Electro Richmond duo BBopNRoksteday have released their first mixtape. You might have caught their set at WEIRD a few weeks ago or at the surprise RVA issue release party. Give it a listen and keep a look out.

1. Electrixx- Tetris
2. Mike & Charlie- I Get Live (Bird Peterson Remix)
Calvertron- Funky Jam (Cold Blank Remix)
3. Hiroki Esashika- Kazane (Disco of Doom Remix)
4. Benni Benassi- I Am Not Drunk (Bloody Beetroots Remix)
5. Electric Soulside- Feel Funky (Cold Blank Remix)
6. Dj Manie Ft. Casablanca Connect- Kiesz (Mightyfools Remix)
7. Aaren San- Apes from Space (Dirtyloud Remix)
8. Felix Cartal- Berlin (Religion Remix)
BbopNRokstedy- Us Us

CLICK HERE FOR THE MIXTAPE

BbopNRokstedy August 2010 Mixtape- http://soundcloud.com/bbopnrokstedy-mixtapes/bbopnrokstedy-august-2010-m...
BbopNRokstedy on Hypem- http://hypem.com/#/search/bbopnrokstedy/1/
BbopNRokstedy- Castle Video @ NyDeli Weird - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6pS6poESY0
BbopNRokstedy FB page- http://www.facebook.com/pages/BbopNRokstedy/282902423940?ref=ts

We bring you the best of the BFD 09 videos done by people in the community. Cue the music.

A particularly psychedelicized lovers collaboration, Moon Duo pump out endless twilight biker-rock riffs, punctuated by interstellar space echo and a repetitive, romping White Light White Heat drum-machine pulse. Like the Spacemen 3 motorized by Neu!, with the electric fuzz and fucked distorted organ sounds of the aforementioned Velvet Underground LP, Moon Duo riffs on “Love On The Sea” for over ten minutes--ten minutes of phased-out headiness where the Silver Apples-style cosmic synth and oscillations are drowned out by a plateau of perilous hooks on infinite loop. “Escape” is seven minutes of Psychocandy-outtake fuzz pop drifting over a Casiotone beat.

Modern psych-heads should recognize the guitar playing of Ripley Johnson from his other heady rock band, the Wooden Shjips. Already having played this summer at the bohemian-celebrated Big Sur forest in central California, as well as in Jeruselum and Tel Aviv, Moon Duo are true road dogs.

Moon Duo plays at Strange Matter Tuesday September 14, with Palindrone (Christian Brady/Antlers/Meadows), Resin Pyramid (Caves Caverns/Human Smoke dudes), and Tungs.

Funeral Pyre - Vultures At Dawn (Prosthetic)
Funeral Pyre aren't breaking new ground--throat-shredding screams; fast, somewhat melodic double-picking mixed with gothic dirge riffs; and dark, warlike imagery are all standard elements within the black metal genre. However, they craft an excellent album from these elements, making their relative lack of originality easy to forgive.

Laurie Anderson - Homeland (Nonesuch/Elektra)
Minimalist, quasi-classical backing, over which the featured instrument--Anderson's voice--is given ample room to roam. It grows to fill the space it's given--talking, humming, singing, chanting. Bizarre, mesmerizing, and at points devastatingly topical, Homeland is a predictable addition to Anderson's oeuvre, but certainly not an unwelcome one.

Tourmaline - Save Me EP (tourmaline.bandcamp.com)
Decent mid-paced rock n' roll with a significant emo influence. Not bad, but I'd like to see more speed here. None of the songs do much more than stroll along, and while they're pleasant enough, sometimes pleasant is just a synonym for boring. Liven it up a little, guys.

If you only watch one RVA TV video in your life, make sure it is this one.

It's Richmond's favorite day of the year and now favorite weekend. It's Best Friend's Day 9!! Our coverage takes you from the opening concert to the lake where this video starts to take on a girls gone wild at a judas priest concert parking lot kinda feel. Join our hosts Ashby and Jesse on this tour as they show how much our cameras love drunk people!

CLICK HERE FOR Best Friends Day The Movie - Part I

Young Livers, Mouthbreather, All Teeth, Real Talk, and Sundials
Tuesday, August 31 at Gallery 5

I want to talk about Young Livers. I originally wasn’t going to write about this show because my own band played it, but after seeing Young Livers’ set, I really wanted to talk about them. Andrew told me the writer who was supposed to cover the show ended up not being able to make it, and I jumped at the opportunity to reflect on the evening.

The entire show was fantastic: Real Talk are a brand new hardcore band from Richmond worth getting excited about (I know that Graham writes for RVA, and if that’s a problem for you, too bad. Good music is good music, and I don’t see why being excited about new bands in our community is something to be frowned upon), All Teeth was a rad fast hardcore band on tour from California, and Mouthbreather is consistently one of the best live bands in town.

Young Livers, however, is the band I want to talk about.

This was hands down one of my favorite live sets of 2010. I hadn’t seen them in over two years, and hadn’t heard any new material since their split EP with Bridge and Tunnel. Their live energy is unbelievable. It feels something like Against Me used to. The two don’t necessarily have similar sounds, but the energy is comparable. Sound-wise: technical lead lines over power-chord rhythm guitars, and belted vocals accompanied with great pop harmonies. This band plays great riff-heavy rock and roll and the live delivery is spot on and heartfelt.

This band is the blend of weird, heavy, and catchy that seems to catch Richmond’s heart so often. Their new record, Of Misery and Toil, is available through No Idea Records. If you missed this show, it’s a great place to start.

Mouthbreather:

Real Talk:

All Teeth:

Suzi Analogue - NNXTAPE (suzianalogue.bandcamp.com)

Representing Philly’s hip hop underground, Klip Mode’s Suzi Analogue might as well change her name to Uzi Analogue, because on her latest release she kills it on a scale of mass proportions. The PA songstress is gaining recognition from NYC to Tokyo, and one listen to her new album leaves no question as to why so many are now paying attention to the artist’s deft songwriting and addictive beats. Analogue’s eclectic mixture of modern hip-hop/soul is set apart from the beat making pack by her sultry and outstanding voice, evoking the specter of a dope girl fresh Billie Holiday for the digital age. What makes Analogue’s release even more outstanding is the fact that the artist produces and makes her own beats, which flow from deep jazz grooves to 80s-sampling neo-funk over the course of her masterfully made album. On the track “What U Look Like,” Suzi coolly and effortlessly flows over a deeply filtered drum and bass beat. The esoteric chorus and guitar samples recall Andre 3000’s songwriting and production at its finest. The album moves seamlessly from track to track, true to its mixtape concept, leading the listener on a nonstop journey of sonic delights. NNXTAPE is an outstanding release; required listening for anyone who’s ever loved hip-hop.

Weekends - Strange Cultures (Friends Records)
Weekends makes fun music. The Baltimore duo’s sound is a weird blend of dissonant Americana and rollicking punk explosions, which produce an effect something like Bruce Springsteen jamming with half of Black Sabbath. Their new LP, Strange Cultures, does the best job yet of capturing their ambitiously large style of music. The guitars sound massive and the drums are strident and clear, the instruments coming together in brilliant bursts of power rock pyrotechnics. “Rain Girls”, by far the group’s standout track, is extended from its well-received short single form to a sprawling seven-minute stomping wall of guitar and shouted vocals. (Listen to two tracks for free at weekends.bandcamp.com.)

