Dad: Thoughts to an Obituary

James Arthur Barrett 1 May 1940-22 January 2013

To have known James Arthur Barrett was to have been admitted into a world of history, magic, great events and into the lives of people who attained greatness or infamy by their deeds. The spirit of adventure, even if it was pressed upon the page, was always present in his conversation and in the space around him.

As a child it was fascinating to listen to my father’s stories about the two years he spent travelling the world with my mother. The thought of traveling overland from London to Singapore seems impossible today. But Jim and Roslyn did that and spent years talking about it afterwards. As soon as he could, their oldest son attempted to emulate the feelings he experienced as a result of such stories by setting out himself for world travel.

Jim manifested his curiosity and knowledge in a myriad of ways. Jim’s creativity and inquisitiveness extended from writing poetry (he once had a poem published in ‘The Bulletin’ according to reliable sources), to his many pursuits. Pottery, jewelry making and lapidary, photography, studying languages (particularly Latin, Chinese and Japanese), book binding and the quest for the perfect curry were some of his more long lasting passions.

Of course there was also the family. Up to the very end of his life, Jim was concerned and shared all he had with his family. His partnership with Roslyn lasted 48 years, and his concern for his children and grandchildren was always paramount in his mind.  He inspired all of us towards a love of knowledge, a curiosity about the world and a strong sense of compassion for all.

 

 

My Father, James Arthur Barrett 1940-2013

My father passed away about an hour ago aged 72 after many years of struggling with emphysema. The above photo was taken in 1989, when he was working on a local newspaper as a journalist. He and I were on our way to visit a Buddhist monastery on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. I notice now that he is not wearing any socks. Very typical.

My father was a great influence on me; his love of books, culture and above all poetry had a great effect on my formative years and set me on a course that in many ways I continue today. He was a nonconformist, he chose his life and what he filled it with. His father was a welder in a metal foundry, who barely completed basic education. My father was a scholar in the old sense of the word; studying history and languages as well as creative arts (photography and jewellery making) in his own time and in formal institutions. However he maintained much of the egalitarianism and directness he grew up with. He was kind man, and although he had a temper I never saw him raise a hand in anger at man or beast.

I last saw him only five days ago. May he rest in peace.

John Henry Calvinist RIP

Multi-Instrumentalist, with the emphasis on mentalist, John Henry Calvinist, aka David MacKinnon died in September 2012. I only learned of this tragic news a few days ago upon visiting an old friend. David MacKinnon (b 1962) was a founding member of The Lost Domain, which probably had one of the most developed and far reaching influences on the early freak folk scene around the turn of the last century.

I first learned of the existence of the art of David Mackinnon with the 1993 compilation of Brisbane bands from Malignant with his band Invisible Empire. Monty Bloomfield (bands Queer and Noose d. 1994) put out a compilation on his label Malignant, F*ck the White Race. I had a lot of friends who were on that album.

Fast forward 10 years and I am living in Sweden, I am playing music and arranging gigs for the free freak folk scene, and I meet Mats Gustafsson of the great zine Broken Face. Mats and I talk a lot and one thing he presses on me is a CD by a Brisbane band called The Lost Domain. Its is Sailor, Home from the Sea and I am blown away.

As following the link to the release notes of Sailor will show, this was a connection in many ways. I was in 2004 already part of a group of people working under the direction of mueslical eye frog Michael Donnelly, who wrote as a comment on the 2004 release page;

Hey,wow....i live in northern NSWs,about two hours from Brisbane and am part of the musicyourmindwillloveyou sightsoundcollective,we have just started our own homebaked cdr label,with our initial set of releases due out at as soon as i finish doing the artwork...which should be soon.
Strangely enough , the way you describe the Lost Domain is very similar to the kinds of sounds we have been making for the past ten years.....based upon free improv,bringing together acoustic and electronic elements,forging new dimensions in sound ...ect
and to think,we are so close...i thought there was nothing like us in this big dry land......so i am thrilled to discover some likeminded spirits.i await the release of their cd with anticipation and would love to get in touch....cheers

These were indeed likeminded spirits. And by Mats in Sweden bringing Micheal in Australia into context with John Henry and Co. a bridge of shimmering amber light was cast out over the rainforest retreats of every long haired mystic north of the southern ranges.

