Oy!

Dear Readers, we will no longer be updating this blog. Please direct your browsers to the new Free News blog at the Free News Projects site for the new blog. When you get to the page, just scroll down to read it.

Thank you for your readership, and we hope you continue to read on at the new location.

Selah.
Jayson Musson

worst call ever

you know what the worst call ever is, reader?

no, not the "baby, i'm late" call. be real. you probably didn't even think about that girl anymore. $275 from now you probably won't ever think about her again. i mean, if we're being real.

no, the worst call ever is the "why aren't you at practice" call. it's the call you get when you've told your coach, "yeah, i'll be there tomorrow morning," then stayed out way past your bedtime, woke up to your alarm, thought "fuck that," snuggled into your down comforter that your mom got you last christmas, and fell back asleep. it's the call that says, "i am here, motherfucker. i am here because you said that you were going to be here, and now you are wasting my time."

the call itself doesn't actually say that. the accompanying text message/voicemail does all the talking. it blends in equal parts of "you are a fucking asshole" and "i just hate to see you waste all this potential and talent" (the kind of blending that you thought only your mother--the same one that gave you that nifty comforter last year--could manage).

when you (and by you, i mean me. when was the last time you disappointed your boxing coach by missing practice, reader? be real.) get this i-can't-believe-you-aren't-here-you-little-shitass call...well, it just wrecks your whole day. because you know you're going to see this dude the next time you go to the gym (most likely tomorrow; you don't want to miss too many practices--your abs will turn to flan), and you know he's going to ask you what happened to you. it will be in this half-joking tone, "whatsa matta? you read the wrong date on ya calenda or somethin?" but the facial expression spitting out the words will say "you better have something interesting to tell me."

so you spend all day today thinking of excuses, because you can't tell your boxing coach, "listen, i didn't come to practice because last night i just needed to dance. i got to the club, and they had $1 vodka before 11 (and you know i gotta make every dollar count in today's stringent economy), and then this dude that i think is so dreamy (and didn't even really think was going to come out, but really--if i'm being real--maybe thismuch hoped would be there) showed up, and he was giving me The Look. so then i found myself in a book warehouse at 5:16am, thinking about the clever and coy things i could say to make him spread me like a winning poker hand, before realizing that he was too coked-out to be of any use to anyone sexually (especially not me), and that i would have a better chance of trying to have a gratifying hookup w/ a muppet. by the time i stopped at 7-11, bought 2 hotdogs and a bottle of orange juice, got home, checked my email, and watched 1/2 of st. elmo's fire on hulu, it was damn near 7 in the morning. and you know i gotta get my beauty rest."

do you think he wants to hear that? hell no he doesn't.

so there you are, sweating your way through a load of laundry, the second 1/2 of st. elmo's fire, a quick jill-off session, a shift at work, and 2 post-work beers, thinking of things to tell him. "i got called into work at the last minute" occurs to you. so does, "i woke up feeling really queasy--i even missed my shift at the restaurant." or "my car wouldn't start, and my friend tony had to give me a ride to pep boys so i could get a new battery." these are all very, very good excuses and, knowing you (and by you, i mean me), they would be delivered with the utmost sincerity. you know what, though, reader? it doesn't matter one lick what you tell that man. because even as you feed him up that plate of bullshit, wide-eyed and innocent, you know he is seeing through every word of it, and you feel just awful about it. so all you can really do is try try try not to be such a shitass in the future.

but lord knows it ain't easy.

i guess what i'm trying to say is this--the new year's off to a rocky start.

4:30 am

did you know that, as a boxer, i'm supposed to get up at 4:30 am every day? every day. they expect me to be rising and shining at 4:30 am, when it's all i can do to drag my sorry ass out of bed by 1:30 pm on the daily regular--and, truth be told, the only reason i'm even making that time slot is because i have enough time to jerk off and drink a redbull before i have to be at work.

4:30 am. fucking ridiculous.

my coach tells me 4:30 am is the ideal time to go for a run (oh yeah--i forgot. not just rising and shining, but rising, shining and running on a daily basis. ha!). he says the air is at it's cleanest, what with the dew and the "renewal of the earth," and stuff. he says when he runs at 4:30 am, the air is so clean that he tries to take bites of it, just running and gulping in these huge lungfuls of fresh, crisp air.

i myself doubt that there is any point (even the middle of the night) where the air in philadelphia is "fresh" or "crisp," but that is neither here nor there.

so. i have been avoiding this am wake-up call like the plague, pleading work-related fatigue. but here it is--2009. the dawn of a new era. it's time for me to pull up my big girl pants and set my alarm. i figure if i want to be punching bitches on the regular by spring, this is something i need to get going on.

i'll let you know how it goes.

hello

my name is mollie. i was asked, as a boxer and roller derby participant ("roller derbyer?" "roller derbyist?") to write about my experiences as a female in physically agressive athletic sports.

so i'm gonna.

In a town called London, at a party called Smash & Grab

(NOTE: I haven't really posted in awhile because I've been on tour for the majority of the summer, so I apologize for leaving you guys hanging, but it's really hard to concentrate on writing when you spend most of your time cursing and rapping (really one and the same) and grabbing your dick on stage. Also, I feel somewhat compelled to apologize for this particular post as my first post 'back' being that it is more relevant to fashion than to art or music or cultural type high-brow stuffs that one would expect from this blue blooded blog (sounds gay, right?). But this is the internet and not no motherfucking Yale, so here it is, you cretins.)



If you're trying to hit on woman at a pro-life rally in Nebraska, wearing a 'Choose Life' t-shirt would prove to be pussy getting gold. But wearing such a t-shirt to a night club and trying to get ass is like chaining boulders to your wrists and trying play Nintendo Wii bowling. Thasshits hard son. I mean, I like irony as much as the next disaffected young intellectual, but anti-abortion anything at a club is fucking creepy. So this fella wearing such a shirt screams that he (A) when it comes to women he has the confidence of Jay-Z and that the quality of his pick-up game out factors the pedo/child rapest-ness of his fashion choice and also (B) that it's okay to let him hit it raw because his sperm is as weak as decaf and thus by default he's anti-abortion because he never has to worry about babies like the rest of us folk who enjoy unprotected sex.

