Saturday, June 29, 2013

NDIIIPP Special Event: Ian MacKaye


NDIIIPP Special Event: Ian MacKaye - 2013 - LibraryOfCongress

Video Description:
Groundbreaking singer, songwriter and guitarist Ian MacKaye spoke at the Library of Congress on personal digital archiving and the need to educate creators and users in ways to steward our digital cultural heritage.

Speaker Biography: As both performer and producer, MacKaye has documented music coming out of the Washington, D.C. underground for the past 30 years. MacKaye founded Dischord Records as a teenager in 1980 with partner Jeff Nelson. Their original intent was simply to release a single to document their recently defunct band, The Teen Idles. The label has since gone on to release music from more than 60 bands, with more than 160 albums during the past 25 years. In the process, the label performed a citizen-archivist role, documenting Washington-area music in many forms and catalyzing cultural activity and community-building in the nation's capital and around the world.

For captions, transcript, and more information visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feat....

Saturday, June 22, 2013

works


Loungefly + Hello Kitty South Western Tote Bag

One of many Loungefly and Hello Kitty collaborations.






















HELLO KITTY SOUTHWESTERN CANVAS AND FAUX LEATHER TOTE WITH FAUX LEATHER APPLIQUE AND EMBROIDERED DETAILS. 17"X 18.5".






















This print has been retired, but I found this brand new tote on Amazon.

Yuk Yuk
















(source)

Yeezus: Good, Not Great, and Quite Misogynist by kris_ex at LA Weekly

Kanye West has plenty of good songs, but the ego has landed once again. To offer up a moldy and cobwebbed phrase, he has made yet another attempt to "push the envelope". He will surely convince his already fans, that he is edgy, and new. He is fully aware that his lyrics are unacceptable, and he has found a way to market it: in other words, it is calculated. 

Life affords us many mistakes, and although none of us are perfect, I'd like to think that as we age, we grow. This adult man, who is now a new father to a baby girl, is spewing lyrics that his young one, will some day hear. Being that our culture is indeed seeped in sexism and racism, you never know, she may actually come to embrace what he has laid down for us.

Although it is simple enough to side-step the fact that if that album is not to our liking, there is a much larger issue that cannot be written off. 

Below is an article from LA Weekly.

Yeezus: Good, Not Great, and Quite Misogynist



yeezuscover.jpg

Once in a while Kanye West goes ahead and does something that's truly impressive. You can't always tell this because, for West, there's no difference between an act of genius and being a genius. For him, genius doesn't stem from action; genius is an extension of his very state of being.

His unwavering sense of "complete awesomeness at all times" is bolstered by a weird feedback loop of celebrities, fans and critics who hate to love him and love to hate him. Each, however, pumps up his self-importance to the point where his sixth album, Yeezus -- a very good, but not great work and one of the few records in recent history that can actually live up to the claim of being eagerly anticipated -- is already being proclaimed as a masterpiece, despite its lack of focus and center.

Musically, Yeezus is an enjoyably-adventurous deconstruction of industrial rock, electronic dance, ragga and new wave that more than once eschews drums and often pulls in reggae vocals for ominous effects. (For added measure, there's a snippet of a chorale on "On Sight" and an outro, provided via sample, by Hungarian Rock band Omega on "New Slaves.")

The album is short, clocking in at 40 minutes, and only one of its ten songs is listed as primarily produced by West. Whereas his past albums have concentrated on radio-friendly melodies, lush production, arena rap and navel-gazing, Yeezus is stark and minimal and seems determined to be the music that comes on in sketchy warehouse parties at about 3 am when your second wave of drugs is wearing off and you'll try whatever anyone has, because YOLO.

