PLAN A: Ojos Rojos, Sidro Punks @ Soda Bar. Throw in some cool pedals, a few epic solos and just about any band can call themselves “psychedelic.” But Claremont, California’s Ojas Rojos have a refined take on the genre that can appeal to Explosions in the Sky and Black Angels fans alike (check out the video below). And will someone please hook up locals Sidro Punks with a good producer (seems they already have the good ’shrooms hook-up). If that happens, they’ll be opening for Earthless in Amsterdam in no time. (Interesting side note: Before going to press with the recent issue, I contacted Ojos Rojos via their gmail account for a picture of the band. On Tuesday night, hours after we’d already put the issue to bed, I received a rather troubling email from Ojos drummer/vocalist George Serrano wondering why I needed a picture of the band since they had no San Diego dates scheduled. After a heavy amount of self-chastising–not to mention some from CityBeat Editor David Rolland–I was all set to run a correction on this blog when I received another email frim Serrano explaining that the band were, indeed, playing at the Soda Bar. Apparently there was some confusion amongst the band members and what’s more, Serrano went on to say that if I hadn’t emailed them they would have forgotten to drive down. So, if you go to this show and enjoy yourself, then buy a brother a beer. The band already owes me one). PLAN B: NROTB, Deth Hertz, Mr. White @ Voyeur. Electro from French Canada? The thought would usually make me cringe, but NROTB bring it. BACKUP PLAN: The Transit War, Spell Toronto, The Strangers Six @ The Casbah. After The Casbah hosted all those epic reunion shows last January, this one might be a little anticlimactic. I wasn’t really a fan of any of these bands in their so-called heyday (which was, like, what, two years ago?), but if you like pop rock with a bit of edge, this is your show. Check out Sammi Skolmoski’s interview with Transit War drummer, Brad Bohensky, to find out what the boys have been up to. (This show is sold-out so you might want to hit up Craigslist)

Other cool stuff:

Weapons of Mass Production @ Thumbprint Gallery. You often see it illegally pasted on building walls, but you don’t often catch stencil art displayed in galleries. However, North Park’s Thumbprint Gallery (2637 University Ave.) looks to change this withWeapons of Mass Production. From 6 to 10 p.m., some of San Diego’s best street artists will display intricately designed works using multiple mediums like spray paint and pencil. Artists include Jason Gould and Brent Takayama, but most use aliases like Grandlarsen and Apax lest the po-po find out who they really are.

Out.skirts feat. DJs Shine, Bassmechanic, Matsu, Ubuvwill @ Mainline Building. Approximately 42 percent trade show, 58 percent rave: that’s how curator Alana Sills and graphic designer Chris Elliman (aka Sanctuary & Xompany) are filling the 7,000-foot venue space at the Mainline Building (1676 Main St., Barrio Logan) on Saturday, Nov. 28. If all goes according to plan, five hours of independent art and fashion marketplace (5 to 10 p.m.) will be followed by seven hours of progressive house with and a “massive” light show (10 p.m. to 5 a.m.).CityBeat’s 2009 Best Neighbor, Jocelyn Duke, will showcase some of her character art (be sure to ask her about “winkies”). Tickets are $5 before 10 p.m., $10 after that. 

DJ Rap @ On Broadway. She was all the rage back in the late ’90s when even your mama knew what drum-n-bass was. Then Rap started singing Big Sonic Chill-suited trip-hop, and we all sighed. But, judging by her new material, she’s found a make-out worthy middle ground between hard breakbeats and sexy ambiance. 

Danger in Wonderland @ Kava Lounge. Considering it’s in its second season, I guess I’m not the only one who watched For the Love of Ray J. Yeah, I admit it. VH1 reality/dating shows are a bit of guilty pleasure. And if there’s one girl that stood out on the first season it was almost certainly “Danger,” who lived up to her name by pretty much going off her meds as soon as cameras started rolling. She threatened to kill other girls while on the show, has a tiger tattooed on her face (think Mike Tyson) and recently revealed (wait for it) that she was a prostitute in a past life. And I have a big crush on her. Fuck it. Don’t judge me. I would totally go on her upcoming spinoff show and try and win her crazy-ass. Anyway, she’s displaying some of her art tonight around 6 p.m. It includes canvas paintings, wood paintings, custom sneakers, glass pieces and body art. Call to RSVP: 619-320-8483. Oh, and by the way, I still have no idea who the fuck Ray J is or why girls want to love his midgety ass. 

Apes of Wrath, Shark Attack (live band), DJs Bob Dazzla, Jan & Cory @ Beauty Bar.

DJ Claire @ Whistle Stop. (5 to 8 p.m.)

