Is that all rap is about..?

I found this blog which is a listing of samples used in hip hop records. It's pretty definitive but still ongoing, mad interesting for B-boy geek outs.

More sketchy...

 

Gonz

I never bought a Gonz board before. Shiny. It came with the Krooked glasses, I thought Isaac would like 'em...

He didn't.

Horses, Horses, Horses

Not your usual documentary flick, and all the better for it. Shot over 10 years, it's a very personal and involving look at the life and work of Patti Smith. Keep your eyes open for Flea, Michael Stipe and Thom Yorke popping up too.

Nothing ruins the taste of a peanut butter sandwich, like unrequited love

That's a Charlie Brown quote. Pretty sure he didn't look like this when he said it though:




Should've posted this a week back, but went to the Ron English show, and it was amazing. That painting is about 2M by 2M and is yours for a mere £47 grand. As it stands, I'm going to try and get one of these instead - if it's not too late already:

 

Set the mood...

You know that early morning walk, the one where you're on the way to the train station, pre-9am
going to work, college, whatever. Listening to music and struggling to find that right song / album for the time and the journey. It's early so you don't want anything too hyped - but you don't want anything too quiet either, as you do need to wake up after all...

Well, sometimes you hit on something and it puts you in the right mood, a great mood in fact - but not the right mood for sitting at work all day. So follows, in no particular order, a (not THE) top 10 of records to avoid listening to on the way into work:


LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad - Progession Sessions UK Live 03.

At the Drive In - Relationship of Command.

The Black Keys - Thickfreakness

The Stooges - Gimme Danger

Black Flag - TV Party

EL-P and Ghostface - Hideyaface, EL-P remix

Iron and Wine - Woman King EP

TV on the Radio - Love Dog

Elliot Smith - Angeles

Pretty much anything by RATM.


You're welcome.

Dom DeLuise 1933-2009

Certain films were engrained in my memory as a kid, and Cannonball Run was one of them. One reason was that I would watch the intro with the black Lamborgini - police chase - over and over and OVER thinking, that's the best thing ever. And the other was Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise making me almost piss myself with laughter throughout the film. RIP Captain Chaos.

 

Not to keep on about skateboarding

 

I’m writing this on a warm sunny friday in London – a perfect Stockwell or Cantelowes day. However I’m sitting at a desk overlooking the Thames (could be worse) at a temp job in a Government office. I'm 36 in May. I started skateboarding at 14 and stopped a few times. Never succesfully.

I decided a while back, that that even though my knee is shot, my wrists are pretty bad, and I now have a son that needs me in one piece for when he’s growing up – I can’t and don’t want to stop skateboarding. I will one day, when I have to, but am selfishly willing to push it as far as my body will go.

For some reason the pic above, from Transworld just reminded me of all the things I love about it – and even though I’m basically just carving around popping the odd trick nowadays – and trying to learn mini ramps again, it’s basically been the most consistent thing in my life. And look at that roll-in up top

Scary as hell – and the caption says ‘no you wouldn’t’ but damn doesn’t that look crazy fun? I think the reason it stirs feelings in me is that back in the day Roskopp face boards and bright green Slimeballs - when we were all learning and everything was new, Transworld was one of the mags that gave you a glimpse of a side of skating you didn’t have in Grey London. We even nicknamed those perfect summer skate days as ‘Transworld blue’ due to the cloudless skies that appeared so often in the mag photos.

My point is (I think) that sometimes you go in phases with things that you love - when they frustrate you to the point of wanting to stop, or other people don’t understand what you’re doing and why and it effects your thought process ‘why AM I doing this?’ But whatever. Really – whatever. Even if it lasts only a couple months, I am still skating this summer, and hopefully for a lot more to come.

Click the title to link to more photo's of Bob Burnquist's 'open day' at his home/ramp/complex thing. Enjoy the sunshine.

'If you were to talk...'

...directly to the kids at Columbine or the people in that community, what would you say to them if they were here right now?'

'I wouldn't say a single word to them, I would listen to what they have to say - and that's what no one did.'   Marilyn Manson.

Yeah, probably the most succinct comment in the whole of Bowling For Columbine.
and not to make light of what happened - but to quote CR: 'Whatever happened ta CRAZY?'

 

Sketchy

Unpacking / digging... came up with the ol' Graphics scrapbook - general doodles / collected crap, like this (bought the jacket ... went to gig wearing the jacket.)








And this randomness...













 

Best movie soundtracks: Pt 3

Not the best film in the world, in fact not even the best film called Judgement Night in the world... but Helmet and House of Pain? Onyx and Biohazard? Cypress Hill and Pearl Jam? Teenage Fanclub and De La? Mudhoney and Sir Mix-A-Lot? Yes, Yes indeed.

RBT

 

 the new Robert Williams website. Go on, you know you want to...

Fun...

Watched this for the first time in a while the other day: There were sections of vids 'back in the day' that you'd watch - study the lines (kickflip, no comply, bigspin, shove-it, manual) and go out and try to repeat it exactly - then there were the vids that would get you as stoked, but that you'd just not even bother trying to emulate, as it potentially meant a lot of pain and broken boards. This was one of the latter.

