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Dialogue:
Dutch Border Guard, holding a cardboard tube about one foot long she just extracted from my bag, while searching it: “What is this?”
SM: “A cardboard tube. It contains Art.”
Dutch Border Guard, looking suspiciously at the sheets of print rolled inside the tube: “Do you always carry around Art like that?”
SM: “Yes officer, I do.”
Dutch Border Guard: “You may go.”
Los Angeles, mural by Mac, lettering by Retna
(click to enlarge)
PS: Beh, che sorpresone. Grazie a Deemo, a cui non sfugge quasi mai quasi niente, adesso sappiamo che il modello del murale qui sopra è nientemeno che Flycat, MC italo-losangelino della primissima ora (e uno dei pro-motori del primo hip hop italiano). Insomma: vai a LA, fai una foto a un muro e sopra c’è uno che conosci (e saluti: hi dude, whazzup?): tres bizarre.
PPS: Dice sempre Deemo, a cui in fatto di immagini non sfugge mai proprio niente: “La roba di El Mac devasta”. Come dargli torto?
Mr Tamale wants to crash your browser. But, right before it crashes, you’ll see and hear fantastic stuff. Tony Mendoza (aka Mr Tamale) and his accomplices’ latest occupation is to hack publishing platforms, such as Blogger, layering all kind of web content (images, movies, sound, animations, clever html, etc) in a vortex of whipped media that tests the limits of what a browser can handle (and how). The result is startling, very cool to see and hear, and intensely contemporary (plus sort of dangerous, and y’all know I like that). Sometimes it might crash your browser, but never mind: it’s gonna look fabulous when it dies, so much so you’ll want to kill it again and again.
http://triptych.tv
http://imagepirate.com
http://www.subculture.com
http://www.subculture.com/indiction
http://www.subculture.com/anime
http://idiotrobot.com
http://mayhem.net
http://mrtamale.com
It came out yesterday, both on paper and online: it’s the interview about me/us/Realcore by Luca Celada for the art mag Artillery. It’s a very intimate piece (we’ve known each other for over 30 years) but also very precise and ironic, in classic Celada style.
E’ uscita giusto ieri in versione cartacea e online l’intervista/articolo di Luca Celada su me/noi/Realcore per Artillery, magazine di arte. E’ un articolo molto affettuoso (conosco Luca da oltre trent’anni) ma anche assai preciso e, nello stile del buon Celada (che potete godervi quotidianamente qui), obliquamente ironico.
Extreme Elvis is certainly one of the most amazing performance artists I’ve ever come across on the Internet. I found out about him around 2001; someone sent me the link, I clicked it and there was a picture, some links and a sentence: “Every generation gets the Elvis it deserves”. Absolutely perfect. The man, who looks like Elvis as much as anyone else, sang these trashy (but extremely sophisticated) versions of Presley’s songs while performing, often naked. The video bit I liked best was him sitting in a wheelbarrow, covered with corn, singing Love me tender while some chicken ate the corn from his body: sublime.
I’ve tried to visit Extreme Elvis’ website again recently, but it was shut by FBI for copyright infringment – in september 2005. You can see the FBI warning sign, still online. My guess is that the infringment wasn’t just in the website but also in the act itself. In which case EE could be in jail, or perhaps out but unable to resume his act. In any case a story worth knowing, and telling.
If you have seen or heard about EE lately, or you know what’s up with him, let un know in the comments. Of course, thanks to Archive.org and its essential Wayback Machine, you can still browse EE’s website throughout the years, and take in all the artistry of this little known but fabulous gem of the American Art landscape.
PS: I searched some more and he seems to be still active: cool, because we certainly still deserve him.
One of my favorite Dj/producers is DJ Muggs, the man behind Cypress Hill’s best music, as well as the multiplatinum evergreen Jump Around, by House of Pain. Muggs’ label is called Soul Assassins, it has a website and a whole lot of musical goodies in free download: vintage mixtapes, demos, previews – the lot. It’s a fantastic example of how Hip hop communities operate, here on the West Coast and elsewhere. A side note: SA isn’t just a record label; among its artists you’ll find Mr Cartoon, tattoo artist extraordinaire, and the photographer Esteban Oriol. This is a true art collective, exactly the way I feel art collectives should be.
