Category: helloMike

When Danger Mouse brilliantly combined Jay-Z’s Black Album with the Beatles’ White Album, it re-opened our eyes in a way to the new artistic possibilities of remixing. And while the phenomenon of the studio ‘mash-up’ did not start with The Grey Album, it certainly brought it to the forefront of mainstream consciousness.

Now The Beatles are the focus of yet another mash up– Love. Instead of getting mixed with hip hop however, they are being remixed with themselves. It is easy to be skeptical when we hear of a project like this due to the constant barrage of Beatles product year in and year out. Is this just another release in same the vein as Star Wars remasters and posthumous Tupac albums?

Well, yes. But, no. You see, the mastermind behind Love is THE Sir George Martin, the genius behind nearly every Beatles album. With assistance from his son, they have created a deconstruction and extrapolation of the Beatles catalog, mashing up and splicing songs within songs. The Martins reconfigure, remix, and reference songs in a way that is unfamiliar, but simultaneously recognizeable.

Case in point: “Get Back” opens with the opening chime of “A Hard Day’s Night” before laying down the drum solo from “The End.” It then crescendos to a cacophonic string collage lifted from the climax of “A Day in the Life” before giving way to the actual “Get Back” song. Within the song though you will also hear tidbits of guitar solo from “The End.”

The tune then seamlessly segues to a middle section of “Glass Onion.” Much in the same way the original “Glass Onion” lyrically references past songs “I am the Walrus” and “Fixing A Hole,” this version alludes to “Hello Goodbye’s” background vocals and horn parts from “Penny Lane” before sliding once again into “Elenor Rigby\ Julia” which borrows ambiance from “Revolution 9.”

There are so many similarly great moments on Love that it would be interesting to spend some time with this record and analyze all the sounds and allusions from song to song. The Martins have lovingly crafted an album of Beatles songs encoded with secrets you cannot help but crack a smile when deciphered.

For more background go HERE.

Aryn Crowley is something of an enigma wrapped in a riddle and then delicately wrapped in procuitto. A man of controversial talents and expertises, Aryn has journied across the North Americas finding the little ironies in real life. But past critical response has been varied at best. Lambasted for his misunderstood social art experiments in the heroic community, he was labeled a recluse and a failure of villain-esque proportions. When confronted publicly, he frankly spoke of indifference to the media’s perceptions stating “no one will ever trully know me.” I had the opportunity to sit down with Aryn last night to discuss his body of work, his creative process and even a few past indiscretions.

Mike: So Aryn, tell me. Any new projects on the horizon you want to plug?

Aryn: Yeah, I always have a few things on the burner: a new album, solo tour, group collaboration, massive multiplayer art project, and my own line of cooking salts.

Sounds exciting. Would you say your process of creativity is easier or harder when you have the following discomforts:

hunger?

harder.

sleepiness?

easier

having to poop?

easier

cold?

harder

hot?

harder

thirsty?

easier

itchy?

easier

Interesting…I find the more uncomfortable I am, the rawer the art is.

Very true Mike.

Can’t be too cushy.

That’s why in the winter I keep my heater up at 95 degrees so that my basement can stay nice and steamy. I have small hotplates that I use to get that rain foresty feel by boiling water constantly. Sometimes in the summers I like to import HUGE blocks of ice and chill down my artistic elements. Just to mix things up.

We all like our artistic elements nice and chilled in those summer months. Favourite book?

Repeat: The classic story of Pete and Repete, adapted from the re-run of the made for TV Movie based on the Cinematic version that was loosely based on the Graphic Novel adapted from the novella which was loosly based upon a sketch that Pete made for Repete.

Ooh excellent choice…though its so sad that Pete is forced to relive the last 10 years of his life on auto pilot without getting to change anything. That timequake almost killed his will to live. That is if he had free will. Favourite super power and why?

Favourite super power and why? There was this old super hero who used bathtubs to generate enormous amount of bubbles to fight against the evil bug man who would end up eating the bubbles and dying from diarrhea overdose

Ah yes, The Bathtub Bubbleman. Classic golden age hero.

I love those classic superheros, they have really influenced the next generation’s supers like Astronaut Man, and Cosmonaut Girl.

Do you find that the world is in need of superheroes in these hardened war ravaged suburban days? Or are they just trying to steal our gold?

The Superheroes? Stealing our gold?

Do you or do you not intend on running for SuperPresident in 2008 under the pending Anti-Superhero Act in Congress?

I have though about it. But I have two problems.

Just answer the question.

First, I am not 35. Second, I do not, nor do I intend to have multi-millions of gold dubloons to pay for my campaign.

Are you or were you ever part of the supervillain community?

I have never a part of the supervillian community. Only a spectator, so maybe I have been a small part.

Look, all you have to do is name some names and you will not be prosecuted. Refuse to do so will mean you are guilty. Then, agreeing to do so means you are guilty too.

Um, I am not sure I understand the accusation.

