Beng geng gedda ba-oing
Geng geng gedda ba-oing
Gen gen gedda ba-oing
Gen gen gedda ba-oing
Gen gen gedda ba-oing
A den a den ye-en, ben!
Down in the ghetto is where I gro-ow
Pain and tribulation all I kno-ow
Mommy and daddy all we a live poo-or
Wha make we a feel suffer so-o, eh
Storm it come, blow down the do-or
Rain a blow through my one windo-ow
Shoes tear up, toe jus a sho-ow
Jah kno-ow, eh, ja kno-ow, eh!

Mi na kno-ow
jah no mi no kno-ow, jah no jah no mi no kno-ow
jah know mi no kno-ow, jah know mi no kno-ow
jah know mi no kno-ow, jah know mi no kno-ow, eh!
Fi mi muma tell mi don't rob no store
Else police beat me make me back sore
She tell all daughter "don't turn a whore"
Just take this suff-er-a-tion so-oo, eh!
Five pon da bed, four 'roun da flo-or
When we a go de mi no know no-oh-oh-oh
Muma just a ball, pupa jus a ba-all,
The greatest crime is to be poor.
ay-ay dedduh mo-oing....
Down in the ghetto is where I gro-ow
Pain and tribulation all I kno-ow
Mommy and daddy all a we live poo-or
Wha make we a feel suffer so-o, eh!
Storm it come, blow down the do-or
Rain a blow through the one windo-ow
Five pon da bed, four 'roun da flo-or
Ja kno-ow, ey, jah kno-ow
Ay ay mi no kno-ow
Ah no mi no know
Ah no ah no mi no kno-ow,
Ay ay mi no kno-ow
Ay ay mi no kno-ow
Ah no mi no kno-ow
Ah no mi no kno-ow, eh!
Muma tell mi, don't rob no store
Else police beat me make me back sore
She tell all daughter "don't turn a whore"
Because sufferation so-o..
Five pon da bed, four 'roun da flo-or
When we a go de mi no know no-oh-oh-oh
Muma just a ball, pupa jus a ba-all
The greatest crime is to be po-or.
Ay mi no kno-ow.....
Seemed like whole heap of excitement
Lots of people they gather around
Feel like him dead in front of them.
And there lie child on da ground
Them want to kno-ow
who kill-illed, little Ado
The-em want to kno-ow
who kill-illed, little Ado-o
A no mi no kno-ow,
Who kill-illed little Ado-o
A no mi no kno-ow,
Who killed little Ado-o, eh!
Down in the ghetto is where I gro-ow
Pain and tribulation is all I kno-ow.......

Labels: Eek-A-Mouse, Ghetto Living, Reggae, reggae video, You Tube

Lee "Scratch" Perry Recorded all the greats, even Bob Marley. Always drum and Base ghetto rhythms. That is how reggae is regarded and recorded. Scratch has a formula too creating a raw song, that can never be copied abroad. Rhythm from the ghetto and Lyrics from the street. Play on MR. music. describing revealing and persuading always political and always spiritual.

Labels: Lee Perry, Mr.Music, Recording, Reggae, Rock, Roots, Scratch

Thank god it is Friday Gif.s day.

Labels: cool animated gif

From Lambiek

The late 1960s saw the emergence of underground comics, a new wave of humorous, hippie-inspired comic books that dealt with social and political subjects like sex, drugs, rock music and anti-war protest. For this reason, these new comics became known as "comix" to set them apart from mainstream comics and to emphasize the "x" for x-rated.

Comix originated from a variety of sources, which can be traced back to the 1950s. First, there was the influence of the Mad tradition. Harvey Kurtzman had liberated comedy in comics and inspired a new generation of cartoonists to push the boundaries of satire even further. More directly, in his post-Mad magazine, Help!, Kurtzman provided pages devoted to "amateur talent," where many future undergrounders, like Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton, got their first break. Also, underground newspapers such as The East Village Other (which featured articles, music reviews and hippie news), started to publish comix and attracted work by artists such as Vaughn Bodé, Spain Rodriguez and Willy Murphy. As these comix gained popularity, The East Village Other started its own monthly comix magazine, Gothic Blimp Works.

One of the earliest underground publications was Zap Comix, famous because Robert Crumb published there, and also Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez and S. Clay Wilson contributed.

A major underground influence was the anti-censorship reaction to the imposed 'comics code'. In the 1950s, there had been a crusade against comics (especially those published by E.C. Comics), which had inspired the passing of the Comics Code, a set of rules to which comics creators had to adhere. As children, the future underground artists were the very people who had been worst hit - they watched their parents tear up their comics collections, or throw them on the playground fires. Now it was time for payback.

The most outspoken production against the Comic Code was the defiant series Doctor Wirtham's Comix & Stories, which appeared around 1977. The colophon read: "We publish good art and underground stories in the E.C. vein, the kind of stuff you know the good doctor would love to hate," which referred to Dr. Fredric Wertham, the man who wrote "Seduction of the Innocent," the book that was responsible for causing the ban on comics in the 1950s by alledging that comic books were corrupting kids. Some of the artists who contributed their work to this series were Doug Potter, Mike Roberts, Al Davoren, Ripp, Greg Irons and Hector Tellez.

The underground movement was an expression of its time. In the latter half of the 1960s the hippie movement in America was engaged, to a greater or lesser extent, with protests against the Vietnam War, the civil rights struggle, anarchism, Women's Lib and Gay Liberation. Add to this an interest in the spiritual value of taking drugs and of "free love" and you had, very simplistically speaking, a thriving "counterculture" against traditional values.

Another theme treated with irreverency in underground comix was religion. One of the most splendid examples of this is 'The New Adventures of Jesus', created by Frank "Foolbert Sturgeon" Stack in 1969. Another one is 'God Nose', by Jaxon. This comic is considered by many as the first underground comic.

Also other well-respected institutes such as Disney were "befouled," for instance in Air Pirates Funnies (1971), a comics series by artists Bobby London, Ted Richards, Shary Flenniken, Dan O'Neill and Gary Hallgren. The well-known Disney characters were made to perform several unspeakable acts, which caused Disney to start a process for copyright infringement.

San Francisco and the New York area weren't the only places that produced underground comix. Many people featured their comic art in self-published fanzines from all over the United States. One hot spot in the underground comix scene was the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, which was basically a pub with a music hall that attracted many artists, and resulted in publications like 'Armadillo Comix' and 'Austin Stone'. Some of the artists that were a part of this scene were Jim Franklin, Guy Juke, Karl Dolgener, Dennis Harper, Kerry Awn, Micael Priest and Danny Garrett.

Without the financial, strategic and moral support from the publishers and comic stores behind the scene, the comix couldn't have survived. Print Mint, Last Gasp, S.F. Comic Book Company, Kitchen Sink, Apex Novelties, Comics & Comix stores and others were the vital links to keeping the comix alive and flourishing. They faced the financial risk of the books being commercial flops or even worse, being arrested for promulgating literature considered "obscene according to the standards of the local community."

In April 1968, Gary Arlington (1938 - ?) opened the San Francisco Comic Book Company, one of the very first 'comics only' book stores, in the city's Mission district. As guru and 'godfather' of underground comics, he encouraged and directed many artists on their path to publication. His tiny 200-square-foot store became the underground nexus where artists met, discussed projects and exchanged ideas. He also published several series of early comix, namely Skull Comics, Slow Death Comics and, of course, San Francisco Comic Book (issue no. 1 of this series is very rare and has become much sought after by comix collectors).

By the end of the 1960s, women comic artists united and founded their own comix, such as Wimmen's Comix, Tits 'n Clits and Twisted Sisters. After 1975, a second wave of underground comix came up, with more punk inspired comix such as Anarchy Comics, founded by Jay Kinney.

The publication of Arcade in 1975 marked the end of the first era of underground comix. This magazine was founded by Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith and featured the work of the most influential comix artists of the early underground era. It contained work by artists such as Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson and Justin Green.

Labels: Crumb Videos, Freak Brothers, R Crumb, The Underground Comix

This is post number 100 on Blog Plus Ultra. I thought it would be nice to let you know a little bit more about my very multi-level complicated self. BE AWARE that I am not the first plusultra nor the last . I am infinite. So are you. That in mind let me tell you about some of the younger days. I used to manifest many images under the name Davo. The name I was born with is David Charles Levasseur.
I was heavily influenced by more paranoid method, more lucidity, more craziness and more Salvadore Dali.
After years of silent meditation I became a monkey and learned to photoshop my name in the sand.
But here I am in black and white looking not bad for 100 in my one of a kind original Plus Ultra T-shirt. Ever Higher Ever Farther Ever Better.

Labels: 100th birthday, Ever higher ever farther ever better, Plusultra

Sonic Youth Brings Back Daydream Nation

By Party Ben
FromMother Jones

Sonic Youth (the legendary New York band Motorbooty magazine once called “definitely sonic, if no longer youthful”) is planning to perform special shows in seven cities this summer, at which they’ll play their 1988 album Daydream Nation in its entirety, reports Pitchfork. Besides the fact it's kind of like The Beatles saying they're reuniting and playing all of Revolver, there are at least three more reasons this is cool:

1. Bringin’ it back.This album came out 19 years ago! I (thank God) and most people I know were barely out of our New Wave diapers at that point. Could we have been expected to cut English class and go to New York to see Sonic Youth perform these songs? No we could not. So, now we get our chance.

2. Slow on the uptake. More than almost any band, Sonic Youth makes music that rewards repeated listenings over time. My first exposure to der Yoof was seeing “Shadow of a Doubt,” an uncharateristically pretty song, on MTV’s “120 Minutes" back in 1986. I bought the album (EVOL), but my poor 15-year-old ears weren't really ready for the rest of it. It was only a couple years later (after some stoned viewings of the full-length video to 1990’s Goo) that I went back and realized how great the other albums were. As life goes by and, ahem, “takes its crazy toll” (I’m quoting them), Daydream Nation means different things to me.

3. Well-adjusted. While Sonic Youth has, in the past few years, delved into obscure, avant-garde experimentalism, their latest album, Rather Ripped, proved they don’t mind sounding like the band they were 15 years ago, either. Unlike, say, Radiohead, whose neurotic relationship with their own musical past means you won’t ever see them perform “Creep,” Thurston, Kim & crew seem to like their old songs. At the “Ain’t No Picnic” festival outside of LA in 1999, all the band’s gear was stolen, including their uniquely tuned guitars. But instead of cancelling, they borrowed Sleater-Kinney’s gear and performed a set of “classics,” which turned out to be one of the highlights of my concert-going life (snif). You know that these performances will be anything but perfunctory.

Hooray, Sonic Youth. Tour dates are here.

Labels: Daydream Nation, Sonic Death, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth Videos

Hello Dali!

"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."
-Salvador Dali

Text From Salvador Dali Online

Salvador Dali [1904-1989] was born on May 11th, 1904 in Figueras, a little village in the province of Gerona in Spain.

It is the favorable light of Cadaques that created in Dali as a child an irresistable vocation of painter that would permeate every work of the artist. At first an impressionnist, with a pallette rich in colors, he discovered cubism in 1921 and then formed friendships which influenced his intellectual and artistic evolution thereafter.


Salvador Dali Documentary

In 1929, Dali encountered Gala, the woman that would be his companion and his inspiration. Under her influence he fully opened himself to her own universe, through Surrealism, and rejected hesitations and prejudices which hindered his creative power.



Dali's passion for grand metaphysical, religious and scientific themes underlied this inspiration. Fascinated by the human adventure, he was the prophet of his age. He loved to probe the irrational and the subconscious.

Dali was not only a Painter but an Artist. His Art is filled with questions that his intellect "The Only Master of Space and Time" asks about the Age of Transition in which he lived.

Exhibited in the most prestigious museums of the world, distinguished by the highest academies, Dali lived as an ascetic at the Chateau de Pubol and in the Museum of Figeras after the death of Gala in 1982.
















"When I paint, the sea roars. The others splash about in the bath."
-Salvador Dali


Go To The Salvador Dali Gallery

Labels: Dali, Destino Disney Dali, Salvador Dali Gallery, Salvador Dali Video

Allan Thicke as pea-soup of the Daydream Believer and a Homecoming Queen of Diamonds are a girl's best friendly neighborhood Spider-mano-a-mano body knows the troubles I've seen Fire and I've seen Purple Rain.

