One of the first times that I ever went home with the future mother of my child, I noticed her vinyl record collection.  I’m positive that I would have noticed it the very first time, but I think that I may have, at least, slightly waited before making the aggressive move to start full-on digging through it.  There were a couple of random exceptions tossed in, like a “Sliver” 7-inch or a Fugazi Red Medicine LP, but the large majority on the shelf were of the $1 clearance bin, Spanky and Our Gang variety.  They had clearly been kicked down to her by her father.  She wasn’t even entirely sure of what all was in there.  Of course, she knew that such things as the Stones records were involved, but when I pointed out the Leo Kottkes or John Faheys in the mix, she wasn’t even familiar with who they were, at the time. It was a decent-sized block of records, so that’s understandable, and they seemed to hold a sentimental value more than anything. When I enthusiastically pulled out a Jerry Garcia vinyl, on the other hand, she knew exactly who he was, but, to my dismay, she was adamant that there was no chance that we were going to be listening to it anytime soon.

The album Garcia was released in 1972 and was Jerry Garcia‘s first official solo release outside of the Grateful Dead.  It included a lot of classic tracks like “Deal“, “Sugaree“, “Bird Song“, “The Wheel“, and “To Lay Me Down“, which were co-written by lyricist/career-long collaborator, Robert Hunter and would go on to become staples in the Dead‘s live repertoire.  Although Jerry is credited with performing all of the instruments himself on the release, besides the drumming –handled by Grateful Dead drummer Billy Kreutzman– it was around this time when he would embark on a two-and-a-half decade-long collaboration with bassist, John Kahn.

Garcia and Kahn first began playing with each other in 1970 through free-form improv nights at the historical San Francisco jazz club Keystone Korner, and during the recording sessions for the funky Howard Wales/Garcia jazz-rock album Hooteroll? [highly recommended].  From then on, Kahn became Jerry‘s primary musical cohort outside of the Dead, being involved in just about every solo venture that the legendary guitarist took, including projects like the bluegrass supergroup Old & In the Way and Legion of Mary; Garcia‘s collaboration with organist Merl Saunders.  Unfortunately, there were some destructive aspect within their partnership, with many fans blaming the bassist as a major contributing factor of Jerry‘s continued narcotics usage.  In fact, John Kahn overdosed on heroin in 1996, less than a year after Garcia passed away from a fatal heart attack in a rehabilitation center.

1996 also marked the release of the banjo-heavy Shady Grove, which featured Jerry Garcia and mandolinist David “Dawg” Grisman performing acoustic covers of a number of their favorite traditional songs.  This is the album that I covertly utilized to trick my lady into liking Jerry Garcia –and, ultimately, the Grateful Dead– by not informing her of who she was listening to until after she had already made the determination that she enjoyed it.  [After someone already likes Shady Grove, it can be as simple as a segue into the Dead playing "Jack-A-Roe" and baby stepping it from there.]  John Kahn wasn’t featured on the Garcia/Grisman releases, but he did play a key role in another selection of tracks that sometimes also have the ability to surprise and win over many of the newcomers who have difficulty fighting the unfounded stigmas that are fused to and surrounding a band that they may have had very little legitimate personal exposure to.

Exactly one month ago, a writer for a local weekly posted a short piece on their website, in which he pleaded: “Somebody, explain the Grateful Dead, please“.  It seems that, without fail, anytime someone asks a question like this regarding a marginalized group or interest, fans will undoubtedly offer up one of two polar opposites: the most bland thing they have to offer or the most difficult to digest.  For the dead, there’s generally going to be a lot of poppy happy-time suggestions like the studio version of “Sugar Magnolia” or it’s gonna be the most twisted out 35 minute jam that they can get their hands on.  The problem is that it’s likely that the simpler little tunes might not be enough to really impress and further draw someone in who’s sincerely asking for someone to help them puncture their already pre-fabricated iffy opinions of the band, and the difficult shit is… well, it’s the difficult shit for a reason.  There are generally less less severe options than having to choose between something like Kind of Blue and Live Evil.  What’s so great about the Dead is that there are so many different areas explored by them throughout their careers.  There’s everything from the crazy spaced-out psychedelic chaos to rootsy folk gems and, over the years, I’ve often found myself settling in with different specific time periods and/or sounds from the group’s career before moving on to explore another one for a while.  While I still really love the early energy of the Anthem of the Sun material, some of my favorite work from Garcia has come with the more stripped down sounds of the live acoustic release Reckoning and his work with the Jerry Garcia Band.  When just his voice and guitar are the primary elements that are supporting a track, it really provides an insight to the framework that everything else is draped across.  Those situations really showcase his soulful, genuine abilities and his undeniable talents, both as a musician and a songwriter.  His author’s intentions seemed genuine on the website, so I responded to the post with a few options for the him to check out, which included a well-rounded variety and quick summations of what to expect from each.  I also sent him a link to a download, of which he emailed back, “Whoa, this bootleg is great [...]  Thanks a lot for sending this!”

That recording was from a show that is often simply referred to as “Oregon State Pen” or “Jerry in the Big House” and it features the duo of Jerry Garcia (acoustic guitar) and John Kahn (upright bass) playing for a small group of prisoners at the Oregon State Penitentiary back on Cinco de Mayo in 1982.  The 11 song set includes a nice mix of Grateful Dead tunes, Jerry solo tracks, traditionals, and covers.  One of it’s greatest strengths is how intensely personal the recording sounds.  That direct quality really seems to be able to pierce through to the core of a lot of people and make it easy to connect with, even for those who have no history with the music being played or the people playing it.  I don’t know too much more about the history, but I have read in the past that author/acid test pioneer/king Merry Pranksters, himself, Ken Kesey was said to have been in attendance.  If you ask most of the even semi-hardcore Dead heads, they should know the recording well and, from my own personal experience, it’s always seemed to be one of the most infamous and well-regarded bootlegs that I’ve ever encountered.

If you’re wondering what prompted me to post a download of this bootleg now, it’s because, after digging it back out, I realized that today marks the 30th anniversary of the recording.  This makes now a semi-historic occasion.  I also like the idea of putting it up and allowing new folks to continue to discover it 3 decades later.  Another reason is that, through listening to it again, I’ve rediscovered it for myself.  I hadn’t listened to it in a while and it still sounds as good as it did the first time, so this isn’t just for those who are new to the recording.  If you’re like me, you might have already gone through multiple cassette and/or CD-R copies of this recording over the years, losing it and getting it back over and over again.  Well… here’s the MP3 version for you this time.  Welcome to new milennium you fucking hippies.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Although he had found a reasonable amount of success as a playwright and through the creation of a favorably received webcast, filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock‘s first major mainstream recognition came in 2004 with his Academy Award-nominated docu-drama Supersize Me.  Instantly spring-boarded into the public eye, Spurlock came across like a less intense, more soluble Michael Moore, starring in his own investigative pieces, and it was clear that this was more than a simple one-off documentary –there would definitely be more to see from the native-West Virginian in the future.  Building off of the Supersize Me concept, which had him eating McDonalds food for 30 days straight, Morgan later hosted, and was often the subject in, the FX program, 30 Days.  Each episode documented an individual enduring a 30-day span of time, immersed in a lifestyle that was in severe contrast to their normal everyday lives (spending time incarcerated, Christians living amongst Muslims, homophobes amongst homosexuals, etc.) to learn about themselves and the lives of others, in a manner that The Real World will never fully accomplish.  Among his other film work is Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, in which Spurlock heads to dangerous territories in the middle east, searching for the since-murdered founder of Al Qaeda, while filming the real innocent families that are trapped in a war-torn country, and POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Told, a film completely funded by product placement, in which the subject matter is all about product placement and the footage almost entirely consists of him collecting the corporate sponsors to finance the film.  His most recent film project finds him teamed with Marvel Comics legend/Spiderman creator, Stan “The Man” Lee and Josh Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly) to direct a documentary about Comicon.  This weekend Spurlock steps out of the world of film and into fine art, as he curates a group exhibit at Culver City, California‘s highly renowned contemporary art gallery, Thinkspace.

