Otis Houston Jr Has A Posse
Otis Houston Jr aka Black Cherokee has a posse and we are assembling. People are in play, talking to each other and working together. Case in point, member Chelsea Spengemann is curating FLOAT, the biennial series of performance and temporary sculpture at Socrates Sculpture Park, August 29 – 30, in Long Island City. For this show, Otis is crossing the river to install sculpture and manifest his concentrated human presence.
This social assembly requires consideration by promoters of online dance communications. It is another great example of how networking technologies can connect artists, viewers, producers and critics. The use of mobile video blogging (iphone 3gs) is new however there is something novel going on here beyond a mere technological advance, that is the treatment of the artist as the subject itself. Through the collective presentation and documentation of Otis’ life and work we build a group narrative around what we see in the artist, not only what he does but who he is.
The talk on Great Dance and DTW misses something else too. The grand narrative that surrounds the production and performance of “great dance” should not one of marketing or branding. Using the language of business is not the best way to conceive and develop relationships between artist and audience. A broader, more effective, grand narrative is that of social interactions rather than financial interactions.
The language of business is limited because it cannot properly conceive of itself. Otis’ support will never come from a bank or a tobacco company because he is their critic . Otis’ support comes from the people and the power they manifest developing social credit outside the logic of the marketplace.
Otis Houston Jr has a posse and we are assembling a story together.
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new website
Just got news yesterday of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new, sleek website. It’s very pretty! Here is the link - www.pnb.org
The Black Cherokee Project
Its been a while since I have written. Have been working on projects underground and coming to appreciate the value of a secret. Here is one I am ready to reveal.
Many of you may already know about my interaction with famed unknown nyc performance artist Otis Houston Jr aka Black Cherokee. A record of our correspondence through the winger is archived here. Last I wrote Otis was posting advertising for the winger uptown and I was trying to figure out a way to archive his work. Soon I realized that the Black Cherokee project was not something Otis or I could not do alone. We need help from the people. So this weekend Otis and I setup a social network for this purpose. Everything is there: poetry, short writings, papers, music, photographs, video, documentation from magazines and newspapers, Otis and also you!
All the responses I got from these little blog posts indicated that Otis’ work is meaningful to many people and fills their hearts with joy. Also because of the space-time vortex Otis inhabits viewers can only see the work for a few seconds as they pass on their commute, maybe enough time to wave and snap a picture. In order to fill out the whole story, in order to see the entire performance, the people (as Otis calls us), have to communicate with each other.
This week end……….Live sneak peak
hello everyone.
Live Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
Remember when i posted the list of 27 words directly from my journal and had all of you vote on the top 3? I said that the top 3 words chosen by you will be part of the inspiration in my work process. Well the time is quickly coming upon us.
Im proud to announce that I will be giving you all a live feed of MPH the new project that we are currently working on. We will be presenting only one section of brand new material as a little summer fun for everyone.
The live feed will start at 6pm pacific time/8pm central/9pm eastern…………Tune into this channel to watch TAGsf new production of MPH. Doing a live webcast is a new venture/experiment for us so if the lights go out or your machine blows up or something well try and troubleshoot those problems later.
here is a link to the page where the showing will be posted and of course ill post it on The Winger too.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/TAGsf
hope to see ya there.
B
Taking Advantage of the Web
These days the Internet is making the world more connected than ever before. Throughout my life I have lived in many different places so the Internet has always been an important way for me to keep in touch with close friends. Recently though, I decided to push my use of the Internet a little bit farther. Now I have a facebook page, a twitter (both private and public), and my own blog site. Don’t worry, the winger will still be the first place I put my blogs! If you are interested in following me in more places than just thewinger I have posted the information and websites below.
I send a big thanks to the World Wide Web for making the world a little bit more connected.
I hope one day soon I will find a way to use the connections I make through the internet for even more, one step at a time.
Playing For Change - Can art really change the world?
I’ve just stumbled upon an absolutely wonderful website for a movement called “Playing for Change”. The idea of the movement is simple, yet powerful.
“Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.”
As I watched their videos it reminded me how powerful the arts can be. One of the musicians speaks about how music can be a time for meditation and peace, I think it is exactly the same with dance. In today’s world it is easy to become lost in frivolous and unnecessary things, but it truly is time for change. I have been doing some studying of the teachings by Eckhart Tolle, of Buddhism, and at the moment I’m reading a book by the current Dalai Lama. I have finally felt that peace has entered my life and every moment is truly a gift. Dance is my form of meditation and through it I have found my own peace. The world around us seems to be filled with things that are falling apart, everything from our economy to the planet we live on. These outer problems are only a reflection of the inner conflicts so many of us feel day to day, but there is a way to find enlightenment and peace. During these times we must not forget how extremely powerful the arts can be to the human race. Dance, music, and many other art forms can bring a stillness and peace where we would least expect it. We can’t underestimate the importance and power of the arts at anytime, but especially not during the hard times. The way this movement is using music is a reminder that through art we all have the power to unite and spread peace.
http://www.playingforchange.com/
27 PACES:New sample audio of MPH featuring TxT
easter bunny in Dolores Park
Hello everyone.
(This is part of the 27 Paces project i was blogging about in earlier post.)
