Bright Shiny Morning

I’ve never been particularly wooed by the bright lights of Hollywood, perhaps because I’m carrying some leftover disturbia from a painful period of my school life when my name was paired with that of a boy, last name Wood, whom I wouldn’t have married if you paid me the net worth of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame but I was taunted as sitting-in-a-tree with him all the same. Well, maybe for that kind of due-reward, I’d reconsider. But I’d never fully comprehended life in Los Angele’s, the bustling bosom in which Hollywood sits until I got my hands on this book.

I read James Frey’s ‘A Million Little Pieces’ slowly and methodically about 2 years ago, it was like forcing a wet cloth down my throat every time I laid eyes on its volatile pages, but it was absolutely compelling reading. Firstly, because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, to get inside what provoked Oprah’s famous literary tantrum, to say I had survived it. Me and my mind, alone, with that brutal book. But what quickly over-took the experience, more than any hard to bear reading was his intriguing style of writing. An absolute knack for manipulating the story’s intensity with unabashed wordy glee.

Bright Shiny Morning is a much lighter load, laced with neon lights and cheeky bites of western popular culture. It has a dark, gritty but gloriously sinister undertone, and contains all the hallmarks of Frey’s now revered style of fiction; its a non-stop. start. race through every crevice of the city. The theme plays right into the heart of something I love to explore both in writing and in life; documenting a scene, scratching below the surface of a new place; an undisturbed evocative journey into a sub-culture. And here, Frey presents a leering look into LA’s unexplored underworld.

The book moves at pace between the characters and a fact-o-rama style history of LA, and the way the story of each character concludes is both everything and nothing like you expect; you’re left feeling uneasy, like it ended too soon, like you want- need- more; to see and feel it like he did. You feel you could burst out the gates into the California sunshine at LAX tomorrow, show yourself around town with ease and pick those very people out of the throngs of thousands that wander the city. Watch them throw themselves aimlessly at the fame-lined perils of La La Land, and be able to say you survived it.


Picture Perfect Polaboy

There’s always been a budding photog in me and my crush on the Polaroid goes back to a time when my mom came home with one and would let me, only on special occasions, define the moment with the instantaneous giddy excite that came from taking a picture and seeing it for real just a few minutes later. Those early days set the tone long before any knowledge of Warhol and his instant arteousness ethos took hold of me too. A thing of genius, long before digital and LCD screens -arguably- took away most of the fun.

Well, my appreciation for Polaroid pics just went LED, as all the long left-behind, but always iconised Polaroid went digital and life-size with the invention of the Polaboy; a giant lamp-like Polaroid frame; 20mm thick, to a scale of 10:1 (to 88x107cm) which contains a thin sheen of an image- your image, whatever image you deem beautiful enough to own the show in all it’s -so cool it’s really almost retro- amazingness. Wooden frames and energy-saving LED area lights complete the perfect picture package.

Made with love, in where else? Germany. :)

Music Festival Culture gets Tedx’ed

At TEDxVancouver, Jeet Kei Leung takes the crowd on a journey through the world and experiences of transformational festivals! Not sure about this guy’s ‘stage antics’ but I’d give him a raving high 5. References to Burning Man, Lightening in a Bottle and Earth Dance. A few of my favourite quotes from his 23 minute expose below:

“Whereas glimmers of the new evolutionary culture had been present in raves since its very beginnings – the culture was confined to the nightclubs and warehouses, it was never really able to escape that mesh of all our crazy human neurosies off each other. But in the outdoor experience of dancing all night, into the dawn there is contained an inherently grounded, I believe, inherently spiritual experience.”

Something I’ve witnessed throughout my life, been fascinated, even compelled by, has been the power of music, which we typically classify as entertainment- as a leisure activity in our society- The Power of Music to consistently create new culture where there was none before. New forms of music emerge, they articulate, evoke, something essential about the human experience, and around that humans cluster and form culture- or more properly, sub-culture- with shared values, practices, code, aesthetics, identity, world views and stories. In this way music continues to speak to the deepest spirit of what it means to be human. That insistent thirst for more freedom, more expression, to push against the boundaries.”

