DISINFORMATION: The Price of Truth

Long time RVA contributor Tyler Bass wrote this article for www.disinfo.com. You can read more of his political work at www.spectaclemonopolized.blogspot.com

“You’re free, but in your mind, your freedom’s in a bind.” — Janelle Monáe

Adrian Lamo’s critics faced him down at a hacker’s conference. Lamo sat on the stage, placid, blinking pronouncedly as his hecklers continued. They prodded him, asking if he would have been tempted to release the data that a man who contacted him had sworn upon threat of military legal prosecution never to release had Lamo not faced his own prosecution as an accessory. One attendee demanded that hacking veteran Lamo take an internationalist perspective into the world events which led Lamo to turn over one Bradley Manning to the authorities. The hacker beside Lamo cajoled him for not having ignored the initial messaging by Bradley Manning.

Lamo simply replied with his gratitude that he lived in a country where he would not have to take a bullet to the head for attending a hacker’s conference, period. And for this he iteration he received at least one attendee’s applause.

This whole incident called into question to whom and/or to what ultimate philosophical cause exactly one must pledge his or her loyalties. Lamo’s perspective seeks to draw us into a void wherein loyalty to country must rise above that to conscience per se; the lives of foreigners are the objects of guessing games in which the United States must come out the “victor” due to its kindness to Lamo, the citizen, himself.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE PRICE OF TRUTH

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Sterling Hundley at Ghostprint

Nationally known, locally grown artist Sterling Hundley will be showing for the second time at Ghostprint Gallery in September. He continues his journey away from the clean, strong narratives that defined his illustration work into the fuzzy world of abstraction with a purpose.

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CHPN: Richmond’s worst year?

Great article from the Chuch Hill's People News:

Richmond bottomed out in 1994: one city councilman went off to rehab for his heroin problem and another was in hot water for not paying utilities and renting out condemned property, enrollment at VCU dropped, the city recorded the nation’s 19th largest population decline since 1980, Richmond made the wrong end of Money Magazine’s Best Places to Live list, and by the end of the year had tallied a record 161 homicides. With recent years showing the lowest body counts since 1961, the city’s population back up over 200,000, and VCU having greatly expanded, it is somewhat difficult to imagine that mid-1990s Richmond was ever real.

That year’s spike in killings did not arrive suddenly. Richmond’s body count had topped out over 100 for the previous 6 years and the city had already earned a dangerous reputation by the mid-1980s (if not earlier). The Briley Brothers’ 1979 killing spree and 1984 escape from death row were in recent enough history. Southside’s Johnson/Brown gang, estimated to be responsible for 30 lives over 3 years, were only recently off the streets. The leaders of the notorious Newtowne gang were locked up in 1992 after killing 13 people in “a furious month and a half”.

Curious about and fascinated by Richmond’s shockingly violent semi-recent history, I thought to look and see where all of this killing was taking place. It seems that to be able to say that certain areas once had these incidents but do not any longer would be a useful way of marking the changes in the city. Unfortunately, the Richmond Police are not able to easily provide data for the years before 1998, so to get a look at anything earlier I had to dig it up for myself. Given the time involved, I chose to pull the info only for 1994, which to get I had to dig through the year’s worth of the RTD at the Library of Virginia.

This work identified 158 homicides (PDF) – not a perfect data set, but close enough to have a sense of what was going on where in 1994. Because the information was pulled from news accounts, some of the dates and locations might be somewhat off, but are generally accurate.

CLICK HERE TO READ RICHMOND'S WORST YEAR

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A Silent Music Revival presents The Adventures of Prince Achmed with Dave Watkins

Silent Music Revival is a unique event in the city of Richmond. Once a month this event combines classic silent films with live performances by musicians who have never seen the film. Silent Music Revival is going on its fourth year of putting on such a combination. Those four years brought the event to many different venues and even a few change of hands, and after a very short hiatus the event is back and has found its place at Gallery 5. On Sunday, August 29th Dave Watkins will preform a live, improvised soundtrack to one of the most beautiful animated films ever created, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. (1926)

I had the chance to ask Dave some questions about the progression of his music and his impression of the Silent Music Revival.

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DAILY RECORDS: Messi, Boas, Tungs

Messi - O (messi.bandcamp.com)
The debut album of Chocolate Milk’s Joshua Aidan Padarathsingh, under his latest moniker Messi, finds the former noise artist applying his skill for dissonance and tension to the land of Boom Bap Hip Hop. Messi’s off kilter rhythms, reminiscent of both Flying Lotus and Ravi Shankar, stutter and slide over a kaleidoscopic stereophonic world of samples and textural knob tweaking. The unique blend of eastern polyrhythm and Bed Stuy sampling is immediately apparent in the opening track “Chase”, as frantic bells rush over a smooth jazz organ bounce that quickly evolves into a tightly wound Stax Records-style groove. The mid album track “Name A Price” drops deeper into the stereo panning exploration with the integration of horns and electronica that can only be described as Fela Kuti playing game boy. O is a boundary pushing must-have for fans of modern beat culture.