I think he's a definite candidate for King of the Dance Party.

Skullphone Speaks (via computer)

I sat down in front of my computer the other day and had a video/instant message chat with Skullphone discussing his latest projects, the L.A. billboard scandal and general theories behind his work...

SKULLPHONE- hey!

FNP- hey

FNP-so... Skullphone

SKULLPHONE- yes?

FNP- How has your Life been lately?

SKULLPHONE-hectic, good hectic, but hectic hectic

FNP- busy?... the last time i talked to you , you were preparing a show in New York

SKULLPHONE-oh right, at Lit Lounge. That was nuts...that show went up right after the digital billboard fiasco went down in Los Angeles. The billboards went up friday of easter weekend and i bought a ticket to New York that Sunday...

FNP- How did you get called out to show there?

SKULLPHONE- Eric Foss and I met a while back, maybe a year or so ago, and asked if i would be down to install the Lit Lounge "smoking room"

FNP- I love the Lit Lounge..did you destroy the place?

SKULLPHONE- I can only remember rolling up to the place everyday with my hoodie, and the nervousness of the billboards i had left behing in L.A. But there was work to do so it was a good distraction.
(pause)
Im looking back, it was good to be gone from satellite cameras on the west coast.

FNP- So the smoking room of the Lit Lounge is not the regular gallery space there?

SKULLPHONE- The Fuse gallery may be what you are thinking of but no i did not have a show there. We're talking about the smoking room, a room in the far back of the gallery where bands and VIP's hang out and you can line dance on a giant steel HR Gieger table.

FNP- woah that sounds cool, your exhibited work seems to take a natural position within its surroundings.

SKULLPHONE- curveballs around every corner...

FNP-yes its like walking into the bathroom of Max Fish, that is one of my favorite "gallerys"

SKULLPHONE- What was the question?

FNP- well its seems natural to the back room of a bar to have gritty imagery, how did you feel about providing such an atmosphere?

SKULLPHONE- ah it was perfect. that week of my life there was no place i would rather be than in the bowels of america, i was there and it was good.

FNP- or was it nice to escape L.A., the billboard fiasco you speak of...were you sweatin the hype? what went down exactly?

SKULLPHONE-well having anything written up about you about the security protocols of America is not exactly, uh, comforting. Im still in a fetal position really.

FNP-yeah i think the original exposure and context used in the press was questionable...after all of you were providing an abstract message via inconventional means...i applaud that

FNP- that is what it is all about right?

SKULLPHONE- yes and no, as shallow and flat as everything im working on may seem, there is a huge depth of intake. Ive limited my output like a bottleneck, so ive many times reduced the imagery to Skullphone alone, and the placement is the anchor. With the billboards, there was a huge subconcious backdrop of approval that didnt get confronted till afterward. and for a good reason. if i'd thought of every angle i might not have been strong enough for the heat, but "but if you cant take a hit, you aint worth a shit" as Lee Bob would say. Does anyone else feel the world sucking on them like a black hole? It was more of an indication of that, a marker.

FNP- at any rate, you made some sort of impact whatever the general public thinks...they are still forced to contemplate the imagery.

SKULLPHONE- i can say it wasnt intended as a hype project since nothing ive ever done recieves more than a "i saw it on youtube" a year later.

FNP- and the imagery is restricted down to a skull on the phone. i have also seen the pegasus which you represented in my gallery and then there is the baby with lightning bolt wings, they are all quite fascinating in there own right...do they tell a story of armageddon?

SKULLPHONE-its more like the digital age really shaping up, sort of like when freeways swept across America after world war 2. Have you ever seen Felinni's 8 1/2?

FNP-no

SKULLPHONE- its a movie about him making a movie and all the while the cast members are asking what are my lines? and those are the lines.

FNP- hmmph, Well that brings me to your most recent show at Riverside Art Museum. The show had a strong environmental feel to it, it seemed your art displayed was only a small piece of the environment around it.















The photos you sent me of the install show your work utilizing unused and somewhat odd spaces of the museum...what exactly did you show?

SKULLPHONE-ha ha i showed my stickers. I was first thinking of launching into something grander but then reality hit. This is Riverside, sort of a sleepy town, why not show what i would normally show in this type of town, and yet with a sense of sadness show what may not be.

SKULLPHONE- The alcoves were cutouts of this anytown USA.











































































This was the starting point of the show. From there i wanted to know what other spaces of the museum were unused,. I asked Lee (the curator) and Daniel (the director) where their storage was, where the basement was, and whats behind locked doors...and then i told them i wanted to install some stuff that would never be available to the public.
Thats when i think Daniel got on board and realized this isnt some slapstick shmuck who simply wants to "get up" and self promote etc." in asterick and questions.

FNP-yes, i saw you had a full sized digital billboard hardly visable in some storage area...like it must look amazing if only i could climb back there and look directly at it..did you want people to struggle with that idea?

SKULLPHONE- it was definitely a contrast to the alcoves installations which are reminiscent of a natural history museum with a taxidermied wolves standing on a hillside. i was working on that and trying really fucking hard to to be honest with myself and anyone else clearing through there.
and the billboards were a recent advent, something misunderstood, by myself even, if thats possible. I wasnt ready for it, the bloggers that is, and the bloggers couldnt look past the packaging. So i threw a digital billboard back into the storage of the gallery with all their document filing.
A huge broken billboard in storage, circulating the eight different images that skullphone shared space with up there, like the brady bunch.

FNP- i feel the billboard stashed n the storage room, sticker on a dumpster or parking meter may come off as more of a natural instalation than a wolf on a hillside. Thats what i love about L.A. and any other city for that matter.
our natural atmosphere is not always what we expect, nor do we have an explanation for everything. That is what attracted me to your imagery in the first place, confusion...and being able to forge my own idea about what it means.

SKULLPHONE-well, thats why i am a working artist, my work isnt yet done, and perhaps it takes too much work for someone to figure out when digging in, and for them to conclude its an inch deep and a mile long, thats not the outcome of the confusion im hoping for. Theres those who see my work at face value as cool for being illegal or "cool", and thats not a seal of approval for me either, i have yet to properly inspire perhaps....

