the dining room has a large bar, located in the center of the restaurant’s space, which serves as the focal point. The café is presented much the same as a typical gallery space, four white washed walls and a simple wooden floor but it allows for an airy feeling that is not common among Czech eateries. The metal bar serves a variety of drinks that vary from aperitifs to cocktails and long drinks to a wide variety of wines. Traditional Czech favorite, Pilsner and Gambrinus are served happily alongside a twist on the widely popular Prague Grog, Hot Apple or Hot Pear with rum. On this night in particular, the Hot Pear with rum warmed me up nicely and was just the right mixture; the flavor of rum was not overpowering. Around the bar wooden tables and benches rest along the walls and provide comfortable seating for a good meal from the varied menu that has offerings for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch and dinner offer the strongest items with the menu dishes such as sandwiches with burgundy ham and Dutch vegetables or a couscous salad with blue cheese and pear topped with cranberry dressing. The vegetables are fresh and crisp and the blend of pear and cranberry adds a tart flavor to the couscous that is uncommon. Heavier dishes include a variety of pastas with highlight items fettuccine with prawns and sun dried tomatoes, or a choice of a chicken or salmon steak both dressed in a type of light herb sauce. In homage to French café influence, Café Pavlač also lists eight different types of crepes, divided by flavor into salty and sweet. One of my favorites is the Cheese and Nut Salty crepe, filled with three different kinds of cheese and topped with crushed nuts and Parmesan, the crepe is delicious and a good value. For people with a sweet tooth, there are crepes filled with cottage cheese and berries or chocolate and bananas; although many options are available. In addition to serving good food and drink, Café Pavlač’s simple restaurant space showcases modern art. Each wall showcases a different type of art from painting to photograph or silkscreen print. The largest piece, also the highlight of all the works that hang in the restaurant, is a contemporary version of the family portrait. Brightly colored with hues of pinks, greens and blues, a woman lords over a dozen smiling faces of children, dressed in different garb, and a clown crouches in the front of the group, red-nose and white face paint prevalent. In the back of the restaurant, gallery 35M has a monthly rotating display of art from various national and international artists. Visit Café Pavlač on Saturdays where live music is sometimes played and if you need connection to the world there is also free WiFi. A bit far from the center of the city, nestled on a side street of Seifertova in Žižkov, the trek is worth the meal.

Café Pavlač Víta Nejedlého 23, Prague 3 Tel: 222 721 731 www.cafepavlac.cz

Text by Joanna Davila

POKER

Text by Gordon Walker

Money Losing Plays

records of, you should be sticking very ﬁrmly to the tight/solid recommendations found in most hold’em books. Don’t deviate unless you have a ﬁrm understanding of why you are doing so.

When I first started playing poker, I read Sklansky and Malmuth’s excellent book Hold’em for Advanced Players, decided I knew all there was to know about hold’em and headed out to the tables to become a millionaire. It soon became apparent to me that a large number of players were playing junk hands, calling down to the river with gut-shot draws, and making innumerable horrible plays (according to what I had just read), only confirming my belief that my superior play would quickly have me making huge amounts of money with my solid, tricky play. At first I didn’t do that well, but I attributed this to getting used to the quick speed of the game (a lot faster than when I dealt myself practice hands at home before heading out). When I continued to have shaky results—some big wins with an almost equal number of big losses—I decided the big wins were due to skill while the big losses were due to bad luck. It took me a long time and a great deal of pain and then introspection to realize that the truth was simply that I was then at best simply a shaky player with a poor grasp of difficult concepts. In fact many of the ‘tricky’ plays and difficult concepts I had ‘learned’ were costing me money. In this article I’m going to look at some plays/ideas that may very well be costing you money the way they did me for far too long.

2. The semi-bluﬀ: When I came across the semi-bluﬀ (raising or betting with a hand that is unlikely to be best in the hopes all will fold but with the possibility of drawing to a winning hand), I was in Heaven. So all I had to do was bet or raise with my bottom pair/ace kicker and watch the suckers fold! Unfortunately I missed the part where it’s explained that there must be a chance that everyone will fold for this play to be a winner generally speaking. Doing so with a pair of twos and a King against 5 players is idiotic, not brilliant deception.

1. Good players can play more hands than average and poor players: This is true, but most players aren’t as good as they think they are—I certainly wasn’t. Also, this can and usually is taken way too far—playing J7s from early position is a loser no matter how good you are, but I’ve seen many players believe they can play this based on their superiority over the competition. Wrong. Unless you have posted at least a year of solid wins that you have kept

3. Calling pre-flop raises: In most cases, when someone in front of you raises pre-flop, you should either reraise or fold. If you are cold-calling many pre-flop raises every session, you have a major leak in your game. 4. Not adjusting properly to short handed situations: When a game shifts from 9 or 10 players to 5 or 6 you have to shift with it. Play more hands, bet more aggressively, call down with seemingly weak holdings, and semi-bluff more. If the game gets down to 2 – 4 players, tend even further in this direction. A lot of players who play reasonably well in full ring games get blown out of the water by maniacs playing their usual game in a shorthanded situation. Remember that what is proper play ten handed is terrible 3 handed. If you don’t know the adjustments to make, don’t play the game. There are many other items I could discuss, but unfortunately space is limited. If you only manage to play the above correctly, you’ll be doing much better than the majority of the players out there. Don’t make my mistake of reading an advanced book and nothing else—start with beginner material and work your way up (and reread the best books). Good luck and good playing!

