The artist carves images of spacecraft, helicopters and airplanes on boulders around New York.
To hear Sudeith talking about his work, click on the audio file below. His Web site Petroglyphist.com contains additional images of his work. (Special thanks to the band Ohioan for the snippet of their song “Being Cold” for our audio.)
—excerpts from William Burroughs—
America is not so much a nightmare as a non-dream. The American non-dream is precisely a move to wipe the dream out of existence. The dream is a spontaneous happening and therefore dangerous to a control system set up by the non-dreamers.
Before the police dragged them off, the members of Pussy Riot, the Russian day-glo balaclava-clad punk rock protesters, sang their anthem “Revolt in Russia” (“Revolt in Russia – the charisma of protest / Revolt in Russia, Putin’s got scared!”) near the Kremlin. Their inspiration for a style of resistance never before seen in Russia, was the riot grrrl punk movement, including groups like Kathleen Hanna’s Bikini Kill, and flash mobs. The young women of the collective, average age 25, have revealed only the smallest details about their lives. None will divulge their day jobs. They only use first-names.
In the two weeks since their mid-January action, the all-female group has become a potent symbol of anger at the status quo in Russian society and their videos have gone viral all over the world. Like many young people in Russia, the members of the Pussy Riot collective are furious at Vladamir Putin’s plans to seek the presidency again and his return was the impetus behind the formation of the group (as well as their song “Putin Has Pissed Himself”). From The Guardian:
“We understood that to achieve change, including in the sphere of women’s rights, it’s not enough to go to Putin and ask for it,” said Garadzha. “This is a rotten, broken system.”
Her bandmate Tyurya said: “The culture of protest needs to develop. We have one form, but we need many different kinds.”
The band began writing songs with lyrics such as: “Egyptian air is good for the lungs / Do Tahrir on Red Square!” and performing on trams and in the metro. Videos of the flash gigs began spreading across the internet. When the protest leader Alexey Navalny was jailed for 15 days after his arrest during Russia’s first post-election protest on 5 December, three members of Pussy Riot took to the roof of the jail where he was being held, setting off red flares as they sang “Death to prison / Freedom to protest!”
The fear of arrest long ago left the band members, steeped in the tradition of illegal protest. “We have experience with it, we’ve been detained at protests before,” said Tyurya. “It’s not scary – you’re surrounded by good, normal people, those who protest against Putin.”
All eight women were detained during the Kremlin performance, questioned and released. Most got off with administrative fines rather than the 15-day jail sentences often doled out to those who stage illegal protests.
“The revolution should be done by women,” said Garazhda. “For now, they don’t beat or jail us as much.”
“There’s a deep tradition in Russia of gender and revolution – we’ve had amazing women revolutionaries.”
The band is getting ready for its next performance, something that usually takes a month to pull together. Its members don’t discuss plans on the telephone or give away details, out of fear that the security services will disrupt the project. Is what they do art or politics? “For us it’s one and the same.”
Despite projected temperatures of -20C, tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march on Bolotnaya Square, across from the Kremlin, on Saturday. The Russian presidential election will be held on March 4. Vladimir Putin, is, of course, expected to win handily.
