Said The Shotgun To The Head > Saul Williams
Saul Williams performing an excerpt from his 2003 book, “,Said the Shotgun to the Head”.
The Beginning of Infinity > Jason Silva
THE BEGINNING OF INFINITY from Jason Silva on Vimeo.
“The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.” – Steven Johnson
Cats and Dogs > Boonaa Mohammed
Directed and Edited by Syd Woodward, Sound Design by Ray Muloin http://getgrounded.tv
Cats and Dogs
It’s kind of dumb… but ummm,
I used to think that every time it rained an angel began to cry,
And it made me sad to see emotions drip from the sky
Ask me why and I’d tell you that I could see it coming from a mile
But denial ain’t just a river, it attacks you inner child.
But he had everything a boy could every want,
Money, power, respect and fancy toys to flaunt,
Guys wanted to be him,
Girls wanted to meet him,
He was a smooth criminal, lingo was never corny,
The star of countless, classic ghetto stories
Legendary general, controlled armies of lost souls
Gangster and a gentleman locked in one soul,
Survival was the only thing that he would ever know
A product of society so where did we go… wrong
Cause an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind,
You pick at karma enough and she’ll stop by to say hi,
I never knew which one came first, thunder or lighting,
But as life takes you on a ride, the resemblance can be striking,
Evil deeds resulting from a dysfunctional seed,
Grew from poverty the streets is all he needs,
Found comfort around pimps pushers and thugs,
The only family that he ever showed true love,
But could you blame him?
I mean, idea plus conviction becomes reality,
Oppressive systems creating another ghetto causality
Just singing that same old song,
The one that begins in the womb and ends in a tomb,
Plenty of brothers have taken the exact same path,
Did dirt but always searched for a nice clean bath,
His name rang bells from high schools to prison cells,
The word on the street was about his latest confrontation,
Rolling through projects armed with nothing but a reputation,
Lived life to the fullest, but when it rains it pours
And Good deeds can’t necessarily feed the poor
So he stole from the rich and he stole from the poor,
People tried to help him but he just wanted more,
He had angles and demons perched on both shoulder engaging in immortal combat
Fighting to control his mind and use his tongue as a door mat,
He would say things, than contradict with his actions,
Leaning towards the devils satisfaction, he was living life too fast.
Locked in a cage practically every summer,
Collect three-ways connecting the dumb to the dumber,
Friends were not friends, simply there for the moment,
Praying for his downfall, but he would never know it,
Karma eventually caught up and it wasn’t safe for him or his family,
Could have stayed underground but he was way too manly,
Because you can take the boy out of the jungle
But you can’t take the jungle out of the boy,
The stress in his voice meant that he knew it was coming,
I think he let it happen because he was sick of running
And as you probably guessed, past tenses indicate that he is no longer present,
Just another statistic to be brought up during the next stinkin elections,
Nothing special, despite the impact he had on so many lives,
When he died I couldn’t even force myself to cry,
Because I said goodbye a lot sooner than most,
I remember when he was a king but now he’s just a ghost,
He taught me so many things; he was skilled in so many ways,
He could have been so many things but he was killed in broad day,
He really let me down, he said that everything would be okay… but he lied
Because I’m looking out my window…
And it’ still raining outside.
This Is A Warning > Omar Musa
The Australian Poetry Slam Champion Omar Musa gave Spader Clothing an exclusive performance before he went on tour to Asia in 2009.
Forgetfulness > Billy Collins
Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America’s best-selling poets, reads his poem “Forgetfulness” with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear.
Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins’ popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.
– – – – – –
The Poem – The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
True lies> Taalam Acey
TRUE LIES
Recommended Dosage: 3-4 views as needed. Best results if taken 30 minutes prior to television consumption.’
“If Guerrilla News Network 60 Minutes, Taalam Acey would be our Andy Rooney.”
A true guerrilla collaboration to give audiences a taste of what to expect from the soon to be released documentary, American Blackout directed by GNN’s Ian Inaba. Set to premiere at Sundance 2006 the feature length film follows the career of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and investigates the current tactics used to control our democratic process and silence political dissent. This piece originally inspired by the book of the same name, features Taalam Acey’s ever potent prose deftly matched by the animation of Haik Hoisington and scored to the music of another GNN ally, The Soulsavers.
