Black Lives Matter.

After reading and thinking about other people’s thoughts and ideas on how to fix this- Here’s some stuff that will maybe get me canceled but hear me out. We have a race problem no doubt, but especially after seeing all of these horrific police videos, we clearly also have(and have always had) a police problem. They are intertwined and also separate. This is maybe something like what the “I don’t see color” people are trying to say even though it just comes off as racist.. Institutional racism also doesn’t see color. Sadly I think we need police. There are too many mfers I don’t trust out there to not have them and we don’t want right wing 2nd amendment nra militia dudes doing the policing for us. Evil is in the world, as we have seen many times, and not just in our government and the greed of the ruling class. Rapists, scammers, con people, human traffickers, hackers, identity thiefs, deed pirates(?) etc...Most “crime” however, probably even in some of these instances, is not a product of evil. First, we need better cops, and better policing. Cops who can think, assess, empathize, help people, and can uphold justice, who don’t beat the shit out of people and uh, don’t see color. We need anti violence policies and more conflict de-escalation training, way way more. We need cops to protect and serve everyone and not just the rich and powerful. We need an extremely high standard to serve as an officer of the law because it is a VERY hard job. We need to be able to respect them so they can respect us. We need to be able to hold them accountable but also we need to be able to understand when they make a mistake because it is not fair to expect someone to never make a mistake. Unfortunately police mistakes cost lives. Some of us probably have family who have been on the force, my great grandfather was apparently a cop in NYC and died from an injury he got while on duty, hopefully he wasn’t an asshole but thats totally irrelevant. I’ve had plenty of encounters with shitty cops, in many of which, no make that every single one, I definitely benefitted from my white privilege and I can’t recall ever being physically assaulted in any way. If I was black in those situations, I would almost certainly have ended up in prison or maybe dead. I’ve also met some really nice cops, some POC, while working in the DA’s office and other jobs, who just deal with horrible shit all of the time but still manage to be sweet positive people. I think this is what some of the “all lives matter” people are trying to say even though it is extremely dismissive and disrespectful of institutional racism black people face every day- none of us truly understand what being a cop is like in these times, and there has been a lot of reform(effective or not) in the past decade or so. Even that asshole in Montgomery County, I can almost see where he’s coming from, but he is a fascist turd and definitely part of the problem. I’m not trying to be a pig apologist and the ACAB people are totally justified, but have you met all cops? To quote Boots Riley: “The only way for cops to feel like they are doing the right thing- the only way for them to function in their job- is for them to subscribe to racist notions of violence, crime, and poverty- even if the cop themselves is Black or POC.” We need social justice and prison reform. We need to prosecute the crimes of the ruling class. We need to decriminalize addiction and poverty. We need mental health treatment. Then we need to divert resources currently going to brutalizing citizens forced into those crimes for other things like libraries, schools(start teaching about race in america early on), arts, science, healthcare, etc. We need real leadership and not a tyrant idiot going on and on about “law and order” aka more police brutality, institutional racism, poverty and thus crime. We need to give these cops a better chance to not make a mistake. We need to thank them for the sacrifices they make and for putting their lives on the line to protect people and for improving communities when they engage with them the right way. We need to end police brutality. We need to end militarization against citizens. We need to fix the problems that cause police brutality and we need to not blame all cops for those problems. We need to recognize that minorities are victims in this society that forces police to victimize them, and we need to end that. We need justice for George Floyd, Freddie Gray and Breonna Taylor and all the rest whose lives were taken so tragically and neglectfully and we need these incidents to stop happening so frequently that we can barely keep track or take note of them. Of course we need to educate ourselves and vote, in local and national elections. I honestly don’t know how we can end racism which is REAL and scary and sad, so we just need to rally together against it, often, and say it, just fucking say it: BLACK LIVES MATTER- and do our part in confronting it and addressing it in ourselves(I have) and our friends and families, keep an open mind and LISTEN to the voices of minorities, LGBTQ, etc...until one day it eventually dies out. Whatever we do we gotta do it right now. And a lot of white people are probably thinking hey, I exist, I matter and I have a voice too which is true, but our voices don’t really matter right now. Though I do hope some folks have read this wether they are white, black, men women, red, blue, or whatever in between. Why do I feel like I have said all this before?

