fee's LIST (through 8/2)

WEDNESDAY
NYC
* POWHIDA @ Marlborough Chelsea / 545 W 25th St. Pretty cool: usually Marlborough, like most Chelsea galleries that shun the summer "European holiday", gathers a big-ass group show, which is sometimes dope, sometimes very much NOT dope. This time, though, they gave Bushwick referentialist and "art world vigilante" William Powhida the run of the place. Dear LIST readers: if you find yourself in NYC — and you care even a tiny bit about scenester cultural stuff — you sure as hell better be at this opening, or at least see the show. I foresee performances, sponsored parties, paintings that Powhida may or may not have created, though they will resemble him, because in the end this is POWHIDA's show, the shining beacon in a miasma of counterculture.

* SummerScreen presents "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (dir. John Hughes, 1986) @ McCarren Park Ballfields / 780 Lorimer St, Greenpoint (L to Bedford, G to Nassau), 6:30p/FREE. Confession: I got into this film way late, and specifically due to Yello's track "Oh Yeah", which Richie Hawtin sampled into his classic Detroit Techno banger "Minus Orange". But you probably know this classic coming-of-age high school comedy already. Jennifer Grey's in it, too. Plus trip-pop darlings Twin Sister are playing.

* Charlene Kaye @ Rockwood Music Hall / 196 Allen St (F to 2nd Ave), 10p/FREE. NY's ineffable chanteuse Charlene Kaye has been playing up a storm of late, but she's taking a breather after this showcase to record her new album — so if you miss her tonight, in a special trio set w/ bandmates Megan Cox (keys/violin) and Dave Scalia (drums), you might not see her again until…October?? Fingers crossed for sooner.

AUSTIN
* "Future Present: Five Artists, Five Weeks" feat. Shana Moulton @ Arthouse / 700 Congress, Austin. As the title suggests, each artist gets one week to display their video work in the 2F space. This is the fifth and concluding installment of the series, and in my opinion the most awesomest, as it's Brooklyn video performance/installation artist Shana Moulton and her entire hallucinogenic, agoraphobic opus "Whispering Pines". She enacted part 10, a full-out opera, with NY's downtown aesthete king Nick Hallett, at the New Museum on the Bowery. Her inclusion in Arthouse is essential.

TOKYO
* Ayako Takeuchi "Visible Signs" @ Takashimaya Shinjuku Gallery / 10F, 5-24-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku (Marunouchi/Fukutoshin/Shinjuku subway lines to Shinjuku-sanchome Station). Lovely wood-carved sculptures of river otters, which incidentally are on the verge of extinction in Japan.

* Eamon Kelly "Knights" @ Vacant / 3-20-13 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku (JR Yamanote Line to Harajuku Station). This makes me all nostalgic for the Big Apple. Kelly is a NY-based hipster and photographer who shoots gloriously dodgy scenes from nightlife's underbelly, like Le Bain, The Bowery (hotel), fashion shows from Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony and Cali's Coachella Music Festival. Through SUN

THURSDAY
NYC
* "Magic for Beginners" @ PPOW / 535 W 22nd St, 3rd Fl. Jamie Sterns and Joseph Whitt curated this grope show centered around the unstructured side of Modernism, feat. Bas Jan Ader, Olaf Breuning, Jennifer Cohen, Scott Hug, Kevin Lips, Niall McClelland, Jesse McLean, Kristie Muller, Rbt. Sps., and Brent Stewart.

* The Suzan @ Pianos / 158 Ludlow St (F/JMZ to Essex/Delancey), 8p/$8. These Japanese cuties have charmed Big Apple's indie scene w/ their cocktail of electro-tinged doo-wop and tropicali rock 'n roll.

AUSTIN
* Liturgy (Brooklyn) @ Red 7 / 611 E 7th St, 9p/$10. Can you hang? Brooklyn's baddest-ass metalheads Liturgy eschew black metal's theatrics for searing double-edged guitars and machine-gunning drums. You just might have an epiphany, if you're at this show. w/ Bat Castle

FRIDAY
NYC
* "The Future" (dir. Miranda July, 2011) @ IFC Center / 323 Sixth Ave (ACE/BDFM to W 4th St), w/ July at FRI-SAT 6:10/8:20 screenings! I've been a July fan since her "Girls on Dates" split EP w/ Olympia WA lo-fi freak-jazz trio IQU back in '99. This is her second feature-length film, based in part on a performance she staged at The Kitchen in 2007.