RE101

Decorating your home, from Ikea to Modernista Decorating your home can be a daunting task, once you decide your budget and the style you’d like, there are many ways you can transform your home into the pad you’ve always dreamed it would be. Prague style is an eclectic mix of old and new with Renaissance, Baroque, and Art Nouveau design alongside modern aesthetics such as Frank Gehry’s dancing building. Antique shops and modern home decorating companies standing side by side; it is easy to get overwhelmed by the influences and options available. Although the easiest way to decorate your home would be to hire an interior stylist from a company such as Nobis Life, a studio that provides everything under one roof, there is something a bit more satisfying about creating your own space. The most popular spot to start for DIY home decorating is at Swedish design company Ikea, a favorite among Czechs for its cheap prices and wide variety of items. Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea’s vision is “to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function at prices so low many people will be able to afford them.” Excellent at both design and marketing, Ikea’s showroom is set up so that buyers can see the potential of their home from kitchen to bedroom. Though Ikea furnishings are commonplace in rental properties, the decorative offerings can transform any space into a comfortable atmosphere to suit any style. The appeal of Ikea is the ability to feel high-end sophistication while still operating on a working class salary; it is the perfect place to get the basics. While Ikea style is quick and easy with the

results of a put together pad, you can always add to the Ikea style. Antique pieces, items with cultural or historical meaning, or simply quirky items that represent you are great ways to personalize your space. There are many outlets around the city that provide such pieces that range from second hand shops to upscale stores. Second hand furniture shopping is popular in the Czech Republic, with the Libeň area, one tram stop past Palmovka, a popular spot to troll for antique pieces, with wood wardrobes and some Baroque furniture available. Additionally, sewing enthusiasts can get their hands on old Singers or Davis machines. Praguers and expats should check out Antik v Dlouhé, Dlouhá 37, P1 where the latest in the Prague antique shopping trends are evident. Here it is easy to find items such as a cuckoo clock or art deco lamp. For those people who still want modern style with some old world charm, shoppers should visit Modernista, specializing in Czech design and the decorative arts. The store, located on Celetná in Old Town, provides both furniture and home decoration for high-end value. Supplying both original and reproduced furniture from the Czech Republic and abroad, their style is a mix of cubism, art deco, and Bauhaus. Some of the most interesting pieces are series of bent wood and tubular steel furniture designed in the thirties by pioneering functionalist Jindřich Halabala; and a collection of glasses by Artěl Glass. In addition to the shop, Modernista owners also work as interior designers and have completed projects at the Icon Hotel, Jet Set restaurant, and the registry office of Prague’s Old Town Hall. If you are more into minimalist style, there is a surge of design companies that are making a mark on Prague such as Kartell, Scandium, Living Space, and, the newest company, Design Propaganda. These companies provide the fundamental principles of minimalist style, clean lines, hard surfaces, and low furniture, in a much more livable way than was presented before. Kartell, specifically is known for bright

colors and unique shapes that can add whimsy to an otherwise hard design. Though home decorating can be a daunting task, the most important thing to remember is to keep things to your style. Whether you take a liking to Ikea, go shopping in Libeň, or splurge for that beautiful red chair at Modernista, mix pieces of design to come up with your own feel, not matter what it is, make it your own. And remember, should you be having any trouble with all this, Home Sweet Home is always available to help.

Contact Nobis Life – www.nobis.cz Ikea – www.ikea.com Modernista – www.modernista.cz Antik v Dlouhé – antik.v.dlouhe@seznam.cz Libeň area – consult mapy.cz Kartell – www.kartell.com Scandium – www.scandium.cz Living Space – www.livingspace.cz Design Propaganda – www.designpropaganda.cz Text by Joanna Davila

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL Think Again Issue #42 November 2007

Publishing:

Editor-at-Large: Gordon Walker

Oﬀice

Arts and Culture Editor: Lucia Udvardyová

Vinohradská 102, 130 00 Praha 3

Publisher & General Manager: Kateřina Quirenzová Advertising: sales@thinkagain.cz

GSM: 777 133 514 Contributing Writers: Travis Jeppesen, Laura Baranik,

info@thinkagain.cz

Tony Ozuna, Tobias Moshövel, Sinclair Nicholas,

www.thinkagain.cz

Joanna Davila, Erica Carlino

myspace.com/thinkagainprague

Contributing Photographers: Dan Kafka, Joanna

MK ČR E 14587

Davila, Ashley Norton, Lucia Eggenhoﬀer, Johana Pošová, Jan Faulkner, Standa Merhout

Art Director:

publisher. All opinions expressed herein belong to the

Cover design:

Patrik Svoboda /visualperfect.cz/

individual writers and do not necessarily reﬂect the

Jan Vajda

The font used is Botanika /suitcasetype.com/

views of the Think Again editorial staﬀ.