High Noon Scramble

 I finally have a good camera again so I posted some recent pictures from the High Noon Scramble out at the Richmond sand dunes. My cb550 is not made for racing around in the sand, so now I’m keeping an eye out for a cool classic enduro. 

Hign Noon Scramble set on Flickr.

Repurposing at Foulab

Here is a short mini-doc about Foulab in Montreal. Makes me think of NYC Resistor and Free Geek.

The Grouch “Artsy”

I guess I’m not artsy enough to have been on this upon release, but I just saw this video by Secret History for ‘The Grouch’. Makes me want to learn greenscreen techniques.

!Bomb! Banksy versus Bristol Museum

Banksy gets let loose in the Bristol Museum hilarious! artist! prankster! subversive!

A street hero for sure this man has inspired lots of paint to be sprayed. Here is the long version of the show in case your not near Bristol to check it out.

What would it look like?

DubFX ‘Step on my Trip’

ok…long time no post, I’ve been on the road. Western Canada and Japan. more ideas and updates to roll in now that I’m back in Vancouver.

here is DubFX buskin’ on the street of London. Nice one.

Beat Nation- Hip Hop as Indigenous Culture

Within the generations of First Nations artists is a gap between established artists using traditional and contemporary imagery and younger artists influenced by hip hop culture. Rap, graffiti and comics have fuelled a new generation of artists who collide youth culture with aboriginal identity in ways that are startling and new. This project reflects the growing influence of urban cultures on traditional communities.

The exhibition (Ottawa) and its accompanying website (launch April 21) focus on the music, art and culture coming out of these communities – a fusion between the traditional and the postmodern. The website documents the development of Beat Nation over the last dozen years, and focuses on the artists, media producers and musicians who have brought this work to the forefront.

Curators: Tania Willard, Skeena Reece 
Artists: Sonny Assu, Kevin Barton, Corey Bulpitt, Andrew Dexel, Nicholas Galanin, Larissa Healey, Jackson 2bears, Tania Tagaq and many others

The exhibition is organized and circulated by Vancouver’s grunt gallery and presented by SAW Gallery and BC Scene.

tangible visual sound manipulation tools

There are more and more inspiring new tools for music creation and sound manipulation being made and they are getting more affordable. Gone are the days of organs that take up whole rooms, and synths have come along way since 1876. Electronic music really took off in the ’80s as company like Yamaha made affordable compact gear, but that was still based on a keyboard.

Now we are entering the age when music can be created and tweeked live visually.  I was blown away years ago when I first saw the AudioPad  by James Pattern. 

Here is a video of another similar design called the Reactable.

Wavetables have come along since Wolfgang Palm.

Yamaha also has a fun new toy called the Tenori-On. Sort of a visual sequencer. Which sells for about $1000 USD. 

These won’t be showing up on craigslist anytime soon, so better start saving your empties.

Paris: Don’t Stop the Movement

Paris, the Black Panther of Hip Hop puts another stick in the all-seeing-eye of the mofo capitalists.

Not only Paris does he writes and produces songs, but also publishes information about how to help the black community grow. One example of this is his article about how to manage your personal money. He explains about how you can build a better future for yourself and your children by handling your money more consciously in 5 steps and a final re-investment step.

Practical AND Revolutionary. 

The People United Will Never Be Defeated!!!!

The Yes Men Fix The World

The Yes Men have a history of critical subversion.

“Mike” and “Andy” both solo and together have made me laugh out loud. The Barbie Liberation Organization, the SimCopter hack, RTMark, and of course the history of “Identity Correction”; Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else. 

This 2009 film documents some of their operations in the last few years. Like as seen here in Calgary in 2007, when they appeared as representatives of the (U.S.) National Petroleum Council and ExxonMobil at the GO-Expo (a massive petroleum industry event). Much hilarity ensued.

I’m not a fan of the giant inflated outfits, but the impersonations they pull off are incredible.