* "The Devil's Double" (dir. Lee Tamahori, 2011) @ AMC Loews Lincoln Square / 1998 Broadway (1 to 66th St). This rollercoaster into violent glitz is based on Latif Yahia's real-life account of being a body-double for Uday Hussein, son of Saddam. Dominic Cooper plays BOTH roles…and the lovely Ludivine Sagnier stars as the a"cute" side of this dangerous triangle. Plus, the trailer features prominently Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", which just rocks.

AUSTIN
* "Cowboys and Aliens" (dir. Jon Favreau, 2011) in wide release. Big and loud and (possibly, though not assuredly) stupid, w/ Harrison Ford as a grizzled ol' Colonel, Daniel Craig as a tall, dark stranger w/ an alien phaser shackled to his wrist, and Olivia Wilde nude. Versus aliens. Did I miss anything?

* "Attack the Block" (dir. Joe Cornish, 2011) in wide release. Man, I'm stoked for this. British sci-fi horror w/ a sick comedic undercurrent, pitting alien invaders vs. the 'hood! Cornish's first feature-length film (by the producers of "Shaun of the Dead") took the audience award at this year's SXSW, plus loads other accolades.

* Stephen Pruitt "Encryption" @ Salvage Vanguard Theatre / 2803 Manor Rd, 8p/$12. Pruitt — who has collaborated with the Rude Mechanics, Forklift, amid others — stages his first solo performance in five years, exploring the peripheries of the sensory-overloaded chunks of our existences. UFOs factor into this show, which began as a live radio performance at the 2009 Fronterafest Short Fringe, as "TBA". ALSO SAT

* Iron & Wine @ Paramount Theatre / 713 Congress Ave, Austin, 8p/$30-55. Bearded bard Samuel Beam is a wonderful spellbinder, up there onstage with just an acoustic guitar and few other accouterments. Though the crooning he channels sometimes seems like it originated from an earlier musical era, it still feels entirely his own. I rather dig that he now lives in Dripping Springs, which seems entirely appropriate to tonight's serenade.

* The Strange Attractors @ Spider House Ballroom / 2906 Fruth St, 10p/$5. Dreamy space-rock, elevated with mind-scorching psychedelia and cooing vocals and grounded with a booming rhythm section. Meet my new favorite Austin band, The Strange Attractors! w/ Kingdom of Suicide Lovers and Lola-Cola

TOKYO
* Art Fair Tokyo 2011 @ Tokyo International Forum / 3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku (JR Yamanote Line to Yurakucho Station), all day/1500 yen. I had hoped to attend Japan's largest art fair (from antiques and traditional nihonga to bleeding-edge contemporary art) back in cherry-blossom April, when it's been held since 2007. The devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11 changed everything, and now the fair lands in late July. It's still huge, but it has taken a necessarily reflective nature after the earthquake, and there is much to see and do, incl:
- Talk Series "Dialogues in Art: Gambling on art after the quake", 6:30-8:30p, 1000 yen (RSVP: event@artfairtokyo.com). A panel considering the power of art and architecture for a new era and its forced limitations and adaptations in a changed landscape. Feat. Taro Shinoda (Tokyo-based sculptor and installation artist), Haruaki Tanaka (co-lab architect) and Tetsuya Ozaki (Kyoto University visiting professor and editor/publisher of REALTOKYO/REALKYOTO).
Fair lasts through SUNDAY

* "Outside the Garden" @ Art Front Gallery / Hillside Terrace A, 29-18 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku (JR Lines etc to Shibuya). I love this gallery: it's near the neighborhood where I stay whenever I am in Tokyo. So earlier this month they mounted a show "Inside the Garden"; now they spin that off into explorations of space and perception. Megumi Sato, Yuri Kabata and Makoto Abe participate, each modifying their usual oeuvre and experimenting.

* DJ Krush @ Liquidroom / 3-16-6 Higashi, Shibuya-ku (JR Yamanote Line etc to Ebisu station), 10p/3800 yen. Japan's acid-jazz hip-hop legend drops a SEVEN HOUR set for the ages, honoring his 20 years running the game. With a cadre of super-special secret guests complementing the maestro behind the decks.

