A scene from on of my all time favorite films. “If….” directed by Lindsay Anderson staring Malcolm McDowell. When I was working on the set of Basquiat, I was talking with Gary Oldman. I mentioned this film and he told me that it was this film and McDowells performance that inspired him with the desire to act.
This scene, an exploration of sexual attraction through the avant-garde and girl that seems as though she was taken right out of a Fernand Léger painting
I just read an article in the March 10th addition of Newsweek Magazine about the late William F. Buckley Jr. I have to be honest and say I did not really know much about this man except that he was the editor and chief and owner/publisher of the National Review and a staunch conservative. In fact at one point in my adolescent life, I thought of him as the embodiment of evil personified as wealthy no neck elitist. Ahhh…. how wrong I was to think that I was so different in my ways of thinking to this man’s. Only in my ignorance. As I read through this article I could not help but kind of admire him. In fact, congruous to mine, this article mentioned many thoughts and positions Buckley promoted in it’s thesis that claims him to be one of if not the key architect of the modern American conservative agenda. Buckley’s route ideals to be that of individualism and a pluralist freedom over the liberal collectivism and it’s dogma that is used to promote discontentment and water down American constitutional freedoms. A battle that I can not avoid as I negotiate the liberal streets of NYC. And I think it’s too bad that I did not pay closer attention to this man’s point of view for armament. Now not without my true form of incredulity, do I think that Buckley was impervious to fault of ignorance and manipulations or that his point of view and influence was too used promote agendas in direct conflict to his own. His life as been that of privilege and fortune however, well spent.
R.I.P. William F. Buckley Jr.
Was recently watching a DVD of “Wild Style.” A movie that I saw on the screen in the Times Square district in 1983 when it was first released. This movie is a document to the true original “Old Skool” hip hop scene.
Listening to the commentary by Fab Five Freddy, a producer and actor in the film, he mention an old saying about Alphabet city in the 80’s
On Avenue A, your A.O.K.
On Avenue B, be careful.
On Avenue C, your crazy.
On Avenue D, your Dead!
This is far from true these days, even though one should always keep aware in the hood. The Alphabet has changed and people don’t refer to it as so. It’s now just referred to as the east village.
I’ve hit a lull with work. Not much has been going on although there is tons to do. Recently I’ve been playing around with Facebook.com. Facebook.com is the third web based networking website that provides a networking platform and interface to link friends and associates. Friendster was the first, then Myspace and now Facebook. Facebook is today’s hype.
Now I’ve been slow in getting on the bandwagon of these cyberspace phenomena. When Friendster hit, I didn’t get it. I know I signed up with an account and had some friends on it but I never used it. So I never really explored its capabilities and what it may offer as a networking tool. It seemed a little abstract for me. I could never really see myself reaching out to strangers or friends of friends on some loose social connection.
Then Myspace hit. This caught on quickly. People seem to love the ability to customize their profile pages adding music, graphics and pictures allowing them to express how cool they are. I kind of liked this idea in theory and set up a page. However, I didn’t really feel like learning the intricacies of setting up the code to customize my page. I do that for my personal website and as you see with my blog, I am perfectly happy with using preprogrammed page themes that are limited in their aesthetic because their function takes priority. Myspace has given birth to a kind of visual anarchy that makes it difficult for me to even view friends and friends of friends’ pages. Also, I never really felt like writing on the walls of their pages and used the internal messaging functions rarely. Again it became another network tool that seemed frivolous and useless to me.
But now there is Facebook. Facebook is a network that I’m exploring more. This is because it is designed in away giving the user less choice in aesthetic but with functionality that is better suited for my purposes. In it’s function it provides a news feed that allows friends to passively promote as well as be updated with the activities of other friends in their network. For me this function is key. Now when I post a blog such as this one in which I feel does not merit a mass email to all my friends and associates, I now have a place that I can syndicate it to those in my network.
Now on another note, I was speaking to a friend of mine and he had told me that Home Land Security and the NSA where directly involved with development of Facebook. This maybe true. Remember… Big Brother is always watching!
Here’s a list of the most notable events and accomplishments of my summer.
I read three Books:
“Wild Town” by Jim Thompson
“Siddartha” by Herman Hesse
“Dombey and Son” by Charles Dickens (Still have 100 pages left of it’s 900)
The most memorable movies I saw for the first time:
The Original “Scarface”
“Public Enemy”
“The Roaring Twenties”
“Angels with Dirty Faces”
“Little Caesar”
“The Quiet Man”
“My Darling Clementine”
“The lives of Others”
“Perfume”
I wrote “A Flower of Discontent” A screenplay for a short film I plan to make.
Did the titles for a few movies:
“Girl in the Park”
“Awake”
“Tenderness” (still in the works)
Bought a compound bow to play with up at my mothers place in PA. (She would not allow me to have a gun so I had to compromise. It’s a lot of fun if you are into precision sports. And with it, I think I might go hunting this up and coming season but not sure if I want to deal with the carcass of a dead thing)
Went out to Oroville CA to visit my good friend Niels and see his new property and boat. (Slept in a tent and also there was no pluming. You do the math.)
