A friend of mine asked if I’d be interested in writing some music for a film he’s made.

‘No Problem!”

Then he hit me with it.

“I need an 80’s powerballad”.

So,
Looks like I’m gonna do that.

I’ll need to make sure I get all the classic themes of 80’s music in there.
Lost love,
Trying and failing in life,
Dusting yourself off and trying again etc…

My inspiration?
This film:

What song from that masterpiece of a film?
This one:

We’ll see how I get on with this…

So I’ve been listening to a lot of Badfinger lately, and stumbled on a collection of posthumously released Pete Ham demos.  7 Park Avenue is great.  I actually like it better than any of the Badfinger albums, mostly because I think Pete was the only really good songwriter in the band, so it’s nice to hear a solid album without Joey Molland’s bullshit “I want to rock” stuff.   Ok, Tom Evans’ stuff was alright.  But still, it’s no coincidence that any Badfinger song you know was one of Pete’s.

As far as I can tell, it’s in chronological order, and the two songs at the end of it (No More, Ringside) were written just a few days before he hung himself…cheery.  No More is great, and I’ll probably work out a good version of it one day…it could’ve been a Posies song.  And I mean that as a compliment.

So both Badfinger songwriters hung themselves.  No other band has experienced multiple hangings.  Joy Division looks at Badfinger and cowers.  Because Badfinger does not (did not?) fuck around.

In Clouded Son news, I seem to have picked up a manager of sorts, which is good.  I need someone to keep on me about this stuff, because alone I get completely discouraged and bogged down in small details.  Still trying to figure out how to proceed.  Just in general.  If I still lived in Memphis, I’d have a band yesterday.  But I’m here, and I’m socially retarded.  I went to a show last night (Big Silver’s record release party) and once again just wandered out.  Crowds are hard for me to handle, and since my old method of dealing with that (drink until it doesn’t bother you) only gets me in trouble, I’m not sure what to do with myself.  You can’t play shows when you try and get out of the crowd, can you?

The final charm in my Thanksgiving series dedicated to those I love,  is my signature charm, a ladybug or “joaninha”.  I lead a charmed life in many ways (if you backtrack over the last 6 days, you’ll read why), so I felt like I deserved a place on the chain as well:

Watercolor and Gouache Gold, Diamond, and Garnet "Ladybug" Charm Rendering by Joana Miranda

The bracelet in its  entirety follows below:

Watercolor and Gouache Charm Bracelet Rendering with Seven Charms by Joana Miranda

The placement of each of these charms was not accidental.  Neither was the fact that I designed fully 3-dimensional charms.  I wanted the charms to be beautiful seen from whatever angle they fell when the bracelet was worn.  And, while my husband’s “Pisces” and my ladybug charms are stationed at opposite ends of the chain when the bracelet is open, when clasped together we are side by side again.

All my gratitude and thanks go to the friends, family and kindly strangers who have made such a difference in my life.

As I will be producing Drum and Bass it seems relevant to look at the scene behind it, and how it influences a particular section of society within the younger generation today. The rave scene has been around a few decades now, and encompasses many forms of modern digital music, such as Drum and Bass, Hardcore, Hard Dance, Trance etc. It all started in the 80’s from early Trance and Jungle, and essentially mixed loud music with bright light shows to create a euphoric atmosphere, more often than not contributed too by chemical substances. Nevertheless the rave scene has one important slogan ‘PLUR’, Peace, Love, Unity and Respect.

The term ‘rave’ was first used in Britain in the late 1950’s concerning the wild, bohemian parties of the times, and the ‘rave-up’ referred to the specific crescendo moment of the tune where the music sped up and got heavier. Through the hippie era the term was widely disused, until in the 1980’s and the emergence of electronic music where the word was revived and reused by the youth culture. The use of the word in Jamaica could have attributed to this, as Jungle was pioneered by black culture which arrived here around 1950 with the boom in immigration, as well as being one of the first, most integral parts of the rave scene. One thing all have in common, they all used it to describe wild parties.