After all the research I did for yesterday's post on mashups and my own special variety of A+D=D, I could not help but thinking and speaking in a manner very similar to the example above. Has everything already been written, said and done already? Are we at the point in history today in the year 2007 (the web 2.0 times) that anything that can be done said or thought of has already been done said and thought of. I personally do not believe we are at that stage quite yet, but I find the mash-up culture is a very interesting statement on our times. Recycling physical material has become very popular in recent years as the average person is becoming aware of the importance of lessening the impact we are having on the planet. The recycling, and restructuring of music and images and ideas is less practiced, but gaining momentum and may one day be widely used as a natural progression of our increasingly global consciousness.
-by David Levasseur

-- Doctor Benway, from http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ wrote the following article that made me wonder at what point in time will every image possible have been uploaded to the internet. "

"Mind-blowing example. A typical digitized picture on your computer
screen is 640 pixels long by 480 pixels wide, for a total of
307200 pixels. Using only 256 different colors, you can get decent
resolution. Now if you take 256^307200 (256 times itself 307200 times)
you get... well, a pretty big number, but a finite number nonetheless.
That's the number of different images you can have of that particular
size. Any picture you would scan into a computer at that size and
resolution will necessarily be one of those images. Therefore,
contained in those images are the images of the faces of every human
being who ever lived along with the images of the faces of every
person yet to be born.

Deep stuff, eh? I'll leave you with that thought."
  

Labels: mashup poetry, plus ultra

1 + 1 + 1 = 1
The new math of mashups.

♦Mashup (or mash it up) is a Jamaican Creole term meaning to destroy. In the context of reggae or ska music, it can take on a positive connotation and mean an exceptional performance or event. The term has also been used in hip-hop, especially in cities such as New York and Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Video mashups are the latest genre of mashup. First there were music mashups, where two or more tracks are combined, often with one acapella track by one artist over a second backing track by another.

Then there were software mashups in which two or more sets of data are combined over the Internet to create a new entity. Such as overlaying houses for sale over a Google Map.
Mashup films can be broken down into several predominant styles and tropes. Most of the Mashups found on the internet fall into one category and more or less obey the unwritten rules of that class of film. These categories, are: word associated mashups, which like Danger Mouse’s “Grey Album” unite two disparate source materials by a pun or joke found in the name; transgressive mashups which transgress the sexual norms put forth in a film, often subverting hetero-normative portrayals; and overdubbing mashups, which use the images from a film and replaces the soundtrack with new dialogue or dialogue from another work, which undermines the original narrative.
Mashups based on word associations speak more than just for the wit of the appropriator. In principal, these mashups, when executed well, express some of the central creative tenets of modern found footage filmmaking: 1) Narrative film consistently follows the same filmic grammar and rarely diverts from it, making it easy to unify disparate films because of their similarities; and 2) the formulas inherent in narrative film are so well known by audiences that a few stylistic cues (which have been imitated to the point of cliché) can easily alert an audience to the nature of what they are watching. Using these two principals, mashups are highly successful at parodying more than just the films they chose to amalgamate, but also at critiquing and revealing the tools of narrative filmmaking.

Some exceptional word associated mashups include “Must Love Jaws” a combination of the romantic comedy “Must Love Dogs” and “Jaws” in which music cues and humorous scenes turn visual source material from “Jaws” into a story about a man who falls in love with a shark. 8 1/2 Mile is a mashup of Fellini's film "8 1/2" and Curtis Hanson's "8 Mile." One of the best received mashups to date is word associated: "10 Things I Hate About Commandments."
Video mashups are the latest genre of mashup.

First there were music mashups, where two or more tracks are combined, often with one acapella track by one artist over a second backing track by another.

Then there were software mashups in which two or more sets of data are combined over the Internet to create a new entity. Such as overlaying houses for sale over a Google Map.

But more recently the video mashup has come of age thanks to the likes of YouTube.

This is where videos from multiple sources are edited together into a new video. To date, many of these video mashups have been parodies, but even music mashups are being integrated with them to make combined audio-visual mashups.

Mashup films can be broken down into several predominant styles and tropes. Most of the Mashups found on the internet fall into one category and more or less obey the unwritten rules of that class of film. These categories, are: word associated mashups, which like Danger Mouse’s “Grey Album” unite two disparate source materials by a pun or joke found in the name; transgressive mashups which transgress the sexual norms put forth in a film, often subverting hetero-normative portrayals; and overdubbing mashups, which use the images from a film and replaces the soundtrack with new dialogue or dialogue from another work, which undermines the original narrative.[citation needed]

Mashups based on word associations speak more than just for the wit of the appropriator. In principal, these mashups, when executed well, express some of the central creative tenets of modern found footage filmmaking: 1) Narrative film consistently follows the same filmic grammar and rarely diverts from it, making it easy to unify disparate films because of their similarities; and 2) the formulas inherent in narrative film are so well known by audiences that a few stylistic cues (which have been imitated to the point of cliché) can easily alert an audience to the nature of what they are watching. Using these two principals, mashups are highly successful at parodying more than just the films they chose to amalgamate, but also at critiquing and revealing the tools of narrative filmmaking.[citation needed]

Some exceptional word associated mashups include “Must Love Jaws” a combination of the romantic comedy “Must Love Dogs” and “Jaws” in which music cues and humorous scenes turn visual source material from “Jaws” into a story about a man who falls in love with a shark. 8 1/2 Mile is a mashup of Fellini's film "8 1/2" and Curtis Hanson's "8 Mile." One of the best received mashups to date is word associated: "10 Things I Hate About Commandments."
In popular culture, Mashup usually means:

* Mashup (music), a musical genre of songs that consist entirely of parts of other songs
* Mashup (web application hybrid), a website or web application that combines content from more than one source
* Mashup (video), a video that is edited from more than one source to appear as one
* Mashup, in parts of the UK also means a brew, or a pot of tea (colloq. Yorkshire)

by Sasha Frere-Jones
In July of 2003, Jeremy Brown, a.k.a. DJ Reset, took apart a song. Using digital software, Brown isolated instrumental elements of “Debra,” a song by Beck from his 1999 album “Midnite Vultures.” Brown, who is thirty-three and has studied with Max Roach, adjusted the tempo of “Debra” and added live drums and human beat-box noises that he recorded at his small but tidy house in Long Island City. Then he sifted through countless a-cappella vocals archived on several hard drives. Some a-cappellas are on commercially released singles, specifically intended for d.j. use, while others appear on the Internet, having been leaked by people working in the studio where the song was recorded, or sometimes even by the artist.
Mashups find new uses for current digital technology, a new iteration of the cause-and-effect relationship behind almost every change in pop-music aesthetics: the gear changes, and then the music does. If there is an electric guitar of mashup, it is a software package called Acid Pro, which enables one to put loops of different songs both in time and in tune with each other. Mark Vidler, known professionally as Go Home Productions, explained some other benefits of digital technology to me in London not long ago: “You don’t need a distributor, because your distribution is the Internet. You don’t need a record label, because it’s your bedroom, and you don’t need a recording studio, because that’s your computer. You do it all yourself.”
Mashups are known by a number of different names, including:

* Bootlegs (mostly in Europe)
* Boots (but not Booty which is a branch of Electro)
* Mash-ups
* Smashups (or Smash-Ups)
* Bastard pop
* Blends
* Cutups (or Cut-ups)
* Powermixing (Usually the pace has to be sped up to allow for more song to be played and thus cannot play any single blend for the full lenghth of the song)

In addition, more traditional terms such as "edits" or (unauthorized) "remixes" are favored by many "bootleggers" (also known as 'leggers).
Video mashups are the latest genre of mashup. First there were music mashups, where two or more tracks are combined, often with one acapella track by one artist over a second backing track by another.
Though the term "bastard pop" first became popular in 2001, the practice of assembling new songs from purloined elements of other tracks stretches back at least to the 1950s, and, if one extends the definition beyond the realm of pop, precursors can be found in Musique concrète, as well as the classical practice of (re-)arranging traditional folk material and the jazz tradition of reinterpreting standards. In addition, many elements of bastard pop culture have antecedents in hip hop and the DIY ethic of punk.

Labels: Mash-up, mashedup videos

We interrupt this blog for an emergency broadcast of a very cool Reggae rip on Eleanor Rigby. The video is weedy, juicy, surreal and well take a look for yourself at this awesome video remix.

Loo and Placido's classic remix of Eleanor Rigby mashed with a bit of Seeed.

Labels: Beatles, Eleanor Rigby, Reggae, reggae video, remix, youtube

Labels: plus ultra

Today I found an old C.D. with pictures of me from 2003 and I threw it in drive D. I thought I would post some of the pictures as a tribute to the year I was first connected to the internet and some of the first digital pictures I took and/ or manipulated in photoshop.I really was an ass lover back then, often passing out in a pile of leaves and having higher order dreams of strange obese naked burning men in Buddha form. Now 4 years later, I am much more Internet savvy. My name is David Levasseur, I am Plusultra and my motto is Ever Higher, Ever Farther Ever Better

Labels: Ass-lover, Buddhist, David Levasseur, Internet Savvy, Plusultra

Desperate people make great actors. They have to in order to survive, and who is more desperate than a an addict with no money and no funny. I have always had a compulsion towards excess and I took Andy Warhol's advice quite seriously when he said to "try every drug once", twice even. Have you ever tried to quit smoking cigarettes? It can be extremely difficult and for me next to impossible.
Unfortunately due to my excess behavior and avant-garde financial sense(my credit is so bad, most people won't even accept my cash anymore), I recently found myself unable to purchase any smokes, never mind buy anything mind-numbing, state altering, gambling, or even a cup of coffee never mind, even food would have been a luxury. At this point of poverty a man has a very clear idea of what his priorities are. Mine were clearly:
1.Cigarettes
2.Weed
3.coffee
4.Food
5.Sounds like a slice of heaven to me! What else is there?

So, that was the philosophy anyway. Than I realized if I could quit smoking cigarettes, buying Tim Horton's coffee everyday, smoking joint after joint 25 hours a day, I would probably never be broke nor hungry. These desperate hungry days were awful and I could still remember the days before I was such a lazy chain smoking clown. If I did not miss smoking, life would be so great. If I was not so hopped up on juicy juicy weedy weedy all the time, maybe I could hold down a real job, maybe even buy a car and a house. Who knows at this rate perhaps I could become very healthy and become an athlete than join politics and become the prime minister of Canada and than the Emperor of the world one day eventually. And with all this power and all this money I could do what ever I wanted. Hmmm, I wonder what I would want most? Probably just some cigarettes, weed, and pizza. Darn those damn addictions! I guess I am destined to be a clown. If I was half as smart as I think I am I would have quit years ago. Any suggestions out there on how I can quit?

Labels: addictions, clown, coffee, Quit smoking, Weed

I have been too busy getting high and playing Pot-Man today to post anything so why don't you just play this weed smoking version of the classic pac-man video game and come back later.

Click to View!

Labels: pac-man, pot-man, video game, Weed

Have you ever wondered what Del Shannon's hit song "My Little Runaway" would sound like performed by a bunch O' hillbillies? Well, wait no longer because the original bluegrass madmen themselves, "The D-Rangers " have done just that. Featuring banjo, violin, mandolin, guitar, and even a muckbucket!

Artist Information

Instrumentation
Tom Fodey - muck-bucket bass, vocals
Aaron Goss - mandolin, vocals
Jaxon Haldane - lead vocals, banjo
Chris Saywell - guitar
Don Zueff - fiddle, vocals
The D-Rangers are getting ever higher ever farther ever better. They are my favorite local band here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and can often be seen playing live at the Times Change Cafe. If you would like to visit the official D-Rangers site click here or as eye high Lee recommend buy one of their C.D.s here.

Labels: Americana, Bluegrass, D-Rangers, Del Shannon, Manitoba, Runaway, Thompson

HANNES COETZEE

|Hannes Coetzee’s is a soft-spoken 72-year old whose job is tapping the aloes that grow around his Karoo hometown of Herberstdale for their medicinal juice. Hannes composes his own songs and learnt to play the guitar on the side of the hill when the aloes were too dry to tap and to keep himself company on long lonely evenings in the mountains of the Kamiesbeg. The only known practitioner of the ‘optel and knyp’style he must rank as one of the most unusual slide guitarists in the world. If you shut your eyes you would think that there were two people accompanying each other on guitars.

Related post: Ghengis Blues

Labels: African blues, Hannes Coetzee, Karoo Kitaar Blues, spoon slide guitar

Visionary art

Visionary art is able to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness including spiritual or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences.