Cheap Extermination

Hello readers. It's been a while. 2012 has been an amazing year so far. I am very excited to announce a film I did the Sound Design for called "Cheap Extermination" has been selected to screen at the Midnight Shorts Competition as part of the 2012 SXSW Festival in Austin, TX. It was directed by my good friend Minka Farthing Kohl.

Cheap Extermination Trailer (short) from Minka on Vimeo.

http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_FS12563/

New zine announcement coming VERY shortly!

Japan Benefit

Third in a series of Benefit shows I am doing this weekend to raise money for the disaster relief effort in Japan. Awesome lineup come check it out and support a worthy cause!

HOUSE OF SHAME

A poem I wrote while living in Tokyo in 2007.


Disaster can strike at any moment
I can live with it but I won’t look at it

Burnable by night
Intense inhale by day

Shut the door and listen
To the inaudible

Panic may hurt you
Especially after drinking

I converse with illusions
And stay up late believing in them

I walk in the path of falling objects
Yet remain unharmed

Unable to let my hair grow
At the mercy of the Tokai

There’s a price to pay for silence
And thinking of ourselves

As we fly over this planet of a silent sun
Like the wind blowing through the trees at night

Trapped in this house of shame
Will there be anyone to hold you as it falls

I HATE MOVING

But Flying Lotus is helping.

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers from Warp Records on Vimeo.

One of these days I will find the place I can stay in for a while, you know? But who wants to be stuck in the same place forever? If you understand what I'm talking about, maybe we should talk about living together...

Amazing Bollywood Youtube Videos and the Amazing Comments People Post About Them

From the film Jaanbaaz, Sri Devi performs the song "Har Kisi Ko Nahin Milta" ...I have recently been doing some deep youtube research on the subject of the Illuminati and its use of popular figures in the entertainment industry to corrupt the people of the world and steer their souls towards satan, or whatever...But I had not been exposed to any international examples of Illuminati subliminal manipulation...Until now:

ssehram
2 weeks ago
The Vatican Snake in RED... The WOMAN in
red... DEVIL.... This how India was "OCCULTED" by Illuminati Zionist from
Zionist Devils...  You got what you asked for guys.. enjoy.. War, cigars,
Drugs, Adultery, Alcohol, Music- worse than drugs and Psychotoc Diseases... end
is already here... The few who follow The Right Path still HOLDING guard...

ssehram
2 weeks ago
SRIDEVI ... is definitely an ILLUMINATI
plant.... looks NOT Indian but a SUBLIMINAL "indian" name "sridevi".... how
could we get this DUPED? The Woman is Totally.. ILLUMINATI clone.... Totally
"European Nazi Zionist Clone"... DUPED.. on Big Screen..!!!!!!!!!!!

A truly chilling insight, Mr. Sehram. It is the brave souls such as yourselves who open our eyes to the evil practices of those who would wish to plant demonic imagery in our minds. What's even more commendable is that you have completely eliminated the possibility of missing the message, by deliberately emphasizing with quotations several phrases such as the harrowing: "European Nazi Zionist Clone." Totally.


Although I have a feeling this 1996 film called Dushmun Duniya Ka is not nearly as sweet as this clip from it (and really couldn't make much sense if this is a real clip from the movie), the track is nothing less than tight in all of its chill-dub-psych-funk stoniness. The comments however, have sparked a vague interest in the film's plot, which from what I can gather is a dude's struggle to quit smoking weed.

smartom1
1 year ago 4
this song was played atleast 100
times in a day by us in 1996 ...we were all lost in the world of nasha and is
was duva duva all the time but now when I watch it i realise the reality how
bad is drugs its ok just to taste it for fun but friends pls dont continue pls
quit drugs...overall an awsome song understand the meaning and quit drugs right
now and everything will be fine its possible to quit yes its possible

1298086
6 months ago
smoky time song...cant
forget

This clear contrast of sentiment speaks to the tendency of internet commenters to argue and bicker behind user names and avatars with the rage of a blasphemed deity. One friend pointed out to me the severity of this rage when he likened a furious anti-haters rant by recording artist Dam Funk at a recent concert to a "youtube comment reply." The examples are plentiful; I urge you my friends to simply bring up some of your favorite youtube videos and scroll down through a few comments, or just surf some random videos and see how much more entertaining they become.

