Back to Writing
I wrote a new post for the literary website The Nervous Breakdown for the first time in over half a year. If you would like to read about me taking the bus to the library, please click HERE.
Local 269 Show
Acoustic Show with Blag Dahlia this Tuesday NYC
This Tuesday, June 22, I will be opening for Blag Dahlia of the Dwarves at Local 269 Bar on Houston Street in New York City. It will be an all acoustic show. See the shows page for details.
Show at Lit Wednesday with Teddy Blanks, Ghost Society, and Queen of Sybils
Tiny Furniture Soundtrack
Tiny Furniture, Lena Dunham’s second feature film, just won Best Picture at the SXSW Film Festival!!!
The Tiny Furniture soundtrack features an original score by Teddy Blanks, my song Aaron, a duet I sing with Teddy called When U Come Home which he wrote especially for the movie, and songs by Domino and Sonia’s Party & The Everyone’s Invited!
You can download the entire soundtrack for FREE!
Download Soundtrack
Lena Dunham Finds her Worth in Tiny Furniture [New York Times]
Tonight
Showpaper Benefit February 13 – flyer
On View Now in Los Angeles
I have four watercolors on view now in:
THIS IS A PERFORMANCE, a group exhibition curated by SAM GORDON
at ARTIST CURATED PROJECTS featuring work by:
JIBZ CAMERON, JAKE EWERT, DANIEL FEINBERG, KELTIE FERRIS, DAPHNE FITZPATRICK, JACOB ROBICHAUX, REBECCA SCHIFFMAN, A.L. STEINER, WESLEY WILLIS
Kings County Biennial
Bas-Fisher Invitational: Wow, We Have Come This Far, limited edition portfolio
The non-profit, artist-run gallery, The Bas-Fisher Invitational, located in Miami and where Javier Hernandez and I had a two-person show in 2006 called ‘Faster Sleeper,’ has just released its first limited edition portfolio of prints by 12 artists, including me.
Below is my two-color silkscreen print. There are many crazy awesome different prints in this portfolio. Contact the gallery to see more.
“Untitled (iPhone)” 2009
From the BFI website:
The first BFI portfolio celebrates the five year anniversary of the BFI. It includes prints by twelve past artists, keeping the edition size small at 15 with 12 artist proofs. All of the proceeds of this benefit will go towards matching the Knight Arts Challenge Grant awarded to the BFI from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. This “matching” grant provides the BFI funding to maintain year-round programming including exhibitions, lectures and other community events as a zero-profit, non-commercial gallery space.
Artists included in the portfolio edition:
Kevin Arrow, Alejandro Cardenas, Clifton Childree, Jessica Dickinson, Harlan Erskine, Freegums” aka Alvaro Ilizarbe, Federico Nessi, Rebecca Schiffman, Francine Spiegel, Jen Stark, Mike Taylor, Jonathan Thomas
The portfolio set is available for an introductory price of $3800.00.
For purchases and inquiries, write to us at: info@basfisherinvitational.com
WWBBD? And, Hal David
What would Burt Bacharach Do? I wish I knew while looking for this next chord.
Also, this is what Hal David looks like:
Hal David wrote most of the lyrics for Burt Bacharach’s music including “Alfie,” in my opinion and limited knowledge, one of the world’s most perfect “songs.”
I love Men (with a capital “M”.)
‘This Train is Bound for Glory’
Last night I was honored to perform at Mitchell-Innes & Nash as part of an evening celebrating the launch of Justine Kurland’s newest photography book ‘This Train is Bound for Glory’ (Ecstatic Peace Library, 2009) as well as the closing of her exhibition of the same name.
Justine Kurland, Ghost Town CSX, 2007
Thurston Moore
Rebecca Schiffman (Photo by Melanie Berliet)
Luke Roberts
BAS-FISHER INVITATIONAL BENEFIT
The non-profit Miami-based gallery, The Bas-Fisher Invitational celebrated its 5-year anniversary last night with a benefit and unveiled a limited edition portfolio called ‘Wow We Have Come This Far’ of prints by thirteen artists including myself.
The BFI was founded in 2004 by artists Hernan Bas and Naomi Fisher and is currently run by Naomi Fisher and Jim Drain.
