HappyFt Travels

A month ago, I read a great essay over at Just Seeds on the appropriation of art. The text tells a story of a group of activists who took photos out of a magazine, changed the context of the images (and the people in the photos), and then watched as their art was appropriated for book covers, art exhibits, etc. Essayist Dara Greenwald finally states that “appropriation is both an important and inevitable part of a vibrant and living culture.” Since I read this article, I have come across some other amazing examples of appropriation in surprising places. And my experiences with a few live concerts yesterday compelled me to write about my discoveries.
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Man, $5 for three bands, two DJs, a VJ, random bike videos and images…

…AND free punk buttons for the first 100 folks who walk in the door?

I’m making the buttons myself, thanks to Janet “Bike Girl” Attard, Flickr, and Raven’s button-making machine. Hope to have some excellent bike buttons for all the kiddies who hit up CELLspace this Friday and hand ‘em out at the door. I know a free button isn’t much, but sharin’ the bike love is what it’ll be about at good ole’ CELL.

Oh, and helping to ease the rent pain for that org as well!

Gift up the 2-wheeled revolution…. See you there!

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When the band Blackfire comes through the area, they bring an eclectic blend of power trio rock/punk, activism, and their Native American/Diné cultural influences. I caught them live two years ago at the Women’s Building on 18th Street and was impressed at their dedication to preserving their traditional ways, fighting for their rights, and by their powerful stage presence when they spoke between songs. Their music is good too, with powerful lyrics, which never hurts.

If you don’t know what’s going on with the San Francisco Peaks or with the Diné struggle against Big Coal, this is a great place to find out and get inspired by a group of musicians who lead the way in educating us all about the good deeds that they and others are doing in Arizona. Blackfire will also be supporting other great local causes while in the area.

Wed. Nov. 14th at 2:30PM
In Celebration of Native American Heritage Month
At City College
San Francisco, CA
Free show!
Presented by NASO/SKIP-IT

Wed. Nov. 14th at 8:00PM
At La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Ave
With Bug
Berkley, CA
$5-7

More info: After this show (At about 10:00PM) join a march to the UC Berkley Tree-sit to support the efforts to protect the Memorial Oak Grove!

Thurs. Nov. 15th at 5:00PM
5th Annual Richard Oaks Celebration!
w/ One Struggle & FUGA!
Jack Adams Hall - SFSU
San Francisco, CA
$5-7

More info: You are invited to a Sacred Sites/NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) coalition fundraising event and concert at SFSU. This is a 2-day event November 14-15th. The concert fundraiser will be on November 15th with three (3) bands performing (One Struggle/Blackfire/FUGA). The concert will begin at 5pm. There will also a be a raffle. All proceeds will go to the Sacred Sites and NAGPRA coalition who are fighting to protect sacred sites and for the repatriation of ancestors to tribes.

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Carnaval just landed on a chilly Sunday this weekend. I caught the parade for about an hour, went home for a break, and then walked a litter-strewn, car-free Mission Street to the party at Harrison St. Ran into Jef, Rebecca, Antonio, and Linda in the market-buying frenzy there, and we promptly left to catch Soul Salaam at Medjool’s rooftop party, running into Kush Arora on the way out. Pod showed up to the rooftop scene, so I caught almost all of the old SoundLabSF crew in one day!

What’s in store for this week?

After being a fan for 7 years, I finally get to see Manu Chao this Wednesday at Bill Graham Auditorium. He has a new CD out this September. The folks at CELLspace will be bartending for a fundraiser at Elixir that night as well.

Saturday, Pod and DJ Zelko, along with World Remix alums Brass Menazeri, get their Roma on at Kafana Balkan, 7 pm at the Rickshaw Stop. $10-$25.

Sunday, my current favorite band ever, Secret Chiefs 3, headline at the Great American Music Hall. Attend this event prepared to see music genres get shredded, along with ear drums (ear plugs recommended) and perhaps your soul. I caught this band two years ago for an adoption day show and they melted my mind in an initiation of fourth-dimensional vector-pointed warps into robed mysticism. Read about that amazing initiation here.

Maybe we run into each other this week? Hope so!

PS: Posted this while listening to Balkan Beat Box’s new CD Nu Med.

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For at least a year now, I have been in the background of my cohort, and SoundLab alum, Pod’s XLT project, throwing links his way that might flesh out his vision, keeping up with his blog entries on his XLT experiences, giving him ideas for his presentations, etc. Finally, XL Terrestrials will hit the Valencia Way here in the Mission District with all the force of a mountain of tape and celluloid. This will give us all a new way to question the media that leaks into our lives, takes over our eyes and fingers, and gives us new freedoms as it takes away old ones.

Pod’s XLT project is a live organism, constantly changing. I invite you to check it out, and question your connection to you, me, and the community you live in.

The XL Terrestrials present
“THE TRANSMIGRATION OF CINEMA”

May 16, 2007
New College Theater
777 Valencia Street
San Francisco
6:30-9pm
$5, no one turned away

Now into a second century of both cinema and psychoanalysis, the state of the world, and culture as a whole, appear to be slipping into a “Military Entertainment Complex” and maybe it’s time to ask: “What are we doing in there?!”

