BANNED FROM FACEBOOK

I was banned from facebook for posting this picture of myself around age 3 which i recently found in my family’s archives.  My father was at the time an active amateur photographer with a sense of humor as is made very clear by this image:  my posture clearly reflecting my shyness about my nudity, yet I evidently do not yet have the self-awareness required to stop playing with my penis for the camera.  When I posted this image on facebook, it did indeed occur to me that it might be an issue:  there is a long history of irrational censorship of images of nude children(see Jock Sturges, Ron Oliver, Sally Mann), in which all depictions of underage nudity are lumped together into the sleaze bucket, and the internet has been a war zone with respect to censorship and all kinds of imagery deemed too indecent for public consumption since it became an accessible means for sharing photos in the late 80s/early 90s.  It is impossible for me to ignore the site and moment at which this particular censoring has occurred, for I have recently been made aware of a “story” seeping into mainstream media outlets regarding the dissemination of risque, semi-nude, nude and occasionally lewd photographs of underage subjects on anonymous image boards on the internet.  It is true that this is somewhat a growing trend, but having grown up during the internet boom, I became aware of the practice in unspeakably seedy AOL chatrooms at an early age.  These photos are generally first distributed by the author/subject of the photograph via instant message, facebook, photobucket, a text message(sexting), email, and then shared and re-shared by the growing number of recipients, or in some cases directly to the audience at large, that is, to an anonymous image board, with countless numbers of drooling voyeurs “fapping” away to whatever underage indiscretion strikes at their dark soul.  I recently heard a discussion of the matter on NPR.  In a few cases, I gather, the initial posters, that is teenaged boys and girls who have photographed themselves nude and shared it with their friends, have been charged criminally.  A number of good points were touched on, which I wish to reflect upon here.  1) This is not a criminal matter! As of yet, there is no legal distinction between a teenager posting a nude picture of him or herself and a pedophile doing so. This is insane, for a number of obvious reasons. 2) Kids have been allowed, and even encouraged to engage in similar activities on social networking sites for years. It is the parameters of the medium of the text message, or private chat room that allows for them to make the next logical step of sharing nude self portraits. The language of myspace prepares them for it perfectly. and 3) the media’s obsession with this “phenomenon” and the hysteria it seems to inspire in parents and society at large speaks VOLUMES about our obsession with teen sexuality and our desires to insert ourselves into the drama, albeit under the guise of one motivated by protective and/or moralistic intentions. Before one classifies an image pornographic, one needs to look in the mirror and ask oneself why they might categorize it as such.  With that, I’d like to apologize to whichever facebook employee found my photo and banned me for it.  “Sorry if I gave you a boner.”

Zam Rock

70s Psych & Stoner Rock from Zambia

Amanaz

Witch

Chrissy Zebby Tembo

I want to post something about Paul Ngozi but I have to go to work and build flats for some shit at sundance.  so i’ll hopefully do that later.  picture from Now & Again Records which has reissued beautiful vinyl pressings from the afforementioned artists.

Music from Jamaica(and Canada)

Something reminded me of this song today and I ain’t heard it in years, so I thought I’d post it.  Althea & Donna‘s Uptown Top Ranking.  So good.

Also, Phyllis Dillon with Don’t Touch Me Tomato.

Alton Ellis’ son Noel recorded a record in the early 80s in Canada which is pretty rad.

Burning Spear‘s classic “Marcus Garvey.”

Big Youth “Pride and Joy Rock”

The self-described “Dark Prince of Dub” Keith Hudson‘s “Darkest Night”

Abner Jay

Abner Jay was a self-mythologizing outsider-folk-blues one man band who died in 1993.

His music has been re-issued by Subliminal Sounds and Mississippi Records.

Children of the World, Unite!

FAMILY IS AN ECONOMIC UNIT, LOVE IS STICKY, WE FEEL AT HOME JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE. PRIVATE PROPERTY IS CUTE, BUT THE LAW THAT PROTECTS IT WAS ERECTED TO PROTECT THE FIRST ACT OF STEALING. OBJECTS TALK, BUT THE LAW, LIKE A THIEF, IS SILENT. OBJECTS TALK, BUT THEY DONT SAY ALL THEY KNOW, THEY KEEP THEIR SECRETS FOR THEMSELVES.