FNP-thats debateable

SKULLPHONE- what?

FNP- what indeed.

A (very) brief interview with Aaron Rose.

Recently I was asked by a magazine that will remain unnamed here, to do a brief write up on Make Something From Nothing a documentary by Mr. Rose and Sidetrack Films on the Beautiful Losers artists, of which many of you are familiar with. I was asked by my editor to shoot a few questions over to Aaron Rose, founder of the late Alleged Gallery in NYC and also co-founder of ANP Quarterly. The piece I wrote was super short and I barely included anything from Mr. Rose due to spacial constraints, so I decided to put his full responses here on this mighty blog. This is hardly an interview per se, but I just didn't want to have this lost...

JM: The Alleged Gallery became an inspiration for many young artists, which resulted in the forming of many art collectives and co-op galleries such as Space1026 in Philly and Fort Thunder in Providence, and in effect started a movement of family amongst artists. What do you think the role of these collectives/communities are in today’s art world? And do you have advice for young collectives?

AR: I think the idea of collectives and the inspiration to form a collective is incredibly important in today’s art climate. The art world can be a big scary industry with lots of misinformation floating around. It can be very valuable to have a group of peers that you can lean on for advice, not just about the business part, but the creative stuff too. In my experience, there is nothing more valuable than an “artist to artist” conversation. Screw the galleries and dealers. They usually have ulterior motives for their advice. Doing things with/for your friends, even after you are successful is still the best way to go. In terms of advice, I guess the one thing I’ve seen over and over again with “collectives” is that they expose themselves too fast. It’s so important to grow slowly. That way you can make mistakes and figure out exactly what you’re about before the stakes are too high. I’ve seen so many flashes in the pan in recent years and I attribute it all to artists getting exposure too soon. Hide your stuff!! You’ll be happy you did.

JM: And this may sound corny, but how much does love factor into your time operating Alleged? After watching Make Something From Nothing, it seems like love is a huge part of why anybody ever did anything though obviously there are a million reasons why anybody would make art or run a gallery, but it just seemed like love is the thing that keeps folks persevering through all the ups and downs.

AR: It’s all about love. I think that’s most peoples motivation in life anyway. I think that even money motivated people somehow are doing that to find love, so why not just keep it honest? In my career I’ve noticed that while sometimes the love motivation (meaning the love of art and making things) has made it perhaps more of an uphill battle at times, the story is just SO much better. When I look back now at all the crazy cool things we have made for no other reason than just because we wanted to see it. Things that were unsellable, unpopular, or just downright ridiculous! Man, those memories are the best. The Beautiful Losers movie is the same kind of deal. We poured so much love into that film! That made it difficult at times, but the payoff now is so great! People really seem to respond to it, to FEEL something from it. I think all the energy we put into making it is part of the reason that it works. I don’t think love is corny. Love is the best.

Graffitti Research Lab and Skullphone Technology vs Graffiti

Its the 08's and more and more everyday people are using new creative ways to inject us with there "poison ideas"...I kinda love it!

and here is our pal Skullphone gettin up on Melrose

Swoon and Monica Canilao's Feral Show at Luggage Store Gallery

The definition of the word "feral" is as follows, A feral organism is one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to its wild state. Rarely will a local environment perfectly integrate the feral organism into its established ecology. Therefore, feral animals and plants can cause disruption or extinction to some indigenous species, affecting wilderness and other fragile ecosystems.

The collaborative exhibition of artists Swoon and Monica Canilao at Luggage Store gallery in San Francisco immersed the viewer into a world of folktale and americana.




The combined visions of the artists displayed visions of "feral" women and children nesting amongst lost city landscapes and shanty towns.






Distictively, Monica's work is often constructed of found materials such as hair, yarn, wood and paper, returning these items as beautiful works of art back into a world of love, hope and mysticism.



Swoon uses a traditional method of woodcut prints and cutouts and is dedicated to affixing the delicate images to our common landscape adding meaning and complexity to an often dull or torn landscape.


The artwork of Monica Canilao and Kyle Ranson will be shown in a full scale instalation at our home Space 1026 Philadelphia in August 2008 guest curated by Derek Ihnat.

Kyle Ranson

relevant links
www.luggagestoregallery.org
www.wewillallbewell.com
www.kyledamonranson.com
www.space1026.com

Bill McRight & Alex Lukas speaking tomorrow at The Print Center

Here's the info, it would behoove you to come by, as both Lukas and McRight are fantastic gents, and super talented artistsé who could quite possibly impart some information that may change your life. F'real.



Saturday, April 19, 2:00–3:00pm


Bill McRight + Alex Lukas
Both members of the artist collective Space 1026, McRight creates strange and fantastical creatures for magazines, sidewalks, walls and skateboards. He has worked with Cannonball Press, Saturday Skateboards, Swindle Magazine and Mishka NYC. Lukas, originally from Cambridge, MA creates ‘zines under the name Cantab Publishing. His work has been seen in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles as well as in Swindle Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times Book Review.


The Print Center is located at 1614 Latimer Street, which is between 16th and 17th, between Spruce St. and Locust St.

See you'se tomorrow! Afterward we can go to McGlinchey's and ponder life in McGlinchey's dark sanctum of booze.

