Please Watch This Before Voting
Category: Religion and Philosophy

http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares

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SOUND ART?

performance/extended tracks/webzine article/podcast

There may be some out there who might like to hear some of my work that I can't post here because its too long or for some other technical reason. So I have decided to post all URLs/sites that I know of that feature my work.

This is a performance I did for Neighborhood Public Radio in 2004 in San Francisco @ Southern Exposure:

http://www.conceptualart.org/npr/sounds/Oct.8/18catchrelease.mp3

The complete version of Oceanic Memories which debuted at the first Bayennalle in Oakland 2005. William Bennett of Whitehouse turned a lot of people on to this last year (thanks William):

http://www.archive.org/details/normanwlongoceanicmemories_0

This is a piece for the webzine that Artists Television Access put out in 2005:

http://www.atasite.org/zine/issue4/long/

These tracks are from a compilation I'm putting together for CD release called THEMATICS. These were sounds recorded/composed/mixed/destroyed/processed in SF from 1999-2003:

http://www.archive.org/details/Lovetteelectro

This is a couple of podcasts I put together last year from field recordings I mixed and processed last year:

http://dubcology.podomatic.com/

DOOM/NOISE/DRONE:

http://www.archive.org/details/SeeUsInPain

Thanks for listening

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reconsidering

Hi there. To the people who have followed my blogs, you might have noticed the negative attitude I have for my official alma mater the San Francisco Art Institute. I have express rage and frustration with the grad school and general Bay Area experience.Last year I found out about the change in administration and I was skeptical and a bit envious. Earlier this year the administration change was noted in Art in America magazine. On November 14 2007 Okwui Enwenzor gave a lecture which I attended at the school where I am right now, Cornell University called (Un)Civil Engineering: William Kentridge's Allegorical Landscapes. The lecture was fascinating and absolutely relevant to my practice as an artist and a landscape architect. This lecture according to Enwenzor will be printed as a chapter in a book. I enjoyed how he shared in knowledge about landscape theory as it relates to Kentridge, the history of painting, the history of South Africa and ecology. I am very pleased. It was the most intelligent lecture I have ever heard given by anyone connected to SFAI since Richard Tuttle gave a very wise yet very uncomfortably presented lecture at SFAI in 2003 or was it 2004. So I am very excited for students coming into the SFAI program because if it is in fact a overhaul from the top down conceptual rigor, imagination, community and openness will finally replace selfishness, phony transgression, white guilt, market mentalities, drug culture, and bad design.

Currently listening : Jukebox Buddha By Various Artists Release date: 07 November, 2006

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Jealousy

Jealousy: The Number One Killer Among Black Folk

When I first heard the news of Washington Redskins' Sean Taylor being attacked in his own home the above phrase by MF DOOM immediately flashed through my mind. Unlike other journalists I am not going to blame Sean Taylor's past on his death yesterday. Nor am I going to put all the blame on white supremacy either. All I am saying is that all Sean Taylor had to do to be killed was be black and have something.

If you read Jason Whitlock's problematic article (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7499442?MSNHPHCP&GT1=10637) there are some things I do believe are true. Such as Black men are targets of violence and hatred. Whether you are famous or whatever. And I think that jealousy and ignorance are some of the causes especially in the death of Sean Taylor. I have seen a culture of peer pressure and survivor's guilt (for those who are able to move on or simply grow up or think for themselves) among my peers and I see it a lot in my community.

I can only speak from my experience and I'm not going to tell anyone what to do but I'd like to point out a few things about the problems I see in my community and how I deal and have dealt with them. I did not come from money (like some people would like to think) but my mother did her best to raise us and provide for us.  But here's where it gets fucked up. Around 5th or 6th grade black males get socialized away from education. The pressure is to be a 'real' man. Basically to socialize yourself through your body NOT yr mind. To socialize through violence, competition and conformity. So understand, this is what I grew up with and it is hard not to give up on yourself and give in to a colonized mindset. So (especially for you all who now me personally) for someone like me who was shy, under-sized, and somewhat artistic minded, from 9yrs old to 31 years old I've been called a faggot, white-boy, republican, goofy, psycho, retarted, soft, phony, crazy and all points in between and things I owned or valued were stolen or broken (by WHITE and BLACK folk). Most people in my position who had to endure what I've gone through don't make it to my age. People who were never accepted tend to drop out of school, end up tangled up in the criminal justice system, or abuse substances. Its fucked up. I knew a lot of people like that and know a lot like myself, who are trying to live a life of acceptance and peace. So in the end there are many people who suffer from acts of jealousy, hatred and ignorance like Sean Taylor and his family and also the family of the perpetrator. Taylor's death is only a reminder that if we do not adopt a culture of acceptance many many more will die.