Back in January, I read over the news wire that PEPSI was not advertising in the Super Bowl this year. In reading deeper the reason given was to take the millions they would have spent for 30 seconds on TV and put that in a new social marketing strategy. Pretty radical thinking for the big boys. The next day, I was trolling the ad websites and magazines to get a followup, the tidbits I found pointed to PEPSI focusing on community development through social networks. They wanted to engaged their audience and help worthwhile programs and organizations by funding them, getting their marketing value through the voting process and online buzz.

Who knew that this initiative would reach our city limits and possibly make something happen for our fiercely independent creative community. We can VOTE, we can promote, and we can win.

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WRIR LP 97.3 FM Seeks
Refresheverything.com
Grant for Community Newsroom

Richmond, Virginia USA Wed 01 Sep 2010

WRIR LP 97.3 FM, Richmond’s independent radio station, is seeking the community’s help in their bid to obtain a grant to fund construction of a community newsroom. Station management received notification that WRIR’s proposal is in the running for a $50,000 grant and will compete for votes at www.refresheverything.com/wrir.

Refresheverything.com is an online competition sponsored by Pepsi to fund projects that will have a positive impact on their community. WRIR’s project will be competing for the most votes in the category for $50,000. A person registers with www.refresheverything.com/wrir or can vote via twitter or a facebook account. A person can vote every day in September and has 10 votes to cast for 10 different projects, including WRIR's proposal. The voting ends on September 30.

WRIR would use the grant to build a Community Newsroom. This would be WRIR’s third broadcast studio but it will be the only one dedicated to gathering and reporting independent news. Presently WRIR has volunteers who produce the local news segments aired every weekday. With the Community Newsroom, WRIR will train more citizen-journalists to collect and report independent radio news.

“WRIR is very excited about this grant. It is a different approach to fundraising. Our listeners, supporters and volunteers decide if we get the grant by voting every day either online or by text. If they do, WRIR has the chance to build a state-of-the-art studio with limitless potential! WRIR will also use the studio as back-up in the event of equipment failure in our main studio. It is our responsibility as the City of Richmond's official emergency broadcast outlet” says Liz Humes, President of Virginia Center for Public Press, the parent of non-profit WRIR.

WRIR LP 97.3 FM went on air in January 2005 with a mission to air unrepresented music, news and views in order to provide a platform for cultural diversity in Richmond. WRIR is operated by a community of volunteers. News programs, especially locally-produced news programs, are the focus of WRIR’s 2010/2011 philanthropy efforts.

A person can vote every day through the internet and texting:
Online - http://www.refresheverything.cm/wrir
Via an existing Facebook account or through WRIR's Facebook Page
Text - Call call 73774 and text 102304
Twitter - http://twitter.com/WRIR
Or go to the station’s web site, www.wrir.org for links to these voting portals and information about the grant project.

For more information, please contact Matt Zoller at 804-387-8510 or mattzoller@gmail.com.

In the As-Seen-on-TV product hall of fame, The Snuggie™ is second only to the Clapper and anything made by Ronco. One could argue that Billy Mays and his products also deserve a place in the pantheon of desperate TV consumerism. Oxy Clean™, the Ding King™, the Hercules Hook™ and the Grater Plater™ ? All great. But coke-addled shouting about cleaning products can’t compete with the hypnotic rotisserie charm of Set it and Forget it!, or the genius of controlling electricity with a Clap!(on) Clap!(off) of your hands. And really, what could possibly compete with the brilliance of a blanket. With sleeves.

Yes, Snuggies™ are atrocious and their fabric feels like flame-retardant kid pajamas, but you can stay warm and still work the remote. If you want something more than that, your life is needlessly complicated.

But wait, there’ s more!

The only thing that trumps a Snuggie™ is incoporating a Snuggie into an iconic American painting. In Ben Keys’s whip-smart, bastardization of the iconic painting Whistler’s Mother, (properly titled, Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother) Whistler’s Mother is rocking a Snuggie™. What would you expect to pay for a painting like Whistler’s Mother Got a Snuggy ? Not $1999.99, not $1699.99 not even $1499.99. This amazing painting can be yours for just 45 easy payments of $19.99. (Shipping and handling, not included.)

Keys’s painting is part of Changing Channels, the latest exhibition at j fergeson gallery. Changing Channels (September 3-30, artist reception Sept 4, 5-8pm) features paintings by Ben Keys and Jacobe Noonan. (Don’t change that channel, an interview with Jacobe Noonan will appear in a few weeks.)

Ben Keys’s work relies on parody, juxtaposition and cultural appropriation. All of his paintings in Changing Channels reference TV culture. In many of the paintings, figure’s heads are completely replaced by televisions.

ANNA: Do you watch TV? Sometimes people can be critical about TV consumption, but still enjoy TV for what it is—an escape from, not an excuse for, reality. But other times, people are critical and shun TV completely. And those people are usually really annoying.

BEN: I own a 48 inch widescreen. So, yes I watch plenty of TV and yes, I enjoy it for what it is – entertainment and at times, art or sometimes education.

ANNA: Your paintings in Changing Channels rely heavily on cultural appropriation. You’ve borrowed icons like Uncle Sam, Rosie the Riveter, and Magritte’s The Treachery of Images (Leci n’est pas une pipe). To fully appreciate your paintings, a viewer must understand the source you’re referencing. In this way, the viewer participates in a cultural Möbius strip: a reference of a reference of a reference. How far removed from the original reference can you go before the meaning is too diluted?

BEN: My intention is to invoke a comparison of my painting to the original source. I use parody to bring attention to how meaning changes from its origin. My hope is that the viewer will compare the intended meaning of the original with the one I’ve made, and consider the significance of the shift. The möbius strip is an interesting way of seeing it, because meaning could possibly be dilluted to the point of meaninglessness.

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ANNA: Uncle Sam and American Gothic have been reinterpreted by many artists. But I’ve never—like never, ever—seen Whistler’s mother in a Snuggie™. That’s great! How did you think of that?

BEN: I wanted to copy a well-known painting and have the people in it watching TV. Whistler’s Mother popped into my mind because it is so iconic and her positioning is already arranged for this. After I painted it, I realized the draping of dress was shaped perfectly for a Snuggie ™, so I repainted it bright blue and added all the luxurious folds.

ANNA: What color are the luxurious folds of your Snuggie™?

BEN: I wish I had one.

ANNA: Maybe you can buy one if you sell enough paintings. Do you hear that, art shoppers? Buy a painting so this man can have a Snuggie™. There’s a lot of sly humor in your work. Why do you think there’s such a dearth of funny in contemporary art?

BEN: Maybe there was a secret memo sent out to artists that said, “Contemporary art cannot be funny. It must be very, very serious. Sincerely, Czar of Contemporary Art”

In my view, if there’s no room for humor, it’s bad philosophy. It’s unlivable and incomplete in its ability to reflect real life. Comedy and absurdity are not only cathartic, but also great iconoclastic tools to crack the artifices of shallow philosophies and to expose self-righteousness in all areas of life, art included.