Since then more music has been made and minds altered. John Henry has moved on, but the sounds remain behind every rock, road sign and broken barroom window. I hope that the body of work left behind continues to inspire for a long time to come.

On the Waterfront, parts 1 & 2 - The Lost Domain

From Sailor, Home from the Sea (Digitalis, 2004), film by John Henry Calvinist

Pandit Ravi Shankar has Left his Body

Pandit Ravi Shankar (Bengali: রবি শংকর; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012)

It is with some emotion that I begin this day. The first thing I read was a message from an online friend in India telling me the news that Pt. Ravi Shankar has passed on. While in recent years I have moved on to other sitar players, Pt. Shankar was were it all started for me. My father had a record of his music, which as a child I listened enraptured by the sounds. The Sounds of India (1968) was not just the amazing music of Ravi Shankar, but between each piece he spoke, about 'microtones' and 'ragas'. It seemed to me like a technology from another planet or some lost ancient civilization. Allmusic reviewer Adam Greenberg recommended listening to the album for "Shankar's amazing abilities" but singled out the album for its historic value as a work that introduced Western listeners to Hindustani classical music using short lessons before each performance. I would lie on the floor with the speakers at each side of my head and lose myself in the music.

In 1989 I was selected for an exchange program to work for two months on The Times of India newspaper in Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmadabad, Bombay and Bangalore (as they were known then). I was in Mumbai when on 26th January 1990 Ravi Shankar performed at St Francis Xavier school. My fellow exchange student from rural Queensland was not interested in seeing the performance so I went by myself, A scared 20 year old out into the vast night of the megalopolis. I found the school and watched and listened for 7 hours as Pt Ravi Shankar just blew my world apart. I was amazed. I had never seen anything like it. Somehow I got the idea that I wanted to learn to play the sitar.

I returned to Australia and studies. I met a girl who had a sitar in her cupboard. I remember she was a hippie and she agreed to lend it to me for an indefinite period. I think I had it for about 2 years. I had no idea what I was doing. in my summer holidays I worked in the local hospital, in the psychiatric section. One of the psychologists there was a follower of Osho and had been in India a lot. She had books on playing the sitar and I borrowed them from her. I now had information about ragas (this was in Toowoomba Queensland - not a center for music outside the dreaded Country and Western amalgam). About the same time I found the Monterey Pop Festival film on VHS and played the performance by Ravi Shankar endlessly:



Ravi Shankar - Festival Monterey Pop 1967
I finished university and went to Brisbane to begin life as a poet (yea.....really). I found a teacher of sitar, a very chaotic Hare Krisna devotee. He was the first of many influences in the sitar. I returned to India in 1996-1997 and spent a lot of time going to concerts of classical Hindustani music. I purchased the sitar I currently play in 2010 and while I am no expert, I can make it sound pretty. To be a true sitar player one must abandon so much of the world. To call Pandit Ravi Shankar a musician is to lessen the calling he took up. To live in the divine sound, as is the way in Indian classical music, means you follow the Nada Brahma. It is your teacher. Eventually it can becomes you. I trust Ravi Shankar found that union.

Radio France le jeudi 26 juin 1986 au studio 106 de la maison de la radio

a)Alapa
b)jod(Vilambita,Madhya,Druta,Jhata) i)solo ii)avec tabla en cautala
Ravi Shankar : Sitar
Kumar Bose : Tabla
Vidya Bataju : Tampura
Jeevan Govinda : Tampura
An Mp3 of this performance can be downloaded from here.

Recent image of myself playing sitar. I was given a gift when I witnessed Pt. Ravi Shankar perform live. It remains with me to this day.

Don Van Vliet is Dead

Don Van Vliet died today. I found the music of his band Captain Beefheart when I was about 19 years old in 1989. It was a shock at first. I found it difficult to align the broad strokes and viscous warbles with what I had been taught to believe was music before then. As I and my friends embarked out on our own version of bush bohemianism we took Beefheart with us. Like medallions for skinny warriors of sacred sound Beefheart really took you somewhere else. Removed you from the dull surrounds of suburban resignation and armed you with a jeweled psychedelic shell. We became beautiful minds in the land described to us by Beefheart. His art shall live on forever. His genius was a pure thing.