Spurlock w/Ron English collection

One of my all time favorite artists is Ron English, but whenever I mention him to those who are unfamiliar with his work, the most effective reference that I can make is to the image of the overweight Ronald McDonald with the $ chain that he created for Supersize Me.  After that, I follow up by asking if they’ve ever seen the Abraham Obama painting that he also created.  For those that don’t know the true scope of Ron‘s work and talent, the realism and technique in his painting are “unreal” and, since the early 1980s, he’s been revolutionizing the concept of street art.  One of the most noticeable marks that he made early on dealt with “hijacking” billboards and replacing, or “modifying”, them with his own shockingly anti-corporate imagery, such as Joe Camel with cancer or placing Charles Manson on a mock Apple “Think Different” ad.  Other running themes throughout English‘s work, beyond capitalism, are comic book characters, war, and pop culture.  Based on the common themes that run throughout Spurlock‘s own work, it’s no surprise that he’s an ardent fan of English‘s career or an avid collector of work by some of the best contemporary art in general.

Having quite a bit of pull, Morgan Spurlock has managed to use this debut curatorial effort to assemble an extremely impressive roster of names from the underground contemporary art world.  Among the contributors to the group exhibit are huge names like English and Shepard Fairey, of Obey Giant and Obama HOPE fame.  The concept behind the NEW BLOOD exhibit is to showcase a collection of highly impactful artists that Spurlock feels “have changed the art world forever” while having them showcase their work alongside an equal number of contributors that they, themselves, have handpicked as the “next wave” of talent coming up in the art scene.

Not only are all of the contributors known for being incredibly skilled, but the filmmaker has also chosen artists with a wide variation of styles.  DZINE is typically known for his  crystal encrusted mandalas and incredibly ornate low rider bikes and cars [he even suped up a speedboat, complete with an elaborate speaker/DJ setup].  Mark Jenkins -who we’ve showcased before- has made his name by creating body casts out of packing tape, dressing them up to look like “real” humans, and abandoning them in public; often in puzzling and/or compromising positions.  Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup are both highly regarded artists that each have a very cartoony throwback feel to their art, but while Baseman has continued to translate his style into the worlds of designer toys, fashion, and even by creating the artwork for the boardgame Cranium, Biskup has successfully ventured into working with cubism in recent years.  Fuck, the whole lineup is crazy.  I’ve witnessed one of Nicola Verlato‘s paintings in person before and they’re remarkable, with his tendency to freeze high octane images mid motion, and his handpicked artist, Marco Mazzoni, is an example of an artist already making waves, having appeared on the cover of the 20th issue of Hi-Fructose magazine.

Here’s the full list of featured artists:

Camille Rose Garcia / Travis Lampe
The Date Farmers / Albert Reyes
Dzine / Jesus Bubu Negron
Elizabeth McGrath / Morgan Slade
Gary Baseman / Jess Dickenson,
Gary Taxali / Adrian Forrow
Jonanthan Yeo / Charlie Gouldsborough
Mark Jenkins / Sandra Fernandez
Nicola Verlato / Marco Mazzoni
Ron English / Kid Zoom
Saber / ZES
Shepard Fairey / Nicholas Bowers
and
Tim Biskup / Patrick Hruby

Here are a few words from Morgan Spurlock, himself

(via press release)…

“I’m a massive art collector who, by way of my habit formed a relationship with Thinkspace’s
Andrew Hosner, and when he offered me the opportunity to curate a show I jumped at the
chance. The concept of the show is how the torch is passed from one artist to the next. One
opens the door so another can follow. And this show is all about artists who I think have and are
continuing to impact and change the art world, and each one of these artists is bringing along an
‘apprentice’ or ‘protege’ who they think we all need to know about, the artists they believe are
the ‘New Blood’ of the art world.”

OPENING NIGHT

The opening night reception with the artists will be held this Saturday, April 28th from 5-8pm at the Thinkspace gallery.  We obviously recommend making it out for that if possible, but, if you’re unable to make it out to the opening, there’s still plenty of time to check it out.  The show will be on view until May 19th.

LOCATION

Thinkspace
6009 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
T: 310.558.3375
Web: www.thinkspacegallery.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thinkspacegallery
Blog: www.sourharvest.com
Open Wednesday – Friday 1:00PM – 6:00PM and Saturday 1:00PM – 8:00PM

Thinkspace was kind enough to send over a few preview and work in progress images for NEW BLOODS, which you can check out below.

[Click images to enlarge]

RON ENGLISH

KID ZOOM

[in progress]

DZINE

[in progress]

TRAVIS LAMPE

TIM BISKUP

[48 x 48 - Acrylic on Wood]

MARCO MAZZONI

“Migration to Nowhere”
colored pencils on paper

Buenos Aires‘ Juan Pablo Zaramella has been drawing since he was a child and, by the time that he was sixteen years old, he was already a working cartoonist.  He studied to become an animation director at Instituto de Arte Cinematografico de Avellaneda and, after graduation, he began making his own films.  This independent work, in turn, brought him enough recognition to result in getting advertising animation work and in directing commercials for high profile international clients.  From the late 1990s to mid-2000s, Zaramella even held a position as an illustrator/graphist for the most widely distributed magazine in Argentina, Clarín, for which his work garnered several international awards from Society of News Design.  Still, as new positions, responsibilities, and accolades continued to roll in, he has never ceased work on his own personal projects.  In fact, Juan Pablo‘s film shorts have, arguably, become his greatest accomplishments, collectively yielding over 100 awards in their own right, worldwide.  Among these achievements, Zaramella was selected for a 2008 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase in Cannes and, in 2010, Annecy International Animation Festival presented a special program, showcasing all of his works.  His most recent animated short, Luminaris, however, may be his most impressive yet.

The 6-minute and 15-second film was created using digital photography and an approach known as “pixilation“, which is essentially a stop-motion technique that uses frame-by-frame shots of live actors to create surrealistic hybrid of animation.  Luminaris officially premiered in February of 2011, but the production actually began all the way back in 2008.  Two and a half years might seem like an incredibly long time to produce a film this short, and it is, but the process involved in creating something like this is time consuming as all get out.  Aside from the typical unpredictability of weather conditions that would impact any typical film shoot, every minor change in sun position could damage the consistency of a pixilation film by shifting the position of shadows in one frame from the next.  Director of photography, Sergio Piñeyro, has stated that the sunlight’s shifts in speed and intensity during takes, forced constant adjustments with both the time-lapse frequency and the exposure of the photographs they were using.  While the dedication and attention to detail is evident throughout the piece, it is only so in the most effective sense; never drawing attention to the stressful conditions that they must have endured, but rather suspending the whole film effortlessly in the meticulously crafted world that those efforts made possible.

Here is the finished product.  Enjoy LUMINARIS:

“In a world controlled and timed by light, an ordinary man has a plan that could change the natural order of things.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

I could list the number of awards that Luminaris has received throughout the world up until now, but that alone would rival the length of the introduction above.  What I find to be much more interesting is the inspiration behind the feature.  Here’s what Zaramella has stated regarding the backstory (via the press release):

The film was inspired by an instrumental tango piece called “Lluvia de Estrellas” (Star Rain) composed by Osmar Maderna in the forties. Director Juan Pablo Zaramella explains, “I first became acquainted with this piece of music as a child, because my elders used to listen to it. I had always liked this piece but, as an adult, it gradually dawned on me that this music could be like a score of a film that had never been made. In 2008 I was granted a creativity residency by Abbaye de Fontevraud, in France. I decided to take this opportunity to develop this project.” “Orginally, I approached the project as a puppet animation story, but doing some pixilation tests in the gardens of Fontevraud, just for fun, the seed of the present short appeared: the idea of sunlight as a magnetic force”.

As mentioned before, Juan Pablo Zaramella has created quite a few more equally imaginative and remarkable short films; all of which are definitely worth seeing.  To view more of his work and experience first hand why his work continues to rake in one prestigious award after the other, please check out Zaramella‘s official website and watch the videos on his VIMEO account.