ANNA: In We Can View It! you appropriate J. Howard Miller’s, We Can Do It image of Rosie the Riveter. In your rendition, Rosie’s head is replaced with a television, a remote is in her hand and she is surrounded by a YouTube frame, complete with rewind buttons and a progress bar. You’ve essentially taken a feminist icon of strength and activity and rendered her incredibly passive. I interpreted the piece as a savvy critique on the state of reality television. There is a popular, but mistaken, assumption that we don’t have to actually do anything of consequence anymore because we can just watch other people do stuff for us. On television. Can you explain what you were thinking?

BEN: I am aiming at consumer identity and the consequences of it, including passivity. I recently heard a credit card commercial that opened with, “We are a nation of consumers.” It framed Americans in a way that suggested buying decisions are our main responsibility, and more importantly, our very identity. When a person is reduced to an intake valve, and has mistaken real choices for brand preferences, something sad happens to that individual and to our culture.

Rosie once represented many of the characteristics fading under a consumer regime. That is why she is such a perfect icon for my work.

ANNA: The Ken’s Health painting is a clever reworking of the Obama campaign slogan (Yes, we can!) and it’s also a clever parody of Men’s Health magazine. Why do you think so many women artists critique women’s magazines, but not that many male artists critique male magazines? The bullshit is similar, it’s just intended for a different audience.

BEN: Women must be ahead of the game. I see the obsession with body image of both sexes actually, becoming increasingly unhealthy. How about emotional health? And mental abs? What huge percentage of Americans are on depression meds? Are ripped abs really the remedy? I remember my Freshman English teacher in college once jokingly said that “in the 50’s people didn’t even know what abs were”. Men didn’t measure their manhood by their abs. In a predominantly visual society, it’s easy to forget the idea of character and an inner life. My general point is not gender specific. Rather, it’s to bring attention to the oppression of an image-oriented value system. Image is a cruel master.

ANNA: My favorite blurb from Ken’s Health is “Ab exercises and Apps to help eclipse your waning humanity” Did you mean to drop a Twlight: Elicipse reference? Are you Team Edward, Team Jacob or do you want to join me on TeamWhoGivesAShit?

BEN: I am 100% on team WhoGivesAShit. Go Team! I don’t know where those phrases came from—maybe they were planted in my subconscious by flocks of media vampires?

ANNA: But, more importantly, how are your abs?

BEN: We don’t talk much anymore. Rumor is, they fell off the wagon.

ANNA: And almost as important as the condition of your abs, how is your humanity? Is it waning? If you could create an app to eclipse your own waning humanity what would that app do?

BEN: Thankfully, my humanity seems to be waxing lately. My intention in that statement was to be ironic, as in, “to erase what is left of your decreasing humanity.” Obviously not a desirable outcome. My app would be a flying beach chair that scoops me up, hands me a strong beer and a lit cigar, and drops me off on some white sand beach for a couple hours, where there is no digital signal.

Changing Channels, September 3-30, 2010.
Artist reception, Saturday, September 4, 2010, 5-8 pm.

j fergeson gallery
311 Main Street
Farmville, VA.
Jfergesongallery.com

Deftones and Baroness
September 1 at The National

The National is a beautiful theater. Despite its being a relatively new venue here in Richmond, the elegant design of its luxury boxes and overhanging balcony harks back to a time when architects attempted to make audiences comfortable. It thankfully avoids the airplane-hangar ambience of many modern concert halls, instead achieving an intimacy one would more readily expect in a much smaller club setting. Wednesday night was my first experience with The National, and I've apparently missed out by not getting there sooner (penury is my only excuse).

We didn't get inside the venue until well after Baroness had started, but we did catch a good portion of their set, and it was excellent. I was initially exposed to Baroness in their early days as a band, and the complex, metallic hardcore of their early EPs blew me away. The transition they went through on their first full-length, The Red Album, was interesting, if not quite as good as what they'd started out doing. But with their follow-up, The Blue Album, they've grown into their new songwriting style, and it showed in their live performance. The influence of post-metal bands like Isis and Mastodon is clear in their newer work, but live, they avoided the quiet, ambient side-trips of other bands with which they are associated in favor of maintaining the core of heaviness that has been present in their music since they started. Singer/guitarist John Baizley's vocals have never been outstanding and are still a bit of a weak point, but in a live setting they were de-emphasized in favor of the band's pummeling metal riffs. While Baroness has a following in Richmond, they were clearly performing to an audience of Deftones fans. However, this didn't stop them from winning quite a few converts over the course of their set.

Nonetheless, the night was owned by the Deftones, and they made such a powerful entrance that all thoughts of opening bands were (at least temporarily) driven from the heads of the audience. Beginning with the one-two punch of "Diamond Eyes" and "Rocket Skates," the two singles from their new album (also called Diamond Eyes), The Deftones hit the stage like a bomb, and the center of the explosion was frontman Chino Moreno, whose intense, energetic presence dominated the entire venue. Moreno performed using microphones that had been specially wrapped in tape, so that he could swing them by their cords without damaging them. This didn't completely prevent him from engaging in destruction, though, as he ended a song early in the set by slamming a microphone to the stage repeatedly--a sort of vocalist's version of the classic Townshend/Cobain guitar-smashing ritual. Unlike The Who and Nirvana, he did this with the majority of the set left to play, so it was fortunate that he had multiple backup microphones in place.

Moreno's vocal performance was just as impressive as his onstage energy, especially in light of the way he constantly switches back and forth between a tenor croon and bloodcurdling screams, sometimes within the course of a single line of lyrics. It seems like the kind of thing that he'd fake in the studio in order to preserve his voice, so I had some question as to whether he could actually do it live. All such questions were put to rest early on, as a performance of the title track to 1997's Around The Fur saw Moreno effortlessly making the instantaneous switch between croons and screams that occurs during every one of the song's choruses. He pulled off this same trick many times over the course of the evening. And he still sounded great, both singing and screaming, even on the final encores of the night, which came close to two hours after the Deftones first took the stage.

Sustaining the interest and involvement of a crowd over this long a period of time takes effort, and Moreno and company did a great deal to keep their set from growing predictable. At several points during the performance, Chino strapped on a guitar, playing melodic lead guitar lines on some of the band's quieter tunes. This was most effective on White Pony's popular single, "Change In A House Of Flies," and on the latest album's excellent "Sextape." Moreno and company were smart enough not to stick with these downtempo moods for too long. For example, the band immediately followed the contemplative two-guitar track "Beauty School" with a blistering performance of "Elite." Chino sang the entire song while hanging over the barricade into the crowd, passing the mic to eager kids in the front rows during the song's screamed chorus, as if he were the frontman for an old-school hardcore band.