Gilbert Castellanos & Graham Dechter @ Dizzy’s@San Diego Wine & Culinary Center.

Cash’d Out @ Winston’s.

David Gray, Tyrone Wells, A Fine Frenzy @ The Abbey.

Genius of Soul, J-Natural @ The Office. 

Tiltwheel, Sunnyside, Breaker Breaker One Niner, Turkish Techno @ Tin Can Ale House.

“Red, Hot & Cool” feat. DJs Trevor Young, Charlie Rock @ Bar Pink.

The Cured, Rio, Long Duk Dong @ Belly Up.

Into The Presence, Suicide Chords, Transit Studio @ Ruby Room.

Ojos Rojos photo by Margeaux Bestard

Famed guitarist and songwriter Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle on this date (Nov 27) in 1942.  He bounced between Vancouver, BC and Seattle during his childhood and attended (but did not graduate) from the latter’s Garfield High School.  Influenced by Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley (whom he saw in concert in Seattle), and countless other rock n roll pioneers during his teens, Hendrix perfected his guitar skills and gained famed in the US and Europe.  The Washingtonian’s first major success came at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, but he is perhaps best remembered for his live performance at Woodstock two years later.  He died in London on Sep 18, 1970, and was buried in Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Renton.  His grave has been a shrine of sorts to Seattle musicians ever since.

Though he was famous for his virtuoso skills on the electric guitar during live concerts, Hendrix had several Top 40 hits stemming from three studio albums: Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold As Love (1967), and Electric Ladyland (1969).

JIMI HENDRIX TOP 40 HITS

• Purple Haze (1967)
• The Wind Cries Mary (1967)
• All Along the Watchtower (1968)
• Crosstown Traffic (1968)
• Stepping Stone (1970)
• Voodoo Child (1970)

Practice writing headlines that play off visuals.  We may not get to use this skill much seeing how copywriting is getting the shaft.  However, just because you don’t live by the ocean doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn how to swim.

So practice by writing cartoon captions for The New Yorker.  Each week the magazine posts a new cartoon and asks its users to submit captions.  The winning entries end up in The New Yorker magazine and website.  If yours gets published, it’d make a good talking point in an interview (any Creative Director out there would like to confirm this?).

It’s also a nice break from class assignments.  Since you’re doing it out of your own initiative, you’ll have more fun and be more creative.

Click here for the latest cartoons.

This week's captionless cartoon.

Good luck!

By the way, I got this idea from Roger Ebert and Dan Pink, though each recommends it for different reasons.  Personally, I think it’s great practice for copywriters.

Tuan is a Copywriting Grad Student at the Academy of Art School of Advertising, follow @copytuan

The first time I attended A Night of 1000 Drawings was by pure accident, but  I loved it so much, I promised myself I wouldmake it an annual event that I can not miss…

Sadly the plan didnt work out too well, and I missed last years event because of our very own art exhibition; AU79.

So when I heard about this years event, I cleared my busy diary; took the day off work and I made sure I could attend this awesome event yet again… this time, not by accident.

Basically the idea behind the event is an art party, but its all for charity… (if you ask me, that already sounds like a dope asse concept) now add colourful people, cool music and a fantastic venue, and you get my best party of the year!

The exhibition took place at the old part of Park Station. (Love The Venue!!!)

There were over 1000 drawings, but i just took a few snaps of some of the drawings that stood out for me…

And that I did…

The hat was just too funny, RANDOM!

Only got the joke when I uploaded the picture…

There was this cool section, in a little corner called Doodle Battle, and they had two people drawing against each other. They would draw on a projector, so we could all see, and we had to vote for the winner. It was such a cool addition…

If you missed this party, you missed out!

It is by far one of the best events I have been to and I just wish more people I knew could have come along. Next year…

Plus I will submit a few drawings next year…(was scared I wouldn’t meet the criteria of the panel… but by next year my pencil should be sharp…)

Since 2000, I’ve visited London four times, and each time, whether I’m exploring a new part of the city or not, I feel like I’m experiencing the city anew, fresh, exciting, diverse. During my last visit in 2007, I spent time in new parts of the city that I hadn’t spent time in before: the Victoria Albert Museum (yawn, except for the fashion exhibit), Chelsea, walking the streets, eating at overpriced restaurants and peeking into boutiques and pattiseries (where I tasted the local sweet fare), and St Paul’s, which was beautiful, and like most ancient or aged structures in European cities, felt out of place amongst the more modernist buildings and coffee shops dotting the streets around it.