Ice Cream for Crow by Captain Beefheart

Delicious is Dead

I started using del.icio.us.com in 2004. I have over 10000 bookmarks on the site. Today it seems to be clear judging by the wildfire rumor on the net that delicious is done for. I am sad about this but it has happened before that a valued web app has died for no other reason than the company that owns it did not develop it according to the potential that it actually afforded.

I have signed up to Pinboard and my entire collection of bookmarks is uploading as we speak. I wanted to post them here but could not due to the 1MB restriction on the page.

Rowland S. Howard 1959-2009

“Shut me up, shut me down, stop me if you can. My love, I'll tell you nothing, I'm a misanthropic man.”



Recording Jennifer's Veil

Roland S. Howard was the guitarist with the Birthday Party. He died yesterday.
He also played with:
Boys Next Door
Lydia Lunch,
Nikki Sudden,
Jeremy Gluck,
Crime and The City Solution,
KaS Product,
Barry Adamson,
Einstürzende Neubauten,
Chris Haskett,
Jeffrey Lee Pierce,
Fad Gadget,
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,
Henry Rollins,
and A.C. Marias.

Shivers


A genius. His music will be a long lasting presence.



Jenifer's Veil



Nick the Stripper

Jack Rose is Dead

Jack Rose 1971-2009

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

I just heard that Jack Rose is dead at 38. While I only met Jack once, when I saw him play a beautiful concert here in Umeå in 2007, I have been listening to his music for the past decade. I am shocked by the passing of a great musician who was an inspiration to myself. Following his gig here in Umeå in 2007 I wrote:

When I met Jack Rose and shook his hand I noticed how big and chunky they were. Great paws attached to a bearish man with curly locks and a shaggy beard. Then when he started playing his hands became nimble creatures that plucked and strutted over the frets. In the music of Jack Rose Varanasi meets the Appalachians in the back seat of John Fahey's beat up automobile. I must admit in some places the music seemed to stagger and stall (giving the feeling of being imprisoned in a giant wind up clock that was running too fast), becoming repetitive, but overall it was a great performance. One perhaps 10 or 15 minute piece (time disappeared for most of the gig) in particular was an amazing raga-esque journey with Rose tapping on the sound board, playing a bass line and a high end all at the same time.

Jack Rose Umeå, 2007.

To understand who Jack Rose was turn to the Pelt Myspace site:

On Heraldic Beasts maybe more than any other Pelt record, the band get seriously fierce, kicking up super caustic walls of gritty guitar and harsh feedback, huge Total like dins that often (but not always) settle down into more familiar moody murkiness. Neo Appalachian guitar hero Jack Rose is in there somewhere, as Pelt is his musical day job, but he's not channeling Fahey here, instead, he's possessed by the spirit of Haino, spitting out huge surges of molten guitar skree which the band then twists into dronelike shapes. Most of this disc occupies the dreamlike raga space we've come to associate with Pelt, but there is most definitely plenty of supercharged blown out psychedelic freakout scrabble and skree, that fans of SUNN, Skullflower, Fushitsusha and the like will find well worth checking out.

And then there is his music:




Stream:

Download: “Now That I’m a Man Full Grown” – Jack Rose (mp3)

Stream:

Download: “Little Sadie” – Jack Rose and the Black Twigs (mp3)

These streams are from Arthur magazine, which is a brilliant publication and should be supported, even if I am borrowing their bandwidth, which I do with some conscious but due to the circumstances I will leave them here for a few days only- You can support Arthur in many ways: Subscribe to Arthur’s iTunes Podcast and receive music automatically: click here

Pelt Den Haag from Mikel Dimmick on Vimeo.

With Pelt.

Pelt Terrastock 7 June 22nd 2008 from Mikel Dimmick on Vimeo.

With Pelt at Terrastock 7


Obituary from Spinner:

Rose was born in Virginia in 1971. His professional musical career began in the Richmond noise band Pelt, which formed in 1993. But Rose is best known for his solo work, which he began recording in the early 2000s, releasing numerous EPs and LPs on a number of different labels, most frequently VHF.

