Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Tribute in Light
Tribute in Light – absolutely spellbinding timelapse captured over a 12-hour period on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 by photographer James Duncan Davidson (whom you might recognize as the official TED photographer)
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The land still lies: Handsworth Songs and the English riots
This is why it is important to resist the casual story that things have ‘progressed’ in any simple linear fashion since Handsworth Songs was made. Yes, the BAFC can now appear at Tate Modern in the wake of new riots in England, something unthinkable in 1985; but, as Film Quarterly editor Rob White pointed out in the discussion at the Tate event, there is little chance now of Handsworth Songs or its like appearing on Channel 4 now, still less being commissioned. The assumption that brutal policing and racism were relics of a bygone era was part of the reactionary narrativisation of the recent riots: yes, there were politics and racism back then, but not now, not any more…
The lesson to be remembered – especially now that we are being asked to defend abortion and oppose the death penalty again – is that struggles are never definitively won. As the academic George Shire pointed out in the Tate discussion, many struggles have not been lost so much as diverted into what he called “the privatisation of politics”, as former activists become hired as ‘consultants’...
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Mark Fisher @'BFI/Sight & Sound'
Axel Boman and the Radioactive Orchestra
'Radioactive Orchestra', a web-based musical interface resultant from a collaboration between Sweden's royal institute of technology (KTH) and nuclear safety and training institute (KSU), is designed to render aurally the processes of atomic gamma decay.
KTH professors Arne Johnson and Bo Cederwall and doctorate Karin Andgren envisioned and developed the project, which was formalized by electronic artist Kristofer Hagbard into an interactive web interface for data exploration and sound track generation.
Gamma decay occurs when a nucleus is unstable, as an atom emits a gamma ray to bring itself to a lower, more stable energy state. every type of material (and every isotope of each type of atom) gives off a characteristic signature in this process,
which the KTH scientists were interested in representing in some physical form. 'radioactive orchestra' was also designed to draw attention to the fact that ionizing radiation is not just a product of nuclear accidents or artificial processes but insteadis omnipresent in our bodies and environment.
The team explains:
'if we could hear the radiation we would have constant sound around us all the time. we would hear different notes repeated,
maybe at quite a steady rate, but it would always be something new. [as it is,] we can't feel ionizing radiation with our senses,
but we could translate it, and that is what this [project] is based on. we translate these characteristic gamma energies to notes
instead, to frequencies. then you get an audio impression directly from the characteristic radiation. these are the patterns
we explore and make [music] from.'
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Should Guardian journalists reveal their sources?
The Metropolitan police are seeking a court order to make reporters for the UK newspaper, The Guardian, disclose their sources about the News Corp phone-hacking scandal. Reuters editor-at-large, Harold Evans speaks with Guardian's lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, QC about the latest developments.
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Monday, 19 September 2011
Foo Fighters - Keepin it Clean in KC
On Aug. 30th, 2011 Westboro Baptist Church called for a picket of the Foo Fighters show in Kansas City. We had a little something up our sleeve. God Bless America.
Body Parts Made Of Bread
Gruesome body parts greet customers of a bakery in Ratchaburi, Thailand. Artist and baker Kittiwat Unarrom has sculpted life-like heads, feet and hands from dough in the bakery's kitchen and exhibits them in glass cabinets in the shop. He says his edible art lures one hundred visitors a day.
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attackerman attackerman
The title of the new WINEP position paper on Iran would make an awesome 80s crossover/thrash song: "Nuclear Fatwa"
First Listen: Apparat 'The Devil's Walk'
The Devil's Walk, out Sept. 27, began during a lengthy trip Apparat took in 2010 to Mexico, where he worked in a makeshift studio in the town of Sayulita. The album became fully realized later in recording studios located in Europe. The cross-continental journey and combination of cultures helped to define and inspire the right blend of cold electronics with warm strings and keys, along with a dreamlike vocal that drifts in throughout.
For The Devil's Walk, Apparat enlisted the help of others to help fully realize the material. Joshua Eustis (of Telafon Tel Aviv) and friend Fredo Noguerira were brought in to contribute, yet at a certain point, the project hit a lull. The fire was rekindled later in Europe with the help of yet another contributor, Patrick "Nackt" Christensen., who re-inspired Apparat and helped craft the finished product. The influence of late, quiet nights in a simple tropical atmosphere can be heard, as can the exhilaration Apparat rediscovered after time away from these songs.