Boas - No Wonder (boas.bandcamp.com)
In the wake of the recent apparent disbanding of Richmond’s renowned electro-tribal group Cold Toast, main button pusher Tyler Newbold has returned with his second solo offering as Boas. Less squishy and meandering than his debut solo LP, this single, taken from forthcoming LP Grave Dreams, returns to the strong acoustic and the organic roots of Newbold’s former group. The lush strings and hypnotic drums evoke a sense of meditative atmosphere that is set perfectly by the song's pristine production. A definite accomplishment.

Tungs - Good Dreams (tungs.bandcamp.com)
In this DIY clip from local Psych rockers Tungs, for a song from their latest LP, Sleeping, a collage of summer hopes and exuberance is displayed against the backdrop of the group’s retro shoegaze squall. The beach, mopeds, day tripping kids in cool sunglasses, all being streamed through a nonstop rotation of the color spectrum. What more could you ask for? The production values are minimal and there is a cursor that constantly and annoyingly moves along the left of the screen but the overall effect when taken in is pure youth and sunlight.

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DAILY FIX: Cannabis Corpse European Tour Video (Part 1)

Cannabis Corpse have just released the first video in a three-part series documenting their European tour, which took place in February of this year. Other than some short clips of plane rides and backstage antics, this video concentrates on the music, featuring full performances of two songs, "Staring Through My Eyes That Are Red" (from 2006's Blunted At Birth) and "Every Bud Smoken" (from 2008's Tube Of The Resinated). Both audio and video are of excellent quality, and as a bonus, you get to watch plenty of European heshers headbanging and giving the devil horns.

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FILM REVIEW : The Expendables

The Expendables should come with a disclaimer that goes something like this: Warning: The film you are about to see is made for GUYS by GUYS who make movies for GUYS, movies that feature lots of GUYS doing things that GUYS like to see other GUYS doing in movies that are made almost exclusively for GUYS.

In all honesty, girls who like action films should have a great time here as well, but there is enough testosterone on display in The Expendables to incite aggression and perhaps even violence within the theater. Watch yourselves.

Make no mistake, this is not an insightful and thought-provoking film about the brutal realities of war. This is not a tense, gripping account of a siege wherein authenticity and suspense illuminate the bloody toil of an all-consuming power struggle. No, this is an adrenaline-soaked balls-to-the-wall action film that delivers roughly 100 minutes of gleeful carnage. All this glorious mayhem takes place in a rambunctious landscape populated by ultimate badasses who are so utterly macho that each of them borders on being a caricature. Yet the film succeeds from start to finish because Sylvester Stallone is a truly gifted director who knows exactly what he wants to accomplish. A wonderful cast, a rocking soundtrack, and some truly fantastic choreography backed by spectacular effects give him all the tools he needs to provide audiences with a damn good time at the theater.

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DAILY RECORDS: Make Phantoms, Ratt, Slash, etc.

Make Phantoms - Make Phantoms (Stranger Than Fiction)
Make Phantoms are a local group with a keyboard-based, melodic indie sound that, at its best moments, is reminiscent of XTC mixed with Death Cab For Cutie. Their production is a bit overdone, but if you can look past the extremely slick sound, there are some great songs here.

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SHOW REVIEW: Real Talk, Forensics, Pujol

Real Talk, Forensics, and Pujol
August 11 at Empire

Of the three bands playing the late show at Empire last Wednesday, it was the first band who seemed to generate the most buzz. It was the first show ever for Real Talk, a Richmond supergroup of sorts featuring Kevin Broderick of The Catalyst on drums; Cole Hutchinson, formerly of Operation Latte Thunder, on vocals; Graham Scala, also an ex-member of Operation Latte Thunder, and currently of Souvenir's Young America and Forensics, on bass; and on guitar, Joe Hunt, best known as the drummer for Brainworms.

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zu täuschen den Schutzhund at Reference Gallery

Do you like strange video experimentation? Do you like the internet and wonder how it is affecting your daily perception of reality? If you are looking for answers, you won't find them at the new exhibit at Reference Gallery but there are other people trying to figure out the same thing. Maybe you can take comfort in that.

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REFERENCE Art Gallery is pleased to announce a show featuring works by AIDS-3D (Berlin), Ben Schumacher (NYC) and Victor Vaughn (Baltimore), curated by James Shaeffer.

As the Internet has increasingly become a source for not only the exhibition of art but also the transfer of artworks so has ideas of dematerialization and issues of originality in artwork come into question again. Now artworks can be created on a computer and sent to multiple participants simultaneously while also exhibited online. Images, 3D models, and videos can all be reproduced ad infinitum and exhibited endlessly. Featuring works by AIDS-3D, Ben Schumacher, and Victor Vaughn; each artist presents pieces that address concurrent issues of originality, distance, immaterialism and reproduction – a theme attended to with the actual exhibition itself. Concomitantly with the exhibition at P·P·O·W, all the work will be available for free download off the Internet and simultaneously shown at REFERENCE Art Gallery in Richmond, VA.

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