Much like 2008's 808s & Heartbreak, the rapping on Yeezus seems to be an afterthought. (Rick Rubin, who executive-produced the album in the 23rd hour, revealed that vocals for five songs were laid in two hours before West caught a flight to Milan.) This is actually a good thing, because as a rapper West is often silly, sloppy and belabored -- the type of guy that may or may not be serious when angrily demanding croissants, and doesn't realize that the 300 were Spartans (not Romans) or that C-Murder came from the Calliope (not Magnolia) projects. (He also doesn't know who starred in In Too Deep [Omar Epps, not Mekhi Phifer]). None of this stops him from rapping with gusto, because even when he gets bested by guest rappers on his own songs, as on Late Registration's "Gone," he claims his superficial raps as super-official.

Yet the glaring deficiency in West's raps on Yeezus is not his skillset as much as it is his utter lack of empathy for women as human beings. So, yeah, the guy with the trophy girlfriend who just gave birth to his daughter manages to throw a few lines that could be read as unintentional jabs at Kim Kardashian. On "On Sight," he raps "I know she like chocolate men/ She got more niggas off than Cochran" which seems a little too close to home on too many levels.

"I'm In It" manages to spin race and sexism for maximum offensiveness not once, but twice: "Eating Asian pussy/ All I need was sweet and sour sauce" and "Black girl sippin' white wine/ Put my fist in her like a Civil Rights sign." On "Hold My Liquor," he mixes wealth and power with sex and misogyny proclaiming "One more fuck and I can own ya," after dismissing that he "smashed your Corolla" while parking his Range Rover--which is like, whoa dude. No one man should have all that anger.

 The two punk-channeling songs he premiered on last month's SNL performance -- "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves" -- are the album's most pointed numbers; they're also the kind of songs crafted to be played very loudly in order to make white people incredibly uncomfortable.

On the surface that's all bravo because, you know, fuck your post-racism fallacy. But with Kanye, his rants -- about celebrity, about art, about race and class -- are always about personal injustices done to him masquerading as some sort of quest for social reform. He begins "New Slaves" making allusions to picking cotton and Jim Crow, and if you imagine listening to "New Slaves" outside of the context of contemporary Kanye-ism, it sounds like the Last Poets. And the release of the video -- not through traditional outlets but projected onto buildings in places like the University of Tucson, Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, and the heart of Fifth Avenue -- was incredibly revolutionary. But it was also visual screed against consumerism by the guy who produces fetish item sneakers and has worshipped at the storefront of more obscure high-end brands than any rapper ever.

So of course his finger-pointing at the prison industrial complex and racist attitudes is marred by Kanyecentrism: his response to such harsh realities is to use his resources to move his family to foreign lands (because he's fucking rich and fuck the rest of us) and, more tellingly, to cuckold a powerbroker by taking his wife and ejaculating "on her Hampton blouse and in her Hampton mouth," because, for Kanye women are objects and the best way to retaliate against his oppressor is to violate said oppressor's most prized object. On the one hand, his move is all about powerlessness exerting power in the face of power; on the other it's all about his personal sense of satisfaction. Power to the people? Not so much.

In his attempts to be politically astute, Kanye West falls woefully short, but music and culture would probably be worse off without him. The same night that he premiered "New Slaves," Birdman and Rick Ross dropped a song named "Pop That Pussy" while Plies released a ditty called "Fucking or What" -- both being the type of lowbrow, ignorant music that makes you ashamed to say you like rap in mixed company. When compared to regressive bullshit like that, Yeezus is truly impressive.

Hard Art DC 1979 - Lucian Perkins, Alec MacKaye and Henry Rollins

This event was recorded at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC, on May 19th, 2013.


Hard Art DC 1979 - Lucian Perkins, Alec MacKaye and Henry Rollins - 2013


In 1979 Lucian Perkins, the future Pulitzer-winning photojournalist, was a Washington intern and the vibrant D.C. punk-music scene was about to erupt. Perkins captured the images, and his iconic photos are complemented with stories on the bands and their shows by punk musician Alec MacKaye. 

 To purchase, click here.

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer - HBO Documentary


Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer - HBO Documentary - 2013

Posted on Jun 17, 2013 by QMediaNews
HBO How and when did you get involved in the story?