Rose, who also went by the moniker Dr. Ragtime, reached new levels of exposure in 2004, recording a Peel Session on BBC Radio 1, appearing on a limited compilation by Devendra Banhart called 'Golden Apples In The Sun,' and being named among The Wire's 50 Records of the Year with the release 'Raag Manifestos.' The following year, he released 'Kensington Blues,' which also received high marks from publications including Pitchfork and Dusted.

Rose was considered instrumental in bringing ragtime into the modern era and transforming it into something that was both referential and original. But as a self-taught player proficient on the guitar, including the 6-string, 12-string and lap steel, he brought a wide range of influences to his music.

Explaining his process in a 2007 interview, Rose said his favorite music was "anything that's pre 1942; Cajun, Country, Blues, Jazz all that stuff... that's my favorite kind of music."

Sadness will be a companion for the coming time.

Didgeridoo Music in Memory of Alan Dargin

This is a recording that I just uploaded to the Internet Archive of me playing three didgeridoo pieces. It features clap sticks and bells, playing in the street sometime in the summer last year.

I post it here because I learnt only yesterday that Alan Dargin passed on in February 2008. I spent three days with Alan in 1998 in Amsterdam, playing didgeridoo and getting the only formal teaching I have ever had for the didgeridoo. Alan was one of the best didgeridoo players in the world. Before I met him I listened to his album Two Stories in One with the band Reconciliation from 1994 a lot;

As intriguing as any stylistic fusion one is likely to hear, Reconciliation combines Celtic and Australian Aboriginal influences to create a unique, seamlessly integrated mix of sounds. Surprisingly, the two seemingly disparate traditions have more in common than one might expect, including similar rhythms and compositional styles, and it's a strangely difficult challenge to discern which sounds are Irish and which are Australian. In fact, on "Pony Tail Reel," Sion O'Dwyer's dazzling Irish horn sounds so much like the distinctive nuances of the Aboriginal didjeridoo as to be virtually indistinguishable. A wonderfully inventive, magical fusion of sounds.

- Bret Love, All Music Guide

It is a sad loss (even if it did occur over a year ago) with the passing of Alan. I dedicate this recording to his memory.


The Web and Alan Dargin (R.I.P.) performing live @ Didge-Village Didgeridoo-Festival near Stendal in Germany, filmed by Reyk Hillert, www.didgevillage.de

Augusto Boal is Dead

While I learnt of the death of Augusto Boal (April 16, 1931 - May 2, 2009) the day after it happened, I have had not had a chance to sit down and reflect and write some lines on what it means to me that Boal is no longer among us.

I first learnt of Augusto Boal in 1994 at the age of 25 while working with a group of artists and activists on a fanzine in inner-city Sydney. One of our company, who had for a short time been the star of a popular film in Australia, spoke about Boal quite often. Ross O'Donovan placed an add in the fanzine with the words 'Augusto Boal: The Courage to be Happy'. I learnt more about the Theater of the Oppressed over the coming years, and everything that I heard I liked. In the last six years I have read the text twice. While I have tried to incorporate some of Boal's philosophies into my own performance in public places (street musics) I have never never taken it to the level that he intended. However, there are strands of Boal everywhere.

The Theatre of the Oppressed is theatre in this most archaic application of the word. In this usage, all human beings are Actors (they act!) and Spectators (they observe!). They are Spect-Actors.... Everything that actors do, we do throughout our lives, always and everywhere. Actors talk, move, dress to suit the setting, express ideas, reveal passions - just as we do in our everyday lives. The only difference is that actors are conscious that they are using the language of theatre, and are thus better able to turn it to their advantage, whereas the woman and man in the street do not know that they are speaking theatre. (Boal 1992: xxx).

The Flash Mob is one example of a current theater form that owes some of its being to the guerrilla theater of Boal. Invisible Theater is a gift Boal gave to the world:

Invisible theatre is a form of theatrical performance that is enacted in a place where people would not normally expect to see one, for example in the street or in a shopping centre. The Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal developed the form during his time in Argentina in the 1970s as part of his Theatre of the Oppressed, which focused on oppression and social issues. Boal went on to develop forum theatre.

