''It'd be like going up to Jackie Onasis with a sniper-rifle pendant... Just thinkin' of John...''

That's a Hicks quote - and here's pretty much proof of what he was talking about... 'Intervention?? holy crap:

23 years ago...

I have wanted to start taking more photos again recently but keep forgetting to take the camera with me when I go out anywhere. I Poached this pic of NK off the Thrasher site. Just 'cause it's a good pic... from 1985!

CHUCK D, RFH LONDON, OCT 10th 2008

Ok, so here's the footage from the Chuck D lecture. There are a couple of gaps where I had to hide the camera - and I didn't have a tripod so some is a bit shaky, but hey, I don't think there's any footage of it anywhere else.
Also, I cut out a LOT of the audience Q&A, as it d-r-a-g-g-e-d on a bit. Enjoy.

UPDATE: FILE IS CORRUPT - WILL BE BACK UP ON HERE SHORTLY.

Lucky old angels, lucky old heaven...

Mr Charles Ridenhour

Off to Southbank to hear this fella do a talk on the history of P.E tomorrow evening: The ticket says ‘from 7.30pm’ with no end time, as apparently Mr Ridenhour can talk for a while – which is a good thing in my book. Going to try and sneak the DV cam in, so there’ll hopefully be some footage up by Monday.

Bill Melendez R.I.P

Bill Melendez, the voice of Snoopy, who animated everybody from Mickey Mouse and Bambi to Bugs Bunny and Charlie Brown, passed away Tuesday at age 91. His other work included such classics as: Wabbit Twouble, What Makes Daffy Duck, What’s Up, Doc, Gerald McBoing Boing, and A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Click the title for the full article from AintitCool.

It's European Bat Weekend! (but of course you knew that...)

o.k, so I didn't know European Bat Weekend Existed, but now I do. And bats:(awww)

Eat these things: (AAARGH!)

...and therefore qualify for space on the blog.

A history of surgery

This is Howard Dully at 12 years of age. In December 1960, he became one of the youngest recipients of the transorbital or "ice-pick" lobotomy. This was a treatment for what they considered 'mental illness' and was performed by neurologist Walter Freeman.

Howard was on the first in a BBC series called A History of Surgery, last night and is the only living recipient of this type of treatment - he's now a bus driver and lives a normal life. His stepmother ordered him to have the treatment to 'calm him down and make him behave'. It didn't work as - ironically - his young brain managed to compensate for the lost tissue and he's still a pretty normal guy.

I posted this for some perspective on how hard you think your life can be, and how some people deal with the things that happen to them. Amazing.

Everything burns

So I wasn’t prepared for this at all. I mean I had read some reviews and the general consensus was along the lines of: ‘We don’t want to build up expectations, BUT it’s the best thing ever.’

Basically, it’s so good, on so many levels I won’t even bother to explain it here. Just go and see it. And yes – everyone is good, Bale, Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine… but Heath Ledger pretty much owns this film.

More mags

The depths of my wardrobe just keep on giving. Here’s what I'm pretty sure is the first issue of R.A.D, from 21 YEARS AGO!! (note the BMX Action Bike logo still in the corner):

And finally, one of my Favourite Transworld covers ever:

 

Cement Fun

Apart from unsuccessfully navigating the holes, I had a pretty good day at Stockwell last week. Then in a moment of great coincidence - while clearing out even more drawers - found this little beauty:

Shane Obrien and Jason Jessee at Brixton Beach.

Heres the cover (feat: the 'heaviest guy at the park'):

Also dug this up: Classic Rbt Williams:

 

‘This means something… this is important…’

Grunting fish have helped scientists to date the origins of vocal sounds to about 400million years ago. US researchers have found that the area of a fish's brain that drives vocalisation is extremely primitive. Writing in the journal Science, they say it suggests that the ability to communicate through sound emerged very early in the evolution of vertebrates.

