Very now and again I get really excited by a vdov.net project (the letter E brought to you by Carson Ellis herself). This is definitely one of them. One of my favorite categories here is our Interviews section, which, in my humble opinion, has some real gems. Professional illustrator and all around excellent artist Carson Ellis agreed to do an interview for vdov.net a while ago. In the intervening time she gave birth to Henry “Hank” Meloy with her college sweetheart Colin Meloy of Decemberists fame, naturally moving my interview to the back burner. My eye was first caught by Ellis’ work for the cover art of the Decemberists’ album Castaways and Cutouts and I liked it enough that I hired Ellis to make a watercolor which she titled “Faster Maria.” She remains one of my favorite artists and from the interview it sounds like we will be seeing some fun new projects. I am also supremely jealous of little Hank Meloy, who with his parents will probably have the sweetest baby room and best bedtime stories. (more…)

Great news! I thought that perhaps the guys of The Cloud Room may have forgotten about agreeing to do an interview for vdov.net. This was happily not the case. They just happened to be in Australia rocking out in another hemisphere and the qulity of this interview more than makes up for any delay experienced. There is talk of couch surfing, slow football, and I get taken to task for joking about selling out. You can’t go wrong with this thing. These guys are an independent New York based band that has a great album out on the streets. I saw the band at The Troubador in Los Angeles not long ago and was really blown away. These guys are great on the album but monsters on the stage. Below is the interview that I just got back from front man who goes simply by J. You have to love independent bands that take time for fans but don’t make enough money for health insurance (buy the album or you are putting their lives in jeopardy is the take home message). They have mp3s and videos available for free download. (more…)

Every time I see the Horrible Sickness I leave with a new perspective on the world. Whether it be the universal weakness in robots (sensitive testicles), NASA management (it’s true that we do looove juice boxes and I’d say about 40% of employees don’t know what their job title means, myself included), or how to get a rocket out of your head (very dangerous, life threatening operation, must have a doctor on the phone to lead you though it), these guys can explain it. So, without further ado, I present an interview with The Horrible Sickness.

The Interview:

1. First off, can you give us a brief background on The Horrible Sickness? E.g. its origins, adolescence, and/or aspirations for the future?

1. The Horrible Sickness, as best we can gather, was born in the summer of last year. It was late at night, there were no birth records, the umbilical chord was not saved in a jar. At nine members, it was an unusually large, good natured infant that enjoyed simply making people laugh. However, as it grew in renoun, it shrank in size to just five members obsessed with self promotion and monetary gain. Now as a teenager, it is less like an adult, and more like a enormous powerful child… who is hungry. When it eats, it is restless so it runs around and ’round in circles and then is tired. In the future, The Horrible Sickness hopes to one day be paid for its talents, even the smallest sum, anything to justify its own existence. And maybe to settle down with the right one.

2. Who is in the group? Do you like them?

2. Joe Chandler, Jared Crain, Daniel Campagna, Adam Sauter, and Soren Bowie make up The Horrible Sickness. Yes, they are all smart people who love their own jokes. In fact, they strive to someday produce comedy no one thinks is funny, because that would prove them misunderstood and before their time. They get along well and all like each other almost as much as themselves.

3. What were some of your favorite shows, and why? Any special moments you’d like to share?

3. Ok, so this one time Joe goes out on stage and he’s all, “Hum-de-dum, I’m eating cereal.” And then Jared jumps out and he starts going, “I’m a crazy kid hopped up on Fruity Pebbles!” except without saying it, he just made it obvious . So Joe’s all, “What are you doing?” and Jared just keeps right on jumping around like an eight year old, no, like a six year old, one that has ADD. I forget what happened next, but then he started counting his hairs. F*ck that was funny.

4. Do you have any interest in taking the show beyond improv? In other words, does improv define the Sickness or might it spread? (be specific…)

4. The Horrible Sickness hopes to start doing sketch comedy considering everyone in the group has a sketch background. In fact, improv was really a poor jumping off point because most of the members are enormously more talented at other things. With the exception of Adam, the rest of the members sit just north of the mediocre boundary. Also, the group has recently started getting down about the lack of perks in the comedy scene, they’ve sort of decided it might be more fun to become rock stars. There are still a lot of insecurity issues that need to be hammered out and a fear of non-coolness but rockstardom is sort of the light they’re shooting for.

5. Can you give us any behind-the-scenes info on the Sickness et al.? Drama? Gossip? Romance? Improper use of chopsticks?

5. Yes. It turns out that everyone in the group has directly or indirectly hooked up with girls because of the shows. Two of the members have girlfriends but we’re counting those as improv-related hookups. Rarely does the group fight amongst itself, and the fights usually have less to do with creative differences and more to do with Adam showing up drunk to the show.

6. Do any of you have professional lives outside of the Sickness?

6. Some of the members write for sketch comedy groups or are members of sketch comedy groups. Dan, Jared, and Adam fancy themselves actors, however, none of them have achieved the same international, and deserved renound as Soren. He is considered the “pretty” one of the group, prooving that talent is always a distant second to looks on the road to success in any field.