SATURDAY
NYC
* "Report from Japan" exhibition and presentation @ graphite. / 38 Marcy Ave, Williamsburg (L to Lorimer, G to Metropolitan), 7-9p. Over four months ago, northeastern Japan was decimated by an earthquake and tsunami. Tens of thousands lost their lives, millions more their homes, the eastern power grid was ravaged…and all the way in Tokyo, they're still feeling aftershocks. Three NY-based artists born in Japan, the photographers Go Nakamura and Canna Sasa, plus video artist Hiroaki Sasa, returned to the disaster-stricken region to follow survivors, relief efforts and, despite all odds, the community's resilience. The exhibition continues through Sunday.

* Unveiled Arts showcase w/ The So So Glos @ Knitting Factory / 361 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg (L to Bedford, G to Metropolitan), 7:30p/$10 (FREE w/ UA registration). Local indie champs the So So Glos lead a night of sweaty exuberance and bodyrocking bands, incl. stalwarts Nova Social and prog-punks Old Monk.

AUSTIN
* The Sour Notes @ Hole in the Wall / 2538 Guadalupe, 8p/$5. Seeing Austin indie powerhouses in this nostalgia-riddled dive, for me, is akin to seeing The Pains of Being Pure at Heart play NYC's Ludlow go-to Cake Shop. Which really happened, and rocked hard. Anyway, Jared Boulanger and team bring their energetic rock to a solid ATX lineup, incl Little Lo and Tactics.

* Mayer Hawthorne (MI) @ Scoot Inn / 1308 E 4th St, 9p/$15. This bespectacled Ann Arbor crooner knows how to charm, with his throwback R&B and sweat-inducing deck skills. w/ some blue-eyed funk from Austin's Soul Track Mind

TOKYO
* Talk Series "Dialogues in Art: Thoughts on the disaster area, and the potential of art" @ Tokyo International Forum / 3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku (JR Yamanote Line to Yurakucho Station), 6-8p, 1000 yen (RSVP: event@artfairtokyo.com). A panel on art's role in supporting NE Japan's affected area and the movements that have originated in this four-month period. Feat. Ichiro Endo ("future" artist involved in reconstruction work), Masato Nakamura (director of 3331 Arts Chiyoda and associate professor at University of the Arts, Tokyo), Yoshiaki Kaihatsu (globe-trotting sculptor and all-around badass), Shigeo Goto (professor at Kyoto University of Art & Design and editor) and Yasuhiko Arakawa (representative for Artists' Action for Japan).

* Sushi Typhoon Matsuri @ Ginza Cine-Pathos / 4-8-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku (Tokyo Metro Ginza/Marunouchi/Hibiya Lines to Ginza Station), begins at 12:40p/1500 yen. The awesomely comedic, jaw-droppingly action-packed and totally splatterific Sushi Typhoon films have been decimating festival circuits and hypnotizing new lots of fans, but these are films from and of Japanese soil and it is a good thing that they screen at home, in style, in a four-film blockbuster blowout!!! Consider these the Four Directors of the Apocalypse, only better looking and infinitely more entertaining. Let's break it down for this week (thru AUG 5):
- "Helldriver" (dir. Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2010), screening at 12:40p. Like zombies? Like modelesque girls wielding chainsaw-swords slaying zombies? This epic of gory excess, set in a Japan half-conquered by alien gas-infected undead, could only originate in the mind of splatter king Nishimura-san. To cure the populace a la "28 Days Later", our heroine must go after the zombie queen, played by none other than Eihi Shiina. Good luck with that!
- "Alien vs Ninja" (dir. Seiji Chiba, 2010), screening at 3p. Or 'how it all began', the Sushi Typhoon world introduction occurred at NYAFF 2010…and I was there, front and center! This early title set the label's tone: a nonstop buffet of gore, eye-watering live action and a comedic twist, via rubber-suited aliens and the whole premise of aliens duking it out w/ ninja in an endless forest.
- "Yakuza Weapon" (dirs. Tak Sakaguchi & Yudai Yamaguchi, 2011), screening at 5:20p. Where to begin: it's adapted from an ultraviolent manga; it also stars action-icon Tak as a cannon-armed antihero insulting thugs in growled Osaka-ese whilst tearing up the screen in four-minute-long tracking shots; and Cay Izumi plays a naked human weapon.
- "Deadball" (dir. Yudai Yamaguchi, 2011), screening at 7:40p. The one of four I've not seen yet, but considering its director created the zombie baseball classic "Battlefield Baseball" and its lead is action-icon Tak Sakaguchi, I think we've got something particularly special here.

