Al Tharp on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog

Go find some delightful Al Tharp clawhammer banjo at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. I haven’t listened to Tharp enough to discern the secrets of his style, but I love the heavily accented thumb-picked slides in his version of Boatin Up Sandy. (At least, that what they sound like to me…)

Thanks to Eric Hardiman for bringing this to my clawhammer-crazed attention.

10% True

I found some images in an archive from an old project of mine called 10%. The idea is to take 10 well-known (likely copyrighted) photos and slice and dice them together to create 10 new images. Fair Use laws recognize the right to use a portion of a copyrighted work under certain conditions, though that portion is rarely explicitly stated or agreed-upon. 10% takes this Fair Use provision to its illogical extreme. See the rest of the images after the break.

#2 of 10

#2 of 10

#8 of 10

#8 of 10

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Big Ears 09

I just read about the Big Ears 09 fest in the NY Times. Sounds like a great series of events, made even better by its location. Having all the concerts in Knoxville TN makes such perfect sense to those of us who have played unconventional music in non-metropolitan centers for much of our lives. I’d love to see similar events in other “unlikely” places. (Happy to see the Shakin’ Ray Levis get some home crowd love, too…)

Max Neuhaus: Sound Art Pioneer

Just heard through the webvine that sound artist Max Neuhaus has died. Neuhaus was a pioneer of sound installation work and will definitely be missed.

I remember being pleased to hear that his quasi-official Times Square installation had finally been granted permanent status. It’s invisible, sometimes inaudible, but still the best reason to visit Times Square.

Read an obit from the Houston Chronicle.

Sound Art in Geometer

Geometer Magazine has published an essay by James Wyness: Sound Art – the Politics of Representation, Truth and Listening. Wyness provides a good overview of the many art practices that fall under the Sound Art rubric with special attention given to Environmental Sound Art. A nice read–let’s hope Geometer and Wyness add links to sound files soon.

Note: sound files are here.