When the Coachella 2012 lineup was announced, I couldn’t deny that I was impressed.  With such a solid collection of artists, I was even considering trying to make it down this year.  Adding a second weekend with the exact same lineup seemed confusing and, in all honesty, a stretch.  How much was that gonna cost them?  What artists are going to be willing to kick it in the general area for another week just to perform to a second crowd of people that will likely already know what to expect?  Radiohead was smart and booked a couple of Mexico City dates during the week to continue on their tour with Other Lives.  The festival did manage to reel in the big names that the kids these days seem to love and plenty of them: The Black Keys, The Shins, Bon Iver, M83, etc.  Most of those bands are or will be on tour, regardless, and the rest of them slowly popped up on the bill of various other festivals – Bon Iver, The Shins, Beirut, Santigold, Wild Flag, Childish Gambino, Beats Antique, The Head and the Heart, tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent, and Feist will all be at the Sasquatch! Festival this year.  After the reality that I was going to stay home with my lady and my infant child became more and more of a reality and the initial hype wore off, there were only a few acts that I was really disappointed about missing by not attending Coachella; most of which weren’t getting very high billing.  Death Grips and Company flow were at the top of the acts that I personally have been wishing would make their way up here to the Pacific North West, but haven’t shown any plan to fulfill that dream.  fIREHOSE subsequently posted their full tour and already came through here last week.  Amon Tobin would appear with his ridiculously amazing and mindblowing ISAM tour, which is still going strong, and, although it’s definitely worth witnessing again, I already caught it last year.  I would have checked out the Mazzy Star and Cat Power sets, but it’s not like I’m gonna slit my throat over missing them.  The only real big name act that I was disappointed about not seeing was Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg together.  It turns out that I had good reason for such disappointment, as their set included a hologram of a resurrected and rapping Tupac Shakur; a visual effect that easily rivaled that of Tobin’s groundbreaking live show.

Upon seeing this, I immediately knew who was behind the technology.  We’ve actually posted about the UK-based Musion Systems before; the same people behind the Gorillaz 2005 holographic performance at the MTV Europe awards.  Using their patented “Eyeliner” projection system, the company is able to transmit hyper-realistic, quality 3-D holographic images from anywhere around the globe.  The basis for the Eyeliner technology stems from the same light and mirror-based Pepper’s Ghost illusion, which was first popularized way back in the 1860s -most famously utilized within the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland.  Apparently, this particular Tupac projection was provided by one of Musion‘s North American licensees; a San Diego-based company called AV Concepts.  [To find out more about MUSION, their technology, and watch a video of a DJ and drum duo performing by triggering sound-emitting holographic images of the head of internationally renowned beatboxer, Beardyman (also appearing at Sasquatch!), read our last post by clicking HERE.]

The 2PAC appearance is unarguably impressive and has got to be one of the greatest highlights of the entire festival.  For those who remember hearing about the 7 day theory in the 1990s, which claimed that Shakur was going to return from a “faked” death, there’s more than a little bit of nostalgia involved with seeing this.  There was even the appearance by Pac in the Scarface video and endless statements like, “How’d that motherfucker pop up in that footage when he’s wearing shoes that came out after he died?!” and “I heard that nigga’s living in South America!  He ain’t even dead!“  Endless tracks continued to flow out after he past spawning a handful of releases.  The best part of this Coachella thing for me -beyond hearing “Hail Mary” and one of the greatest rap collabs ever, “2 of Amerikas Most Wanted- is that it’s going to, undoubtedly, rehydrate those old dried up theories and give birth to new ones: “Tupac wanted to perform with them, but still didn’t want to have to show his face, so they just paid to have those hologram fools in Britain do that shit for Coachella.  I know a dude who was telling me that he’d heard about it when they were putting the whole thing together.“  Or perhaps, even more unlikely claims with begin to surface like, “I hear that Detox is coming out soon!”

Now, one major questions remains for Coachella as a whole, “What is gonna be so exciting about next week?“  Honestly, if they dropped this shit last night and everyone already performed, how played-out is everything gonna be for the follow up week?  Did everyone blow their load, performance-wise, the first time around or are they holding out?  I was going to apply for press credentials if I went, but is the press gonna have anything to write about if they are approved for the second run of shows that have already been covered?  Especially, with so many younger acts that have a limited amount of material that they could even perform, what’s the point?  Keep in mind, the entire festival has been live-streaming via youtube all weekend.  [I actually planned to watch the Snoop and Dre performance last night, but I was watching the series finale of Eastbound and Down (pretty amazing) and the debut of Girls (fairly promising) on HBO instead.]

As for the rest of Dre and Snoop‘s performance, it was essentially a cast of all-star’s performing their hits.  Eminem came out to unload his Dre-produced classics, as did 50-cent.  Kendrick Lamar appeared with the former NWA superstar, as well, while Wiz Khalifa joined Snoop for a track and Tha Dogg Pound took the stage to knock out some cuts from Doggystyle.  Both Dre and Snoop independently performed some solo work, while merging on cuts like “California Love” to excite the crowd.  When I first read the lineup, however, I was apparently mistaken in thinking that the two were supposed to perform “the Chronic” in it’s entirety.  For many others, I’m sure that seeing 50-Cent and Eminem take the stage was a dream come true, but for me, I really couldn’t give a fuck; I’d much rather see the listed duo crack out one of the greatest and most influential rap albums ever to be produced.  Surprisingly, it seemed like any tracks from that particular album were completely absent.  Hopefully, the they have plans to revisit that entire groundbreaking release from start-to-finish next week, because things are feeling a bit suspicious otherwise.  Then again, the original rumors were that Nate Dogg was supposed to be the one projected onto the stage, so maybe that’s what we have in store this next time around.

For the rest of you who completely missed the live stream last night and are interested in checking it out, here’s the entire performance posted below.  The 2pac highlight appears about halfway through, at around the 33 minute mark.

Yesterday, a Los Angeles filmmaker by the name of Nirvan Mullick posted a short film on his vimeo page and the traffic went haywire.  If you look up Mullick on imdb, the last real filmwork documented for him on the site, came nearly a decade ago.  The most recognizable -perhaps, only recognizable- project on the list is the 2003 Crispin Glover rodent-centric horror film, Willard, in which Mullick was an uncredited animation director for the opening title sequence.  His credits also show that he collected a handful of awards at independent film festivals for his animated short The Box Man (2002), which likely landed him the Willard gig, in the first place.  Otherwise, imdb only features a fairly slim 3-film-deep resume for the director/producer/animator/writer.  It’s not all that Nirvan‘s been involved with -he’s actually working on at least one other highly ambitious project that I know of- but with this new short being the only video posted and no other real activity on his vimeo account at all, it is still remarkable to consider that this new 11-minute movie has already claimed over 350,000 views in such a short period of time.  The only real factors that can truly be credited for such immediate success is the content, the quality, the subject, and the genuineness of the piece, as well as the internet’s ability to spread little independent projects like this out to people who, otherwise, wouldn’t have ever been able to see them 10 years ago.

“Caine’s Arcade” is a mini-documentary that focuses on a 9yr old boy named Caine Monroy who is living in East L.A.  During the Summer months, he would accompany his father, George to work at his family owned auto parts store.  Due to the current digitization of the world and societal trends, most of the business that his father does through the shop has now become generated through online sales.  While George was online, flipping manifold gaskets and whatnot on ebay, Caine found ways to occupy himself alone.  Having an affinity for the type of arcades that you would find at a carnival or a Chuck E. Cheez, with games like the ring toss and skeeball, etc., the 9yr old decided to make his own version.  By utilizing the empty auto parts boxes that his dad had lying around and a hefty amount of packing tape, he assembled one makeshift machine and/or game at a time.  He even made his own claw machine.  Being incredibly determined and resourceful, Caine found a way to dispense tickets to winners and created a rack of prizes that they could be traded in for.  Every weekend he’d accompany his dad to work and set up the arcade, waiting for any customers to come through and play.  Not even one person ever did.  It didn’t help that, with the majority of the shop’s business existing in the cyber world, there was very little foot traffic.  That never deterred the young entrepreneur or affect his resolve.  Every weekend he’d show up again and again, set up his shop, and wait, hopeful that someone would see the same value in his creations that he did.

When Nirvan Mullick came into the auto parts store at random to pick up a new door handle for his 1996 Toyota Corolla, he actually became the very first customer.  Impressed by the ingenuity and character of Caine, as well as the amazing cardboard world that he had created to share with others, Mullick was compelled to make the following short doc about him.  In the process, he was even able to bring him quite a few more customers.  I won’t spoil the details about how he did it or exactly what went down.  The movie’s only 11 minutes long and it’s better if you just watch the story unfold for yourself.