These can't be the only notes in the world...

April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984

“I hope to refine music, study it, try to find some area that I can unlock. I don't quite know how to explain it but it's there. These can't be the only notes in the world, there's got to be other notes some place, in some dimension, between the crack”

Marvin Gaye said that. Today's the anniversary of the day he left this place to go wherever he went. Check out the rare clip of Marvin with Otis Redding...

 

(c'mon that's classic stuff)

(W)hirst

(text from original The Independent article, Dec 6th 2008):

One is an entrepreneurial 16-year-old who takes time off from his schoolwork to create urban stencil designs of cultural icons such as Mickey Mouse and Clint Eastwood, which he sells for £65 on the internet. The other is the Turner prize-winning father of Britart whose diamond-encrusted skull and pickled sharks have brought him a £200m fortune.

Ordinarily, the two figures at opposite ends of the art spectrum should never have cause to meet. But Cartain, the moniker for the teenage artist, has earned the ire of Damien Hirst for incorporating photographic images of his platinum cast of a human skull, For the Love of God, into his graffiti prints. The two artists have become locked in an unlikely art clash that has led Hirst to demand recompense from the teenager for selling £200 worth of images of his skull without permission, says Private Eye magazine.

He made a series of collages using photographs of Hirst's skull, some of which imposed the bejewelled sculpture over the faces of figures taken from other photographs. One showed the skull in a shopping basket alongside some carrots. The images were displayed in the online gallery, 100artworks.com, where Cartrain's collages sell for £65, on average.
He was surprised to learn Hirst had not only seen the work but also contacted the Design and Artists Copyright Society (Dacs), who apparently informed the young artist he had infringed Hirst's copyright. The older man has reportedly demanded that Cartrain not only remove the works from sale but "deliver up" originals, along with any profit made on those sold, or face legal action.

Anyway, go on over to: www.redragtoabull.com if you think this was / is just ridiculous.

p.s: I recently walked past Damien Hirst and Jay Jopling on St Martins Lane, and managed not to throw up. Yay me.

Spin the Black Circle

Next Tuesday is the 60th anniversary of the 45rpm single. the Guardian has a good article about this - click the title for more:

The first single, ever, was a country record by Eddy Arnold called Texarkana Baby. Arnold was managed by Colonel Tom Parker, who saw another of his charges, Elvis Presley, sign to RCA Victor in 1956. Texarkana Baby was pressed on a slightly odd green vinyl; RCA figured that, in the format wars, they needed a novelty, and so they pressed country music on green vinyl, children's music on yellow, classical on red, and "race" music - rhythm and blues - on "cerise", or what looked like orange to the average Joe. Straightahead pop was released on straightahead black.

Ten – Redux

Partly because it’s my favourite album and partly due to the fact that, the new remixes make each song sound different in ways that are so subtle – I’m deciding if these or the originals sound ‘better’.

A recent re-release of REM’s Murmur, raised the issue of which version would stand the test of time with their fans. And indeed, if the remastered disc sounded TOO clean and crisp, removing the ethereal quality from what was essentially the 1st ‘college rock’ album to break mainstream.

There’s no point in me reviewing Ten Redux as it wouldn’t be that unbiased an opinion, but suffice to say, the most well known tracks off Ten (Jeremy / Alive) do sound new in interesting ways. Alive has possibly a more rounded feel overall, less like a band jam and more a ‘studio cut’. This isn’t necessarily a minus point however as Eddie’s vocals (and especially the drums – as with most of the other tracks) stand out spectacularly well on these versions.

Jeremy - possibly the most played single off the album back in 1992, feels like a new track here, the mix bringing McCready’s guitar to the front more obviously. While Once, Why Go, and Porch also have a new punch underlying their rhythm sections, all the while keeping the familiarity of the songs intact.

The £100 deluxe set would’ve been nice, but the CD/DVD – with the extra tracks from the early recording sessions and full MTV Unplugged show released for the first time, in 5.1 (albeit in the same order as first broadcast with the Jeremy encore still in the middle for some reason) is a nice little package that includes a hardback booklet. And I also have the vinyl on order, which still only takes the whole lot to half the price of the deluxe set.

Any of these are well worth a purchase. As, regardless of those people who would harp on about Nevermind being the definitive example of the Seattle sound in the early to mid nineties, Ten was a paradigm. A milestone album that caught the energy of a band just starting what would become one of the longest careers of all their cohorts and contemporaries.

Mr Pulman

 

Just added a link - the right - to Chris Pulman's blog. Met Chris while he worked in Slam and haven't seen him since he left. Thought I'd put the link up as he was always a gent and always sorted me out with my half-cabs. So there you go.