When the Deftones released their first album, Adrenaline, they were lumped in with the earliest of the nu-metal bands, mostly due to their integration of a heavy, chugging sound with obvious hip-hop influences. However, fifteen years later, it's impossible to think of another band from that early nu-metal era who has not only continued to exist but remained relevant; growing musically and steadily acquiring new fans as their career progressed. It now seems sort of ridiculous to even mention the Deftones in the same breath as Korn. The difference was obvious throughout their set, though it was thrown into relief on the best of their new songs, such as the aforementioned "Rocket Skates." That song is based around a heavy, chugging riff, but it's given layers by the droning, humming keyboard parts laid down by Frank Delgado, as well as by Chino Moreno's crooning vocals on the song's verses, which are sung at a much slower tempo than the song's basic rhythm. With the simple addition of these two elements, the entire nature of the song is changed, from a fundamentally heavy riff-rocker to a song that uses heavy riffs as a foundation for a different, more melodic sort of song.

This songwriting style has been one of the main weapons in the Deftones' arsenal, dating back to nearly the beginning of their career. They first put it into widespread use on their third album, 2000's White Pony, and over the course of the night, they drew almost as heavily from that album as they did from the new one. However, for many Deftones fans, it's the earliest, heaviest material that stands out most strongly, and the band did their best to keep those fans happy as well. Delgado actually left the stage for the last few songs of the band's main set, and did not return for the encore, leaving Moreno, guitarist Stephen Carpenter, drummer Abe Cunningham, and former Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega (filling in for the injured Chi Cheng) to perform a selection of Adrenaline-era material as a four-piece. To be truthful, this is probably my least favorite era of the Deftones' career. However, they won me over with their powerful performance of early hits like "Seven Words," blasting them with sufficient energy to overcome any doubts I might have had about the strength of the material.

While I would have been happier to hear more material from sadly neglected fourth and fifth albums Deftones and Saturday Night Wrist, the Deftones certainly played plenty of great songs on Wednesday night, hitting most of their career highlights and giving plenty of performance time to their newest--and possibly greatest--album. Fans who still love the first album the most and fans who think they only continue to get better with time had equal reason to go home happy. This show also made clear that anyone who still writes off the Deftones due to the lingering spectre of nu-metal is blowing it in a big way. Both live and in the studio, the Deftones are one of the most exciting bands playing heavy music right now.

Strange Matter's Eric Smith feels uncomfortable with the relative obscurity of today's Richmond punk scene. "It's tough to find out about shows these days," he says. "When I was growing up in Richmond in the mid-90s, there were places for teenaged kids who knew nothing about the local scene to go and learn about it." He cites shows held in the basement of St. Edward's Catholic School, on Huguenot Road in Chesterfield, as well as all-ages matinee shows at Twisters, as formative experiences. "Those shows were there when I needed them," he explains.

"But then it occurred to me," he continues. "What would it have been like if I was born 10 years later?" He explained that, while the internet has been a helpful tool for organizing the scene, it's also a double-edged sword for anyone attempting to book do-it-yourself punk and hardcore shows. At the same time that anyone can promote a house show online and get that information to a wide variety of potentially interested music fans, they also take the risk that landlords and cops will discover that info and do far more damaging things with it. That's a big risk to take when you live in the place where you're putting on shows. No one likes being evicted. No one likes risking arrest. Paradoxically, the easy flow of information over the internet has driven the day to day workings of the scene more deeply underground. People send out bulletins over Facebook or Myspace, but you often find the phrase "ask a punk" standing in for concrete information about venues. And if you're too new to the scene to know any other punks, you're left out in the cold.


Hold Tight!

It's this unfortunate circumstance that Smith and the rest of Strange Matter are seeking to repair with the first annual Orientation Festival. "VCU students make up something like 15% of the population of Richmond," Smith says. "At least a decent amount of those students are going to be people interested in underground music. If Strange Matter can provide an avenue into the existing Richmond scene for new freshmen who've just arrived in town and don't know anybody who is 'in the loop' yet, then we want to do that." For that reason, on Sunday, September 5, Strange Matter will present an all-ages matinee show, beginning at 5 PM and with the extremely affordable admission price of $2. The cheap admission and locally-based nature of the bands on the bill were inspired by a yearly tradition at Twisters, the club that, a decade ago, occupied the building where Strange Matter now operates. "Twisters had an end-of-school show at the beginning of every summer," Smith explains. "Six local bands, a dollar to get in. They were great. When one of my bands played the 1999 show, it was like a dream come true for me." It's the spirit of that onetime tradition that Smith and Strange Matter seek to revive with Orientation.

Inter Arma

The show will feature five diverse but equally independent Richmond-based underground punk/hardcore bands. Street Pizza play the fast, blurry hardcore style known as power-violence with chaotic vigor and a fun, humorous approach. Dry Spell, who feature members of Army Of Fun and Swamp Thing, are a snotty, anti-social punk n' roll group. Hold Tight! are an excellent example of the anthem-driven melodic punk style played by sorely missed New Jersey bands like Latterman and The Ergs. Flechette operate in the same territory occupied by bands like Sleepy Time Trio and Fugazi, cranking out driving, wire-tight emotional hardcore with intense, screamed vocals. Finally, Inter Arma bring their complex creativity to a wide variety of metal-based styles, moving through a plethora of different sounds and ideas in each one of their songs.

The Orientation Festival isn't just about bands, though. Smith intends the evening to be an introduction to the entire Richmond underground community, and with that in mind, he's enlisted the participation of local record labels Rorschach and Forcefield, who will be giving away free copies of CDs they've released. Also involved are the record store Vinyl Conflict (324 S. Pine St.), and local boutiques B Sides (2925 W. Cary St.) and Rumors (404 N. Harrison St). All of these businesses have provided gift certificates that will be given away in a raffle during the show. "This community is a living, breathing thing," Smith says. "I find it more exciting and irresistible with every passing year." His sincere evangelism for the Richmond scene is infectious, and he hopes his enthusiasm will spread beyond the usual boundaries that the scene often fails to transcend. With Orientation, he and the staff at Strange Matter are reaching out to possible new members of the scene, attempting bring them into the fold on a permanent basis. It's a worthy goal, and one can't help but hope he will succeed.

--

The First Annual Orientation Festival will take place on Sunday, September 5 at Strange Matter (929 W. Grace St.), beginning at 5 PM. Admission is $2.

The story behind the making of Machete, the new film from director Robert Rodriguez, is an unlikely saga leading to an uncommon movie. Fifteen years ago, while Rodriguez was making his breakout hit Desperado, he was also writing a script to star his friend, Danny Trejo. That script became Machete, but Rodriguez shelved it in order to pursue other projects. Then, in 2007, Rodriguez decided to use the character for a fake trailer segment in Grindhouse, his joint project with Quentin Tarantino. The reaction to the fake trailer, which depicted little more than the scary looking Trejo cutting up bad guys and shooting a motorcycle mounted machine gun, was so positive that Rodriguez decided to finally make the project into a feature length film. The result is a film full of the off-the-wall action promised by the fake trailer that surprisingly delivers a timely political statement about Mexican immigration to prove that thought went into the writing.