Both trained and self-taught (or outsider) artists have, and continue to create visionary works. Many visionary artists are actively engaged in spiritual practices, and some have drawn inspiration from psychedelic drug experiences.

Excerpt from:

A MANIFESTO
OF VISIONARY ART

by L.Caruana

One makes oneself a visionary
by a long, immense, and reasoned
disordering of the senses.
- RIMBAUD

PART I:
WHAT IS VISIONARY ART?

������Where Surrealists tried to elevate the dream-state into a higher reality (and opposed the use of narcotics) the Visionary artist uses all means at his disposal - even at great risk to himself - to access different states of consciousness and expose the resulting vision. Art of the Visionary attempts to show what lies beyond the boundary of our sight. Through dream, trance, or other altered states, the artist attempts to see the unseen - attaining a visionary state that transcends our regular modes of perception. The task awaiting him, thereafter, is to communicate his vision in a form recognizable to 'everyday sight'.

The history of Visionary art is characterized by the attempt to find a new visual language - a language that may overcome the inherent contradiction (of seeing what cannot be seen) and express in visual form the 'supra-visual' or, as we might say in French, le 'sur-visuel'. Insuch a language, the images of art, myth, and dream interfuse, different cultural symbols combine, and new forms are found so as to express the resulting vision -- be that sacred, psychedelic, esoteric, oneiric, occult, alternative, archetypal, primitive, transpersonal, fantastic or - as it sometimes happens - surreal.

Old master visionary artists

• William Blake
• Hieronymus Bosch
• Salvador Dalí
• Max Ernst
• Gustave Moreau
• Remedios Varo
• Morris Graves
• Emil Bittstram
• David C hetlahe Paladin

Visionary artists

• 

  Ernst Fuchs
• HR Giger
• A. Andrew Gonzalez
• Alex Grey
• Elle Nicolai
• De Es Schwertberger
• Rudolf Hausner
• Mati Klarwein
• Paul Laffoley
• Brigid Marlin
• Daniel Mirante
• Antonio Roybal
• Mark Ryden
• Robert Venosa
• Anne Sudworth
• X-8

Related genres

• The Symbolist and Decadent art movement
• Surrealism
• Outsider art
• Psychedelic art
• Fantastic art
• Neosurrealism
• Transcendental Painting Group
• Northwest School of Visionary Art

Labels: art, fantastic, psychedelic, surrealism, Visionary

The One and Only

I had cigarettes but needed coffee. The money just wasn't there and I'm not sellin' shit just for a cup o' mud. So I grab my keys, lock the door and head out for St. Augustine's.

Saint Augustine's is a nice enough house of God as churches go. It welcomes not only the devout, but tolerates the dilapidated as well. The broken souls who are at best ambivalent about a higher power, but very fervent about free sandwiches and tepid coffee.

. Y'see, along with the plush lawn that the bums lay on, smoking tobacco and squashing the flowers, St. Augustine's offers a section of itself known as "The Open Table". It's a small room no bigger than the average attic, with about twelve worn down chairs hugging a long shaky table. There might be some religious tracts piled high in the center of the table, but I never got close enough to confirm that. I think it used to be an anteroom of sorts because it's got these huge windows from ceiling to floor that look out onto the actual pews and pulpit. I've been there once before to grab a ham on rye and let me tell you, when the priest is hard into a sermon about the seven deadly sins and he gets to that part about slovenliness and he looks right through those all showing windows behind the pews and sees all of us guys just chowing down on the free eats and sippin' hot water and we're really just relaxed and unreligious, well it can get a little humbling even for us with next to no shame so I split that scene and haven't returned since.

But it's like I said, I had the smokes but no coffee. So I'm goin' back against my vows and headin' back to the "Open Table". Fuck it. I'll be in and out like a speed freak and no shame'll fall on me.

I'm about thirty yards away from the steps that lead up to the front door and notice a serious lack of customers outside who usually hang out by the stairway railing. These ones, like myself, only come to church for the caffeine and are looked down upon by the "Open Table" authorities for not really getting into the holy spirit of brotherhood among bums. The "Open Table" CEO's would much rather we hang around inside, not smoking, around the long table, listening as the priest's sermon comes in through the intercom and into our joyless hearts.

But the ones, like myself, who just want the warm water to sip on while the cigarette burns immaculate aren't down with that. Now I'm not linking myself to these fuckers as a whole, while we both make it clear that our visits are strictly non-religious and all free-shit consuming, the difference is that I don't stick around and linger like a foul fume in the noses of the "Open Table" top brass. I grab my cup and flee the scene, carefully getting the coffee back to my place. Out o' sight and out o' mind is what I'm thinking. No need to give the cunts a reason to scorn you. No need to risk a possible banning and cut off a good source of supply.

But those others... man.... they smoke and go back for seconds, smoke and go back for thirds. And while the "Table" has no real policy about helpings, all the weathered clientele know not to bleed this non-profit joint dry. But these others have been around long enough to know the score. And the score shows that they're always ahead as long as they're getting.

They carry two sandwiches in each hand outside with a cup clenched between their forearms, prop themselves up along the railing and laugh at ugliness.

They're all fat bastards with bad beards and slimy hair. Their dress is the same every day and usually consists of old bankrupt hockey jerseys like the Quebec Nordiques or the Hartford Whalers. Some of 'em wear winter hunting hats year round with baby blue suspenders holding up painfully tight corduroy pants. Others got those black horn-rimmed glasses. The kind Buddy Holly had but twice as thick with lenses so magnified it distorts their eyes and even their entire faces into something that no longer makes sense if you look at them too much.

This is one half of the flock that makes up the "Table"'s togetherness, so when I can't spot a single one of 'em, I begin to sweat it that maybe I missed my chance for a handout.

As I creep inside the doorway, bad signs are brewin' from the get-go. A service is underway and that's a rotten egg for sure, but that ain't what trips me up. It's the sight of this old skinny boy who once told me that he won't bug Jesus so long as Jesus don't bug him. Well this old bum is in the pews along with all the others and he's scratchin' his collar and twitchin' his bony skull like he's got a wasp in his eyelid. If there's one soul who wouldn't be pushed into the pews it's this guy so I'm thinking, what the shit?

My eyes push a little further past him and notice that practically all the congregation is filled with nothing but the depraved, the homeless and other assorted dregs and mendicants.

Jesus Christ, I'm thinking, how on earth did you manage to hypnotize so many low lifes all at once? On a very good, guilt-ridden day the staff at this place might manage to hoodwink one of the boys into believin' that the word of God will get him off the sauce and into eternal bliss, but a coercion of this magnitude trumps all the odds of Vegas. Unless Father Mackilvoy is handing out the sacramental wine, this scene reeks of pressure tactics and broken resistance.

There ain't no signs of life comin' from down the hall at the "Open Table" either except for some ominous shuffling of papers so I'm bookin' it for the exit as of this second.

Like a curtain-fly, this pseudo-nun drops out of nowhere and pinches my elbow to break my stride. She's got a good grip, so I forget about pushing on to the door and figure I'm in for somethin'.

These pseudo-nuns are the worst. They're a pack of zealot volunteers with monumental chips on their shoulders who bring a very ungodly hostility from their personal lives into the work place and it's always the poor who suffer their wrath, as I most surely feel I'm about to.

She starts clearing her throat and straightening up her ankle-long polyester skirt as though she had just run a mile to stop me from leaving. "I'm glad I caught you," she sputters, "Mr. Burnby's service has just started so you must hurry."

She pushes a ledger of some sort at my chin and still has my elbow in her palm. "Write your name for attendance purposes then follow me. It's a very nice crowd today but Mr. Burnby deserved it all. As you can see, all of our regulars have decided to come and say good-bye to one of their peers. Mr. Burnby had earned their respect, as he was one of the chosen few who, before his time came, embraced the word of God. He came here, just as you are now; hungry, thirsty, without direction, but he opened his heart to Christ and I can assure you he left here a full man."

This nut was almost salivating at her own spiel. She spoke with a skitterish monotone that suggested a robotic approach to every thing she did. She seemed to love this Mr. Burnby and almost acted as if he needed defending or constant adulation.

I back away from the sign-in sheet, and in doing so, snap her lock on my elbow. By daring to question her dominance of the situation, I agitate this cunt to no end. I try to explain, "I came for a cup of coffee ma'am. I don't even know who Mr. Burnby is."

This comment has no real effect on her, as she keeps claiming over and over that the service has just started and while most choice seats are taken, she will find me a place. "No, no, "I'm sayin', "I just come by now and then and... uhh... I never met that guy."

She won't believe this. She starts breathing faster. "Mr. Burnby had no enemies. Mr. Burnby knew everyone and was liked by all. You may not have known his name but I'm sure his face would have meant something to you. A fine man and an excellent Christian." She pauses for a moment with her head down, the instance of praise surpassing her need to be dutiful.

I'm starting to piece the whole shtick together and now know that this woman is ruled by a need to believe in people who have succumbed to her tight fisted persuasions. Burnby was clearly one of those people. Up until now I hadn't been able to decide exactly who this Burnby boy might be. But as she gathered herself, I could just see over her shoulder the casket that lay in the corner of the church stage. The one and only Mr. Burnby was in that box.

"Ma'am please," I find myself almost begging, "I'll just get a cup of juice and wait outsi-"

"Nothing will be served until the funeral terminates," she hisses in disbelief at my plea, shaking her finger, "not a thing... until it's over."

She has to state this fact with the tired unfurling of someone who has had to convince many men before me of the same decree, like the old skinny boy buggin' out in his seat, the fat grubbing fuckers who finally had to compromise their resolve, and all the truly silent dopes who never say a thing around the table and sure as fuck weren't gonna start now. She, this pseudo-nun, pseudo-everything, had gotten to them all. They were all willing to sit through an hour or two of searing boredom for a man, I'm convinced, they neither knew well nor respected as she claimed? Hard to swallow.

Burnby was a saved soul and a pillar in her eyes and her eyes only. None of those saps in there would put up with this unless their treats were being withheld. This nun had performed a miracle in getting Mr. Burnby into that field of one percent turn-arounds who start showing up at the "Table" for the goods, but unlike the other ninety-nine percent, stay for the God.

She held the food and the drink hostage just to fill the pews with asses, and in doing so, convinced herself that her work with project Burnby wasn't in vain. The comical shit about her whole plan is that those guys in there, in that funeral, don't even need what she's starving them of. Those chumps aren't waiting for sloppy salami and Kool-aid. They're waitin' to eat for free so they can put aside half their welfare cheques for booze and all the other things.

She simply threw a stick in the spokes of their cycle for a few hours. Tomorrow nothing will change. If she won today, then so be it for today. The "Open Table", the staff, this lady... they're all just makin' it easier for me and the men to stay high. In the end, the bums will always win. "I'm gonna leave now," I say and inch towards the exit.

She goes real cold but tries for the Hail-Mary anyway, "Mr. Burnby would have liked you to stay. I know he would have. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," I say. And I was.

If you would like to read more of Josh Gray's writing click here.

Related: Self Publishing by Brent Erickson

Labels: Josh Gray, plus ultra, short story, The one and only

It is unbelievable how the dance style of Cab Calloway at the start of this classic 1932 animation looks very similar to how people are dancing today 75 years later. To say he was ahead of his times is true in many ways. He really was "a head" in his times as you can surely tell the legendary Jazz Musician is clearly high as a kite all hopped up on some mean reefer (marijuana, chronic, tea,etc...) Not only could the hep cat dance, but he could scat and sing and hi de hi de hi ho de ho de ho better than most hip hop free stylers do today. Betty Boop also seems timeless and is still as sexy today as she was 75 years ago. Even more impressive is she did not even need any cosmetic surgery, boob jobs or facelifts to maintain her popularity. Can you imagine how risque the burlesque cartoon creation of the Fleischer brothers was in the early thirties! The rotoscoped glide dancing animation is still extremely watchable, smart, creative, surreal, and whacky as even the most current technologically advanced cartoons of 2007. Check it out:

Cab Calloway (December 25, 1907–November 18, 1994) was a famous American jazz singer and bandleader. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's Orchestra featured performers that included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform right up until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.
Fleischer Studios, Inc. is an American corporation which originated as an animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York. It was founded in 1921 by brothers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer, who ran the company from its inception until being fired by parent company Paramount Pictures in January 1942. In its prime, it was the most significant competitor to Walt Disney Productions, and is notable for bringing to the screen cartoons featuring Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman.
Betty Boop was the first female flapper cartoon. She made her first appearance on August 9, 1930 in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, the sixth installment in Fleischer's Talkartoon series. She was little like her soon-to-be-famous self, however. Grim Natwick, a veteran animator of both Walt Disney's and Ub Iwerks' studios, was largely responsible for creating the character, which he modeled on Helen Kane, a singer and contract player at Paramount Pictures, the studio that distributed Fleischer's cartoons. In keeping with common practice, Natwick made his new character an animal, in this case, a French poodle. Beginning with this cartoon, the character's voice was performed by several different voice actresses until Mae Questel got the role, in 1931, and kept it for the rest of the series.

