This Looks Like Fun

Shedding Light on the Public Domain

Above is a culture jam project that is a collaboration between AAA (Anti Advertising Agency) and the GRL (Graffiti Research Lab)

Here's a link to a video of the GRL's 2006 Summer Workshop which equipped those interested with the skills to make LED throwies and postal circuit stickers.

Also, Eyebeam OpenLab, a pioneer in open source creativity that provides those lucky enough to have a fellowship or affiliation with a new facility equipped with a laser cutter, 3D printer, workstations, web servers, and electronics workbenches.

Here are a few Projects at Eyebeam. Most interesting to me being the reBlog program which allows users to filter and republish off of RSS feeds, and the Wave Bubble, a self-tuning, wide-bandwidth portable WiFi/cellular/Bluetooth/GPS/etc. RF jammer. For those moments when someone elses culture is jamming in your ear (maybe not the kindest use of technology, admittedly, but a hilarious concept none the less).

Turn Your Head and Cough

Back in those golden days when my iPod still loved and embraced me, shutting out the rest of the world, I had a few quality mixes I would turn to. Extended DJ sets and the such. I was going to share a few key ones, but as I searched through my files I realized a few things

1. Club bangers CAN and DO get played out, and thats ok
2. I haven't downloaded a proper extended mix in a while
3. Dr. Auratheft left his mark on my heart

Who is Dr. Auratheft?

Im not entirely sure, to tell you the truth. Happened upon him on a message board (presumably Hollerboard) sometime in the spring, downloaded a grip of his sets and haven't looked back since. I think he's Dutch. I know he's hella versatile and prolific.

Check his site: Get your medicine

Don't expect your average club mix. It's none of that. Ive got some catching up to do with the good Doctor but some of my favorites include:

War at Dirty Jims- Calypso war songs...think a predecessor to todays hip-hop battles

Bohemia After Dark- Soulful, and jazzy with just a dash of hip-hop. Makes you want to break out your smoking jacket...or at least pour that Steel Reserve into a glass like a grown man do.

Shout Sister Shout- When only the raspy voice of a woman will do, pretty little crackle-pops and all.

Sister Deejay's Summer Mood- Quality reggae. No gunshots. No airhorns.

Bam Bam- A mento mix that just gets you feeling right for a long day of grey winter streets. Mento sounds like a well blended cross between calypso, reggae, and folk music and sorta gets you feelin warm all over.

Dont sleep on the King Tubbys mixes either....
And really basically anything Ive downloaded from him has been a good time and a mini history lesson. This my friends is universal healthcare at its finest.

Mashing Up the Earth

I download.
Compulsively.
Its not entirely unproductive, and I like to believe it has taught me a bit about music. In its own way its encouraged me to run out and pay for live performances. But what about the mash-ups and odd remixes? Well, I cant say I need to see all them things live. A mash-up is very much a science, delicate in measure and magnitude. It can go awry faster than a freshman romance.
Believe it.
That being said, here are a few I bump when Im not being a total music snob (and by music snob I mean listening to things I demure from putting on mixtapes...the south can talk dirty to me whenever it wants, stop trying to break us up!)

For them soft, squishy moments:
One in a Million
A little Blockhead(I would absolutely see him live...Im curious and a little bit in love)
True mash-up Magic(makes you wish you owned a hair iron)
Just because it got beat into the ground, doesnt mean its not still good...

Rockin out your benzi box:
Air-horns make everything better
Its all about Andre
Two Patron Saints of Brooklyn, together at last

Soon to come: Songs that are inappropriate to play at anytime for any reason...get ready to roll your eyes and press play

Graffiti Archaeology

(This got painted over the next day. May or June 2006)
So rad. Check the progression of these spots. Human cut and paste technology is remarkable.
GoHereNow. Candle West (11 Spring Street) is my favorite , but probably just because Ive watched it evolve myself, this covers about 4 years and I really hope they keep it up.

Very Necessary

So, its mad late and I get an IM saying "turn to 189 NOW"
I oblige. Its not that Pixar hasnt led me astray MANY times in the past, its just that its usually at least hilarious, and I cant remember what 189 is and am half-way expecting it to be BCAT showing trannies at the West Indian Day parade.
True Story.
VH1 Soul, back to back videos from House Party (sidenote:can the rash of throwback flattops go away immediately, please. No one has ever looked right rocking one. Not even Wesley Snipes in New Jack City, although he came the closest) followed by SaltN Pepa with their doorknocker earrings and coordinated dances, and Tone Loc. I aint mad at any of that.

But the real reason I was compelled to write this was the Freestyle section. OH MY GOD! Lisa Lisa talking about taking you home in that pink genie satin swami pant situation. WOW! There was a chick wearing her hair like a unicorn! And it still looked fly! I love that track, so I was psyched when it came on, but I had no idea how much I really loved it until I saw those outfits, and the chick who is part unicorn.

Watch this:


Followed up by Shannon, Let the Music Play. The video wasn't anywhere as amazing as the Cult Jam, but that track is still a banger. That being said, here's some freestyle for you:

Can You Feel the Beat
Party Goin On
Glamorous Life
And of course,The Mexican!

And just cause they liked Door-knocker earrings too....Cars That go BOOM

"Here, Bullet,"

Excerpt from "Here, Bullet," a book of poetry written by Sgt. Brian Turner, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, while he was serving in Iraq:

Here, Bullet
If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta's opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you've started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel's cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue's explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.

Get-Up Kids

Was browsing the Wooster Collective site today and saw a posting about this flick called "Pedestrian Gallery", a quality short about graffiti: old-school, new-school and where its all headed. The best part is the fact this was put together by a group of 14-17 year olds in a Documentary film class taught this summer at the Tribeca Film Institute.

Check it out: Pedestrian Gallery

And while you're at it, go ahead and bookmark Wooster Collective