Pacifico Silano, I am Fucking Crazy But I
am Free, 2019, silkscreen on American Flag, 3 x 5 feet. Courtesy the Artist.

Dear Lana, forgive us our sins. Dear Lana, forgive us our sins…Wait…what’s that? Oh, I was just praying to our lord, savior, national anthem and blessed mother Lana Del Rey. If you’re not praying to your idols, then how are you expected to get anything out of life? Certainly even Jesus could recognize the cleansing potential of the “Ride” monologue.

Of course, on Filthy Dreams, we’ve alway promoted idolatry. Why we even ripped our tagline from the mouth of our preeminent filth elder John Waters. And not just for the sacrilege, though certainly, that’s an added bonus, but because role model adoration is an integral part of survival. I mean, our filth elder tells us, “Life is nothing if you’re not obsessed.” And who are we to disagree?

So in celebration of all our idols and rabid fanaticism, the group exhibition Idol Worship, curated by your faithful co-founder Emily, opens tonight at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn. And both in honor and for its opening, we’ve created a maniacal playlist to go in tandem with the show–a combination of some of the role model figures that appear and others that didn’t make the cut, but are important nonetheless. Though we know you won’t believe us, the gallery asked us to do it!

Ok, maybe they didn’t know the playlist would eventually bloat out to over 9 hours. But no idol must be left behind! We’re going to let everyone gather in the gallery for some cheap wine and art, and then lock the doors until they listen until completion. Shouldn’t people be forced to understand the genius of your heroes?

As Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds appear repeatedly to ask, “Do you love me like I love you?”