Invisible theatre can give people who would not normally have the chance to see plays the opportunity to do so—or, as is often the case, it can be performed without the knowledge of its audience, which in such a scenario would consist of whoever happens to wander by. This can be done in order to help actors make a point publicly in much the same motivational vein as graffiti or political demonstration, or it can be done in order to help actors gain a sense of what a realistic reaction might be to a certain scenario; for example, a heated argument over a political or social issue. This type of theatre is performed in public on unexpected bystanders, whom the actors will try to get unknowingly involved in the scene.

I have been shaped by Boal. In my work as an academic and artist I consciously attempt to observe the principles he outlined in his writings. At the center of his corpus in the concept of community. It was while working in community arts that I discovered Boal and it with a quote from him I would like to end this rememberance that does little justice to him:

I think that all the barriers have been collapsing already and now what I think we should reinforce are some barriers instead of collapsing them. Building new walls against racism which is one of the horrible things that exist in the world. A wall against intolerance which is not accepting and is a form of racism, not accepting the existence of the other one. The wall against sexism which enslaves half of humanity - women. A wall against globalisation which makes all of us become clones of ourselves to become robots, so now is the moment to build barriers, to build walls and to fight against intolerance, against racism, sexism and globalisation, to fight vigorously against that. And to re-unite people. Boal

Rest in Peace Augusto.

Jumpcut is Finished

Dear Jumpcut user,

After careful consideration, we will be officially closing the Jumpcut.com site on June 15, 2009. This was a difficult decision to make, but it's part of the ongoing prioritization efforts at Yahoo!

Very soon, we'll be releasing a software utility that will allow you to download the movies you created on Jumpcut to your computer. We'll send instructions to this email address when the download utility is available.

Once you download your movies, you may choose to upload them to another site such as Flickr, which now allows video uploads. You can find out more here: http://www.flickr.com/explore/video/

Thanks for your understanding and thanks for being a part of Jumpcut.

The Jumpcut Team

A shame when an inovative site dies. The video sharing and remix site jumpcut.com was more innovative than many of the dominant online video sharing sites:

If creating a video and publishing it to the web seems like a challenge, we think you'll find that Jumpcut makes it easy and fun. If you've been wondering what to do with the video you shoot with your snazzy new camera (or your phone), Jumpcut is the perfect place for you to be creative. If video isn't your thing just yet and you just want to make cool slideshows with your pictures, Jumpcut is still the best place.

Finally, a free online location where you can use all your media, create great looking movies and publish to anyone you choose. There's nothing else like it.
Community

Because everything is online, as soon as you sign in to Jumpcut, you'll instantly be part of an online creative community. This means you can look through all of the media that other people have made public and grab anything to use in your own movie. If you choose, you can share any of your stuff with the community as well. If you missed the shot of The Big Moment, chances are, someone else got it, so the more people that join the community and share their stuff, the better it gets for everyone. Think of the fun you could have making a movie with a group of friends, or even a group of people you've never met, but share an interest with. Imagine coming home from a concert and having everyone's footage to make your own music video with! This kind of creative collaboration is unique to Jumpcut.
Remixing

Most likely, you've seen the big "Remix" button by now. Remixing is another feature unique to Jumpcut. Basically, Remixing is creating your own version of someone else's movie, usually incorporating elements from the original, and adding more content or maybe just some of your own style and spicy goodness. It's an easy way to get started, and you can do it with the click of a button on any published movie. When you click "Remix", we'll pull back the curtain and show you what's behind the scenes. Then you can get busy being creative. Don't worry, you're not destroying someone else's work, you're just making your own copy. And if yours is better than the original, so be it. The community will tell you.

Two Videos I have on Jumpcut:

Virtual Worlds and baile funk.


My Life as Dream as Life

Lux Interiors has Left the Buillding (RIP)

The Cramps - Live at Napa State Mental Hospital

I am laid up at home getting over a savage flu virus that strikes and them seems to leave after 24 hours. This whole week has been taken up with my son's cochlear implants implementation. At approximately 9am on Monday Ben could suddenly hear. An amazing thing.