LINKS

Help Caine’s Scholarship Fund:
cainesarcade.com

Caine’s Arcade Online:
facebook.com/cainesarcade
twitter.com/cainesarcade

Credits:
Directed by Nirvan
twitter.com/nirvan

The song playing around the 6 minute mark is “Pa Pa Power” by Dead Man’s Bones, a group that features Ryan Goslin (yep that Ryan Goslin) and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s choir.  You may even notice that Nirvan is wearing a Dead Man’s Bones shirt when the crowd surprises Caine.  It’s a fitting track for a couple of reasons; they are a Los Angeles-based project involving children and the video for “Pa Pa Power” is actually a pretty great mini-film in it’s own right.  Our past coverage of that project, including the “Pa Pa Power” video, can be found through THIS LINK.

As of right now, donations to Caine’s scholarship fund have already broken $20,000!  Word is that the site has been having some issues handling all of the traffic and that it has crashed a few times.  If you’re interested in donating to Caine’s scholarship fund, you can do so directly via paypal by using the following email:

CainesArcade@gmail.com

THE 1 SECOND FILM

Like any good filmmaker, Mullick made sure that the focus was on the real subject of his documentary, Caine and his amazing cardboard arcade.  With a trust fund set up for his college tuition now, I’m sure that he’d also encourage you to donate any money that you do towards any of his projects, by instead paying into said fund for his young star.  That being said, Nirvan actually has another incredibly intriguing project in the works, which is also a non-profit and any donations are completely tax-deductable.  It’s definitely something that I feel that we should let you know about, as well.

The idea behind The 1 Second Film project is to create an imax film that is comprised of 12 giant painting being animated together over the span of… you guessed it, one-second.  Yes, the film is technically really only 1 second in length.  It is being funded by thousands of producers, whose names will roll in the credits after the film.  To get your own name on the producer credits, you can pay as little as $1.  The amount of money donated determines how high up your name will appear on the credits.  Such names as Kiefer Sutherland, John C. Reilly, Spike Jonze, Kevin Bacon, and Stephen Colbert have all donated.  While the film may be only 1 second in length, the rolling credits will be a great deal longer.  Depending on the amount of contributors, it is estimated that the credits may actually be a full hour in length.  So as to keep the viewers attention, a documentary of the making and financing of the film will be created and will play as the credits roll alongside it.  Not only will all donations be tax-deductable, but any proceeds from the film will also be donated to charity.

Here’s a little introduction to the project.

Here’s the footage of Nirvan convincing Stephen Colbert to donate to the film with the song “Ten Day Interval” by Tortoise playing in the background.

And here is the anxiety inducing footage of him wrangling filmmakers, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman into the project.

If you’re interesting in donating and/or finding out more about the project, please visit http://the1secondfilm.com.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

UPDATE!

As of 7pm on Wednesday, April 11th(only 3 days in), Caine‘s college fund has already reached $100-thousand dollars and the documentary has been viewed over 1.3 million times!

Please also be aware that people are trying to cash in by selling bootleg Caine’s Arcade shirts that do nothing to benefit the child who created it.  If you really want to purchase some sort of related merchandise, please, follow the site and/or twitter account updates

Blunt Graffix - "Dead Rockstars"

Spoke Art x Blunt Graffix: “Dead Rockstars”
Curated by Matt Dye

Oakland Art Murmer
Telegraph: 2318 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, CA 94612

Opening: Friday April 6, 2012 – 6pm to 10pm
On view the month of April 30th

As human beings attempting to survive on this ridiculous and trying planet, the impending doom related to our dwindling time here is constantly looming over us.  Even if you aren’t the type to obsess over such inevitabilities, the news media will be sure to remind you and, if they fail to do so, then reality will eventually hit via the news of some passing loved one or even a distant acquaintance.  Don’t know anyone… at all?  Are you a reclusive hermit with no contact with the outside world?  Well, how’s that back doing?  How’s your hair, bones, and skin holding up?  One day it’s gonna be curtains folks and there’s not too much that can be done about it.  While we might all be in the same boat as far as our mortality is concerned, the main factors that differentiate us from each other are our perspectives and just exactly how much time we still have left in our respective hour glasses.  Throughout the progression (and/or regression) of our lives, our perspectives can change, as well as our health.  In fact, our health can have a direct and profound effect on our perspectives and vice versa.  Some people are content with just trying to survive as long as possible, catching the occasional prime-time sitcom, driving like a reckless asshole, or blowing their retail paychecks on a name brand handbag to zing a little momentary buzz through their life force.  Others focus intently on their offspring and/or world issues, hoping to leave the Earth a better place than they entered it, for the benefit of future generations.

The ways that we approach life vary as widely as our individual theories about the purpose and “meaning” behind it, but most of us seem to want to receive at least a minor level of acknowledgement, at one point or another, even if it’s just the acknowledgement that we do, in fact, exist at all.  “How much time/life do I have left in me to pull something big and noticeable off?“  “How much time do I have left to even make a simple yet longstanding impact on the realm that I’m leaving behind?“  For some people, just the idea of their conceptual existence and what that means to them can even be larger than the preservation of their physical existence.  For them, the idea of persisting through time as a powerful memory trumps the idea of simply surviving in their physical form as an unsung nobody.  Dying can make you a star, even if you’re not around to reap the benefits from it.  Some wingnut motherfuckers have even gone as far as firing off weapons in public, picking off random casualties, just so that their names could appear in print and, often times, be quickly forgotten; ironically, overshadowed by the nature of their extreme and misguided obsessions (I don’t know those Columbine kids’ names or remember their faces).  Nothing else epitomizes the live fast, die young, become immortalized on a T-Shirt scenario quite like the dead rockstar and tomorrow our friends at Spokeart will be presenting a new group art exhibit, curated by regular contributor/collaborator Matt Dye of Blunt Graffix, that will pay tribute to these icons, which have often forced us to consider our own mortality, while dreaming about ways in which our own memories might live on forever.

The dead rockstar will always be an intrinsically fascinating subject.  More than just another expired human vessel, or any typical celebrity, the term “rockstar” is so loaded that it brings with it the implication that the way that the person lived must be tied directly to the way that they died.  “They just rocked too hard, bro!  That’s it bro! And then, bro… they just died bro.  Their heart just gave out and they disintegrated.  It’s a fucking scientific anomaly, lifelong chum and trustworthy cohort.“  Sometimes it almost feels as if each of us has a life force which recedes in the same manner as a Super Nintendo Street Fighter energy bar and that those iconic rockstars must have experienced such a high concentration of living in such a short period of time that they must have burned through it all too quickly.  The filament fizzed out.  They had no more rocking available in them.  The well was dry.  But, of course, that’s just an exaggeration and a perceived image.  The term “rockstar” in itself, often refers to much more of an attitude and lifestyle than it does to the genre or even music at all.  Hard living Country stars like Johnny Cash easily fall under this category and some would argue that the lavish lifestyles of specific Rappers have made them the rockstars of recent decades.  Both are also paid tribute to in this upcoming exhibit.  Arguably, overdosed comedians like John Belushi or certain athletes and actors could even fall under the “rockstar” label, as well.  They, however, are not featured and will have to get their own show.

But, the most intriguing character of all might be the super young rockstar tragedies like that of Randy Rhoads, which leave the world wondering about what might have been.  Even with those who had slightly more time to establish themselves, such as Kurt Cobain, it still makes one speculate about which directions their lives and work might have continued in.  Or how about his comical former pseudo-”nemesis”, Axl Rose?  Imagine if he had went out prior to Use Your Illusion and compare the “what could have been” to the what actually became.  Then consider Axl‘s former background singer-turned-frontman, Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon and ask yourself how much his death actually amplified his popularity and to what degree it was warranted.