… I could go on, but its worth a watch- he goes on to explain electronic music’s primordial connecting spirit, the religious aspects of trance dance, the homage back to tribal culture, the safe space to release and heal in a festival community, the combination of ancient ritual, nature and modern music, technological and futuristic element of future society behaviors and, the emergence of a new spiritual culture.

Inspiring stuff, makes me feel like having a good dance in the mud. ;)

Everything is a remix

Nothing is sacred, not even our thoughts, for once you’ve thunk it, it’s out there- circling the universe waiting for someone- if you don’t act fast enough- to cherry pick it from an abyss of thoughts and sparkling ideas and give it life. Since we were young we were told ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. The man responsible for those loose words was Charles Caleb Cottom, who didn’t say much else interesting, by the way- and if he was alive today, I’d set a clowders-worth of proverbial copycats on him for giving many a mediocre man permission to make a living from cheap imitaions, cloned personlaities, cover bands, art impressionists and the like, who more often than not, make a mimicry and a mockery of good original concepts. Lets face it, as much as we were told to play nice with the girl that copied our hairstyle in 3rd grade- no one likes some half-assed skank biting their style.

But then, to err on the side of rational thinking: genius also comes from improving on other people’s ideas- sometimes every so slightly, but just enough to change the world. As old Pablo Picasso put it, ‘Bad artists copy. Good artists steal’ – the art of taking what already exists and pushing it to the next level and making it your own. The conversation about Remix as a culture is something I’ve been watching develop over the web the past few months and find it kind of fascinating. Our energy in the digital space has totally changed our creative process and, with sharing being the sincerest form of caring, the web is a festering pool of endless interesting ideas. We’re living in a time where there’s growing concenus that it’s all been done: The good music has been made, the best books  written, the best art, film and fashion heyday had. Or perhaps these simply stand the test of time as a standard of quality, pure genius and divine creativity, which, more than be intimidated by, should really give us something powerful to aspire to.

The Remix is beyond your average imitation. The path to potentially amazing creations is now lined with the shameless ability to borrow and steal (thanks Pablo) and give the good, the bad and the almost-good-but-just-a-bit-hideous , a well-crafted makeover. It’s long-time been a respected revisit to releases in electronic music, allowing other producers to put their signature artistic spin on things. But fleshed out into all elements of creative culture, it’s an interesting newly appreciated height of creativity; all about upping the game in execution and mad attention to detail. And aside from being the obvious foothold in innovation, it’s now being recognised as an artform of its own. Check out below 3 episodes of the 4 part series, Everything is a Remix – by Kirby Ferguson, which explores the remix process in depth. I’m a bit about the 3rd one, and will add the 4th when it comes out. Take from it what you wish! ;)

What a Babiczstyle Day

Robert Babicz has long time been one of my electronic crushes, not least because of his signature art-skunk hairstyle but because his very nature as an artist, a visionary and a reality-checked-dreamer is so prevalent in his music. With every one of his deep, authentic and atmospheric releases, he creates and uploads a self-produced music video of footage he’s captured. Much of it while touring, but most while simply living; whether he’s dining with friends, cruising through city streets or watching people dance to his own music from the dj box, everything he sees is a moment worth filming.

He’s added something special to browsing his music online- you can get stuck on his Youtube channel for hours,  watching the vid’s in all their understated glory and not want to miss a second of what caught his eye next. The cool complimentary video’s for tracks Dark Flower, Astor, The Sun and Simple Feeling are my favourites, I like them all basically. ;)  This is his most recent, What a Day, and as you can see, a day in the life of Mr Babicz is never a dull moment at all. Follow the link to his website for releases and his famous Babcizstyle mixes.

Red Bull Music Studio: The Afterlife VJ’s

Gone are the days when event promoters would screen music videos on MTV or show reels of slinky models sashaying up the runway ala Fashion TV, as the all-too-easy way to add a visual element to their club nights. Along with outing the vinyl with its music-on-tap modification’s, The ‘Digital Rush’ that hit planet Earth in the early 2000’s brought with it a change in mentality- an almost 3rd-eye appreciation for music-complimenting imagery.

The approach to visual’s evolved as technology hot-footed its way into a new era, and for the past 5 years in South Africa, has consistently become a feature incorporated into a night’s entertainment, and appreciated along with the music. Vj’ing has quickly climbed the ranks as an essential addition to the bill of a good night out, and with it enforced much-needed attention and improvement in event production quality.