Then you are guilty.

Fair enough.

Come on Mr. Crowley, all you have to do is admit you are a villain intent on running on a smear campaign of space weapon technology platform. You wouldnt lie to the Latin American constituancey who don’t have a fighting chance would you?

Maybe. Check back with me on 2 April 2007.

Okay last question, favourite ice cream flavour?

Ooh. I love Sardine Oreo Cookie Krunch with sweet pickle sauce.

Excellent choice. Well thank you for your time.

Thanks, I enjoyed it.

I am a tough interviewer, no?

Tomorrow, Aryn turns the tables on the equally enigmatic and manic semi-genius, Mike.

Where does inspiration come from? That is mostly the topic of conversation on a new series I discovered on the Sundance Channel called Iconoclasts. Each episode pairs two celebrities to discuss their work and the things that inspired them. It is reminiscent of IFC’s brilliant Dinner For Five but because it is one on one, feels much more intimate. The artists of the episode in question? Filmmaker, Quentin Tarrantino and singer-songwriter, Fiona Apple. Set up in a very casual day in the life of these two geniuses, we catch a glimpse of Tarrantino and Apple’s creative process, psyches and inner psychosis.

What I found fascinating with these two, during their walk and talks through Quentin’s (and Robert Rodriguez‘s) downtown Austin studio, and backstage at Fiona’s preshow soundcheck, was how much these two had in common. Both are often misunderstood and misrepresented, yet loved by a devoted fanbase. But more, they have an incredible expectationfor themselves to create the project they want. They both talk about their roller coaster careers and it seems that both are charged with creativity right now: Tarrantino prepping the upcoming exploitation double-feature, Grind House and Apple touring behind last years brilliant album Extraordinary Machine.

As they spoke freely about their lives and how they find inspiration and deal with external distractions that fame can bring, you can get a sense that these two are not careerists in the traditional sense. While both showed a love for the craft of their fields and an enthusiasm for the place they are in their lives, never do you feel like they go through the motions.

Iconoclasts claims to change your perspective on celebrity, and if the upcoming episodes are anything like this one, it will be an inspiring and insightful snapshot into the mind of visionary auteurs at the height of their careers.

Here is a short clip of the episode I just watched:

[youtube]vBCYiETwyPg[/youtube]

This is something I wrote for a friend’s ill-fated music blog Freshly Baked Bread awhile back… the site never took hold, so I never continued with my efforts to make more breads. Oh well…

DISCLAIMER: This is not about music. Not really anyway. This might seem like the wrong outlet for a column about bread. But for the sake of occasional variety and for having a site with a need for some sort of content, perhaps it is perfect synchronicity.

With that in mind, I will make it easy with the transition for those who cannot quit cold turkey.

So what is Bread of the Week? It’s a pretty simple concept: every week (or as often as time will allow) I intend to discover and share a new bread recipe. I will then on many cases (probably not every week, but hopefully often) attempt to bake, eat and review such bread. And because this is mostly a music blog, I will attempt to find an artist that best represents my efforts to serve as listening recommendations while elbow deep in flour.

So without further ado, WEEK ONE! This week, I thought I’d go simple and make Banana Bread. Nothing fancy here but seems pretty delicious as the weather grows colder.

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1\4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 bananas, mashed
1 1\2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1\2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

The ingredients here are fairly straightforward and will no doubt become household items (if they aren’t already) the more and more baking is done.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375°. Break egg into mixing bowl. Do not add the shell. In fact, throw it in the trash not the sink because it can mess up your garbage disposal unit. Beat egg slightly. Add sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Blend bananas and add to egg mixture. Sift together flour, soda, and salt and add to mixture.

Add nuts. I chose not to use nuts because I am not too keen on pecans and am allergic go walnuts. Use at your own discretion here…I don’t want any senseless lawsuits because you didn’t realize you had nut allergies.

Grease up a loaf pan with some sort of shortening or buttery substance for no stick purposes. Bake at 375° in greased loaf pan (4 1/2″ x 9″ x 5″) for 45 minutes or until inserted wooded toothpick comes out clean. Cool and remove from pan.

Slice bread when cooled at desired thickness. Add butter to slice. Put slice in mouth, and chew until bites are small enough in mouth. Then swallow. Enjoy. This makes roughly six to eight servings so choose your favourite six to eight friends wisely for maximum enjoyment.

After some initial joking and second guessing, I ended up downloading a few songs by, you guessed it, Bananarama. Bit of an obvious choice but I thought it would be a good excuse to see what all the hype was about years back.

Turns out this British girl group had other songs beyond the 8th grade dance party staple, “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye).” Good thing I am not making pastries because this music is already cavity inducing enough as it is.

Come back next week when we explore the depths of another bread.

Mike is an amateur bread maker, having never baked before in his life. He also writes on music at npr.org and hellocomein.com.

