Most of us do not have a $150,000 clothing budget, supposedly the amount the Republicans have spent on duds for their VP nominee. But if you insist on dressing up like The Palin this Halloween, try to do so with a dash of originality and wit.

Girls and (apparently also) boys: PLEASE BE ADVISED. There will be a zero tolerance policy on non-clever and hastily assembled Sarah Palin costumes.

>>>If you are hosting a Halloween party, feel free to print this notice and post it near the door.<<<

Hendrik Hertzberg makes a good point about the hypocrisy of the Republican candidates trying to stir up fear of Obama by labeling him a socialist. It's one more example of desperate McCain/Palin doublethink as their defeat looms ever closer. The whole piece is worth reading, but I excerpt the conclusion below.

theanyspacewhatever
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY, Oct 24 - Jan 7

Angela Bulloch, Maurizio Cattelan, Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Douglas Gordon, Carsten Höller, Pierre Huyghe, Jorge Pardo, Philippe Parreno, Rirkrit Tiravanija

organized by Nancy Spector

I have not yet seen the Guggenheim show on relational aesthetics (RA), due to the fact that the museum no longer maintains an aesthetic relationship with me. But who knows, I might drop by one of these days and actually view it.

Two terms of George W. Bush's leadership have sure managed to change things.

The original Budweiser ad from 1999:

In 2008, after eight years of W, W-ass-up! is just about W-ashed Up. Sad but TRUE.

review of Meat After Meat Joy, curated by Heide Hatry, at Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, New York, October 16 - November 15, 2008

I sing the song of meat, of its joys and discontents. For text demanded is now text made manifest. For meat is not only murder but also medium. Not merely the flesh, bone and sinew of corporeal existence but also an aesthetic construct replete with its peculiar and innate ontology. Not just tissue but also a symbolic projection of the impolite body into the rarefied space of the contemporary art world.

As for Heide Hatry, who participates in the exhibition at Daneyal Mahmood Gallery as both its curator and one of the artists, meat is a sine qua non, an act of brazen clarity, revelation and defiance somewhat akin to William Burrough's famous explication of the title of his novel Naked Lunch: "a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork."

JOE BRADLEY
Shmagoo Paintings

CANADA
55 Chrystie Street
(between Hester and Canal)
NY NY 10002
212 925 4631
canadanewyork.com

ABC NO RIO GALA & BENEFIT AUCTION
http://www.abcnorio.org/benefit2008/index.html

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 7 - 10 PM
ANGEL ORENSANZ FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
172 NORFOLK STREET

Beer, wine, buffet, burlesque performances, brilliant conversation and spirited bidding!

Groundswell Community Mural Project

Art Auction Benefit Raises Funds for Public Art
http://www.groundswellmural.org/Benefit/benefit.html

Wednesday, October 29, 7 - 10 pm
Donor's Preview, 6 - 7pm.

Affirmation Arts Gallery
523 W 37th Street
NYC 10011
http://www.affirmationarts.com/

Groundswell Community Mural Project, recently recognized in the NY Daily News as one of the city’s great arts organizations, is having its Annual Art Auction Benefit.

Ticket prices start at $35 per person.

Tickets at the $100 level buy entry to the Donor's Preview, 6pm- 7pm. The Preview includes early access to bidding and a "Buy It Now" event (selected artworks can be purchased at set price prior to auction).

Purchase tickets online through NY Charities
http://www.nycharities.org/donate/charitydonate.asp?ID=1976

or by check:

Groundswell Benefit
339 Douglass Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 254.9782

For more information:
benefit@groundswellmural.org

Tickets also available at the door.

At the top, it's all white tie entitlement, good fun, and let the best joker win. Because even if you lose, you're still part of the club.

For the benefit of partisanship, the McCain coverage is taken from Fox News, the Obama coverage from MSNBC.

McCain, parts 1 and 2