The closely related toadfish and midshipman fish are nocturnal, living along the north-west coast of the US and Canada. Professor Bass said: "They make different kinds of sounds in different social contexts. Just as birds will use one call to attract a mate and another call to scare a rival off, the fish do exactly the same thing." A deep hum lures females to a male's nest; a sharp grunt is used to defend territory.

To investigate the origins of vocalisation, the team looked at the area of the fish's brain that was responsible for controlling the pitch and duration of the calls, which is known as vocal patterning.
Professor Bass told BBC News: "We identified where this pattern generator developed in the brains of these fishes, and then we looked at where it was in frogs, birds and primates."
The team discovered that the neural networks for vocalization were all situated in the same region.

"We stood back and said: 'Oh my god, this is all in the same place'. "It was astonishing how similar it was."

The team compared this information with the evolutionary "family tree" for vertebrates. Because the evolution of the fish can be traced back further than that of amphibians, birds and primates, the team was able to deduce when the ability to vocalise came about: "You could see that was a very ancient part of the nervous system shared by all vertebrates.
"We came to the conclusion that it must have evolved early in time before these different groups emerged from the evolutionary family tree - around the time when bony fishes evolved about 400 million years ago." Click title for link to BBC article.

 

It has just been discovered that SYZURRRP – is Latin for ‘Stop making records’.

So, TIME magazine have compared Lil Wayne to Bob Dylan. Yes you read that right – TIME magazine.

Anyway, I’m not a huge fan of Wayne or that whole steez, and not too schooled in that area of Hip Hop , as it holds no interest for me. But, even I know well enough that those 2 names shouldn’t be in the same sentence. Was Eminem the Hip Hop Woody Guthrie? No.

The reason I think they shouldn't over-emphasise the greatness of ‘Tha Carter’ is that these retard little gangsta wannabes already know more about Wayne than about Dylan, or even Hendrix. They'll know more about his whole crew, mix tapes, rhymes, and life stories of those rappers – than about Tommie Smith or John Carlos, Miles Davis or Donald Byrd.

These children have yet to realise that, as has been said before, ‘The world is not your block. The world is bigger than your block.’ Get on a bus – get on a train and go see what the world is about before you form an opinion, or start talking with such certainty about your bitch-ass 15 year old ‘life’.

Jon Theodore + ZDLR = Can only be good

Whimper / bang...

To quote Stephen Hawking: ‘Some have asked if turning on the LHC could produce some disastrous, unexpected result. Indeed, some theories of spacetime suggest the particle collisions might create mini black holes. If that happened, I have proposed that these black holes would radiate particles and disappear. If we saw this at the LHC, it would open up a new area of physics, and I might even win a Nobel prize. But I'm not holding my breath.’

Excellent. Too many people on the bloody planet anyway. And if it all goes wrong, at least I won’t have to worry about paying my credit card off…

George Carlin. 1937-2008

 god dammit…

Seriously what’s going on? I didn’t even post up Stan Winston’s passing on here, as I thought it would be one too many… Is 2008 the Chinese year of ‘every cool person dying’ or something? Like me, Carlin was a huge Robert Anton Wilson fan,

NK

If anyone else did a method out of a curb cut, it would look ridiculous

Didn't it rain...

 

Sunny outside so I thought I'd post this up. I hope that when I'm an old lady, and I get a horse drawn carriage to the train station, I can sling an electric guitar over my shoulder and sing some super-bad gospel... Sister Rosetta kicks ass.

'because I'm C Brown - class clown'

Bo Diddley

I'm not going to be Obituary boy and post every time someone I like dies - but - if it wasn't for Bo Diddley, alongside Little Richard and Chuck Berry - you wouldn't be listening to 80% of the music you have on your I-Pod right now. So recognise.   Dec 30, 1928 – Jun 2, 2008

Get Orf My Land!

