“Now I know some of you may not trust your gut…yet. But with my help you will. The ‘truthiness’ is anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news…at you.” – Stephen Colbert
A functional society is an ecosystem of co-operative and competitive systems. These entities provide strength, balance, and hopefully a capacity to fight toxins in their midst. A dysfunctional society, therefore, is one in which certain organisms grow too powerful and dangerous as a result of other individuals or other institutions being unwilling or unable to check their excesses. These monsters grow large with the ability to do tremendous damage. But even with nothing standing in their way, sometimes even the most powerful organisms die. They may rape their environment until it becomes uninhabitable, or they could prove unable to adapt to a new climate, or they might become infected and zombified.
Anyone who attempts to navigate a crowded street during a downpour knows that umbrellas are as cumbersome as they are convenient. Imagine a stranger walking toward you on a rainy day. As she gets closer, her umbrella contracts like a jellyfish, shrinking from a parasol to a mushroom, then expanding to its full size once you have passed. Ingenious! The umbrella knows its manners. This is the Polite Umbrella, the brainchild of Joo Youn Paek, an interactive technology artist. Paek explained, “It has simple mechanics. You pull on this handle and you can change the shape. This umbrella bows to other people on the street.”
Oakland’s Annihilation Time are a rare, rare find for the aught years—a prodigiously talented and punk-derived guitar band that is familiar with the honest-to-goodness musical language of rock. Their third album, and first release on Tee Pee Records, finds the band stronger than ever, with a crushing rhythmic core and dueling guitar solos that are not only muscular and modest but purposeful.
TAKE A DEEP BREATH group exhibition opened over the weekend at Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art. Co-sponsored by ALARM Magazine and Imeem, the exhibition runs though July 20 and features new works by Asbestos, Cherri Wood, The Dark, Kngee and Know Hope. Visiting international artists have also been extending their installation to works in the street to create a colorful urban landscape and striking imagery for passer-by.
Quitzow and Setting Sun have both just released new albums and will be embarking on a joint tour together for the remainder of the summer. Quitzow (aka Erika Quitzow) and the founder/lead-singer of Setting Sun, Gary Levitt, are the masterminds behind running and recording on their label, Young Love Records. The two have assisted each other in recording and are often interchangeable onstage, offering their services to a wide range of instrumentation and voice.