Last night I had what some might call an opportunity of a lifetime. I hope that is not the case because it might all be down hill from here. I found out at work around noon yesterday that Beck would be playing a stealth unannounced show at Washington D.C.’s Black Cat. Later on word started spreading to more mainstream sources here in DC. Not sure if it was going to work out, I headed down to the venue at 745pm to go take on the line snaking down 14th street.

Since I was on the guestlist for the night’s actual show of Apples in Stereo and DC’s Benjy Ferree, I easily got in and had first dibs at buying a ticket to Beck’s midnight set for a mere twelve dollars American! Now the waiting game. The Mainstage room was nearly empty for Apples in Stereo, but they proved to be quite fun to watch as well.

Finally around midnight, they started bottlenecking us into the tiny room downstairs as we fought the pushers from behind to get a good view. There was very little breathing room, but as soon as Beck and crew took the stage, a few decked out in long foppish wigs, it mattered very little.

So, my reaction? I should say that I guess I figured that it would be the introspective acousticy intimate Beck (ala Mutations\Sea Change) considering the he was playing Black Cat’s Backstage, a tiny small stage and room that only held 150 people tops. I was wrong. So so wrong.

Instead it was Beck and his band in total throwdown slamfest mode, attacking us with an all out stream of consciousness set of funky disco punk, whitenoise guitar riffs, thuderously grooving basslines and California hiphop distortions. Obviously without a setlist, and often calling out to the audience for requests, Beck bombarded the small but jampacked crowd with sloppy and sweaty renditions of all his uptempo grooves from Odelay, Midnight Vultures, Guero and the recently released The Information. The energy never let up once in the whole set. With each song, the band danced and pounded boozy rhythms; it was like nothing I have ever seen in a long time, if ever.

The whole time I felt like this is what those famed underground hip hop or hardcore punk shows might have been like back in the early days. It’s so refreshing to see someone of Beck’s stature playing just for the sake of playing without the pretense of theatrics. You could tell they were having just as much fun as the audience especially when he stated “The club owner said if we do good at this show, we can play the upstairs next time.” In all quite a long but memorable night.

I have always been attracted to the simple clean pop art asthetic in graphic design. As a kid, I grew up reading many a Spiderman comics and grew to love the stylings of those types of artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. There was something about the design of 1940s through the 1960s in graphic art that still appeals to me; something which I have tried to emulate in my own work from time to time.

These days it has become that much easier to emulate that style with Photoshop and other helpful software tools. I came across this cool (and super simple) tutorial that shows how to make a simple photograph into a pop art format ala Roy Lichtenstein or Andy Warhol. I gave it a try and charted my results. Check it out.

Eventually I want to try out the line drawing layers and Warhol-esque colourations hinted later in the tutorial. But for now I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. I wonder what kinds of things Warhol would be making now, if he had access to something like Photoshop.

A few years ago the fine makers of those delcious energy drinks came out with a product cleverly titled Rockstar. We used to joke in my old band The Missing Trio that if we consumed such a beverage, we would surely become, you know, famous, rich and good looking. Not to mention great musicians like Rod Stewart and James Hetfield who both shill this amazing refreshment.

After awhile though, as with any music career, simply being a rockstar might not be enough anymore. First its so great with the endless late nights, the countless ladies, and hard living. But soon you begin to notice your star just doesn’t burn so bright anymore. People get used to your same old tricks and begin to expect something new and shiney.

So like any rockstar who could use a pick-me-up to get through the days, there luckily is a new tasty drink to help with that comeback: it’s called Cocaine. Yes, an energy drink called cocaine. Mothers, get your protest placard magic markers handy. I mean it makes sense, first you are a rockstar, then you are just some coked out shell of your former self holding lead singer auditions on a third rate reality show.

But wait a minute, you might ask. Didn’t Coca-Cola already tread these carbonated waters before? Well, yes. At one point back in the olden days (1885) when people’s concept of medicine was cutting off a leg to cure dysentary (not true), cocaine was used to help fight headaches (true). It was druggist John Stith Pemberton of Columbus, Georgia who invented a ‘cocawine,’ also creatively named ‘Pemberton’s French Wine Coca’ for such purposes.

As Coke grew in popularity over the years, as did the urban myths that embellished Coca-Cola’s famed formula secrecy. People claimed that it still contained cocaine, which would explain the widespread appeal (well that or the large amounts of caffiene). However, despite originally containing uncertain amounts of cocaine, it was in fact reduced over time falling to 1\400th of a grain or 0.16 milligrams per ounce of syrup by 1902 (according to Snopes & Wikipedia) and completely eliminated around 1906 by heightened health regulations.

So while the new Cocaine energy drink is really nothing new but a controversial name and contains no cocaine like in the olden days, it no doubt packs the exorbitant brute strength of way too much caffiene, which last I checked was also addicting. So rockstar, if you are looking for a quick fix to really take you to that next level, you really should try this and BE someone! Nosebleeds reportedly sold separately.