The one thing I wanted to observe for the week on this blog is the passing of Lux Interiors, the singer with The Cramps and writer of such psycho-noir classics as Under the Wires, Can Your Pussy do the Dog? and Bikini Girls with Machine Guns died on Wednesday:

Lux Interior, lead singer of The Cramps, passed away this morning due to an existing heart condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California at 4:30 AM PST today. Lux has been an inspiration and influence to millions of artists and fans around the world. He and wife Poison Ivy’s contributions with The Cramps have had an immeasurable impact on modern music.

The Cramps emerged from the original New York punk scene of CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, with a singular sound and iconography. Their distinct take on rockabilly and surf along with their midnight movie imagery reminded us all just how exciting, dangerous, vital and sexy rock and roll should be and has spawned entire subcultures. Lux was a fearless frontman who transformed every stage he stepped on into a place of passion, abandon, and true freedom. He is a rare icon who will be missed dearly.

The family requests that you respect their privacy during this difficult time.

A sad day. Here are some choice cuts from The Cramps:


The Cramps-Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?


The Cramps - Bikini Girls with Machine Guns

Robert Rauschenberg Dead

Robert Rauschenberg

Artist Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) passed away on Monday. He was 82. Easily one of the most significant artists to come out of the twentieth century, Rauschenberg began painting in the 1940's, and eventually integrated collage, sculpture, performance, choreography, set design, and printmaking into his trailblazing practice. Throughout his career, he was continually dedicated to the concept that the artist must take on an active, participatory role in relation to the culture at large. This perspective was perhaps encouraged and strengthened while studying in the 1950's at the experimental and visionary Black Mountain College. During this period, he met John Cage and Merce Cunningham, and in 1952, the three participated in Theater Piece #1, cited by some as the first "happening" which involved the simultaneous performance of music, dance, and visual art. In 1967, he co-founded the groundbreaking organization Experiments in Art and Technology, whose mission to foster collaborations between artists and engineers served to bolster the creative application of new technologies in ways unimaginable before. To this day, the formation of Experiments in Art and Technology, along with the series of performances in 1966 from which it emerged, 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, mark a major milestone in the history of art and technology. Rauschenberg's openness to experimentation- both formally and conceptually- remain one of his principal contributions to American art. - Ceci Moss

Pandit Kishan Maharaj 1923-2008

The great Indian tabla player Pandit Kishan Maharaj passed away at Khajuri near Varanasi yesterday at the age of 84. Born in the year 1923 into a family of professional musicians, Kishan Maharaj was initially trained in classical music by his father Pandit Hari Maharaj. After his father's sudden death, his training was taken over by his uncle, Pt. Kanthe Maharaj, one of the great old masters and himself a disciple of Pt. Baldeo Sahai of the Banaras Gharana.
By the time he was eleven, he began performing in concerts. Within a few years, Kishan Maharaj was sharing the stage with stalwarts like Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Vasant Rai, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, and many others.


The two late doyens of north indian classical arts Ustad Vilayat Khan (sitar) and Pandit Kishan Maharaj (tabla) playing raag Darbari KanaDa. Both now dearly missed.

David Maybury-Lewis (1929-2007)

In 1992 I sat glued to the television screen for the entire 10 episodes of Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World hosted by anthropologist, author, ethnologist, educator and activist David Maybury-Lewis. I have just learnt that Maybury-Lewis died on 2nd December 2007 aged 78 years. For me Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World was a turning point in my life. Maybury-Lewis inspired for me through the PBS series (financed by the late founder of the Body Shop chain Anita Roddick) a deep interest in alternative social and cultural systems to those which I had grown up in or been taught at school. It was at around this time in my life I also was reading John Pilger's book A Secret Country and came to an alternative understanding of the Aboriginal history of Australia since colonization than that which I had been taught in school. Combined, A Secret Country and Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World formed a large part of the basis for beliefs I still hold today. Writing about his work Maybury-Lewis described it as being concerned with feelings, personal reactions and the day-to-day business which is mysteriously known as 'doing fieldwork.':