That’s right…New Aan seven inch should be out in early June. Download cards available on the tour with Ghost to Falco starting April 14th
Aan/Ghost to Falco tour:
R 4/14 – Asheville, NC @ Bobo Gallery w/ Easy Company, Abe Leonard
F 4/15 – Boone, NC @ Loven House w/ Easy Company, Abe Leonard
S 4/16 – Durham, NC @ Duke Coffeehouse w/ TBA
S 4/17 – Raleigh, NC @ Marsh Woodwinds w/ Easy Company, Abe Leonard
M 4/18 – Greenville, NC @ Tipsy w/ Rifle Recoil, Soft Spot
T 4/19 – Greensboro, NC @ The Green Bean w/ Andrew Weathers
W 4/20 – Lynchburg, VA @ The Brick House w/ The Late Virginia Summers
R 4/21 – Harrisonburg, VA/Richmond, VA @ TBA
F 4/22 – Baltimore fell through!–want to play anywhere in that vicinity/Philly
S 4/23 – Kutztown, PA @ Eckhaus Gallery w/ Goodnight Stars Goodnight Air
S 4/24 – New York, NY @ The Cake Shop w/ No Sky God, Sam Mickens
M 4/25 – Providence, RI @ Roots Cafe w/ Manbeard, Sun Ghost
T 4/26 – Easthampton, MA @ The Flywheel
W 4/27 – New Bedford , MA @ TBA
R 4/28 – Burlington, VT @ The Monkey House
F 4/29 – Troy, NY @ 51 3rd Street
S 4/30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bruar Falls w/ Cavex
S 5/1 – day off/maybe a show in philly
M 5/2 – Washington, DC @ 1726 1st St NW w/ Buildings
T 5/3 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Box
W 5/4 – Chapel Hill, NC @ The Nightlight
Portland multi-instrumentalists Dragging an Ox Through Water and Ghost to Falco make enveloping, hard-to-categorize music. Dragging an Ox Through Water (Brian Mumford) colors his folky jams with circuit-bent flourishes from tweaked oscillators and light-dependent resistors.
Historically, Ghost to Falco (Eric Crespo) has played his eclectic, Elverum-esque compositions solo, but for his show at The Den, he’ll be joined by Ryne Warner (of Castanets) and Aan’s Bud Wilson. I sought out these two friends and co-founders of the DIY imprint Infinite Front for a joint interview.
WEEKLY VOLCANO: How long have you guys known each other, and how did you meet?
ERIC CRESPO: I think the first time we ever really hung out was in the summer of 2006. Brian was living in Brooklyn at the time and I was hanging out there and playing shows for two weeks or so, and I stayed with Brian a few nights. He lived in this very narrow little room in some no-man’s-land section of Brooklyn and he slept on an air mattress that would slowly deflate every night. I slept in the stretch of floor between the air mattress and the wall, on a bed made from dirty clothes.
BRIAN MUMFORD: Sunset Park!
VOLCANO: You both have a very similar approach, where you’re deliberately blurring genre lines but still have a basis in folk or Americana. Do you think the Northwest as a whole is an especially good place for incubating these kinds of far-out-but-simultaneously-grounded sounds?
MUMFORD: I think that a lot of people in the Northwest or “Cascadia” region have reflected a general awareness that the situation in our civilization (advanced capitalism, skyrocketing inequality, wars of aggression, general poisoning of the environment, social alienation and xenophobia, etc.) is untenable. The problem is that there is a lot of systematic obfuscation of facts and narrowing of possibilities in the dialogue that goes on in our culture regarding what alternatives are available and what forms our alienation seems to be taking. I kind of think that this situation leads to a natural inclination toward taking stock of what seems to be fundamental or “grounded,” then trying to free-associate out of the hypnosis, accounting for the “far-out” elements. I definitely think that the Northwest has a history of interest in that kind of activity (Mike L’astra’s “Northwest Passage” documentary, Raymond Carver’s staring-into-the-nothing writing, Emily Carr’s loner paintings) and a penchant for seeking to make it engaging and approachable in some sense without having it turn into an advertising spectacle.
CRESPO: I like the idea that what Brian and I are a part of might be bigger than the music that we’re making individually, that we’re perhaps part of the population that is searching for a new way of approaching everything. I think this new way definitely involves using ancient or primitive methods and adapting them to what we’re dealing with in modern day society. I’d like to think our music is an extension of this idea.
VOLCANO: Have either of you had any difficulty with people responding to the off-kilter nature of your music when you venture outside of the Pacific Northwest, to places where there might be less of an established weirdo-artsy community?
MUMFORD: Even in Portland there’s a limited audience for it. There might generally be a little more interest or tolerance here than other places, but a lot of that could also be just because I tend to play here way more frequently than I play other places. … Pretty much everywhere, though, it’s a small percentage of people who want to experience this kind of take on music. … It’s worth mentioning that even though sometimes the music has some pretty punishing elements, the intent is not to turn people off.
VOLCANO: Big question, I know: Where does your inspiration come from?