Artists in the portfolio:
Kevin Aaron, Alejandro Cardenas, Clifton Childree, Jessica Dickinson, Harlan Erskine, “Freegums” aka Alvaro Ilizarbe, Frederico Nessi, Rebecca Schiffman, Francine Spiegel, Jen Stark, Mike Taylor, and Jonathan Thomas.
TALK SHOW:
Red Bucket Films has posted the first few episodes of The Talk Show and I am the first musical guest! Check it out. I think it’s very funny.
Stills:
Me and Katie on The U.E.S. available on iTunes today!!
I have decided to start releasing each song as I finish it, as a digital single.
Buy it now for a mere 99 cents!
I wrote and recorded this first single, Me and Katie on the U.E.S. a few years ago, and am sending it out to the ever shrinking world of paying-for-music-customers before I finish up some newer stuff. Because I still love this song!
It’s about my best friend Katie and I growing up on the Upper East Side. We grew up in the same building and were in the same class at Spence. In 2006, some NYU kids e-mailed me asking if I would let them engineer a song of mine at the Clive Davis School of
Tonight – This is a Test
Tonight only, I will have paintings here:
X INITIATIVE, 548 West 22nd Street, New York, NY (the former Dia building)
RECEPTION & book release: Wednesday, September 16, 7:00 – 9:00pm.
A colony of geodesic domed tents for temporary colonization, squatting, taking over, and making yourself at home in the San Gabriel Mountains.
“This is a Test” a trial run for “This is a Performance” – organized by Sam Gordon
To workshop the exhibition opening at ACP (Los Angeles, 01.23.2010) in one of the tents, a trial balloon, to gather work, drawings, ephemera….Action Painting vs. Performance Relic – Artifact vs. Document – Jake Ewert, Daniel Feinberg, Keltie Ferris, Daphne Fitzpatrick, Jacob Robichaux, Rebecca Schiffman, A.L. Steiner, and Wesley Willis. artists meeting – video display and sales.
My Favorite Song
Live from the U.E.S!
Surf Lodge
Thank you to everyone who came to the show at The Surf Lodge, and thank you Stephanie Gilmore and Ava Warbrick for inviting me to play.
Photo by Jay Israelson.
IFC IndieEar Review of my set at Studio@Webster Hall
Click HERE to read Brandon Kim’s really funny and nice review of my performance at The Studio@Webster Hall on his IFC blog, The Independent Ear.
Pics from Sycamore, Brooklyn, NY
Pics of me by Ian Mohr:
Hess is More:
…
Thank you to everyone who came to the Hess is More record release party on Friday. Hess is More and also DJ Fagget Fairys were so insanely awesome that I danced without being drunk.
Pic of me at Hess is More Record Release party by Dominic DeJoseph:
Show at 92Y Tribeca, Friday June 19
Lipstick Results
The lipstick poll is tied at 44-44! Thank you to everyone who came out to vote. Honestly, when I left for the concert yesterday Red was up by one point, but since Blue had some serious support and was the more exciting option I went for it. It was more of an opinion poll or focus group. I swear if it were a presidential election I would obey the results!
I welcome more costume ideas for performing… Pics from last night coming soon.
LIPSTICK POLL
Click on the pics to enlarge.
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[poll id=”2″] |
For anyone who is curious, the lipsticks are:
Red- Shu Uemura RD128
Blue- Shu Umerura BL040 with Shu Uemura Me Blue Drawing Pencil
Two Fun Upcoming Performances in NYC
Wednesday, June 17 – The Studio @ Webster Hall
with Walter Schreifels (Quicksand, Rival Schools) and
Borrowed Eyes and The Blood Red Road (And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead)
Friday, June 19 – 92Y Tribeca
Hess is More record release party
Visit the shows page for details.
This Wednesday, performance at UNIS store, New York
Blast from the Past! (1999)
Yesterday my recent friend Dar e-mailed me that he found an old photo (pre-digital) he took of a band at a party many years ago and I’m the bass player! I used to play bass in a band called Pearl Harbor and this picture, which he gave me, is from a show at the old Some Records office on West 29th Street in 1999.
So, I’ve gathered up the other few photos I have of us and created a separate photo page for Pearl Harbor. Check us out here. And if anyone out there has more pics of us please let me know.
Pics from Last Night
Thanks to everyone who came to Glasslands Gallery last night. Here are some pics.