Psychedelic, electronic dance music is certainly the main focus to today’s raves. The music became popular around Manchester and later London, and attracted thousands of people to every event. They were places to create a working class unification, much like sports, in particular football, were at the time. With the decline of society and few jobs, people looked for alternatives to keep them busy and occupied. Pretty soon activities like raving were seen as anti-social behaviour, and the Government quickly campaigned and took legal action against annoyone who held an ‘illegal rave’. Naturally this pushed the raves out into the countryside and disused industrial buildings.

After the ‘Acid Rave’ scene of the 80’s, new, legal events opened up all across the country, including Raindance, Fantasia and Amnesia House. The phenomenon quickly spread and events were gathering a following wherever they went. By the mid 90’s, the scene had fragmented and split into many sections, most notably Jungle and Happy Hardcore. Mny left the scene because of the split, but this also attracted new members, and events like Helter Skelter began to flourish. Mixed genre events were established in large, multi-capacity venues, which gave the audience more variety. The illegal rave was at an end, but legal ones were only just beginning.

Under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the definition of music played at a rave was given as:

“Music includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetative beats.”

Before long events had to have a license and were based indoors pretty much at all times, possibly so they could be monitored better. Soon nights dedicated specifically to single music categories were again flourishing, and followings for the best nights quickly gathered momentum from the spread of word of mouth. After all, if you’ve had a near ‘religious experience’ at one of these events wouldn’t you want to go back with as many people as possible? The sense of community spirit in incredible at a rave, everyone’s there to have a good time and they show it. Such a happy vibe, I’ve spilt peoples drinks at raves and they’ve ended up buying me a drink! Peace, love, unity and respect personified.

Soon traditional rave paraphernalia like face paints and glow sticks became uncool and overused, and altogether the terms ‘rave’ and ‘raver’ fell out of favor with dance communities as it was too broad ranged. The emphasis was placed back on the individual scenes following, for example ‘Junglist’ is a person who listens to Drum and Bass, further categorising people. Jungle and Drum and Bass was one of the only members from the original rave scene to keep a strong following throughout good times and bad. Soon new and old styles were mixed to create vibes reminiscent of the original days, but with that modern element still pushing the scene forward, which attracted a new generation of clientele that were not alive or old enough to remember when rave first became popular.

Recently new music styles have emerged from the scene, including ‘New Rave’, which blends indie fashion with rave sound, which appeals to a wide range of new audience, although not at all to the true ‘ravers’. It’s not done for the right reasons, the appreciation of music, and for that reason real music lovers avoid it. The original rave music styles are back on the rise too, most notably hardcore, although it now has an incredibly modern, digital sound, not at all like the happy hardcore of old. Personally I am and always will be a Junglist.

Although I do not care for the slogan “art for art’s sake” …there can be no question that what makes a work of fiction safe from larvae and rust is not its social importance but its art, only its art.

Nabokov

조재의 사랑을 한 몸에 받고 있는, 드라마. 단, 심슨보다 어려운 소재로 시즌이 몇 없다는.

Far too many things inspired me to write Check Mate for me to list, but I’ll try my best over the coming posts to provide you with images, thoughts and sources.   I’m a huge movie buff, especially fond of classic films, especially the films of Frank Capra.  Those classic films have influenced my writing both stylistically and thematically.  This is only one scene, from one favorite films, which had an impact on Check Mate:

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: The end of the filibuster

Today’s charm is dedicated to my soul-mate, my husband Andy:

Watercolor and Gouche Gold, Enamel, Amethyst, and Diamond "Pisces" Charm Rendering by Joana Miranda

I’ve naively wondered why my husband is a Pisces when he’d rather be eating meat than fish; furthermore, water, whether it be for swimming or showering, has to be precisely a certain temperature before he’ll even test it with his little toe.   Since he didn’t come with a manual when we got married, I’ve learned how to combine my sign (Taurus) with his somewhat by trial and error, the school of hard knocks, and lots of love (which has always been reciprocated equally.)  Today I researched Pisces for this post and had one of those “ah ha” moments.

Traditional Pisces traits are:

Imaginative and sensitive

Compassionate and kind

Selfless and unworldly

Intuitive and sympathetic

On the dark side…

Escapist and idealistic

Secretive and vague

Weak-willed and easily led

While I won’t reveal which of these traits jumps off the page at me most, I will say that my husband is one of the kindest, gentlest, and most compassionate creatures inhabiting my earth.

