Art from the Outskirts

Image provided by bulatlat.com

As some of you may know, Halloween originated in Celtic Ierland more than 500 years ago. In that “spirit” the Outskirts presents the story of Jack-o-Lantern

Jack, the Irish say, grew up in a simple village where he earned a reputation for cleverness as well as laziness. He applied his fine intelligence to wiggling out of any work that was asked of him, preferring to lie under a solitary oak endlessly whittling. In order to earn money to spend at the local pub, he looked for an “easy shilling” from gambling, a pastime at which he excelled. In his whole life he never made a single enemy, never made a single friend and never performed a selfless act for anyone.

One Halloween, as it happened, the time came for him to die. When the devil arrived to take his soul, Jack was lazily drinking at the pub and asked permission to finish his ale. The devil agreed, and Jack thought fast. “If you really have any power,” he said slyly, “you could transform yourself into a shilling.”

The devil snorted at such child’s play and instantly changed himself into a shilling. Jack grabbed the coin. He held it tight in his hand, which bore a cross-shaped scar. The power of the cross kept the devil imprisoned there, for everyone knows the devil is powerless when faced with the cross. Jack would not let the devil free until he granted him another year of life. Jack figured that would be plenty of time to repent. The devil left Jack at the pub.

The year rolled around to the next Halloween, but Jack never got around to repenting. Again the devil appeared to claim his soul, and again Jack bargained, this time challenging him to a game of dice, an offer Satan could never resist, but a game that Jack excelled at. The devil threw snake eyes—two ones—and was about to haul him off, but Jack used a pair of dice he himself had whittled. When they landed as two threes, forming the T-shape of a cross, once again the devil was powerless. Jack bargained for more time to repent.

He kept thinking he’d get around to repentance later, at the last possible minute. But the agreed-upon day arrived and death took him by surprise. The devil hadn’t showed up and Jack soon found out why not. Before he knew it Jack was in front of the pearly gates. St. Peter shook his head sadly and could not admit him, because in his whole life Jack had never performed a single selfless act. Then Jack presented himself before the gates of hell, but the devil was still seething. Satan refused to have anything to do with him.

“Where can I go?” cried Jack. “How can I see in the darkness?”

The devil tossed a burning coal into a hollow pumpkin and ordered him to wander forever with only the pumpkin to light his path. From that day to this he has been called “Jack o’ the Lantern.” Sometimes he appears on Halloween!

Source: http://www.americancatholic.org/features/Halloween/jack-o-lantern.asp

Happy Halloween from the Outskirts!

Twilight Zone - “Time Enough at Last” / Pink Floyd -”Time”

A short by Joe Humphrey

This piece edited by Joe Humphrey is a mash up of “Time Enough at Last” a 1959 episode of the Twilight Zone TV series and the Pink Floyd classic rock song Time from their 1973 cult hit album Dark Side of the Moon. The story was adapted from a short story by Lyn Venable published in the January 1953 edition of the science fiction magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction. The episode, “Time Enough at Last,” has become one of the most famous episodes of the Twilight Zone library. It tells the sullen story of Henry Bemis, (played by Burgess Meredith) who loves books and is continually striving to know and learn, yet is he is surrounded by those who feel such zeal and precociousness are a blight on his character. The episode follows Bemis through a nuclear war and what seems to be the end of the world, and foreshadows the dangers of anti-intellectualism, and a purely mechanical mindset and as Wikipedia notes, “the difference between aloneness (solitude) and loneliness.”

Original Episode Introduction: Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, [Burgess Meredith] a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything else. He’ll have a world all to himself, without anyone.

Source: Wikipedia (various cited links)

Notes from the Outskirts: Dark Side of the Moon is known for the Dark Side of the Rainbow Effect Supposedly when the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz is played simultaneously the images and music seem erily suited to on another. However, according to various studies this can appear to be the case with any two media a fair majority of the time. The phenomenon is know scientifically as apophenia (http://skepdic.com/apophenia.html).
the twilight zone, pink floyd, pink floyd time, time enough at last, dark side of the moon, dark side of the rainbow, art

Just in time for Friday An arguable Halloween classic short “The Life and Death of a Pumpkin” by the creative madness of Aaron Yonda and friends! The sheer objective creative oddity of this concept is with out comparison.

WINNER: Best Short Film and Best Concept, 2006 Chicago Horror Film Festival, October (Chicago, IL)

Synopsis:

A cherished holiday from a new and horrible perspective brought to you by Blame Society Productions. More films are available for viewing at http://www.splu.net

Directed by Aaron Yonda

University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Communication Arts 2006

Pumpkins are really strange on the Outskirts!

Fuerzabruta must be seen to be believed! fuerzabrutanyc.com

Saturday night, I had the privilege of witnessing one of the most indescribable, most avant-garde show I’ve seen in my near 28 years on this planet - Fuerzabruta. Spanish for “brute force,” Fuerzabruta takes stunning visuals and frenetic, tribal, electronic music and swirls the two into a kind of amazing lucid dream! I had the intention of writing a conventional review of this show but I decided to go in a more narrative direction.