Photos of me by Katie Wagner
Aerial East accompanied by Michael Leviton and Victor Magro
New York Magazine
I was in New York Magazine last week. Click below to enlarge or here to go to NY Mag site.
My Interview with Dustin Yellin
Here is a video interview I did with artist, Dustin Yellin, for ArtObserved. His show ‘Dust in The Brain Attic’ opens tomorrow at Robert Miller Gallery, New York, and if you are in New York it is not to be missed!
(April 23, 2009, 6pm – 8pm, 524 West 26th Street, New York, NY)
Video from Last Night
Thanks to everyone who came to the show at Zebulon last night. Here is a song from the show.
LA, Las Vegas, and Palm Springs
I’ve just posted pics from my recent trip to LA, Las Vegas, and Palm Springs. Here I am with Steven Segal’s longjohns from the movie On Deadly Ground at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas. More pics…
New CD available at OTHER MUSIC
My new album “To Be Good for a Day” is now available on CD, with artwork and stuff, at Other Music, one of the last standing record stores in NYC.
Pick it up in the store at 15 East 4th Street between Lafayette and Broadway, New York, NY or order online: www.othermusic.com
Music Video for The Rabbit Habit
Directed by Jack Bryan.
Best Album of the Month in Vice Magazine!!!!
Here is the scanned magazine…
Or read my review and many more on the Vice website.
Timeout coverage of my performance at Guild & Greyshkul
New Album Out Now!!!!
Finally, today marks the official release date for my second album “To Be Good for a Day.”
IMK, my jewelry line, featured on TEEN VOGUE!
Music Video Cameos
I recently had two little cameos in friends’ music videos.
Stayin’ Alive Remix – Directed by Matthew Frost
Rory Guinness – Sportscar
Thank you everyone who came to the show last night!
It was a lot of fun.
Photos by David Benjamin Sherry
Last minute show this Wednesday in Williamsburg
I just found out I’m playing this Wednesday. Here is the info.
December 3, 2008 – Zebulon, Brooklyn, NY
258 Wythe Avenue between North 3rd and Metropolitan in Williamsburg.
9pm Rebecca Schiffman
10pm Scary Mansion
No cover! It’s a cafe so you can drink as well as eat.
Road Trip
Thanks to everyone who came to the show at Lit on Wednesday. I think that was one of my favorite shows.
I am on a road trip to New Orleans with Charlotte and Wilmot. We stayed with Steph last night in Blacksburg and are about to drive to Nashville, maybe even Memphis today.
Photo by Justin Cox.
Upcoming Show!
I am performing this Saturday at The End of the World’s Record Release Party:
Good Review at The Guggenheim…
Last week I took part in a collaborative art installation/performance by the artist Dominique Gonzalez Foerster and the composer Ari Benjamin Meyer at The Solomon R. Guggenheim. Nicolas Ghesquière of Balenciaga custom-made our dresses and I had to take mine off on-stage. Being part of the rehearsals and watching the final pieces of this work come together I had no idea how it would come off to the audience.
Among other things: I and three other young women simultaneously played different children’s computer games as an improvisational music ensemble. I derobed and took a shower with a man. The Staten Island Richmond County Orchestra played part of Beethoven’s 6th. Someone cooked mushrooms. Old people sang old songs like Row Row Row Your Boat.
Most of my family and friends hated the work, offering feedback such as “Awful, just awful” and “…audience victimization.”
I still don’t know what I would think if I had walked in off the street to watch this but I do feel good about Roberta Smith’s New York Times review.
I am the “young woman” Roberta Smith refers to here, in the opening of her review:
A few minutes into “NY. 2022,” a performance piece at the Guggenheim Museum last Friday night, a young man and woman stripped naked, stepped into a frosted-glass shower stall and started pouring water on each other. As if on cue, two audience members got up and left the museum’s theater, huffily.
Big News!
Recently, Some Records gave me back the rights to my 2003 album “Upside Down Lacrimosa.” They had never paid me for digital sales. Sucks. So I just had them take the album down from iTunes, I resubmitted it, and it is back up! Now if you buy some tracks or the whole album (only $9.99!) I’ll get paid.
Click here to buy it on iTunes!
Also, the second album will be available reeeaaaally soon… within the next two months.
Hi
Sorry, no midget fondling here.
Did you know that I can see what search terms people enter to find this website? Lately there have been several “midget fondling” queries! The words “midget” and “fondling” occur separately in captions on the Halloween pics page.
