Poster Boy, Artist + Vigilante :: Artist Profile from friendswelove.com on Vimeo.
31 August 2009
POSTER BOY: NYC SUBWAY POSTER GRAFFITI
DAIN 'COPASETIC' AT BROOKLYNITE GALLERY
Brooklyn born artist DAIN uses the platform for his first solo show to take us back to a time when life was simpler---the 1940’s. The good ol’ days as some might call them--- New York City Style. A time when words like cosmopolitan, elegant and modest, were a lot more relevant. A time when families spent the day on amusement rides at Coney Island and in the evening common folk mixed with celebrities in nightclubs like the Copacabana. The term “copasetic” meant that everything was fine and dandy. Even as war news dominated the headlines, a craving for fun and refuge abounded . . . a diversion. Much like today when the economy looms large and America’s still at war, we too need a diversion. DAIN’s work and installations for “COPASETIC” will create just that. Infusing the glamour and glitz of the 1940’s together with a Brooklyn working class edge, he seeks to turn back the hands of time— Even if we were never there before.
"Copasetic" Sept 12-Oct 10
Brooklynite Gallery
334 Malcolm X Blvd
Brooklyn, NY 11233
347.405.5976
Check out DAIN's Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=dain+street+art&s=rec
29 August 2009
SOLVE: MURDERED GRAFFITI ARTIST
Check out the SOLVE website for your free SOLVE stickers, post them (of course legally), send in your pictures, note the location and they'll post it on their website. They take donations too.
28 August 2009
GUY RICHIE'S SHERLOCK HOLMES STARRING ROBERT DOWNEY JR
Robert has come a long, long way from from his portrayal as a crackhead in the 1987 film Less Than Zero...which was strangely a deja vu, flash-forward to a riddled drug addled real life some years later. He had a few really insane years, in and out of court, in and out of crackhouses only to shock the shit out of us with his epic role as Ironman. Up until this point in his career, Ironman was his best ever work. Many people thought it a fluke, that he got lucky, that he couldn't do it again. Wrong, he'll kill it in this role as Sherlock Holmes, I'll put a bankroll on it.
This film is sure to be the single best piece of work Sir Ritchie has done since he dumped The Madge.
SHANE ACKER'S 9: THE MOVIE
An action-packed adventure, director Shane Acker’s animated fantasy epic 9 is the feature-length expansion of his Academy Award-nominated 2004 short film of the same name. The screenplay for the feature is by Pamela Pettler (Monster House). Produced by Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Nightmare before Christmas) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted).
The time is the too-near future. Powered and enabled by the invention known as the Great Machine, the world’s machines have turned on mankind and sparked social unrest, decimating the human population before being largely shut down.
But as our world fell to pieces, a mission began to salvage the legacy of civilization; a group of small creations was given the spark of life by a scientist in the final days of humanity, and they continue to exist post-apocalypse. Another of their own, #9 (voiced by Elijah Wood), emerges and displays leadership qualities that may help them survive and possibly even thrive. The conflicted but resilient tribe already includes #1 (Christopher Plummer), a domineering war veteran and the group’s longtime leader; #2 (Martin Landau), a kindly but now-frail inventor; #3 and #4, scholarly twins who communicate nonverbally and mostly with each other; #5 (John C. Reilly), a stalwart and nurturing engineer; #6 (Crispin Glover), an erratic artist beset by visions; #7 (Jennifer Connelly), a brave and self-sufficient warrior; and #8 (Fred Tatasciore), the none-too-bright muscle and enforcer for #1.
With their group so few, these “stitchpunk” creations must summon individual strengths well beyond their own proportions in order to outwit and fight against still-functioning machines, one of which is a marauding mechanized beast. In the darkness just before the dawn, #9 rallies everyone of his number to band together.
GWAR: CHICAGO 12.07
GWAR live at House of Blues Chicago 12.07
SKINNY PUPPY vs THE B-BOYS
Case in point: Skinny Puppy's Stairs and Flowers is really an old school electro hip hop track by Bronx-bred Mantronix from way back in 1985...check out the attached videos and see for yourself. Because Skinny Puppy was so fuckin talented and re-interpreted hip-hop on a whole new scary level is why I first flipped out and went crazy over them. Word to your mother.
PS: Kanye, you and your $2000 Louis Vuitton pink sneakers suck, a lot, a whole lot.