7. If given the prompt “cheese,” describe in some detail how you might respond.

7. Can we have another suggestion?

8. Where and when do you perform? Do you have material available via the internet and/or do you plan to?

8. Dan, I’m giving this one to you.

Okay, Dan here. We perform Saturday nights at 9:30 PM at the Westside Eclectic Theater. That is located at 1323-A 3rd. Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA. In case our performance dates ever change, check out thehorriblesickness.com for an up to date schedule. The only material we have available on the internet is at the aforementioned site. And it really just consists of bunnies whose heads explode, butterflies being vaporized, and Da Vinci’s ‘Man’ being injected with a green liquid. All those things are pretty funny. There’s also a secret “balls” page on the site that always makes me laugh. Once we have some sketches filmed they will be up on our site as well. That’s all the information I have, so I’m going to give this interview back to The Horrible Sickness.

9. If I live in Connecticut, how can I support the Sickness and what do I get for it?

9. Shit, I really wore myself out on the first questions. I don’t really want to answer the rest of these.

I’ll do it (Dan again). If you live in Connecticut you can send us money. We are absolutely not a non-profit so you don’t get any kind of tax write off. In fact you don’t get anything out of it. The only thing that happens is that we get money. I’d like to say that you’ll get a warm feeling from supporting a talented troupe that is trapped in the throws of poverty, but you won’t. The other thing you can do is visit our Website every single day, even when nothing new is happening. Then recommend us to anyone you know who would want to sponsor us: Budweiser, Kaiser Permanente, the makers of Immodium AD, etc. I’m seriously done this time and permanently handing the interview back to The Horrible Sickness.

10. Is there a cure?

10. No. Oh thank god that’s it.

EOF

These guys are pretty awesome. And I know they really enjoyed doing this interview despite answers that suggest otherwise… You should check them out, and especially go and see them if you’re in the LA area. I’ll keep you updated if (when!) they start putting some material online.

Too curious for my own good, I walked down Lake Ave near my house in Pasadena carrying my camera, a notebook, some oranges, and three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Homeless people and the very poor congregate at the freeway exit on the overpass, holding cardboard signs asking for help or hoping to sell flowers. I wanted to know about them.

This is Susan. She grew up in LA and has several children who live with her mother-in-law. She had a baby on the streets a year ago; he was taken away by the police and turned over to Susan’s family. The local police know her by name and are the ones who take her to the hospital when she has seizures. She spent last week at Huntington Memorial, was released and now holds a sign that says “Hungry Please Help.” Her and her husband have a tent in an empty lot over the wall of the freeway a few blocks East. He works, landscaping people’s lawns. They sometimes eat at the Salvation Army.

“How did you end up out here?”
“I did bad things.”
“What bad things?”
She looked back at me, then to her shoes, “things you shouldn’t do.”

I handed her a sandwich, and asked if I could take her picture. “You don’t want my picture,” she shuffled her feet, “no one wants to look at me.”
“You’re beautiful.”

On my way back, I had a sandwich leftover. I gave it to her for her husband. She thanked me. “As soon as you left, before, the four police officers over there, they looked over here and” she shook her finger at me, “telling me I can’t be out here. They don’t want me here.”

******************************************************************************************

I stopped to talk to Jason because he said hello to me. I asked him what he was doing just sitting on a bench and he said he was trying to figure out how to get money for gas. “My van’s empty.” He had a Target receipt and said he was going to try to return something. I don’t know what he could have been returning, he didn’t have much else with him. “I’ll give you some money for gas if you let me take your picture and talk to you.”

He graduated from high school, lived in Pasadena his whole life, and worked in groceries, telemarketing, ballots, and a Mexican restaurant. “You looking for a job?”
“Yeah. It’s impossible here though. I have to, like, get out or something.”

I asked him if he had a resume. “It’d be a lot easier to get a job if you had a resume. You know how to make one?”

“No.”

I pointed at the Kinko’s across the street and asked if he wanted to learn, but he “was about to go over to [his] people’s house for a shower.”
“Here, if you give me all the information: addresses, phone numbers, etc. I’ll type one up for you and print it out.”

******************************************************************************************

Carlos was selling bouquets of roses. He didn’t speak a word of English except “Flowers, five dollars.” I knew the word ‘casa’ and could point. I found out he lived somewhere south of Pasadena with his familia. We had 10 minutes worth of useless conversation and I offered him a sandwich. I deciphered the proposition that he would teach me Spanish and I would teach him English. He asked if I had a cellular…numero…something. I didn’t understand what he was trying to get at at all…. I laughed and said that I would be around. Maybe mañana. I shook his hand and said goodbye. He handed me a bouquet of roses.

“Por ti. Gratis.”

******************************

Another woman I came across was talking to herself or someone else who I couldn’t see. I said hello and asked her what her name was.

“I don’t give out my name.”
“Okay, do you want a sandwich?”
“No. I’m not here for that.”
“Then what do you want?”

She had a shopping cart very neatly piled with pieces of junk in between layers of blankets and organized garbage bags of bottles and cans hanging from the handle.

“Nothing. I don’t want you here. I want you to leave me alone.”

I said goodbye and walked away. She resumed her jabbering and rocked back and forth on the cement wall.

******************************************************************************************

Chuck’s story is heartbreaking. He was brought out to LA from Memphis three months ago by a preacher because his dad was dying. When his dad passed, he slept on the floor of the preacher’s house with 100 other homeless and wanderers. He had worked in a warehouse in Memphis and was trained to operate fork lifts and leg presses; he had been trying to get a job out here. He was mugged by a Mexican gang and lost the rest of his money, his ID, and his birth certificate.

“No one’s going to hire you without your birth certificate.”

I asked him if he was going to get another, he said he was going to. He wanted to find work, he doesn’t like being on the streets.