From the documentary: American Blackout
Police Brutality > Timothy Mwaura
Timothy Mwaura spoken word on police brutality in nairobi an excerpt from them movie Ghetto Moto
Filmed by Izzy Brown
LISTEN > Pataphysics
Mixed and Produced by Pataphysics.
Mastered by Joe @ Crystal Mastering.
Video by Project NRt
Web by Justin Schmidt
%100 of the money from this song goes CASA House.
http://vibedeck.com/listen
CASA House provides 24 hour support to victims/survivors of sexual assault. CASA are committed to ensuring that the silence which surrounds sexual assault continues to be broken and that victim/survivors are provided with necessary support.
Harlem > Miles Hodges
Spoken word: Miles Hodges
Filmed and edited by Andre Wagner of Abstractelements.com.
Directed by M.Johnson and A. Wagner.
Find Miles on twitter @milesxmiles
facebook http://www.facebook.com/poetmileshodges
Fade To White > E’eda
Enlightening spoken word piece on color consciousness by Ee’da.
Please support Sisters for Sisters. http://youtu.be/O-_di9JYsvc
Speech > Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle Speech from Jeremy Pfeiffer on Vimeo.
Cymatic transposition of Chief Seattle’s visionary speech…
Thanksgiving Prayer > William S. Burroughs
Thanksgiving Day, Nov 28,1986 first appeared in the chapbook Tornado Alley, with illustrations by S. Clay Wilson. Gus Van Sant then made a short film of Burroughs reading the text.
This poem resonates today as exposing what has gone horribly wrong in the USA, or maybe what has always been wrong.
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986
William S. Burroughs
For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts
thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison
thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger
thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot
thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes
thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through
thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces
thanks for Kill a Queer for Christ stickers
thanks for laboratory AIDS
thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs
thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business
thanks for a nation of finks — yes,
thanks for all the memories all right, lets see your arms you always were a headache and you always were a bore
thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.
HEART REMAINS OPEN PROJECT > contribute
The Joelistics ‘HEART REMAINS OPEN’ Video Project
on SLAMTV.ORG
Australian hip hop artist JOELISTICS (Elefant Traks) is teaming up with Word Travels, Verb Studios and YOU to make an ‘open source’ video for his song ‘Heart Remains‘ – a sprawling spoken word journey into the Australian landscape and culture.
Watch the video call-out below:
HEART REMAINS is one of the standout tracks from his recently released album ‘VOYAGER’.
Written while on the road, Joelistics has channeled his feelings about his homeland into this epic ode to what he calls “my version of ‘I Love A Sunburnt Country’”. From the ghosts of history to the cities of the present to the stars in the red center it paints a portrait of a thousand faces of Australia.
Listen to the track here:
Joelistics wrote about the song for The Vine:
The beat for ‘Heart Remains’ was inspired by 90’s electronica—mainly Squarepusher drum programming and Aphex Twin’s collected ambient works. I wanted it to be a piece of music that was more of a long narrative than a verse/chorus/verse/chorus song structure. Over time the motto for the song became ‘Fuck dance, let’s art’ and with that in mind, I tried to make the synths at the end feel like looping memories.
‘Heart Remains’ is probably my favourite piece of lyricism on the album. It is a reflection on Australia, an ode to an idea and a dream that I wrote from a farm house in the French countryside.
I have such a profound love for this country and that love is always brought in to sharper focus when I’m overseas. The Australia that I romanticised in my mind is Aboriginal land; it is harsh and beautiful and deserted and it has sculpted a character in the people who live here. Around 8 in 10 Australians live within 50k from the coast on a continent that is 7,692,030km squared. Which equates to a lot of wild space. In a way, ‘Heart Remains’ is the only real love song on the record.
~
To create a truly diverse portrait of our country, Joelistics and SLAMTV are inviting the Australian community to contribute to this ‘Open Source’ video self portrait. It’s an open call-out to fans, artists, filmmakers or anyone with an HD camera or videophone to contribute their unique vision of Australia by uploading their own footage.
