Billy Jam sez:
In the first part of this series
(posted a week ago) I included an MP3 of people on the streets of Jersey City
speaking on their knowledge (or lack thereof) of the origins of the name of New
Jersey. This time I am including an sample of what the folks I stopped on the
streets of St. Hélier in "old" Jersey had to say when quizzed on
their knowledge of New Jersey (MP3). I am also including my new favorite old Jersey song which sums up so perfectly the unique
and special place that is the small island of Jersey, Hedley Le Maistre's
"Jersey, Mon Vie!" (MP3).
Friday, October 2nd's WFMU live remote broadcast (during
Doug Schulkind's timeslot) from Jersey's capital of St. Hélier during the Channel
Island's 2nd annual Branchage Film Festival was an amazingly wonderful event to
be a part of, and a rewarding one on many levels. First off it was a really
great idea of the festival's director Xanthe Hamilton to link "old"
Jersey with New Jersey via WFMU - something she presented to a receptive FMU
station manager Ken Freedman about five months ago, and whose concept grew in
scope since. And secondly for the dialog it began between the two Jerseys - one
which we hope to keep going on the air here at WFMU. Expect to regularly hear
"Jersey Bites" on Friday afternoons during the new WFMU Fall/Winter
season which kicked into effect Monday, October 12th.
If you missed last week's broadcast it is archived -
in playlist and audio forms - here, and
includes a wide variety of guests getting on the FMU airwaves to share insights
on the island of Jersey; a place that may only be 45 square miles in size but
is incredibly rich in culture and history. A British Crown dependency the
Bailiwick of Jersey, as it is officially known, is 100 miles south of England
and lies only 14 miles west of the coast of Normandy, under whose rule it was
once governed.
The WFMU remote show guests included Philip Malet de Carteret whose ancestors - several centuries ago - owned the land now known as the Garden State and were the ones responsible for giving New Jersey its name. The interview I conducted with him at his historic manor in the parish of St.Ouen (Jersey is divided into parishes, not counties) ran a lot longer than the segment included in the remote broadcast. Hence snippets of it will be played over the coming months on the air. Same for the organic Jersey dairy farmer Ian Mitchell, who was a live guest during the October 2nd remote but whose farm I visited the following day (see video below) and recorded more footage about the Jersey cow (a highly intelligent & unusally friendly animal) and its rich dairy product.
People Like Us says:
It's the end of the Summer Season and so time for DO or DIY to unplug the ethernet cable, give the ol' modem a bit of a dust and take the next season off. But before we go we haven't forgotten that it's somewhat a tradition to make a downloadable collection of the best of all things avant retard for your ears and eye-pods, you lucky people - complete with downloadable artwork. So here it is. I always say there's nothing like art, and this is nothing like art.
Do or DIY - "Awful Fun" (zip file: MP3s and artwork)
Separate Files:
Artwork (PDF)
Track 1 (MP3) I read that the invention of bicycles in France, way back when, added 6 inches of height to the average villager over the next several generations. Basically, the opportunity to marry outside the village one was born in, led to enlarging the gene pool and strengthening the stock. And of course, created the Tour de France many bicycle wheels later. So karma-wise it should be Lance Armstrong who is leading the cause for modernizing rural villages around the globe by creating bicycles that are more affordable and accessible. But he isn't. The Earth Institute at Columbia University here in NYC is initiating workshops and spreading the news that making your own bike out of bamboo is sustainable, do-able and very cool. They are starting this project in Ghana, testing local interest and investment possibilities for local production of bicycles on the continent. Presently Africa imports all of its' bicycles, which can make them costly and difficult to find, especially for those remote villagers and poor city folk who need them most.
On August 12 in downtown NYC, The American Craft Council Library is hosting a seminar with Marty Odlin, co-founder of the Bamboo Bike Studio along with Justin Aguinaldo, bike messenger and knowledgeable bike mechanic. They will be talking about how this project can have wider applications, mobilizing DIY skills, and utilizing green materials. Reservations are required.
In Beacon, NY, Doug and Mike Starn are using bamboo to a completely different end, or endless sort of end, really. They have set up shop in a huge old warehouse and with the help of local rock climbers are building a giant 'pick up sticks' of bamboo. The sculpture is open to the public every 2nd and 4th saturday in the month of August from 11am-4pm. Contact them if you want to swing by and check out what that looks like. No pandas allowed.
We have squats. Switzerland has Null Stern Hotel.
Essentially it's one very large conceptual art piece as egalitarian sociology experiment as place to stay when you're f***ing tired after a long day of being a tourist.
WFMU's Irwin Chusid has been up to no good.