For the Spoke Art  x Blunt Graffix presented exhibit, “Dead Rockstars: A Tribute to the Mortal Gods of Sound” a selection of some of the finest international poster artists in the game today are paying tribute to the dead musical legends that have inspired them.  The obvious names like John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, and Jimi Hendrix are undoubtedly represented, but so are lesser known names like musician/producer, Lowell George of Little Feat fame.  There is even more than one contribution paying homage to both Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd) and Wendy O Williams (The Plasmatics).  Unfortunately, what you won’t find yet is a Wesley Willis print of someone sucking a caribou’s ass or a piece with Eddie Hazel‘s head substituted on the Maggot Brain cover art, but they should keep that in mind for next time (along with Ike Turner, Cliff Burton, Dennis Wilson, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan) because there is definitely more than enough potential material for another show or two based around such an immediately attention grabbing theme.

When I was in junior high school, it was the cool shit to wear a Malcolm X hat.  I’m talking about white kids sporting them.  Around highschool, Che Guevara shirts broke through.  In college…?  I don’t know… maybe, Haile Sellasie.  The point is that very few of those people rocking that gear knew very much, if anything, about the lives, beliefs, or accomplishments of the people that they were promoting through their clothing, but those figures had become icons.  They were more than individuals, they were symbols.  The problem is that, in situations such as that, the symbols had managed to drift far enough away from the story, message, and history, that they were appropriated as empty logos, almost like a Nike swoosh.  For the “Dead Rockstars” show, the contributors will be channeling their true and pure affinity for the musicians that they’ve found connections with and attempting to infuse their designs with that energy, in an attempt to return the well deserved potency and substance to their subjects.  And if the result yields nothing other than a really cool poster, then fuck it.  At least it’s a hell of a lot better than the same played out image of Bob Marley with a spliff that graces the walls of dorm rooms everywhere.

Check out our sample images after the following event details:

via press release:

Spoke Art Gallery is proud to host the third stop on the Blunt Graffix touring “Dead Rockstars” exhibit, following showings in Eugene, OR and Seattle, WA. The exhibit will open during the monthly Oakland Art Murmur and will continue to be on view until April 30th at a special pop up location inside Telegraph, located at 2318 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, CA.

“Dead Rockstars” features an all star roster of international poster artists paying homage to their favorite mortal musicians in an accessible and fun viewing of affordable art. Prints will be available online on Monday, April 9th via Spoke Art (www.spoke-art.com) and Blunt Graffix (http://bluntgraffix.com/)

Show Information:

What: Spoke Art and Blunt Graffix present: “Dead Rockstars: A Tribute to the Mortal Gods of Sound”

When: Friday, April 6th, 6pm to 10pm

Where: Telegraph: 2318 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, CA 94612

About Spoke Art:

Spoke Art was founded in 2010 by curator and arts writer Ken Harman. In just two short years, Spoke Art has quickly become one of San Francisco’s premier art gallery and retail boutiques, with a strong specialty in emerging and established painters, sculptors and pop artists.

For further information, please visit www.spoke-art.com

About Blunt Graffix:

Blunt Graffix was established in 2001 by artist Matt Dye. With the focus on graphic design for the music industry, B.G. Designed for such acts as The Cramps, The Melvins, Henry Rollins and Big daddy Kane to name a few…

In 2007 Matt and Molly mae joined forces and started producing original mixed media and screenprinted art works. B.G. has exhibited in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Osaka and Tokyo.

For further information, please visit http://bluntgraffix.com/.

[click images to enlarge]

Lastleaf Printing

“Robert Johnson”

Two color prints
18″×24″
Edition of 50
$30

Rhys Cooper

“Fallen Spirit”

edition of 150
$50 each

Justin Hampton

“Where are you now?”

One color screen print on 100 lb stock measuring
25.25 ” x 30″
Signed and numbered
Edition of only 75 copies

Boneface

 ”Punk Rock Warlord”

Silkscreen
26″ x 20″
$40

DKNG

“27 Club” Morrison

4.625″ x 5.375″ (four prints total in set)
Edition of 200
$30

Jim Mazza

“Shamone!”

Silkscreen
25″ x 19″
Edition of 40
Artist: Jim Mazza
$30

Joshua Budich

“Tupac”

3-color (including a very metallic-gold) screenprints
18″x24″
limited-editions of 100 (55 of each available at the show)
signed & numbered

AJ Masthay

“Zappa”

Retro Outlaw Studios (Brent Cheshire)

“Sinking Stone”

Silkscreen
8″ x 24”
$30

Ben Thomas

“Jimi Hendrix”

Printed on Hanenmuhle 310 gsm bright white photorag
16.5 x 23.5
Edition of 4
$40

For his most recent solo effort, Brain Pulse Music, Masaki created a completely new device which allows him to harness the power of human brain waves and transfer them into sound.  It is arguably, his most ambitious project yet.  Sound fascinating?  Well, Drag City records is now releasing these machines to the public.  This means that, if you have the loot, you’ll be able to strap one of these newfangled contraptions to your own dome and, while looking like Uncle Rico mid-time travel, you can explore whatever sonic mess you’re able to juice out of your own fucked up subconscious.

For Brain Pulse Music, Masaki Batoh‘s original intention was simple: isolate brainwave patterns and transfer them into sound so that music could be created from them.  Apparently, others have attempted similar things in the past, but instead of measuring such things as blood flow volume in the brain, Batoh wanted to be able to harness the waves as directly as possible and filter them through a device that worked much like an effects pedal.  There were also some hopes to utilize the device as a treatment method for anxiety issues and depression, assisting the subjects in normalizing brainwave levels.  After the Great East Japan Earthquake in March of last year, the tectonic plates of the album itself began to shift, with the healing potential for the project drawing a much more pronounced focus.

The production was physically put on halt, with aftershocks causing the temporary closing of the studio.  With his family still in evacuation, due to the scheduled blackouts and radiation contamination, Batoh -also a working acupuncturist- continued to treat patients and take note of the increasing amount of mental instability that the tragedy had inflicted on so many.  It was clear to Masaki that, while an experiment and demonstration, creating music from brain pulses, was indeed fascinating, it was more vital than ever to explore the therapeutic uses of such a machine.  The concept to strictly use the BPM Machine to create every track on the record was abandoned as well.

According to the press release…

All seven BRAIN PULSE MUSIC tracks are a prayer/requiem.  They are a “tamashizume” (a requiescat) and “tamafuri” (reinvigoration of the withered soul) to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.  Two pieces are composed of BPM machine recordings; the remaining five are rhythms and melodies commonly heard in religious rituals and provincial festivals using traditional Japanese instruments.

As further evidence of his dedication to assisting in the recovery of his country and it’s people, Batoh vowed to dedicate all of the profits from the release to relief efforts through the Japanese Red Cross.

Here is what the Brain Pulse Music Machine looks like:

And here’s a little diagram of what each of the knobs and buttons are supposed to do:

It’s not a new thing for Drag City to venture beyond simply releasing some of the most consistently amazing and innovative audio recordings of the last 2 decades.  The recordings for Batoh‘s Brain Pulse Music alone demonstrate their willingness to explore some extremely far out territories.  Beyond that, they have arranged comedy nights/tours, distributed films, put out audio books, and even sold their own coffee.  Still, the Brain Pulse Music Machine is, arguably, the most left field product in the Drag City catalog.

The Brain Pulse Music Machine is available now for $699 and can be purchased from Drag City through THIS LINK.

Watch a demonstration video by Masaki Batoh, after this detailed product description, which really breaks down how and what the BPM Machine is doing.

About this product

Announcing a new device that will bring us closer to both INNER and OUTER space! More precisely, the output of the Brain Pulse Music Machine will be of interest to EXPERIMENTAL music listeners and PSYCHOSOMATIC medicine practitioners alike. Conceived of by Masaki Batoh as an instrument to assist in the understanding and correction of central nervous system abnormalities, the BPM machine kicks out sheets of sound based on brain waves – so the wilder the brain, the wilder the waves! This has the potential to create or augment amazing psychdelic music – who knows what insane (literally?) sounds could result?

The BPM machine consists of a headset and a motherboard. Brain waves picked up from the parietal lobe to the frontal lobe are sent via radio waves to the motherboard, which converts them into sound via a generator. The second-by-second reflection of our mental state is heard instantaneously as it is generated by the brain. In order to control the waves of sound, the mind requires training; on first using theBPM, not everyone will be able to control the sound to their satisfaction. The “awakening” that comes from a relaxed mental state is an important key to this program. While the BPM machine captures the microscopic fluctuation of brain waves; the user of machine learns to callibrate his or her thought process with the goal of a state of total relaxation or what the BUDDHISTS call “a state of anatta” (not-self). Stabilized brain waves = stabilized mental condition = stabilized physical environment.