SKINNY PUPPY: CHICAGO NOVEMBER 9th
Skinny Puppy live at The House of Blues Chicago November 9th.
THE CULT 'LOVE': CHICAGO 09.02
Oh man, before I forget: The Cult - Love Live at The House of Blues Chicago 09.02
Here's some verbage I lifted from their MySpace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/cultmusic
MOTORHEAD: CHICAGO 08.30
27 August 2009
ZZ TOP: HOUSE OF BLUES in CHICAGO SEPT 4th
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to collect some empty aluminum cans and drop them off at the recycling facility until I have enough cash to buy myself a ticket. I hope that the HOB accepts coins!
GRAFFITI PIECEBOOK BATTLE: PARIS FRANCE
RUEDIONE is an amazing photographer and has a fuckin amazing blog...do yourself a huge favor, check it out.
http://www.ruedione.com/blog
26 August 2009
THE RAPING OF THE SEX PISTOLS...AND YET AGAIN
Jamie Reid was the artist whose 'cut & paste-DIY' style created one of the most universally well known album covers to date.
I find it mighty insulting that Big Bowl - Fresh Chinese and Thai (one of many in the 'Lettuce Entertain You' chain of restaurants) has felt some strange sort of connection to the The Sex Pistols with their 'Never Mind Chinatown...' campaign. What the hell could they (Big Bowl) be thinking? Do they feel that they too are all about anarchy and making bold, life changing statements? Take it from me, I've dined on some Big Bowl before and I can assure you that the only thing that changed in my life was my drawers. A poor attempt at Asian food and a poor attempt at being cool. Hey, Big Bowl, kiss my bollocks!
55DSL X ADIDAS ORIGINALS: 15 FUCKIN YEARS
A very select few Diesel Company stores (15 to be exact) nationwide will carry the footwear...I know for a fact the Diesel store in Chicago will carry these prizes.
Release date: September Fuckin 15th, for Fuckin 15 days only, yo.
25 August 2009
MASSIVE ATTACK X 3D
Lead track 'Splitting The Atom' features D, G and Horace Andy, while TV On The Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe guests on 'Pray For Rain'. The EP also has remixes of two new tracks. 'Psyche' featuring Martina Topley-Bird mixed by Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid, while the Guy Garvey fronted 'Bulletproof Love' is stripped back to a minimalist reworking by Christoff Berg.
The band will release their fifth studio album in February 2010. Massive Attack collaborate with Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Martina Topley-Bird, Guy Garvey and Tunde Adebimpe on the forth coming album release.
The founding member of Massive Attack, Robert Del Naja aka 3D's paintings and graphic design works have represented the music of his band for over a decade, from the symbolic cover art of Blue Lines and Protection.
Before Massive Attack, 3D was one the UKs pioneering graffiti artists and ran with the notorious Wild Bunch crew of the 1980s.
Lazarides gallery hosted a 3D 'War Stories' exhibition in March & April of '08. 3D has also collabed with James LaVelle of UNKLE & Mo' Wax fame.
CODY HUDSON aka STRUGGLE IN X SLARAFFENLAND
The 1st 100 singles purchased from the Hometapes website ($7 postage paid in the US) have been signed and doodled on by Cody Hudson, himself. SWEET! I just bought 2!
Get the official low-down from their website: www.slaraffenland.net or hit their MySpace and 'friend' them: www.myspace.com/slaraffenland
23 August 2009
TROY LOVEGATES aka OTHER: GRAFFITI
ISLANDS FOLD: ZINES, ZINES, ZINES
HIS NAME IS ALIVE by THE BORTHERS QUAY
MARYLIN MANSON: TOURNIQUET-PROSTHETIC DANCE RMX
TRICKY 'MAKES ME WANNA DIE-TRICKYs EXTREMIX
21 August 2009
CONOR HARRINGTON: GRAFFITI IN THE MEATPACKING DISTRICT
20 August 2009
ZOOEY DESCHANEL: FABRIC OF OUR LIVES
She is also one half of an amazing musical duo with Oregon's M. Ward, recording under the moniker She & Him. Zooey has previously guested on several of M.Ward's songs previous to their She & Him efforts...check out Rave On, it's a happy lil' ditty.
19 August 2009
BRAVO CHANNELs HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA
Suck it!