“Did you see them just now? The police just kicked me off the street. Now I can’t work. I’m just trying to eat and maybe sleep and clean sometimes. I’m not doing drugs, I just can’t get a job. And God, God was with me, but he must’ve left with my dad, ‘cause he’s gone now.”

I gave him the oranges I had left. He has a mom in Oklahoma and a sister in college. “They don’t know where I am now. I don’t want ‘em to.”

“Can you buy me a soda?” I was out of money. I really didn’t have any left, I hadn’t brought my wallet and I told him that. I don’t think he believed me. I wished him luck and walked away, he called after me, “Pray for me, tell God to listen to me. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”

Portugal. The Man is a quartet from the “barren wastelands of Alaska” and the “mountainy mountains of Oregon.” They are just finishing up their tour, which went through Texas, Arizona, California and will finish up in Oregon and Washington. Their sound is a mix of rock with elements of jazz and modern sounds. Their debut album Waiter: “You Vultures!” is available now. I met up with the band in Roseville, California at the Underground Café. The venue for the Underground Café is pretty interesting for a band like Portugal. The Man. It’s actually in a church, or the café that is directly attached to the Presbyterian Church. The band was asked before the show not to cuss during the show, which they shamefully did not follow. The show was enhanced immensley from the lead singer, John Gourley’s, banter with the crowd. The show had a very personal feel, mostly because the maximum capacity of the venue barely exceeded double digits. I sat down with the band after the show for some interview questions.

Band members include:
John Gourley – Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar
Wesley Hubbard – Keys, Vocals
Zachary Carothers – Bass, Vocals
Jason Sechrist – Drums

Can you explain how you guys got started in your band? Where was that? How long ago was that?

The three of us (John, Wesley, and Zachary) are actually from the same town, Wasilla, Alaska. We were together in a band before we started Portugal. The Man. We met up with Jason just last year.

As a young band starting out unknown, what are some of the techniques for getting your name out there and your music heard?

Well, first off, we chose to host our site on a .net account as opposed to a .com, just to mess with you people. We spell the name of our band wrong on our merchandise; we really are trying to not get our name out there.

So you don’t want to get big?

Oh no, we want to be huge; we want to be on MTV.

You realize they don’t even play music anymore, so you’ll have to be on “Date My Mom.”

Oh god no, they’ll probably come up with something like “On The Road” where they just like tour with a band or something. We wouldn’t be cool enough to be on that show, though.

I really enjoyed your website; who designed it and who did the artwork?

Austin Sellers designed it and does the crazy font you see on the front of the album. We don’t know anything about computers. But John does all the artwork, including the CD covers.

My next question is for whoever is from the “mountainy mountains of Oregon.” My friends from back home (Bend, OR) were really curious as to where that was and were immediately claiming you as their local product.

They’re just the mountainy mountains! We can’t divulge that information.

Who were your high school English teachers and how did they shape your use of punctuation in “Waiter: “You Vultures!”?

Oh god, I think I maybe went to 60 days of high school, no 70. I don’t think I even remember the name of a single teacher. [John]
Mr. Sterns was mine. He was the current events teacher. I liked him because he let me draw instead of reading about current events. [Wesley]

What did you guys do before you became full-time musicians?

John worked as an artist and musician. Wesley worked at a community center working with children in after school programs. Zachary worked as a waiter. You have to guess what Jason did though.

I’m gonna say professional wrestler or slam poetry contestant. (He was wearing a Hulkamania t-shirt and a beret).

No, That’s pretty close though. Just tell them I counted pills.

I hate to ask it, but who are your influences other than Star Trek and Weird Al?

Just Weird Al. I actually saw him in concert and met him and got his autograph when I was younger. He’s definitely our biggest influence. [Zach]
After a lot of debating they also mentioned Taco Grande, Air and the Flaming Lips as other influences. Actually they just said he liked Air and the Flaming Lips, but Taco Grande they decided was an influence as well.

Who is Portugal. The Man?

George Bush is the man. Portugal is a country. Daniel is also the man though.
[Daniel is their publicist and music enthusiast.]

Do you know of Thunderbirds Are Now!?

We’ve heard of them. Actually people have said we should tour with them.

No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. You sound too much alike to go on tour together. But my next question is if you were to get into a brawl…

Oh, we would win!

Yes, I wasn’t even going to ask that, but if you could choose, what weapons would you use in the brawl?

Well, they’re from Detroit so they’ll probably have guns, but as far as what we would use… Wesley would have a battle axe for sure, Jason would have a broad sword, John would have a wizard staff and Zach would have a crossbow. We could kick any band’s ass in a brawl. Actually, there are probably some bands that could f**k us up.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

That we would kick that bands’ ass in a brawl. That, and Jason is seriously sick.

I followed up with the band after the interview was finished. I mentioned that the music management students at the University of the Pacific could probably set up a concert on campus. I will be working with some of these students and some of the bands interviewed and reviewed to try and set up concerts on campus. The concerts tickets would range from $1-$5, depending on university funding.

This article is a revised edition of an article done for The Pacifican, University of the Pacific’s newspaper.

UPDATE: bughouse.com has been updated to include both Rebecca’s Bad Medicine exhibit and Jeff’s Now Sounds seires from the February Create : Fixate show. Check it out. Now. (You could even buy a hypodermic needle chandelier!)

I first ran into—and was immediately attracted by—the work of Bughouse in local shops around Eagle Rock, CA while studying at Occidental. I remained interested, and followed their work through the internet until finally requesting an interview with them this February, which they kindly accepted and is printed below. The weekend following the interview, I attended Create : Fixate in downtown Los Angeles where their work was on exhibit. I took some pictures and dispersed these throughout the interview. After learning their philosophies toward art and its role in life, and seeing their very impressive show downtown, I am even more a fan.

