Thursday, August 11, 2011

Waste Land


I recently watched a documentary about the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, who makes art out of various household materials including dirt, string, sugar, chocolate, and garbage. Filmed over nearly three years, Waste Land follows Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Muniz is the most compelling modern artist I know about, not only because his art is deeply intellectually engaging and sensually appealing, but because he manages to champion social causes without being preachy. I am extremely inspired by his willingness to take a position and positively affect the communities he documents and interacts with. In this film, Muniz meets workers who make a living by salvaging recyclable materials form the dump. He then photographs them and creates enormous reproductions of these portraits out of materials gathered form the dump. He then photographs these reproductions and creates large prints, which are the finished work. These are sold at auction, and the proceeds are donated to the community of pickers at the dump, enabling them to significantly improve their lives through the aegis of their collective association.
This artist totally rocks my world. To me, he is the shining example of why art matters. I think every artist has a duty to point out the inequality and injustice in the world and try to shine a light on it, and eventually to kick inequality in the nuts. Art that is not politically engaged in some way just doesn't matter. Not only that, but Muniz is a very wealthy man who realizes that financial success is not only meaningless but actually morally wrong if it is not used to better the lives of those less fortunate.
On a personal note, Muniz lives on the same street as my sister in Brooklyn, and I have seen him walking into his apartment/studio once or twice, but I have never met him. In 2001, my band member Quentin Jennings was commissioned to make the music for a documentary about Muniz, who was starting to gain international notoriety. The film is called "Worst Possible Illusion" and Jennings enlisted me and other members of my band Melomane to record some of the soundtrack. One of the songs eventually evolved into a song called Buddha Statue that the band recorded and released on our second album Solresol. The main theme was Jennings original piece for the film, and we added lyrics inspired by the destruction of the giant buddha statues perpetrated by the Taliban at the time. So the themes of art, politics and waste all come full circle! Here it is for your listening enjoyment.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Protest at the Plaza


On March 8, 2011, I was working at the Plaza for an event for Bank of America when some protestors interrupted the meeting. I was sitting about ten feet from these two guys who snuck in, unfurled a banner, started yelling and disrupted the meeting. I wanted to stand up and cheer but I was working as a video engineer, on the payroll of B of A. This is the part of my life that makes me very conflicted, but I do it to pay the bills. I am trying to phase out this kind of work because life is very short and you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. Or in my case, both.
This video is from their own posting on Youtube. Enjoy.

"Connecting" with "friends" in Minneapolis

7/30/11
I am in Minnesota, staying at the Hilton in Bloomington. I am here on business, taking part in top secret corporate espionage. There is a wedding going on in the lobby. The bride is a woman of Laotian extraction. I met some of her bridesmaids in the lobby this evening and I heard them speaking a language which I assumed to be Cambodian. When they informed me it was a mix of Laotian and Cambodian, I told them I had been to Cambodia and Laos and found them to be beautiful countries. They were very drunk and immediately accused me of going to south east Asia for some sexual tourism. I tried to tell them that I was there with my wife to travel and discover their beautiful country, but they would have none of it. They were very defensive and convinced I was there to sleep with young Laotian whores. 
This is the legacy of Western sex tourism in their region. They treat me like a whoremonger and assume that I see them as whores. They soon go back to their iPhones.
Everywhere I go, everyone has his face buried in his "smartphone." It is a mechanism to avoid human connection. I am outside in front of the Hilton, enjoying a balmy summer night, hoping to strike up a conversation with a Midwestern local, and all around me I see people with their faces in their apparati, “connecting” with their “friends.” A sad state of affairs indeed.

Welcome to ONALOG

The world has been waiting in desperation and darkness for me to unveil my erudite and trenchant observations, so I will deprive it no longer... Here is my Personal Log, shortened to "ONALOG" for the overstimulated, harried and savvy public. I travel a lot and have access to some pretty interesting places, situations and people, thanks to my strange occupation in corporate espionage, as well as my touring life as a musician. So you, dear readers, will reap the benefits of this access, filtered though my canny and discerning intellect.This will be a record of my travels, observations, and rantings. It might get political, it might be a preview of some of the new music I'm making or listening to, and there might be some samples of my writings and music from years past. I'm not really sure, I'm just winging it. I can't guarantee it will be funny or true, but I promise it will be almost 100% grammatically correct and free of spelling errors. Bon appetit!