July 8, 2011
Jean-Yves Prieur (b.1964), aka Kid Loco is a French electronic musician, DJ, remixer and producer. His style has been compared to Air and Dimitri from Paris. His best-known album is ‘A Grand Love Story’ (1997), and he has also compiled and mixed a DJ mix album for the ‘Another Late Night’ series on Azuli Records.
He has worked with Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp), with Italian band The Transistors (Maurizio Mansueti and Luca Cirillo) and Glasgow bands A Band Called Quinn and Mogwai, and produced the album ‘Too Late To Die Young’ by the British group, Departure Lounge.
Posted in Art, World |
Leave a Comment »
July 5, 2011
Christopher Mercer (b. 1985), more commonly known as Rusko, is an English dubstep record producer and DJ. He made his production debut in 2006 on Dub Police with the song ‘SNES Dub.’
Steering away from the darker side of Dubstep, Rusko brought an upbeat sound to the scene that appealed to many outside the community. Rusko’s extremely successful hit ‘Cockney Thug’ has appeared on various DJ sets and mixes.
Posted in Art, Technology, World |
2 Comments »
July 4, 2011
Robert Anton Wilson (1932 – 2007) was a futurist thinker, libertarian, and writer. He held a Ph.D in Psychology. At one time he was a writer for Playboy magazine. Wilson was the author of the ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’ trilogy (1979). He also co-wrote (with Robert Shea) the ‘Illuminatus!’ trilogy (1975), which took a humorous look at the American fear of conspiracies. These books mix true facts with fiction. In ‘The Cosmic Trigger’ (1976), he introduced Discordianism, Sufism, futurism, the Illuminati and other unusual subjects to the general public. He also worked with Timothy Leary to promote futurist ideas of space migration, life extension, and intelligence enhancement.
Recognized as an episkopos, pope, and saint of Discordianism, Wilson helped publicize the group. He described his work as an ‘attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth.’ His goal being ‘to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything.’
read more »
Posted in Humor, Language, Philosophy |
Leave a Comment »
July 4, 2011
La Malinche (c. 1496 – 1529) was an indigenous woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who played a role in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, acting as interpreter, advisor, lover and intermediary for Hernán Cortés. She was one of twenty slaves given to Cortés by the natives of Tabasco in 1519. Later she became a mistress to Cortés and gave birth to his first son, Martín, who is considered one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous American ancestry).
The historical figure of Marina has been intermixed with Aztec legends. Her reputation has been altered over the years according to changing social and political perspectives, especially after the Mexican Revolution, when she was portrayed in dramas, novels, and paintings as an evil or scheming temptress. In Mexico today, La Malinche remains iconically potent. She is understood in various and often conflicting aspects, as the embodiment of treachery, the quintessential victim, or simply as symbolic mother of the new Mexican people. Her sexual relationship to Cortés gave rise to the pejorative term La Chingada (‘the fucked one’). The term ‘malinchista’ refers to a disloyal Mexican.
read more »
Posted in Language, Politics, World |
Leave a Comment »
July 3, 2011
Ted McCarty (1910 – 2001) was a pioneer of electric guitar design and production. This began when he was chosen as vice president of the of Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1949, then later as president from 1950 to 1966. This period became known as Gibson’s golden age of electric guitars. During his tenure, Les Paul’s electric guitar design, the first solid-body guitar produced by Gibson, came to fruition. The Gibson Les Paul later became the company’s flagship solid body.
Never satisfied, McCarty sought to create a hybrid design that would combine the sustain of a solid-body electric with the mellow warmth of a hollow-body. The ES-335 was created as a ‘semi-hollow,’ with both a central block running the length of the guitar and hollow wings. McCarty was also responsible for the development of the Tune-o-matic bridge system, the humbucking pickup, and the Explorer, Flying V, Moderne, SG and Firebird guitars. Like Leo Fender, McCarty never played the guitar. He instead talked with every guitarist he could in order to find out what guitar players were interested in.
Posted in Art, Money, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
July 3, 2011
Mr Bingo (b. 1979) is an illustrator living and working in London. He describes himself as having a ‘slightly smaller than average’ head and ‘girl’s arms,’ plus ‘the same haircut as his mum.’ He includes amongst his influences ‘[the] local ASDA supermarket, thick humans, fat humans, dogs who wear clothes, the British abroad, overheard conversations and juvenile graffiti.’
A selection of his work can be found on his website, and he has created a number of limited edition silkscreen prints which can be viewed online, and (so far) consist of ‘Hair portraits’ – famous ‘faces,’ illustrated only by their hair.
Posted in Art, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
July 3, 2011
Steve Buscemi (b. 1957) is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred in successful Hollywood and indie films including ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ ‘Fargo,’ ‘The Big Lebowski,’ ‘Armageddon,’ and’ Big Fish. Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Dorothy, who worked as a hostess at Howard Johnson’s, and John Buscemi, a sanitation worker and Korean War veteran. Buscemi’s father was of Sicilian descent, his ancestors from Menfi, and his mother was of part Irish ancestry. He has three brothers: Jon, Ken, and Michael, and was raised Roman Catholic.