Indiana... Smith

mysterymanonfilm.com, has a link to download the 125-page transcript (in the form of a .pdf document) of the original 1978 story conference between Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Lawrence Kasdan for a little film called Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Spielberg suggested that Kasdan write Raiders because he admired his Continental Divide script. Lucas agreed. Lucas had just released Star Wars, the biggest film in the history of Hollywood and a cult phenomenon. Spielberg had just released Close Encounters of the Third Kind and before that, Jaws. Now Kasdan was called in to have a story conference with the biggest names in Hollywood who wanted to talk about their next blockbuster. They had 5 consecutive 9-hour days to talk about the story
Click the title for the full story and link if you have a couple hours to spare.

Seven things you need to know about time

Bored at work? Of course - but check this out to see if there's anything you can do about it. Click the title for the complete article and links.

What makes the universe tick?

It turns out that if you want to understand time, you might need to grab some measurements from the future, watch a big bang explode at the edge of the universe, or delve into the anomalies presented by the most unruly of the subatomic particles. For some, the only solution is to scrap the notion of time altogether.

Calls to scrap the 'leap second' grow

At midnight on New Year's Eve, time stopped momentarily. Guardians of atomic clocks around the world added an extra "leap second" to 2008 to keep time synched with the Earth's rotation - but do they really need to bother?

Time slows for people who stop smoking

Time really does pass more slowly when you are gasping for a cigarette. Researchers found that when regular smokers gave up their habit, their perception of passing time was stretched by 50%.

Is time an illusion?

One group of physicists has recently found a way to do quantum physics without invoking time. If correct, the approach suggests that time really is an illusion, and that we may need to rethink how the universe at large works.

Outside of time: The quantum gravity computer

A quantum gravity computer would be the ultimate design, and radically different from anything we have ever seen. Not only might it be supremely powerful, defying the logic of cause and effect to give instantaneous answers, it might also tell us exactly how the universe works.

Time in the future seems to go further

The best time to ask someone for a favour is at least several weeks in advance, a new study suggests. The research finds that people consistently over-commit because they expect to have more time in the future than they do right now.

2008: Does time travel start here?

If a pair of Russian mathematicians are right, the launch of the Large Hadron Collider could be overshadowed by a truly extraordinary event. According to Irina Aref'eva and Igor Volovich, the LHC might just turn out to be the world's first time machine.

William Melvin Hicks, 16/12/1961 – 26/2/1994

Thursday is the anniversary of Bill Hicks death.

As I can’t make it to the Jongleurs show and may not have internet access, I decided to post up these clips of the late great Goatboy a bit early.
This first one is Bill talking on public access TV about his 12th Letterman airing, and why what ended up being his last appearance, was cut:


And here is the set itself, shown the first time just a few weeks back, on the actual Letterman show. The lady sitting next to Dave is Bill’s mother:


And finally... The only clip I’ve ever seen of ‘Hicks losing it’. This whole thing starts – in case you don’t hear due to the sound quality – because the woman say’s 'you suck’. Bad choice baby:

Everything looks better like this

Managed to get a good skate in on Sunday just before the downfall of snow. Then went to the park today and it was like the scene from some kind of Disney film - all kids and sleds and comedy snowball throwing... also saw the biggest snowman ever - Lu is in the picture for scale.

New short story. Jan 2009

The secret adventures of a sullen boy.


She looked over her small rectangular glasses and smiled her unintentionally condescending smile
“There are some Freudian theories that fit what we’re talking about here.
Now I’m aware of you’re dislike of Freud but hear me out…”

She began to speak of abandonment issues and the 5 formative years, all the textbook stuff. And he tuned out. Though nodding and ‘hmm-ing’ every sentence or two, his mind was elsewhere within her first couple of syllables.
Not out of any disrespect – after all, he had wanted to be there, asked to be there, and she was intelligent and spoke to him on a level he appreciated.
But the superiority complex inherent in his very character, automatically controlled and edited any receiving / decoding / transmitting of information it deemed to be superfluous. And so it went for the next 20 minutes.

He was in front of a mic stand. Lead guitar just behind him - bass to the left and rhythm to his right, keyboards and drums towards the back of the small dusty black stage. A bottle of Rioja, normally half empty, sat at his feet. Tonight it was half full.
The small crowd knew every word, but didn’t scream, just sang along in unison. Smiling, understanding it all.

“…Nietzsche.” He snapped back in.

So as not to appear rude or indeed bored by her good intentions, he falsified a genuine response to something of which he had not taken in even a single word.
“O.k, though to be honest, Jung is more easily adaptable for me – in relation to all these ‘day to day’ issues. The shadow, you know? The denial of its existence and the unnatural requirement to repress these urges due to the culture of the society we have created?”

Time stood still, as it did when the teacher in your maths class would pause to consider the fact you’d been asleep for the 10 minutes prior to him demanding an answer from you…

“I understand – though I think what you have told me about your early childhood directly relates to how you have been feeling these last few years.”

She bought it.

He was clear. And immediately knew how that was just another problem they’d be discussing the next time he came to see her.

The lights went red, the drums stopped and the lead swapped his Gibson for an electric-acoustic. Things were about to get serious.

What kind of cop? Oh...

Excellent flick - if you can find a Maniac Cop t-shirt I beg you tell me where. Apparently they don't make them so would have to be a custom job, which I cannot be arsed with:

''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!