In speaking with them recently, I’ve learned that another showing of Create : Fixate is in the works, though a date is not yet set. I will keep you informed—it is well worth attending.

Interview with Jeff and Rebecca Bughouse, February 7th, 2006:

What were the beginnings of Bughouse and where did the motivation for such a large project come from? Was it always a joint venture, or did either of you start it separately from the other?

We started the business together. We’ve been together for over 10 years, and we’d both been working in the entertainment industry. About 5 years ago, we realized that we wanted to combine illustrations with commercial art and make it readily available to the people. This all morphed into our company, Bughouse, which is British slang for a crazy house or sanitarium.

We learned screenprinting on our own, and we wanted to expand on the existing artbase, explore new mediums, add twists, be creative. We started together, and work together, but we have also pushed in different directions.

What are your roles in the company? Do you and Jeff do the same types of tasks, or do you have separate niches that you both sink into?

We usually start ideas separately; often we will work with them together, and input into each other’s work, trading back and forth. The art subsumes the individual. Jointly, however, our message is pretty clear: present something that hasn’t been seen before that also has a sense of irony and humor.

In terms of the differences between our work, we have similar motivations (heavily based in humor), but we mostly work individually. Both of us have a lot of diversity within our work, we have no one distinct style collectively or individually-commercially a distinct style will work against you, so we’ve avoided it by occupation. We work with different styles and mediums, experiment with new technologies. We really try to bring something new to the public through being creative with our art.

Where did your interests in making art originate? How did they evolve to the medium of printing?

Jeff: I was really drawn to printing because I never wanted art to be precious. I believe it should be affordable and available. These ideas have been seen historically in alternative art and are now more mainstream, which is likely a response to commercial products. I have always loved commercial art. Many people don’t see real art in commercial products, there’s always been a sort of rift between those in fine art and commercial art, but this gap is closing more now. I grew up with it: from comics, can labels, board games, television. I may not have known it then, but I was mesmerized by it.
I also love the idea that with commercial printing, we could produce 100-200 prints and sell for $50 and get it into people’s hands.

Rebecca: I guess I was first interested in art at a young age, drawing. But, art was not encouraged as an occupation. Art was just something you just did as a kid; it was considered a hobby, not something you do for work, and definitely not something you do for money. So I guess for me it was suppressed.
Then I met Jeff, and he opened it up for me again-bam! I had all these ideas. Eventually, I realized I had a real skill.

When we first got together, Jeff and I went to art classes. Neither of us had gone to formal art school, and the classes were interesting, but we realized we had our own styles to develop. The traditional art also wasn’t for us: you sell one oil painting for $1000 or more and then what? What does that do for you? Not to say that we don’t like playing with paint or other mediums, but we’d rather have our work accessible and available to anyone who is interested.

How do you start ideas?

Rebecca: I usually start out with pencil and paper, whether I’m dealing with a flat or dimensional piece. I also like to incorporate traditional medium in prints; I’ll splatter on paper, scan it in and and use it for a print, or else sometimes I’ll create the piece 100% on the computer. This is probably more in my case than Jeff’s.

Jeff: I think it was more of a generational thing for me, I didn’t really think about it. Growing up, I watched television, read comic books, paid attention to comedians, and art. [These interests transformed into] the sensibility that humor and strangeness compelled me to do something that was different. If I had to point to one source, it would be television. It may sound low-brow and pathetic, but TV is entirely commercial, and it was much better earlier on, which made it easier to filter through the junk. TV is captivating, and I’ve learned a lot from it.

I also almost see our art as reflecting what you might see in music sampling: reconfigure, sample, redo. We are able to mold fantasy and reality by experimenting with technology. In this way we create original art, which is not easy for more traditional artists because they are forced to filter the history of what came before them. Our type of work almost breaks down the boundaries between art and commercialism, hopefully producing something substantial and not crass. I truly believe that the artists’ new paintbrush is technology.

On your website, you list that you do several types of printing. For our readers, what are the differences between heat transfer, screenprints, “one of a kind,” and giclees?

All of our work originates organically, whether it be through inking, or painting, and then it is scanned to output as, say, a giclee.

A screen for screenprinting is produced from a scan of our artwork or output from computer-generated artwork. You output a clear acetate with black line art, and burn it onto screen. It becomes a stencil, and by pushing ink/paint through the stencil with a squeegee onto different mediums (canvas, wood, glass), you create a print. It is actually the same technology as t-shirt printing (or silkscreening).

With a heat transfer, the final image is digitally printed onto substrate that can be heat transferred onto a medium. We have a commercial heat press that can get up to 400 degrees, so that we can fuse paper onto different materials, or photographic imagery onto canvas.

A giclee is an archival print. It is almost a regular print from a printer, but the inks are archival, and the paper is archival, so that it is considered a fine art print, and is sometimes called an iris print.

Our one of a kind section refers to our oil or acrylic paintings, or any type of sculpture or dimensional display. It also refers to our more experimental work, such as combo heat transfers, or screen printing onto raisin boxes—we are also testing the audience for interest. We are interested in selling work, and not working in a vacuum, which stems from our commercial drive. Some artists will work alone in studio, they don’t sell their work and they don’t communicate. We want people to be interested in what we’re doing.

