Banksy reveals himself to the public and gives us an exciting glimpse into his day to day life
Finally! And such an ordinary chap.
Finally! And such an ordinary chap.
Last Minutes with Oden was voted best video at the Vimeo Festival + Awards over the weekend and boy did it deserve to win. The film is a six-minute long documentary about a former addict, Jason Wood, putting down his much loved pooch, Oden. Directed by Eliot Rausch, the short sensitively portrays what it’s like to go through something like this—is there anything more wrenching than having to put a dying pet down?—as well as expertly tying in Jason’s brutal backstory. The film is tightly and economically directed and to say it’s moving is a criminall understatement (I cried my eyes out—just sobbed like a baby—watching this earlier in the year and just now).
The Vimeo awards were held at the School of Visual Arts in New York and judged by folks like David Lynch, Roman Coppola, Morgan Spurlock, and M.I.A. Another winner that I really liked is Andy Brutel’s insane music video for “Scissors” by Liars.
Dunno ‘bout you, but I love Deerhoof. It was the Apple O
In his new book, The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future
This week in New York City, for three night only, Dangerous Minds pal, Ann Magnuson and Adam Dugas will be presenting their Duelling Harps show that knocked ‘em dead in Los Angeles:
A darkly elegant evening of gorgeous melodies with a theatrical flourish. Ann Magnuson and Adam Dugas face off on vocals as Alexander Rannie and Mia Theodoratus strum their harps in this twisted match of musical one-upmanship. The quartet thrusts and parries with an arsenal of tunes ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime: psychedelic calls to prayer, Henry Purcell’s Baroque art songs, Kraftwerk, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Lee Hazlewood, and Pink Floyd, as well as original songs by Magnuson and Dugas. Dueling Harps makes its New York premiere at the Abrons. The show premiered in Hollywood at the Steve Allen Theater and then ran at REDCAT in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Harps marks Magnuson’s first New York theatrical appearance in nine years.
Dugas and Magnuson meet upon the stage to resolve a grudge; a duel ensues to settle their dispute that is fought using only music. Each singer brings a second to accompany them on the harp, the only other weapon allowed in the duel. Dugas and Theodoratus represent the East Coast, Magnuson and Rannie the West, as a battle rages - with much trickery and tomfoolery. Robin Walsh adds a dash of the surreal with her puppetry, and a special Halloween encore rounds out the night. There will be blood!
The performances are on October 15, 16, and 17 and take place at the Abrons Arts Center at 8pm. You can buy tickets here.
New Yorkers take note, Ann assures me that due to the difficultly, and expense, of staging something like this, that this may be her last performance like this for quite some time on the east coast. And speaking of the costs of mounting such a show, they’ve got an online fundraiser going on where supporters can score posters, CDs, original art, a pre-performance reception and one lucky patron of the arts will receive an onstage LAP DANCE, from either Ann or Adam, their choice!
Episode 6 of the Dangerous Minds Radio Hour finds my fellow blogger and friend since 4th grade Ron Nachmann taking the reins for an expert excursion to many mesmerizing worlds of bass, dub and other booty-shaking points of interest. Listen in to Ron’s expertly textured world-wise selections, sure to become a regular feature of the DM Radio Hour.
Goran Bregovic – “In The Deathcar” (feat. Iggy Pop) Arizona Dreams OST (Wrasse Jamaica)
Junior Murvin & The Upsetters – “Roots Train Number Two” Sound System Scratch (Pressure Sounds)
The Upsetters – “Jucky Skank” Sound System Scratch (Pressure Sounds) pressure.co.uk
dubLoner & Isaac Haile Selassie – “Wicked Man [Kush Arora remix]” (Def’child Recordings)
Sub Swara – “Bend You” Triggers (Low Motion Records)
Commix – “Be True” [Burial remix] (Metalheadz)
I.D. - “Fashionist” (Voltage Music)
Shockman – “Shockout” (Voltage Music)
Mista Chatman – “Sidewinda” (more info)
A.J. Holmes and The Hackney Empire – “Fraudian Slip (feat. Kastro) [Uproot Andy Remix]” (Ghetto Bassquake)
Ibrahim Dicko - “Sida” DJ Spider remix Frikywa Vol. 1 (Six Degrees Records)
Tshetsha Boys – “Nwampfundla” Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa (Honest Jon’s)
Last Step – “Soda”You’re a Nice Girl EP (Planet Mu)
Download this week’s episode
Subscribe to the Dangerous Minds Radio Hour podcast at Alterati
Byron Williams prison mug shot.