The film follows the titular character on his journey for revenge. The film opens with Machete serving as a federal agent in Mexico attempting to take down a drug lord. He is betrayed by his superiors and left for dead. He survives the attack, though, and illegally comes to America to start his life over again. His old ways catch up to him quickly when he is recognized as a fighter and hired to assassinate a senator who violently supports stronger laws against illegal immigrants. Though Machete does not want to get involved, the mysterious man hiring him makes it clear that he does not have a choice. Unfortunately, the entire operation is a set up and leaves Machete framed for an assassination attempt. With everyone from private security, to local police, to immigration agents after him, Machete must take matters into his own hands to enact justice on all those who betrayed him in order to clear his name and make a better life for his compatriots trying to survive in America.

From the above, some may be concerned that Robert Rodriguez beats the viewer over the head with his political statement on immigration. This is a fair concern for people just looking for mindless action movie, but Rodriguez walks the line between entertaining and preaching very carefully. Though very prominent in the film, the statements are delivered in such an over the top way that they become comedic. In other words, there is a message in the film, but it is easily ignorable for those that do not want to hear it.

The main reason people will want to see the movie is for the hyper-violent brutal action. Every scene that made the original fake trailer so much fun has made it into the final film. All of the hack and slash action and total absurdity is here. Fans of the old style gritty action films that were disappointed in The Expendables last month will find exactly what they are looking for in Machete: a tough and stoic hero who dispatches his foes in the most ridiculous of ways. From the opening scene in which Machete storms a drug lord’s home base by himself to the climax which sees Machete leading a veritable army of Mexican immigrants against a group of self-appointed “border patrol,” this film does not hold back on the action.

Political statements do not often have a place in silly action movies, and the prominent presence of one in Machete may cause many to avoid it. This would be a mistake, though, as it is one of the most entertaining movies in the last several weeks. Rodriguez suffered a misstep over the summer with Predators, on which he served as producer, but he has made a full recovery with Machete. As he wrote, directed, and produced Machete, it is clear which film had more of his attention. It is the beginning of September, so we can look at Machete in one of two ways: It is either an excellent close to the summer movie season, or a dynamite beginning for fall.

The VCU Student Hip-Hop Organization (SHHO) and the VCU Brandcenter presents Jeff Staple at the VCU Brandcenter Sept. 13. at 12:15PM

Founder of Staple Design and NYC retail spaces, Reed Space & Reed Annex. Man behind the chaos of the Pigeon Dunk and other well known collaborations with Nike, New Balance, Oakley, and many more. Jeff Staple is a major influence in the worlds of art, design, fashion, and hip-hop. Free and open to all VCU students and anyone else who wants to go. But just FYI, you’d be crazy not to go. If you understood how excited I am for this, you’d pee your pants for me.

DON’T SLEEP RICHMOND.
by Neil Lopez of thisisforyoumom.com

The original crew that set RVALUTION ablaze a mere 6 months back is together tonight again for the first time in a long time. Expect everything to be taken up a notch with Doddie Braza, Micheal NightTime and birthday boy Reinhold on the wheels of steel tonight.

Let's take it back and have fun tonight people!!

Alittle bromance for our boy, Reinhold!! Happy birthday John.

Reinhold "the chosen one" from Todd Raviotta on Vimeo.

photos by Nick Ghobashi
www.flickr.com/photos/ghobashi

Tonight will be epic! Make sure to use promo code "RVA" to get the entry fee discount until 11pm tonight. OR RVALUTION usually sells out by midnight, you can use promo code "RVA" right now to guarantee entry HERE. See you out there.

Pere Ubu – Annotated Modern Dance (Hearpen/Smog Veil Records)
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“Culture happens in secret, all art is secret. Ordinary people only see the ashes of art, or the failures, or frozen moments. Only rarely onstage do bands achieve reality; mostly it’s in rehearsals, in lost moments.”
- David Thomas, Pere Ubu vocalist.
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If ever there was a band deserving of the term “evocative,” it is Pere Ubu, whose barely-classifiable music offered a sonic re-creation of their point of origin: mid-1970s Cleveland. Channeling past and future into a heady mix, the band combined their hometown’s rich history of rock and roll (the term itself was coined there in 1955) with the manner in which the defeated promise of the industrial sector in postwar America was made readily apparent. Like the chemicals that trickled into the Cuyahoga River in such quantities that the river itself caught flame in 1969, the area that was fast becoming known as the Rust Belt saw economic and social stability rapidly seeping away and had come to experience a sense of cognitive dissonance as it awoke, startled, from the American Dream.

The chroniclers of this decline and harvesters of this dissonance, as so often happens, were those who never really bought into the promise of a material utopia in the first place. Like missionaries in search of fresh converts, Pere Ubu took their cacophony to whoever would listen. They sought out whichever patrons of dive bars on the edge of town who might share, if not necessarily a taste for squalling dissonance, at least an understanding that a pre-fabricated suburban home is no suitable place to be found at nine o’clock on a Tuesday night.

That history has vindicated Pere Ubu’s experiments and bestowed upon them an air of respectability seems appropriate given the era of their inception. Songs such as theirs, created in the surroundings which birthed them, present a vision – whether blueprint or metaphor is difficult to determine – of the next decades of American production. Cultural capital triumphed over material production; cities were built on rock and roll (to borrow from the worst song ever written) rather than the blood, sweat, and tears that flowed into the material nirvana of late 20th Century capitalism. Not that Pere Ubu ever expressed much interest in changing widespread perceptions of what constituted viable means of production. They were zealous, but sought converts to a sound as much as an idea – a visceral, confrontational reconfiguring of the daily disillusionment and dissonance of their surroundings into something rapturous and transcendent.

By the band’s own admission, few people understood their approach at the time, which is not at all surprising. There are fleeting shadows of influences in the songs: wisps of the Velvet Underground’s noisier moments, hints of Captain Beefheart’s dilapidated free jazz, intimations of the thousands of garage rock bands whose names and songs have been buried by the sands of history. There are even hints of early industrial music in some of Pere Ubu’s more aleatoric moments, but where bands like Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire borrowed strongly from the regularity and consistency of industrial machinery, Pere Ubu sounded more like those same machines falling to pieces, a sound that would be called post-punk in subsequent years, but was performed by people whose music predates all but the earliest of punk rock itself.

The extent to which early Pere Ubu is tied to a specific time and place might arouse fans’ suspicion when confronted with Annotated Modern Dance. The album is a live recording from March 2010, and features the band performing the entirety of their 1976 album The Modern Dance alongside a handful of other early songs. Skepticism is justified: so many recordings of long-running bands plowing through old chestnuts come across as uninspired sentimentality, the sort of retrospection indulged in primarily by artists whose relevance has slipped into questionable territory. There are those who will likely level that criticism at Annotated Modern Dance. The songs featured on the album are no longer bewildering, otherworldly howls from rock and roll’s lunatic fringe – they are simply rock and roll songs by a band who, while certainly boundary-pushing, have achieved some degree of canonical respectability over the years.