In addition to playing Fountains of Wayne twice on his radio program this week, he's been consorting with other dark forces. Irwin has just co-written (with Barbara Economon) and released his 3rd book on the artwork of Jim Flora, an illustrator from the '40s and '50s who is known for his great album covers, childrens' books, the occasional (posthumous) piece of WFMU swag, and generally creepy undertones beneath a cheery facade. This third volume of Flora visual treats includes newly-discovered artwork that Irwin himself dug out of a time capsule that was buried in a top-secret location. Or maybe I made up that last part.
The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora is published by Fantagraphics, and is available here.
To say that Telecult Powers are a band after my own heart is to wallow in understatement. These guys brought me a double DVD of Asian horror, a red skull candle, and a copy of their latest tape. (Let it be known that I respond very favorably to such thoughtful tribute.) Then, they proceeded to carefully set up their home-built gear (which, by the way, made it into the building in one trip—no double-parking of car required!) Then, we rolled, and Telecult Powers proceeded to open a fissure in reality.
Telecult Powers are Mister Matthews and Witchbeam, synthesists extraordinaire, who very unassumingly make some of the best electronic music I've heard since MB or Con. Their sound pulls together so many things I like—soft noise, harsh noise, Krautrock, and occult electronics to name only a few—that their visit to My Castle of Quiet really just amounted to destiny fulfilled. I was gratified to have Mister Matthews write me the next morning and refer to the radio session as "some of our finest work yet," as their tapes are pretty fuckin' swell too (and packaged in Witchbeam's colorful, digital/occult/LSD illustrations.) These guys are just beginning to hit their stride...and they tell me there's some new vinyl coming soon.
Here is the entire Telecult Powers / My Castle of Quiet session, to download and enjoy, ideally by oscillating candlelight:
The Tushita Heaven
The Golden Shrine of Michael Aquarius
Live audio covered by a creative commons attribution-non commercial-no derivatives license.
The Summer Fun List is one of DJ Kelly’s more genius ideas: Sometime in late spring you make a list of all the fun things you want to do during the upcoming summer, so that the whole season doesn’t fly past without your having done anything fun at all. (This is especially useful for former Midwestern Protestants such as myself, who tend to forget that “fun” is not the same thing as “evil.” Or maybe it is, and that’s why it feels so jolly. But I don’t wanna get all philosophical about it now.) A few weeks ago I was feeling pretty unhappy about something and I drew a big X across the Summer Fun List page and wrote “KILL MYSELF” instead, but I’m sort of over that now, so I figured I’d take another look. Plus, it finally got sunny for three days in a row, and it’s starting to feel a little bit like summer at last. Here’s what’s on my SFL this year:
UConn Puppet Museum
Rosendale (more bees?)
Fireworks
Yankees game
Bruno
Musical Saw Festival
Book Arts Lounge and/or Class
Bacon Retrospective (& other art)
So far, this has not been a particularly successful SFL season. I used to try to go to one Yankees game a year, but now that tickets cost more than I make in a month, I won’t be doing that. And because of Global Economic Change, there weren’t any 4th of July fireworks anywhere near where I live: All the usual displays were canceled. So Sluggo and I went up on a hill near our house and looked down the Hudson toward New York City and saw just the tippy-top of the Macy’s fireworks—we wouldn’t see anything for two or three minutes, and then there’d be a little puff of red light, and then nothing for another couple of minutes, and then some silvery sparkles. Even though I tried as hard as I could, I wasn’t able to convince myself that it was actually “fun.” And I have been SO looking forward to this
year’s Musical Saw Festival on Saturday, July 18. I went last year, and it was truly fantastic. I heard Satie’s “Gymnopedie” performed by a musical saw and the Trinity handbell choir, and I am not kidding when I say that it was life-changing. Seriously. It was great, and weird, and great-and-weird, and I have been looking forward to going again for a whole year—and I have an unavoidable conflict that day and can’t go. But you should. It’s in Astoria, it costs only $10, and this year they’re going to try to break the Guinness World Record for “largest musical saw ensemble.” This is a musical event I sincerely recommend for any WFMU Listener, so add it to your Summer Fun List and go.
That’s the disappointments so far, but there’s been some surprise fun, too. Sluggo and I got invited to cocktails at the penthouse residence of an ambassador to the U.N., which was clearly some kind of mistake but we went anyway and had a very nice time. We also went to the “Agitprop!” Book Arts Lounge at the Center for Book Arts, where we talked about Russian constructivist advertising art with polymath poet Mr. Jeremy James Thompson and letterpressed some little flyers that say “Money is No Object.” I got to take the “Brown Bag Bindery” class, too, and built my own piercing cradle, sewing frame, and finishing press. Sylvia Alotta, the teacher, used to be an industrial designer for GM, and has come up with the most beautiful, functional, simple designs for binding equipment. She is my new hero, and almost makes me want to move to Chicago just so I could study with her there. (*Almost.*) Now I’m looking forward to the “Embroidered Bindings” Book Arts Lounge on August 14. Maybe I’ll see you there.