Natwick himself later conceded that Betty's original look was quite ugly. The animator redesigned her in 1932 to be recognizably human in the cartoon Any Rags. Her floppy poodle ears became hoop earrings, and her poodle fur became a bob haircut. She appeared in ten cartoons as a supporting character, a flapper girl with more heart than brains. In individual cartoons she was called "Nancy Lee" and "Nan McGrew". She usually served as studio star Bimbo's girlfriend. She was not officially christened "Betty Boop" until the 1932 short Stopping the Show that same year. This was also the first cartoon to be officially part of the Betty Boop series and not a Talkartoon.
Related Post- Bimbo's Initiation and mybloglog

Labels: animation, Betty Boop, Cab Calloway, cool, Fleischer Brothers, Minnie the Moocher, Scat, surreal cartoon, Weed

This classic 1932 Surreal animated cartoon from the Fleischer brothers reminds me so much of the new Mybloglog community. Do you want to be a member of my community?

Labels: animated, Bimbo's Initiation, Max Fleischer, Mybloglog, surreal images, You Tube

CLASSIC BOOK REVIEW

By Brent Erickson

The Bear Went Over the Mountain
A Novel
By William Kotzwinkle
Owl Books Copyright 1996


Poor Arthur Bramhall. After studding all the bestsellers, the Literature professor was on sabbatical from the University of Maine, working on a novel of his own, when his manuscript was destroyed in a cabin fire.

This was especially troubling to Arthur because, "He was ill-suited to teaching as he was subject to depression and preferred being alone, knowing that he was poor company when he was depressed which was most of the time. He'd purchased the old farm in hopes of having sex with women who'd move to the country and might themselves be depressed...His plan was that after having sex with them, he'd write a best selling novel about it. He'd written the novel, but it'd been from his imagination, not his experience for he found that the women who moved to the country wore shapeless overalls, frequently smelled of kerosene...and refused to shave their legs; he thought of them as fur bearing women...Consequently the only excitement he'd had was his house burning down."

Although his colleagues laughed at his persistence, Arthur Bramhall rewrote his book. "He gave up trying to write a copy of a bestseller and wrote in a fever of inspiration straight from the heart-about love and longing and loss and about the forces of nature in into whose power he'd been initiated...There was was still lots of sex but it had a connection to the ancient moods of the forests, to crow songs and fox cries and the crackling of fire in the hearth."

Having finished his new book Arthur thought his adventure in the woods was almost over, but it was just beginning. Fearing another house fire, he cautiously stored the book in a briefcase and hid it in the forest beneath a pine tree, when he went into town to celebrate. Everything would have been just fine for Arthur if there had not been a bear watching him hide his manuscript. "Now, as Bramhall got into his car and drove off to buy champagne, the bear padded across the field and slipped under the branches of the pine tree." The bear, disappointed that the briefcase contained no food was ready to discard it when a line caught his eye and he began to read. "'Why' he said to himself 'this isn't bad at all.' There was lots of sex and a good bit of fishing, "This book has everything," he concluded...He slipped the manuscript back into the briefcase, clamped the handle in his teeth and headed toward town."

Arthur was devastated by the loss of his book for the second time. Thankfully he was comforted by the locals who rallied to support him. Their quirky but good natured ways began to have a profound effect on the professor who was developing a keen sense of belonging in the forest, even forging a romantic relationship with a "fur bearing woman".

Meanwhile the bear, now known as Hal Jam, was doing some adjusting of his own. After replacing the stolen books by-line with his own name, and stealing a suit from a local store, the bear went to work pitching “his” book in the city, and like Arthur he was embraced by a strange but good-natured bunch of characters. The people in the literary crowd in which Hal soon found himself, were too wrapped up in highbrow ideas to notice they were talking to a bear. His publisher Elliot Gradson for instance was a little weary of “Hal” but not because he was a bear.

“Gradson was not warming to his new author for Jam was guarded. ‘God I hope he’s not homophobic.’ thought Gradson, whose wall carried a poster of Cary Grant in Bringing up Baby at the moment when he’d put on a women’s nightgown and cried, 'I just went Gay all of a sudden.' The bear was not homophobic, as bears have a tolerant sexual attitude. Occasionally young male bears who fail to find a female will hump each other and no one make a fuss about it.” After taking some time to warm up to his eccentric ways, Hal’s people eventually go all out in promoting their hot young writer. “We’ll make the Hemmingway comparison, I hope you don’t mind. Sportsman, adventurer, larger than life, the man of action who can also tell a story.”

William Kotzwinkle, a writer who, in his over 37-year literary career has demonstrated his versatility and talent countless times once again delivers both humor and insight in this classic novel. Kotzwinkle’s The Bear Went Over the Mountain has received critical acclaim all over the world, has been called “the funniest fable of our time.” by the Los Angeles Times and after devouring this fantastical tale it’s easy to see why. Reader’s familiar with Kotwinkles serious novels, (Swimmier in the Secret Sea, The Game of 30,) his screenplays (E.T the Extra-Terrestrial, Superman 3) or his children’s books (Walter the Farting Dog, Banned from the Beach) might be surprised by this satirical fable. However Fans of Kotszwinkle’s beatnik classic The Fan Man or anyone with an interest in the often-unbelievable literary world will surely find The Bear Went Over the Mountain a delight.

Labels: Bear Went Over the Mountain, Book Review, William Kotzwinkle

The Product is You!
Towards Understanding The Media

An Editorial
By Brent Erickson

Corporations sell products. Media Corporations are no different; they manufacture a product and sell it to their customers. But just what are, most magazines, newspapers, radio, television shows and web sites really selling?

Most people feel like they already understand the media. The death of model Anna Nicole Smith, the breakdown of singer Brittany Spears and other such stories are in the news for one reason, money. The masses want their sensational news and the media is simply making money by supplying the demand of the public. If Noam Chomsky sold as many newspapers as Anna Nicole and Brittany, he would be on the front pages instead of them. The customer is always right.

Though there is more truth to this argument than perhaps the person who makes it first realizes, this view is ultimately both condescending and inaccurate. Opinion polls show repeatedly that people are much more open to and interested in challenging issues than is reflected in most media outlets.

However the media continue to publish and broadcast an often fractured and distorted picture of the world with little objection from the so-called “educated” members of society. The fact that most of us in Canada and the U.S, despite being intelligent individuals, are unaware of the level of indoctrination in our countries, unfortunately only demonstrates the effectiveness of the propagandist system under which we live.

To be aware of the factors that influence media content is to develop Media Literacy. Media Literacy means bringing critical thinking skills to bear on the messages that inform, and entertain us every day. There are many factors shaping media content, two of the most fundamental to consider are; owners, and advertisers. These two variables, though they determine to a large extent how we see the world, are rarely are mentioned in discussions of the “Liberal Media”.

Media Ownership and Concentration
The number of corporations that control nearly all North American media has fallen from only 50 in 1983 to about 6 today. Media moguls such as Rupert Murdock and Conrad Black are known to media activists as stanch opponents of diversity and pro-labor sentiment, but even they are small potatos compared to some media owners. General Electric Corporation, one of the worlds largest weapons manufactures owns NBC / CNBC, networks that seem quick to push for war. Likewise with Westinghouse Electric Company, a corporation that owns a large number of media holdings including the CBS network.

According to the media watch group F.A.I.R, in December 2002 then CanWest Global Communications CEO Izzy Asper, who’s company owned the National Post, 14 large city dailies, 120 smaller dailies and weeklies, and the Global TV network, among other holdings, made the decision to require all of its daily newspapers to run corporate editorials produced in its Winnipeg head office. Though known to be liberal on certain social issues, Mr. Asper held much more conservative views than the majority of Canadians on many subjects (most notably support for Israel) and fire journalists who did not agree with him. His sons David and Leonard Asper have proven even more extreme since taking control of Can West after their father’s death in 2003.

F.A.I.R adds “The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) and the Quebec Federation of Professional Journalists (QFPJ) have denounced the actions of the media giant as ‘a disturbing pattern of censorship and repression of dissenting views.’”

Advertising
The old sayings “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” and “Never bite the hand that feeds you.” are good to keep in mind when assessing the role advertising plays in shaping media content.

Commercial magazines generate over 50% of their revenue from advertising, Newspapers about 80%, Radio, TV, and web sites get close to 100% of their revenue from advertising. Because such a large amount of money (over $175 billion a year in the U.S alone) comes from not the selling of media content itself, but the selling of audiences to advertisers the public is not the customer in our media system, we are the product!

The so-called “media content” is only the bait to generate audiences for advertisers. If the customer is always right, that customer is the car company (which might deny global climate change) who paid for the ads, not the person who buys the magazine or who watches T.V. This is why there has been such an effort made to stave out public broadcasting and push it into the commercial arena where corporate “sponsors” can regulate the content. Noam Chomsky could attract more viewers than a new Pamela Anderson sex tape and he still would be excluded from the front pages unless the advertisers gave it the green light.

If we do not, as a society develop a minimal degree of Media Literacy and push for, what has been called “Media Democracy” we are losing more than we will ever know. As U.S congressman Bernie Sanders recently said, “If you are concerned about Health Care, Iraq, the Economy, Global Warming you must be concerned about Corporate Control of the Media.”

Labels: Brent Erickson Editorial, Media Content, Media Democracy, Media Literacy

A nice freestyle with qbert behind the turntables and Sly of the Saian Supa Crew with his incredible human beatbox skills
Paul Pena played blues with the greats T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, and Bonnie Raitt. In 1995, the blind bluesman became the first American ever to compete in an unusual contest of multi-harmonic "throatsinging."

The Autonomous Republic of Tuva, wedged between Siberia and Mongolia, for centuries has been isolated from the rest of the world by jagged mountains and Soviet restrictions. Only recently have the Tuvan art form of throatsinging become known to outsiders.

Pena discovered Tuvan throatsinging on a shortwave program of Radio Moscow twelve years ago. Multiple voices emanated from a single vocalist and the sounds gripped him like nothing he had ever heard. For the next nine years he worked to produce similar overtones with his own voice and to incorporate throatsinging into his blues music.

Unexpectedly in 1993, Pena discovered that Tuvan throatsingers were on their first concert tour of the U.S.. After their performance, the deep-voiced bluesman broke into his own self-taught style of throatsinging and serenaded the musicians with Tuvan traditional songs! The throatsingers were amazed by Pena's mastery of the Tuvan art form and likened his rich voice to the sounds of tremors in the earth. They insisted that "Chershemjer" (Earthquake) travel to Tuva for the next tri-ennial throatsinging contest which would be held in 1995.

Eleven years after he first heard throat singing, Paul Pena entered the National Theatre of Tuva to make history. The blind bluseman's performance was so well received, he became the 1995 throatsinging champion in the style of kargyraa. He also captured the "audience favorite" award for the week-long competition. The Tuvan people had never seen or heard anyone like him.

Pena was honored by the Tuvan people, not only because he mastered kargyraa, but he also learned to speak their language. His friendship flourished with Kongar-ol Ondar, the throatsinging champion who had invited Pena three years earlier. Ondar hosted Pena as the bluesman experienced the country he once believed he would never visit.

"Genghis Blues" is a film about exploration and friendship. It is the story of a man whose struggle in life is not defined by conformity and rules but by an unquenchable curiosity, and love of music. Pena's story is truly an inspiration to all.



Background



Paul Pena is the son of immigrants from Cape Verde, West Africa, and lives in San Francisco where he plays a unique blend of Mississippi Delta blues, Cape Verdian folk, and Tuvan throat music. As a blind Creole-American, Pena has continually struggled against injustice through the messages in his music. To Pena, his music represents the "inter-cultural harmony which is becoming increasingly important for the development of a sustainable world environment."

The Republic of Tuva, in the heart of Asia, was once an independent country whose people are proud descendants of the conqueror, Genghis Khan. Over one third of the population continues traditional nomadic ways of animal-herding.