The final product will be a tapestry of video from across Australia, visualising the complex cultural landscape evoked by Joelistics ode to the Australian psyche, which will edited by Tim Parish from Verb Studios and launched at a special premiere screening of SLAM TV at WORDSTORM – The Festival of Australasian Literature in Darwin on the 11th of May, and then in Sydney at a special SLAM TV screening and performance with Word Travels @ The Rocks on Wednesday the 16th of May.
All contributors to the video will be allowed free entry to this screening!
UPLOAD REQUIREMENTS:
SLAMTV.ORG is inviting everyone to be involved in the making of the video by contributing your vision of Australia through contributing a short video from your corner of Australia to our Vimeo Group by the beginning of April.
-The HEART REMAINS OPEN PROJECT is a Creative Commons collaborative project, so when you upload your video to the group it is important that you approve the video to be used under a ‘creative commons share-alike’ license. Otherwise, we won’t be able to use it in the final video!
-In order to maintain a high quality for the final video, all contributions are encouraged to be HD format when uploaded. At the very least DV-PAL quality (720×576 16:9)
-Videos are recommended to be at least 10 seconds.
-Contributors may submit as many videos as they like.
-Videos must be submitted by 1st of May 2012
Go to the Heart Remains Open Vimeo Group to check out the contributions and submit your own.
~
The Heart Remains Open Project is proudly supported by Charles Darwin University ‘Merge Festival’ supporting innovative artistic collaborations that explore new ways of creating art in a digital age.
Propoganda > Sho Baraka
“When Has GOD Failed Us”.
Check out Propaganda (@prophiphop) of Humble Beast speak truth.
Edited by Donald Martin (crackedpictures@gmail.com)
People Matter > Scott Visk
People Matter from Scott Visk on Vimeo.
Words & Video: Scott Visk
Song: Opus 37 by Dustin O’Halloran
Special thanks to Micah Bournes for helping me complete my thoughts.
Scent of Love > Alia Gabres
WORDS: ALIA GABRES,
VIDEO & PRODUCTION: SHUTTERMAIN
Terrorism Is Not A Religion > Hersi
Hersi is a former US Marine and veteran of Iraq. He is also a Somali Muslim. In this Video he recounts his experience as a Muslim in the American school system and the US military.
Advertising Lullaby > George Carlin
Week 10 Kinetic Poem – George Carlin “Advertising Lullaby” from Jenny Lien on Vimeo.
The mantra of the market…
Words: George Carlin
Video: Jenny Lien
Nicholas Was > Neil Gaiman
<a .
39 Degrees incredible adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2010 Christmas fable…
Awards: Bronze medal at the Hong Kong Designers Association awards.
39 Degrees North is a Beijing based motion design studio.
39degreesnorth.tv
HOWL > Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg’s HOWL, animated excerpt from the feature length film.
My Confessions pt 1 > Joel McKerrow
The first part in the My Confessions poetry series
Melbourne performance poet Joel McKerrow.
humanERROR > Frying Dutchman
Frying Dutchman, a Kyoto-based band virtually unknown a year ago, is behind what has perhaps become the anthem of the post-Fukushima youth movement. The song “humanERROR,” a poetic rant which, if nothing else, clearly articulates the narrative embraced by many Japanese, has become an internet sensation over the past three months. Organizers, concerned that people might not know how to articulate their protest on the one year anniversary of 3.11, began a campaign to get 100,000 people to play “humanERROR” on sound systems across Japan — the louder and more public the better, they explained. Sixty-seven thousand registered.
While we are only seeing the beginning stages of what will undoubtedly be a massive social, political and artistic impact stemming directly from 3.11, it is both heartbreaking and inspiring to watch Japan’s artists struggle with the singular collective catastrophe of their time.
In the video above, watch Frying Dutchman perform “humanERROR” on the banks of the Kamo River in Kyoto — the same banks that gave us the Kabuki Theater.
from Asiasociety.org
Frying Dutchman official website: http://fryingdutchman.jp/eng.php
Spoken Wordsmith > Joshua Bennett
Spoken word artist Joshua Bennett revisits the high school that sponsored his education to give something back and perform his latest poem.
Article: http://reesha.re/SpokenWord
SLAM TV 