Here are a couple of soul tunes that are really doing it for me lately. Hope you dig.
It's a soul group from New Orleans called the Skull Snaps. First up. What the fuck? What is a skull snap and what is the name supposed to imply or mean? I don't know, mang. The song bangs. The album cover rules, the name rules, and the songs rule. The PR however, makes not one bit of sense.
Next up we have an Oakland legend by the name of Darondo. The man was born in Berkeley and resided in the the great Bay for the majority of his life. He was never a big hit, never managing more than some modest noteriety and playing residencies at several hip bay area clubs. His music career more or less bottomed out in the early 70's and he turned to the pimping as a way of life. Not much of him was heard until recently when a compilation was issued with one of his songs... not my favorite tune, but one that caught the attention of many collectors and afficionados. Anyway, I love this song for it's hard funk back beat and it's poignant, politically conscious lyrics, particularly for a man who would later make a profit on selling women. I first heard his songs in the basements Carib & Alex at the urging of my good friend Sean A. Smith. How I miss the days of listening to old records in musty basements.
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The dude, had something to him, a real smooth cat . Dig the rings. How could I not love him?
This past weekend R-dog and I went to the Korean National Museum of Contemporary Art. It was pretty bitchin'. The place is way out in the cut. It's located at a subway stop called Seoul Grand Park, which from what I could gather is sort of bastard child between Washington Park (The place has hiking trails, a rose garden AND a zoo) and A second rate amusement park, plus... well the MOCA.
This is the artist statement for the permanent exhibit in the foyer. It's pretty colossal. If you can't read the statement it mentions that the exhibit is comprised of two different exhibitions (I think that is the right term, I'm not to hip to art terminology). One of them is basically a retrospective of this guys work dating back to the early 80's and consists of around 60,000 3x3'' tiles and other assorted objects that line the spiral walkway that goes up a good 4 floors, easy.
There was no flash photography permitted at the light situation was pretty low. The pictures suffer a little.
I believe this piece was entitled, "The More The Better." Duh.
The piece was composed of just over 1,000 televisions of various sizes. Most the televisions were blaring their own independent images, but several of them were synchronized to display massive images with like a 10x10 tv spread.
There is a Werner Herzog quote that goes somewhere along the lines of, "Our children will hate us for not throwing grenades into TV stations..." And another that explains that the greatest problem facing mankind is a lack of new, compelling images. I can't decide if i think he would love this or hate it. I'm veering towards the latter.
Elton John's wet dream.
This is what Transformers look like in Korea.
This is a photo of Seoul Land. Walt Disney must be turning in his fucking grave.
Slumbo.
Later in the evening we retired to Kagnam for some Korean BBQ, frozen yogurt, and a session of those sticky pictures all the FOBS from high school used to plaster all over their lockers and key chains... I don't know, maybe that was just my high school.
While I have to admit that my favorite song by Royal Trux at the moment is Lightning Boxer (off the same album as this fine song. The second self titled album- the one with the skulls on it) this song was the first one that really blew my mind. I first heard about this band from my friend John W. who is in my humble opinion a master and scholar of relavent 20th century-contemporary music. The man mans a record label by the name of Holy Mountain and if you don't know you ought to. At any rate, he being a big Rolling Stones fan mentioned that he felt like RT was the modern equivalent of my favorite band, the Rolling Stones. Now I'm not sure if I totally jive with that, but that said, the band rules and shares it's fair share of traits with the greats. The song always reminds me of William S. Burroughs in the G. V. Sant film Drug Store Cowboy- A very positive connection in my mind. I love these modern day outlaw heros & romantics. I hope you do, too.
Preambles first. Now I readily admit I am not computer saavy in the least and have often been drinking before posting (Read Always). While this may not be the highest quality video, I still love it. For fuck's sake the vocals and video are out of synch. This video reminds me of my good Polish friend, Jack Janowski- A prince among thieves, a lord among the lost. The man is ghetto rich. He is broke on the regular, has the bills to prove it and yet he still has the biggest fucking TV I have ever seen. It is on that TV that we would retire back to his house in West Oakland and channel youtube videos of the Stones until our eyes burned or superior senses emerged. It is that feeling of being three sheets to the wind, slumped in an old couch and watching the Stones stilted and out of synch that this video reminds me of. It is my favorite Stones song of the moment and I hope you dig.