Oscar Wilde

Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

-Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Pieter Hugo's Nollywood

http://www.michaelstevenson.com/contemporary/exhibitions/hugo/nollywood_index.htm

In preparation for a DJ set of afrobeat I'm doing at Barbarella(upstairs at the Barbary) I randomly stumbled upon the work of this South African photographer who photographed actors of the Nigerian film industry in costume and makeup, but in bleak and decayed urban settings rather than on an actual film set.

Nollywood is the third largest film industry in the world, releasing between 500 and 1 000 movies each year. It produces movies on its own terms, telling stories that appeal to and reflect the lives of its public: it is a rare instance of self-representation on such a scale in Africa. The continent has a rich tradition of story-telling that has been expressed abundantly through oral and written fiction, but has never been conveyed through the popular media before. Stars are local actors; plots confront the public with familiar situations of romance, comedy, witchcraft, bribery, prostitution. The narrative is overdramatic, deprived of happy endings, tragic. The aesthetic is loud, violent, excessive; nothing is said, everything is shouted.

A lot of comments were posted on the blog I found this on calling the work 'exploitative' and 'distasteful' but I'm really digging the extreme horrific imagery with the post-apocalyptic looking backgrounds found somewhere on the streets of Enugu.


Hugo gained some notoriety for another exhibit called "The Hyena and Other Men" depicting a group of Nigerian street performers with Hyenas on chain leashes who had been mistakenly labeled by a Nigerian newspaper as "bank robbers, bodyguards, drug dealers, debt collectors."


Here is what Hugo has to say on his website about the reaction to this series:

Many animal-rights groups also contacted me, wanting to intervene (however, the keepers have permits from the Nigerian government). When I asked Nigerians, “How do you feel about the way they treat animals”, the question confused people. Their responses always involved issues of economic survival. Seldom did anyone express strong concern for the well-being of the creatures. Europeans invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals but this question misses the point. Instead, perhaps, we could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living. Or why they are economically marginalised. Or why Nigeria, the world’s sixth largest exporter of oil, is in such a state of disarray.

It seems to me like the real purpose of the work is to pay cultural homage to a group of people often made out to be monsters. Maybe this guy is in a way exploiting the economic woes of a struggling nation but hey, isn't a lot of good art exploiting something?

Nite Market

A mix I put together of party music from faraway lands. Feel free to download so you can listen to it in your car on the way to the beach or jam it at your bbq.

NITEMARKETmix by shinjo

1. Asha Bhosle - "Dum Maro Dum"
2. Black Blood - "a.i.e (a'mwana)"
3. Armando Trovaioli - "Quante Bella Giovinezza"
4. Khong Khao Noi Mea Ka 99 - "Crazy Song"
5. Super Eagles - "Love's a Real Thing"
6. Bzunesh Begele - "Tegel Nèw"
7. Asha Bhosle - "Lekar Ham Diwana Dil"
8. Fela Kuti - "Ye ye de smell"
9. Chaba Zahouania - "Goulou Limma"

Summer Blues

The last show I put together at the Woodstove was for some great people who just moved to Philadelphia called Blues Control. So glad to finally have them on a bill. I was also super psyched to have Hot Guts and Serpents of W.I.S.D.O.M. from the Badmaster fam and Brooklyn's PC Worship on Shdwply. Huge thanks to Sofie Hodara for making a great poster.

Currently working on finding a new place to live and of course Volume 6. Updates soon! Hope everyone has a great 4th of July Weekend...

Concrete et cetera

So there's this guy Marshall. Marshall is a friend of mine. He lives in this place called VWVOFFKA, which is also a DIY gallery on Frankford Ave. They are doing this neat show for the month of june all about Concrete Poetry. Instead of trying to explain what that is I will paste Marshall's own words (straight from the facebook invite) as I often do when I post about events on here.

Here at VWVOFFKA, June is the month of concrete ideas, visual word balance, and asymmetric semantics. This month's exhibit pays tribute to the Concrete Poetry movement that took the English language by storm, forcing words off the pages and spewing them into the focal point of physical reality. But that was born over half a century ago. Now along with the advent of new technologies, the pen is in a different hand, bringing new light to the fluidity of language. Concrete, et cetera will include works by Masha Badinter, Claire Buchanan, Sofie Hodara, Marshall James Kavanaugh, Ingrid Pimsner, Steve Streisguth, and Jenna Wilchinsky.

