Jack White Sells Out with Alicia Keys?

I never really liked Run DMC’s remake, if that’s what you can call it, of Aerosmith’s hit “Walk this Way”. Depending on how you look at it, it may not have been a remake as much as a legitimate new creative product. I doubt the latter, as the guitar riff is unmistakably Aerosmith, and for it to be a legit new product, entire and easily recognizable portions of a “song” –if you can refer to rap as “song”– can’t be mirrored in other songs. It can be reminiscent, but not a copy paste scenario.

Setting aside issues of legitimate authorship and musical taste, the remake did have some good effects. It salvaged Aerosmith’s butts, whose career was on its way to being relegated as a “goodies oldies bar band” –whose prospects were probably only seedy truck stops and corresponding bars.

Also in the process, Run DMC introduced good ol’ rock and roll to kids that probably had never seen, heard, and probably hadn’t conceptualized an electric guitar. They also introduced rap to rhythmicly challenged white folks. This might be called a market cross-over ploy.

On the part of Run DMC, I’m not sure if this was a thought out market plan. This might be giving them too much credit. If anything, they got people that would have never bothered to listen to rap to do so –if only to satisfy (morbid?) curiosity.

Having said that, as I’m sit here listening to the White Stripes singer Jack White perform a duet with a R&B female singer named Alicia Keys, I wonder about this obvious marketing ploy. I usually hate these marketing tactics, finding them cheap, predicable, even morally decadent.

Is David Grohl playing for the Mexican band Café Tacuba?!

Chilean cable t.v. is endlessly looping Café Tacuba’s latest music video. It’s by way of this that I came to ask myself, “Is it just me or does David Grohl from the Foo Fighters look like Emmanuel del Real from Café Tacuba?”.

Emmanuel del Real or David Grohl?

An Interview with Photographer Sonja San Martin

I thought it was about time to publish an interview –I’d been sitting on for almost two years.

Sonja San Martin is a rising Chilean photographer. Her works have been published in magazines such as Rocinante, El Sur^11111111111, Colegio Médico de Chile (Medical Journal of Chile), Hatuey, and her photography has made the cover of PROhumana^22222222222. In 2007, she exhibited a series called “Cucao: Luces y Colores de Chiloé” centering on Cucao (50 km. southeast of Castro, Chile) –at the Marta Colvin hall (Universidad de Bío-Bío) in Chillán, Chile. In 2006, she did camera and photography work for Yiri Culture’s documentary “Le Pont de la Joie” as a French/Chilean cross cultural exercise and analysis, where sixth grader artwork from both countries were exchanged. In that same year, she travelled to France to do a documentary as part of the same project. She has also offered introduction to photography and journalism workshops in Castro and Chillán.

San Martin studied at the Universidad de Serena in 2001, and later with the Taller de Fotografía de Reportage in the Escuela Portafolio in 2003. Sonja San Martin obtained a college (instituto profesional) degree in Audio Visual Communications from DUOC^33333333333 in 2004.

Maurice Cepeda-Gonzalo Millán Tribute, 2007

I met Sonja San Martin through a mutual journalist friend, Rodolfo Hlousek, in 2006, when I was asked to perform for a tribute to the Chilean poet Gonzalo Millán^44444999999. From the moments I’ve spent with San Martin and based on her work, she strikes me as a bright, talented artist, one that’s excited about life, and one that sees life via a different and sincere perspective; San Martin speaks her mind, when others might not want to rock the boat. For instance, she does not sugarcoat her disdain of the Chillán poetry scene (if not most of its participants), which might be odd considering she covered Chillán’s 2007 Tribute to Gonzalo Millán, but I gather this simply attests to Millán’s posthumous charisma. (The photograph contained herein, was taken by San Martin during that very same tribute.)

In my interview below, San Martin talks about her imputus for taking photos. Interestingly, she says that this stems from a desire to catalogue, create, and self-heal, rather than from a drive to express herself –although one could argue that all action is self-expression. The interview initially starts with a bit on her social life, artistic start, whether her work is art, her modus operandi, instinct vs. technique, if she keeps abreast with current photography trends, and her web presence. San Martin also mentions her soft-drug use as a young person, her latter struggles with depression and panic attacks, and how photography has helped her overcome these obstacles.

Considering that I rarely see San Martin in person, she consented to being interviewed during an IM conversation on July 18, 2007. Then later in December 2007, she encouraged self-publication of said interview on this very same blog. Below is my own translation of the colloquial Chilean Spanish. I’ve tried to remain as literal as possible, unless incomprehensible in English or where typical North American idioms fit. My comments are in square brackets, “[]“. These are sometimes used to clarify or complete ideas that may not be logical or obvious to the native English speaker.

Enjoy!

Peter Grabriel a la Motown

And now something on music and technology.

Doghouse Riley has rendered a Motown version of Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey”, which placed third in a “re-mix technology/music” competition –hosted by www.realworldremixed.com. Comments from the site suggest that it sounds very B-52ish. I disagree. The organ-work, and brass section all sound like something Ray Charles might incorporate. The song also contains a bass line that makes for a marked dance groove, dated albeit.

BloodSpell

BloodSpell, a full length movie down with a gamer’s video engine. Read about about it at nwn.bioware.com.

There’s been criticism on the engine used because it’s rather dated, and thus, does not render impressive video quality. I must concur. However, this film is illustrative of the decentralization of the entertainment industries, and that’s exciting. Traditionally, because of the prohibitive costs involved in production and distribution, the music and movie industry establishments have had a monopoly. That’s changing.