THU MAY 24th: Ben von Wildenhaus (live) + "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" by Aki Kaurismaki

 

Our May Rabbit Movie Night is pleased to screen acclaimed Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's bizarro cult film 'Leningrad Cowboys Go America', opened by the video/guitar collaboration 'Orbothology' performed live by Ben Von Wildenhaus.

 

ORBOTHOLOGY w/ BEN VON WILDENHAUS

is a collaboration between the video artists House Plants and the guitarist Ben von Wildenhaus. The audio/visual project looks at the uneasy politics that arise when American youth engage with the world through the skewed lens of youtube videos and hipsterized 'world music.' The orb takes center stage as a fetishized object of Eastern mysticism and American new ageism. The performance is both hilarious and intensely psychedelic.

 

Ben von Wildenhaus is a multi-instrumentalist originally from the pacific northwest who has performed with acts such as Federation X, Two Dark Birds, and Professional Band. He currently resides in Queens, New York. Performing on solo electric guitar, Wildenhaus works with minimal loops, hypnotic rhythms, and strange and beautiful melodies to create an aural landscape that falls somewhere between the darkness of a murderous forest and the playful seduction of Americanized belly dance music. His 2011 album Great Melodies From Around has been been featured in Spin, Magnet, and Foxy Digitalis. "Orbothology" debuted as a showcasing performance at SXSW 2012 in Austin, Texas. The collaboration also made appearances in Los Angeles, CA, Olympia, WA, Seattle, WA, and Bellingham, WA. 

 

House Plants is a collaborative video enterprise by Brooklyn, New York artists Michael Nason and Brendan Harman and a loosely associated group of artists. Their works include music videos for Das Racist, Led Er Est, Acrylics, Ben von Wildenhaus, and Jeffery Jeruselem; acting and video collaborations with Weird Days and Sunset Television; as well as the internet video source HelloHousePlants.Com.

 

LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO AMERICA

Aki Kaurismaki's 1989 cult film, Leningrad Cowboys Go America is a road movie about the adventures of a loser Russian rock band wearing ludicrous hairstyles traveling in the US to become famous. This is the director's first hit film (despite a hand full of other amazing earlier films) and ironically brought the fictional band to real-life fame after its release. Kaurismaki has been Finland's leading indie art-house filmmaker since the 80's with his omnipresent social criticism and fusing minimalism and melodrama. His cynical yet humorous depiction of Northern Europe's lower class in addition to his consistent usage of 60's Rock'n'roll soundtracks are signatures to his very unique style. Jim Jarmusch has a cameo as a car dealer in this film. Also there are cameo appearances by blues guitarist Duke Robillard and American Rockabilly Hall of Famer, Colonel Robert Morris, with his wife Irene.

 

Door is $10 with Open Bar!

Starts at 7:30 pm.

 

See you there!