Flying Deva

a wonderful surprise this morning coming back from a walk in the park. A special delivery from the mythological Batfish of Santa Cruz. My first twin since the 20th century. The Flying Deva.

The Flying Deva by Batfish  

The Flying Deva by Batfish  

Rouleau de Printemps

อะไรที่จะมีการทำนอกเหนือจากการรับประทานอาหารกลางวันในควีนส์ในช่วงบ่ายฤดูใบไม้ผลิที่สวยงาม?

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une journée à New York

ニューヨークのダンスパフォーマンスのための音をミキシング一日を過ごしました。私は歌うアニカ·トロストを聞いて、私の休憩にロープを跳びました。私は昼食のためにナットの3つの袋を食べました。

 

Vagabond or (Sans Toi, Ni Loi)

This movie meant so much to me when i first watched it and still does. Agnes Varda presented it last weekend at Lincoln Center. 

Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona

Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona

Spring in NYC

It is Spring. Here and elsewhere in the northern hemisphere. On a day dedicated to walking around the city, I left the house forgetting my hat. It was yet another wintery cold day, so before i began the East Village Poetry Walk I went by Search and Destroy on St. Marks and picked up a black beret. I had been meaning to go on the poetry walk for a long time and had been reminded of wanting to do so while talking to a friend of mine over at Wise Men at their anniversary party. He was talking about the lineage of culture that included people such as Rene Ricard and Taylor Mead and the fact that nobody seems to give a shit in the recent New York City of bourgeois buy ins. He said he was pointing out where Marcel Duchamp lived at one time in the East Village and there was a universal ignorance in the group of people he was with, of who Duchamp was ...and what he had contributed to culture. He told me of a another time ...when at a landmark of Charlie Parker …...the same type of ignorant response. It is strange how things go. I thought a lot about the symbolism and humor of the black beret.  I have included a few pictures of the black beret. Buster Keaton,  John Lydon . Matti Pellonpää (one of my favorite actors from one of my all time favorite movies …. La Vie De Boheme by Aki Kaurismäki ). 

I read this in an interview with David Byrne a couple of days ago:::::

"What's at stake is not so much the survival of artists like me, but that of emerging artists and those who have only a few records under their belts (such as St Vincent, my current touring partner, who is not exactly an unknown). Many musicians like her, who seem to be well established, well known and very talented, will eventually have to find employment elsewhere or change what they do to make more money. Without new artists coming up, our future as a musical culture looks grim. A culture of blockbusters is sad, and ultimately it's bad for business. That's not the world that inspired me when I was younger. Many a fan (myself included) has said that "music saved my life", so there must be some incentive to keep that lifesaver available for future generations."

- David Byrne

John Lydon

John Lydon

Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton

LA Vie De Boheme 

LA Vie De Boheme

 

Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra

Taylor Mead in Paris

Taylor Mead in Paris

Today/Yesterday

I am happy to announce that TODAY/YESTERDAY was given it's online premiere today at Vogue Italia

The series of shorts were directed and conceptualized by IOULEX. The star of the piece is the extraordinary Isabella Boylston….the Principal Ballerina for the American Ballet Theater. I feel privileged to have been able to make music for the project and to act in several scenes. The visual atmosphere of the work is elevated by the ecstatic costumes of Christian Joy and the beautiful make up and hair of Roberto Morreli. Many thanks to Studio 55 for facilitating this project, and to Alonzo Felix for his support and hard work.

The piece was also given a showing also at Le Centre Pompidou at ASVOFF 7 in Paris France.

 

Base at MOMA

Base Design celebrated their twentieth anniversary at MOMA NYC and for the festivities The Imge- Hannelore Knuts and Wayne Sterling, organized a spectacle of visuals and text. I had the great pleasure of composing a track for the performance and also doing a DJ set for the night. Please click on the links and take a look and watch the video document made by IOULEX!

Isabella Boylston/Ioulex - Yesterday/Today

I have been working on the sound design and composition for Yesterday/Today, a video directed by the very talented IOULEX starring the extraordinary Isabella Boylston who is a principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre.  This will be a presentation of Studio 55 with costumes by the incredible Christian Joy and makeup by Roberto Morelli. I am very excited to see the final edit!

Autumn coming

Looking forward to the Autumn when the air gets crisp... crowds abandon the beach… the late tropical storms, and the coming nor' easter's …. The "Jack-Booted Peace Frog" shaped by Palo Tung at Batfish - Santa Cruz is doing me great in a wide range of conditions. It flies in the slop, and takes off like a rocket when it gets head high and over. I am sold on the FCS V2 quad setup, but am looking forward to trying out some thruster combos when the winter hits. I may be lucky enough to be getting a new board designed off of the Batato shape in the Fall….Perhaps my first twin since back in the 20th century!

The Jackbooted Peace Frog- Rockaway Beach

The Jackbooted Peace Frog- Rockaway Beach

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Irving Berlin

Jason P. Grisell sings and plays a summer afternoon version of the Irving Berlin song "The Song Is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On)" Music by Irving Berlin, Lyrics by Beda Loehner. 1927 My thoughts go back to a heavenly dance A moment of bliss we spent Our hearts were filled with a song of romance As into the night we went And sang to our hearts' content The song is ended But the melody lingers on You and the song are gone But the melody lingers on The night was splendid And the melody seemed to say "summer will pass away Take your happiness while you may" There 'neath the light of the moon We sang a love song that ended too soon The moon descended And I found with the break of dawn You and the song had gone But the melody lingers on There 'neath the light of the moon We sang a love song that ended too soon The moon descended And I found with the break of dawn You and the song had gone But the melody lingers on Take your happiness while you may

For the last year or two I have been going back into the deep waters of song that were the popular music landscape of the early twentieth century and thereabouts. I spent this afternoon playing and recording this song by Irving Berlin, The Song Is Ended (But The Melody Lingers On). I came across this song through the interpretation of Whispering Jack Smith.  This version is the most spare and atmospheric of the many versions I have heard. It captures the melancholia and existential weight of many of the songs from that era which are often cloaked in orchestration and arrangement. Incidentally, Whispering Jack Smith got a job as a "song plugger" for Irving Berlin Music Publishing in 1918 after his service in World War One. His throat was damaged in a poison gas attack and gave him his unique vocal approach which was understated and intimate by the standard of the time where singers would belt out their songs. His rise into the public eye dovetailed with the advent of microphone technology in live vocal performance, allowing for the whispering romantic style.

 

Jay Adams

Jay Adams in a iconic picture defined something that many aimed for in some way that was hard to define because it asked you to find your own way and express it to the fullest. Style.

We skate hard because of that guy. I tried things way beyond my ability. I'd amp soooo hard and hurt myself. Dry docked on jetties, off-the-hip ollie-to hang-up to broken ribs, feet dangling from tendons, concussions, and countless swellbows. I had no other choice cause the alternative didn't feel right. Injuries hurt way less than succumbing to fear. It took me over 4 decades to realize that this is also a metaphor for how to live life……110%

- Huey Kedric Pritchard

Jay Adams

Jay Adams

Shogo Kubo

Shogo Kubo