How can you tell if you’re not welcome somehwere? Hint: If you’re in a helicopter and dudes are trying to warn you off with a BOW AND ARROW, it’s safe to assume that:

A. They don’t want you there, and
B: They have no idea what the fuck a helicopter is.
Ergo –
C: Want to be left alone.

Unfortunately, I get the feeling this won’t be the case. And now these tribesmen who have up until now lead pretty normal lives in the middle of the rainforest – will be praying to whichever god they believe in, to protect them from the ‘flying metal demon’ that haunts their dreams.
Score yet another point for whitey!

R.I.P Camu Tao

Just posted at definitive Jux:

Today, at around 2pm, our dear friend, family member and musical collaborator Tero “CAMU TAO” Smith passed away in his home town of Columbus, Ohio. Tero had been quietly fighting for his life for the last year and a half after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

To those who knew Tero, he was an almost uncategorizable force of nature. Wild, hilarious, proud, loving, tough, outspoken, spontaneous and brilliant. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he dripped creativity, leaving inspiration and awe in the hearts and minds of anyone who was fortunate enough to see him work.

Art pt5

There’s not a great deal about Paul Laffoley that I could communicate to you in a way that would make any sense, except that he is a 68 year old artist / architect. Really, I couldn’t explain it any more deeply right now.
I’m lucky enough to own a rare book of his called The Phenomenology of Revelation, which documents his work pretty concisely.

Billy Childish

 Click the title for a link to a good Podcast featuring Billy Childish. 

If you don't know who Billy is, then just click the link anyway, listen and learn something for gods sake...

From the LA downhill to Capitol Hill

And speaking of radical, the top pic is a of Corey Webster - sorry - Josh Brolin from un upcoming George W Bush biopic from Oliver Stone. The other pic is Corey - sorry - Josh in 'maybe the best skateboard movie ever', Thrashin'. Funny how things change... well... not really funny but - oh whatever. I'm off to buy a bowling pin for my dining table.

Hot + Hot = radical!

This pic was in a few newspapers but as far as I'm concerned should have been front page. It's not from Close Encounters, but is the volcanic explosion in Chile. Volcanic ash rising up and as far as I understand, being hit by lighting from a massvie passing storm. I'm sure there's a scientific term for this (which I will look up shortly) but for now we'll go with my brothers succinct description of 'the coolest photo ever...'

Sweet 16 / 2

Sweet 16

Got this book for my birthday - highly recommend it.

You don't have this

...and most who have seen it would say you don't want it either.

Back in the 70's we invented these things called 'VCR's' that played 'tapes'. 

This is truly awful - actually, it's surreal. Though there are some good bits...

Coffee, Donuts and noodles (oh my)

It's amazing what you can get if you just ask...

Albert Hofmann: 1906 - 2008

Albert Hofmann, the inventor of LSD, who accidentally ingested some 

and then found out what it was really for, died today.

Saturday Sun day

 

Had a nice little skate at South Bank, despite the Dutch festival.

Art pt4

Spatial Concept `Waiting' by Lucio Fontana, 1960.

You know that scene in Ferris Bueller where Cameron has a proper 'moment' while staring into that Seurat painting? That happened to me the first time I stood in front of this. This is one of my (and Lu's) favourite ever pieces of art and you can see it in the Tate Modern.

'87 - that was my favourite shit, god...

May not have been '87, but close enough. I have lost nearly all my old copies of R.A.D, but remember this advert like it was yesterday. By the way, the other end of that blue ledge that Jonah is skating, is where I got closest in my life to actually dying. From www.whenwewasrad.co.uk.

10.05 a.m - Where I'm at

Listening to: NIN, 21 Ghosts III.
Looking at: Battersea power station on the horizon, across the river Thames.
Drinking: free coffee.
Reading Rilke:

If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no indifferent place.

Art pt3

So I thought adding Giger would be the blog equivalent of having a Reservoir Dogs poster on your bedroom wall, right? Seminal, one-of-a-kind etc but too obvious? Meh.

Book Launch last night

Book launch at the Cornell Spaceship Gallery last night, went well - though you’ll have to take my word for it because like the goober I am, I forgot my camera.