MAN MAN invades Brooklyn

Having known several members of Man Man as coworkers over the past ten years, I never took the oppurtunity to actually go see the band live. As part of my daily regimin I have always shared a frequent conversation or a passing joke with them. For me this was enough and they simply inspired me as friends, but i always promised myself I would go see the band live but was saving it for a special occasion.
Thus brings me to the past week when I shot a text over to Chang Wang regarding the Brooklyn show at the intimate Masonic Temple. Chang was much obliged to give me VIP treatment and off to Brooklyn I went. Due to incliment weather, google mapquest and road construction I didnt arrive until about 11 oclock, but upon entry I realized the band had had the room ripped into a complete frenzy. The stage was packed with every instrument imaginable, each member playing any one of three or more instruments at a given time. The gyspy chanting and ragbaging songs of the five man circus meshed together into a rhythmic calamity directing the crowd to simply forget any inhibition. Songs from the new Album Rabbit Habits were sewn tightly together with songs from the past 3 albums for a sold out crowd.
All of Man Mans "nights out on the town" are all selling out. The vision of Man Man has a profoundly validated music's sensibilities, leaving us with the treasure of their melodic tales.
Try to say that all in one breath. Epic.
www.wearemanman.com

An Interview With a Vampire, I mean Lynndie England

A really great interview with Ms. Abu Ghraib herself, 4 years after the prison scandal broke. She's one dumb bitch. Just saying. But an interesting thing that comes to light in this interview is the complicity of military intelligence during the events at Abu Ghraib and that such treatment of Iraqi prisoners was encouraged and deemed highly useful in the 'breaking' of prisoners for information. That's how war goes I guess. Waddaiknow?

Read the interview here.

Let's all hope that she can get past this embarrassing episode in her life and land that job at Staples.

Barry Mcgee Up For Grabs

Artist Barry Mcgee most commonly known for his grafitti and painting work has one of his grafitti "action shots" of famed graf artist RYZE up for sale on Aaron Roses' "iconoclast" website (home of "Beautiful Losers"). These photos are often part of his massive installations and capture an amazing look inside "criminal" expression. Here are a couple shots of an install featuring this piece as well as other "action photos".









for more info visit www.iconoclastusa.com

Bjork Wanderlust Screening 3D!

The elusive Deitch Projects in NYC is featuring Bjorks Wanderust video screening this Thursday...and its in 3d!!!

Geoff Mcfetridge WallPaper

At some point you may have seen the work of Geoff Mcfetridge. Famed for his graphic design aesthetic. he has quite a record of infuencing modern art today. Various projects he has worked on include the bubble letter work in the opening of the film "The Virgin Suicides", title design for the television show "Freaks and Geeks" as well as brand designs for the skateboard company Chocolate. You may have see this classic released by 2ktshirts...























or maybe you have seen some of his fine art like the work recently featured in RVCA's ANP Quarterly









Now for the diehard fans of Geoff Mcfetridge, he has recently started his own wallpaper company entitled Pottock.
Several designs are created using eco-friendly hand printing methods for your walls. Finally i can enclose myself in the cartoon world of Geoff Mcfetridge. www.pottockprints.com

Black Like Me. 3-05-08

After many months away from the workforce, sitting in the lap of luxurious unemployment, I decided that it was high time that I rejoin my fellow citizens as a wage earner, so I got a nice little job working in a nice little coffee shop. A really cool one to boot. Have you ever hung out in a coffee shop? They're weird places. I think many years ago they were nexuses for ideas and what could’ve been called 'interesting folk', places where I guess the beats or communists hung out, or if you were a beat, you'd probably want to hang around the 'coloreds' and their mystifying jazz music. In any event, whoever these interesting folks from history may have been, the world may never know because the records have been distorted by Caucasian middleclass obsession with the exotic, so we just have mere conjecture to rely on when it comes to what this purported ‘cool in the café’ was.

Nowadays cafes are more akin to libraries and they are havens for detestable yuppies and grad students. And hey, nothing is wrong with being successful or career oriented, but what happened to the interesting folks? What happened to the musician turned junkie with his junkie musician sob stories, trying to sell his guitar for some Oxycontin? What happened to Jean Paul Sartre? Is he hanging in the coffee shops any more?

Is that annoying motherfucker who buys one cup of coffee and sits around for 6 hours using the coffee shop internet, who then has the nerve to complain about the coffee shop’s internet connection, is that dude Jean Paul Sartre? Nah, he’s just a cocksucker. And that predatorial, middle-aged homosexual man who comes in every night to prey on that solitary boy reading Bret Easton Ellis, is he Jean Paul Sartre? Nah, he’s literally a cocksucker. And that solitary boy reading Bret Easton Ellis, hoping beyond hopes that a girl will notice him and the book he’s reading, and walk over to his table to engage him in meaningful conversation about how awesome Mr. Ellis’s work is, and that somehow this will lead back to his apartment where she will felate him while he recites his favorite passage from The Wasteland, is that kid Jean Paul Sartre? Nah, he’s a cocksucker with no game. And it is my fellow coworkers who must deal with this circus of cocksuckery. My fellow barista who must attend to those who keep asking for a medium cup when the huge fucking sign behind the register clearly states “NO MEDIUM!”

What? Can’t you cocksuckers read?

We love A Certain Ratio

Stefan Sagmeister at Deitch Projects (The Shit is Bananas)

Things I Have learned in my Life so Far
Deitch Projects (Closed as of February 23rd)

Even though my nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of something rotten I was as pleased as I would be if I had run into a very dear acquaintance that I hadn't seen in thirty years when I walked into Deitch on Grand and saw that Stefan Sagmeister had control of the area. Sagmeister is mostly known for graphic design that borders on art, so it was cool to see his artwork as art that borders on graphic design, not that any of those distinctions really matter anymore.



Rotten bananas and what they used to say.

Dipping into Mr. Sagmeister's head is a familiar place, comfortable like looking through old Ed Ruscha monographs on a rainy day. His way of thinking is off-beat but popular and he's someone you can depend on. His artwork sympathizes with your existence, it's a shoulder to lean on and a pick-me-up when times are rough. If at times you wonder if you might be looking at an ad or video that belongs on MTV-- hell, get over it and listen to the things Stefan Sagmeister has to tell you.


Installation view of a room with a large inflatable monkey. . .you can find much better flicks of the whole show at Deitch.


An image by Stefan Sagmeister

BANDS PLAY MUISIC AT COPY SUNDAY

This Sunday at Copy Gallery: BANDS PLAY MUSIC



Sisters

The Muggabears

Paper Napkin

Geordi's Visor

Starts at 8. Free, but donations make us happy.

Copy Gallery: 319 n. 11th St. 3rd floor.