Wake boarded for the first time.
Click on picture for video
Attended my good friend Julia’s wedding
Attended a graffiti mural painting event in Trenton NJ with my friends Bee and Jay.
Often when I talk to people from other places they often think that being in close proximity to celebrities is cool. They also think that it is some how beneficial to have that kind of access, specially if your goals are related to their industry. What people forget is that celebrities are people. And wether they became “celebs” due to talent or luck, they are just like you and me. Now I know what I’m writing is old wisdom. I understand… You get it. What I think most over looked is that what the world looks like to a celebrity. It’s a hostle place. Everyone wants something from them. From the people they work with to their fans.
Now the picture above I took last night. I attended a jam the Milk studios has every now and then. I was invited to this one. Andy Summers from the Police was there to jam. I didn’t speak to him. And I wouldn’t know what to say to him either. The only interaction that I had was that he looked at me when I was playing the bongos. He’s musician and as all musicians he has to try to connect with those he plays with. That was the extent of my relation to this rock star. And there is no more to expect.
This summer I’ve met other celebrities in which I’ve shaken their hands. I won’t say who cause I didn’t connect with them like most all the others so it doesn’t matter. Being around people like that I find uncomfortable. You have many feelings. You sometimes feel that you know them. But you don’t. You want them to like you. But they won’t remember you. You want them to connect with you cause you feel that you connect with them. The whole thing kind of sucks. But what’s important to remember is that it sucks for them too.
This evening I went to the Studio Museum in Harlem Located on 125th street btwn Adam Clayton Powell and Lenox ave. It is a very nice museum and the art is good. They had an exhibition of the photos of James Van Der Zee. There was a photo of a Harlem pool hall that I would love to acquire a print of. It takes you back to that time of the Harlem Renaissance. Many of the photos visualized the thoughts I imagined as I was making my way through the streets of Harlem to get to this Museum. However, I must admit that I think that a lot of my thoughts of this vintage aesthetic was also do to the fact that I had just finished watching the original 1932,“Scarface” movie directed by Howard Hawks before I set out for the Museum. I think everyone should see this movie that has only seen the 1983 remake.
At the Museum I was introduced to DJ Spooky (that subliminal kid). He gave me this CD. He said that he had just been in Venice for the Bi-Annual, which included a piece of his work. He also told me that he is working on a film in which people can re-edit and manipulate… I really would like to see this when he is done. Funny thing is that I had actually met him just before he became a start DJ. It was in a record shop on the bowery btwn Bond and Great Jones. I’m not sure how we started talking but I remember that we started to talk about Zakir Hussein. He was and still is very nice and courteous. I’m listening to this CD as I write this but I must admit it is kind of schizophrenic.
This is my midyear report card of my sophomore year in high school. I cherish this relic of my past.
When recently asked why I would want to keep it? My answer was,” I’d like to show it to my kid when he is having trouble with school in his adolescents. I want to show him the proof and know that his father had trouble with school. I want him to know that his report card and experience in high school does not determine the worth of his identity and cap the value of what he will achieve in his lifetime.”
This report card for me is proof of a miracle. If you look closely at it, you will see that the common reason given for my failure is excessive absence. And this was true. I didn’t show up for school most of that whole quarter. But I didn’t fail every class. I passed one. And as the others I did not show and should of failed. Although science can rationalize it as a simple coincidence, I see it as a personal message to me by God or what ever you want to call that thing that is responsible for the cosmic order. Of all the report cards that I’ve had in my education, this one was the truest representation of me, my hope and the faith in my life, at a time when if asked, I would of denied and replied, ” If I had a button that could destroy the world, I would press it!”
On the report card the class is abriviated.
Last night I attended my friend Michael H’s launch party for his new premium denim brand DeHoghton. He asked me to take pictures. His usual motley crew was there. With the likes of Tommy and Andy Hilfiger who are his good friends/brothers from his childhood growing up in Elmira New York. Michael is all about rock’n'roll and his clothes wicked cool.
As I walked home, I ran into Vanina with her new born of 5 months. We spoke for some time. We talked about what we were recently up to. She asked,” Are you an Aquarius?” I replyed,”Why do you ask?” She said,”…well you always have a whole bunch of stuff your doing… you just don’t do one thing. Most Aquarius’s I know are Art Directors cause they alway have their hands in many projects.”
I think she might have an a good insight as to what kind of employment I should seek. Hmmmmm.
This is her baby peacefully asleep.
Last Sunday my latest tattoo was finished. Bee of Tattoo Edge, a friend of mine since I was 3, has been tattooing in NYC long before it was leagalized. It was a 3 stage process. So on the last session I deceided that I would film it and make a little movie. Yes, it’s me holding the camera. I also decided that I would compose a soundtrack to cut it to. Taking a base loop from the late great Tito Puente, I added a little guitar riff to compliment it and recorded a bongo solo over it. Bee provided the buzzing sound of the tattoo gun. And also was an influence in my education of latin music when I learned to play the bongos.
Click Below for movie:
Tattoo Gun Rumba
Durration: 00:01:50