The Transmigration of Cinema is a screening program ranging from art flix to mainstream movies to guerrilla media to ubiquitous online effluvium, all presented in an open forum theater as an interactive and self-diagnostic application that will tell us if we are still connected to human consciousness, and how might we still access a liveable “Operating System” based on un-programmed desires, community and individuation.
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A special birthday LegumeCast, with Mom and Dad guest starring. Since I’m out here in the Iowa corn dessert, I’d like to invite you all to spend 30 minutes or so with me, my ramblin’, and a few tunes that were my faves back in the day. I mean 1970s when I say “back in the day”….

Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Woo Hoo, 37 and soooo glad that last year has put me where I am today. Looking back at my 2005 birthday entry, I am still amazed how blessed I am in this lifetime. Being alive and breathing; those are the best gifts I can receive on this day.

Off to the Iowa State Fair. BUTTER!

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The current members of SoundLabSF have disbanded the org after about six years of producing, making, and teaching sounds to the masses. I have removed the static page and posted it here for archival purposes. World Remix will still keep it’s static pages (there could be more). Below are a few rambling thoughts about the last six years I spent with an amazing group of sound artists.

On a cold January night in 2001, I nervously pulled on Deborah’s old overalls and wandered into the studio with Koa. We’d only really rehearsed our bluegrass version of Love and Rocket’s “Express Kundalini” a few times, but had already worked out an Ozzy Osbourne breakdown and a few good jokes. Anyway, the 20 or so folks who braved the chill to see Free Radio Legumes “broadcast” from CELLspace wouldn’t care about the quality anyway…

Co-founders/DJs Pod and HappyFt look through the window of SoundLab’s studio F control room. At the time, we had about 15 members (or may have shed many of them), chief among them Rob Monk, Rob Penn, Simran Gleason, Koa, Xtian, Deborah Eliezer, and Delphine Mei. Fisheye photo by Karl Seifert.

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Just in time for, uh… the end of June! Tunage eclectika from your humble DJ HappyFt. This episode’s theme: Something shiny, something new, something folded, something…green and red and yellow. What could it be? Well take a listen dear listener and dig deep to see what you got going on in those proverbial pockets of need and sometimes splendor.

PS: Episodes 001 and 002 should fit nicely on an 80 minute CD (for sure) for double your listening pleasure.

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Oy vey! I think I’ve figured alla this PodPress/Podcast/RSS Feed etc. etc. out. Hopefully this post will work and I’ll delete the other one that has three enclosed URLs.

fingers crossed…

…it worked (I’m listening to the DL right now)!

Here’s how you can download the HFt .mp3 file to yer very own HD:

1. Copy this link: feed://happyfeettravels.org/index.php/feed/
2. Go To your iTunes Podcast section, choose “Advanced” dropdown menu
3. Click “Subscribe to Podcast”
4. Paste that URL in!
5. Watch the download happen!
6. Listen to organic goodness.

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Justin Katz (Epic Arts, Paradox Media, Rosin Coven) dropped me an e-mail last week asking me to throw down some HappyFt zaniness for ArtSFest’s Spectra Ball. If it wasn’t for Justin’s support (along with Epic Arts’ Jess Ivry and Tim Barsky), the world would probably never get to hear the meshing of styles and cultures that leak out of my brain’s ears. Looking over this line-up, I’m humbled to be among a throng of amazing performers for this last night of DJing before I head East.

My set is early and I think I’m still doing between act fills. That’s the best way to throw out my many genres and cartoon tangents. Who needs a big set to get the good times going?

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New Year’s night, Tim Barsky wandered up to the Big Tadoo puppet stage at the Sea of Dreams. We ended up hanging out, having a great discussion about history, and he asked me to perform at the Everyday Theatre (EDT) afterparty in early February.

He showed up at the puppet stage a few hours later, and asked if he could beatbox. I said sure, and helped him set up the PA and mic. It was late (Tim’s stint on mic could have been the last performance in the whole Sea of Dreams show) and the PA was loud. He lasted 5 minutes before security tried to shut us down twice. I cut Tim short and he finished at the same time a security guard approached him to tell him to quit.

I have a special place in my heart for beatboxing (Yuri Lane, and Mixtape from Mars with Kid Beyond have been in two of my shows), especially when the performer is a radical storyteller like Tim. Please join us this Sat. to “pass the hat” for Everyday Theatre:

Saturday February 4th
MIXTAPE VOL. 2 – New Works Showcase by EDT, creators of The Bright River and
EDT Afterparty featuring live music by Dr. Abacus, DJs Laird, Aspect & happyft

Show: 8pm @ The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK, Berkeley
Afterparty at Epic Arts Studios, just two doors up at 1923 Ashby, Berkeley

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Embarka Records and Electric Vardo present
A Night in Tunisia with MC Rai: A CD Release Event for Raivolution
January 27th
9 pm -2 am

CELLSpace
2050 Bryant, San Francisco
$10 advance $12 door
Buy advance tickets

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