Guy Ben-Ner’s narrative video Stealing Beauty (2007) was shot in secret at 3 different IKEA’s in 3 different countries, as Ben-Ner and his actors(his family) were forced to change locations every time they were caught taping.  The story depicts a family’s trials after their youngest is caught stealing at school.  It explores themes of globalism, public spaces, private property, consumerism, family, love and theft.  You can watch the video in it’s entirety on UbuWeb.

CHILDREN OF THE WORLD, UNITE!  RELEASE THE FUTURE FROM THE SHACKLES OF THE PAST!  MY PEERS, IT IS OUR TIME TO STEAL!  NOT IN ORDER TO GAIN PROPERTY, BUT IN ORDER TO LOSE RESPECT FOR IT.  PROPERTY IS LIKE A GHOST: YOU CAN NOT POSSESS IT WITHOUT BEING POSSESSED BY IT.  STEAL, AND LET OTHERS STEAL.  LET PROPERTY MOVE FREELY FROM PLACE TO PLACE SO IT WILL NOT HAUNT YOUR HOME.  STEAL FROM THE LOCAL SUPERMARKET, STEAL FROM THE CITY!  STEAL FROM THE STATE. STEAL FROM YOUR PARENTS!  AND ABOVE ALL, DON’T ACCEPT INHERITANCE: STEAL IT!  ROB YOUR PARENTS, AND RID YOURSELF OF PROMISES YOU WILL HAVE TO KEEP!  CHILDREN OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

Professeur Choron

Les Fiches Bricolage are the the works of the brilliant french comedian Professeur Choron.  In these shorts, he drew humorous connections between domestic life, social conventions, politics, and paranoia.

CornRow Rider

JUST YOU AND ME

Played on loop, the short piece is based on a character that stands as an iconic figure for an entire generations identity crisis. A figure whose performance is grotesque and inhumane, sexual and heroic.

CORNROW RIDER IS A NEW YORK BASED ARTIST COLLECTIVE. THE COLLECTIVE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2008 AS A PLATFORM FOR SEVERAL ARTISTS TO WORK COLLABORATIVELY CROSSBREEDING GENRES, BACKGROUNDS, IDENTITIES AND WORK HABITS. THE WORKS AIM TO CONFRONT THE PARADOX OF THE CURRENT AGE BY ILLUMINATING THE PROCESS IN WHICH REGIONAL ECONOMIES, SOCIETIES, AND CULTURES HAVE BECOME INTEGRATED THROUGH A GLOBE SPANNING NETWORK OF EXCHANGE. MEMBERS OF THE COLLECTIVE HAVE EXHIBITED INDEPENDENTLY AND COLLABORATIVELY IN BOTH GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS WORLDWIDE.

SEA DIAMOND

CHICAGO VS DENVER

“…AN UNEDITED AMERICAN FOOTBALL GAME FROM THE 2009 NFL PRE SEASON. WITH THIS SEEMINGLY EFFORTLESS GESTURE OF SHIFTING THE CONTEXT FROM LIVING ROOM TO GALLERY, THE COLLECTIVE MINES CONVENTIONAL MEDIA TO WARHOLIAN PROPORTIONS. CHICAGO VS DENVER CONTINUES THE COLLECTIVES EXPLORATION OF CLASS, RACE, AND SEXUALITY NOT BY MANIPULATING THE SOURCE MATERIAL, BUT THE ACTUAL AUDIENCE WHO CONSUMES IT.”

WALGREENS

Brian Faucette’s Thankless Task of Living Your Life For You

The Thankless Task of Living Your Life For You is the blog of artist Brian Faucette, who’s works address systems of meaning and value taken for granted by the bastions of contemporary culture.  Faucette works in a variety of media, but here we are given a chance to glimpse his daily explorations of writing and digital graphic works, which he approaches, as in his paintings and sculptures, from an ostensibly formalist position, which is then constantly called into self-reflexive question and doubt as he undercuts the sacred mythology of modernism with the profanity of the earnest.

Danzig videos

Glenn Danzig “Welcome to My Book Collection”

then Chuck Biscuits talks about his amazing collection of classic vintage cereal boxes

Available, sometimes, on VHS on ebay and at swap meets near you.