Mike Lerner I started in February of last year when pictures of Pussy Riot started to appear in the London press, just before the cathedral event. I've spent my life making films about the place where art and politics meet and immediately was alerted to the potential for this story. Once they had been arrested, I knew for certain we should be making a film with these guys.

Max Pozdorovkin I grew up in Moscow and spent a lot of time there for work. I was always interested in them and Voina, the other performance group they were in, and their politics and the art. I was attending the trial and thought it was one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen. Once we found out a lot of the trial had been filmed by RIA, the Russian news agency, we made inroads in getting the material. We realized that the cameramen began rolling before the trial began, when the women were sitting in separate cells and speaking to each other. It was such an incredible window, we wanted to base as much of the film on that as possible.

HBO Was it the cathedral setting or that they were women that touched a nerve?

Max Pozdorovkin For the people inside the cathedral, the biggest offense was that they went near the altar. They trespassed where no one, except the patriarch, is allowed to go.

Mike Lerner That was their aim, to provoke a reaction. And part of their offense was not only being on the altar, but with bare arms and exposed flesh.

HBO How did you get their families to participate in the documentary?

Mike Lerner Masha's mother was very reluctant because she had been hounded by the press in a number of negative pieces about them. Nadia's father has been very vocal and open. The other two parents are very unused to being in the public eye. They really wanted to keep a low profile.

Max Pozdorovkin What's so rich about the parents is how their own transformations, especially Katia's dad and Masha's mom, say so much about the story. They weren't really happy that their daughters did what they did, but seeing how the system overacted, they understood the point of their daughters were making.

Katia's father, even before he knew about the film, said to me in the courtroom, "There are two Russias here and both sides hate one another. They refuse to speak to and understand one another." There was a great deal of truth in that sentiment. We really started to think about the film around this idea.

HBO How did the trial play in Russia?

Max Pozdorovkin It was a huge soap opera and there were protests outside of the courtroom, people both for and against them. It was like a miniature of the whole thing. Most Russians still do not like them and believed they should have been punished. But the consensus is slipping; people now believe the punishment was too harsh.

HBO So in Russia, are all defendants caged during proceedings?

Mike Lerner It does seem so incredibly medieval, three women in an iron cage. But they weren't getting special treatment. That is what happens in a Russian court. For us, it seemed like the perfect metaphor for martyrdom.

Max Pozdorovkin It ties into the idea of a public spanking. Public disgrace is significant for the film. In formerly Communist countries, the court system is used to perform these public punishments. That's why we use the show trial materials from 1937. This punitive mentality is still there and repellant; the cages, the aquarium, are testament to that. The only special treatment they got were vicious dogs to lead them in. Not all prisoners get the dogs.

Mike Lerner Only gangsters and terrorists.

HBO Did Pussy Riot ever expect to become an international story?

Max Pozdorovkin They had no idea. But they're media performance artists and they measure success by the degree of provocation. They probably couldn't believe they could cause so much.

HBO How do Nadia and Masha feel about Katia being out while they're still serving sentences?

Max Pozdorovkin Katia has worked tirelessly on filing appeals on all sorts of levels. Both for the original trial, based on improper process, as well helping with the appeals for early release of the women. In a guerilla group, there's no benefit to have everyone behind bars.

HBO Since the appeals continue, will you be making updates to the documentary?

Max Pozdorovkin I think if something extraordinary happened, that would be cause to go back. But the story is about what these women do in court during the trial.

Read more: http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/puss...

The Art of Punk - Black Flag - Art + Music - MOCAtv


 The Art of Punk - Black Flag - Art + Music - MOCAtv 

Posted on Jun 11, 2013 by MOCATV
On the first episode of "The Art of Punk" we dissect the art of the legendary Black Flag. From the iconic four bars symbols, to the many coveted and collected gig flyers, singles, and band t-shirts, all depicting the distinctive Indian ink drawn image and text by artist Raymond Pettibon. We start off in Los Angeles talking to two founding members singer Keith Morris, and bass player Chuck Dukowski, about what the scene was like in 1976 - setting the stage for the band's formation, as well as the bands name, and the creation of the iconic four bars symbol. Raymond Pettibon talks with us from his New York art studio. Back in LA we meet with Flea, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, about how the art, the music, and that early LA scene impacted his own life and career. To wrap it all up we sit and talk at length, with Henry Rollins, at MOCA Grand Ave in Los Angeles, about all of the above and more.


