The Marvelous Obsessions of Mr. Chris Sienko

ALL START TIMES ARE RIGID, originally uploaded by PinthGarnell.

Last night Mark mentioned that he had run into Chris Sienko on the way to the office, we all talked fondly of our friend Chris, who's been dedicated to this group since the beginning, which means we're very hip, and decided today that we would all write about Chris, though Justin wasn't in on the discussion so will probably be discussing the bears.

Chris Sienko is hip, so hip he would make Tarantino puke. He has an intense innate understanding of the underground and a music collection so precisely dedicated and vast that all dabblers burst into flames just setting eyes upon it. All of the obsessions of Chris are precise to the point where to enter his apartment is to know him instantly, he's laserlike in clarity for what he likes in this life and has mastered the art of divorcing himself from the kind opinions of others. In a world where many people are many things I've met few people who are themself more than Chris. .

The first time I met Chris he lived above Mark and came down on New Years with a hat that had half a fish poking out the top and the fishes tail poking out the back to give the illusion that the fish had gone through his head and had a ball jar filled with, as far as we could tell, moonshine. Chris proceeded to dance, on his own, all night long. That was my introduction to Chris.

Chris and I share a special obsession for movies and filmmakers, and he does these events that are straight from my heart. He picks a filmmaker and then through all his underground connections and eBay gathers EVERY SINGLE artifact from that directors career including stuff the director themselves probably can't get a ahold of and then runs them IN ORDER for three days straight only taking 6 hours off to sleep. ALL START TIMES RIGID (as you can see in the picture Chris staring at the clock ready to hit play when it turns over) He's done it twice, once for Robert Altman and one for John Cassavetes and they are two of the best things I've ever been a part of. It's really amazing to get the full perspective on a filmmaker from beginning to end, and be able to talk about it during this fest with unabashed learning and fervor and love. And after I feel really special in my knowledge of that director and the discovery of these amazing random and obscure works that will influence me for the rest of my career. If it werent' for Chris I probably would've never seen Altman's amazing Three Women or California Split, or Cassavettes' Minnie & Moskowitz and those are some special movies that should be required viewing for any serious film fan.

Chris has every episode of Schadenfreude on cassette, he missed an episode early on and I told him I could get him a CD and he declined. He felt that radio comedy is best preserved on cassette, taped off the radio in real time. That's Chris.

Amongst his other obsessions are Album Comedy of the 70's (Firesign Theatre) and Noise, which from what I gather is a type of music. He once held a 24 hour listening fest to some Noise band that...he could tell you the whole story, it's a band you've never heard of, but after listening to Chris talk about them you not only know who they are, but their place in music and how music you like couldn't exist without them. That's Chris. I went to that festival just to see Chris in his element. He has his own Noise band called Gays In The Military who's albums have names like Oceans of Butter, Rivers of Blood, and The Secret Art of Meat Smoking. That's Chris.

Next festival - A full-on education on Werner Herzog, check the column for details. It'll be a good one.

One last thing. Chris, I have to get your Cassavetes 1 and Buffallo Bill and The Indians back to you, I'm so sorry. I'm a bad video borrower, I borrow videos for years at a time. That's me.