My fondest memories are of staying in Islington in 2005 with my friend Aman and her mausi. The little restaurants, antique shops (where I picked up an aging copy of a Bronte book that I still have to read), the night I ate what I thought was good traditional British fare, bangers and mash, which tasted as bad as it sounds, and the thriving nightclubs, with the 2 we visited being divided by race, and accordingly, music. It was hot, muggy and the perfect start to 2 months of backpacking across Western Europe.

So all this reminiscing brings me to the most current reason of why I love London: 360 Degrees – a three-year programme of cultural explorations that “crosses geographical, linguistic, racial and religious divides to explore notions of ‘home and beyond’.” The project brings 60, 60-second videos on diasporic identity together to bring new visualizations that go beyond “the rhetoric and the headlines.” Be still, my heart. Am loving Moti Roti, the arts organization behind this project, for their vision, and for their ridiculous name. Watch the videos.

Ce soir, Jeudi 26 novembre , je serai au Centre d’art contemporain Optica
 

 Anne-Lise Seusse
1er septembre – 30 novembre 2009 ⎜ September 1rst – November 30th, 2009
 
Originaire de Lyon, Anne-Lise Seusse produit un travail photographique autour de la question du territoire, s’intéressant particulièrement au micro-phénomène de ritualisation de certains espaces à travers la pratique d’activités de loisirs. La création de ces communautés singulières – un groupe de retraités pratiquant le ball trap, des free riders descendant une zone militarisée – génèrent des situations qui vont parfois à l’encontre de l’organisation « politique » de ces sites. Le travail de reportage de l’artiste opère dans ces zones de glissement et de confrontation.

OPTICA (Montréal) et art3 (Valence) ont initié une résidence de recherche dédiée à la jeune création à laquelle est rattachée une bourse. Les structures hôtes ont pour rôle principal d’agir comme médiateurs auprès de l’artiste qui évolue dans un milieu de vie distinct, ainsi que d’organiser des rencontres avec des professionnels du milieu. Au terme de la résidence de trois mois, le boursier rend publique sa recherche; un ouvrage est coédité par OPTICA et art3 l’année suivante.

Pour plus d’informations :

Centre d’art contemporain Optica

texte: gracieuseté d’Optica

The V&A Museum and Iran Heritage Foundation announced that Dr. Moya Carey will become the Iran Heritage Foundation Curator, Iran Collections, in the Asian Department of the V&A. This new curatorial role is one of a series of positions created as part of Iran Heritage Foundation’s new programme of developing strategic partnerships with major academic and cultural organisations.

“Dr. Carey brings a wonderful combination of expertise, imagination and an in depth knowledge of Iranian art and culture,” said newly appointed Iran Heritage Foundation Executive Director, Dr. Ladan Akbarnia. “Coming from a curatorial background myself, I am particularly excited about this important position and I look forward to supporting Dr. Carey in her new role.”

Of Dr. Carey’s appointment, Mark Jones, Director of the V&A, said: “The V&A and Iran Heritage Foundation have a long history of collaboration. The appointment of Dr. Carey was made possible through a generous grant from the Iran Heritage Foundation and will enable the V&A, for the first time, to devote the resources of a full time curator to its considerable Iranian collections.”

Dr Carey earned her doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2001. Since then, she has worked for a number of organisations with important Iranian collections, including the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection in Geneva, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin and the British Museum in London; she has also taught at university level at Aga Khan University, SOAS, and at the Sotheby’s Institute and Birkbeck College.

Source: Art Daily

Want to travel to Germany over the holidays but don’t have enough cash? Get a taste of a German Christmas in Manila!

Filipino & German culture both share a love for the Christmas Season. While the Filipinos start preparations for Christmas as soon as the -”ber” months start, German culture prides itself of a magical and festive Christmas from centuries of heritage and tradition.

On December 5 December 4,2009; the Ateneo High School grounds will be designed and decorated in a similar fashion to German Christmas Markets. There will also be booths showcasing various German delicacies such as freshly baked Stollen, ginger bread, sizzling sausages grilled over charcoal fire, hearty stews with Wiener Wurstchen, among others.

Other activities include a choral singing competition, raffle draws, movie screenings, cooking demos, photo contests, games and trivia.

Movie screening starts at 1pm,3pm, & 5pm

Entrance to Weihnachtsmarkt is free!

Prosperity Partnership has been arguing that local jurisdictions need a new tool to help them increase access to arts and culture for all residents. Especially in tough economic times like these, it’s harder and harder to fun these activities out of general funds.  But the need for these funds is actually just as big: tourism, the economic impact of these institutions, and the whole “creative economy” thing.

So, on Monday, a bunch of folks protested Bainbridge Island City Hall because of big cuts to the public budget for culture. And there are so many great quotes in here that prove the above point.  I like two:

1) “The city funds are game-changing. It will cost jobs and household incomes.” The cuts will also reduce tourism and the city’s own revenues, she said.