Your work is distinct and unique. I’ve noticed that much of it revolves around making a statement; whether it be drawn from politics, commercialization and the environment, or your community. Where do you find your inspiration and how have your experiences affected your art?

Well, we were both born and raised in LA: Rebecca in the Santa Monica surf culture, and me in Burbank–a valley boy. We had different childhoods, but we are both Angelenos. Many people see the Los Angeles culture in our art, and it’s true, it’s unavoidable.

Jeff: I’ll refer back to television, again. But today in general, there is a huge resource base for ideas, that are constantly coming at you, whether it be from the newspaper, current events, billboards, television.

It is also true that you can go for a long time, not necessarily being creative. You can sit down and contemplate, but the best ideas come in neutral state, like driving, or walking the dog, etc. Then you go to the drawing table. Like an architect, you have the idea and you’re ready to sit down and work it out.

Rebecca: I think an interesting family situation, whether good or bad, builds a sense of humor, and can inspire you in different ways.

Nature has always been an inspiration for me; the shape, and texture…weird bugs, animals, plants…there is an endless supply of variety in mother nature.

Also, the modern world is full of information. It is important to take the time to create this reaction to the world, or recreate it from your own perspective-be open to the world and pay attention to details. Artists see the unseen and bring it to the attention to those who may not have noticed it before. Then you might get the reaction “oh that’s right. Huh, that is interesting…”

I think it’s important to be open to good and bad emotions, embrace you neurosis, or to be angry to drive a political piece of art, or to be exasperated by a situation, and to want to do something-make a change. This is your voice. (But the crazy family also helps.)

Printing is a fairly modern artistic medium, how has the changing technology affected your artwork over its years of development?

Because we also have a graphic design company, we have a predilection toward graphic design in art. We started in graphic design, and as a result, we learned computers at the genesis of this business. We were able to explore illustration to its limits, which is not what it was 10 years ago because of computers–technology is at the forefront of how to produce work. In fact our work is influenced as much by graphic design as much as fine art.

We embrace technology and take every opportunity to experiment with it. Our latest technological endeavor has been exploring laser cutting. A friend of ours recently bought a laser cutter, and we’ll bring him ideas and jump in with “try cutting this,” and he’ll try it and we’ll see how it works. We can cut pieces out of wood or plastic, or etch out of glass or mirror. We’ve been experimenting with it a lot and are now moving into more of a product realm. We’re also talking about laser cutting machine that can be used for 3-dimensional work.

Technology is incredibly important because it opens up new realms for artists. This machine is affordable enough for a friend of ours to buy, have it at their disposal.

We have a sort of advantage over other artists, with our background in graphic design. We are less afraid of technology, and our knowledge has enabled us to build our website and manage the site and sales there.

Overall, artists shouldn’t be afraid of technology, and instead jump on the opportunity for new work and to see something different come out of it.

Another significant result of technology in the last couple decades is the internet. What role has the internet played in building your business and promoting your work?

The internet helps on many levels. It is a fabulous resource for research, finding imagery, and materials. It has also enabled us to have a commerce website and a great email list-people do purchase from website and it’s helped us quite a bit.

The intenet also provides a great resource for connectivity between artists. You can very easily get a basic sense of who’s doing what and when, and that’s brilliant. On the flip-side, it could hurt some artists because these days everyone is expected to have their own website.
It also wouldn’t be possible for us to work from home without the internet. This locale is really convenient both for Bughouse and our graphic design business. So we really appreciate it.

You have an event coming up this weekend in Downtown LA. When did you first get involved with Create: Fixate and do you have anything to add about the event?

Create : Fixate is an event that comes around every two months in LA. It is always a group show, with several DJs, vendors (fashion, eyeglass, jewelry, or other merchandise); sometimes its only photography, sometimes its all mediums.

It is on a floor in building downtown that hasn’t been renovated; it is pretty much a guerilla event. We set up and tear down in the span of a week. We used to have to install our own lighting, even.

Through a quick internet search, I’ve also discovered that your work, specifically your twist on the McDonalds’ M: “I’m Lovin’ It” logo to read W:”I’m Bombin’ It,” is part of a traveling exhibit called Yo! What Happened to Peace? How did you become involved in this project and when exactly did the exhibit start meandering around the world?

I believe we started in that event about two years ago? John Carr is the curator, and he invited us to be involved. The first show was Tokyo, and was a limited number of prints (20-25). Since then, it’s been traveling around the world, from DC to New York to San Francisco, Chicago..,and also to Italy, Scandinavia, and back to Japan. It has also grown with time; now, I believe it includes over 100 prints. I have one print in the show and Jeff has two.

It was inspired mostly by Bush Administration policies, and is ongoing…so is the war so I guess it fits. We actually don’t do a lot of political art. Mostly when people ask for it, we are motivated by an assignment. We aren’t naturally drawn to do it.

The McDubya in the exhibit has also been included in the book Design of Dissent, and also in the traveling exhibit whose curator is Josh McPhee: Paper Politics.

Have you been to many of the Yo! exhibits? Do you have an impression of how the event has been received in different cities around the world?

We wanted to go to the second Tokyo run, but we ran into scheduling problems and weren’t able to make it.

Our impression has been that American artists that participate in the show are more Bush-centered. The submissions from other parts of the world focus more on militarism, or peace. The Japanese were definitely focused more on peace. I don’t think culturally they are willing to speak out as much as Americans.