I will be playing at Lit on Nov 12. Details TBA.
Finally Got Credited for Painting!
Zizek’s recent book “Violence” did go into it’s second printing and I finally got credited for the painting on the back inside flap. (They originally used it without my knowledge or permission and without giving credit!)
Plate Show
This weekend I was a guest on Shawn Honnick’s Plate Show, a radio show about “life, vanity plates, and the meanings behind them.” It happened super last minute so I didn’t have time to post it beforehand but click HERE to listen to a recording of the show.
Two Covers
I just posted two downloadable cover songs in the mp3s section. (Neil Young and Electric Six)
Show on Tuesday
I’m playing this Tuesday, August 19 at The Delancey. I will be opening for my friend Peter Toh.
See the shows page for details.
Also please check out my new blog of interesting vanity plates.
Update
I am in the mixing phase of album 2. Hopefully it will be ready to be released in a month or two.
My Painting Exhibition Opens Next Week
For more information visit www.petraprojects.com
Woodys, Roses opens tomorrow
Woodys, Roses, a two person exhibition of work by myself and Karine Fauchard, curated by Abraham Orden, is on view April 29 – May 23 at Song Song Gallery in Vienna, Austria.
Click here for details.
What what?
Thanks to Arthur J. Fournier, seen in the original photo at the end of this post, I can add Playgirl to my photography resumé.
I Release My Official Response to George Gurley’s New York Observer Article About Me from My Loftbed Headquarters
Today’s issue of The New York Observer ran an article about me by George Gurley titled “Who’s That Girl? It’s Rebecca Schiffman!” Maybe I’ve been out of school too long because lately I’ve had the urge to write letters to Harper’s Magazine responding to various articles. Once I begin the effort, however, I quickly become discouraged because I know Harper’s usually publishes responses from people of some related scholarly authority, and unless I have some revelatory insight on the subject, which has not yet happened in these mere self-assigned challenges, I will not be saying anything new or worthwhile. But now an article exists on which I might be a leading authority! So here is my response.
George interviewed me over the last several weeks and I must first say that he did a great job of parsing the hours and hours of taped rantings to output this fairly accurate and vivid (graphic!) depiction of where I am in life.*
Illuminating some references:
Title: I am assuming George based the title “Who’s that Girl?…” on an article in Vice Magazine that he alludes to when he mentions he saw my bare ass on the internet, called “Who’s That Ass?” The April, Read More
Me in Jalouse, My Leg Required a Touchup
I am in the current issue of the french magazine Jalouse (Avril 2008). Article by Lolita Pille. Photograph by Matthew Frost. Click below to enlarge. Scroll down for a better look at my leg.
Note the difference in my calf…
(Left: Before, Right: After)
Today is my 26th Birthday
Other people born on April 9:
Jean Paul Belmondo, Dennis Quaid, Hugh Hefner, Paul Robeson, Cynthia Nixon, J. William Fulbright, Charles Baudelaire
Video on Green Owl Compilation
Green Owl Records’ first release, a compilation featuring Feist, Of Montreal, Muse, The Exit, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, and Violens, as well as a video for my song Penguins and Igloos, directed by Supermarché, came out today. It is available at every Whole Foods Store, among other places. Click here to find out more, order online, or download: The Green Owl Comp: A Benefit for Energy Action
Two New Photo Pages
Southampton
I went to Southampton this weekend and saw a baby seal on the beach.
The Rainbow Painting
This is a painting my parents bought in the mid-late 70’s by the artist Pat Lipsky. My family has a tradition of taking photos of people in front of this painting. I’ve rounded up many of these photos and taken some new ones.
Website
Between 2am and 5am tonight I completely broke and put back together this website. I didn’t make the improvements I was going for but I learned a lot- about wordpress and .htaccess files…
Photos from Recording
Writing
I have written a new post on TNB about songwriting.
