Not Moanin' About Mingus At The Proms

Ah Um, RTomens, 2017

Watched Beneath the Underdog: Charles Mingus Revisited at The Proms on Friday night with some trepidation, as I'm sure many Mingus fans did, but thankfully no crimes were committed in His name. Black saint and occasional sinner Mingus is not to be messed with. At times the orchestration veered towards over arrangement but never crossed the line between remaking tunes and totally ruining them. As you know, Mingus was a masterful arranger without ever losing the blood, guts 'n' blues born in fingers that can sound as if they're ripping the very soul from the man in order to express himself. 

But who's the crazy dude with the pink hair holding a baritone? Leo Pelligrino, actually, as I found out later. His hi-energy ass-wiggling, comedic and sometimes sassy intro to Moanin' was a delight. Mingus might have been turning in his grave but I loved this as pure entertainment which injected spirit (albeit the spirit of both a clown and great Texas R&B honkers of the past) into the night. 

Leo's in a band called Too Many Zoos. Their Bandcamp page is here. More of my art here.

Counterculture Graphic Art / Timglaset 5

The idea of 'media burn' is nothing new, as you can see from the above spread, art work dated 1969. Whereby the medium was once the message in an info-neural-transformative sense (positive) by the end of the decade media saturation was an illness, a plague on propaganda-prone brains. So it was since the mass home invasion by TV sets but it took a while for the idea to sink in once the novelty of armchair entertainment made way for prime time domestic horror show Vietnam war broadcasts and party political persuasion techniques. Enter the underground press as alternative broadcast news. 200 Trips from the Counterculture: Graphics and Stories from the Underground Press Syndicate is a fine collection of graphics from the era.

Whilst today's underground press productions blossom into a million variations on those 60s roots, so many that, as befits our media burn age, it's impossible to keep up with them all, one that's worth noting is Timglaset, out of Sweden. The fact that some of the text is in Swedish shouldn't deter the English-only speakers amongst you, if only because by not purchasing a copy you would miss out on writing by Dolly Dolly along with art by Paul Tone. You get 48 pages for 8 euros (inc p&p). Buy it here.

Will You Conquer The World?

..............booklet cover................

Space Age Pinball Machines

1963

1963

1973

1974

1976

1967

1967

1976

Draw Me!

ARK.........Words and Images from the Royal College of Art

Great book. Contains every cover (with separate spine binding for that section) and selected articles. Well designed, as you'd expect. Theinhard and Antwerp fonts - very cool. Available here

Avatar Magazine Spread 1967

When Boston officials arrested the publishers of Avatar magazine on obscenity charges this was their response...

The Book Of Alien, 1979

I watched Alien again the other day, having just bought this book...like I needed an excuse (it was a good prompt). But, well, it had been a couple of years since I last watched it again and...guess what...it's still amazing. And you know that too. Watching the documentary (posted below) increased my admiration for Ridley Scott, his determination to get it right. That and the film's journey from just a monster B-Movie to what it became make the whole project incredible. 

Giger working on 'the space jockey'

Ron Cobb drawing

Ron Cobb drawing

Illustrations For Russian Children's Literature

'We repudiate all morality taken apart from human society and classes. We say that it is a deception, a fraud, a befogging of the minds of the workers and peasants in the interests of the landlords and capitalists.' - Lenin

Thank John Coltrane that the dark days of landlords and capitalists befogging the minds of workers and modern peasants are over, eh? In the 20s, things were different. Lenin and his people were convinced that capitalism was evil and the enemy of the proletariat. Children were prime target for propaganda, naturally, but their books were beautifully illustrated, as Inside The Rainbow proves. With the likes of Vladimir Mayakovsky, El Lissitzky and Vladimir Lebedev contributing, the message and it's art was made even more powerful. 

Since capitalism won the battle, the world now knows that the Russians were wrong. Children are encouraged to embrace/accept all forms of religious brainwashing organised religion, for instance, and become good capitalists by either exploiting employing workers, or simply working hard so that they may reap such material rewards as 42-inch flatscreen TVs and designer clothes. They may own their own homes when they grow up and becomes slaves to benefit from the banking system which, as we know, rips off governs the world completely. They will be made frequently miserable happy from not attaining the rewards capitalism brings and grow into frustrated and dissatisfied well-adjusted adults. Rejoice!

