Film as revolution

The Woodstock Film Festival awards ceremony reflects a heightened political sensitivity

The Festival terms itself "fiercely independent," one of its most popular awards is the Maverick, and the times being what they are, the tenor of the awards ceremony Saturday, October 4, was fiercely political with references to a variety of mavericks, honorary, honorable and...well, we know about that other one. Nearly all the honorees mentioned Barack Obama and the event's Maverick Award winner Kevin Smith brought it home when he bounded onstage and shouted "Boycott CVS!" MC Ron Nsywaner, screenwriter (Philadelphia, The Painted Veil, Soldier's Girl) and Woodstock resident, quipped that Smith is now "qualified to be a heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world."

SOURCE: TheWoodstockTimes

TVOTR's Tunde Adebimpe covers Neil Young

"…and here's TV On The Radio's singer Tunde Adebimpe covering Neil Young's "Unknown Legend." Tunde's cover comes from Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, which stars a smiling Adebimpe. The spare, lonesome take on the Harvest Moon song's less cheerful, running in sharp contrast to the more mile-a-minute energy of TV On The Radio's current Dear Science focus "Dancing Choose." Pretty stuff."



Movie still via IMDB and Sony Pictures Classics
SOURCE: Stereogum

In Praise of the Hype Machine

Thrills and irritation about NYC’s music scene

"Most bands—even those with actual records and fans and local radio play and whatnot—seem resigned to (or find far more preferable) mere local fame, with no big tours, no Internet-ether buzz, no Making It Big. Which is, of course, in some ways, preferable to the insanity, the vapidity, the fickle schizophrenia of the hype machine, a deranged monolith that can declare the Black Kids sex on toast one week and an affront to all mankind the next." — Rob Harvilla

Photo of Brooklyn's Vivian Girls by Stefano Giovannini
SOURCE: VillageVoice

"Soaked in the sponge of hip-hop visual culture"

Brent Rollins is a one-man design explosion. He’s also a core member of the Ego Trip collective who have been responsible for publishing Ego Trip magazine, The Book of Rap Lists and The Big Book of Racism. He designed the logo for the movie Boyz In the Hood, and album covers for Black Star and Spank Rock just to name a few. You name it, he’s done it, and with such deft and style that his handiwork is soaked in the sponge of hip-hop visual culture.

SOURCE: LitMob

The return of Muxtape

On September 25, Muxtape founder Justin Ouellette announced that he'll be relaunching the streaming playlist site as a alternative to MySpace Music, using the simple flash player he created for Muxtape 1.0. But we now know Muxtape will never go back to giving people a dead-simple way to create playlists online and share them with friends, a bummer for a surprising number of people.

SOURCE: Sound of the City/Village Voice

Kurt Cobain's ashes 'to be smoked in spliff'

Australian artist Natascha Stellmach is claiming that she will smoke the ashes of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in a spliff as part of an art exhibition.

SOURCE: NME

David Foster Wallace dead at 46

David Foster Wallace, the author of "Infinite Jest," was found dead in his
home in Claremont, Ca. on Friday night. The 46-year-old author apparently committed suicide.


SOURCE: LATimes

Crystal Antlers are high above NYC

Crystal Antlers perform high above mid-town Manhattan. Frontman Jonny Bell summons the chimney sweep inside, and scales the ledge during the first song, with a 25-story drop below.

SOURCE: Don't Look Down series

Henry Rollins to play Guthrie/Steinbeck Tribute

Just on the surface, Woody Guthrie and
John Steinbeck have plenty in common. Guthrie was an Okie; Steinbeck wrote about them. Both filled their work with rural people and descriptions of the natural world, and in the process, both became spokesmen of sorts for the disenchanted.

SOURCES: Pitchfork, LiveNation

Tricky, Tricky, Tricky!

Knowle West Boy is the album that sums up everything that Tricky has accomplished since his 1995 Maxinquaye debut. From the sardonic bar-room blues of Puppy Toy to the haunting quasi-classicism of Joseph; from the twisted Specials-worshipping punk of Council Estate to the bereft torchery of Past Mistake; from the Roxy Music’s The Bogus Man-at-the-dancehall art-stomp of Bacative to the poignant autobiographical tale of teen pregnancy that is School Gates, Knowle West Boy sees our misunderstood hero reaching into the post-punk, Two-Tone, reggae, hip hop and pure pop he grew up adoring, twisting it all into surreal Tricky shapes using his astonishingly accomplished band and a host of great undiscovered singers, and ending up with the most varied and accessible set of his career.

