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"