A. Yakobson, Let Us Take The New Rifles, 1927

Dmitri Bulanov, How They Build, 1922

El Lissitzky, Adding, Subtracting,
Multiplying and Dividing, 1928

unknown, How The Capitalists Are Armed, 1931

Vladimir Lebedev, Suspension Points, 1929

Vladimir Lebedev, Suspension Points, 1929

Free Jazz Bitmaps Vol 1 - Nick Butcher (Sonnenzimmer/Hometapes)

Wandering 'round the Whitechapel Art Book fair the other week I'd just about given up on seeing anything I really wanted or could afford when I spotted a stall holding stuff that caught my eye, such as albums, art work and books. 

Turns out it belonged to Nadine and Nick, who run Sonnenzimmer. They're from Chicago. Chicago! Coincidentally, I was carrying a book called Pathways To Unknown Worlds that's filled with amazing artefacts relating to Sun Ra and his time in the city. I highly recommend it. Nick spotted it and we were off on a Sun Ra-related chat as he told me he knew the guy that put on Sun Ra exhibitions. 

By then I'd selected this album, Free Jazz Bitmaps Vol 1, which Nick had produced, so we also chatted about that. Basically, it's created from micro-samples of House and Jazz made into new pieces by Nick (Side A). These are then given to Chicago-based improvisers Jason Stein, Mike Reed, Jason Adasiewicz, Tim Daisy, Jason Roebke, and Keefe Jackson to do what they liked with (Side B). 

The results are a fascinating exercise in de/reconstruction on Nick's behalf. He adds subtle atmospheric colours to basic beats, both acknowledging their raw appeal whilst rewiring them to add alternate 'meanings' and moods. On the B Side, Jason Adasiewicz's vibraphone conjures beautiful tonal ambience from Great Lake. Jason Stein's bass clarinet playing on HTML Italics is also extraordinary. As a bonus, the album is as handsome as you would expect from these designers, featuring a pull-out print. 

It was a pleasure to meet such good, talented people. I fear I bent their ears a little too much, but they tolerated me. Nadine said she thought London was still a place of great music and culture, possibly the best. That left me dumbfounded. Perhaps it's a case of not being able to see the wood for the trees...and simple over-familiarity. Meanwhile, Chicago sounded exotic to me. The grass is always greener...

Sonnenzimmer

Hometapes

Art work from their studio. They also produce posters and literature to accompany various projects. Go to their site and buy something.

Nick & Nadine 2010

Nadine 2008

Nick & Nadine 2013

May '68 - A Better-Looking Revolution!

I asked the girl working in Koenig Books if she'd like to visit Paris in the past. It wasn't an offer. She said she was going soon. 1909? I suggested. She smiled. It's an Art book shop; I thought she'd be naming art-related decades. She just smiled. "In sixty-eight you could join Jean-Luc Godard at the barricades," I said. "And the revolutionaries dressed better in those days." At which point she stepped out from behind her desk, saying "I think I'm dressed for the occasion." Not bad - houndstooth pattern on her knee-length skirt, black polo-neck jumper. Students looked good back then, because everyone did in the 60s, better than today, at least. No white boys with dreadlocks...and no didgeridoos...or bongos...

Mind you, regarding Godard, someone sprayed a joke at his expense, though I'm not sure he was a die-hard Maoist...

Here he is getting arrested in May '68. One is saying (in French) "Piss off to Swinging London and film the Rolling Stones, or something - you're finished as a director!" So he did. Some might say he was (finished, that is).

Revolution was better then. Protesters weren't allowed to 'occupy' a space for months on end, not knowing exactly what their aims were. It didn't drag on, therefore the public didn't get bored with it. Everything was a target in May '68, from the cops to the government, bureaucracy, education and, of course, Art...

Some great posters were made...

And then there was the Situationist element and attitudes that went beyond merely supporting The Workers. The revolution of everyday life? No matter how many paving stones were dug up, sadly, the beach was only glimpsed, not permanently occupied...