Yours Truly,
Billy
27: TWENTY SEVEN NYC GRAFFITI
More from 27 on Flickr
RENT-A-COPs: TOO LAZY TO CHASE A PUNK DOWN
It's my observation that by nature, Rent-A-Cops are usually fat and lazy, but Christ on a Cracker, how f'in lazy you gotta be to hunt a shoplifter down on your scooter? Doesn't it waste hell'a more time to wobble over to your scooter before you engage in pursuit of said shoplifter?? Are shoplifters these days expected to sit around and wait patiently while your fat ass mounts his trusty 'Assets Protection' steed?
Hey big guy, you totally 'blend in' with the crowd on your scooter. I totally didn't see your incognito radness, lurking behind the clearance rack there!
LOUISE CHIN feat MARINA BONITA
KEVIN CYR: BROOKLYN ARTIST
*Kevin's Statement:
In a culture in which people are easily lured by the appeal of status-enhancing symbols, I find beauty in derelict cars and unkempt landscapes. I have always been interested in painting vehicles and scenes that have defined the evolution of the American landscape.
I commemorate commercial vehicles inundated with graffiti and rust, working vehicles, and well-traveled recreational vehicles. I find that there is so much character in old delivery trucks and vans — especially when covered with graffiti — and in the old RVs parked off a main road. Removing them from their everyday context gives them portrait-like importance. I paint with devoted attention to every imperfection and sign of age.
Painting and drawing these objects gives me a chance to document a time and place, and to make still a part of the ever-changing environment.
CRO-MAGS: LIVE IN CHICAGO
Cro-Mags, Merauder, Death Threat
When: Sat., Oct. 17, 7 p.m.
Phone: 773-278-6600 or 866-468-3401
Live at Subterranean
2011 W. North
773-278-6600 or 866-468-3401
18 August 2009
MUSLIM PUNK ROCK: ALIVE & KICKIN'
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Writer Michael Muhammad Knight coined the term "taqwacore" for his novel about a Muslim punk house in Buffalo, NY, which Knight initially distributed from the back of his car as a DIY photocopied zine. In time, the book found widespread publication through Autonomedia and garnered supporters, even inspiring the first woman-led prayer of a mixed-gender Muslim congregation in the United States in 2005. But something far grander was in the works; unbeknownst to Knight, a real Muslim punk scene was starting to emerge, based on the one he had imagined for the book.
Photographer Kim Badawi first met Knight around this time, and bore witness as the taqwacore phenomenon began to take hold. Beginning in 2006, Badawi traveled across the U.S., chronicling the burgeoning subculture and the musicians who had been spurred to action by Knight’s creative vision. In 2007 he was invited to accompany the TaqwaTour, traveling to major cities across North America alongside bands including The Kominas and Secret Trial Five. As the genre continues to take shape and influence a rising generation of artists and intellectuals, Badawi’s The Taqwacores stands as a photographic companion to the original text and an indispensable document of the making of a movement.
Born in Paris in 1980, Kim Badawi is American photojournalist and documentarian of French, Egyptian, and Slovenian background. He began his photographic career photographing the plight of refugee families from Mississippi to Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while still interning for Contact Press Images and Magnum Photos in New York. Selected for publication by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Badawi’s work appears in 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers (powerHouse Books, 2008).
Opening Reception & Book Launch at PowerHouse Books
Kim Badawi: The Taqwacores
Thursday, September 17, 7–9PM
Exhibition
September 10–October 25
PowerHouse Books
37 Main Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-666-3049
See also a great related article at CNN.COM: 'Punk Meets Islam for New Generation in US'
15 August 2009
PUBLIC WORKS STARRING CODY HUDSON aka STRUGGLE INC
"Public Works is a group show that features four artists who've spent years in Chicago working within the independent art and music communities: Cody Hudson, Justin Fines, Andy Mueller, and Chris Eichenseer. Longtime friends, the four men have parlayed their street-level art styles into careers as internationally recognized graphic designers. The new pieces presented in Public Works are wholly representative of the dual-influences of fine and commercial art in the artists' lives, the gallery covered in an egalitarian display of screenprints, a digital pastiche of color blocks, Greco-Roman statues, sardonic portrait photography and Dungeons and Dragons references. Accompanying the new work is a wall thick with retrospective rock posters, album covers and street images that bump and overlap, a physical manifestation of the artists' intertwined pasts and common futures."
