Thanks to Dallas Penn and the Internets Celebrities for this lovely film. Check the rest of Dallas and Raffi’s vids and posts. A+
Category Archives: art
Kingmaxwell on 2011 Reggae Festival and Potluck album
Two new articles by Maxwell for the North Coast Journal.
1. Review of Potluck’s new album: Rhymes and Resin.
With Rhymes and Resin Potluck manages to take risks and still affirm their position at the top of Humboldt’s rhyming hierarchy. Confidence in their own capabilities and a willingness to share the stage with other local artists make them the grandparents of Humboldt hip hop.
via Rhymes and Resin | North Coast Journal | Humboldt County.
2. Review of the 2011 Reggae festival.
Seun Kuti grew up in the liberated zone of Kalakuta in Nigeria. His father Fela Anikulapo Kuti had declared a small section of the city of Lagos to be an area where good music could be heard, cannabis could be smoked, dissident politics were welcome (so long as you didn’t criticize Fela), and sexuality wasn’t so controlled. Some obvious similarities exist between Kalakuta and the 27-year Reggae on the River concert tradition. At Benbow State Park July 17, headliner Seun Kuti brought this year’s temporary autonomous zone celebrations to a head with his powerful Afrobeat orchestra: Egypt 80.
via Reggae on the River Goes International | North Coast Journal | Humboldt County.
“This would not happen if I had a penis!”
It’s also exciting to see Poehler nominated alongside Tina Fey, her close friend, former colleague on Saturday Night Live and fellow feminist comedy lady person. One of the greatest things about Fey’s book, Bossypants, is the way she writes about Poehler, which is with enormous respect and affection. One chapter is called “One in a Series of Love Letters to Amy Poehler.” In one scene in that chapter, Fey recalls a day when she, Poehler, and a bunch of other performers were in the SNL writer’s room and Poehler was joking around.
Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and ‘unladylike.’
Jimmy Fallon, who was arguably the star of the show at the time, turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it.’ Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t fucking care if you like it.’ Jimmy was visibly startled. Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit. I should make it clear that Jimmy and Amy are very good friends and there was never any real beef between them. (Insert penis joke here.)
With that exchange, a comic shift took place. Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute. She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not fucking care if you like it.
Monday July 18: King Maxwell at Arcata Alibi
The Arcata Alibi’s Monday Night Budget Rock on July 18 features rock ‘n’ roll DJ King Maxwell working “the thin line between a bar fight and a really good time” (according to Alibi booker Francois). “Regarding rock,” says Maxwell, “I take it seriously. Respect the rock. I’m a traditionalist with a preference for good songs — The Allman brothers, Joan Jett, ZZ Top, Skynyrd, Jerry Reed, Rolling Stones, The Pretenders — all on vinyl of course.” So, like, classic rock? “You might call it classic rock, but there simply isn’t any debating how good some tunes are. Especially with beer,” sez Maxwell.
via Life with the Folks | North Coast Journal | Humboldt County.
Filed under art
FEMINIST HULK SMASH PATRIARCHY
J: One tough aspect of writing on Twitter is trying to serve the audience members who’ve been reading for a year as well as those who’ve been reading for a week. This means that a lot of Hulk’s core beliefs, like his feelings about the gender binary, need to be constantly reiterated for new followers, but they need to be expressed in new enough ways that the long-standing followers don’t get bored. It’s a tricky balance, one I continue to work on.
H: FOR HULK, FEMINISM NOT ABOUT SIMPLY REVERSING PATRIARCHY’S TERMS. IT ABOUT RETHINKING THE ROLE THAT PRESCRIBED GENDER PLAYS IN REINFORCING PATRIARCHAL STRUCTURES. THAT NOT MEAN CATEGORIES “MASCULINE” AND “FEMININE” DO NOT DEEPLY IMPACT DAILY LIFE, BUT THAT ANY SYSTEM WHICH GRANT LEGIBILITY TO ONLY SOME LIVES DO INJUSTICE TO ALL LIVES.
via FEMINIST HULK MEET MS. MAGAZINE: THE SEQUEL : Ms Magazine Blog.
Filed under art, communication, feminism, media
Jasiri X: Jordan Miles
For real. I lived in Pittsburgh and the cops are out of control. Jasiri X has the most recent tragedy articulated through the rhymes.
Filed under art, hip hop, human rights, race
Walter Benjamin on record collecting
“The collector is the true resident of the interior. He makes his concern the transfiguration of things. To him falls the Sisyphean task of divesting things of their commodity character by taking possession of them. But he bestows on them only connoisseur value, rather than use value. The collector dreams his way not only into a distant or bygone world but also into a better one — one in which, to be sure, human beings are no better provided with what they need than in the everyday world, but in which things are freed from the drudgery of being useful.”
– Walter Benjamin, The work of art in the age of it’s technological reproducibility. p. 104
Filed under art, capitalism
Ai Weiwei is free
photo by david grey, reuters
“The public announcement of his release signals that the Chinese government has had to respond to international pressure and that the cost/benefit ratio of continuing to detain him was no longer tenable,” Phelim Kine, an Asia researcher with the organization, said in a statement. “Sadly, other Chinese citizens less well-known than Ai Weiwei who have been forcibly disappeared since mid-February remain incommunicado, whereabouts unknown and at high risk of torture.”
via Ai Weiwei: China frees dissident artist Ai Weiwei – latimes.com.
Life of refinement 