SOURCE: KWB

Thomas Wynn & The Believers

One of the joys of
living and playing music in and around Orlando is the local talent. It might seem like I'm playing favorites and…you'd be right! After the goldrush of the 90s and the 7M3 craze, not to mention the dreaded (and thankfully dead) boy-band era, comes a band that brings the rock and the roll. I'm talking about Thomas Wynn and the Believers, brothers and sisters. If you've seen them live then you know what I'm talking about. They bring it back, alive! They passionately carry the torch of Florida musicians in name and spirit.
Check them out!

SOURCE: TW&B

Your brain needs a Dad

Right now: What are you doing?
"I’ve started to become a lot pickier about where my attention goes as I observe what it means to my work when it drifts. But, I still have a long way to go. Long way."

— MerlinMan

E.L.L.A

A Musical Celebration of the Florida Female Artist

“E.L.L.A, A Musical Celebration of the Florida Female Artist,” is here to showcase to the people of Orlando the wonderful and extremely talented women that grace our fine city and state. We believe that Florida has some of the strongest and most talented women in the world, and they deserve to be heard, viewed, and celebrated. By creating this festival, we want to make sure that they are."

— Robert Johnson,
promoter/founder of E.L.L.A.
Elevate.Listen.Love.Appreciate

Blog Action Day 2008 is October 15

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from
Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Poverty is affecting society, the enormous hole left by possibilities that go unrealized becomes even greater with our discomfort in acknowledging the gap. The rapid aging of the population in the Western hemisphere and the failing of public systems contribute to increasing demands on individuals. Many of us are called upon to assist our families in two directions for the future — children and parents.

"I believe a determined group of people can change the conversation for the better. Our first action step is awareness — talking about it. Your voice counts and so do actions. Go sign up now and join the conversation on poverty, October 15. You can make a difference."

— Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent

SOURCE: ConversationAgent

Kayo Dot streams new music

SOURCE: Kayo Dot

Que hora es?

The Second Annual Orlando Hispanic Film Festival (OHFF) comes to the heart of Orlando, Florida, during Hispanic Heritage Month
Oct. 10th — Oct. 12th, 2008.

It is a competitive independent film festival and a platform that recognizes independent filmmakers from around the world who integrate the Hispanic culture in their work and exposes the talent of Hispanic actors, directors, producers, screenwriters and cinematographers.

SOURCE: OHFilmFestival

George Carlin just knew…

SOURCE: GoGreenTube

Introducing Seun Kuti & Egypt 80…

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
West Africa
Nigeria

Seun Kuti is Fela Anikulapo Kuti 's last son. Seun's father, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, was Nigeria's most beloved popular musician and most acerbic social critic until his death in 1997.
[READ MORE]

From a recent interview:
Is the Nigerian government still trying to suppress Afrobeat music?
Yeah, because you can’t support something that is against you. They know what Afrobeat stands for, so it receives no support from the government or police. They support all these Nigerian hip-hop bands. It’s very cheap low-quality pop.

SOURCES: AfroPop.org, L.A. Record

Introducing Rachel Goodrich…

"hello. i'm rachel goodrich. i am a songwriter. i write songs. i sing..... and play guitar and other instruments ........like....... keys, uke,kazoo,harm oni ca,ja wharp,recorder,xyl ophone, ban jo,man dolin,spoons, pots,pans .........and with that......... i make music."

Rachel is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, performer from Miami Beach. Her music is a wonderful mix of folk, Django Reinhart-drenched, acoustic ragtime-ish psychobilly and moxy. She's a dynamic performer with just enough attitude to give her a punkish edge. She's personable, humble and going to become yr new favorite performer. I'm biased because she's good. Rachel is working on her new record with co-producer George Martinez. She says "'Tinker Toys' is coming along wonderfully." Highlights include new songs 'Light Bulb' and 'The Black Hole.' The new record will be self-released very soon. Stay tuned.

SOURCE: Rachel Goodrich

Byrne/Eno collaboration, record

"Brian Eno and I recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It's familiar but completely new as well. We're pretty excited. In August the music will be available via this Web site, free for streaming and available for purchase in a variety of options that allow you to download immediately and receive physical formats when they become available later in the Fall. One of the songs will be available free of charge.
In September I will begin a tour, on which I will be playing music from the new album as well as music from our previous collaborations — 3 Talking Heads albums, Bush of Ghosts, etc. If you'd like to be updated as this story unfolds, please add your email address via the box below (we will not contact you for any reason other than to tell you about this David Byrne and Brian Eno project and the tour and we promise not to give or sell your contact to anyone else or even to the government).
The name of the new record is Everything That Happens Will Happen Today."

SOURCE: David Byrne