Today's Track

Wizz Jones - No More Time to Try

from the album Right Now

AIRHORN: Juiceboxxx over Myspace

For those who don’t know, Juiceboxxx is a Milwaukee based rapper and producer who is akin to that proverbial bullet proof vest that Ol’ Dirty Bastard once proclaimed to be “The truth to the youth.” Juice’s music has a vitality and innocence you rarely find in any music nowadays, let alone rap. And in terms of that faithful genre known as party music it’s good to know that there are folks still out on the floor, on some pure shit, letting the dancing and the sweat do it’s thing.

As the title above so boldly suggests, this following interview was done over the fantastic new age vehicle known as Myspace. This was Juiceboxxx’s idea, and I was all for it. The only editing I did was to put the earlier parts of our exchanges first (on top), instead of having them at the bottom of the interview, as they would normally appear in a Myspace inbox. I figured that it would be too annoying to read through if I left it in tact in that fashion, and you know that I do care about making things easy for you, Reader.

But other than that, there are no changes. No spelling or grammar checks at all. Just two fellows chatting on the curbside of the information superhighway. Hey, while I’m on the subject, is the internet even considered the “Information Super Highway” anymore? Is that term passé? Is it just the internet now? HELP ME, BAG HUTCH™!



----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: jayson
Date: Jan 26, 2008 8:56 AM


yo Juice, this is jayson from Plastic Little, would it be possible to interview you for this art blog that i'm doing based out of philly? it would be brief, just email you a few questions, or if you were on the east coast i could do it in person.

thanks man.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: JUICEBOXXX
Date: Jan 27, 2008 1:06 PM


yea totally lets do it
OVER MYSPACE
ill only do it if we can do it over myspace

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: jayson
Date: Jan 27, 2008 5:10 PM


ahahha! well, it is for a blog, so myspace is legit. i'll call it JUICE OVER MYSPACE. i'll only write it while on the tiolet.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: JUICEBOXXX
Date: Feb 17, 2008 7:15 PM


yo just hit me up whenever U want 2 do THIS

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: jayson
Date: Feb 18, 2008 4:59 AM



i'll send you some questions today/tonight. im in england right now, and i havent been able to get a good internet connection at these fucking hotels.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: JUICEBOXXX
Date: Feb 18, 2008 12:26 PM


awesome
totally forgot yr on tour!
opening for dizzee nontheless
woaaah heavy
jb

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: jayson
Date: Feb 19, 2008 11:59 AM


Yo juice! here are some questions i came up with yesterday. Theyre sorta random, so i apologize for that, but i'm living off of cheese sandwiches and coca-cola right now. feel free to answer them in anyway you'd like. ignore those that you'd like to. Thanks homie.


First off, Milwaukee. Tell me how you ended up there. Born and raised? Or a transplant from some other far off city? If so, where are you from originally and what was that place like?

What's the Milwaukee music scene like?

When you were a wee lad, what did you want to grow up to be?

How did you get into rap music? Was it like the "soundtrack to your childhod"?

What kind of music did your parents like?

When did you first start rapping? Who were your early influences?

How'd you hook up with Dre Skull?

Could you describe the type of music you make?

I consider you the closest thing that rap music has to a 'motivational speaker' and I mean that in the most uncorny and flattering way possible. At your live shows, you do a great deal to break the performer-audience barrier in a very positive manner. Could you describe how and why you came to perform in the style that you do?


Did you ever think that rapping would get you ladies?

Did you ever think that rapping would make you rich?

Arch-nemesises?

What are some of your goals you have for your music?


Got any rap horror stories?

How was it like touring with Bonde? Did kurt treat you right?

Do you do anything else besides make music?

Is there anything right now that your particularly interested in, like art, music, food, book wise?

If Nas ruled the world he'd free all his sons. If Juiceboxx ruled the world, what would he do?

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: JUICEBOXXX
Date: Feb 19, 2008 12:44 PM


First off, Milwaukee. Tell me how you ended up there. Born and raised? Or a transplant from some other far off city? If so, where are you from originally and what was that place like?

BORN IN ILLINOIS RAISED IN WISCONSIN. MEQUON, WISCONSIN, 10 MIN AWAY FROM MILWAUKEE. FROM A YOUNG AGE MUSIC WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. I WAS IN MY FIRST BAND WHEN I WAS 14. WE PLAYED ALL THE ROCK CLUBS.

What's the Milwaukee music scene like?

GREAT BASEMENT SHOW SCENE, REALLY ROWDY. MILWAUKEE IS A DRINKING TOWN. SOME OF THE BEST SHOWS I’VE EVER SEEN/PLAYED HAVE BEEN IN A BASEMENT IN MILWAUKEE. IT IS ALSO VERY CHEAP TO LIVE HERE.

When you were a wee lad, what did you want to grow up to be?

EVER SINCE I WAS 13 OR SO, MUSIC HAS BEEN MY FOCUS. I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT LIKE I'M DOING IT NOW THOUGH. I JUST KEPT PRESSING ON, MOVING FOWARD, HAVING FUN ALL ALONG THE WAY. NOW I’M 21 YEARS OLD, DON’T HAVE A “REAL” JOB AND MY PARENTS DON’T SUPPORT ME. I’M LIVING THE DREAM AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED BUT I STILL HAVE A LOT OF MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB.

How did you get into rap music? Was it like the "soundtrack to your childhod"?

THE RADIO STATIONS "HOT 102" AND "V 100" IN MILWAUKEE WERE IMPORTANT TO ME AT A YOUNG AGE, ALTHOUGH I WAS ALWAYS LISTENING TO MULTIPLE GENRES. ALSO GETTING A LESSON ABOUT SOUTHERN RAP THROUGH THE MUSIC VIDEO STATION "THE BOX" THAT FOR SOME REASON CAME THRU WITHOUT CABLE. THE "MAKE EM SAY UGH" VIDEO WOULD PLAY LIKE 10 TIMES IN A ROW, BECAUSE EVERYONE REQUESTED IT. I STARTED LISTENING TO COLLEGE RADIO AROUND THE AGE OF 12, AND THAT GOT ME HEAVILY INTO THE INDIE RAP SCENE AT THE TIME AS WELL AS PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING ELSE.

What kind of music did your parents like?