For centuries after the collapse of Khan's empire, geographical, political, and cultural isolation resulted in the evolution of various unique and highly developed art forms in Tuva. The most remarkable, "khoomei" (translated as "throatsinging") confounds Western academicians to this day. People in Tuva have learned to produce multiple tones simultaneously while singing. Throatsingers have been described as sounding like "a one-man quartet" and "a bullfrog swallowing a whistle."

Tuva is comprised of a mixture of desert plateaus and green valleys ringed by snow-capped mountains of the Sayan and Altai ranges. The powerful contrasts of their environment are said to be the inspiration for the Tuvans' development of five distinct styles of throatsinging.

Most Tuvans practice a mix of Tibetan Buddhism and animist shamanism despite aggressive Soviet attempts to eliminate "paganism" since their occupation of Tuva in 1944. In 1991, the suppression of a popular call for independence in Tuva resulted in the massacre of hundreds of people including both Tuvans and Russians.

Kongar-ol Ondar, who won the 1992 throat-singing contest, invited his friend, Paul Pena, to participate in the contest of 1995. Currently, Pena and Ondar have recorded an album, "Genghis Blues," which combines elements of Mississippi Delta blues, Cape-Verdian ballads, and Tuvan throat music.

QBert (born October 1969) is the performing name of Richard Quitevis, a Filipino-American (of Ilocano descent) DJ and composer. Living in San Francisco, he started playing with records at the age of 15 and was influenced by the street performers of San Francisco's hip-hop community in the mid 1980s.

He started his musical career in a group called FM20 with Mix Master Mike and Apollo in 1990. They were playing a show in New York when Crazy Legs saw them and invited them to join the Rock Steady Crew. They accepted, and going by the name of the Rock Steady DJ's they proceeded to take the 1992 Disco Mixing Club (DMC) world title. Q-Bert was also one of the founding members of the band Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Although there were other turntablist crews before the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, the Skratch Piklz were the first to apply the band concept to turntablism, layering drums, basslines, and scratch solos on top of each other.

Although he can be seen in the 1991 DMC US competition performing beat juggles, creating melodies with test tones, and performing other tricks, since then he has almost exclusively focused on scratching and "drumming," a variation on scratching in which the DJ scratches a drumbeat rhythmically. Of his performance routines, one of his most famous is a scratched reworking of LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells." QBert scratches "hamster style," which means that his mixer's crossfader works in reverse order. (Many other scratch DJs prefer "hamster style" to regular style.)

QBert, along with other Skratch Piklz, created a series of videos entitled Turntable TV. Now out of print, the first 5 episodes were released on VHS and contained demonstrations, showcases, skits, and other dj related content.

QBert's solo efforts include 1994's Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik, and 1998's Wave Twisters. The latter album was created mainly with samplers and beat machines versus the turntable, and later turned into an animated feature of the same title. Wave Twisters (2001) the movie was somewhat unusual in that the animators and digital artists had to invent images and movements to the pre-recorded music, as opposed to the other way around. Wave Twisters is often compared to The Beatles' Yellow Submarine for being an animated-feature-as-soundtrack, but in terms of the composition of the album itself, Wave Twisters actually bears much more of a resemblance to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

His music was also featured in the video games Tony Hawk's Underground (in which he was also an unlockable playable character) and FreQuency.

He is featured in the 2001 documentary film Scratch.

He is also featured in the first documentary film on battle DJing - Battle Sounds - 1997.

More recently he has worked with Vestax to develop the QFO, an all-in-one scratching instrument. The QFO combines a turntable with a mixer's crossfader. (needs citation) In 2006 he introduced the QBert turntable cartridge, a model put out by Ortofon. (needs citation) Thus far, the cartridge has received mixed reviews for its sound quality and skip resistance.

Awards and credentials

* DMC USA Champion 1991
* DMC World Champion 1992
* DMC World Champion 1993
* DMC World Champion 1994
* DMC Judge 1995
* DMC DJ Hall of Fame (along with Mix Master Mike)
* Acted in Hang the DJ
o Cannes Film Festival, France
* Appears in the documentary film Modulations
o Sundance Festival, Utah
* Appears in the documentary Scratch

Saïan Supa Crew is a French rap collective composed of three groups: Explicit Samouraï, OFX, and Simple Spirit.

The name is a reference to some of the characters from the anime show Dragon Ball Z.

Saïan Supa Crew produces a very musical style of rap with hints of chanting, reggae, and ragga. Beat boxing also is an integral part of their music, as well as classic disco; for example, Ring My Bell was partially revisited on their album KLR

Their primary themes extend from drug problems (Que dit-on?) to racism (La preuve par 3), including also relationships (A demi-nue), suicide (La dernière séance) and the justification of violence by religion (Au nom de quoi). Humor and seriousness are both at home in their lyrics.

Their second album, X-raisons, was awarded a Victoire de la musique in 2002 for Best Rap/Groove Album.

Most of the groups of the collective have solo albums out as well. OFX was the first to debut, with their album Roots in February 2004, followed shortly by Explicit Samouraï in January 2005 and later by Sir Samuël Vizé pli ô, whose solo album was released in April 2005.

The latest album from the Saïan Supa Crew, Hold Up, was released Halloween 2005. On this album, the group demonstrated their breadth with three featured artists: German singer Patrice on "96 degreez," the singer Camille on "Si j'avais su," and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas on "La patte."

Their entire song catalogue is published by BMG Music Publishing.

The Members

* Leeroy Kesiah member of Explicit Samouraï (born in 1978 as Khalid Dehbi, Bagneux 92)
* Vicelow member of OFX (born in 1978 as Cédric Bélise, Bondy 93)
* Sly the Mic Buddha member of Simple Spirit (born in 1974 as Silvere Johnson, Montrouge 92)
* Feniksi member of OFX (born in 1976 as Samuël Adebiyi, Noisy-le-Sec 93)
* Specta member of Explicit Samouraï (born in 1975 as Gérard Nubul, Bagneux 92) Is no longer a member of the Saïan Supa Crew.
* Sir Samuël (Solo Career) (born in 1977 as Fabien Philetas, Montrouge 92)
* KLR member of OFX (died in April 1999 born in Noisy-le-Sec 93)

plus the DJ and producers DJ Fun, Alsoprodby and Eddy Kent, DJ Kärve also recently joined Saïan Supa Crew.

Discography

* KLR (1999)
* X-Raisons (2001)
* Hold-Up (2005)
* DVD Hold-Up Tour 2006 (2006)

Labels: Acid scratch, D.J. Qbert, freestyle Sly, Ghengis Blues, Human Beatbox, Mongolian throat singing, Paul Pena, Saian Supa Crew, turntables

Human beat boxing is a vocal percussion of hip hop culture and music. It is primarily concerned with the art of reproducing drum sounds using one's voice, mouth, and nasal cavity. It can also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntable scratching, the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments, and the replication of a vast array of sound effects.

The term beatboxing most likely refers to early drum machines which came with pre-programmed musical patterns.
History of beat boxing

The technique and the art of replicating percussion sounds with one's voice is thought to be conceived in India several thousands years ago, and the Chinese developed Kouji which was one kind of vocal percussion performing arts. These had litte relation with hip hop, however, and are not related to modern Western beatboxing. This kind of sound-simulating techinique is called humming and chanting. Beatboxing is currently experiencing a second wind, thanks in part to the likes of artists like Rahzel and Kenny Muhammad, that has carried the artform across the world. In 2002, the documentary Breath Control: The History of the Human Beatbox premiered. It is a history of the art form that includes interviews with Doug E. Fresh, Emanon, Biz Markie, Marie Daulne of Zap Mama, and others. The same year even saw the emergence of a beatbox clothing label, mic(ism)® - sported and supported by beatboxers worldwide®.

A man named Imiterio Ruiz, who came from an affluent Mexican family, originally brought beatboxing into America in 1930. Imiterio's father, an intelligent and respected man throughout Mexico, was contracted by the Texas government to help manage Mexican laborers who couldn't speak English throughout the Hearne, Texas area where the laborers were laying the Union Pacific Railroad lines; it is for this reason that Hearne is known as "The Crossroads Of Texas." It was Imiterio who taught these railroad laborers to beatbox throughout Hearne and Calvert, Texas as it had been used by Aztec Indians (later, slaves) throughout the 14th, 15th and 16th century in central Mexico. Beatboxing had been used for years as a way of entertainment amongst the Aztec Indian, brought to America by Imiterio Ruiz Sr., and spread amongst Union Pacific Railroad laborers by his son Imiterio Ruiz, Jr. The railroad workers would travel from city to city working across America via train (through Denver, Colorado), and this is how beatboxing reached New York from central Mexico.[citation needed]

Beatboxing's early pioneers include Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, and Buffy from the Fat Boys. Doug E. Fresh is credited with being the first "human beatbox"[1], and Barry B for coining the term [2]. The term "beatboxing" is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes.

[edit] Vocal percussionists

Throughout a series of concerts in 1969, most notably at The Fillmore East in NYC, John Mayall (formerly the frontman for "The Bluesbreakers") with a new band introduced an acoustic style of the Blues[citation needed]. Sans drums and, for the most part electric guitars, Mayall and the band included a tune called "Room to Move" which included a middle section of pure beatboxing predating and outdoing almost every other future attempt at this style short of Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry, be happy" almost twenty years later. The Mayall concerts were recorded on an album called "Turning Point".

In 1970, British band Mungo Jerry released In the Summertime, eventually selling 23 million copies worldwide. An interesting quirk of the track is that no traditional percussion is used, with all rhythmic and incidental percussion generated by the vocalist(s).

Viv Fisher, a frustrated amateur British musician and sound engineer released a 7" vinyl single of multivocal work in 1978, entitled "Blaze Away", performing as "Me, Myself and Me Again", on which he performed all parts of a brass band, additionally using multitracking techniques to satisfy his desire for an accurate portrayal of the many instruments and depth of sound in a real brass band.

Mbube is a style of close harmony choral singing, originating in Africa. One of its components is the vocal representation of percussion and bass sounds by one or more members of a choir. Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a well known group performing in this style and have been releasing music in this genre since 1973.
The early eighties

The art form enjoyed a strong presence in the 1980s. Many people's introduction to the art form, and perhaps one of its first recordings, came when Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick released "La Di Da Di." However, the Fat Boys "Stick Em" and the album on which it appeared, "The Fat Boys," was released in January 1984, one year before the "La Di Da Di" single, which appeared as a B-side to "The Show" in 1985. (The rap community and beyond celebrated Buffy's heavy-breathing style on "Stick Em.") Even today, when people make fun of beatboxing, they imitate the deceased Buffy by huffing and puffing into their hands. The Fat Boys' movies (such as Disorderlies) introduced the art form to a wider audience as well.
The mid eighties

Other important beatboxers in the mid-'80s who followed the greats like Doug E. Fresh included Greg Nice, Ready Rock C from Will Smith's crew, and The Jock Box from the comically named Skinny Boys crew.

In 1984, Viv Fisher recorded the first known multivocal TV theme tune, vocalising parts of a Brass Band for the title sequence of a BBC gameshow series entitled Bob's Full House. In 1985, he performed the same role for BBC drama series, Blott on the Landscape, this time vocally recreating all instruments and percussion.
The nineties

In many ways, beatboxing fell off the radar along with breakdancing in the late '80s; it almost slipped even deeper than the underground. Though many people kept the art form alive on the streets, in ciphers, within B-boy circles, and in showers, it didn't re-emerge until Rahzel "the Godfather of Noyze" released "Make the Music 2000", which is the first album focused primarily on beatboxing. The title is a reference to "Make the Music With Your Mouth", one of the first recorded beatboxing tracks by the hip hop sensation Biz Markie. (Markie also achieved moderate success with his single "Just A Friend".)

In the mid-'90s, Rahzel proved a versatile entertainer. He was formerly the vocal DJ for The Roots, a group that contributed to the popularity of live instrumentation in hip hop. Not only did he help put beatboxing back onto the stage, he introduced its modern form, an impressive if not awe-inspiring combination of polyrhythms, vocal scratching, and simultaneous lines of melody, rhythm, and singing. Rahzel himself acknowledges that he combined his influences of pioneer Doug E. Fresh, jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin, and sound effect master Michael Winslow (of Police Academy fame) to give rise to his modern format.

On "If Your Mother Only Knew", a beatboxing sample of Rahzel, he wows an audience by singing and beatboxing simultaneously—a feat now considered easy by the growing young beatboxing community. On several tracks, he introduced the idea of simulating turntable scratches with his throat, something even underground beatboxers upholding the art form through the lean years hadn't even heard until the album's release.