* Metro-Ongen @ BOXX / 2-1-1 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku (JR Chuo Line to Harajuku Station), 5p/FREE. I'm big on Tokyo's essential "vivid pop band" Metro-Ongen. Just think of your sunniest live-music nostalgia, and that's kind of what they sound like. w/ MeguMild

* Plastic Girl in Closet @ High / 4-30-1 Koenji-minami, Suginami-ku (JR Yamanote Line to Koenji Station), 5:30p/2500 yen. In my ongoing search for shoegaze-y bands, it was inevitable that I'd stumble upon these Iwate Pref. guitar-manglers, who dose dreamy feedback with syrupy vocals all over their brand-spanking new 2nd LP "Cocoro". Their nationwide tour brings them to Tokyo, w/ Love Love Straw opening.

SUNDAY
NYC
* Sweet Bulbs + Dinowalrus @ Shea Stadium / 20 Meadow St, E. Williamsburg (L to Grand), 9p. Your local indie sampler platter. Love fuzzy noise-pop? Check Sweet Bulbs! Love psychedelic percussive rock? Check Dinowalrus! Like too many guitars onstage, but it's OK b/c they rock out? Check Liquor Store! w/ So So Glos DJ set.

AUSTIN
* "The Heroic Trio" (dir. Johnny To, 1993) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E 6th St, Austin, 10p. A triple-dose of badassness, starring three of Hong Kong's top women of action: Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung AND Anita Mui — and yet it's totally unappreciated. Maybe it didn't figure well into their respective careers, but a plot where a housewife is actually a masked, knife-throwing crimefighter named "Wonder Woman" (Mui) tracks down a bad guy named "Evil Master" sounds kinda dope.

* Joanna Newsom @ Paramount Theatre / 713 Congress Ave, Austin, 8p/$30-33. You wouldn't pin me for a Joanna Newsom nut, particularly if you know me. And true, I was hesitant to get into her: that utterly unique, raspy singing voice and the fact she plays "psych folk" didn't add to my interest. But seeing her live, strumming polyrythmic cascades from her harp whilst singing, is an absolutely singular experience. Hence while I stress the awesomeness of tonight's performance.

* Inches to Pixels + The Copper Gamins (Zinacantepec) @ Mohawk / 9˙12 Red River, 9p/$6. Pflugerville grit-rockers Inches to Pixels remind me a bit of Enon (post-punk hooks, squiggly keyboards, surf guitar). Mexican blues duo The Copper Gamins add unfettered swagger. w/ The Sugar Queens

* Kendra Steiner Editions 5th Anniversary Concert @ Salvage Vanguard Theatre / 2803 Manor Rd, 7p/$5 (admission incl free poetry chapbook or music CDR). An auspicious gathering of members from Austin's new music community, incl Rick Reed & Brent Fariss (electroacoustic plus bass), Vanessa Rossetto (violin) and Venison Whirled (noise a la Lisa Cameron!), w/ a special appearance by S. Carolina's percussionist/composer Greg Stuart.

MONDAY
TOKYO
* Atari Teenage Riot DJ set @ Tower Records Shibuya / Jinnan 1-22-14 Shibuya-ku (JR lines etc to Shibuya Station), 8p. 1-2-3-4!!! Berlin's digital hardcore gods Atari Teenage Riot play a DJ set in the epicenter of the busiest 'hood of the busiest city in the world. Sounds absolutely MAYJAH to me!

TUESDAY
NYC
* "Riki-Oh" (dir. Nam Nai-choi, 1991) screening @ BAM / 30 Lafayette Ave, Ft Greene (23/45 to Nevins St, AC to Lafayette), 6:50/9:15p. Right on, BAM! The lavishly ultraviolet dystopian near-future (OK, so it's set in 2001) on the big-screen! Guts as strangulation device! Fists so strong they make other fists explode upon contact! So much fake blood that you'll need to take three showers just to wash the sensation off.