One of my favorite flavors of Hip hop (and House too) is when it’s mixed with Jazz, a la Waldeck for example. On the SA website I found this fabulous Jazz/Hip hop mixtape made DJ Solo & Roger Jao. It’s called Jitterbug Driveby, and it features amazing bits, including Iggy Pop, Parov Stelar, Cab Calloway, De La Soul, Basement Jaxx… It’s truly a crosscultural music experience, that will shake your butt while enlightening you on how very diverse music can bounce together very nicely. Dope art for the 21st.
It’s been my mobile ringtone for almost two years now, and I still like it very much. It was made by Painé Cuadrelli, and it’s available for free right here (in Mp3). What’s more, now there’s an iPhone version, complete with simple installation instructions. Enjoy.
The kind of work I like best at this point is definitely performing live. So, in order to stimulate bookings, I set up a little Live page with a list of available performances, talks and music gigs. Including the Interactive Tv (see image), which I did a few times in the past 17 years (in a number of permutations, according to the context): the audience really loved it (some people still remember it after years) and so did I.
I’m back in Milan, and as I have a little time I started to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: gather my published music in a single web space and serve it both in streaming and downloading. The place is the music section of this website: you’ll find both my albums (the first has never been presented online) and a lot of bits and pieces I made over the past 20 years. Most of it is published, but there are a few premieres: the original A Forest remix (unpublished in any form), the violin piece I’ve used for my Into roses video in its original, longer form and a few remixes only published on vinyl, or as singles.
It’s finally time to go, leave Chicago and head back to Europe. I’m sad: I loved it here, I had fun, I met great people, I learned a whole lot of stuff, I produced interesting work and I have reasons to believe I helped others produce some more. All this wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation of a number of persons whom I’d like to name here – bear with me:
SAIC: all professors, faculty and staff who put up with my lack of academic experience and helped me to do a good job. All my undergrad students in both classes, talented and smart folks who made exciting for me to go to class. My graduate advisees Morgan Gliedman, Ye Mimi (Chiao-Hsiang Lin), Shirin Mozaffari, Beau C. & Lily R. Sage and Carolyna Weath: all great souls, fantastic artists and now good friends. The grad students and alumni whose work I’ve seen, sometimes critiqued and often loved, and especially (in no particular order): Oli Rodriguez, Stephanie Burke, Dave Murray, Steve Daly, Jessica Hyatt, Alan Strathmann, Elise Goldstein, Ting Xu, David Lakein, Daniel Everett. My T.A. Bret Petersen, who indeed went beyond the call of duty. Daniel Dietzer, Karina Natis and the NY Armory Show expedition crew. The Parlor Room Lectures Committee. Razvan Botea, who filmed the Realcore performance at the Columbus Auditorium and gave me a copy of the raw footage. Rob Drinkwater and Lou Mallozzi at the Sound Department. Bruce Jenkins, Lisa Wainwright and of course the person who originally thought I could do all this, the fabulous Barbara DeGenevieve: thank you, it was a blast.
John Thompson, who gave me some crucial tips on this city and took me to very cool places.
Claudia Hart & Kurt Hentschlager, welcoming and kind folks.
The Swimming Pool Project Space, Liz Nielsen and Josh Kozuh, for hosting the Boleros live premiere, and Tom Mamola for the PA system.
Clarisse Thorn, Teri & Kevin and everyone @ the Pleasure Salon: such a welcoming, nice and sophisticated bunch of perverts ;)
Yana, Luca, Nicola & Matteo for making my stay in L.A. absolutely unforgettable.
Everyone at IED Milano for putting up with my disappearance with a smile, and especially Rossella Bertolazzi, Painé Cuadrelli and Federica Colombo.
Harold’s Chicken Shack on south Wabash, Zemsky’s family clothing store (south side rules!) and Sears (whatever happened to Roebuck). Plus of course the city of Chicago: friendly, funny, scary and endlessly marvelous. I’ll miss you.
Benvenuti su Fosforo, compilation di amenità verbali di Sergio Messina di cui come sempre risponde di persona attraverso questa pagina.