But criticisms like that fail to do the album justice. The original Modern Dance was a product of a specific time and place, but to relegate Pere Ubu to the narrow historical avenue of Cleveland, Ohio, 1976 is to severely undermine the music’s staying power. If “Nonalignment Pact” were simply an appropriation of the imagery and language of Cold War political division to describe an individual’s failure to connect with others, or if songs like “Street Waves” and “Real World” were simply indictments of Midwestern industrial decline, they would hold little power except possibly as historical oddity. But for all the discussion of the songs’ prescience and envelope-pushing, it can be easy to forget that there were songs there as well, a skeletal cohesion giving form to their body of noise. That the songs don’t shock in the same way they likely did in 1976 is no discredit to the band – while Pere Ubu’s dissonance could be bracing, there was more at work than shock value.

Annotated Modern Dance shows a band breaking free from the shackles of its own history by offering a tacit acknowledgement that the only reason it had attained such stature in the first place was through the power of its songs. And the songs are presented in as unadorned a fashion as possible. The recording is very raw, even for a live recording, and might be a turn-off to all but the most devout of fans. But the no-frills production is an excellent touch – the listener feels as if he or she is fighting to see the band through a crowd of onlookers. The performances themselves are top-notch as well, possessing an energy and intensity most bands Pere Ubu’s age would be hard-pressed to muster. It is precisely this vivacity that acts as the album’s nucleus. While there will certainly be naysayers, Annotated Modern Dance presents a band that, through tackling decades-old material, is able to add another layer of nuance to their aesthetic and to further cement their reputation rather than simply rehash the glory years.

This truly excellent video of the Netherfriends performing at a house show in Richmond on April 19 of this year was shot and put together by Graham Ohmer. We've talked about the Netherfriends before, but coming upon this video this morning was my first real experience with their music, and I was absolutely entranced. As the video depicts--with surprising fidelity, considering the circumstances of its filming--the Netherfriends have a loud, rough, but overwhelmingly melodic and catchy sound. Filling in for the lack of a bass player with keyboard drones and outstanding, funky drumming, they transcend source limitations on this video, as well as the fact that they were clearly playing in a room not designed for live music, to blow the crowd away. At one point (4:30), during a lull in the music, someone in the crowd screams, "OH MY GOD!" then babbles something indistinct. "What?" singer Shawn Rosenblatt asks into the microphone. "You guys are SICK!" the guy yells, just as the band slams right back into the song at full volume.

This video captures more than just the excellent music of the Netherfriends, though. It's also a great document of the best, most unique parts of attending house shows in Richmond. You can just feel the cramped nature of the room during the video, the way the band members and their instruments have been tightly fitted into a space that is, strictly speaking, smaller than they'd generally need. When touring guitarist Andy Molholt shakes a percussion instrument at the beginning of the video, you feel like he's going to bop you right in the face. During the most exuberant parts of the set (5:00-5:15), kids dance despite the cramped nature of the room, and the camera gets knocked around, winds up pointing at the backs of people's heads, or at nothing in particular. It's just like actually being there--you want to watch the band, but whether you'll be able to at any given moment is out of your control. You might have to just close your eyes, put your head down, and dance.

The Netherfriends were in Richmond as part of their 50 Songs In 50 States Project, an extremely ambitious year-long effort put into motion by bandleader/only constant member Shawn Rosenblatt back at the beginning of April, and which still continues to this day. The goal of the project is to write and record one song in each of the 50 states in one year's time. Having forsaken the lease on his apartment in Chicago, Shawn left for a tour that will stretch on until next spring, playing shows with whatever musicians he can find who are willing and able to make the journey with him. In the Richmond video, it was Hop Along drummer Mark Quinlan and the aforementioned Andy Morholt, but by now both have returned to their hometowns. Shawn soldiers on, currently in the company of an apparently excellent Irish drummer named Michael. Tomorrow night, they will play in Sacramento. By the end of the month, they'll have traveled across the northernmost regions of the United States, hitting Alaska, Idaho, both Dakotas, and even Montreal. After all of that is over, they'll return to Richmond as part of their October leg of shows, performing here (if all goes according to plan) on October 11. Here's hoping that they draw an even bigger crowd this time.

--

The first Netherfriends full-length, Barry And Sherry, will be released on vinyl November 8 by Chicago's Lateral Records. It can be preordered here, or obtained in digital form right now at netherfriends.bandcamp.com. Lateral will also be releasing the first EP documenting the 50 Songs 50 States Project, which will include the song that the Netherfriends recorded in Richmond.

Richmond is known for a lot of things; heaps of Civil War history, the birthplace of a bunch of seminal bands, beards, a questionably clean river, Best Friends Day & Slaughterama, a love of PBR... but up until very recently it was not known for being particularly funny. However, there are a significant amount of comedy fans, performers and purveyors dedicated to changing that and making Richmond known for people who are funny on purpose, rather than merely serving as the nation's laughingstock during news appearances. Here are nine reasons to love comedy in Richmond.

1) It's Cheap. It should be no surprise that a city that loves its PBR also loves being thrifty whenever and wherever possible. There are open mic stand-up nights and contests across the city many nights of the week, and they're all free to enter and watch. You may have to order a drink or some food, but be honest, you would have done that anyway, and all of these events will be much funnier than that episode of Everyone Loves Raymond playing on the TV in your typical haunt. On top of that, the larger shows are all much cheaper than they'd be in bigger nearby cities (DC, Chapel Hill, Norfolk, etc).

2) Just like the melting pot that is our fine city, there's something for everyone. Whether their tastes are vulgar (or really vulgar), offensive, bizarre, shocking or perverse, fans of comedy in Richmond should be able to find something they like. While most of the events aren't exactly family friendly, the variety of voices involved in the stand-up, sketch, and improv communities should provide entertainment rated anywhere from PG-13 to a very hard R. Ultimately, nothing you'll see onstage will be more shocking than something you'd see on the street any night of the week.

3) Comedy Minor Leagues: For years the Richmond Braves served as the AAA farm team for the Atlanta Braves, frequently attracting star talent on it's way into or out of the limelight. Our city lends itself well to serving the same purpose for the comedy network. Just as a number of rising stars have moved on from Richmond in an attempt to increase their visibility, others have made Richmond a regular stop after connecting to fans here. The more love and support they get, the more they'll be able to grow. We'll worry about the consequences once it's twenty feet long and costs more to feed than we can afford.

4) You Never Know Who You'll See: The rumors are true--one night Andy Dick and his son Lucas dropped in on the Buckin' Comedy Throwdown at Gibson's. The younger Dick did a short set while Andy announced Dave Marie Garland as the winner of the Throwdown. Richmond is an odd little city where you never quite know who will show up at your event, and what famous actor you might find placing a cowbell around your neck.

5) We Do Get BIG Names Too: Within the past 12 months, Harry Shearer, Tracy Morgan, Jim Gaffigan, Mike Birbiglia, Sara Schaefer & Jon Dore, and Jerry Seinfeld have appeared and performed in Richmond. In the upcoming months, Whitney Cummings, Tommy Johnagin, Doug Stanhope and Daniel Tosh are scheduled to visit the river city. The more local support existing events get, the more often recognizable names will appear. On that note, once the Facebook group to help Bring Paul F. Tompkins to Richmond gathers 300 members, Paul will make arrangements to visit Richmond himself.