PRETTY TYPICAL BABY BOOMER FODDER, BUT THEY NEVER THUMBED THEIR NOSES AT WHAT I WAS INTO AND GAVE ME RIDES TO SHOWS WHEN I NEEDED THEM. THEY KNEW HOW IMPORTANT THAT SHIT WAS TO ME.

When did you first start rapping? Who were your early influences?

JUICEBOXXX STARTED WHEN I WAS 15. I WAS HEAVILY INFLUNCED BY OLD SCHOOL RAP AND NO LIMIT RECORDS STYLE STUFF I SAW ON THE BOX, AS WELL AS A LOT OF INDIE RAP I WAS EXPOSED TO AT THE TIME.

How'd you hook up with Dre Skull?

WE MET WHEN I WAS ON TOUR WITH AIRBRAINS AND POTATO IN 2005. ONE OF OUR FIRST BONDING X-PERIENCES WAS SWEATING IT OUT AT CLUB CHOICES IN BALTIMORE ALONGSIDE A MOTELY CRU OF FREAKS.

Could you describe the type of music you make?

I MAKE MUSIC THAT IS INFLUENCED BY EVERYTHING I LOVE AND GROUNDED IN RAP. MOST OF IT IS DANCEABLE. I’M JUST TRYING TO MAKE NEW EXICTING SHIT. I’M A RAPPER AND A PRODUCER. I MAKE BEATS AND I MAKE RHYMES.

I consider you the closest thing that rap music has to a 'motivational speaker' and I mean that in the most uncorny and flattering way possible. At your live shows, you do a great deal to break the performer-audience barrier in a very positive manner. Could you describe how and why you came to perform in the style that you do?

I WANT TO REACH KIDS BEACUSE I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE REACHED. I KNOW HOW POWERFUL THIS SHIT (MUSIC) REALLY IS. IT HAS GOTTEN ME THRU LIFE AND I KNOW I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE. TO ME SPRINGSTEEN IS A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, NAS IS A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER. FUCK IT, JUST LISTENING TO MUSIC IN AND OF ITSELF IS MOTIVATIONAL, AND INSPIRATIONAL. AS FAR AS LIVE SHOWS GO, I JUST WANT TO PUT ON A THE BEST SHOW I CAN AND GIVE THE KIDS A CHANCE TO LET IT ALL OUT. IF THAT MEANS I’M FUCKING SHIT UP IN THE CROWD, COOL. I WANT TO GIVE IT ALL I GOT, EVERYTIME.

Got any rap horror stories?

I PLAY A LOT OF WEIRD SHOWS BUT THAT’S HOW YOU GROW. YOU GOTTA KEEP PRESSING ON, AND PUSHING YOURSELF. I THINK THAT’S THE KEY TO BECOMING A BETTER PERFORMER. IT HAS HELPED ME A LOT. BRING IT ON!


How was it like touring with Bonde? Did kurt treat you right?

TOURING WITH BONDE, KURT, AND MARCO WAS A PLEASURE. I LOVE BEING ON THE ROAD, AND EVERYONE INVOLVED ON THAT TOUR WERE AMAZING PEOPLE THAT I ENJOY SPENDING TIME WITH.

What are some of your goals you have for your music?

I WANT TO MAKE THE BEST MUSIC THAT I CAN POSSIBLY MAKE. I AM INFLUENCED BY A LOT OF STUFF, I’M ALWAYS JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE IT WORK. I WANT TO MAKE IT WORK. I WILL MAKE IT WORK. I AM MAKING IT WORK. IN THE FUTURE I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE IT WORK BETTER. YOU CAN ALWAYS GO HIGHER, PUSH IT FURTHER. NOW IS THE TIME TO PUSH IT. I FEEL A DEEP SENSE OF URGENCY.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: jayson
Date: Feb 20, 2008 11:14 AM


this is awesome Juice, thank you. I'm keeping this shit true to the myspace format, and am going to pretty much post it as we exchanged messages. Cinema verite and shit.



Juiceboxxx on MYSPACE
Juiceboxxx on YOUTUBE

Today's Track

Here is THEE perfect Valentine's Day track, though a day late. I challenge that if you don't receive chills when the audience joins in for the second time, at the 4:27 mark, then you are simply not human. Jesus Christ. Sam lays it the fuck down.

Sam Cooke - It's All Right/(I Love You) for Sentimental Reasons

From Live at the Harlem Square Club (1963)

I love you,

-Steven

Albert Reyes and Ian Johnson out in SF

Ian Johnson and Albert Reyes just put up a sick show out at whitewalls in SF. Rumour has it Albert will be in Philly later this year showing with Matt Furie...

Steve Powers Raincoats

I was hoping if i blogged enough about Steve Powers he would call me his best friend and give me one of these sweet raincoats...ironically enough its snowing and sleeting out and i would be more apt to frame and hang one on my wall, so maybe ill spend my tax refund and send him 1500...each one is made to order...tempting...
www.firstandfifteenth.com

Graffiti on the Front line

US soldiers took to Iraq not only war and pain, or peace and freedom, as you prefer to conceive the situation, but also their cultures. Graffiti as art or vandalism is natural part of contemporary US lifestyle.
Different kind of inscriptions colour, vandalize and communicate on walls, tanks, jeeps, rocks.

Today's Track

Kevin Ayers - Oh My

From Whatevershebringswesing (1971)

Yes!

NEW! Today's Track

I'm Steven. Besides this little introduction, I won't say nothing when I post here. If I do say a thing or two that is the opposite of a nothing, I will do my best to keep it brief and make sure that the thing I say is a Something. Mostly, I will only be posting mp3s of tracks I've lately been keen on. Enjoy(?).

Today's Track:
Michael Hurley - Girl on the Billboard

This song is a legit trucker anthem, written by Del Reeves. Hurley's version is a bit less honky tonk and easier to swallow. From Hurley's Bellemeade Sessions.

AIRHORN: Steve Powers on Daddyism.