Using his commercial appeal, Rahzel paved the way for beatboxing's migration to the center of the stage, both literally and metaphorically. In its beginning, beatboxing was relegated to a supporting role or gimmick, like a side show. With beatboxing's increased popularity, Rahzel began touring the country[citation needed] doing solo shows.

Of course, many beatboxers express frustration with Rahzel receiving most of the attention and being known as the best beatboxer in the world. Though many well-practiced amateur and professional beatboxers possess different levels of skill, each one brings something different to the form. As Carlo Aguirre (also known as Infinite), a beatboxer and MC from San Francisco's famed Felonious says, "Each person has a different instrument."

Other well-known, seminal beatboxers whose work is well known throughout the international beatboxing community include the Bronx's Kenny Muhammad (also known as Kenny X, The Human Orchestra); Philadelphia's Scratch, beatboxer for the Roots; Killa Kela, one of Europe's finest, Click Tha Supah Latin, an MC and beatboxer located in Los Angeles, Shlomo, who has collaborated with Björk, MC Squared, an internationally renowned 5-time winner of Showtime at the Apollo, RoxorLoops from Beatoxic Crew, Each who is a key organiser with the Vowel Movement located in California, "mouthdrummer" Wes Carroll of The House Jacks, also located in California, and Canada's own scratch pioneer Poizunus.
The Four Elements

The last track on Rahzel's CD 'Make The Music 2000' is a track with his famous 'If Your Mother Only Knew' routine. But it contains a hidden bonus track, which is a 'Man vs. Machine' battle with beatboxers [[Rahzel is also known for another piece. He does the well known "Jesus Walks" performed by Kanye West. ]] and Kenny Muhammad vs. turntablists DJ Skribble and DJ Slinky. The song is by most beatboxers referred to as The Four Elements, because it contains an impression of the four elements in beatbox style at the end.

* The first element is Earth (performed by Rahzel), using basic beatboxing techniques with a dry 'taste', in a fairly simple beat pattern.
* The second element is Wind (performed by Kenny Muhammad), a complex and fast beat with words in it said in a very low voice. It has a stormy character. Wind is probably the current most favourite beatbox routine. It is a cover of the song 'Nummern' (Numbers) by the German group Kraftwerk.
* The third element is Fire (performed by Rahzel). It is the only element containing sounds that were not produced by the human mouth. Fire is a cover of 'Rock The Bells' by LL Cool J.
* The fourth and last element is Water (performed by Kenny Muhammad),Its one if the most popular amongest beatboxer after the wind. The sounds are punchy and fast. Water is a cover of a tune called 'Funky Drummer' by James Brown.

Increasingly, The Four Elements is becoming a very popular concept within the beatboxing community.[citation needed]
Internet presence



Major centers

New York City

New York City is the birthplace of the art and still home to many of the world's most original and impressive beatboxers. These include Buffy of The Fat Boys, Doug E. Fresh, Hayden, Rahzel, Kenny Muhammad, MC Squared, Matisyahu and many others. In 2002 Kid Lucky created Beatboxer Entertainment, an organization to unite NYC's beatboxers, which has since grown to include beatboxers nationally and internationally.

United Kingdom

Beatboxing began to gain visibility in the United Kingdom in early 2002, thanks in part to the founding of UK-specific beatboxing communities. While Killa Kela is often considered to be the most famous UK beatboxer, others such as Shlomo, Lianhart, Faith SFX, and BeardyMan are gaining their own followings.

The King of the Jam beatbox picnic created by Mark Splinter was the first beatboxer gathering held in the United Kingdom. Beginning with a meeting of four beatboxers, one MC, some sandwiches and a video camera at St. James' Park in London, the event grew sharply in popularity, drawing 80 artists to the 2004 Tournament. Though Splinter has since relocated to Lithuania he continues to arrange the meetings at the same park on a bi-annual basis, and a World Tour is planned.

The first Human Beatbox Convention was held in London in 2003, bringing together 100 beatboxers from around the world.

Other beatboxer events in the UK include Bristol's 'Make Some Noise' in May and the UK Beatbox Championships, which are held in various cities during the months of February, June, and July. The 2006 UK Beat Boxing Champion is BeardyMan.
Dallas Texas area

The collaborative processes of many "underground" rappers brought about a need for beats. When Ion started the acceptance of street culture, a multitude of followers supported the movement. The art of beatboxing was practiced by many, but a few stick out. Hayden Lemaster and SMVY began showcasing their talent quite often.
San Francisco Bay area

The Vowel Movement, created by Bryan Neuberg (also known as Process), Kid Beyond, and Tim Barsky, is a collaborative San Francisco Bay area community that supports the art of beatboxing. It features regular showcases that emphasize sharing and inclusivity amongst its practitioners, bringing the art form to a diverse audience, and pushing the boundaries beyond the classification of hip hop.
Australia

Australian beatboxer Joel Turner (founder of 'Beatbox Alliance') first came to fame after appearing on the Australian Idol competition, and then went on to become the first solo World Beatbox Champion by winning the Hip Hop World Challenge in Germany, 2005. Additionally, Joel and fellow Beatbox Alliance member Tom Thumb placed first in the team battle event.

In 2005 BeatboxAustralia.com was created, founded by Australian beatboxer MadMastaC. Beatbox Australia is the first company in Australia dedicated to the 5th element it is a beatbox agency and also a community for beatboxers to chat and gather. In 2006 Beatbox Australia started organising events and beatbox jams around Australia and promoting Australian beatboxing and also launched there first set of clothing line.

November 2006 saw the appearance of A-Town Entertainment. Adelaides very own beatbox specialist hip hop agency. With regular appearances on local radios hiphop shows, monthly jams, regular city cyphers and performing around adelaide, A-Town is quickly becoming a force within the hip hop scene.
Toronto, Canada

Canadian beatboxer Poizunus first entered the spotlight after a Much-On-Demand beatbox battle that aired nationally on MuchMusic across Canada. Since then he has starred and provided beats for two MuchMusic commercials alongside Toronto MC Divo and also freestyled on MTV Live with World Record Freestyle Champ D.O. He has also placed top 4 at the Hip Hop World Challenge, has toured the UK, and performed live with UK Legend Killa Kela and US DMC Champ DJ Craze at WMC 2006. Poizunus is currently set to release his first EP which is tentatively titled "The PreP", which is scheduled for a spring/summer 2007 release.

Other notable Canadian beatboxers are:

Sean Maxim Mauricette, a.k.a. Subliminal is a jack-of-all-trades (part beatboxer, DJ, lyricist and producer). In 1998 Subliminal toured Canada and Western Europe as well as performed in the 1999 MuchMusic Video Awards and opened up for such recording artists as D12, Arrested Development and Jagged Edge to name a few. Currently a member of ACTRA, Subliminal also has his eyes on acting. Working alongside actor Kevin Bacon and singer Jill Scott, Subliminal has also been cast for primary roles in CitrusTV's hit series After Hours with Kenny Robinson, playing dual roles as both the show's DJ and co-host. As of December 1999, Subliminal has produced, directed and performed in numerous television and radio commercials for Sony Music Canada, Sprite, McDonald's and Kellogg's (Pop-tarts).

'Jugular' is known as "Toronto's best-known beatboxer". Born and raised in Toronto, Jugular has stunned crowds with his unique style of vocal percussion. He is noted for his accurate imitation of sounds from musical instruments to turntable scratches, and can also sing and rap. Jugular regularly performs in cities across North America including Toronto, Calgary, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Oakland, and New York City.

'Eddy Da Original One' is also a multi-talented beatboxer (a poet, graphic designer, sound engineer/producer, and technical coordinator for corporate, theatre and special events, as well). A distinctive writer, he is recently featured in “T-dot Griots: An Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers” and “Erotica” (both published by Up From The Roots Press). In 2005 he became a member of the newly formed band D’bi Young and the Dubbin Revolushun Gang-Stars as a beatboxer/backup vocalist . He has appeared on TV, movies and radio. When he is not on stage across the country, he does poetry or beatboxes behind some amazing performance artists (e.g. Dwele). He is also does production for other artists, as well as producing (human vocal percussion) tracks for commercials, bands and film projects.

Dublin, Ireland

White Noise is a hardworking beatboxer performing in Ireland with 300+ live shows under his belt since 2001. He's also represented Ireland at beatbox battles in Leeds and the World Championship in Leipzig, 2005. Sometimes performs with fellow Irish beatboxer Hemlock. Has also used delay effects and live looping in his shows. Bigger gigs include performances at the Irish DMCs, ITFs, and at the Oxegen music festival, 2006.

Scandinavian countries

The most known beatboxers in Scandinavia are Felix Zenger and Rey. Rey has been working with many worldwide drum and bass and hip hop artists.





Hip hop/Rap
Artists (Beatboxers - Rappers - DJs and Producers - Groups) - Beatboxing - Breakdance - Collaborations - Culture - DJing (Turntablism) - Fashion - Feuds - Graffiti - History (Roots - Old school - Golden age) - Production - Rapping
Genres
African - American (East - West - South - Midwest) - Australian - British - French - Indian - Japanese - Others...
Abstract - Alternative - Bounce - Chopped & Screwed - Christian - Conscious - Country - Crunk - Electro - Emo - Freestyle - Gangsta - G-funk - Ghettotech - Glitch hop - Golden age - Hardcore - Hip hop soul - Hip house - Horrorcore - Hyphy - Instrumental - Jazz - Latin - Mafioso - Merenrap - Miami bass - Mobb - Neo soul - Nerdcore - New jack swing - Nu metal - Old school - Political - Pop - Rapcore - Ragga - Reggaetón - Snap - Urban Pasifika

Labels: Afra and incredible beatbox band, animated, cool, Human Beatbox, trippy youtube, Video

O sitio do Quintas
Videos de travestis e transformistas,nacionais e internacionais. O melhor de cada familia no sitio do quintas.Video,music and fun for all.

Dianaross.com I love you still Before and After, but I think I loved you much more yesterday than tomorrow. You were so beautiful and sexy and sang with such energy as a young Diva. I don't blame you if you have had plastic surgery, facelifts, breast implants or whatever. I just don't think you have any excuse for the HAIR! It is very scarry to some of the younger American idol fans I am sure, maybe even some of the contestants. (Probably not Sanjaya). Judge for yourself Which Diana do you prefer?

Labels: American Idol, Before and After, Dianaross.com, I love you still

Self-Publishing: A Proud Tradition, A Promising Future

By Brent Erickson

In 1989, James (then 39) quit his job as a therapist to work on his book full-time. Drawing on his interest in Psychology, Eastern Philosophy, Ecology, and History, he completed what he believed to be a fine first novel.

James began sending his manuscript to publishers in 1992. He received a few cautious offers, but they did not feel right to the aspiring novelist, so he decided to self-publish the book. With the help of his wife Salle, James sold his novel out of the trunk of their car. “Of the first 3,000 copies we printed, we mailed or personally gave away 1,500 to small book shops and individuals…” recalls James, “Word of mouth recommendations took care of everything else.”

Thanks to grassroots enthusiasm for his novel James's book was soon picked up by a major publisher. The Celestine Prophecy was published in hard cover in 1994, As of 2005, it had sold over 20 million copies worldwide and had been translated into 34 languages, making James Redfield a household name.

Though the story of James Redfield and The Celestine Prophecy is an extreme success story, a surprising number of authors got their start as self-publishers. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. was originally self-published for his classes at Cornell University. Twelve Golden Threads by Aliske Webb was rejected by 150 publishers, but after self-publishing and selling 25,000 copies, Webb signed a four-book contract with HarperCollins. A Time to Kill by John Grisham was self-published, and like James Redfield, Grisham sold his first novel from the trunk of his car.

The List of authors who began as self-publishers reads like a who’s who of classic writers, giving historical context to a practice often looked down upon by the mainstream literary world. Virginia Wolff, E.E. Cummings, William Blake, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Irma Rombauer, Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Mary Baker Eddy, William E.B. Dubois, Mark Twain, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, George Bernard Shaw, and Anais Nin all had to prove themselves with self-publishing before being picked up by the major publishers.

Today, thanks to modern technology aspiring authors have more tools available to them then their predecessors could ever have dreamed of. Three of the most promising developments for self-publishing in modern times are, Desktop Publishing programs, Print on Demand method of publishing, and the Blogging revolution.

With a personal computer, printer and affordable desktop publishing software, writers can create high quality publications complete with visual elements all from the comfort of their homes.