The ULTIMATE objective is the use of the BPM for patients with congenital abnormality of the cerebral nervous system (including developmental disorder such as ADD, ADHD and LD as well as epilepsy). The instrument is also expected to be an effective therapy for depression, panic disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome, as well as an improvement on QOL (Quality of Life). Before the BPM machine can be implemented in clinical environments, more needs to be learned. BPM testers need to be trained to learn how to control the machine and have patients benefit from the experience. Several hospitals in Tokyo are using it on a trial basis – and Batoh is using it at his clinic every day. Will you be the next one to RIDE THE WAVES to greater illumination on the mysteries of the brain? Or will you use the wave forms to inform the latest conception in MUSIC? No matter which direction you’re going, the BPM WAVE starts here.

We here at Monster Fresh love the late, great Wesley Willis like a god damn milkshake.  We love him like a magic kiss.  Every day when I get up and walk into my living room, I am fortunate enough greeted with one of the typically expansive cityscape line drawings hat he created in his home town of Chicago.  A massive beast of a man, he was a force of a nature and, for anyone that crossed paths with his music, he was more than a difficult artist to forget.  For those of us that met him in person and bumped his skull, at some point during his 40 short years on this planet, it was even more evident that his like would never be witnessed again.  I’ve mentioned it before, but at the time when “Willis died of chronic myelogenous leukemia on August 21st, 2003” “it was the only time that I had ever felt a legitimate sadness and emptiness by the death of a public figure.“  Fortunately, the musician/artist left behind thousands of songs, a plethora of detailed visual works, and endless and priceless personal connections -chronicled in an impressive documentary- for us to remember and re-experience his powerful life force through.

As honest and diehard fans of Willis and his work, it’s just as likely that we’d find flaw with a film that takes on the daunting task of trying to wrap up Wesley‘s entire life and demonstrate what truly made him a unique character, as we would embrace it simply for our already established connection to the subject.  In fact, for us, it’s even more likely that he’d hate it.  With Welsey WIllis’s Joy Rides, however, filmmakers,  Chris Bagley and Kim Shively have really assembled a piece of work that seems true to who he was.  While providing both a solid introduction to new fans, as well as taking the time to delve into and present the far lesser-known background and foundations that influenced who his was as an individual, the documentary explores the trials, tribulations, and successes of someone who became an unlikely hero to so many of us.  Our writer, MEMES originally covered a screening of the film back during the 2008 Noise Pop Festival in SF, while I posted a second piece reviewing the DVD release more than a year-and-a-half later.  This is the 3rd one and, while it may seem like overkill for one film, this time it’s different.  Instead of going into too much detail and telling you so much about what we think, we’re just going to provide the entire film for your viewing below and let you come to your own conclusions.

While in discussion with one of our newer writers, regarding a piece about mental illness and art that he’s creating for another publication, I mentioned the film and offered to lend him the reviewer copy of the DVD that had been sent me a so long ago.  After realizing that I had already lent it out to someone else.  I decided to see if I could search it out online.  To my surprise, the distributors of the film (our friends at MVD Visual) actually posted the whole documentary to view in its entirety on Youtube.  I should clarify; they posted the documentary to view in its entirety on Youtube FOR FREE!  This isn’t one of those new Youtube on-demand-style rental situations, or anything.

While it’s great to for everyone to be able to finally view this documentary free of charge, we do still encourage everyone to pick up a copy of the DVD, if they do happen to enjoy it.  The special features are worth it, as is supporting Willis‘ life/memory and the filmmakers who worked so hard to make this wonderful film a reality for all of our benefits.

Here it is.  Please enjoy…

THE INTRO:

For those of you who do not know who Lana Del Rey is or simply feel that they may not have the appropriate knowledge of her history in relation to this piece, we have created an additional write-up which we believe should sufficiently fill in any gaps and provide context.  That introduction can be reached through linking HERE.

It’s actually quite lengthy, in it’s own right, so if you do feel that you already have enough of a grasp on the subject and/or that it should not affect your ability to absorb the following content, we encourage to simply continue reading.  Thank you.

On March 10, Lana Del Rey gave a free concert at Easy Street Records in Seattle. The motives were clear. After a disastrous SNL performance, she would perform several brief, low-pressure sets to hone her delivery. And, with a large stable of consultants and voice coaches, Del Rey would advance to the arena circuit by next year. I anticipated swift progress. I was wrong.

Though she relaxed by her third song (“Video Games”), the first two were cringe-inducing. Frantically shifting from sultry jazz, to operatic, to fun and flirtatious, to worn and wounded, the vocalist entrapped herself in impossible and inappropriate gambits. There is nothing wrong, of course, with daring and creativity. The pop star pantheon can only be reached by consistent experimentation with the timbre, pitch, and strength of your instruments. The greats, however, did it with aplomb.

Buddy Holly could be playful with his voice because his narrow range would never push him off course. Josie Cotton, a singer of Del Rey’s talent, could shift quickly from sexy to sweet because she was in control. Del Rey, clearly, is not. Hearing her perform is the equivalent of watching the third scene of a superhero movie. The protagonist has discovered his talents but has not yet mastered them – and, for Spiderman and Lana Del Rey, end up wrapping themselves in their own web.

Clearly, Del Rey has the pipes. Provided that she is persistent and disciplined, she’ll surely elevate to pop icon status. Still, this progression is hardly inevitable. First, she’ll have to ignore the critics entirely (good and bad). They miss the forest through the trees; appropriately criticizing her performance while overlooking her impressive raw ability.

Second, and much more challenging, she’ll have to reconcile her personality conflict. One minute she was overemphasizing a lyric mentioning drugs and sex for cheap applause, the next she was a perky Mouseketeer assuring her audience that she “loved” them. Del Rey’s erratic performances are not rooted in clumsiness or nervousness or lack of practice. It is much more a fundamental. She is unsure of her identity as a performer and, if her songs are any indication, unsure of her identity as a person. To address this tension and achieve stardom, she’ll have to reconcile either her identity conflict or develop a coherent stage persona. For reasons of personal health, the former is recommended. To merely gain fame, the latter will suffice.

This should not be read as a criticism of Lana Del Rey as an individual. My remarks are more sociological. It is unrealistic to expect a twenty-five year old – particularly one from a two-parent, middle class background – to achieve the maturity that we foolishly expect of today’s pop stars. It is no accident that the pop pantheon is filled with performers and writers in their late-20s.

Stephen Sondheim was in his late-20s when he composed the lyrics for West Side Story. Jerry Capehart was in his late-20s when he co-wrote “Summertime Blues” with Eddie Cochran. Norman Petty was in his late-20s when he co-wrote “Oh Boy!”, “Not Fade Away”, “Peggie Sue”, “Rave On”, “I’m Gonna Love You Too” with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Chuck Berry was in his late-20s when he wrote “Maybelline” and “Johnny B. Good”. Eddie Holland Jr. was in his mid- to late-20s when he composed the lyrics for the biggest Motown hits, including “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Mark James was in his late-20s when he wrote “Suspicious Minds” for Elvis. Tony Asher was in his late-20s when he composed the majority of the lyrics for the Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds. The Beatles were in their late-20s when they revolutionized Pop Music. The Paine brothers were in their late-20s when they wrote “He Could be the One”, “Rockin’ Love”, and “Johnny, Are you Queer” for Josie Cotton. A pattern has clearly emerged.

More than Pop Music ephemera, these were – with the unfortunate exception of Josie Cotton – critically-acclaimed hits that continue to be touted as “classics”. This is no small feat. Appealing to an audience of 14-19 year olds – as all Pop Music must – while impressing more cultured commentators, is a nearly impossible achievement. How can the chasm be breached? The answer: with a thoughtful, mature, and sincere song that speaks directly to the teenage experience without condescension or excessive sophistication.