However I thought I’d post anyway just to say well done to my lovely wife for organising the whole thing. As usual it was months of hard work ending with a very successful event.

Click the title to link to the Smashed Landscape page and visit the gallery if you’re in the area.

Spoken Word night

10.30p.m. Just got back from a reading at Moonbows in Brockley. Went pretty well. The next Open Mic night there is actually on my birthday - Tues May 6th at 8pm. So if any of you fancy coming down to hear some poems and buy me a drink, then do so.

Also I've been thinking about death quite a bit recently, and though Jake and me were discussing the down side of constantly posting YouTube clips on our blogs, seeing as he loaned me all his Iron and Wine CD's, I had to put this on here as it's one of the most beautiful songs about death that I know. Night night:

Chuck Heston

You can take my guns now.

40 wpm

Trying to switch the TV off is a challenge. I just zone out and stare every night - so thought 'd go the other way and try to read 3 books at once.

It's not going well.

Comic book movies suck

O.k. not all of them suck - but most. They're never as good as the source material. There's a new Punisher film coming out which again, will poop all over the comics. The Punisher was sick, and apart from X-Men, was the only comic series I collected EVERYTHING from beginning to end.

Anyway, while organising I pulled these out, They're the No1 of the 4 issue limited series, and No1 of the War Zone series (which they've decided to name the new film after) The War Zone cover is rad as it's die-cut.

Star Wars toys that never came to be

Nuff Said.

It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him.

The three laws of prediction:

1. When a scientist states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

"These are simple words, but in them exists a very singular hope: science can do anything that strong and able minds ask it to, and that a faith in science doesn’t remove one from a sense of wonder."

Arthur C Clarke, 1917 – 2008

Best Movie Soundtracks PT2:

O.k. this isn’t actually a soundtrack, but, I consider it a soundtrack album in that - like the new Nine Inch Nails instrumental album Ghosts the sounds go hand-in-hand with landscapes, both actual and mental/visual landscapes.
‘When’ does contain vocals but most are sparse and infrequent.

And even though the first track is - without any hint of irony - called ‘I wrote this song for the girl Paris Hilton’ like Trouble Man, it’s an excellent record for riding the train or sitting in the back of a car with your headphones on.
Click the title for the website(note: this site is NEVER updated so don’t expect any recent news.

Art pt2

Second in the list of artists I want to big up on here, is Derek Hess. A lot of people will have seen this work on T-shirts or record covers for bands like Clutch and others, and not know who the artist is, so check out the website. The piece above is ‘Burned Out’ and is one of three that I have at home.

Richard on Jimi

I was looking for a good live Little Richard clip to post because you don't actually need a reason, it's Little Richard. Anyway, I found this which basically kills anything music-wise I could've found - and probably anything else you'll see this week:

Best Movie Soundtracks Ever PT1:

This movie is by all accounts, a pretty average blaxploitation flick from around 1973. However the soundtrack is in the top 5 best Marvin gaye albums. Aswell as vocals, Marvin played drums, keyboards and piano on the record. Can you do that? No you can't. Find it - buy it - listen to it and it will make your days better. Trust me.

Robert Scott Carey

...so close - the infinitesimal and the infinite. But suddenly, I knew they were really the two ends of the same concept. The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet - like the closing of a gigantic circle. I looked up, as if somehow I would grasp the heavens. The universe, worlds beyond number, God's silver tapestry spread across the night.
And in that moment, I knew the answer to the riddle of the infinite. I had thought in terms of man's own limited dimension. I had presumed upon nature. That existence begins and ends in man's conception, not nature's. And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing.
My fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation, it had to mean something. And then I meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something, too. To God, there is no zero.

Here I am

If you want something interesting to do this weekend (or whenever you like really - up to you) wander up to the Broadbent Gallery near Westbourne Grove - and go skate Meanwhile if you fancy dodging the drunks and their scratchy dogs running around off their leads - but mainly to go and see Here I am, the most recent paintings from Teresita Dennis.