"My wife and I lived among the Sherente for eight months in 1955-56 and among the Shavante for slightly longer in 1958. This book is an account of our experiences; it is not an essay in anthropology. Indeed I have tried to put down here many of those things which never got told in technical anthropological writings - our impressions of Central Brazil, our personal reactions to the various situations in which we found ourselves, and above all our feelings about the day-to-day business which is mysteriously known as 'doing fieldwork.' The narrative is therefore intentionally anecdotal. To those readers who find that this book is not as thrilling as a book about the wilds of Brazil should be, I offer my apologies. I can only add by way of explanation that every incident is true"-Maybury-Lewis, Preface to The Savage and the Innocent. Beacon Press, Boston: 1956

In 1972, he and his wife Pia founded Cultural Survival, an organisation committed to guaranteeing indigenous peoples a voice in the policies affecting their lives, a sustainable means of livelihood, and the means of adapting their cultures to change. I believe the world is better for having had David Maybury-Lewis.
Unfortunatly Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World is not presently available as a DVD or online. I hope the program is republished soon in some way and more people can see it. Anyone have a torrent?

Tribute to Henry Chopin

"I, personally, would perfer the chaos and disorder which each of us would strive to master, in terms of his own ingenuousness, to the order imposed by the Word which everybody uses indiscriminately, always for the benefit of a capitol, of a church, of a socialism, etc...." Why I Am The Author of Sound Poetry and Free Poetry Henri Chopin, 1967

Henry Chopin died on January 3rd 2008 at the age of 85. So ended a long life crowned by achievements, if not the greater recognition that he deserved. Chopin was the guide to any of us who has cut up and pasted magnetic tape, backmasked a track or placed a contact mike on a sheet of steel to see how it sounds, recorded respiration or amplified the rhythms of the body and the environment it occupies. Like some mystic turning consciousness inward, Chopin made the body a portal to a language that circumvented established notions of time and space. Creating a music that seemed to come from beneath the skin and the upper levels of the planet's atmosphere at the same time.


HENRI CHOPIN LIVE IN FRANCE 2005

"Henri Chopin, explorer of the body's voices. For the last forty years, with his sound poetry revue OU (1964-1974), then through his participation in various international sound poetry festivals, through his personal experience in the experimental studios of radio stations in Köln, Paris, Australia, Canada or Sweden and in his concert/performances throughout Europe, Henri Chopin has consistently and unceasingly opened the ways to unexplored spaces beyond all known languages. Thanks to the systematic use of microphones, amplifiers, tape recorders, editing and mixing consoles, he has given a voice to realms beyond modern or experimental music, beyond any note system and headed for spaces without norms, categories, definitions or limits: spaces of permanent metamorphosis. But despite misleading appearances, Henri Chopin is not merely doing a new kind of music; he is not just a consequence of Pierre Schaeffer's concrete music principles and Pierre Henry's experiments in the fifties. Henri Chopin is an individual (in Stirner's sense: the ego and its own) who has always resisted absurd attempts to reduce him to part of a movement, a school, an academism; what one perceives are Henry Chopin's bio-psychical vibrations, that he himself constructed by electronically recording, then modifying, amplifying and transforming the energies of his own body. This language is beyond institutionalised language or indeed beyond any language, it precedes all idioms (sound signs, playful energy signs like those of whales and dolphins), it is a breath language, a soul language (the language of anima), the unfettered respiration of the cosmic energies we are, who belong neither to factions nor clans. The energy of live beings, whose individuality is irreducible, and impossible to break down. Solitary and strange cosmic creatures, mysterious yet showing solidarity, resonating with all those who dared breach shackles and rules, escape vile obedience, submission and compromise, reject complacency and blind allegiance to traditional or experimental academism."

Thanks to the technology he explored in his art it is never too late to appreciate Henry Chopin:

Chopin at UBUWEB

Mp3s sounds of Henry Chopin

Au Revoir Monsieur Chopin.