“I would have never started watching Fox News if it wasn’t for the fact that Beck was on there. And it was the things that he did, it was the things he exposed that blew my mind.” - Byron Williams
Chilling, must-read article from Media Matters about the toxic influence paranoid wingnuts like Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck have on gullible, unstable—and potentially violent—people:
Byron Williams, a 45-year-old ex-felon, exploded onto the national stage in the early morning hours of July 18.
According to a police investigation, Williams opened fire on California Highway Patrol officers who had stopped him on an Oakland freeway for driving erratically. For 12 frantic minutes, Williams traded shots with the police, employing three firearms and a small arsenal of ammunition, including armor-piercing rounds fired from a .308-caliber rifle.
When the smoke cleared, Williams surrendered; the ballistic body armor he was wearing had saved his life. Miraculously, only two of the 10 CHP officers involved in the shootout were injured.
In an affidavit, an Oakland police investigator reported that during an interview at the hospital, Williams “stated that his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU.”
Fifteen years after militia-movement-inspired bombers killed 168 people in the Oklahoma City federal building, right-wing domestic terror plots are a fact of life in America. Since 2008, violent extremists—many of whom subscribe to the hate speech and conspiratorial fantasies of the conservative media—have murdered churchgoers in Knoxville, police officers in Pittsburgh, and an abortion provider in Wichita.
Conspiracy theory-fueled extremism has long been a reaction to progressive government in the United States. Half a century ago, historian Richard Hofstadter wrote that right-wing thought had come to be dominated by the belief that Communist agents had infiltrated all levels of American government and society. The right, he explained, had identified a “sustained conspiracy, running over more than a generation, and reaching its climax in Roosevelt’s New Deal, to undermine free capitalism, to bring the economy under the direction of the federal government, and to pave the way for socialism or communism.”
In a 2009 report, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that the anti-government militia movement—which had risen to prominence during the Clinton administration and faded away during the Bush years—has returned. According to the SPLC, the anti-government resurgence has been buttressed by paranoid rhetoric from public officials like Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and media figures like Fox News’ Glenn Beck.
Just last month, Gregory Giusti pleaded guilty to repeatedly threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—including threatening to destroy her California home—because he was “upset with her passing the health care law.” His mother told a local news station that he “frequently gets in with a group of people that have really radical ideas,” adding, “I’d say Fox News or all of those that are really radical, and he—that’s where he comes from.”
Read “Progressive Hunter”: Jailhouse Confession: How the right-wing media and Glenn Beck’s chalkboard drove Byron Williams to plot assassination (Media Matters)
In this fascinating article, written for Crawdaddy magazine in 1977, William Burroughs explores the music of Led Zeppelin and discusses Crowley, infra-sound, magic, Moroccan trance music and rock and roll with Jimmy Page.
The essential ingredient for any successful rock group is energy–the ability to give out energy, to receive energy from the audience and to give it back to the audience. A rock concert is in fact a rite involving the evocation and transmutation of energy. Rock stars may be compared to priests, a theme that was treated in Peter Watkins’ film ‘Privilege’. In that film a rock star was manipulated by reactionary forces to set up a state religion; this scenario seems unlikely, I think a rock group singing political slogans would leave its audience at the door.
The Led Zeppelin show depends heavily on volume, repetition and drums. It bears some resemblance to the trance music found in Morocco, which is magical in origin and purpose–that is, concerned with the evocation and control of spiritual forces. In Morocco, musicians are also magicians. Gnaoua music is used to drive out evil spirits. The music of Joujouka evokes the God Pan, Pan God of Panic, representing the real magical forces that sweep away the spurious. It is to be remembered that the origin of all the arts–music, painting and writing–is magical and evocative; and that magic is always used to obtain some definite result. In the Led Zeppelin concert, the result aimed at would seem to be the creation of energy in the performers and in the audience. For such magic to succeed, it must tap the sources of magical energy, and this can be dangerous.”
Here are some freakin’ amazing one-of-a-kind Vans WE Sk8 Hi’s designed by super-talented artist, Ian Johnson. I totally think Vans and Ian need to make more of these fine shoes.
See more images after the jump…