AUSTIN
* "Fright Night" (dir. Tom Holland, 1985) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E 6th St, Austin, 7p. Maybe you've heard they're remaking mid-'80s iconic scarefest "Fright Night", pumping it full of 3D and a "Twilight"-attractive cast (and, uh, Christopher Mintz-Plasse). That's all well and good (and yes I'm stoked about it), but what's 1000 times better is the original, shape-changing vampire puppets, green goo FX and all. PLUS! What amps this screening to eleven is the inclusion of writer/director Holland and writer Alvaro Rodriguez for a Q&A! MAYJAH!

* "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors" (dir. Chuck Russell, 1987) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E 6th St, 10p. IMO the best way to follow up a classic mid-'80s scarefest like "Fright Night" is w/ ANOTHER classic, i.e. part three (and the most 'punk rock') of "A Nightmare on Elm Street". From the switchblade-wielding New Waver hooligans to that super-iconic theatrical poster to badass Freddy himself.

* "The Shining" (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1980) + "The Haunting" (dir. Robert Wise, 1963) screenings @ Paramount Theatre / 713 Congress Ave, Austin, 7/9:40p. Don't go into that house! The Paramount outdoes itself on double-header awesomeness w/ this duet of classic haunted houses.

CLOSING SOON
NYC
* Willem de Kooning "The Figure: Movement and Gesture" @ The Pace Gallery / 32 E 57th St. A wonderful satiation before the Abstract Expressonist's overdue retrospective at the MoMA — or a big teaser, if you're that hungry for him. The Pace does a museum-worthy mini survey of their own, focusing on de Kooning's knack for combining figure and landscape in flowing, sinewy strokes. This is especially evident in his multiple "Montauk" paintings from the '70s, though his woman in graphite and paint is omnipresent.

* Li Songsong @ The Pace Gallery / 534 W 25th St. This is the debut U.S. solo exhibition of the Beijing-based artist, whose style is heavily impastoed and abstracted large-scale paintings recalling photographs and film stills. Though I dare you to make out even half the subject matter, buried as they are under like cake-frosting layers of somber paint. That said, Li works deftly b/w figurative compositions (like "Couple", half-hidden in a blocky test-pattern of black and gray rectangles) and graphic renderings, like "Escape", obviously taken from an airplane disaster training booklet.

* Eva Struble "Landsmen" @ Lombard-Freid Projects / 518 W 19th St. Struble focuses on the Brooklyn Navy Yard and its status of picturesque ruin and pre-transformation in a series of new brilliantly colored paintings.

* Phoebe Washburn "Temperatures in a Lab of Superior Specialness" @ Mary Boone Gallery / 745 5th Ave. The gallery collaborated with Zach Feuer in mounting this exhibition of Washburn's new sculptures, repurposed from wood, golf balls, painted stones and furniture.

* David Zink Yi "Pneuma" @ Hauser & Wirth / 32 E 69th St. An incredible and appropriately dubbed 'magical' exhibition by the Berlin-based artist, his debut solo show in NYC. The cross-media grouping includes the massive sculptural "Untitled (Architeuthis)", a giant squid from folklore, the recreated 2004 two-channel video installation "Alrededor del dosel (Around the Canopy)" and the titular 16mm film work, feat. Cuban trumpeter Yuliesky Gonzalez Guerra in a single take. (ends FRI)

NYC
* Dan Witz + Brett Amory @ Jonathan LeVine Gallery / 529 W 20th St, 9th Fl. A double-header of toughness, drawing from Brooklyn-based Witz's 10-year hyperrealistic series on mosh pits and Cali artist Amory's discomfiting paintings of lone commuters against urban cityscapes.

AUSTIN
* Joshua Saunders "Objectification" @ Big Medium / 5305 Bolm Rd #12. It sounds deceptively simple: this Austin artist utilizes a high-contrast scanner to extract everyday objects (rolls of colored string, a ripped $20 bill, a packet of Adderall) — yet the resulting effects, said images and others trapped against solid black backdrops, are disarmingly abstract, despite their familiarity.