Also special live performances by:
Ghosts of Pasha http://www.myspace.com/ghostsofpasha
Dark Surfers & the yawns http://www.myspace.com/chrisyaple
+1 more tba

Refreshments will be provided. Opening is on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 and starts at 6pm. Join us!

Our gallery hours are as follows, in case you miss the grand opening reception:
Wednesday 11am-2pm
Saturday 12pm-5pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm

The gallery is at 2037 Frankford Ave right next to Perpetua. Copies of the 4000 Flavors Poetry issue will be on hand.

You may have noticed this is my first post since Feburary, which is indeed a shame. I wish I could say that I had a good reason for that, but looking back on the time since that last post, I'm not quite sure where it all went. Maybe part of the reason is that there is sometimes an overwhelming amount of things happening to post about. To be honest not a whole lot has happened in 2010 that I have been psyched about. But for those of you who are reading, please bear with me, I will surely have some things to tell you about very soon.

Florida in the Midwest

I'm spending the next two weeks helping out my friend Dan's band from Brooklyn called Florida with a tour through the midwest. The tour is to support their new 7" on Shdwply records called "Haunted House." I did a small tour with them over the summer for their "Icarus" 7".

Here is a link to download the new 7"

All of the shows are with the Minneapolis psych pop band Velvet Davenport. The tour starts tonight in Chicago, then heads east for a couple shows in New York and one in Philly before swinging back around and finishing up with a final show in Minneapolis with Harry Merry from Holland.

I set up the philly show at Danger Danger Gallery, which my other band, The Spooks, will also play. I also asked Nymph from Brooklyn and Philly's Ideath(Russell from Man Man, Buffalo Stance, Columboid, Icy Demons, Coyote, Lewis & Clarke, etc...) to play. It should be an awesome night, here is the flier that a friend of mine named Dan Hughes put together.

Last week before the tour started we went up to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie NY to do a show with Sore Eros and Teeth Mountain. Before the show we did a live set on the Vassar radio station, WVKR. Listen to the session here.

It's pretty exciting to be on the road with these rad bands but I am looking forward to getting home and sleeping in my bed again. Not to mention getting back to work on the next issue of flavs, which will hopefully be ready by april.

End of Days, Why Not You?

Mississippian R. Cole Furlow a.k.a. Dead Gaze just sent me a link to his newest tape, titled "End of Days, Why Not You?" My last post was a video for the track "Back and Forth." The song makes me think of Animal Collective playing Beck all lo-fi'd out. I tried so hard to get a show together with them on my band's recent tour down south but nothing ended up happening which is a giant shame. Hopefully I will get to see them at SxSW in March if things work out. I'm also hoping to get them to come up to philly some time in the near future, so look out.

This might not be up for very long, so move quick.

Download here.

Dead Gaze

I am loving the shit out of this band from Jackson right now, and this video, "Back and Forth"

DEAD GAZE - Back and Forth from DEAD GAZE on Vimeo.

Gary War @ Tritone

Shdwply Records' master of lo-fi psych Gary War is coming to Philadelphia next month and I am super excited to have gotten the chance to do a show for him. It will be at Tritone Sunday December 13th at 9pm. This dude has put out some amazing stuff and worked with killer artists like Ariel Pink & more. From Shdwply's site:

"...When an act comes along such as Gary War that seems to conjure the ever-changing zeitgeist of psychedelia out of the ether, it's remarkable...His tonal insobriety, from one song to the next is a true sign of the times, where artists are driven to explore different avenues, melding genres, vocal styles and instrumentation to arrive somewhere new.." -Victim Of Time on "New Raytheonport"

"Gary War is taking sonic wizardry to levels as yet uncharted by man. While we sleep he is fashioning lyric webs like a yellow brick path thru the rawest of the honest..." -La Maladie Tropicale

"The best modern psych sounds bar none" -Volcanic Tongue on "Zontag" 7"

Operating out of New York City, current Gary War releases include "New Raytheonport" LP (SHDWPLY), "Zontag" 7" (Sacred Bones), "Anhedonic Man" one-sided 7" (Hell Yes!), "Opens-Live at WFMU" Cassette (Captured Tracks), "Horribles Parade" LP (Sacred Bones) and "Galactic Citizens" 12" ep (Captured Tracks).