6) Get your drink on. Is it a lame excuse? Sure. But since Richmonders love drinking, and I don't know of a single comedy-related show in a non-drinking facility. I find it necessary to restate the obvious: Why drink alone when you can kill two birds (and some braincells) at once?

7) Not a funny number

8) Aren't We All More Than A Little Sick Of Music At This Point? Look, I love music, and you love music. I would never go as far as to suggest that Richmond music is dead, or doesn't deserve your support, or that there are too many bands. But maybe next time, instead of seeing your friend's band play some dump for the umpteenth time, you could consider taking a walk on the wild side and seeing some live comedy instead. Perhaps the rumors are true and laughter really is good for your soul (or was that chicken soup?).

9) It's So Much Better In Person. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that most people's image of live comedy is highly influenced by TV. Whose Line Is It, Anyway? introduced millions of Americans not only to Drew Carey [Editor's note: Actually, I'm pretty sure The Drew Carey Show introduced most Americans to Drew Carey, but whatever], but also to the world of Improv, thereby spoiling many on the form forever. Trust us when we say that you need to get yourself to a live improv show to get a more representative picture of the comedy (and silliness) that goes into an improv show, and to understand how funny it can be without Wayne Brady signing all over everything. The same goes for anyone who has recently bemoaned how un-funny SNL has gotten in recent years. You might be singing a different tune if you had been in the studio audience for any of those shows. And lastly, for those watching stand-up on TV, take it from us... Punchlines work so much better when not obscured by a *BLEEP*.

Part 5/6 - Cafe Diem Open Mic Comedy Night - July 5, 2010 from Silver Persinger

Links to: RVA-Standup, 955 Comedy, Cafe Diem, Funny Bone, RVA Comedy
Occasional Venues for Comedy: The National, The Carpenter Center, The Landmark, The Hat Factory, City Dogs, The Playing Field, Strange Matter

by Hugel
Johnnyhugel.com

For more Richmond comedy check out the F-BOMB Comedy Festival at The Hat Factory next week. Day tickets and package deals are available HERE.

36 Crazyfists - Collisions And Castaways (Ferret Music)

Having been a band for over fifteen years now, it seems that Alaskan metalcore foursome 36 Crazyfists have accepted their lot in life. Downgrading from Roadrunner Records (where they were labelmates with Nickelback), who released their first two LPs, to Ferret Music, whose most high-profile current artist is Every Time I Die, 36 Crazyfists have committed to being a cult act, seeking success under the radar and avoiding the temptation of commercial accessibility. Sadly enough, in 2010, it still seems that the path to success for heavier bands is through clean vocals and pop-influenced songwriting, but 36 Crazyfists went for that exact thing with their 2002 single "Slit Wrist Theory" and were branded nu-metal for their troubles. When their second LP, 2003's A Snow-Capped Romance, came out, a friend of mine had to do a good bit of persuading to even get me to listen to it. As it turned out, I loved it, but I think even at that point, 36 Crazyfists were moving away from tailoring their sound towards commercial accessibility. Having now reached their fifth LP, they've completely rejected concerns about what will or won't get their album a high chart position, in favor of sounding like nobody but themselves.

Where A Snow-Capped Romance was the sort of emotionally-driven melodic metalcore that bands like Hopesfall and Underoath were making hay with in the early part of this decade--and don't get me wrong, it was a really good example of that style--Collisions And Castaways seems far less indebted to contemporary goings-on in the metalcore community. That's not to say that 36 Crazyfists have created a wildly original sound on this album; their influences are clear. However, what keeps it interesting and free of cliche is the way that influence is combined. The midtempo intensity of recent American metal bands, such as Lamb Of God and Chimaira, comes through on many of the songs here, especially on opener "In The Midnights." This album is unlike earlier work by 36 Crazyfists in that it focuses on heaviness, spending more time on pounding, distorted riffs and screamed vocals than it does on clean vocals and melody. That's especially true on the first half of the album, which also features the driving "Anchors." This song's verses are chugging, thrashy, like a callback to the late 80s crossover era. At other points in the same song, they demonstrate the influence of a slightly later hardcore era, alternating the occasional clean-vocal chorus with powerful mosh breakdowns that would be right at home on an early Earth Crisis record. Meanwhile, the rock n' roll groove riffs that are incorporated with heavy chugging at other points on the album might be considered reminiscent of aforementioned labelmates Every Time I Die, were it not for the fact that Every Time I Die uses these riffs to such diametrically opposed purposes. Their heavy, midtempo rock n' roll grooves are used to indicate swagger, but 36 Crazyfists use these riffs to create an atmosphere of swampy dirge, much like Pantera did on prime-era albums like Far Beyond Driven.

Even the clean-vocal sections, at least on the album's first half, sound heavy, due to the dark minor keys in which they are played. However, the more melodic sound that 36 Crazyfists have previously been known for does show up on two songs, presented back-to-back towards the end of the album. The first of these two tracks, "Reviver," appears to be the album's first single, and it is much better suited to radio airplay than most of the other tracks on Collisions And Castaways. Nonetheless, while it is missing much of the heaviness that infuses the rest of the album, it makes up for it with a powerful, emotionally-driven chorus that combines distorted guitars with an excellent, overtly melodic sung chorus, one of the few on the album. This song then flows straight into "Caving In Spirals," which has more of a ballad feel but features melodies just as powerful as those on "Reviver." These two songs combine to create the emotional centerpiece of the album. Indeed, just as singer Brock Lindow declares, on "Caving In Spirals," "Years go by and it's what I've learned, that no one's getting out alive;" or on "Reviver," "I couldn't remember what I used to be;" he screams out similar sentiments on opening track "In The Midnights:" "I wanted to believe in everything I'm after, but I was drowning in the hell that I raised." In a recent interview, the vocalist made explicit the concerns that are merely alluded to on the album. "All these years, I have been saying [that] if you quit making some of these mistakes, your life is going to change... I thought I was doing it myself, but I wasn't. I really wanted to talk about what has hampered progress for me in my life." These personal demons are given metaphorical form on "In The Midnights," as Lindow screams out, over and over, "I saw the dead rise!" But it seems he is more literally truthful when he refers to "a bottle to get by" in the song "Mercy And Grace." Collisions And Castaways is full of imagery depicting water as a malevolent, life-ending force, but it seems this may just be a metaphor for a liquid of another type.

Or am I reading too much into things? No matter. The important point is that the latest, and possibly greatest, album from 36 Crazyfists offers quite a bit of food for thought. Certainly an album for dark, difficult times, it can also act as an inspiration to move beyond personal struggles. Or failing that, it is if nothing else a heavy, powerful metallic hardcore album, one of the best I've heard this year. "We've always wanted to have a career with this," Lindow says. "[To] make music that was maybe not for everybody, but for a certain group of people [to whom] it meant a great deal." Earlier attempts by 36 Crazyfists to achieve commercial accesibility may not have been successful, but it's much more important for bands to make worthwhile music that reflects their true sound. 36 Crazyfists have done that on Collisions And Castaways, and it is that achievement, rather than any nu-metal missteps, that will ultimately be their legacy.