TOKYO
* Sayako Ichikawa + Kumiko Negami @ Unseal Contemporary / 1-3-18 Nihombashi-horidomecho, Chuo-ku (Ginza/Hanzoemon Lines to Mitsukoshimae Station, Hibiya Line to Kodenmacho Station). Ichikawa works in patchwork embroidery, tying in roughly figurative elements, while Negami creates a sculptural menagerie straight out of Guillermo del Toro's world. (ends SAT)

NYC
* Francis Alÿs "A Story of Deception" @ MoMA / 11 W 53rd St (E/M to 5th Ave, 6 to 51st St). The Belgian-born Conceptualist, who's been based in Mexico City for decades now, is currently enjoying a two-armed mid-career retrospective at both museums across the Queensboro Bridge. In my memory this hasn't happened since Olafur Eliasson, and while I loved Eliasson's dual-borough exhibition I believe it works even better with Alÿs. Or at least Alÿs' "Modern Procession" (2002), a Public Art Fund-sponsored production that documents MoMA's temporary relocation to the Long Island City former schoolhouse during its 2002-4 expansion, is the centerpiece of PS1's excerpt, so there's something relevant and self-referencing in that. I encourage you to do sorta like that parade and take the E from the MoMA to PS1, catching both shows in an afternoon. PS1's exhibition continues through SEPT 12.
MoMA's portion is a big time-waster, at least on a first visit, because Alÿs' style is time-based videos (both in their respective durations and how long it took for him to complete them, usually a span of two years or more), which distract you to the point of transfixing, and scattered ephemera tangentially related to said videos and always riddled with text and explanations. You may well find yourself reading these, dwelling on them — you may well tire quickly and speed through later examples. Sound is an issue here, bleeding through the space from one video installation to another, and I doubt this is purposeful, though it lends a slight disorientation to the exhibition. His big video "When Faith Moves Mountains (Cuando la fe mauve montages)" (2002) contains two projections of that, plus a third video including interviews with some of the 500 volunteers (one pricelessly opines "I don't believe in art just for the sake of art"), the young people marching up a Lima, Peru dune in formation, shoveling away to move the mountain 10 cm. Thus goes Alÿs' saying "Máximo esfuerzo Minimo resultado", or "maximum effort, minimum results" — and don't take it from me, that emblem recurs in this narrow corridor lined with work-tables, transparencies (person walking with buildings strapped to their shoulders), paintings (a car fire), prints, newspaper articles (a lynching in Guatemala), and lots of text. All the while, tolling bells from a video in the opening of the exhibition permeate through, adding an unsettling immediacy to the people shoveling away. Alÿs' little paintings remind me more of another Belgian Surrealist, Rene Magritte, and we get a whole room of 'em in "Le Temps du sommeil" (an ongoing series since 1996), some 111 tile-sized paintings on wood, each a precious moment of weirdness, like windows into some foresty dreamscape. But since the audio element from the opening gallery doesn't carry all the way back here, MoMA installed "Song for Lupita (Mañana)" (1998), a looping filmstrip animation of a woman pouring water from one glass to another, an accompanying turntable's soundtrack melodiously humming "mañana, mañana" — doing without doing, as Alÿs might put it. This odd little piece sums up my Alÿs experience: his aversion to completing stuff, his penchant for drawing things out for years, revising and reconsidering in ever-mutating layers of change. Might as well check out "Tornado" (2000-10) and watch the artist fling himself into a tornado — it's very, VERY loud, and quite frightening, as the dirt around him almost liquifies, whirling around the terrific winds. It's good for a few minutes' viewing. The adjacent video "Politics of Rehearsal" (2005-7) comes with headphones, and it's up to you if you're like me and blow 30 minutes on this grand tease of a striptease. Alÿs filmed it in the LES's Slipper Room, following the perpetual restarts between a pianist (Alexander Rovag), a soprano (Viktoria Kurbatskaya) and a young stripper (Bella Yao) for the night's performance. A voiceover compares the stripper's slo-mo disrobing as a metaphor for Latin America and modernity, always approaching that goal but never quite there. She removes her underwear at least twice. "Rehearsal I" (1999-2001) is funnier and quicker, using the recording of a brass band's practice session to dictate the movements of a car up a sandy hill on the US/Mexico border (they play, the car starts; they screw up, the car stops; they start chattering, the car goes in reverse), plus loads more of requisite transparencies and little paintings. (ends MON)