The album's soft and sad opening track, the poignant "Sweet Unrest," could have easily found a home in Terrence Malick's latest film, The Tree of Life; the song's title describes exactly what's to come from the album's delicate, blissed-out instrumentals. "Black Water" provides another highlight: A mind-bending song, it exudes the same expressive force that Moby and M83 have also mastered, as well as a moody richness that The Cure has specialized in crafting.
Apparat has become adept at taking the strongest elements of electronic music and transforming them into a human sound that captivates listeners on multiple levels — the most important of which is emotional. That combination helps make The Devil's Walk one of 2011's most moving and inspired records.
John Richards @'npr'
Hear 'Devil's Walk' In Its Entirety
FBI halts anti-Muslim training
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it has discontinued a lecture that taught counter-terrorism agents that mainstream Muslims were violent.
The move comes after leaked documents revealed the controversial elements in the FBI's training manuals.
According to the FBI documents: most American Muslims are likely to be sympathizers to "terrorist" groups like al-Qaeda.
Spencer Ackerman, the journalist who broke this story for the website Wired dot com, told Al-Jazeera why the FBI teachings are "constitutionally dicey".
"There is still a real ignorance and to some degree a real fear of Islam that has found a surprising home in the FBI," he said.
"If they spend their time and resources going after indicators of violent behavior based on the amount of religiosity a person displays, then first of all they are not going to get actual terrorists, but innocent people."
The move comes after leaked documents revealed the controversial elements in the FBI's training manuals.
According to the FBI documents: most American Muslims are likely to be sympathizers to "terrorist" groups like al-Qaeda.
Spencer Ackerman, the journalist who broke this story for the website Wired dot com, told Al-Jazeera why the FBI teachings are "constitutionally dicey".
"There is still a real ignorance and to some degree a real fear of Islam that has found a surprising home in the FBI," he said.
"If they spend their time and resources going after indicators of violent behavior based on the amount of religiosity a person displays, then first of all they are not going to get actual terrorists, but innocent people."
Cultural Exchange: The diplomatic view of classical music
A few weeks ago WikiLeaks published cables sent by American diplomats who were reporting back to the government on events and people of interest to the United States. The reports are incredibly detailed (we can now confirm that, yes, the president of Turkmenistan did get two extra pineapples on his fruit plate in 1997), which can make for a tedious read.
Put a few classical music keywords in the search box, however, and nuclear-weapon panic gives way to the curious mixture of social chess, pageantry theater and "Fawlty Towers" that is cultural diplomacy.
If the reporting diplomat happens to be a good writer, the extra detail creates a vivid and at times extremely entertaining picture.
Classical music is mentioned most often when the diplomat is discussing an individual's openness to Western culture, his level of sophistication and the cultural health of a region in transition.
It is surprising to discover how classical music performances are used to introduce foreign audiences to American culture. An explanation comes from pianist Michael Sheppard, who won a classical fellowship with the American Pianists Assn. in 2003. The prize included a State Department-sponsored tour of Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Syria, which led to Sheppard's name showing up in a cable.
"The State Department probably uses classical music because there aren't words attached it," he said. "It's hard to be inflammatory when you're just playing piano pieces."
Reading the cables, it seems these concerts are more about what the music represents than the performance. Explained Sheppard, "Music can be a propaganda tool for sure, but I don't think the State Department is thinking, 'Let's use music to get [the audience] to like the U.S.' I'm not trying to push a political agenda at all. Music doesn't have anything to do with the little boundaries that we make."
What follows are excerpts selected to give a glimpse into diplomatic life and the various ways classical music fits in...
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Velvet Underground 1965/6
At the Cafe Bizarre
At Delmonico's
At the Architectural Association
(Click to enlarge)
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Girlz With Gunz #156 (Разгром армии Путина)
"While Kremlin polit. tech. are collecting cheap little chickies for national PR, the successful girls are against the party of liars and thieves... "
(Thanx Gennady!)
Occupy Wall Street (contd...)
Saturday's occupation begins at noon in Bowling Green Park. The first people's assembly will start at 3 p.m. at One Chase Manhattan Plaza and continue until our one demand is agreed upon by all. Check out the full schedule of events.
A leaked bulletin from the New York Police Department reveals that they expect at least 5,000, and maybe even 20,000 people to swarm Wall Street tomorrow. That just might be enough for us to pull this off!
A telephone support line has been set up by occupywallst.org. For directions or help call (877) 881-3020 to speak with a local activist. For legal advice, or to report an arrest, call the National Lawyers Guild at (212) 679-6018.