A teenager could never achieve this balance. Emotions are too raw and aspirations too confused. Perspective is fundamentally absent. It’s the rough equivalent of writing an oceanography textbook based on your experience with and during a Tsunami.

Someone in his early-20s – and mid-20s if he attended college – is equally inept. Balancing the freedoms and responsibilities of “early-adulthood” is a bewildering experience. We tend to cling to extremes – indulging every passion or setting a rigid routine – or allow ourselves to be pulled in countless directions. While we may have a “perspective” on youth, it will be a flawed one. The hedonist will indulge or champion the more coarse, shallow, and vile aspirations of youth. The puritan will harangue youthful indiscretion and advance a litany of prohibitions. The chameleon will say too much, too little, or offer contradictions and enigmas.

Finally, once someone passes 30, youth becomes too distant. Either they caricature youth or ignore it entirely and write music too mature, philosophical, or intellectual for their teenage audience.

Thus, it is only a small window, roughly age twenty-six to thirty, where a song-writer (or novelist or photographer or painter) can reflect on youth from a mature and thoughtful, but not too distant, vantage point.

This analysis appears to validate contemporary brain science.  According to leading neuroscientists, the frontal lobe – involved in executive functions receiving dopamine projections associated with reward, attention, short-term memory tasks, planning, and motivation – does not mature until our mid-20s; just in time to compose critically-acclaimed Pop Music.

I believe, however, that neuroscience adheres to a fundamentally flawed assumption.  While they insist that neural evolution directs social development, the exact opposite is also true.  While neuroscientists – even those who study the “plasticity” of the brain in response to experience (Kolb, et al) – treat “childhood” and “adulthood” as fixed conditions, they are, in fact, unusually malleable social constructs.  Just a few centuries ago, when adulthood began at thirteen, individuals were forced to balance responsibility and freedom at a much younger age.  In this era, I would hypothesize, the frontal lobe solidified much earlier than it does today.  In contemporary cultures where adulthood begins in the teenage years, I would expect the same findings.  On the other hand, in Brooklyn, Capitol Hill (Seattle), Portland, and numerous other hipster havens, I imagine that the average frontal lobe does not solidify until the early-30s.

The distinctions between male and female brain development demands a similar reevaluation.  Women continue to marry earlier than men and, given their smaller window to produce healthy babies, are forced to ruminate on family-rearing at an earlier age.  In other words, they begin to balance responsibilities and freedom before men.  According to my theory, it is unsurprising that their frontal lobes would mature earlier.  [I do not wish to ignore the innate hormonal differences between males and females.  Contemporary neuroscientists are probably correct that hormonal distribution affects brain development.  I simply believe that hormones are part of the story, rather than the whole story].

The field of neuroscience has made impressive advances in recent decades and deserves much of the acclaim it has achieved.  However, when Supreme Court decisions on juvenile delinquency are informed by – what I believe are – flawed theories of frontal lobe development, it is time to reconsider the field’s influence.  For too long, neuroscience has been insulated.  With the Western world’s fetishisation of the natural sciences – often at the expense of social sciences – neuroscientists feel little compulsion to initiate inter-disciplinary ventures outside of the hard sciences – and when they do, are driven my imperialist rather than collaborative motives.  This is a critical mistake.  Without corroboration from sociologists and anthropologists, neuroscience will wallow and society’s unchecked deference to their theories will become dangerous.

At 15, Terry Hall dropped out of high school and became a bricklayer.  By his early-20s, I suspect, his frontal lobe was fully developed.  Hall co-wrote “Our Lips are Sealed” for the Go-Go’s in 1980.  He was only 21.  Adele was three when her father abandoned her twenty-one year old mother.  She too was forced to assume adult responsibilities at an early age.  By 21, she was a pop-icon and darling of the high-brow critics.

Perhaps, to her great fortune, Lana Del Rey did not face such adversity as a youth.  She remains a confused, insecure, thoughtless, restless, and impulsive twenty-five year old.  The intense scrutiny and vitriol of the blogosphere will threaten to derail her artistic progress and personal maturation.  Let’s hope they fail.

PLEASE NOTE…

This section is only intended to establish a reference point for those unfamiliar with Lana Del Rey and/or her background.  It was initially created as a preface for the article: “Pop Music, Social Development, and Neurology; A Scientific Exploration of Lana Del Ray’s Rise and Fall (and Rise)” by Adam Forman, which delves more immediately into the subject and reflects on where she is now.  This piece is focused more about where she came from.  If you feel that you are already adequately versed on this subject matter, please feel free to click the above link, bypassing this introduction and advancing to the primary content directly.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave under a rock, it’s likely that you’ve read any number of strikingly unoriginal, cookie cutter-articles that lead off with the phrase, “Unless you’ve been living in a cave…” or “Unless you’ve been living under a rock…” before launching into some brief update regarding breakout indie pop vocalist Lana Del Rey.  In fact, even back when I read the very first article that introduced me to the overnight sensation and vocalist behind the smash internet hit “Videogames“, I was already greeted with the implication that I had arrived embarrassingly late to the LDR party.  Of course, the exaggerated content in the post was centered around the idea of a PR team conspiring to bamboozle the taste-makers and internet world by selling them them a pop-star packaged under the guise of a self-made indie starlet. “WE’VE BEEN TRICKED!  WE’VE BEEN DUPED!  IT WAS A SETUP!” were the basic claims.  I wasn’t paying much attention.

The next time that I came across Lana Del Rey was actually through the original airing of her, now infamous, performance on Saturday Night Live.  She was in an evening gown and had the stage presence of a tranquilized ostrich.  “Yikes,” I thought. “This is rough.  I think that this might be that girl that I read about in that forgettable blog post.“  At the time, her album hadn’t even been released and she was booked on the program based on little more than the strength of two singles that had already hit the internet.  That appearance was, subsequently, hailed by many -including NBC nightly news’ Brian Willams- as one of the worst performances in the show’s 37 year history.  The backlash spread, with LDR being panned on sites from SPIN.com to The Huffington Post.  Reports came in that there had been a national tour in the works, but, in the wake of the the SNL fiasco, it was postponed indefinitely.  Those claims were later denied.

I searched through her limited offering of videos at the time to discover a few things.  First was that the studio version of miss LDR and the live incarnation can be quite different.  Quality production insured that the transitions in her voice from Etta James soulstress to a deep Nico weren’t so drastic, abrupt, and jarring.  In contrast, her live performance was like watching a film actor, who’s accustomed to working with the benefit of endless takes, fumble on broadway.  There was nothing to edit and paste the transitions smoothly together.  Aside from the steep fluctuating pitch of her vocals, there was plenty of bold contrast to her imagery, as well.  Her videos were montages constructed from clips of old Hollywood and gangster-era/Rat Pack Las Vegas, with skateboarding footage and flashes of 2Pac mixed-in for good measure.  The music can be orchestral, sultry and/or heavily tinged with a quintessential vintage production quality.  Her song, “Blue Jeans” (also delivered questionably on SNL) just sounds like a follow up to Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Games“.

Lana is packaged like a 1940s Hollywood starlet doing cheesecake, with a Veronica Lake part/swoop at times, or an even more volumized coiffe to match her Ann Margret dye-job at others.  When she’s not wearing gowns, she’s sporting something like a Lana Turner sweater, sometimes confusingly paired with a thick gold RUN DMC chain.  The lyrical content shifts from mentions of James Dean and hazy romantic desire to phrases like, “I was raised on hip hop“, “So fresh to death“, and “I’ma ride or die“.  When her album, Born To Die did eventually hit the shelves, it even included the unfortunate track, “National Anthem” which features Del Rey blatantly venturing into more generic pop territories and toying with a rap cadence that yields the less than stellar results of a soccer mom wearing a sideways, adjustable Life is Good cap and trying to show her kids that she’s “still cool” and “down with the scene.”  Still, the idea of pairing hip, youthful, and more current aspects of culture like video games, skateboarding, and rap music with the throwback aesthetic of Donna Reed, drag racing, pin ups, and Dean Martin proved to be marketing genius.  Although the imagery is arguably conflicted, all of these elements transmuted into some sort of hipster vapor via methodical pop-marketing alchemy, wafting fumes of “legitimacy” and “Indie buzz” up the nasal passages of the blogoshphere and the hip urban dwelling youth who pride themselves on being cutting edge.