Ingmar Bergman 1918-2007

Death Plays Chess, Täby Church, Sweden (1480s)
Igmar Bergman died yesterday. It is everywhere here in Sweden with most newspapers devoting the entire edition today to him. Television stations have reprogrammed viewing for the next few days showing films and specials on him. I was here when Astrid Lindgren died and this was marked as the passing of a figure of national consciousness. The death of Bergman seems to be moving in the same direction and while the man himself was somewhat critical of Swedish society (as he was of almost everything) he also seems to have defined so much of its image abroad. Looking at the database on Bergman the output is unbelievable (even if one lives to be 89). He is described in the national daily Dagens Nyheter as the "poet of the screen" and this is as good a term as I can think of for him. Although I have only seen two of his films, they struck me as some of the most visually striking and innovative pieces of cinema I have ever seen. Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal (1957) is exactly what one would expect from 'visual poetry'. The other Bergman is In The Silence (Swedish: Tystnaden) (1963) which blew me away with its use of light and dark and the intensity of the characters.
While he was an old man it disturbs me Bergman is gone. I do, however look forward to seeing more of his films.

Thoughts on Baudrillard

I have been thinking about Jean Baudrillard a lot today. He is another of the major postmodern philosopher theorists who have really moved my thinking to die in recent years (Derrida, Sontag, and Iser are others). I read Simulacra and Simulation for the first time in the early 1990's but really did not understand it. They sold it at The Black Rose anarchist bookshop in Sydney so it had to be cool.....and it was, but not for the reasons I thought. I had a copy with me for a long time and then when I finally started serious post-grad studies here in Sweden in 2002 I read it again as part of the third term special project. This is when it hit me.
Now he is gone.

Open Lecture given by Jean Baudrillard after his seminar for the students at the European Graduate School in 2004. He was expected to teach his next seminar in April 2007, this time in Paris.

Jean Baudrillard (June 20, 1929 - March 6, 2007)

Jean Baudrillard (June 20, 1929 - March 6, 2007)

" Eh bien, je suis hors de moi, dans tous les sens du terme !"

" Well, I am outside me, in all the meanings of the term! "

RIP Wolfgang Iser

Having been on father leave for almost 6 months now I am just starting to get back into seriously working on my thesis. I am putting together a detailed Table of Contents/Chapters Plan at the moment, ready for my return to full time study nexy month. It was while doing this that I became aware of the very recent death of Wolfgang Iser. While he was 80 years old, it came as a shock to me as I was holding The Implied Reader in my hands at the time. Iser is one of the central mentors to my thesis. Here is the obiturary from his employer, UCI:

It is with great sadness that I report the death of Professor Wolfgang Iser, Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature. At the time of his death, Professor Iser was one of the most prominent literary theorists in the world. A founder of the "Constance School," along with Hans Robert Jauss and Juri Striedter at the newly established University of Constance on the German/Swiss border, he shifted the focus of German literary theory in the late 1960s from the author to the reader. Rather than ask what a work of literature means, he turned his attention to what a work does to the reader. His own works of theory and criticism had a major impact on literary study in the United States with the publication of THE IMPLIED READER (1972) and THE ACT OF READING (1976).
In 1976, Professor Iser came to UC Irvine as a visiting Professor of German. In 1978 he became a permanent member of the UCI faculty in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, dividing his time between Constance and Irvine. Along with Murray Krieger, J. Hillis Miller, and Jacques Derrida, he helped make UCI one of the most important centers of literary theory in the world. Expanding on his groundbreaking work on the effect of literature on the reader (Wirkungsaesthetik), he explored new territory by developing the field of "literary anthropology," which speculates on how literature functions in the human experience. This phase of his career resulted in PROSPECTING (1989) and THE FICTIVE AND THE IMAGINARY (1993). Noted for his excellent readings of individual works as well as for his theoretical positions, he also published a major book on Shakespeare's history plays, STAGING POLITICS (1993), and numerous essays on Fielding, Pater, Joyce, and Beckett. In 1991 he retired from the University of Constance, but continued to teach at UCI until 2005. In 1994 he delivered the Wellek Lectures at UCI. (http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~scctr/Wellek/iser/index.html)
Extremely productive even after retirement, in 2006 he published HOW TO DO THEORY and lectured in nine different countries, playing, as he had done for over 25 years, the role of international ambassador for UCI. Born July 22, 1926, in Marienberg, Saxony, Germany, he was 80 years old when he died, January 24, 2007.
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), January 27th, 2007.