Art

I wanted to start sharing some art with you, the first of which is this dude's. Some people in this country may know of Jose Parla, but I’m pretty sure it wont be many…

His work – in his words - ‘Is inspired by the anonymous art found in the streets. The art is often in the form of calligraphy or the actions of torn and stripped posters. The inscriptions in my work are used as a form of drawing, and to maintain a record of my observations…’

I love this. Some things hit you the right way on initial contact - sometimes you absorb it organically, other times it creates conflict and has to be understood and slowly accepted as the great works of art that they are. I think either effect is a sign of the integrity of the work and will lead you to a better understanding of the concepts behind it, and also to hopefully discovering more of the same.

The piece above is called ‘Between the earthly and the divine’ and is one of my favourites. Check out the website

Pope Bob

DJ Big Wiz

After sending the link to the blog out, I got a message from Jux DJ Big Wiz, re: my review of the Aes Rock Gig. So I just wanted to say thanks to Wiz for taking the time to read my stuff. Def Jukies:

'...It's good someone is actually paying attention to detail and the work we put in to it. Peace - WIZ'

Aesop Rock. Cargo. January 30 2008.

An unwelcome pattern seems to be forming at Definitive Jux Gigs...

While mid-set at Dingwalls last year while promoting his latest album ‘I’ll sleep when you’re dead’, label head EL-P was interrupted by a drunken middle class white boy, who invaded the stage and proceeded to wave to the crowd before being ‘asked politely’ to leave by the Jux crew (he was pushed off the stage).
Jump forward to Cargo, East London, 11.15pm on a cold January night, and Aesop Rock is in full flow hyping the crowd on his most requested encore track, Daylight – and that’s right, Aesop, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz are joined onstage by a drunken middle class white boy. Totally breaking the MC’s flow.
I mean stopping the track dead.
Suffice to say no one was impressed, and the show went on to end on a high note after he had shuffled away.

But onto the tunes… the set mainly consisted of material from None Shall Pass, one of the best hip hop albums (or if you really want to play professional reviewer:
Alt-Hip Hop albums) of 2007. Big Wiz was amazing as always, and the larger than life Rob Sonic had his moments in the spotlight.
However it was Aes Rizzle who carried the whole night, even with the booming sound quality being just about passable in the tiny room. Even after admitting they were all suffering from massive jetlag, the energy from the stage had been absorbed by the crowd by the end of the night.

The set up was also well planned and executed, projections of music videos to accompany tracks, weird stock footage from the 1950’s somehow connected to Big Wiz’ turntables, being cut up during the DJ’s solo spot.
In fact all the tings sadly missing from the recent GZA / Liquid Swords debacle at KOKO, where the stage was empty – save for a rapidly disappearing bottle of Cognac next to the 1210’s.

After last years Mr Lif gig at Jazz Café, and the aforementioned EL-P at Lock 17 - this was a solid showing from real performers that continued to confirm that Def Jux are as much a hardcore touring crew as they are makers and innovators of top end studio tracks.
Now if we can only get some kind of Cannibal Ox reunion sorted.
www.definitivejux.net

D.

Book Launch / Show

Here is an image from the upcoming Valerie Phillips book 'I can't believe a girl is playing me Metallica', which my wife has done the production for. The Book Launch & Exhibition are at The Cornell Spaceship Gallery @ Exposure 3-4A Little Portland St, London, W1 on Thurs 10th April, 6.30–9.30pm.

Exhibition runs 11th April–9th May, Monday to Friday, 11–6pm.

New Booklet Soon

For the 5 or 6 of you that have actually read my work, I am aiming to get my 3rd booklet of collected poems out in the next month or so. This one will be free for anyone who would like one, and I will post when they are ready. If you would like a copy please mail: channelzerose4@hotmail.com  Click the image to embiggen.