My Country 'tis of Thee
An ode to an idea
Hello internet pals of music. Today we’re winning the hot dog eating contest with a playlist celebrating this baffling country called the US of A.
Ever heard of the artist Cameron Jamie?
He’s a mysterious artist. He examines curious things. Things like backyard wrestling, amateur haunted houses and the frightening tradition of Krampusnacht. He then makes work based on these strange wormholes he goes down, in the form of ink drawings, masks, photographs, and notably films. He’s been doing this for thirty years. Describing his work is difficult, because what he’s doing doesn’t feel like art as much as it feels like a cracked mirror reflecting an obsessive’s detached fascination with the weird world around him. It’s funny until it isn’t.
I was particularly struck by the second half of his 2004 film JO, which juxtaposes an annual Joan of Arc pageant in France with the annual 4th of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. In that sequence, the hot dog eating is shown in reverse.
It’s horrifying.
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Cameron Jamie is very much an American artist, seemingly haunted by that very Americanism.
I love America. I love it so much that I tried for over a decade to move to Canada forever.
America is strange. It will always haunt me, too. It fascinates me, thrills me and depresses me. It is beautiful, ugly, warm-hearted and violent. A crazy experiment where the variables are always mutating.
I love America. So much that I never want to leave it again.
Here is a playlist of songs all about the fascination, the horror, the love, and the dream of this big, messy, mythological idea we call America.
And now, I’m off to eat hot dogs. Happy 4th.
SERMONS! is brought to you by Musik Klub. You can also find Jamie on Twitter and Instagram, if that’s your thing. Like what you’re hearing? Help spread the word!
Musik Klub: “Everythang’s Workin”
Watched a documentary recently called Hack Your Health that analyzes the link between your gut and brain. Kobayashi was one of the subjects and they are trying to figure out why he can go days without realizing he hasn't eaten. He is never hungry and he thinks competitive eating has fucked up his system.