We aren’t sure how the Tokyo crowd related to the show. I believe they were bemused. It may be too upfront. But we can’t really say about the other cities the show has traveled to: European cities probably received it pretty well.

Josh and John at forefront of this endeavor. It is fun to be part of this community, and it’s great that it’s just being done. It is vocal expression that brings people together. It is angry and positive and allows the voice to be heard. Dissention is the hallmark of America, and this is a great way to display it.

Another motivation for the show was to showcase the medium for the masses: printing.

Have you receive much attention as a result? Positive/negative?

Well, we got into other shows because of it. It opens doors for shows in the same genre, and then there is the book, Design of Dissent. We haven’t gotten much negative attention, weird emails occasionally, but you’re going to get those regardless. The show hasn’t caused any major problems (that we’re aware of).

Are there other exhibits you’re involved in that we should know about? Anything exciting coming up?

Paper Politics started in Seattle and is in Brooklyn now. They want to keep it going, but are not sure where it will go next, possibly Portland, OR, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and/or Los Angeles.

Are there any artists that have had a particularly strong role in inspiring your work? Any recommendations you’d like to add?

Francis Bacon, Ralph Steadman, any and all comic book artists, Gary Baseman, Damien Hirst, Tibor Kalman, Sagmeister, Jeff Soto, Mark Ryden, Odd Nerdrum and Mother Nature.

I highly encourage you to explore the work of Bughouse and keep an eye on them in the future. Oh, and buy their prints—I have Los Angeles and never get tired of staring at it. Perfectly encompasses my perspective on the city.

“Are you with the band?”
“What? Oh, no.” I yell, my voice barely audible over the Indian punk rock in the neo-gothic San Francisco club, the DNA Lounge.
“Oh, I was just watching you and it looked like you knew them.”
“Yeah, yeah I know them.”

The band is directly below me and at any point you can get within reaching distance of the people on stage, when just a few minutes before I had said goodbye to the band after conducting my interview. I kept thinking to myself what the show would be like if I didn’t “know them”.

I scribble quotes frantically as the Los Angeles band recites their opinion about pretty much everything. From their views on the city of angels to the war in Iraq to their ’91 Dodge conversion van “The Timeless Time Traveler”. Ween Callus, the lead singer, leans over my shoulder, reading my scribbles.
“Oh, well, oh, you know what you’re doing.” She reassures me, although I’m pretty sure she knows I don’t have a clue.

“Hi, is this Ween?” I ask, still surprised that I am calling her on her personal cell phone.
“Yeah, hey Richmond.” She says, her voice surprisingly squeakier than her earthy toned singing voice.
“Oh, hey, I’m here, where should we meet?” I reply sheepishly, hoping that the band will have some kind of arrangements set up. They don’t.

“What sparked your interest in eastern music? Do you practice eastern religions?”
“Oh we are really into the whole culture. We are into yoga and the spirituality. You can see that in our music with the droning theme and the repetition. But that gets interrupted by loud-ass punk guitars and big beats.” Evan Haros, the electronics and sitar player explains.

“Are you proud to be an Olympian?”
“What? No, I’m not an Olympian.” I replied back as I was walking down Market St. trying to kill time before the show.
“But it got you to smile. You know you’re alive when you smile.”
The young homeless man then serenades me with a sappy song about love and angels and feeling he put in more effort than is normal I give him two dollars.
“Is there any kind of coffee shop or anything open?” I ask, feeling I deserve something tangible for my two dollars and patience.
“No man, you on tha wrong neighborhood for coffee tonight.”

“’Does It Matter’ is a pretty politically fueled song, could you tell me what you would like your listeners to get out of the lyrics?”
“The song is about – our country is hurting people,” Ween stumbles through the sentence.
“I can’t rest knowing some other human being is being hurt” she goes on, picking up steam now. She then explains that sometimes she wakes up at night wondering how many people are getting injured or killed for no apparent reason and that this is partly the fault of everyone in this country.
“Seems like a pretty sad song for being so upbeat.” I say, feeling that the interview has taken some direction.
“Yeah, a lot of our songs are based on positive things… We don’t want to just complain about it, that would get nothing done.”

“What has been the most memorable live show you have done?” I ask, interrupting their current rant on what current band they would rather tour with, which seemed to have no end.
“Probably Juvea?” Ravi asks, looking around for approval. He went on to explain that Juvea is a skate park in Silverlake that the owner would open up at night and “throw amazing parties”. During some of these parties he said that they would play for free and he loved the dynamic of “playing [while] people were skating on the halfpipe”.

“That’s funny, we are both writing,” as she was text messaging next to me.
“Yep, that is funny.” I said while trying to put together the pieces of an information overload that had just occurred next door as I sit in the corner of the gothic dance club. Five notebook pages later and I feel like I summarized the interview process well enough to remember it later and she felt ignored enough to get up and leave.

Evan went on to explain the start of the band. “We didn’t know we were starting a band at the time, we were just jamming and recording our finished product in our house and after a while we had enough music for a full album.”
The band explained that their Silverlake, CA house is one of their main influences on their music and the “recording studio” for their self-titled album. The house, situated on an isolated hill, sounds like an oasis in the busy city.

“I don’t want to offend anyone, but LA, concrete jungle or cultured society?”
“Both” they recant in unison. The band goes on to describe the difference between a big city smashed into a small space and Los Angeles, a city that is spread out enough to have a “big, but small” feel.
“You could never record an album in your house in New York or Boston, because you wouldn’t have a house.” Ravi explains, “Our band would have been a fleeting thought.”