My friend Miss Manytitles has arranged for me to attend a free screening of Bruno with her this week, but the movie I’m really looking forward to seeing is ROBOGEISHA. Here's the trailer, so you will want to see it too. OMG, I have to see it! My Grammy Carlton used to say, “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings,” and when there are movies like Robogeisha in the world, I think she was right.
Thanks for reading my blogpost this time, and may God bless.
Current occupation: Governor of Alaska
Age: 45
Residence: Wasilla, Alaska
Little-known public official interviewed in the August 2009 issue of Runner's World magazine:
"I feel so crappy if I go more than a few days without running. I have to run. No matter how rotten I feel before or during a run, it's always worth it to me afterwards. Sweat is my sanity. A great frustration I had during the campaign was when the McCain staff wouldn't carve out time for me to go for a run. The days never went as well if I couldn't get out there and sweat. ...
"I went for a run at John McCain's ranch a couple of days before the debate with Joe Biden. My favorite thing in the world is to run on hot, dusty roads. I don't get enough of that in Alaska. So I was in heaven and there were plenty of hills so I knew my thighs were going to just throb and my lungs were going to burn and that's what I crave."
Palin intends to continue running because she feels a commitment.
ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn's progressive non-profit performance space, has put together the most interesting walk-a-thon we've ever heard:
You can sign up to...
* Bang a Gong for Issue with Swans co-founder and WFMU's favorite drummer, Jonathan Kane.
* Walk through the Brooklyn Botanical Garden contemplating the simulated sound of tinnitus with Anthony Coleman.
* Explore the sounds of Gowanus with Marc Ribot.
* Join a game of urban "telephone" -- the Tin Can Telewalk -- led by Marie Evelyn and WFMU DJ Kurt Gottschalk
There are 20 options to choose from, but you don't just have to pick one! You can experience them all in the disruptive We would like to run past all your walkers, opposite their direction, while screaming songs walk led by friends of the station Flaming Fire. And if you won't be able to attend, you can pledge your support to those who can.
...Speaking of ISSUE Project Room, have you heard their recent contributions to the Free Music Archive? Here's a recent highlight from James Blackshaw, live at ISSUE Project Room on March 7, 2009 excerpt (MP3)
Check out IPR on the Free Music Archive for Meg Baird's set from that night, along with IPR-curated audio from Elliott Sharp, Arthur's Landing, Stars Like Fleas, Carlos Giffoni & Okkyung Lee, Alex Waterman, Arthur Doyle, Teeth Mountain, and much more. (photo via Urban Zen Sound Meditation and Labyrinth Walk led by Eric A. Dah)
Good-bye, Nickelodeon Magazine! Home in print of many fine Cartoonist-Listeners, and former employer of little freelance writer Bronwyn C.
Goodbye, too, to Radio and Records mag, dead and dead as of yesterday.
This was scrawled on the wall of a post office I frequent. I can't say that MAIL is my biggest complaint in the world, but maybe I'm alone in that thought.
This is a picture of the bathroom at the ICA in Philadelphia. It's not my favorite image from my visit there this past weekend, it is the only picture I could take unnoticed. I tried to slyly sneak some shots in the Sun Ra exhibit, but the damn bleep of my digital camera gave me away instantly. It's an attractive bathroom, covered in wallpaper made up of vintage fashion ads. And while you are visiting this luscious WC, do check out the Sun Ra show upstairs. Last Sunday was the 85th birthday of Marshall Allen, leader of the Arkestra and May 22nd was the 95th anniversary of Sun Ra's arrival on Earth.
Sun Ra and his Arkestra lived In Germantown, on the edge of Philadelphia, for over 35 years, until his death in 1993. When I heard that the ICA was planning a Sun Ra show, I assumed it would be based on images and album art from his Philadelphia days. The title of the show, Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn and Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground 1954-58 tells a different story.
The show is lent from the collection of the Hyde Park Art Center, in Chicago, and shines a light on a formative time for Sun Ra. The preponderance of free spirited and radical philosophies embraced by black creative communities in post-war Chicago created the Sun Ra Arkestra we know today; an expression of musical experimentation, cosmic philosophies, and cultural reconfiguring. Predating the punk DIY scene by decades Sun Ra formed his own record company, El Saturn records. In addition to living communally in Philadelphia, Sun Ra and the Arkestra designed and printed many of their record covers and sold them at gigs.
The gallery's presentation of album covers and artwork is made more compelling by the screening of several films, photos, and collections of Sun Ra's unreleased music. On July 1 the mighty Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen takes the stage. July 15th a documentary made by British DJ Don Letts, Sun Ra: Brother from Another Planet will be shown. July 8 John Szwed, Author of Space is the Place lectures. Check out the ICA's website for more events.