Fuck what you heard, citizen, children are fucking scary. Sorry for all the 'fucks' right out of the gate, but if there's anything that can send me fleeing up the hillside for dear life, then it is the premise of being a parent. Cuz, y'know, I'm an artist and shit. I'm supposed to lay in the grass drawing inspiration from dragon flies and homeless people. Walt Whitman once jotted down "I loaf, and invite my soul." he didn't say "I pick up little Sebastian up from daycare and invite my soul." But good old Walt was gay, so he probably would never write that. But I digress, I came here to talk about the seeds, or more specifically, making a seed then raising it up right and exact in this crazy world, while simultaneously overcoming the selfish inclinations that come with being an 'artist' to be a good enough parent and still produce work. In order to help me sort out my thoughts on this subject, I contacted artist and newly papa'd up fellow, Steve Powers aka ESPO, who is currently in Ireland working on an exhibition. Initially when I emailed him, Steve thought I was trying to sell him high quality bean pies. When he realized that I didn’t have any pies for sale, he was admittedly a bit disappointed, but he was still willing to build with the god (me, silly) on the recent developments in his life....

Ohhh, welll... Let me change my trajectory from the Holiday Inn with my half a buzz and my half a pizza that Ellio's would laugh at, and dip into Mulligan’s of Poolbeg street; a hangout for the sports writers in Dublin. It’s a really nice 700 Club type place, except this place is 700 moons old and they pour trays of half filled Guinnesses and top them off as they’re ordered, just to speed things up. One Friday I saw them stack 2 trays, maybe 40 pints just ready to go. That's the demand they’re supplying here. So Mulligan’s is a perfect place to talk about fatherhood and creativity.

I was afraid of, as the wise Greg Nice once told me, "to bring a child into this madness". My girl Maryanne, was even more afraid than I was. Beyond the external world, our gene pools were in need of some chlorine. But once we were married however, I began pressuring her into starting a family. I thought she needed a hobby, but more than that I was exploiting her fear, so that if time ran out, she wouldn’t blame me for not wanting a family. When she called my bluff I protested for a few days but it was decided and it was just a matter of me accepting it.

Acceptance was easy because I was exhausted from my low rent Manhattan social life. Sorry Max Fish, you’ve been good to me (before 7:30 pm) but you’ve been very bad to me (why does your clock go from midnight to four in a blink). If I'm gonna be up all night and feeling like shit, at least let me have something to show for it.

But now we have Malcolm. For 9 months he was Malcolm Martin Mandela (Mahatma to his friends), but that's a lot of pressure for anyone, especially a European mutt. So the day he was born (by a river, not in a tent, in a 20,000 dollar room over the FDR) I named him Malcolm Alchemy Powers - as in "We change him and he changes us". Everybody on both sides of the family hated the middle name but Maryanne held it down with our guiding ethos "Best Idea Wins". Okay, so it may sound a little granola, but beyond a cool sounding name like "Brooklyn Beckham" it’s at least grounded in a fundamental truth: He has changed us. Of course, Maryanne, quick with the knife I showed her how to use said, "Yes, you've changed. You used to drink in bars and now you drink at home."

So I'm home, but I'm a lot clearer on things. There's a lot more "Fuck you, pay me." in my business affairs. There's also a lot more capacity for growth in my creative affairs. It was like, “OK, he's here now. So who are you gonna be? Are you gonna make excuses? Or are you going to come through like daybreak?” All my life I knew that my dad came up short and now I can come up strong and smile. I got that attitude, I got that PMA.

I can and will achieve. Even more so knowing that failure now hurts the three of us, not like before when it was just on me with my girl dealing with me moping. After Malcolm was born I had a real outpouring of work, I really found myself growing, like I got an extra chip in my head. It must be understood that I had a woman I adored for 19 years to do this with, but it really made my world go from flat to round in one crying baby sound.

Steven and Malcom Alchemy Powers

Booty Breeze

saturday morning i woke up in a lady friend's bed without my underwear and pants on. she was sleeping right next to me in all of her clothes... jeans, jacket, hoodie, but no shoes. why did i need to take my pants and underwear off? i dunno. other than being drunk together in a room, we weren't doing anything sexual, but i sure was comfortable until i woke up and felt like i was in one of those dreams where i stand up to answer the teacher's question and realize i'm in my ugly red white and blue striped briefs.

everyone is familiar with that feeling and that feeling kinda sucks, i guess this is why i wear underwear and sweatpants to bed. just underwear in the summer and sweatpants all other times of the year. gigantic sweatpants. cargo sweatpants with elastic at the ankles and a fake fly flap sewn in highlighting the designer's sense of humor. if my sweatpants had a vagina in it i would never need a girlfriend, they're sooooooo comfortable, but i can't wear them all the time, because that would be just plain ridiculous. right?

who takes a grown man in sweatpants seriously anyway? this is why jobs were invented, to give man a reason to get out of his sweatpants. this is why jeans dickies and dress slacks were made, to be worn when the sweatpants and pj's come off. this is why i can't stand girls that wear uggs out in public, to me, uggs are the sweatpants of shoes and should never get worn past the mailbox of your home.

yeah, i despise some uggs and the girls who wear them in public. especially the orange ones that go tanning. they're the most disgusting creatures put on this planet next to botox injecting moms, evangelist, eco-freaks, and boy touching priests. to rant about uggs is quite ridiculous, but you have to excuse me, i've felt this way for a long time, ever since i first checked out a cute girl and looked down at her feet and they were covered up in what i thought were camel humps. bloody appalling. it's sorta like when people use "your" when they mean "you're"... just plain annoying, and somewhere deep inside the grammatically anal corner of your soul, you lose another chunk of respect for that person.

then you remember that i woke up "shirt cocking" in bed next to a friend by accident. either way, i don't have a better suggestion to give ugg wearers, i just know something needs to change. just like with politics and homelessness in this country, something needs to change, and to me, the only efficient way to achieve real change is through extreme acts of violence. soooooooo, with that said, lets all pray for an upswing of ugg hate crimes in the 08.



yeah, hello i'm kurt, i rap and get angry about other peoples clothing choices.

A.V.O.W At Painted Bride

Featuring: Max Lawrence, Jeremy Boyle, Pablo Colapinto, Kara Crombie, Justin Marshall, and Huong Ngo. Curated by Sean Stoops.