Democracy Now!, Bloomberg News, the Washington Post and CNN covered #OCCUPYWALLSTREET today. The CNN article is a good summary.
When asked about the occupation, the mayor of New York City responded, "People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we’ll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it. As long as they do it where other people’s rights are respected, this is the place where people can speak their minds …"
Anonymous says they will release their new hacktivism tool at 7 a.m. in solidarity with #OCCUPYWALLSTREET.
While Michael Moore and the rest of the mainstream left continues to be largely silent about #OCCUPYWALLSTREET, American rapper Lupe Fiasco has been vocal in his support. Lupe has vowed to donate 50 tents to the occupation and has written a poem celebrating our efforts.
President Obama will be in New York City at a private $38,500 per person fundraising event on Monday, September 19th starting at 5:30 p.m. at 820 Park Avenue. Maybe we can go there and invite him to join our people's assembly?
For those who cannot attend one of the many solidarity events happening in Milan, Madrid, Valencia, London, Lisbon, Athens, San Francisco, Santander, Madison, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and now Algeria and Israel, there will be a live stream of events at: livestream.com/globalrevolution
This is your last chance to send a message to all your friends via Facebook, Twitter and phone asking them to join you tomorrow.
For up-to-date information follow occupywallst.org, nycga.net and @occupywallstnyc
Good luck … Hang in there!
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
@'Adbusters'
Dub... No Frontiers: Nays Atour - War
Punkcast1939-04-01 Adrian Sherwood previews the forthcoming On U Sound album 'Dub... No Frontiers' at Dub Invasion Festival, Dominion NYC, on Sep 9 2011.
(Thanx Joly!)
Graham Collier RIP
James Graham Collier was born at Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, on February 21 1937. Having learned the trumpet as a teenager, he joined an Army band on leaving school in 1954. As his required second instrument he took up the double bass, and this later became his principal instrument.
In 1961 Collier won a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1963 he became the first Briton to graduate from this, the most prestigious jazz school in the world. He then worked for a while as bassist with the band led by veteran saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey.
Returning to Britain in late 1963, Collier formed his own band, Graham Collier Music, principally to play his own compositions. This ensemble survived in various constantly changing forms for around two decades, and featured some of the country’s finest players. A young member of his very first band was the reed player Karl Jenkins, who later composed of the popular works Adiemus and The Armed Man.
In 1968 Collier won an Arts Council bursary for his composition Workpoints, and in so doing initiated a profound change in the way jazz is perceived in Britain. Hitherto regarded as a branch of popular music, ephemeral and undeserving of official notice, it had suddenly gained a small foothold in the cultural Establishment.
In the years following this achievement, both public funding and academic study became an accepted part of the British jazz scene, although by no means universally applauded. There are many who look upon such things as inimical to the spirit of jazz.
Collier’s most unexpected success, however, was evidence of his continuing love of the free, improvised nature of his chosen music. This triumph began in the mid-1980s, and was the result of a workshop which he set up to give young musicians big-band experience. Once assembled, however, the players took charge, discarding the conventional organisation of a jazz orchestra and generally turning the whole scheme on its head.
The result was Loose Tubes, a conglomeration (up to 21-strong at times) of brilliant, mischievous characters which lit up the London jazz scene for the best part of a decade. Its leading spirit, Django Bates, gave Collier full credit for instigating the band’s creativity: “Graham had sensed there was something exciting in the air and, in the spirit of improvisation, he captured the moment.”
In its unique way, Loose Tubes embodied Collier’s approach to jazz composition, which was to lay out the main elements and leave as much as possible to the inspiration of the moment. The last of his six books, published in 2009, was entitled The Jazz Composer: Moving Music Off The Paper.
The success of Loose Tubes only added to a burgeoning reputation. Allied to his qualities of persistence and self-belief, this made Collier the ideal candidate to become the Royal Academy of Music’s first jazz director. He held the post from 1986 until his retirement in 1999.
Particularly well received among his own works were Day of the Dead (1978), based on Malcolm Lowry’s novel Under The Volcano, and his music for the Radio 3 adaptation of Josef Skvorecky’s novella The Bass Saxophone (1989), which won a Sony Award.
Graham Collier was appointed OBE in 1987. In 1999 he moved to Ronda, in Spain, and in 2008 to the Aegean island of Skopelos.
He is survived by his partner, the writer John Gill.
@'The Telegraph'
Condolences to John...
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