Don't miss it! Info on 4000 Flavors Volume 6 coming soon!

Birds of Maya @ Woodstove This Saturday

show at my house on saturday november 7th featuring:

Birds of Maya - Philly heavy blues/stoner rock Holy Mountain Records

http://www.myspace.com/birdsofmaya

Motion Turns it On - Houston progressive indie Chocolate Lab Records CD Release Tour

http://www.myspace.com/motionturnsiton

Brick & Mortar - Tom's River, NJ (electro/world/indie...mr. bungle, secret chiefs 3, etc..)

http://www.myspace.com/brickmortar

Seasons - Philly indie grunge noise (90s alt, sonic youth, drive like jehu, etc...)

http://www.myspace.com/seasonsband

@ Woodstove 1712 n 2nd st rear (enter on philips st.)

Safe and happy Halloween!

Spiral Q Needs Your Help!

Here is an email I got from Alice Manos:

Hey everyone!

Greetings from Spiral Q Puppet Theater! You are getting this email because you participated in making giant puppets with Spiral Q artists in September, and Spiral Q wants to let you know that....

The 10th Annual Peoplehood Parade and Pageant is Saturday October 17 at 1 PM at 50th and Walnut! The parade walks through West Philly to Clark Park (45th & Chester) for the pageant at 2 PM.

Right now, we need your help finishing puppets and parade art for Peoplehood. We will be at the Spiral Q studio at 3114 Spring Garden Street today, Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 11 AM- 10 PM. Come join us and bring your friends! The more the merrier!

If you want to play a role in the pageant, we invite you to come to Peoplehood rehearsal this Sunday, October 11 from 12-6 PM at Clark Park at 45th and Chester. No experience necessary. Come learn how to handle a giant puppet!

We are still looking for groups and organizations to be in the parade! If your school/group/organization wants to be in the parade, please call Ted at 215-222-6979 as soon as you can! Groups must talk to Ted before walking in the parade, but if you want to walk in the parade with your friends and family, just show up at 12 noon on October 17th at the Paul Robeson House at 4951 Walnut.

We are also still looking for volunteers the day of Peoplehood! If you want to be a parade marshal, help load and unload puppets, or be helpful in another way please call Alice at 215-222-6979.



We hope to see you very soon!

Alice Manos and the rest of the Spiral Q Crew!

http://www.spiralq.org/peoplehood.html

On Tour w/ Florida & Columboid

I am currently on the road playing bass for the band Florida. They are bringing along Columboid, who is fronted by my brother Ryan. I am also playing bass for them. Florida is touring for their new 7-inch  on shdwply records.. The 45 rpm record has a 3-D cover, and comes packaged with 3D glasses.

www.myspace.com/plasticpalms

www.myspace.com/columboid

Here are the dates:

8/27 Brooklyn, NY @ Silent Barn
8/28 Philadelphia, PA @ Danger Danger Gallery
8/29 Norfolk, VA @ The Boot
8/30 Raleigh, NC @ Treetown Showspace
8/31 Myrtle Beach, SC @ Basement
9/1 Athens, GA @ Go Bar
9/2 Nashville. TN @ TBA
9/3 Greenboro, NC @ The Green Bean
9/4 Washington DC @ The Velvet Lounge
9/5 Stroudsburg, PA @ Mollies

Bringing zines to sell along the way!

Also wanted to let everyone know I am registered for a table at this year's Philly Zine Fest Sunday September 20th @ the Rotunda 12-6pm. 4014 Walnut St. West Philly. Lots of sweet books, art, music, distros, crafts, workshops, etc... Very excited for this!  

Volume 5 Jam

Moving on to the next issue of four thousand flavors, this one is all poetry written by folks like Will Hannan, Mallory Fisher, Victoria Tresko + more. The cover was designed and printed by my man Chris "Snacks" Kline, the creator of a zine called "Real Raw." 

The party is at the ol' Woodstove once again, yet this time we will also be celebrating my becoming the newest member of the household.

Catholic Block (Philly)
Columboid (NYC)
Mass shivers (Chicago)
Cave Paintings (Philly

8 pm $5

From 2nd and Cecil B Moore go west and make a right on philips st.

you knock me off of my feet