(If you are curious to read more about Pisces, please click here.)

]]> http://visualinfluenceblog.com/2009/11/28/good-morning-art/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:31:10 +0000 Sarah Elizabeth http://visualinfluenceblog.com/2009/11/28/good-morning-art/

Bonnard, Woman Lying on a Bed, 1899

What would be great–is if I had enough time, and so little distraction, that everyday I could wake up like I did today.

I woke up thinking–which is typical–but we had time and no kids so I grabbed the new ArtForum and my notebook. I climbed back into bed on this cold November morning–the sun is so wonderful this time of day in our bedroom–and I listened to Brandon not snore but only breathe and even though the kitty kept dashing in front of my pages I felt–this is where I want to be. Finally.

My mind clear enough to take this information and these images and digest it, absorb the energy out of it that inspires and transforms myself, my art. That thing I constantly neglect while busy with everything else I am obligated to do in life, but always nagging at the base of my spine, the corners of my heart, the depths of my stomach.

The question arises, What is YOUR art? What are YOU doing? and WHY?

And as I am vaguely thinking those thoughts I read a review of the exhibition “Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) by Richard Aldrich. He states, “You kind of get the feeling that Bonnard was a real artist. He was concerned not with the past (art history), present (his contemporaries), or future (his legacy), but with expressing himself in terms of his own perceptions, interactions, and experiences of the world…each painting becomes a mirror in which Bonnard is seeing himself. This inward focus, which could be seen as a selfish stance, creates a palpable sense of humanness in his paintings that is completely exterior. Something genuniely tender and vulnerable in his understanding of the complexities and simplicities of himself and what he is painting makes his work, in the end, timeless.”

And maybe I was only intrigued by this because it sort of justifies my own work, which in the past has been somewhat self absorbed, and I’ve become increasingly aware of this and feeling guilty about it–like my work should be about something more important than simply my encounters with life. I ask myself lots of questions about this, but haven’t received very many answers yet. At least nothing ORIGINAL, which for me, is really the most important aspect of my own art–doing something that hasn’t been done.

Richard Aldrich, Boy with Machines, 2007

I feel like I am at a turning point in my life, and with my art, and that everything has been very disconnected and irrelevant with the other parts–but there has to be some common thread running throughout everything that I can take hold of. Now I’m just rambling…

What I wrote down was:

My Work

Directions

Interviews of unimportant artists via Google Wave (I have this urge to use this in art making)

Sociology – prisons in U.S.A.

Print – zines – pamphlets – blog

vintage

textiles

stories – paintings – others

response

“language as opportunity” -Tauba Auerbach

Tauba Auerbach, The Answer/Wasn’t Here (anagram III), 2007

But maybe there doesn’t have to be an answer. I will just keep doing what I always do everyday, and take small steps toward being the person, and the artist, I want to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-VKx-QCXHc

This kind of communal drumming is perfect for what I would want to do with it, loud, constant, rhythmic drumming all in tune and on time. It would blend really nicely with the ideals of Drum and Bass, although the tune would have to focus on drumming rather than a melody. This could create quite a cool effect though, a bit like Drumfunk as a subgenre, just with more percussion style sounds. Getting bongo samples etc will be essential for this audio sample, and have been used before. Quite often you here a single element of a tune is based on this style and rhythm of drumming, and although not always overly recognisable it is always essential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZO47QxV-iY

This charm is dedicated to my father, Gil, who also happens to be celebrating his birthday today.  I designed the charm as a top since my Dad has a fabulous collection of spinning top toys:

Watercolor and Gouache Gold, Enamel, and Diamond "Top" Rendering by Joana Miranda

My father, who often comes across as very serious (degrees in law and music, a European upbringing, and years spent teaching as a professor in academia certainly foster that image), has a very impish side as well.  He has played his share of practical jokes on his family, and I never tire of hearing of the funny escapades he had with his Portuguese nephews and nieces when they were little.

One of my favorite stories?

One summer when the family was traveling to the south of Portugal to vacation, he stationed each little nephew and niece at one of the windows in the train compartment.  When the train rolled into the stations along the way, he coached them all to yell out the windows to each other (in Portuguese), “Oh no! you spilled the wine!”, “Pass the chicken!”, and other such rowdy comments.   Like this, he insured that the family had the entire train compartment to themselves for the trip!