In our constant pursuit of Global domination (loved Pinky and the Brain) i decided that we venture into new yet familiar territories. MUSIC. With TAGsf producing our own music we would own the rights to all of our work. Much like Prince. I wanted us to go out and record audio from various people around San Francisco so that we can take the audio splice it up and add music over it. The results were way better than i had expected.
We had the perfect audio literally fall into our laps. I was out with one of my friends one day after work walking through the mission, heading towards Dolores Park. We were talking about the new music idea that i had so that i could get feedback from other people to see if it was a good idea or not. Once we arrived at Dolores we decided to kick it on the sidewalk towards the top of the park cause the grass was all wet and thats not cute when you get up, you know? Right as we sat down a homeless man came over towards us and asked us if he could sit with us even though the whole entire park was empty. That very moment Pat told me to get ready. I whipped out my handy Ipod Touch and went to the application italk so that i could record his audio. We offered the man some money, food and a couple smokes in exchange for him to talk into the mic. He was given no instruction or prompt. I told him to talk about anything and boy did he! This mans words were so articulate and clear with an amazing grasp of vocab. He spoke in a deep audible monotone voice. Not once did he stop and say “uhm or doy”. He was clear and crisp but still clearly cracked cause nothing he was saying added up. After recording 3 takes of 9 min or so we sat and chatted with Micheal Paul Henderson (the name he introduced himself to us) for a while before we split the scene. The next day i took the audio into the studio where it was cut up, spliced and layered before it was sent out to another guy in Atlanta who added music over the audio with my very specific instruction on tonality and structure.
Currently i am working with the track for a May performance here in San Francisco as well as for a filming with good ol Dr.Bacon. Its cool to be working with this particular piece of music cause the words stretch my imagination and im able to see new movement/visual ideas every time i listen to the music.
The track that you are about to listen to is not in its entirety or even its right order. I thought it would be cool to splice it up and highlight key words and phrases with some typography. YAY!
more pics, video and list of other collaborators coming sooner than later. Stay tuned folks:P
click on the link below for the music.
you can also track me on twitter @ http://twitter.com/btroubles
b
Launch of William Forsythe’s web project Synchronous Objects
Today i got a message in my Facebook account about the Launch of William Forsythe’s new web project Synchronous Objects and i just had to share this.
Here is more info about the project from an article in the NY Times.
More exciting is the launch of the website that explores the connection between choreography and technology.
here is the link to the site. You will need to install Adobe flash to view the site
http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu
Take a look around. Im personally fascinated with the mergence of technology and movement. I can tell that a lot of my free time will be spent wisely:)
William Forsythe's Eidos
b
High Fashion discounts - gilt.com!
Hey fellow Wingers!
Just thought I’d let everyone in on this really awesome website that I’ve been using for about half a year now. If you’re into fashion or anything, this exclusive members only website (you can only be invited from pre-existing members) that offers a new sale every day with prices that are ridiculously cheap! They are around 70% off the retail price, which makes them really affordable! It’s like paying for Gap and getting Oscar de la Renta. Now we’re talking designers like for women like:
Oscar de la Renta
Marc Jacobs
Carolina Herrera
Swarovski
Helmut Lang
Alexander McQueen
Just Cavalli
Vera Wang
Valentino
Michael Kors
Dolce & Gabbana
Kate Spade
just to name a few! And lucky for us guys, there is equally just as much great stuff with designers like:
Ralph Lauren - Black Label, Purple Label, etc
Marc Jacobs Men
Alexander McQueen Men
7 For All Mankind Men
John Varvatos
Diesel
Michael Kors Men
Y-3 Yohji Yamamoto
Dolce & Gabbana
Just a word of advice though, these sales are CRAZY - every day a few new sales start at 12PM eastern time, and if you plan to possibly get something, you better BE THERE at 12PM! Things start selling out within the first few minutes, and of course there is stuff left over, but who doesn’t want the best pick?
Be careful also, once you add the item to your basket, you only have 10 minutes to totally complete your check out. Once that 10 minutes is up, it’s likely that some other customer will buy it right out of your shopping cart! It’s happened to me, so be that crazy shopper and don’t let the other ones get the merchandise you want! Haha!
As a heads up, this upcoming week’s sales for women are:
Bally, Valentino Red, Valentino, Tony Burch, Tony Burch Shoes, Vera Wang, Abaete, Acne Jeans…
For the Men, it’s:
Spurr, John Varvatos, Philip Stein, Michael Kor’s, Ralph Lauren Purple Label…
Just as a reminder, men, if you purchase something that I wanted, I am going to hunt you down. Um.. men’s sale start at 12:30 (haha, just kidding). Women, you’re free to go 
Anyway, here is the invite if anyone would like to join, just click on the link.
http://www.gilt.com/invite/alexdwong
Enjoy!!!
27 PACES. You Decide!
The Entire List of 27
1.Shiny Metal Objects
2.Bind
3.Contort
4.ROYGBIV
5.Line Dancing
6.Tangled
7.Up
8.Identity/mask
9.Growth
10.Expression
11. Illuminated
12.old technologies
13.Disappear
14.whirlwind
15.Walking on Clouds
16.Explode
17.Decidophobia
18.Duplication
19.Nostalgic
20.Intergalactic
21.Delirious
22.Pulsate
23.Convulse
24.Divide
25.Pop Art
26.Lucid Dreams
27.letting Go
Phewie!
Done.
Have at it folks.
B