“What have been some of your influences and what are some modern bands that you guys listen to?” I say, trying to be a professional.
“Well, I personally like electronic music. A modern band I like is Boards of Canada, and I can’t help it but I also like William Orbit.” Skoda, the bass and guitar player, says while working on his second beer. At this point Ween breaks in, “I like Boards of Canada as well, but he doesn’t speak for the rest of the band with the rest of his choices.”
The only person that the whole band could agree was a serious influence was George Harrison, who they say was the inspiration to their sound. The question seemed to speak volumes on the amount of musical diversity and apparent lack of direction displayed by both parties of the interview.

“Great Show!”
“Thanks!” Ravi Dhar, who was the most energetic during the show screamed back. At that point I think we both realized that there was no direction or professionalism here that is usually displayed with interviews. There was no music critic present, just a fan.

UPDATE: This interview of Viva K is an expanded version of an article for The Pacifican.

We are on fire over here at vdov.net and by that I mean we are rolling out another original interview. This time we depart from the normal musical genre and delve into the seedy, yet glorious world of artists. You may have heard of the strange gnomish people in fairytales told at bedtime or legends around the camp fire. I am here to tell you that these semi-magical creatures endowed with such woundrous powers as “creativity” and “+3 saves” are very real and walk amongst us even now, leaving behind presents for good little boys and girls that give them money and provide a mailing address.

I am proud to say that I am the current owner of three prints by the interviewee, one Dan McCarthy. He is a spritely 29 year old hailing from Cape Cod. He went to Boston and attended the School of the Musuem of Fine Arts, studying drawing and printmaking: etching, lithography, wood block and screen printing. He worked in graphic design until the Black Wednesday (the great graphic design crash of 2004). He is now a freelance artist, which is exactly as awesome as it sounds. He must be doing something right, because he was able to con even my cynical self into trading my hard earned cash for some scraps of inked up paper. (I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was practically dying to get my hands on the prints). Now on to the inquisition:

An appropriate first question: when did you decide that art was what you wanted to do?
I think i’ve always wanted to be an artist. Art has been a part of my life ever since I was young. My mom is an artist/musician and I grew up in a very creative environment. Me, my brother, sister and friends were always creating something, whether it was music or art.

What do you do besides art?
Lately I’ve been collecting re-issued skateboards from the 80’s. Nintendo is always fun when i have the time. I collect bicentennial quarters, and I like to watch really bad T.V.

Classically trained or learn as you go?
Am I “classically trained?”…sort of/not really… I do know about color theory and I studied the figure all through out art school. I’ve never taken a formal graphic design class. Most of what i have learned is
through trial and error.

You seem to have very distinct themes (houses, trees, power/telephone poles, skeletons). Any reasons behind them?
With power/telephone poles, I like to draw attention to things that are usually overlooked or ignored. My goal is to have the viewer of my art look at their street in a different light. Trees and power lines I think
of as opposites in a way… like symbols of nature and technology, and I think the lines both of them compliment each other nicely: power lines tend to be more rigid and straight and trees are more natural and random. The houses in my work represent comfort and safety. Power lines, trees and houses are things that you can find on almost every street around the globe. It’s exciting to me to think that people all over the world can relate to my art in the same way.

Skeletons create a narrative in my work. They bring up the questions why? and what happened? I am also trying to change the way people see death. I don’t see death as an absolute end but a new beginning to other things. Also, skeletons and death are something that every human can relate to.

Vdov.net writes a lot about independent music. You make a lot of band posters. What kind of relationships do you have with different musical artists? Are you “down” with any bands?
Most of the posters I make are for my band Helms. I’ve made friends with a lot of bands through playing shows…a few bands i am “down” with that you may know: Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, The Mercury Program, Album Leaf, Victory at Sea.

What are your favorite bands?
Lately… Scout Niblett, Constantines, Sigur Ros
Past 5 years… Blonde Redhead, Radiohead, Cat Power, The For Carnation, Papa M, The Shins, The Strokes
Past 15 years… Melvins, The Jesus Lizard, Bitch Magnet, PJ Harvey, Slint, Tortoise, Shellac, Rapeman, Don Caballero, Rodan
And some classics… Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bob Marley, Television, Velvet Underground, Fugazi, Nomeansno

Who are your biggest artistic influences?
Chris Ware has definitely influenced me a lot, and Frank Kozik and Derek Hess inspired me to start screen printing.

Who are your favorite artists?
Leonardo da Vinci, Hokusai, Van Gogh, Egon Schiele, Windsor McKay, Chris Ware, Charles Schultz, Edward Gory

Vdov.net also writes a lot about technology and science. How do you find that technology has impacted you? (I found out about your art completely via the internet)
Technology has impacted me greatly. I can’t imagine what it was like for artists before the internet. These days it’s so easy just to have your work up on a website for the world to see.

Do you find that there is a positive interaction between independent visual artists and independent musical artists?
Yes, usually. Sometimes there can be a clash of interests and i’ll have to make a lot of revisions (which can get annoying).

What is your current biggest annoyance with what you do?
Going to the post office.

What is your favorite aspect?
I don’t have to wake up to an alarm clock.

Lastly, do you have any upcoming shows/events/new art/etc?
I have some prints hanging in the Graphic Noise Exhibit. It started at the Museum of Design in Atlanta last summer and it’s working it’s way all over the country. Right now it’s in Minneapolis then Philadelphia, Houston, Omaha and Boca Raton.