Happy Birthday!

I’ve been writing lately about browsing the newspapers of the early part of the last century. That era has always held a particular attraction for me because of the energy of the wide sweeping change that was taking place across all aspects of our world.  The transition from a horse-drawn world to the automobile.  The beginning of man in flight.  The beginning of true mass communication in the form of the recording and radio and film, a move away from live entertainment.  Everything was speeded up, changing faster and faster.  It was the birth of the Modern.

In art it was no different.  It was a transitional period away from the traditional, from the studied, academy-trained artist to the more expressive, individualized artist.  Modernism.

One of my favorites from that time is Marsden Hartley, a Maine-born painter.  I’ve always been attracted to a series of collage-like paintings he executed that are painted on a black ground, such as the one above, Portrait of a German Officer.  I love the way he puts his forms and colors together in these pieces, giving them a real visual impact.  His landscapes, such as Storm Clouds shown here, have that organic feel that I really like and look for in my own work.  By that, I mean that his shapes have a natural, human-like roll and feel.  I can’t really describe this well.

But it’s there.

There are stories behind many of his collage-like pieces. for instance, Portrait of a German Officer, was an homage to a German officer of WW I, the cousin of a close friend with which Hartley had been enamored ( he was gay) before being killed in the war. Knowing this gives the piece new meaning, added depth.

I know this is not a great lesson on Hartley or his work but there is more info out there, if you’re interested enough to look. He’s not the best known artist of his time but his influence continues…

x

I’d forgotten how much I love this band until a few months ago when I went to a party and scrolled someones iPod only to find the album and then have a sweet dance to it. Reminds me so much of being in the studio at Uni where we had it on repeat for quite some time. They were amazing when I saw them in Manchester as well, a wicked night. I hope they make another album and I hope it’s as good as the first.

I love you Little Joy.

x

One Thanksgiving when I was still living in the Twin Cities, I found myself  in the city without any place in particular to go for the holiday.  It occurred to me that I might find a new way to celebrate the meaning of  Thanksgiving.  I decided to see if I could volunteer for the day at a soup kitchen or battered women’s shelter.  While those places didn’t need my assistance at that time, the Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly program did need drivers to take some of their elderly members to a Thanksgiving church dinner.  I was sent detailed instructions not only with the names and addresses of the three elderly ladies I was to drive to and from the dinner, but also directions for how to prepare my car, what to do in an emergency situation, and other precautions.  Needless to say, I started to feel trepidation about what I had gotten myself into!

To my delight, all three ladies, though fragile, were wonderfully lively companions – one even corrected my driving when I made an illegal U-turn – and they regaled me all afternoon me with fascinating stories.  When I dropped them off at their individual apartments late in the afternoon, one of them gifted me with a two-dollar bill.

That day I felt gifted with much more than two dollars.  Perhaps, for the first Thanksgiving ever, I felt truly thankful…thankful to be able to help someone else and to bring  joy and companionship to others.  This charm therefore is dedicated to the spirit of Thanksgiving:

Watercolor and Gouache Gold and Diamond "Wishbone" Charm Rendering by Joana Miranda

May all of your hopes, dreams and wishes come true.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mel Bochner

Mel Bochner has been a key influence to myself and my work this year. His recent works involve text, text which in his 2009 works “Blah Blah” have picked up on elements of communication breakdown within society, and, how his works could have been misinterpreted.  Then again Bochner states, “a work of art exists by being continously misinterpreted”. This relates to Review the Cube’s ‘a line of thought’ because by using this idea of communication, we aim to initiate discussion with the viewers of art. This will hopfully give us as artists, some deeper thoughts and opinions on how people perceive artwork.

Today’s charm is dedicated to my sister, Marta:

Watercolor and Gouache Enamel, Diamond, and Gold "Earth" Charm by Joana Miranda

My sister has traveled the world, seems to survive any difficult situation she encounters, has an uncanny knack for picking up not only the customs but the specific accents of different regions, and is fluent in three languages.  Some people say we look like twins; others, that they can’t tell that we’re even sisters.   The way I see it, she is a uniquely beautiful, intelligent and very special person.