2) Residents were not drawn to Bainbridge by “nice roads,” she said, but because of the “culture and creativity” they found. “(Bainbridge) is not just any other town,” she said. “But if we don’t put money into this, we redefine ourselves as just any other ordinary town.”

Gawker savages a Sunday Times piece that claims New York City has lost its edge. Gawker’s Foster Kamer gives about a dozen reasons why New York City is superior to London. The ensuing discussion takes place on a pretty elite level, a small coterie of people who’ve lived/worked/studied in both NY and London and can intelligently offer comments on the merits of Beckett on the West End versus Beckett on Broadway, for instance.

One line of Kamer’s critique of London stood out as particularly insightful. Kramer remarks of London,

Your tabloid newspapers make the New York Post look like The Paris Review.

Now, I know American journalism has its problems. Some are just insoluble issues of journalistic ethics writ large, like Okrent’s Law, “The pursuit of balance can create imbalance because sometimes something is true.” There are issues around anonymous sourcing, someone commented the New York Times could be renamed “government officials say,” criticizing the practice of uncritically repeating anonymously sourced information. The management of relationships with sources also poses problems, for instance profiles of administration figures that are essentially flattering puff pieces used to curry favor with potentially valuable sources (beat sweeteners) seem like skating pretty close to quid pro quo to me. There’re numerous other issues, the news becoming infotainment, or political journalism covering the horserace aspect of politics rather than the policy issues, or the economic problems of journalism.

But compared to the UK, the US media landscape seems positively healthy. The tabloids’ sensational screams are more consequential in the UK than any tabloid in the US. The largest circulation papers in the US and UK are fundamentally different types of publication. In the US the serious papers beat out the tabloids, in the UK the tabloids beat out the serious papers. The largest circulation papers in the US are the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, and then the Daily News and New York Post (Wikipedia). You get pretty far into the list before you reach a tabloid. In the UK the largest circulation papers are The Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Star, the Daily Express, then the Times, the Financial Times, and the Guardian (Wikipedia). Serious newspapers pop up here and there in the UK list, but they do not dominate.

More important than circulation figures of top papers, who is capable of driving the news coverage of other media outlets? In the US the New York Times dominates. You can form a pretty accurate forecast of what will be in the network newscasts by reading the New York Times. The Times and papers of its caliber play an important role in steering the journalism community towards the more serious events of the day. Journalists from these upper tier outlets will be the people who appear on Washington Week in Review, Charlie Rose, the Sunday political talk shows, and other US media. In the UK the journalistic landscape is less hierarchical; editors and journalists from the tabloids appear elsewhere in the UK media. It is not that I have something against the tabloid journalists personally, but the whole ethos of the tabloid newspaper is distinct from that of the more staid news organizations.

Tabloids are sensational. They will pay for stories; they will dig through divorces and drug addictions. They will tell you about the sex lives of celebrities, or non-celebrities, whatever sells. The screaming headline need not correspond to the body of the story; oftentimes there are significant nuances that are bulldozed by the headline, or the story itself. The prejudices of the paper are brought to the fore, there isn’t even a gesture towards objectivity or fairness. When you simplify and remove all the caveats, you get a substantially different tenor of news. You get hyperventilating mirroring the worst excesses of bad science journalism, PhD Comics’ excellent skewering here and here.
This outraged coverage overshadows the occasional worthy tabloid story or campaign.

Given the failings of other parts of the British media landscape, I’m thankful for the BBC.

A recent conference hosted by Johns Hopkins University and the Dana Foundation — and highlighted in The Answer Sheet column of the Washington Post – provided evidence for what many educators have long argued — that arts provide a practical and positive impact on how children learn.

The column quoted several practical reasons provided by conference keynote speaker Jerry Kagan, a researcher in developmental psychology, why the arts matter in school today:
– They provide a place for children to fit in and avoid giving up on school.
– They give children a sense of creating and doing things that have an impact on their world
– They give children a unique way to communicate that goes beyond words.
– They lift up the importance of creating an object of beauty, simply to give pleasure to others.
– They provide a chance for children to work together on a shared goal, developing a sense of morality and concern for others.
– They allow children to express their feelings, connecting to the kinds of self-expression that are shown to reduce illness and increase a sense of well-being.

With the Artists as Educators program which began in October, supported by the Community Foundation and coordinated by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, we are seeing evidence of all these benefits for children in our Birmingham City Schools. It is good news when scientific studies provide support for what teachers tell us — incorporating the arts into the curriculum does make a positive difference in how our children learn and in how successful they can be.