peace

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QUOTES FROM LYDIA LUNCH

Other reasons why I bounced on the Bay Area besides shot-gun wielding- bus riding-false Muslim-dope smoking- murderers(http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/04/journalist.slain/index.html):

Lydia Lunch: As a sexual predator, I would seek out any number of
their weak spots. Men are incredibly weak, as you well know...
HH: Gosh! Why are we so weak?
LL: Men act macho, but they're afraid to murder the little girl inside
themselves... They're ashamed of their feminine side.
HH: What kind of men were your favorite prey?
LL: It was exciting to mistreat men who mistreated women -- the
would-be Marlon Brandos. I treated them the way they treated
women --I used them, abused them and then got rid of them.
HH: San Francisco guys... Do we have any specific vulnerabilities?
LL: Ha ha ha! San Francisco men are such easy targets; they're
pathetic wanna-bes.
HH: Really? Really?
LL: I used to teach at the SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE... But -- STOP
IT! I don't know where you're going with that cheesy question.

Currently listening : Waveform Transmission, Vol. 3 By Jeff Mills Release date: 06 January, 1998

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JUNETEENTH

JUNETEENTH SUGGESTED PLAYLIST:

Drexciya - The Quest
William Parker and the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra - Sun Rise in the Tone world
Sun Ra - Atlantis
John Coltrane - Interstellar Space
Archie Shepp - Blase
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Roy Davis Jr - Traxx from the Nile
Fela Kuti - No Agreement
The Eternals - Heavy International

please add to the list

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Alice Coltrane: 1937-2007
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Music

Today I got sad news from the most unlikely of web sites...Suicide Girls. The news was that Alice Coltrane past away today. They did a great job on her bio by the way. The first thing I put on today was her Universal Consciousness album before I even read the news. Back in the late 60s a group of musicians in Chicago decided to give jazz a new name: GREAT BLACK MUSIC because of the negative connotations associated with the word jazz. They were tired of using a label given to them by people who weren't making  the music they were creating at that time.  I think this GREAT BLACK MUSIC is fitting to the music of Alice Coltrane, for she has devoted herself to her own vision and I for one am grateful for her contribution. What they do gives me the courage to be creative. The benefits of this kind courage and dedication goes deeper than winning on American Idol,  or being the king or queen of your hometown scene.

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Best of 2006
Current mood: calm
Category: Music

Norman's Year's Best

Alva Noto - For

Carsten Nicolai holds the top spot yet again this year. This album is somewhat of a compilation of installations and commissions. But the main theme is that of the dedication. I think Nicolai's strength is his sensitivity towards his collaborators and subjects. I enjoyed how he captures the character of his subjects in his compositions with subtlety and simplicity. His dedications to Jeff Wall and the late Jhonn Balance are my favorite tracks.

Wolf Eyes and Anthony Braxton - Black Vomit

I was interviewed for a teaching job at SFAI for a sound class I was proposed, and I mentioned how my band director was a major influence on my career as an artist/composer and I was promptly laughed at and subsequently didn't get the job.

After listening to this album, i started to reflect on how few experimental black artists and composers there are. And I wonder how many make great music like this are laughed at and shamed for what they do?

Anthony Braxton is of course a major figure in contemporary jazz/improv/experimental music and is a huge inspiration for me as an artist of color from the South Side of Chicago. But I wonder if there is anyone of my generation willing to be as creative as he is or will even get the chance?
Not that I'm without hope, it is easier to get your work out there through the internet and serious art spaces and music venues.

Hopefully this album will inspire others to be fearless recover form their shame and make glorious NOISE!

Yo La tengo - i am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass

Yet another great album from Yo La Tengo! I think was the most listened to album on my list. Listening to this album is like hanging out with old friends. It was actually this album that revealed to me that I wasn't very hip or cool. And it felt good to be nerd with absolutely no street credibility what so ever.

Acid Mother's Temple and the Cosmic Inferno - Starless and Bible Black Sabbath

Ah yes, another album that will definitely NOT get me laid! But it sounds sooooooooo good! First song is a half hour plus long heavy as hell freak out and the second song is kinda like the debris of the first.

Six organs of admittance - the sun awakens

I saw him open for Ghost and White Magic at the Independent in SF in 2004 and was very impressed. I also enjoyed how his Fahey style folkiness annoyed the transplanted Brooklynites in the crowd.

I am hearing a lot of Batoh influenced stuff on this album but Ben is still giving it his own style.


Jay Dee/J-Dilla - Donuts

I was re-introduced to Jay Dee over the past few months by this amazing producer who said J-Dilla was one of the biggest influences on him. Jay Dee did produce one of my favorite albums Labcabincalifornia and for that I should have got more stuff from him, Slum Village and Common and all that before he past. I enjoyed the production. It was a nice re-introduction.