Print on demand or POD is a methodology in which a copy of the book is not created until after an order is received. This style of publishing was impossible in the past due to the costs involved, but now because of low printing costs it is a fast growing way to sell the works of young writers.

The term blog is derived from the words Web-log but blogging is more than,what has come to be called, “Vanity publishing”. With millions of people surfing the net everyday a blog is a method of self-publishing that holds a lot of potential for young writers.

Free web space, affordable programs, print on demand method, all that is missing now is the next James Redfield. Start making room in the trunk!

Labels: James Joyce, Self-Publishing, The Celestine Prophecy

I was surfing youtube the other day and came across a montage of surreal images set to music. You can see the clip by clicking here. I don't know Cyriak personally but I am a big fan of his work. He does cartoons and has a great site you can get to by clicking on any of the 5 trippy images below. There you will find much more Eye Candy and crazy stuff from a very imaginative mind.

Labels: animated, Cyriak, eye candy, surreal images

Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?

The Specials- Special

Everybody who hears The Specials loves The Specials. The music of the Ska pioneers still brings people together like few bands ever have. However, there are still some unfortunate souls out there who are not familiar with the legendary group. Plus Ultra salutes The Specials and dedicates this post to the yout.

The Specials - Wikipedia Shortly after being formed by Dammers, Golding, and Panter, the band performed minor gigs under the name "The Coventry Automatics". Terry Hall and Roddy Radiation joined the band the following year, and the band changed its name to The Coventry Specials, and then to The Special AKA.

Joe Strummer of The Clash had attended one of their gigs, and invited The Special AKA to open for his band in their On Parole UK Tour. This performance gave The Special AKA a new level of national exposure, and they briefly shared the Clash's management. In 1979, Dammers decided to form his own record label, and 2 Tone Records was born. On this label, the band released "Gangsters," which became a Top Ten hit in 1979.



The band had begun wearing two-tone mod/rude boy/skinhead-style tonic suits, along with other elements of late 1960s teen fashions. Their debut LP was Specials, produced by Elvis Costello. "Too Much Too Young" was a number one hit in the UK singles chart, despite controversy due to the song's lyrics, which could be interpreted as promoting contraception.

Their second album, More Specials was not as commercially successful as previous recordings. The band had seemingly abandoned the ska genre, despite having been largely responsible for its revival in the United Kingdom. The album included a more experimental approach to music, including influences from pop, new wave, and even muzak. The band also experimented with what could be described as a dark, almost psychedelic reggae.

"Ghost Town" hit number one in 1981, but 2 Tone was in trouble. Staples, Golding and Hall left the band, and Dammers added Stan Campbell, to begin working again under the group's previous name Special A.K.A.. The resulting album, In the Studio, was not very successful, although the songs "Racist Friend" and "Nelson Mandela" were hits. The latter contributed to making Mandela a cause célèbre in Britain, and became popular with anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. Dammers then dissolved the band and pursued activism.

Later developments
Over the years various members of the band have reformed several times to tour and record in Specials and non-Specials related projects. But until present there has never been a complete reunion of the original lineup.

Terry Hall continued in the music industry with his 1980s pop band Fun Boy Three, with fellow ex-Specials Neville Staples and Lynval Golding. They enjoyed commercial success with a small collection of hits, including "Tunnel of Love", "Our Lips Are Sealed" and "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)". From 1984 until 1987, Hall fronted The Colourfield, with some commercial success. After they disbanded, Hall went on to pursue a solo career working mostly in the New Wave genre). He also did some vocal work on a Dub Pistols' album.

In the early 1990s members of The Beat, from nearby Birmingham, who had collaborated with The Specials on tracks such as Nelson Mandela, teamed up with members of The Specials to form the band Special Beat. The band performed a live set that was a mixture of The Specials and The Beat songs. They released a few concert albums.

In 1998, at the height of ska's mainstream popularity on American radio and MTV, most members of The Specials reunited to record the new studio album, Guilty 'Til Proved Innocent. Notably absent from the record were Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers. The record also featured guest vocals by Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen of Rancid.

The song "Little Bitch" appeared in John Hughes' popular movie Sixteen Candles, starring Molly Ringwald. Songs by The Specials and Special A.K.A. have appeared in the Dance Dance Revolution video game, the TV series Father Ted, and in the soundtracks for the movies SLC Punk, Snatch, Shaun of the Dead, Grosse Pointe Blank and 'An Extremely Goofy Movie..

In 2001 Pork Pie Records released Spare Shells: A Tribute to the Specials. The record featured recent ska bands performing versions of songs written or popularized by The Specials. Bands such as The Busters, The Porkers, Citizen Fish, Rude Bones and Voodoo Glow Skulls were featured.

Lineup
Terry Hall - vocals
Lynval Golding - vocals, rhythm guitar
Neville Staples - vocals, percussion
Jerry Dammers - keyboards
Roddy Radiation - lead guitar
Sir Horace Gentleman - bass guitar
John Bradbury - drums
Rico Rodriguez - trombone
Dick Cuthell - trumpet

Trivia
The Ted Leo and the Pharmacists song "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" is a tribute to The Specials. Ted Leo references some of the members' names in the song's chorus.

Third wave ska band, Big D and the Kids Table recorded a cover of "Little Bitch" on their LP, How It Goes.

Notable female backing singers on the Specials first two studio albums include: Chrissie Hynde, Rhoda Dakar (Then of The Bodysnatchers, later The Special AKA), Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (then together as The Go-Gos).

Discography
Albums
Specials (1979)
More Specials (1980)
In the Studio (as Special A.K.A.) (1984)
Today's Specials (1996)
Guilty 'Til Proved Innocent! (1998)
Skinhead Girl (2000)
Conquering Ruler (2001)

Live albums
Live at The Moonlight Club (1997)
Peel Sessions (1987)
Blue Plate Specials (1999)
Ghost Town: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival 1995 (1999)

Compilations
The Singles Collection (1991)
Coventry Automatics Aka the Specials: Dawning of a New Era (1994)
Too Much Too Young: The Gold Collection (1996)
Concrete Jungle (1998)
Best of The Specials (1999)
Very Best of the Specials and Fun Boy Three (2000)
Ghost Town (2004)
Stereo-Typical: A's, B's and Rarities (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)



Singles
"Gangsters" (1979) UK #6 - billed as The Special A.K.A. - other side by The Selecter
"A Message To You Rudy"/"Nite Klub" (1979) UK #10
"The Special A.K.A. Live!" - ("Too Much Too Young"/"Guns Of Navarone"/"Long Shot Kick De Bucket"/"Liquidator"/"Skinhead Moonstomp") (1980) UK #1 - EP
"Rat Race"/"Rude Boys Outa Jail" (1980) UK #5
"Stereotype"/"International Jet Set" (1980) UK #6
"Do Nothing"/"Maggie's Farm" (1980) UK #4
"Ghost Town" (1981) UK #1
"The Boiler" (1982) UK #35 - Rhoda & The Special A.K.A.
"Jungle Music" (1982) - Rico & The Special A.K.A.
"War Crimes" (1982) UK #84 - The Special A.K.A.
"Bright Lights"/"Racist Friend" (1983) UK #60 - The Special A.K.A.
"Nelson Mandela" (1984) UK #9 - The Special A.K.A.
"What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend" (1984) UK #51 - The Special A.K.A.
-From Wikipedia

Labels: Reggae, Ska, The Specials Special, The Specials videos

Plusultra is proud to bring you yesterday's news tommorrow. Not since Fat Freddie's Cat accidentally ate a secret stash of ludes and hash brownies, uppers, downers, horse tranquilizers and cough-syrop. Not since the nod that bad ass cat experienced nearly ten years ago has something so lazy appeared on the scene as me Plus Ultra(coincedentally the 3 Brothers have recently appeared in their first comic in a decade). (insert Bong Sounds here)...It is with astonishing lethargy that I give you these links that will have you as stoned as I am right now. So Just click on one of the Freak Brothers below to be whisked away to an ever higher ever farther ever better place. Or watch this Claymation video for the Fabulous Fury Freak Brothers upcoming Movie "Grass Roots"

Labels: Fabulous Fury Freak Brothers, Grassroots, news and links, Video Yotube

Dylan hears a who is a hoot and half. You already have highway 61 revisited, the bootleg series and Modern Times, but do you have the quintessential Bob Dylan folk album "Dylan hears a who." click the Poster on the left to hear the what now or here to hear the hootenanny who Dr seuss style.

Labels: Bob Dylan, Dr. Seuss, Dylan hears a who

Diana Ross says she hasn't had time to see the hit film "Dreamgirls," which is rumored to be a movie on her life as Motown's original DIVA.

The 62 year young Original American Idol is going to be a mentor on Fox's "American Idol" T.V. show to coincide with a world tour beginning in March to promote her new album, "I Love You."
And I do love you. For the viewing pleasure of my predominantly 21 - 79 year old male fanbase, we hear at plusultra are proud to offer you these beautiful pictures of the ever changing, ever higher, ever farther, ever better Diana Ross as she has aged gracefully through the years.




Diana Ross
Before After Diana Ross

Labels: American Idol, before after, Diana Ross, diva, Dreamgirls, I love you, pics

Oh Jack I heard you wrote your most famous novel "On the road" on a roll of toilet paper. What a beat you had. It would sometimes run on like a Gene Krupa drum solo full of syncopated metaphors, drunken adventures in bebop with Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty pretending to be Allen Ginsberg's ghost and Neal Cassady's wife all smoking hash in a mexican brothel together forelonely in the dark celebrating what would have been your 85th birthday today. What beatnik does not owe you a thousand Prayers? Where would the hippies have come from without you Jack? Counter Culture will be reading your haikus, vive-ing vicariously through your prose and dreaming your dreams for years to come. The moment is what you captured so well, inspiring youths of all generations to take that journey with you and inspire them to live life a little fuller by going out and celebrating in a hedonistic manner capturing the carpe diem only a rebel may know. In honor of your birthday I have invited some of my dirtiest beatnick friends to celebrate with us. Leave your birthday message to Jack in the comments below.

Labels: beatnik, bongo, Jack Kerouac

So you think you are cool? You are not cool unless you have seen this you tube video of Bob Dylan playing Ballad of Hollis Brown. It is very rare. Keep coming back to plusultra to maintain your hip factor and check out the latest hand picked videos that will raise your hipster level to ultra proportions. Maybe even plusultra proportions.... Remember Ever Higher, Ever Farther, Ever Better

Labels: Ballad of Hollis Brown, Bob Dylan, youtube video

Wow, check out this funky 70's video of Desmond Dekker's hit the Israelites!

Labels: Desmond Dekker, israelites, Video, youtube

Isn't it funny how the Flintstone's used to pitch their vitamins, and oh yeah "Winston Cigarettes"

Labels: Flintsones, Smoking, Vitamins, Winston

Beware the following video is preposterous. It seems some Japanese have taken the game pac-man to a whole new level. I laughed extremely hard watching this. I hope you do to.

Labels: japan, pacman, youtube

Labels: cool, dada, Surreal video, youtube

Another one of plusultra's favorite bands is the thirteenth floor elevators. They are known as the original psychedelic band. I was surprised to find this you tube video featuring Roky Erickson's band in a dell commercial? Maybe Dell is cool after all!

Labels: 13th floor elevators, dell, Video, youtube

This is a classic reggae clip from the classic reggae movie "The harder they come." It features one of plusultra's favorite bands Toots and the Maytalls singing Sweet and Dandy. I can't help but feeling irie (Really good) every time I hear this tune. I hope you enjoy it too.

Labels: Maytalls, reggae video, Sweet and Dandy, Toots

Labels: Beck, Borat, Letterman, Nausea

by Josh Gray

Jap stood there, in the darkened doorway of the old Woodbine hotel, long since closed down, and waited. He was sweating. He felt around in his jacket for the knife he had brought with him. It was there. ‘For who though?’ he wondered, but quickly discarded that thought for another, ‘When?’

It was the start of winter and a fresh layer of snow had fallen and frozen, leaving the streets and sidewalks white and icy. Minor traffic and even fewer pedestrians were finding their way around the downtown area.

Jap shuffled in his shoes. A deluge of perspiration scaled its way along his limbs. He had over dressed, not knowing exactly how long he would be in the cold. How long this … thing, would take.

* * *

Clarice paid for the two packs of photographs by way of credit card. CLIX, the photo-developing store, had a 2-for-1 special this week before Christmas and Clarice had caught the sale on its final day.

