Sue Me Part Duh

I've been putting this piece off since at least 3/5/05 when I posted the original premise, but, I went to a great Rock and Roll party the other night where we danced our asses off, everyone dressed up as rock stars... there were three Tina Turners, lots of wigs... and that includes the guys. Plus, I just finished up (finally) my last piece, and, god knows, I haven't found much to blog about lately, soooo.....

I've been putting it off largely because I'm constructive and positive and actually had some resistance to cutting up my CD inserts, but, this is a constructive, creative endeavor where the images I cut out will be seen more often, not less, and, of course, in a much better, more thought-provoking, aesthetic way. It's not destruction it's decomposition, disintermediation (don't you love that new word? It means get rid of the fucking middleman), it's transfiguration, resurrection, transformation. It's a mash-up a mix-up a floor wax and a dessert topping.

Anyway, when I got down to it with the scissors, I noticed a few things. First, the CDs that you pay for, or rip off, depending on how far you want to go with all this, do come with some nifty extras like cute little books of lyrics and other info, nice artwork. To my surprise, I didn't cut much artwork except for Lennon's little sketch self-portrait off his Imagine compilation because, to me, it's the ultimate iconoclastic image of our time. John Lennon broke down all we held dear with his little song there. Whatever rock music is or represents, Lennon sits on top of it (and Lenin is at the bottom). The other two images I cut out were the Stones logo, the ultimate rock icon, and the Dark Side of the Moon prism, another icon, because it shows all the colors that can come from a ray of light when allowed to shine and well, it's my favorite album... got to give it a little PR.. like it needs it.

This piece is partially about iconography, as well as change, and the process of going through these CDs was like a trip through my own little musical museum. Lots of the album titles were actually things I wanted to say with the painting: It's Only Rock and Roll, America's Greatest Hits, Go To Heaven... Without A Net, Ray of Light, Brand New Day. Best of all was Slow Train Coming and just to make sure I got it, once I made the cut, I noticed it still said Slow Train Coming from the page behind.

Turns out, a lot of what I cut out were the warnings. Some were really mean and scary, talking about all the fines and imprisonment and taking first born sons and all. Others were nicer, like "all rights reserved". Yeah, they're reserved all right, all of them, and they'll sue you just as quickly as the mean-sounding ones. It's like the cigarette warnings, some are for like ten different diseases and others just say it's a little bad for your health... but they'll all kill you just as fast.

I especially liked cutting up the Eagles Greatest Hits since Don Henley is so out of it, has no real concept of the Internet. Cutting up the Fantasy Records (see 3/6/05 post) insert was gratifying yet it was surprising to find out they're in Berkley. I thought Berkleyites were supposed to be better than that! I cut out the parts where it said the record label, on a number of the CDs, the print was so small... you'd never guess the entity behind that small print owned 95% of what you just paid out for the CD. The newer CDs gave some interesting info such as the fact that Matchbox 20's huge hits are under Warner Malaysia... wonder what the tax rate is over there? Nothing like offshoring. At least now we really know why the labels are laying people off right and left.

So, that's about all for now. Next step, priming, planning, imagining the look of the piece; how the cut outs will interact with the painting that will surround it. The cut-outs will say "sue me", but it won't necessarily look that way at first glance. First I may draw people in with promises of freedom and the dawn of a new age where love and creativity will reign. Then, once they buy in, they'll have a good time enjoying the art. After a while though, it will become more bland and meaningless... that's when I'll start asking for more money. After that, if they don't pay up, they'll find that the area in front of the painting, where they are standing, is actually quicksand and they're drowning.

A few may manage to float or grab a nearby (inter) net. They'll form a chain to save the others and will then show everyone some better, non-trap-like art nearby...is it performance art? Is it rock and roll? Is it a lawsuit waiting to happen? It's a dessert topping... fresh cream... which always rises to the top.

Fade to Black

Far from fading to black... more like black is back. The film is about Jay Z's concert at Madison Square Garden last year which came about two weeks after the release of his final album, The Black Album. What stunned me is that this is the first hip hop concert at the Garden since '81. Hip hop has dominated the pop charts for quite a while now and has made serious inroads into pop culture, so, again, it was very surprising that huge selling recording artists can't sell out, or even book stadiums. I assume if they have trouble with the Garden, it's worse elsewhere, and I'm not aware of any rappers playing stadiums.

I guess hip hop fans buy records and tons of clothes & other merchandise but still the acts, all black except for Eminem, can't get cred from Clear Channel. I wish they'd done more to explain this or his album, and, frankly this wasn't the best film I've ever seen, but, it did make me a bit more curious about Jay Z and just how much racism is at work here. Because, my impression thus far is that corporate America is definitely noticing some buying power here, though, as I've speculated before, that may only extend to McBugers. It's fine to get them fat and fighting over sneakers, just don't put 30k of em on our streets, right? It's like the mob, when they went into drugs, went into the ghettos...didn't want their own kids on drugs.. it's us and them and after all we're only ordinary men.

Jay Z is like the Ray Charles of the day... a black man who not only has a genius for music but business as well... a very rare combination for anyone. I guess at this point, he feels the non-artistic talents are more lucrative... what a newsflash. I'm coming around to rap but his is hardcore, very little actual music, lots of dope beats and rap. He's a rapper through and through though, makes them up wholecloth in his head, on the spot. It is an artform for sure, spontaneous, improvisational... comes straight from the heart. Like scratching, it doesn't have enough "music" for me. I guess I need to expand my understanding of, or definition of, music and Jay Z, as well as Eminem, who did a phenomenal job with Eight Mile, have helped me to do that.

For some reason, and I really don't think it's racism, Eminem comes across to me and Jay Z still seems a bit too gansta, at least in tone. I couldn't make out any of his lyrics during the whole two hour film, at least half of which was the Garden show itself. Music is one thing, drive-bys, come on. Promoting guns and violence... no. Eminem is now much more introspective and most of his raps are about getting above the white trash mentality and the anger... dealing with his mother, ex-wife and the other low-lifes he's risen above.

So, as proven by Danger Mouse, all is not black or white... but it all derives from those.