Please check it out here:
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/rebecca_schiffman/2008/03/some-thoughts-o.html
Thank you to everyone who came to the show on Monday
Me, Jay Israelson and Reka Reisinger
Photo by Benjamin Butler on a disposable camera
Tonight
Come to:
Lit 6 Year Anniversary Party
Lit Lounge, 93 2nd Ave between 5th St and 6th St, New York, NY
8:30pm Doors open
9pm Rebecca Schiffman
9:45pm Mike Bones
10:30pm Sian Alice
11:15pm Blood on the Wall
DJ’s Andrew Kuo, Josh Wildman, Brian Degraw, Leo Fitzpatrick, Paul Sevigny
Don’t Forget to Vote in the Primary on February 5
February 5, 2008
NYC Board of Elections Pollsite Locator
http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm
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Thank you to everyone who came to the show tonight at The Living Room. I had a very nice time. The residency has been extended and I will be playing there every Monday in February with the regular Meltaway Mondays lineup: John Wolfington, Alexa Wilding, and Tim Foljahn.
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Thank you to everyone who came to the show yesterday.
Upcoming schedule:
Saturday January 26 – show in Bushwick at Troutman Street.
Monday, January 28 – last show upstairs at The Living Room
See shows page for details.
From last night:
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Two upcoming shows in New York:
Monday January 21 at The Living Room, Upstairs in Googie’s Lounge
Saturday January 26 at 322 Troutman Street, Brooklyn
See the shows page for details.
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Thank you to everyone who came to the show last night. Here are a few pics, the ones of me taken by K.D.
Happy New Year
So, I’ve tinkered around with the website some more and I’m pretty happy with this layout as opposed to the one from a few weeks ago.
I will be playing at Googie’s Lounge which is upstairs at The Living Room in New York next Monday, January 7. See the shows page for details.
The RS logo above was designed by Jordy Rosenblum from Glomerate a few years ago.
Other web stuff – I moved The U.E.S. Journal back to www.uesjournal.com from blogspot.
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I fixed the broken links on the MP3s page. Also, the sound of the live mp3 i put up is so painful, it was the first song of the night and not all the kinks were worked out, so I’ve taken it down.
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Thank you to everyone who came to the show on Wednesday.
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If you enjoy reading please check out my newest entry on the creative non-fiction website The Nervous Breakdown.
What do you think of this new layout?
Hi! I’m just testing this out – I could switch back to the old site in a few minutes, but I like how easy this is to update and now I have comments!
So please leave a comment with any remarks or suggestions for the site.
There will also soon be an RSS feed button. RSS is also my initials (middle name after Suzanne Farrell) and the other day I passed a car with this license plate. It’s not like there are a bunch of cars with this plate and I just happened to see one. It’s the only one in New York! So, I thought it was sort of exciting.
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Thank you everyone who came to the show on Sunday.
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I have been added as an official contributor to The Nervous Breakdown, a creative non-fiction blog founded by Brad Listi, author of Attention.Deficit.Disorder.My introductory entry has just gone up and should be at or near the top of the page. Please check out the site when you have a chance – there are over 70 contributors and you might find a few you especially like.
www.thenervousbreakdown.com
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Two of my oldies are soundtracks in short internet videos.
Yesterday GOOD Magazine guest-curated YouTube’s homepage and used my song Penguins and Igloos from Upside Down Lacrimosa throughout their intro. You can watch the video here.
Elena Stratigos used The Desert in a film school project. Watch here.
Vacation photos
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I have moved my zine The U.E.S. Journal to uesjournal.blogspot.com to try to make it easier to update and easier for readers to interact with. Please visit!
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This morning I was interviewed by Nicolas Vidal on his show Petit compagnie on ALIGRE FM 93.1 in Paris. The interview was sort of in French and English and Nicolas translated my English answers into French. He is a songwriter too and I love his songs – click on his name to go to his myspace page.
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Hi from Munich.
Here’s a pic from the Sidewalk Show.
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This coming Friday I will be playing at the RiYL Records Summer Slam 3 at Sidewalk (July 13).
Go to the SHOWS page for details. Or read this flyer:
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I’m playing this Saturday June 30, 2007 in Brooklyn, NY
on the roof of The Old American Can Factory.
Go to the SHOWS page for details.
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May 21, 2007
Last night I played at Piano’s upstairs with Sebastian Blanck and Benji Cossa. I didn’t post it on this website because it was very last minute… but I am playing this Friday at Cakeshop on Ludlow Street in New York, NY. See the shows page for details.
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Sorry for the lack of updates. There are a few new photos in the section on the making of the new album: To Be Good for a Day
I have a tentative show scheduled in Brooklyn in June – details TBA. Once the album is finished, I will be performing more often again. Meanwhile, as always, please visit my zine The U.E.S. Journal.