Read the review here.

2000 Years of Sculpture

Fleisher/Ollman. The show started on Saturday, February 2nd but their website has not yet been updated to tell me the closing date. Keep checking.

Many, many artists (60+) including Alex DaCorte, Virgil Marti, Micah Danges, Jack Sloss, Marcel Dzama, Picasso, Isaac Resnikoff and Jeff Koons. . .


Alex DaCorte's Accessory.


Anonymous Kachina (Hopi) and Anonymous Untitled (Peruvian, Chancay)

Though I think thinking of 2000 Years of Sculpture as any kind of real survey of sculpture over the past 2000 years would be silly (and the very idea of such a survey might be impossible), the exhibition does a refreshing job of putting art stars, anonyomouses (may not be a word), and local heros from all ages into the same dialogue.

There is a powerful feeling involved with standing in the same room as an Untitled (Mace) ($3,500) dating 200 B.C.-250 A.D. made by an anonymous artists of the Colima Culture of Western Mexico and a Marcel Dzama Cerealart-made multiple ($150) that many of my contemporaries have purchased and made a part of their interior decor. You feel at once as though you may be able to articulate some sort of truth and that it would be impossible to articulate anything about anything at all. In other words: awesome.


Jeff Koons Balloon Dog (Blue)


Marcel Dzama Melting Snowmen canisters

Some might be tempted to call 2000 Years of Sculpture schizophrenic, but I don't think I know those people. As the five paragraph's written to the viewer in Fleisher/Ollman's cute and chatty signature style has slyly pointed out this is the way most of us see already. (". . . this show exists to encourage and empower viewers in the way they already see.) Many of us are involved (some against our will) in a deep dialogue with history as it cycles and rears it's various heads over and over again. We talk in a language of cultural symbols, we dress in them. We reference crazy movies, music, artworks, movements from all eras of history to make metaphors to explain what we are doing at any given moment, and though most of us have to keep an IV to Wikipedia to keep our facts in order (keeping our fingers crossed that Wikipedia has it's facts in order) we don't speak many words before bringing up an earlier time.

So, yeah, applause is in order for 2000 Years of Sculpture.Rad.


Friends Gerik Forston and Carrie Collins pose with the bear? dog? sculpture that is ever-present in Fleisher/Ollman's lobbey


Isaac Resnikoff's Hood (orange) which at once reminds me of a KKK hood and a traffic cone.


Leah Bailis' Corner, looking like a paper Gordon Matta-Clark


Duncan Hewitt's Tiger Hat (that's painted wood).


One more shot of Alex'x very photogenic snake that can't help but remind me of the Damien Hirst "skull" only with cheaper materials.

P.S. My name is Annette Monnier and this is my first post to Free News Projects though I have been blogging art-stuff for a minute. My own blog is here. Sorry for not introducing myself, but I do have a facebook.

P.S.S. For all those other nerds who now have Atari Teenage Riot's "Destroy 2000 years of Culture" in their head, watch/listen to the video here

Philadelphia's Post-Apocalyptical Dream

Wingbowl, bitches.

Alex Lukas, Chris Pew and Amy Casey at Whitewalls in SF

You should stop through Whitewalls and check out this show if you live in the Bay area...

The Dufala Bros. at Fleisher

I had a chance to stop by the latest exhibit at Fleisher in South Philly featuring work by the Dufala Bros. With this exhibit the brothers Steven and Billy created beautifully crude imagery depicting greed related to national resources, public consumption and the problem of overlooking our own within the homeless community. This exhibit is featured at Fleisher Art memorial through Feb 9th.

Topiary Camera

Oversized Hammer

Chaise Lounge with Rat

Rubber Chicken with Breast Implants (available in Cast Iron)

Ak47 with Gurney and oil filled fluid bag

(price- two comprehensive health insurance policies)

For more info visit www.DufalaBrothers.com or www.Fleisher.org

The Art of the Blog

For a quick intro, My name is Derek and I started blogging about 3 years ago. I was living in San Francisco and LA and working with different galleries out there. My first blog was for Juxtapoz covering the 1026 show at Yerba Buena. I have since written about artists such as Yumiko Kayukawa, The Date Farmers, Daniel Johnston, Espo, Shepard Fairey, and others...The power of the blog is refreshing to me because it is a way to reflect my interest to those who may have not had the oppurtunity to see an artists work or show. 

Hi!

Oi! You surprised me! I didn’t see you there, friend. How long have you been standing around here? Not too long I hope. We really don’t get that many visitors around here because not too many folks are willing to make the trek all the way out to this part of the internet. I mean, c’mon now, who wants to read another blog? I sure don’t, and from that lost looking expression on your face, neither do you, but somehow you ended up here, and since I’ve locked the door behind you, you’ve got no choice other than to stay awhile. So cowboy, pop a squat on that milk crate over there, and I’ll tell you where ‘here’ actually is.

Comfy? Good. Okay, my lost friend, ‘Here’ is the Free News Projects blog. ‘What’s Free News Projects?’ you ask? Well, Free News Projects is simply a company that puts out music projects and books by artists that they care about. That’s really it. “Things from the heart that don’t suck.” This isn’t the Free News motto, but in my opinion it sums up the things that come out of Free News.

And like Free News the company, Free News the blog operates under a similar principle. The main goal here is not to inundate this space with information and youtube clips in order to make the blog appear to be a worthwhile stop on the internet. I love breakdancers kicking babies as much as the next person who hates kids, but the goal here is to have things on the blog that we’re actually psyched on and sincerely into as writers, artists, musicians, creative folk, and human beings in general.

What this means is that this blog won’t be updated everyday to seem like we’re on top of shit, because for the most part we’re not. Real life beckons, and I still hold to the antiquated adage that real life isn’t on the internet, but then again I could be wrong; I am from that older generation of cassette tapes, answering machines, VCRs, and Charles in Charge. So to make up for it, and also to make peace with the new generation of savvy internet users, I’ll leave you all with this:




Hahahahaha! Ah shit. I take it all back, it's the internet and the internet is made of magic fun! Let's break out the pinatas!