CRESPO: Everything I ever come into contact with. Either as a reaction against it or a striving to live up to it or somewhere in between.
MUMFORD: Situationist thinking (as reality not artifact), music, Nueva canción, Nir Rosen, Glenn Greenwald, Víctor Jara, Elizabeth Warren, CRASS, Pauline Oliveras, Public Enemy, Violeta Parra, Wikileaks’ recent successes in the leveraging of transparency against U.S. aggression, abject comedy, Democracy Now!, my friends and co-musicians in PDX and elsewhere.
VOLCANO: I’ve read explanations for where Brian’s band’s name comes from, but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard the origin of “Ghost to Falco.” Why did you choose that as your moniker, Eric?
CRESPO: It’s something my grandpa used to say when it was time to go to bed. He died many years ago and I never found out what it meant.
VOLCANO: Anything special planned for your show at The Den?
CRESPO: I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s gonna be sexy.
MUMFORD: Back to the stone age.
OHIOAN
——–
December 12 – Someday Lounge w/ Akron/Family, Lovers
January 13 – Mississippi Studios w/ Arrington de Dionyso, Ah Holly Fam’ly, Brainstorm
January 27 – Rontoms w/ Hosannas
February ?? – Artistery
GHOST TO FALCO
—————–
January 14 — Bellingham @ WWU coffehouse place w/ Dragging an Ox
January 15 — Seattle TBA w/ Dragging an Ox
January 16 — Olympia TBA – w/ Dragging an Ox
January 26 — Portland @ Rotture w/ AWE (erika from Gowns’ band with Aaron from Acre), more TBA
February 12 — Portland @ The Artistery w/ Mangled Bohemians
new Ohioan songs from summer tour with Ray Raposa.
Clips courtesy of Terroreyes TV:
Ohioan “Mouth of the Canyon” from TERROREYES.TV on Vimeo.
Ohioan “Being Cold” from TERROREYES.TV on Vimeo.
((all showww w Raymond Byron ||Castanets|} & PRSIM Index’(((O)))___
June 16th – Aqua Farm – Prescott, AZ
June 17th – the Boxing Gym – Tucson, AZ
June 18th – the Dressing Room – Phoenix, AZ
June 19th – the Treehouse – San Diego, CA
June 20th – Synchronicity Space – Hollywood, CA
June 21st – OPEN – Long Beach, CA
June 22nd – Show Cave – Los Angeles, CA
June 23rd – Steynberg Gallery – San Luis Obispo, CA
June 24th – Anno Domini – San Jose, CA
June 25th – Guayaki Mate Bar (Birthday Party!) – Santa Rosa, CA
June 26th – 1628 Lake Street (SeaCliff area, btwn 17th & 18th avenues) early/6pm! – San Francisco, CA
June 27th – Chief Crazy Horse Inn – Nevada City, CA
June 28th – day off
June 29th – Attendance Office – Davis, CA
June 30th – N Street House – Sacramento, CA
July 1st – Towne Lounge – Chico, CA
July 2nd – TBA – Portland, OR
Ohioan @ Sunburn Fest 2010
Last Ohioan show in Portland, @ the infamous and loved Valentine’s. The release part for Prism Index magazine.
Two new songs: “Know No Bounds” and “From the Aspects” from the upcoming Childs album (2011?).
those seeking passage across the front never arrived, for it was infinite and omnidirectional. had it been possible to cross, the front would not exist.
Ohioan @ Rhinoceropolis in Denver.
November ‘09 U.S. Tour with Ah Holly Fam’ly
Castanets @ Twisted Branch in Charlottesville.
Summer ‘09 U.S. Tour with Cross.
‘Nets again in San Diego, summer ‘09
Six Songs to Hear:
::: Jandek – “European Jewel”
::: Jerry Jeff Lewis – “Hairy-ass Hillbillies”
::: Miranda Lambert – “White Liar”
::: Roscoe Holcomb – “Single Girl”
::: Leslie & the Badgers – “Willin’ (Little Feat cover)” live
::: the Band – “Look Out Cleveland”