Created, directed, and Executive Produced by writer/author of 'Fucked Up + Photocopied', Bryan Ray Turcotte (Kill Your Idols), and Bo Bushnell (The Western Empire), The Art Of Punk traces the roots of the punk movement and the artists behind the iconic logos of punk bands such as: Black Flag (Raymond Pettibon), The Dead Kennedys (Winston Smith), and Crass (Dave King).

In addition to profiling the artists, the series includes intimate interviews with former band members, notable artists, and celebrities who have been heavily influenced by the art of punk rock including Jello Biafra, Tim Biskup, Scott Campbell, Chuck Dukowski, Flea, Steve Olson, Penny Rimbaud, Henry Rollins, Owen Thornton, and Gee Vaucher.

The filmmakers Bryan Ray Turcotte and Bo Bushnell take a unique approach to exploring the rich histories of these three seminal punk legends by focusing on the influential imagery and seeking out stories that have not been told yet through the artwork, which is integral to the importance and influence of each band.

On June 11, 2013 The Art Of Punk debuts on MOCAtv with an episode on Raymond Pettibon and the artwork of Black Flag. The stories behind the art of the Dead Kennedys will debut on June 18, and June 25 will see the release of the Crass episode, all of which will be available at: www.youtube.com/MOCAtv

Created By:

BRYAN RAY TURCOTTE
https://twitter.com/bryanraymond
www.KillYourIdols.com

BO BUSHNELL
https://twitter.com/BoBushnell
Instagram.com/BoBushnell
http://bobushnell.com

DIRECTED BY:
BRYAN RAY TURCOTTE
BO BUSHNELL

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:
EMMA REEVES
JOHN TOBA

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:
BRYAN RAY TURCOTTE
BO BUSHNELL

STARRING:
RAYMOND PETTIBON
KEITH MORRIS
CHUCK DUKOWSKI
HENRY ROLLINS
FLEA

CAMERA:
JOSH WEBBER
BO BUSHNELL
JASON BAKER

EDITED BY:
TIM BROOKS
BEAST EDITORIAL

ASSISTANT EDITOR:
PAUL JAROLIMEKPRONER
BEAST EDITORIAL

LOCATION SOUND:
NOAH ALEXANDER
CHARLES EASTMOND

MOTION GRAPHIC DESIGN:
BRENT STANGEL

MUSIC SUPERVISION:
BETA PETROL

MUSIC BY:
RAW NERVE

THEME MUSIC:
SON THE FATHER by FUCKED UP
COURTESY BEGGARS GROUP

ADDITIONAL MUSIC BY:
C.R.A.S.H.

SCANNING BY:
JESSE SPEARS

SOUND MIXING:
PHIL LANTZ
M SQUARED PRODUCTIONS

COLORIST:
TIM BROOKS

PHOTO STILLS PROVIDED BY:
BRIAN TUCKER
ED COLVER
SPOT
RYAN RICHARDSON

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Follow MOCA on Twitter: http://bit.ly/MOCATwitter
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Saturday, June 1, 2013

Rosie Doll Face Necklace by Joo Sweetie

Just purchased this Rosie Doll Face Necklace by Joo Sweetie on Etsy.


















Description from the website:

• About 2'' wooden circle, hand painted with acrylic paints and gloss varnish
• Rose cabochon embellishment
• 20mm plastic beads
• 10 mm glass beads
• Gold brass bead caps
• Gold brass flower connectors w/ tiny rhinestones
• Ultra suede backing
• Gold tone brass bail and cable chain
• About 41 1/2'' in total length with 8'' back hanging






















To view more pieces visit  Joo Sweetie.