She left the store, and began the walk down Gulliver Avenue. Her pace was one of immediacy but reticence as well. She balanced along the sidewalk, avoiding the icy patches as much as possible, nearly slipping once. ‘Damn this world’, she spoke to herself.

The street was littered in both debris and darkness as only a few of the street lamps were functioning properly. As she crossed an intersection, it began to snow again. There was no wind, and as the flakes of snow ran into the shards of light given by the working street lamps, Clarice wondered why beauty came when it did. But she was getting close now. The Fillion hotel was only 3 blocks past the Woodbine.

* * *

Jap stuck his tongue out, hoping a snowflake would find it. Several did, but the magic that that once brought was forever missing now. Much of the snow resting on his shoes was beginning to permeate both sock and foot, making this self-imposed waiting game a little more grating than he needed on this night.

‘Come on…’ he snapped to the air, darting his glances around the vicinity. Nothing. Men, yes, those there were, but not a single pair of panties anywhere. He was a coward and complacently satisfied in this truth. ‘Cowardice bleeds a path to a better set of odds. Odds more magnetic to my needs.’ Jap often proclaimed.

From experience Jap knew the boys feared the knife but he was in no way an imposing sort beside the fact, so he stuck with the panties in case a slip up ever occurred.

Besides, tonight he pined for the meal before the masterstroke with a heightened urgency, so a woman was the only way out. The field, this eve though, remained without any.

A lick of wind slipped inside the Woodbine’s doorway, circulating the alcove and slapping Jap upside the face. He felt trapped in the maelstrom and therefore became unable to take solace in the night’s endeavor. The outside factors were laying into him and leaving him unfocused and apathetic. Jap shucked superstition and just tallied it all up to unfortunate luck and an overexcited itch.

‘Enough.’ he subsided to himself, taking his thumb off the blade and tightening his face for the walk that lay ahead.

Jap moved out of the Woodbine’s shelter and began a trail to nowhere. ‘Maybe a drink at the Fillion?’ he all but confirmed.

* * *

Clarice’s fingers trickled around the surfaces of both packs of photos in her purse. She had told herself she wouldn’t look at any of them until all parties concerned were together, until they were all in the same room. The temptation to see how conclusive the photos were had been molesting her psyche since she had left CLIX.

All that the P.I. had told her was that her suspicions were palpable. ‘To what degree…?’ Clarice deliberated and took the piece of paper out from her purse. When they had met for the final time the P.I. had handed her the roll of film and a piece of paper, which on it was written, THE SPECIFICS-When: Monday nights, 8 to 10. Where: Fillion hotel.

That was it. ‘How much you want to know after this is up to you.’ The P.I. had warned her with tepid empathy. She wanted to know now.

‘Enough’ she decided and ducked into a slim alley between two stores, taking one of the packs of photos from her purse and, trembling, held it before her eyes.

* * *

‘A blank page……. Hasn’t happened in awhile.’ Jap resigned quietly under his breath, shaking his head. He knew this science to be so fallible but it always irked him a bit when the motions didn’t unfurl within his foresighted harmony. ‘Blame it on the weather.’ he smiled. It was hard to laugh, though, through the searing boredom of an empty effort. He seethed inside now at the indifference he had to feel, not having gotten a result.

Then he stopped in his tracks. The tip of a five-dollar bill was poking out of a small pile of snow he had come to and it flitted in the wind like some rodent extracting itself from a snare. ‘Fine.’ Jap thought, conceding that this would be the evening’s sullied compensation. He peeled it free from the snow and carefully placed it into his wallet while scoping out the street around him.

He saw the legs first. Then it all fell into place accordingly as he drank in the image before him. Across the street, barely lit by the moon’s glow, she stood. Somewhat hidden in between a pawnshop and a pet store, unveiled and on sale, she stood there for him. She wasn’t drinking or smoking, sucking on anything or anyone. ‘Odd.’ Jap admitted, ‘How had I missed her? Blame it on the weather.’ he avowed with some tenacity this time. It didn’t matter. Fruition was at hand. She was there now and forever. Jap returned his hand to the warmth of the coat pocket, secured the grip of the blade and crossed the street.

* * *

‘What a lovely time it was.’ Clarice reminisced as she looked adoringly at the picture of her and Monty on the deck of their beachside cottage in Fiji. She had grabbed the other pack of photos without thinking. The ones from their vacation only five months ago that, on this night, had no place in her heart. Or so she thought. Flipping through a few more, she put her one hand to her mouth and began to well up, choking a little on the tears that came. ‘Five months!’ she gasped incredulously. The paradise they had shared was now a thousand years away from the hell that she was about to evoke.

Clarice slammed the set of pictures back inside her purse. Fiddling for the other pack, she let the purse slip from her shoulder and drop to the ground. She crouched down to pick up that which had fallen out but lost her orientation as her head was ripped back violently by the hair.

* * *

‘She looks like a constellation.’ Jap thought, a little admiringly, staring warmly at Clarice as she lay there, flecked by bits of snow and a rivulet of blood that wended its way along her bare torso.

The struggle that had transpired was unexpected, very welcome, but had sapped so much out of him that Jap had to rest a little. He sat cross-legged by Clarice’s side, running the tip of the blade around her naval. ‘Man, she was heated up. A fighter.’

He looked himself over and tried to adjust his clothes as good as possible, noticing rips in several places and a fairly deep gash along his forearm. ‘Good for you, lady.’ Jap murmured. He rose and began cleaning the knife off with some paper found nearby. Strewn everywhere were the contents of Clarice’s purse, which Jap hadn’t acknowledged until now. Many things of no value to him, but upon seeing the photographs, with his voyeuristic bent, he gathered them up and placed them in the inside pocket of his jacket. He then saw the gun lying half in the shadow of a garbage can a few feet away. ‘What’s this then?’ Jap mused, holding the gun up to the moon. He knew exactly nothing about the singular distinctions of one handgun to another, always having used the blade. He leered at it a second longer, wiped it clean of any markings with a bit of his sleeve then dropped it in a snow bank knowing he’d never need it.

Jap let his gaze walk once more over the supine shape on the ground before him, almost wanting to see the tiniest sign of life. There was only the form and the dead fury that sat in her eyes. ‘This is over.’ Jap finalized stoically. ‘A drink.’ He remembered and left the confines he had created, aiming now for the Fillion hotel.

* * *

‘Beer and a gin-seven…please.’ Said Monty to the man tending bar. ‘And some
matches.’ Karen threw in, putting a smoke to her cracked lips. ‘No matches.’ Countered the bartender, ‘Lighter’s are 3 bucks.’

‘Fuck that’ Karen susurrated, tugging on Monty’s sleeve. Monty waved the bartender off and reassured Karen. ‘Hold on.’ He said and peered around the room. A man at a table in the corner was just lighting up so Monty made his way over there.

‘Can I get some fire from ya pal?’ Monty asked the man, waving his unlit cigarette in the air with a pleading etiquette.

‘Keep ‘em.’ Said the man, sliding the matchbox across the table to Monty.

* * *

‘Keep ‘em.’ Said Jap, sliding the matchbox to the man before him.

‘Thank you sir.’ The man smiled, and went back to his seat at the bar alongside the woman he was sitting with. Jap always wondered about the art of coupling. The buildup, the being, and the body therein were a fringed theory to him.

He reached into his inside pocket and took out the pack of pictures. His eyes waltzed through the bar in an act of assuaging surveillance, as the Fillion regulars skulked around, posing no threat in their oblivion.

Labels: fiction, Josh Gray, murder, short story

I don't know why but this season of American Idol has not impressed me as much as previous years. The talent is weak and forgettable. Of course I do have my favorites and Tonight it was obvious to the judges as well as me that the best was Melinda Doolittle. She did seem a bit strange describing her O.C.D. syndromes, but when she sang I'm a woman, she brought the proverbial "Yo Factor" as Randy Puts it and rocked the house down. Melinda has a Myspace page you can reach here or by clicking her image. Intersting to note the song I'm a woman was a big hit in the early seventies by Maria Muldaur, but the song was first sung by Peggy Lee. Now Melinda has brought it back! Thank you.
The other contestant whoI felt sang well tonight was Lakisha Jones. She has consistently brought the goods to the table at this singing competition. Never a note off key. It was especially touching to see the modest singer blush when Simon Cowell commented on how beautiful she looked in her black dress, She really did an amazing performance this evening singing a difficult Whitney Houston song "I have Nothing"and truly was beautiful to watch. .
The only other contestant of note is the notorious Antonella Barba. I must admit I enjoyd her singing better than her previous efforts and I think she is handling the negative press with dignity. She is very attractive but I would like to see her get a little credit for her voice(Just joking)

Labels: American Idol, Antonella Barba, I have Nothing, Lakisha Jones, Maria Muldaur, Melinda Doolittle, Peggy Lee, Whitney

Dali Cannon is a character, by all accounts a genius and not crazy. He has been 30 years old for the past 9 of them. Just like Bart Simpson he never seems to age. Off the grid, way out he lives a very unglamorous life walking sideways talking to strangers and genuinely realizes all men are created equal. This helps his self esteem as he mingles with politicians(he once sat in the Mayor's Chair drinking wine and kissing babies). It is by the same token that he remains humble among lower chakra people from the third world who have trouble pronouncing his name. He collects books and remembers Jupiter Jones and the three investigators he read at age 5 as well as the blog he read 5 minutes ago about a way to make money online dating Nigerian bankers and princes. But I digress, we are not concerned that at age 12 he did a book report on Antoine de Exupery's "Le petit Prince" and at age 27 he read it again in French after riding the funicular "la Ficelle" in Lyon France the home of Guignol and the author himself Antoine.
Now, that you are much more familiar with Dali Cannon, let me tell you where he was last month. Okotoks Alberta on an equestrian ranch hard at work 12 hours a day at $20 dollars an hour. The view was postcard picture perfect. The weather was a balmy +20 degrees, not too shabby for early February. In a T-shirt he was somnambulently building a fence after 36 Hours without sleep when he realized he needed freedom. "I am going to the bar", Dali spoke. He had no idea this were to be the best night he would have in his entire life...thank you come back tommorrow to read the rest, or check out more Dali Cannon stories here.

Labels: antoine de exupery, Dali, Dali Cannon, jupiter jones, lyon, the little prince

I was surfing the net and came across these 3 shocking new photos of American Idol contestant Antonella Barba.






What is so shocking about them you ask? She is wearing clothes in all of them!
Seriously though, I wonder who is responsible for the now infamous nasty pictures of the beautiful American Idol that are popping up all over the web. Could it be her old best friend Amanda Coluccio is jealous Antonella made it and she didn't? Is she behind the ultra scandalous controversy? Or was this all planned well ahead of time by Simon Cowell? I wish I knew. Do you?(Watch the video youtube banned here)

Labels: Amanda Coluccio, American Idol, Antonella Barba, Conspiracy, Video

Once upon a time Britney Spears was a beautiful young woman. Her hair was Golden and fair, shimmering healthy, beyond compare. That is why I was shocked to recently learn she is now hooked on lollipops and acting crazy, even dyeing her trademark Blonde locks black. But nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for her after re-hab look!
Britney you look awful, have you been on crystal Meth?

Labels: before after, Britney, Kojak, pictures, Spears

As my legions of fans are well aware(that includes both of them), I have not been posting very much in a long while. My writing style is deliberately fantastic with sarcastic undertones. Here as Plusultra, my motto is Ever Higher Ever Farther Ever Better.
Recently I posted Part 1 of a short story (but exceptionally long post) that I wrote a few years ago called "Ergot in the Rye". The title is obviously a bit of word-play on "Catcher in the Rye", by J.D. Salinger, but perhaps the fairly esoteric reference to L.S.D. will be thought of as clever and interesting enough for you to read it. My main Hero character (Dali Cannon), is not similar to Salinger's Holden Caulfield simply by accident. I invented Dali Cannon as a mixture between Holden and I borrowed from another of my personal favorite books, Albert Camus' "The Stranger" in creating a protagonist for my own existential novel full of avant-garde suspense and mystery, Pop Culture references and perhaps even some surreal images and videos to enjoy along the way....check it out here.
Nice to be back,
Thank You,
Plusultra(David Levasseur)

Labels: Camus, Catcher in the Rye, Dali, Dali Cannon, Ergot, Plusultra, Salinger, The stranger

< BEFORE

It looks like last year's American Idol contestant is growing in popularity as fast as her chest.



AFTER

Labels: American Idol, Breast Implant, Kelly Pickler