Hipster Runoff (best known for coining the genre term, “chill wave”) wallowed in the post SNL backlash.  Never buying into the hype, they’d been taking shots at the artist and exposing the inconsistencies in her persona from the beginning -her industry name change (birthname: Lizzy Grant), her previous failed attempt as a more “mainstream” artist, the financial/industry support of her ridiculously successful domain investor/marketing wizard father, her new modeling career, her boarding school education, and so on.  Each new piece of coverage sought to weaken any legitimacy of the self-proclaimed “gangsta Nancy Sinatra” as an independent, self-created, “artist” who once “lived in a trailer park”.  They lampooned Del Rey mercilessly, eventually going as far as to give the site a temporary overhaul, transforming it into mock LDR superfan celebrity blog titled, “The Lana Del Report.”  The default avatar for unregistered commenters became an animated gif of Del Rey blowing kisses toward the screen.  They laughed openly as sites like Pitchfork, who once championed LDR early on, now aggressively backpeddelled, coldly flinging her torso under the bus and panning her album to salvage their own credibility as supposed tastemakers.

Lana Del Rey has become a fascinating subject of focus, primarily because she’s not that fascinating.  She’s become so polarizing of a subject, because she really shouldn’t be.  Any other pop star would have their typical dedicated fanbase, as well as the detractors who generally just detest the concepts of fame and popular music and would simply rejected them out of their clear association to those worlds.  The difference, this time, is that the corporate marketing machine hit the demographic of the young, anti-corp. hipsters who fancy themselves as part of the latter category, so on the money that, that once they realized that there might be very little separating them from the former group, they had no other option but to attempt to distance themselves as hurriedly possible.  People identify themselves by what they are NOT as often as -and possibly even more than- by what they ARE.  The curtain had slipped off of the rings a bit, exposing a glimpse behind it, and questions were raised.  The Pitchforks of the internet world were supposed to be the ones dictating the next big thing and dispensing indie buzz credentials, but they seemed to have inadvertently taken their cues and influence from a “corporate” marketing structure that they’ve built their name on being able to repel.  What makes one marketing powerhouse less or more legitimate than the other?  In the “virtual” world and the internet-age the lines are blurred.  From a traffic and site analysis perspective, Pitchfork is actually crushing Spin.com in the area of popularity.  Perhaps, more importantly is the question of what really makes Lizzy Grant any less authentic than the millions of other girls wearing 20th century period garb.  When the “thrift” stores cost as much or more than the department stores, what does that mean?  When “indie” acts are selling out theaters and winning Grammys, at what point do they become mainstream?  Are you closer to what you judge than you originally thought or want to believe?  Is it time to reevaluate your own identities and/or look to a new direction for self worth and value that doesn’t rely on comparisons to others?

Despite the efforts of so many supporters-turned-harpoonist to snuff out the Del Rey flame that they helped to fan, Born to Die only took about 1 month to sell $1-million copies and reached #1 in 11 countries (top 5 in just as many others).  As we in the states continued to talk shit about her poor SNL performance, Del Rey was picking up both a Brit Award (“International Breakthrough Act“) and a Q Award (“Next Big Thing“) in the UK.

Last week, it was announced that Lana Del Rey would be doing an in-store performance at Easy Street records here in Seattle.  I was surprised.  Generally, when an act does an in-store, it’s because they already have a show booked in town somewhere that evening.  She didn’t.  In fact, the only other shows scheduled for her at all were a handful that are spread throughout Europe and Norway throughout the rest of the year.  There would be an autograph signing for the in-store, as well, but you’d need to purchase her album to get the wristband that would allow you to attend it.  Eventually, I decided to go for 3 reasons.  The first was to get some photographs -possibly to send to Spin magazine so that they could tell me that they were “great” again and then not pay me and use them.  The second was because I had figured that there’d likely be a good story in there for an article that I could post for you goons -maybe she would have a meltdown or I could write about being a creepy man in his thirties surrounded by tweens.  The last reason was the most important: being a hoodlum and a scavenger by nature, I had checked to see how much her autographs were going for on ebay.  The prices were ridiculous and I have a baby to provide for.  I even bought the album -an album that I already know that I didn’t want- to make sure that I wouldn’t back out of going.

I went.  I stood close enough to be in a crowd and sweat in the jacket that I should have left in the car.  I decided to half-ass interview the 2 guys next to me, while I waited.  They were friends.  One was cynical, never fully embracing the idea that he was a fan, explaining that he thought she would fumble and maybe drop the ball mid-performance.  Still, he subtly defended her by saying that he believed that the in-store environment was a bold move to enter into and that it was more vulnerable than a huge arena -not something that I agree with (the place was almost entirely made up of adamant supporters).  He was a little too jaded, a little too cocky, and came off like somewhat of a know-it-all dick.  He was a little too much like me.  His friend was older than him.  He had just purchased the Born to Die vinyl.  He had simply heard some songs and liked the album, so he picked it up and wanted to see her live.  Simple reasoning.  I’d heard the first guy telling this guy about how he had made the right choice with the vinyl, because he could get Lana to sign it and then he could frame it for his wall -something that he probably secretly wanted to do himself, but it wasn’t worth losing his vantage point as a cynic.  I’m sure that he was happy to have his enthusiastic friend there as an excuse for him attending.  The guy with the record actually wound up talking to me about Minor Threat and Fishbone.  He was probably more genuine than either of us.

The performance happened.  That’s about all that I can say about it; it occurred.  I hadn’t eaten all day, was spacey, tired, and didn’t even try to work my way any further into the crowd.  I couldn’t catch a photograph to save my life.  STRIKE 1!  I got in line to have her sign my shit, but it took forever.  Eventually I had to weigh the price of a parking ticket against the price of an ebay sale.  I chose to bounce empty handed.  STRIKE 2!  I didn’t have a story, either.  Lana’s handlers had been adamantly instructing everyone not to try and take pictures with the star or give her hugs.  There were time restrictions and she needed to fly out immediately after the signing.  When I was leaving, I noticed that Del Rey was the one that was hugging everyone and delaying everything, not the fans.  She didn’t even seem like a bitch.  So, was the real story that she’s just some girl that’s excited about being a popstar; maybe someone who would have been happy to be marketed as a pop star from the beginning, but just has trouble staying in the character created for her?  Who knows?  It’s not a story that I felt was interesting enough to waste my time and energy on writing.  Was it also that most of her fans just wanted to have a good time and that some of them aren’t even as one dimensional as some of her detractors?  Maybe the story was that this chick can’t not land on her feet -I did inadvertently contribute to those album sales after all, even though I’ve got a receipt and a return in my near future (I fucking bought two of them for chrissakes!).  Now she’s even finally gotten us to write about her (2 separate articles no less!).  The old foreign bitch in her 50s – 60s trying to convince me that I was cutting in front of her in the autograph line wasn’t enough to carry an entire post.  This record store appearance was the modern day indie equivalent of a Tiffany mall concert.  But, like I said: no real story, which means… STRIKE 3!

I came home and posted on facebook about how uneventful the day was.  No photos, no autograph, no story, etc.  It was over for me.  I was defeated by bubblegum, tweens with flower crowns and, most importantly, myself.  By the next evening I got an email from my friend Adam, who I wasn’t even aware had attended the appearance.  Attached was an article that begins with the in-store and then ventures into the much more interesting direction of hypothesizing about where neurological development and pop-music intersect.  Unlike anything that I had to go with, it’s actually genuinely interesting and worth reading.  This post that you’re currently reading was only intended to provide a set-up and backdrop for Lana Del Rey, as a subject explored in Adam‘s contribution.  Unfortunately, it can be difficult for me to stop once I start writing and this “intro” just keeps fucking going.  Plus, it’s hard to know which information is important, considering that there’s already an ongoing debate about whether Del Rey even carries any real importance or not and where that lies.  At any rate, Adam‘s “Pop Music, Social Development, and Neurology; A Scientific Exploration of Lana Del Ray’s Rise and Fall (and Rise)” is a really solid and fascinating piece, which adds a welcomed dimension to Monster Fresh.  I’m happy to be able to post it.

[LINK TO THAT POST NOW!]