The Domestic Front - Constrictor

Awesome. I thought TK Bailey's process of making the familiar strange, taking the everyday and sampling it. What he sampled and made compositions of was his asthma attacks. I believe from the onset to the subsiding of it.

Ricardo Villalobos - salvador
Lady Sovereign - vertically challenged

These were enjoyable tracks that I loved spinning at the bar I go to.

matmos - the rose has teeth in the mouth of the beast
subtle - for hero for fool

I'm glad i bounced on the Bay but listening to these two albums make me kinda miss the Yay Area. Subtle was a band I new about but never listened to until recently. I knew Dax, who worked at my favorite record store Amoeba was paralyzed last year. But he's still an active member of the band and they produced the song of the Year "Middle Class Stomp". To me listening to them reminds me of all the positive things the Bay Area has to offer in music.

Matmos on the SF side of the bay hold another special place in my heart. MC Schmidt was one of the few people at SFAI who actually helped me with my projects and was actually nice to me. While the other 98% of the faculty and staff resented my presence it was nice to get the a little kindness and help.

Now that I got all the mushy stuff cleared up. This is the second album on my list that are dedications. While Alva Noto worked with restraint and subtlety Matmos takes a more humorous and blatant turn while still being reflective and intelligent. I think the concept here is much stronger than Alva Noto's "For" because I think these pieces reflect who Martin and Drew are and what influenced them and inspired them. So I feel this is may be the most intimate album on this list even with the goofy sampling and all which makes the album so enjoyable.


old stuff
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Fela Kuti - No Agreement
Shudder to Think - Ten Spot/Funeral at the Movies
company flow - funcrusher plus
Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino - Concepts in Unity

Random_
The New Hyde Park Art Center
Chicago Center for Green Technology
ithaca-toronto 10/13/2006: being stuck in traffic outside of Buffalo for 12 hours with the coolest people I know.
Massive Change, Bruce Mau- MCA Chicago

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Top Music 2005
Category: Music

Well, 2005 was a tumultuous year for me. First half in California I was all but told I was worthless so I left and wound up in an Ivy League College working on a masters in Landscape Architecture. So it is fitting that we start off my year'a best with a former Landscape Architecture student. Carsten Nicolai's (as alva noto) second duo project with Ryuichi Sakamoto.

alva noto ryuichi sakamoto "insen" - sparse and gorgeous.

Boredoms "Seadrum/House of Sun"- spacey and ecstatic

Loren Chasse "The Air in the Sand"- what?! I actually have to listen to enjoy this? amazing!

Dalek "Abscence" -Noise and Black Political Thought? Big Up for the Black music that don't make no money!

DangerDoom "The Mouse and the Mask"- MF Doom, Danger Mouse and Adult Swim...What!

Drone/shift @ 21Grand, Oakland, Amazing show, thank you Matt for letting me play with some of the finest electronic/improvisors on the planet!

The Electric Rovestra doing John Coltrane's Ascension at The Palace of Fine ARts, SF - Yes, it was as good as it looks on paper! 

Mike Ladd, "Negrophilia(the album)" - He and Dave Chappelle give a sense of complexity, hilarity and tragedy to the discourse on culture and race than any of my peers who are visual artists of color. WE ALL can learn from them. Ok, maybe the curators wouldn't know what to do with us, but fuck'em! 

LCD Soundsystem - i didn't want to like this album, but I did

M.I.A. "Arular" - Cute girls give me hugs when I play her!

John Raskin's(of Rova Sax quartet) improv orchestra @ 21Grand, Oakland - fantastic

Thuja "pinecone temples"-eased my transition from Oakland to Ithaca.

Boards of Canada "The campfire headphase"-layered and gorgeous sounds.

Konono No1 "Congotronics"- electric African rythms. All around, a great year for Black Music that don't make no money!!!

Afropunk World Wide!

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Thoughts about Chappelle's Show

Well, from reports and rumors I've read it seems that David Chappelle's sketch comedy show is no more. its a shame but he left on top. He also proved to be one of the best black media artist's of this generation. His humor, insight and intelligence should be as important for artists who use culture as their instruments,  canveses, inspirations and muse for his show as Ernie Kovacs innovative tv show of the late 50's early 60's was to video artists. His comedy went well beyond accepted tastes and theories about race. Issues about Race and culture are complex, he knew it and made fun of it. he didn't write anything that was condescending or prententious. through his comedy, I believe artists who work with multiculturalism will find a new way to engage the audience. The world needs creative people who are not afraid to be themselves. Fuck the markets! Fuck authenticity! Our lives are worth more than money and white supremacist views of racial purity!  

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