I have great news for our faithful readers. I was able to wrangle an interview from Bird Names who I have recently been spinning and writing about here at vdov.net.

A little background about the band by the band:
The Bird Names formed properly November of 2004, when Albert Schatz with a head full of prog assumed the saddle of psychedelic violinist Andrew Royal (who headed west to study maritime law) in a like-minded group named by turns: The Culinary Arse, The Terrible Mystery, More Dangerous Than Spiders. This group featured too multi-instrumentalists Colin Hartz, Eric Siegel, and David Lineal, friends all from high school, and called their corpus, a steady stream of low-fi recordings, sprung from the strange summer of ‘04 and on and on. The Bird Names called themselves such because they thought it connotatively neutral to fill up. [certainly more neutral than 'the names', which sits well with the linguistic interests of certain band members.]

Naomi Caffe, David’s long-time musical accomplice at Grinnell College (where both studied russian), placed her hat in the ring summer 2005, and the thick ambling of our live sound came moreso; The Bird Names tottered still from noise to pop both smartly and wrongly. In august The Names put out a heterodox collection of recordings of divers vintage and fidelity called ‘Fantic Yard’, which fights away silence for its storied length. [18 tracks and 17 songs!]

Schools attended not mentioned in the above block paragraphs: colin went to NYU for philosophy, Albert went to Depaul for history, Eric has been going to various city colleges (Robert Morris, more) for photography and printmaking.

On your website (myspace page) you list neither influences nor “sounds like.” After hearing you play I can understand that. In lieu of that what are your favorite bands? (both currently and all time)
Fela Kuti, Neil Young, Pram, Glenn Miller, Can, Electric Eels, Slim Whitman.

Do you have day jobs or is music a full time job?
We work. Our jobs reflect our lack of credibility as human beings, from faceless office fu** to the hegemonic stoogery of teaching kids. Day by day we dream less and less of girls and more and more of not working.

What do you guys do besides music?
Raw food dieting, amateur opinion-having, historical rumination, low television, speculum glancing, badminton, swear, speak incoherently about husserl, misogyny, play writing, love-making, recreational drug using, story telling, laughing, introspection, driving, lamenting, growing older, enjoying music.

You seem really happy to make music even if you are pretty self depricating about your sound. Some people seem to have a hard time coming to grips with the noisiness of it and real difference from more conventional sounds. How would you describe the music you make? What do you like best about being in the band?
Our music isn’t appreciably different from most American popular music ever created. Its the difference between Ernest Tubb and Jimmie Rodgers. Sure Ernest’s music came in frillier dress than Jimmie’s, his voice less dynamic, his songs arguably more agreeable to the modern ear, but Jimmie’s rubric of framing tiny pieces of harmony and melody in repetition persists through his oeuvre. While we would never pretend to approach the soulfulness of Ernest Tubb, we follow him following in Jimmie Rodger’s footsteps, and seek like these men to isolate compelling aspects of the world’s mystery in simple arrangements of sound.

That said, we do not employ the Andrew Sisters — if only for a lack of logistical means — to couch our song in dulcet female harmony, nor the tearful wail of the pedal steel, but translate these inflections in stingy noises, and like things that happen in low-fidelity space. The tension between the repelling strange and snagging catchiness of pop, of sh**-thunder and being rocked, is what we crosshair, and occasionally successfully purvey.

As for seeming happy to produce music: we are. The dominant trait of the band, for our divergent musical tastes, aspirations, and musical limitations, is a shared sense of play; ludic interaction is the sorcerer’s stone for our getting musically along. In the sense of being dominated by attitude, we’re punk rock, but instead of being charged by rebellion or anger, we’re motored by celebration.

What kind of plans do you have? Anything coming up? New album? Project?
We hope to continue to write and record songs with diseased industry, play out in Chicago and the midwest, and tour about the South and East in late-spring, to the end of garnering whatever crumbs of credibility might fall to our floor, that might salve the wearisome logistics of being a relatively unknown band. We’ve muttered amongst ourselves about starting work on a new album, and been greasing and shaving our legs, too, ready to flash some great space of thigh to interested labels.

Where can people see you guys play next?
Saturday, February 11th, we’re playing at the Open End Gallery (2000 w. fulton), with local luminaries the Hot Love and Shopping. The Friday before, February 10th, we’re cohosting a radio program on WNUR 89.3 for the station’s fundraiser; listen for post-ironic editorial, deep cuts from David’s organ record collection, and some a cappella numbers. It starts at 6:30pm.

Where can people get your merch?
In Chicago, both Reckless Records locations carry ‘Fantic Yard,’ as well as High Fidelity. You can buy it on the internet, too. Of course, we also have tunes for your casual, online perusal.

And finally… is there anything else you want to add? Random screed? Short manifesto? Tale of adventure?
Oh, a few words on our album. In August 2005, we Bird Names self-released our debut album, called ‘Fantic Yard’, on our label, Heavy Medley. The album is a compendium of what had been groomed as a seven song E.P. of new material and select tracks from fifteen months of home and live recordings. In the resultant interfingering of strange sonic waters, of high-fidelity bombast and low-fidelity bombast, we had hoped to demonstrate the scope of our vision, the places where we’d go exploring and hunting. We think its a pretty solid sampler, especially for stoners and the socially affected. [but, in my experience, people who aren't stoned are more likely to buy it.]

Ok that is all we have from The Bird Names for now. Also you had better believe I will be at that February show (perhaps with my little brother if it is as it appears “all ages”) and hopefully listening to the WNUR show as well.