The Concept

Imagine you were to fall asleep into a dream. A rave scene comes over your eyes as lights and strobes come over the whole room. People airwalk in wire harnesses and move to hard, verve-injected House music. Dancers bang drums ferociously! Fire works spark! The lights go dim again.

Suddenly. a square appears in the ceiling with what seems to be a woman inside of it and a man attached to the other side. The light dim again an next - more dancers. The walls being to shake and detach themselves. A man climbs them for no reason to your knowledge and the room goes dark once more.

You now find mysterious women swimming in their swim suits and t-shirts and dresses above you on what seems to be a clear surface. They splash and pound the surface behind the mysterious technotronic beats of the house deejay. The women pound, thump, thrash and twirl until you wake up and, and, and… it’s all a dream.

Watch a behind the scenes look at this dynamic show at Broadway.com!

Check back here for more reviews from the Outskirts!

YouTube’s rising singer/songwriter Marie Digby decides to delve head first into the world of Hip Hop covering The Game and Lil’ Wayne’s smash song “My Life” from The Game’s latest LP LAX. Digby talks on her YouTube page about her intentions with covering the song:

I have always loved just about every genre of music from rock, hip-hop, trip hop, classical, r&b, pop…
Lil Wayne and his new album Tha Carter III is one of my favorite albums of this year and I thought it was about time that I took a risk and did my own spin on a rap song. This song isn’t on that album, it’s on The Game’s LAX and it’s a current obsession (thanks everyone .). Obviously, it’s an abbreviated version of the song but … here it is ! You may love it, hate it. Who knows.. .but this is just the beginning of me trying things a little bit outside of my comfort zone.

Digby’s debut album Unfold is out now.

See you next time… from the Outskirts!

Doon-diggy doon dada, doon dadoon

Doon-diggy doon dada, doon dadoon

Doon-diggy doon dada, doon dadoon

Doon-diggy doon dada, doon dadoon

Wowwow woom, wowow woom

Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow

Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow

Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Boom pachick, boomboom pachick pop

Wijjy wijjy poof, wijjy poof, wijjy, wijjy poof - Wah chew fachew

Wijjy wijjy poof, wijjy poof, wijjy, wijjy poof - Wah chew fachew

Wijjy wijjy poof, wijjy poof, wijjy, wijjy poof - Wah chew fachew

Wijjy wijjy poof, wijjy poof, - Wah chew fachew

Wijjy wijjy poof, wijjy poof - Wah chew fachew

Wijjy wijjy poof, wijjy poof Wah chew facheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew- WAH!

I posted part of this back in August but it still applies to today:

Hey Ladies and Gents, in an effort to make this blog as dynamic and unique as possible. I’m calling for all you brilliant rebel artists and performers who want contribute to this blog to hit the comment boards and let me know your availability and what you do. Interviews, galleries, album reviews, book reviews, retrospectives and so forth. So if any of you have a need to gain exposure (no photography pun intended :)). I like perspectives that are a bit skewed and a bit off center, but classical artists are welcome as well. So come on out of the shadows and give your self a helping hand! If you have talent or at least high ambitions you can leave a comment anytime and we’ll hash it all out!

*Serious inquiries only*

As I’m gaining new visitors every day I thought I’d ask my new reader the same question I asked on my very first post and it’s quite loaded. What is art to you? Sure, you know what people call art and you know the one man treasure is another’s trash proverb, yet there’s much more to this question than what a society says is art. I really believe that often art is an emotional response to the way the world is or how an individual thinks it should be. It’s both the known an unknown variable – the intangible. But what is it to you? Post some comments and let me know. I want to get a feel for who my readers are.

Keep in mind that your definition doesn’t have to be conventional. Art might be made conceiving and giving birth to a child, skateboarding or dying your hair or cooking a meal.

Thanks for your time going back in time with me here at the Outskirts!

Twenty-four year-old pianist and Riverside, California native David Sides is not what one may call contemporary - nor is he old fashioned. Since his early childhood, a young David has played piano with the influence of movie soundtracks, classical pieces and top 40 radio. He grew up listening to soundtracks such as Disney Elton john inspired “The Lion King and soon began to play the songs with great joy and unusual detail. “The Lion King’s score was more soulful than those of many other soundtracks, and those sounds just stuck with me” notes Sides. These and other artists such as Stevie wonder gave Sides the rare flair with which he plays today.

Sides’ 2007 rendition of of Pop/Rock band One Republic’s hit Apologize has garnered over four and a half million views on YouTube and continues to be popular to this day. Sides’ playing meshes various Hip Hop, Pop, Rock and R&B artists such and Kanye West, Linkin Park, Lil’ Wayne and Usher with the artisanship of master composer as he fiddles and accents his way though each note.

Usher - “In This Club”

Lupe Fiasco - “Superstar”

Lil’ Wayne - “Lollipop”

One Republic - “Apologize”

Linkin Park - “In the End”

Kanye West Medley Dedicated to the Memory of Donda West

For more information on his videos, contact information and itunes downloads, click on any of the videos above.

As featured on Waxing Poetically

Some 1,600 papier mache pandas set up by members of WWF (World Wildlife Fund) in Paris to highlight that there are only 1,600 pandas left on earth
Picture: AFP/GETTY at telegraph.co.uk