big trouble in little china

ok. so this might suck, but from this point forward, this blog is dedicated to john carpenter's "big trouble in little china"...until i decide to remedy the situation occurring in thy mind. have you seen this film? fuck you if you have haven't. i have unanimously come to the conclusion that this is the best thing ever. period.
i love jack burton (kurt russel). if i could chose to be someone besides jeremy kennedy, i would chose to be jack burton. in many ways i am, or am becoming jack burton. jack burton is great, kurt russell is great, and john carpenter is great...especially considering the fact that no one stopped him from making the soundtrack for "big trouble". i will now refer to the film as "btilc", herein.

"son of a bitch must pay"

joshua brennan

joshua brennan's work is extremely taser factory. i've enjoyed it for quite some time, but only recently got around to looking him up web style. he did his mfa printmaking thing at IU. i always looked forward to seeing his new work at SOFA gallery during the school year. it never failed to really get me going, so much so that i would end up drinking way too much and would have to leave.
i wish we had had the opportunity to talk more about things or hang out while we were in the same town, but it never seemed in the cards. someone spoke to me about similarities in our work once, but i didn't get it.
yeah! don't be a fool like me, and wait forever to check out his site! there is so much brushed over content and style in his pieces...it gouges the depths of my mind. these edgy clusterfucks i've attached here are just the tip of the 'riceberg. his site is totally stacked with work of many different makes.

i especially enjoy the "floor and table" series in the drawings section.
www.joshuabrennan.com

"Lost Cat" by: the kwop organization

the kwop organization is a pre/post puppy vs. dyslexia audio project that crab jackson and i did/do/?. Once upon a time we happened upon this here "lost cat" flyer at our house. we stayed up late drinking that night, and at around 2 in morning crab called the number on the flyer. when he got the (Al's) answering machine, he read back the entire flyer as a message. this was probably received as very frightening. who knows. check out the track!

the kwop organization- "holding handsful of terror" album cover

listen to "Lost Cat"

"the sound of wall" process photos #2

work go well. more parts we need. more we parts we get. not much time we have before the opening is.

double/triple harp

3rd bridge bass machine

guitar donated by yosuke

great! so i was saying something about an opening...

“the sound of wall”
installation + installation specific sound performance
by: (knee shy)
@ origami vinyl (1816 w sunset blvd / echo park)
Friday, February 5th
7-11pm

dysmal abyss by: justin clifford rhody

among all of the pieces of paper with stuff on it that i own, this is one of my favorites! another piece by jcr. like i said before, he sends me awesome stuff. i would have loved to had signed up for "dysmal abyss", but i think jcr was living in maine at the time. that is too far away for me to make it to band practice.
this flyer is taser factory! i had it on our refrigerator for a long time, then at some party at the house somebody sprayed it with blue tempera paint. at first i was really pissed about, then i decided to like it even more.
this band should play a show in every mind.

bloomington music scene in chinese art magazine! by: jeremy hogan

bloomington based photographer jeremy hogan is always doing wonderful things. for example... here a feature he got going for a chinese art magazine titled: vision. it's a rundown on the bloomington, indiana music scene with jeremy's always amazing photos and words. this photo of (knee shy) made it in, along with lots of friends and stuff! pretty rad.

(knee shy) is full lifestyle gear.

justin clifford rhody looking bad ass up in the air.
i have always loved this photo of early day miners.
here's a link to the magazine... http://www.youthvision.cn/content200911.asp
you can translate some stuff via google, etc.

play with your hairs...takeshi kitano

play with your hairs. i love this song. this excerpt is from the "getting any?" (1995), starring takeshi kitano. kitano (also known as beat takeshi) is a very funny man. i think this is funny and i think he is funny. he also happens to be a brilliant film maker, actor, writer,and artist, with a taser factory career and life story to back that statement up. but for now, play with your hairs.

the sound of wall (1)

yesterday marked the beginning of actual physical work on "the sound of wall", an upcoming installation piece by (knee shy). the piece itself is a large multi-unit, wall mounted, 111 stringed electric/acoustic instrument. the first step was to acquire piano (which showed up early thursday evening). step 2 was to destroy the piano with a myriad of saws, hammers, and other destructive implements. this was super fucking fun and sounded great! we captured the death notes on a recorder, and will be doing something with that later. step 3: salvage the needed materials from the wreckage, and step 4 starts today, which is to start building "the sound of wall". here are a few photos the remains, which now fill the apartment.

strings

keys

piano stuffings

fucking up the piano was great, and on top of that, we are able to supply parts for at least 2 physical art pieces ("the sound of wall" & a tribute piece to jazz pianist Hampton Hawes) + the recording. we have to get another one sometime, and go even further. "the sound of wall" is set to open fri. february 5th @ Origami Vinyl in echo park... we have work to do.

"a minute to pray, a second to die" by: chris d.

chris d. is known in the sound realm for his work singing for late 70's los angeles punk rock unit "the flesh eaters" (which also harnessed the skills of other l.a. players then making their initial markings), and later "the divine horsemen". "a minute to pray, a second to die" (the title of a flesh eaters album) is a deep collection of writing which spans his career from there to here.
the 30 or so years encapsulated in this text easily blasts holes through the mind, in a slow motion scene with strobing lights. it's a dream journal or life written as a dream journal and a clue-in to the systemic cinematic infection that has been the furnace for so much of this man's career. there is technique to his madness.
death ballad scrapings and an outlaw director's view-finder. pulp + noir. doesn't put your mind at easy.i went to his reading late last year. it was indeed taser factory. mary waronov read as well which was also incredible as hell.
i think he might be doing readings various cities...maybe yours?
more info here: http://newtextureblog.blogspot.com/

eraser zine by: sean solomon

i met sean solomon a few weeks ago at a group art show we were both participating in at the catalyst art space here in l.a. he was awesome enough to hook me up with a complimentary copy of his zine "eraser"...and it is totally taser factory! i love zines so much that i've become pretty skeptical, but this one definitely makes the cut for me! it 's funny and refreshing,and it's not often that i get the op. to laugh out loud. sean is a rad young man, and i can only see this project, as well as his others, getting better and better.

check out the eraser zine website here: http://www.eraserzine.com
you can find the eraser zine itself, as well as other sean products.

love them, don't shoot them...?

i saw this poster while riding the train a few days ago. it seems to be a product of the lapd, which encourages people to NOT fire their guns in the air on new years. it was really hard for me to imagine that this issue was so widespread and popular in practice to warrant a public poster.however, when the clock struck midnite, i was quickly convinced. from all over the city i could hear a thunderous mix of fireworks and gun shots. and yes, i can tell the difference between a bunch of firecrackers and a semi-automatic 9mm... someone in my apt. complex actually shot their gun right outside the building! pow! and i was like "what the fuck!"i had never thought of doing this. it seems like a great idea. maybe next year.