Andrew Rafacz Gallery. 835 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago. 312-404-9188
YUL BRYNNER in WESTWORLD
Synopsis: An excursion to a futuristic "Fantasy Island" turns deadly for two wealthy tourists (Richard Benjamin, James Brolin) in Michael Crichton's sci-fi thriller. Seeking cowboy adventures in the island's Westworld sector, the two enter a high-tech nightmare controlled by a ruthless robotic gunslinger (a chillingly creepy Yul Brynner). Surrounded by malfunctioning Wild West androids, the terrified adventure seekers get more than their money's worth.
DAVID BOWIE 'SENSE OF DOUBT'
PSYCHIC TV vs KRAFTWERK
55DSL X ADIDAS NIZZA: 15 FUCKIN' YEARS
55DSL is celebrating their 15 year Anniversary...cutely dubbed 'Fifteen Fuckin Years'. Check your neighborhood Diesel Store and see if they're getting the drop. I know for a fact that the store in Chicago is. Call them at 312.519.1972 for the 411.
NEWCLEUS vs JANET JACKSON
14 August 2009
KYPER 'WHAT GETs YOUR BODY HYPED-XTC'
Kyper was a little known contributor to the old school electro movement back in the day. He was about as Indie as Indie gets. Way back when, he schlepped his singles from gig to gig. He'd even call record shops, speak to the buyer, give his sales pitch and play them a sample over the telephone...at least that's how I first came into contact with him. Kyper cold-called me one day at Jelly's in Hawaii, where I was the music buyer. People always cold-called me, I usually told them to fuck off. Not Kyper. He had a good opening line, caught my interest and hooked me. Kyper sampled his jam over the phone line and I pissed my britches...I needed to get me a box of his singles, stat. I placed a rush order. Kyper himself, assured me that he'd personally box my vinyl up and ship it C.O.D. A week later my brown box arrived. I rushed to cut it open. I tossed the white label onto my 1200's and cranked the chunes. I was sold out before dinner was served. The very next day, I called him at home, his dad answered the phone and told me that Kyper was out running errands, took a message and chatted with me for a while. Pops sure seemed a really cool guy.
Almost 20 years later and I still feel like a little school girl when I hear this jammie. Hell, almost 20 years later and every time I hear Kyper, I think of his old man. Thanks Kyper. Thanks pops.
12 August 2009
'Le Processus' PHILIPPE GRAMMATICOPOULOS vs MASSIVE ATTACK
The first video is a mash-up of Massive Attack's 'Butterfly Caught'. The second video is the original version, nightmarish soundtrack and all.
Made in 2000 at the prestigious Supinfocum, Le Processus by Philippe Grammaticopoulos and Xavier L'Hermuzière is a visually riveting eight minute animation in black and white. A troop of identical men clad in top hats and double breasted greatcoats march in unison through a constantly revolving door. They march in identical ways, in a curious clockwork, jerky movement, symmetrically aligned, and in great numbers, flooding the streets and corridors. One unlucky fellow has his hat knocked off as he marches through the doors and, due to the crowd, is unable to retrieve it. Suddenly conspicuous now, his naked head a beacon for his comrades, he is forced to flee. A statue, as identical as any other of the men only larger, is his target as he attempts to scale the monument in a vain attempt to obtain the helmet. Such an action is not to the liking of his massed ex-colleagues whose brollies are suddenly called into action. To a varied soundtrack by Ivo Malec, Nine Inch Nails and Parmegiani we follow the mounting turmoil of the fugitive, marching against the tide, suddenly cast out of his society, and the disruption his change wreaks on his world. It is a classy and artistic treatment of the theme of militarism and conformity, an Orwellian world that will linger in the memory. The wood-cut, etched style is particularly effective. It was Philippe's graduation movie though he progressed to make the powerful Amnesty International short Signatures I featured a few months back. He is presently completing his third feature film, Les Ventres (Stomachs) though I will be featuring his second in a week or so. Xavier currently works as a computer graphics artist for RF2K Production. He animated the 2005 Le Régulateur, the subject of my upcoming post.
http://www.animationblog.org/2008/07/philippe-grammaticopoulos-xavier.html
06 August 2009
NIKE SB: P. ROD vs ICE CUBE
P. Rod's newest kick (Zoom Air Paul Rodriguez III) drops 08.08.09 and features a cameo with Koston & Kobe.
http://www.nike.com/nikeskateboarding