Buscemi often plays characters that are neurotic and paranoid. He has appeared in a number of films by the Coen Brothers, in which he tends to die in a grisly, prolonged or unexpected manner. He frequently provides comic relief in Adam Sandler films such as ‘Airheads,’ ‘Billy Madison,’ ‘The Wedding Singer,’ and ‘Big Daddy.’
Posted in Art |
3 Comments »
July 3, 2011
Alan Aldridge is a UK artist and illustrator based out of Los Angeles. Aldridge first worked as an illustrator at ‘The Sunday Times Magazine.’ He was hired in 1965 by Penguin’s chief editor Tony Godwin to become the art director of Penguin Books. Over the next two years as art director, he especially focused on science fiction book covers and introduced his style which resonated with the mood of the time. In 1968 he moved to his own graphic-design firm, INK, which became closely involved with graphic images for the Beatles and Apple Corps.
His work is characterized by a flowing, cartoony style and soft airbrushing – very much in step with the psychedelic styles of the times. In the theater, in 1969 he designed the graphics for controversial Jane Arden play ‘Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven.’ He is possibly best known, however, for the picture book ‘The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper Feast’ (1973), a series of illustrations of anthropomorphic insects and other creatures, which he created in collaboration with William Plomer, who wrote the accompanying verses. This was based on William Roscoe’s poem of the same name, but was inspired when Aldridge read that John Tenniel had told Lewis Carroll it was impossible to draw a ‘wasp in a wig’.
Posted in Art |
Leave a Comment »
June 30, 2011
John Pasche is an art designer, most famous for designing the ‘Tongue and Lip Design’ logo for the popular band The Rolling Stones. He designed four tour posters for the Rolling Stones between 1970 and 1974, and also worked for other reputed artists, such as Paul McCartney, The Who, The Stranglers and Dr Feelgood. He works as a freelance designer in Surrey, UK, and he still remains a fan of the band.
Pasche designed the ‘Tongue and Lip Design’ logo in 1971, which was originally reproduced on the ‘Sticky Fingers’ album. In what was perhaps one of the first cases of rock brand marketing, Jagger reportedly approached the Royal College of Art in 1969 looking to commission images for the band. Pasche designed the logo and ended up working for the Stones. ‘Face to face with him, the first thing you were aware of was the size of his lips and his mouth,’ Pasche said.
Posted in Art, Money |
Leave a Comment »
June 30, 2011
Mati Klarwein (1932 – 2002) was a painter best known for his works used on the covers of music albums. Klarwein was born in Hamburg, Germany. His family was of Jewish origin and fled to the British Mandate of Palestine when he was two years old, after the rise of Nazi Germany.
In 1948 when the territory became Israel, his family traveled to Paris. There Mati studied with French painter, Fernand Léger. Later, he traveled south to Saint-Tropez and met Austrian artist, Ernst Fuchs, who would have a profound influence on him. Leaving France in the 1950s, Klarwein traveled widely and lived in many different countries, including Tibet, India, Bali, North Africa, Turkey, Europe and the Americas. He settled in New York City in the early 1960s.
read more »
Posted in Art, Drugs |
Leave a Comment »
June 29, 2011
Sun Ra (1914 – 1993), born Herman Poole Blount, was a prolific jazz artist and philosopher known for his ‘cosmic’ music and philosophies. His eclectic music and unorthodox lifestyle made him controversial. Claiming that he was of the ‘Angel Race’ and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra developed a complex persona using ‘cosmic’ philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of afrofuturism. He preached awareness and peace above all.
He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the Egyptian God of the Sun), and used several other names throughout his career, including Le Sonra and Sonny Lee. Sun Ra denied any connection with his birth name, saying ‘That’s an imaginary person, never existed … Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym.’
read more »
Posted in Art, Humor, Philosophy |
Leave a Comment »
June 28, 2011
Barry Cooper (b. 1969) is an anti-drug-war lecturer known for his DVD series, ‘Never Get Busted’ and his reality show, KopBusters. Cooper formerly served as a law enforcement officer. Before his career in law enforcement, he trained dogs in obedience, hunting, and working with livestock. He was later hired by the Big Sandy Police Department as an interdiction officer in East Texas and trained his own narcotic detection dog.
As a law enforcement officer, Cooper confiscated large amounts of illegal narcotics and drug money. Cooper cited that he began to notice that people who were arrested for possession of marijuana were nonviolent and cooperative in contrast to the people that were arrested for violations while intoxicated on alcohol who ‘[…] would fight and scream and act crazy.’ He also noted being deeply affected by the emotional trauma he witnessed while participating in home narcotic raids with other officers attired in raid gear and ‘more guns than we would ever need.’ Cooper also stated, ‘We’re sending the kids to the department of human services, we’re sending the parents to jail over marijuana. Well, I knew some of these people and I knew they weren’t gangsters. I knew they were nonviolent people.’ He quit law enforcement soon after.
Posted in Drugs, Politics |
1 Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 