This is a short film collage by my man Nick Bruno. He is a real swell guy who just loves to chop it up- music, art, and film. I'm pretty sure he's still working at Video Verite, so if anyone catches eyes with him, make sure you tell him I send him my love. I feel like this video is particularly blog worthy, first because I think of all the films in his modest catalog i may like this one the best, although his short film entitled Ornamental Heart does a lot for me as well. Second, because i feel like this video's collage form is postmoderism incarnate, much like the blog. Now I have always been more Hobbesian in my perception of the world (I mention this because J. Locke and Hobbes are often compared to one another in political philosophy) in that I believe that life is a fundamentally, short, brutal, solitary, and a rather cacophonous existence. Be that as it may. I like the film- The images and the poetry. At any rate, dig it.
If you are schmitten with the man's work please view more at the youtube. His handle is FilmbyNick. Duh.
While this is not my favorite song on the album it was the best one I could find during a rudimentary search on the old tube. This guy totally rules. The dude was super handsome and wrote some righteous tunes. I highly recommend the songs, "She belongs to me" and "Hard to Keep My Mind On You." Both songs are about man and his perennial affection for the attractive.
In other news....
Floyd Mayweather, who many considered the best pound for pound fighter prior to his sudden retirement (And it should be noted, pre- Manny Pacquiao hayday), remerged in the ring to take on the Mexican fighter Juan Manuel Marquez. Now let it be known straight off the bat. I'm not a big Mayweather fan. I think the guy is an excellent fighter. Without question an amazing fighter in the same tradition and Pernell Whitker of his father, Floyd Sr. All amazing defensive fighters, all quick as lighting, all very skilled pugilists, all weak on KO power. That said... I don't like the guy. I think he is an immature man who blames his inability to sell a fight and unpopularity on racism, when in fact i think it has more to do with the perception that he is an arrogant prick with a chip on his shoulder. Many have also claimed that he emerged as the greatest in an era when his division was not especially deep. Sure, he fought and beat some amazing fighters. I mean the guys is 40-0 at this point. There's no denying that he has amazing skill. Now however is the time for him to prove his greatness. His weight class is deep, there are some real stellar fighters out there in his division. Now is the time to come out of retirement and prove himself. Anyway, i diverge. What I wanted to comment on is how lame I think it was for Mayweather, a naturally heavier, bulkier, muscular fighter to call a catch weight for the fight ( I believe it was 144 although i know there was some discrepancy about that weight in july when the fight was originally scheduled... but it should be noted that the vague terms were 143 give or take a pound not above.) and then come to weigh in 2 pounds over weight. While this may not seem like a big deal, I would argue it is, although i don't necessarily think it was the deciding factor in the fight. First of all, Marquez is a naturally smaller fighter, considerably smaller. He typically fights around 130 lbs. The man had to gain about 10 lbs for the fight, which meant he had to adjust his speed to that weight. No easy feat. Second, as mentioned before, Mayweather is a larger fighter, he fights more in the 145 to 155 range. Third, you can assume that both of the fighters were denying themselves fluids and making an effort to make weight JUST below the limit. However, Marquez was most likely already pushing himself pretty hard to bring himself up to the fighting weight while still maintaining his speed and agility, therefore we can assume he probably isn't gaining much weight after weigh in, maybe 5 pounds, tops. Mayweather on the other hand is a naturally heavier fighter and we can assume, that he is going to gain much more weight after the weigh in. Likely, Marquez came into the ring somwhere around 148-150 whereas Mayweather, who weighed in at 146 was probably coming in somewhere around 155. Now as I said before, I don't think that this was a deciding factor in the fight. I think Mayweather probably would have won regardless. He is quicker, stronger, and a better boxer... he lacks Marquez's heart, but simply put, he has a better skill set. I do however think that it was disrespectful for Mayweather to not take the weight in seriously enough to make it. He could have, he was a partner in agreeing to it, he just did not show the discipline to make it and discipline i have to think is a fighters most prized asset. I feel for old Marquez getting hit with an extra few pounds over the course of 36 minutes... It isn't sportsman like. At any rate, this sets the stage for a premier fight in about 6-12 months for a bout between the winner of the Cotto v. Pacquiao fight in november. I eagerly anticipate it, A) Because I would love to see Floyd beat and B) because i think the likely match up of Pacquiao v. Mayweather to be a rather exciting if unsure fight. Enough said. The next few months are going to be exciting for boxing fans and i hope you stay tuned for my admittedly amateur analysis.
To wrap things up: I have less than 9 weeks left in Koreaville. I shall be returning to the hinterland the third week of November and no later if all goes according to plan. Next week will mark the one year mark of my sojourn from the great city of Portland. I miss you lady Portland and hopefully we will share embraces soon.
Bam. That's it. I'll be posting something at least bi weekly from here on out. there I said It.
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