Afterlife, the team of Cape Town-based Music Visualists, have been at the forefront of the movement for the past 4 years, dousing events and festivals around the country with their melded audio and visual sensory experience. Craig Shacid, Wayne Ellis and Monique Pacsall make up the threesome with the knack for putting picture to music, and fill quite a big role behind the more obvious scenes of big productions like Oppikoppi, Earth Dance and Rocking The Daisies.

Not satisfied with simply being ‘just another dj’, Craig set out to find what was happening internationally in an effort to find his personal differentiator and add something special to his act, and so discovered a very special USP indeed. “I was looking to bring something different to my dj set, my production wasn’t at that level where I could start playing self-produced sets, it needed a couple more years to get it up there… “ He says.

“VJ’ing a live set seemed easier than playing a live music set. I liked the idea of thinking visually and adding this in, in an audio reactive way. The Camel Experience parties were the only one’s really doing this back then, and it was still in the early stages of development. I knew that in terms of Technology, this was the way to go as it was something that was only going to become much bigger in time.’ The result is an abyss of creative expansion and turning his love for the electronic music into a technology-pushing career.


Monique had been dj’ing for several years already before she pixelated her sound; and coming from a film and animation background, having studied design, was only too happy to be able to incorporate her two interests together. “For me, it’s about feeling… Interpreting what’s going on, on the night- where is the energy of the night going? It really has a subliminal effect on people and the space you’re in,’” She says. ‘It’s a responsible role because people are out to have a good time and relax, you want to stimulate them and leave them in a good space.”

Craig’s approach to visual style is more unconventional; where some would try to establish a signature look and feel to their visual work, Craig enjoys the boundless experimentation on offer. “I love that the interpretation is really broad. You don’t have to develop a style- you can continuously play with all the elements.  It depends on the music, what kind of event it is- a club event is different to a product launch- and play between using text, animation and real-world footage.’

Creating their visual clips and honing a collection of curated and acquired footage is part of what feeds their passion; inspiration comes from everywhere. Playing with filters, colours and changing these in response to the music adds a different dimension to a set; it’s not simply a rock-the-crowd-silly dynamic, their well crafted and thought-provoking journey into sight and sound speaks of the deep connection they have with their music. And you can just see it.

Look out for the Afterlife Vj’s at Rocking the Daisies, Friday 7 – 9 October. Monique Pascall’s visual  touch and spirited Techno hits Red Bull Electronic Stage on Friday night at 23:00 and Craig Shacid and Wayne Ellis as Afterlife give you a reason to stay til the very end with the promise of  sexy Sunday outride from 14:30.


Video Mapping @ Rocking The Daisies 2010 from Afterlife on Vimeo.

Originally published on RedBull.co.za
Afterlife Website
Afterlife Facebook

This Is Your Brain on Metaphors

Loved this article on The New York Times website- its scientific but its got some cool insight into how we think and process in descirptives. Here’s a taste:

… Symbols, metaphors, analogies, parables, synecdoche, figures of speech: we understand them. We understand that a captain wants more than just hands when he orders all of them on deck. We understand that Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” isn’t really about a cockroach. If we are of a certain theological ilk, we see bread and wine intertwined with body and blood. We grasp that the right piece of cloth can represent a nation and its values, and that setting fire to such a flag is a highly charged act. We can learn that a certain combination of sounds put together by Tchaikovsky represents Napoleon getting his butt kicked just outside Moscow…

… But if the brain confusing reality and literalness with metaphor and symbol can have adverse consequences, the opposite can occur as well. At one juncture just before the birth of a free South Africa, Nelson Mandela entered secret negotiations with an Afrikaans general with death squad blood all over his hands, a man critical to the peace process because he led a large, well-armed Afrikaans resistance group. They met in Mandela’s house, the general anticipating tense negotiations across a conference table. Instead, Mandela led him to the warm, homey living room, sat beside him on a comfy couch, and spoke to him in Afrikaans. And the resistance melted away…

Blink. Focus. And go HERE to read it all.

Influencers: How Trends and Creativity Become Contagious

One of the best ways you’ll ever spend 13 minutes of your life!

INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment. The film attempts to understand the essence of influence, what makes a person influential without taking a statistical or metric approach. Written and Directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, the film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today’s pop culture.

ps. How rad is Picasso’s mom?

Influencers film below. :)

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Influencers Film Website

A whole lot of Faith 47

Faith 47 is a Cape Town-based graffiti artist, her work is both gentle and harsh, a commentary on the country that has raised her with both joy and heartache. Her art merges the intimately fragile and most subtle gestures with a raw and violent darkness. Finding inspiration from the various environments she finds herself in, her images live on abandoned walls, broken-down cars, empty factories, art galleries, dark alleyways, large commercials buildings and small shacks. It’s Faith47’s awe with the world, her work juxtaposes the heights and lows of humanity with her own search for understanding of the world, becoming a jumping point for both internal and external thought…

Check out this powerful short documentary on her series of graffiti murals inspired by the Freedom Charter, a statement of core principles established in 1955 by the South African Conference Alliance committed to equal rights and a non-racial South Africa. And some stills of the power images that peer down on the streets long after she’s gone.

The Freedom Charter from rowan pybus & faith47 on Vimeo

Faith was nominated in the 21 Icons Global Project which is a visual celebration and intimate personal chronicle of those who have enriched and enlightened the world in the 21st Century and recent times. …And the artworks spanning her career have been collected into a book – which is going for a steal on Kalahari.net, show your love for Faith 47 and local graffiti here.

Creative Modus Operandi

Came across an interesting post by Johnathan Fields (he’s a New York based writer slash marketing consultant slash wellness industry entrepreneur slash yoga lover slash public speaker slash blogger slash all-round creative guy. It’s exhausting being him- clearly- so he figured out there must be a something that helps such creative people perform at their optimal potential- a certain mix that, when all comes together, kicks you off in the right direction. A way to start your in 2nd gear, if you will.

What he discovered, quite cleverly- and simply- is a set of values he called the CMO- Creative Modus Operandi- which is essentially an elemental mixture of routine, lifestyle, personal preference and artistic quirk. The result is a list detailing how you like to ‘set the scene’ when it comes to getting into your most creative happy place. The genius is in how it works- why, its simply about taking the time to think about it in the first place, that you realise what your preferential work setting actually is. And away you go, again and again until it becomes a finely tweaked and well-oiled mental machine.

It’s not set set in stone- obviously- on the flipside a bit of crazy and the unplanned- just sit down and get on with it- mentality is  just as likely jerk you into the right frame of mind as well, but its an interesting idea to play with- its just about your own awareness of yourself and your space and maximising it when you have a looming deadlines or a creative momentum to start riding. Check out mine below for the CMO of my perfect writing situation and see the original post by Fields here.

Clothes –  Super comfortable- cotton shorts or track pants, no shoes or socks or anything fussy or restrictive
Sound –  Ambient electonic music with minimal or no vocals – or just get sucked into silence
Light – Loads of natural light during the day, bright white light at night.
Location – Sitting at a desk or on my bed at home.
Directionality – Facing big windows with a view, or back against a wall facing the door.
Time of Day – From Dusk until dawn- energy always kicks off early evening and can take me deep into the night
Routine/spontaneous – Oh that routine thing sounds great… mostly spontaneous nightshifts.
Long periods or short bursts – Short HARD bursts.
Carry something to capture ideas on the fly? – Trusty notebook, suprised I haven’t lost it in 2 years.
Squeaky Clean or Squalor –  Indulge my OCD- the space around me must be supreme or my mind feels cluttered.
Clean or dirty – Clean but likely dirty hair scraped back into a bun until I’m done.
Solo or surrounded – Solo.
Digital or analogue – The digital generation consumes me although I’m a serial list-writer.
What fuels you? – Culture: music, art, media- and finding limitless links to these online or on twitter.
Leaded or unleaded? – A passionate tea drinker but the benefits of working on coffee have recently been discovered.
Breaks- Often forget to take breaks- need to force myself out for fresh air and new perspective.
Mindset practices that fuel creation – Listening to music, reading, obsessive compulsively ordering my space or laptop files- also known as procrastination.
Movement practices that fuel creation – Dancing, driving, pilates, dancing, beaching.

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