Congratulations to Capsule, who celebrate their tenth anniversary next month with a series of music and art events in Birmingham. Promoters come and go, but their dedication to exciting, challenging music and their fiercely independent attitude have seen them endure and grow in stature in the city, with their Supersonic festival drawing international acclaim. They’ve set a fine example of how to bring leftfield music to a wider audience.

December will see a series of gigs featuring acts that cross Capsule’s spectrum of genres, from avant-metallers Sun O))) to  Beak>, the new electronic project by Geoff Barrow of Portishead. It all culminates in the 10th Birthday Concert at Town Hall on Wednesday 12, featuring electronic-folksters Tunng and tense post-rock from Six Organs of Admittance.

More Canals Than Venice has a concise run down of the full lineup of events. Back in July, Jenny Moore and Lisa Meyer of Capsule joined Ikon Gallery’s curator Nigel Prince for a fascinating discussion of their influences for These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things. You can listen to it here.

]]> http://markingtime4now.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/mon-voyage-for-elvis-edith-a-poem/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:47:04 +0000 Mark Nielsen http://markingtime4now.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/mon-voyage-for-elvis-edith-a-poem/

Mon Voyage

(For Elvis, Edith Piaf, and All Whom Paris and New York Have Swallowed Whole)   

11-23-09                         by Mark Nielsen

Some days I feel about as important as a single telephone pole–

That one! There. See it?

Covered in kudzu vines,

Just one in a string of a thousand

across flat, hot, desolate Mississippi.

How important is it to fix a broken bicycle spoke?

Does a lynchpin ever know it is the lynchpin?

Who ever said that by doing something I love,

and doing it well,

The world would come running to hear it?

The world does not need me.

In fact, the world never knows what it needs.

Until it finds it.

At which point it immediately spoils it.

And the journey to glory

Est un voyage court à nulle part.

And as for talent:

Are you listening to these words,

Or just watching the way my hair falls across my forehead?

What profiteth it for a man

to talk real purty?

Or for a woman to belt out a sad song for her father?

Or for a child set adrift to paint a starry night?

The ruts in this road are deep, though.

It will take more strength than I have

On my own, in these arthritic hands,

To turn right up ahead when we see the road home.

(That is, if I’m not asleep at the wheel when it comes).

On the other hand,

at least I can’t turn around, either.

So take the wheel, St. Therese.

Where are we going?

Newsstands were once our browser bookmark bars. Shelves were lined with magazines separated by category. Cooking. Fashion. Current Events. Remember those days? As a kid, I would wait by the magazine rack and flip through the likes of Sports Illustrated and Disney Adventures as my mom stood in line at the supermarket. Each turn of the page would reveal something new and exciting. The essence of an issue was presented to us from cover to cover. We didn’t need to click back to the homepage.

Unfortunately, the magazine business is suffering since the Internet has become our new feeder of information. Last year, magazine sales have dropped 6.3% with declining ad revenue as one of the leading causes (USA Today). While magazines have been on a steady decline, newspapers have suffered even more. The question is: does print stand a chance in this age, as the Internet is blowing out the candles for Web 3.0?

As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat em, join em. Case in point: Vanish, the cover story of the latest issue of Wired that follows writer Evan Ratliff as he attempts to leave behind his identity and disappear. The twist is that Wired has asked its readers to find him.

Click to read the story.

What began as a typical news story turned into a full-fledged interactive reader experience. Equal parts journalism, investigation, and social experiment, Vanish breaks the fourth wall by allowing the readers to help write the story.

As Ratliff desperately tries to lose his trail, Wired readers respond to this huge call-to-action. Just like that, the internet community starts foraging Ratliff’s Internet footprint and discussing ways to find him. Thousands of Tweets and Facebook status updates are posted in a matter of days. The Wired inbox gets filled to the brim with leads and questions. Real time private investigators get involved. I take no part in this, but the culmination of this cat-and-mouse game appears in glorious CMYK on glossy pages in the magazine sitting right in front of me.

Because of this story, I have a new appreciation for print. Sure, the same text is available on Wired.com, but what was once a time-stamped story in a periodical now becomes a living, breathing entity unrestricted by 8.5 inches by 11 inches. A story can thrive in the corners of Internet forums, on the Facebook walls of your friends, or at the blink of a camera phone.

For print media to survive, it must re-invent itself and make journalism a dynamic experience for its audience. Things are happening right now. Information travels fast. People respond faster. Publications like Wired, Newsweek, and the NY Times are leading the way. Let’s hope the rest of the pack catches up.

Derek is a Copywriting Student at the Academy of Art University School of Advertising.