Richard Salcido's work encompasses the process of exhibition development by creating an 'exhibition-worthy' piece under a daily time constraint from inception to completion, and embracing the idiosyncratic qualities that unfinished pieces may include. He states that "on certain days some things come together and on other days everything seems to fall apart," but accepts each as it comes. He rejoices both in success and in failure, and finding a balance between what an artist is expected to put into creating a final piece, and what actually results. Though he often wonders why he paints everyday given he is often left with disappointment, he believes that "there is a beauty in it, because there is a beauty in failing." Drawing from an early influence in comic books and graffiti, his work features figurative, still life, and typographic elements juxtaposed with mixed media, and deconstructionist appeal, which highlights the various layers of the compositional process that he strives to exemplify within this series. - Art Whino

Megan Laurine: Tell us a bit about yourself; what are you into, what do you like to do outside of the studio?
Richard Salcido: I'm simple. I take pleasure in what to me are the important things, time with family,friends and a daily trip to the beach. If I'm not painting, I'm involved with one of those.

Megan: What do you like most about your work, and what you do as an artist?
Richard: What I like most about my work is It's honesty. I guess what I like the most about what I do as an artist is that I'm proud of all the work I do but I don't take pride in myself for doing it.

Megan: What are the first words that come to mind when you are asked to describe your body of work? Why?
Richard: In the past few years when asked what I paint I just say, 'I paint women".

Megan: What is it about your painting technique that you enjoy; what inspired you to take that route creatively; what is the process involved?
Richard: I enjoy the entire process from building panels to scratching or sanding up the painting I laid down, but honestly the scratching the work is the most fun. I enjoy that part of the process because the painting is calming and if I don't like, I can paint over it. Once I gouge into it, there's no turning back.

Megan: What other genres of art are you find yourself attracted to outside of your own style of work?
Richard: All styles. There's beauty everywhere.

Megan: Do you draw inspiration from any other artists, past or present?
Richard: Sure, so many. From comic book artist, past and present illustrators, graffiti writers, sculptors, the list is endless and growing daily. The list is long but I'll give you a few of my favorites past and present. William Bougereau, J. Scott Campbell, Phil Hale, John Singer Sargent. The painting that blew my mind when I was 12 yrs old, 'Monitor' by Franz Kline! So simple and complex all at once.

Megan: About your portraits, how do you choose your figures; how do their characters develop; are they based on people you know?
Richard: Many times they are made up faces, some from my mind and some from takinga few faces and creating new face in photoshop. When I choose a "real" person to paint I try to find someone that has some personal strength that I admire. I throw a little bit of my wifes face in every portrait.

Megan: What is the greatest challenge about choosing to represent the figure in fine art?
Richard: I haven't really found any. I was told by galleries that "people dont sell", I saw this as a challenge.

Megan: What was your goal with the conception and development of Beautiful Failures?
Richard: The goal was to show work that isn't necessarily my best. Instead of just digging through a stack of failed paintings I decided to take 25 days to do 25 paintings do the best I could on that day and show them no matter the outcome. Most of the time I set up a timer and when the timer went off I was finished.

Megan: What is something you hope resonates with every viewer who comes out to see your upcoming exhibition?
Richard: I just hope people like it for what it is, a showing of 25 simple paintings.

Megan: What has been your greatest achievement so far as an independent artist?
Richard: Five years without a day job.

Megan: As artists, we all experience the evolution of our work; what do you see yourself doing next?
Richard: I'm not sure, I see small changes in every painting. I'll let my work go wherever it goes.

Megan: Any shout-outs, words of advice, or general nonsense you'd care to share with our readers?
Richard: My words of advice, just enjoy yourself. Whatever you do.

by Megan Laurine

More work by Rich Salcido at www.richardsalcido.com
Check out DC gallery ART WHINO for more incredible street art.

Saturday, September 18th, from 6pm – Midnight

Sketching Session with live model 6-8pm
Musical Performance starts at 8pm
Complimentary Special Show Cocktail
Brought to you by our friends at Mie N Yu Restaurant

Location: Art Whino Gallery
173 Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD 20745

Show end date: October 15th
The sketching session begins at 6pm and ends at 8pm and is free. We will have special edition blank sketchbooks for sale at the show as well but you are welcome to bring your own sketchbook.
The event is FREE and open to the public.

In the fall of 2009, Virginia Commonwealth University students Emma Ellsworth, Kenyatta Watts and Nathan Madden walked into a documentary film class as strangers—not only to each other, but to the art of film-making as well. The trio quickly developed an idea, narrowed a focus and began developing an outline for their film that was tentatively expected to explore the graffiti culture in Richmond.

In the three-months that followed, the trio worked diligently to learn all they could about graffiti’s history, purpose and perception. The team had no delusions that they would create the first film of its kind, as each knew graffiti has been well documented. The only hope was to produce a film that introduced graffiti in a different light and informed audiences from all cuts of cloth about an art form that is, at its roots, controversial yet beautiful. Their final product, 'Get up.' aired on PBS in January.

Our interview with one of the three film-makers Nathan Madden…

RVA TV: What was your connection to the graffiti scene that led you to document it?
NM: Heading into this, I had zero connection to the graffiti scene. Sure, I was an observer of the tags and graffiti pieces that I had seen around town, but I was unaware about what happened behind the scenes. I was completely blown away when I traveled to secluded areas where graffiti artists had done elaborate pieces. Vandalism, illegal, whatever … the real art isn't scribbled on the sidewalks and street signs. Some of the work out there is very impressive and is being thrown up in completely harmless places. It became clear to me that the more respected and talented artists pick their spots carefully. I think the graffiti we generally see around town—with the exception of a few pieces—doesn’t really do justice to what some of these people are capable of.

RVA TV: How was it collaborating with 2 other film-makers?
NM: This film was absolutely a group effort, and not just between me, Kenyatta, Emma and Kristine [executive producer, documentary instructor]. The artists who took the time to answer our questions really made the film possible. They all put themselves out there to try and help us understand something that is just completely over our heads. I think we all agree that our film serves as a good introduction to graffiti, like a Graffiti 101, but only scratches the surface.

RVA TV: What have you learn that you did not know before?
NM: I certainly look at graffiti differently now than I did pre-film. There is still so much that I don’t get, but I am aware of elements to look for. There are certain names now that jump out at me, certain tags … before making this movie I never would have noticed this stuff. I’ve been out fishing by the river and seen names on overpasses and bridges. It’s pretty interesting to see how much these people are putting their names out there.

RVA TV: So what can we expect in the future from you?
NM: I'd love to work on more short documentaries. I majored in journalism and currently work in print, but I definitely seek out opportunities to use film to supplement writing. The film equipment we had while I was in the School of Mass Comm at VCU wasn't always the most reliable, but damned if I don't miss having access to that stuff. All I have access to now is my dated laptop that doesn't really support editing software, so the video camera my folks gave me for graduation hasn't gotten a lot of use. Like most people these days, I'm pretty broke. I certainly intend to eventually invest in a more high-powered computer so that I can edit together videos for my friends bands, cookouts, outings and whatever else I might feel compelled to splice together. I just want to take on little projects that keep my skills sharp.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO ON RVA TV