Archive for March, 2007

Posted on March 31, 2007 - by dionysus

Netfound poetics

I came across this while investigating the local tribe out here in Seattle.

In deep appreciation of those who shine…
…I raise high my glass of wine.

A patient smile can win you kin from strangers who have walked the mile to join the game. You tame the troubled, drifting hearts who wonder at the omniscient sifting. Cold lifting as the spring winds blow clouds to sun and sun to rain and rain to pleasant daytime pollen. Brown leaves whisper the names of the fallen.

I bow lower each moment the circle grows.

Who knows when the weaves will link and mind will mark the pass of time, reflecting on the craft of cosmic rhyme that brought us here to clear and climb.

from
• the Journal of Osiris Indriya

Posted on March 30, 2007 - by dionysus

seattle psytrance itinerary

In a rare display of non-insularishness, I have departed New York City for a week in the Pacific Northwest.

Seattle is to be my primary urban home while I am here. Fortunately, this urban center is also home to many vibrant aftercultural communities, a few of which are hosting events during my stay.

• First off is The Celestial Phool: A Phurst Church Of Phun Experience.
  

  In 1971 Wavy Gravy, the infamous Merry Prankster, Woodstock Music Festival emcee, and activist/humanitarian clown, phounded the Phurst Church of Phun (PcoP) as a secret society of clowns dedicated to ending the Vietnam war through humor-based social activism. PCoP “services” were held quietly every April Phools day to honor the archetype of the wise Holy Phool and to keep alive the philosophy and spirit of Crazy Wisdom by practicing the dada-istic art of seducing divine synchronicity phrom out of chaos.

• On Sunday night I’ll catch up with the weekly Zen Circus, an underground art event put on by Infinite Connections and Buddha Bar.

Both events are ‘specially blessed by the happy coincidence of the Fools Day, April 1st. I flew out to Seattle in the spirit of the Fool, so will hopefully fall under the benevolent gaze of this weekend’s patron archetype.

Posted on March 25, 2007 - by dionysus

visually appealing

Saturday night’s party at CoSM was great fun. The 28thday community turned out in numbers for what was expected to be an informal inaugural event. No meditation space, sacred chapel, live painting, or intellectual discourse — just community dancing, music, home-brew art, and home-made cupcakes.

Gosha, Tony Unorthodox, and DJ Pena all proved that they play progressively. Coral and Kife controlled the lounge space.

 

Visual Alchemism made its first attempt at public video projection. Inspired by the Dreams in High Fidelity projections at Psynoptic Shift, Alchemism’s venerable flock of electric sheep provided a apparently-entrancing spectacle.

Framed artfully by classic psy deco from Mordechai Schulgasser (aka KC).

Reian’s professional eye caught some amazing images, and he had them up and publicly viewable within hours of returning home. (I wish the same could be said of the pictures from the loft party last month. But those photographers are a lazy and shiftless bunch — myself included)

Other media types (movies and mp3s) will be here, when and if they should appear.

• Link (Reian’s party pics)

Posted on March 23, 2007 - by dionysus

28thday joins alliance with alex grey's CoSM

A promising alliance between two of NY’s psy tribes was announced earlier this week.

In a secret midnight ceremony, 28thday producer Theo was sworn into the extended CoSM family. Details of the ritual are of course secret, but rumor has it that the sacrifice of a soy-substitute chicken is demanded, as well as certain oaths taken in the presence of patrone Alex Grey himself.

What this means in reality is a residency for 28thday; a place for events big and small, unconstrained by the avarice of commercial land owners.

Marking the occasion was a psy party at CoSM Saturday, 3/24/07 featuring Pena from Portugal.

Posted on March 20, 2007 - by dionysus

beat, hippie, zippie, raver; a concise history

Here is a podcast of the talk Fraser Clark gave at Stanford University, explaining the evolution from beat to hippy to zippie to raver. Adopting our social model, he posits, is perhaps our species’ best hope for a sustainable existence.

• Program Notes at The Psychedelic Salon

Posted on March 15, 2007 - by dionysus

worldspirit

Visionary artist Alex Grey and psychedelic violinist Kenji Williams collaborated on this multimedia experience, a fusion featuring poetry, storytelling, music, projections, and paintings.

linkage
• Found via Entheogenic Reformation)
• Worldspirit retail DVD

Posted on March 10, 2007 - by dionysus

Boston/NYC video partylink

Us technical gnomes in Boston and New York have set up a video link between the simultaneous parties. We’ll be able to say hi to our trance neighbors up in the north,or taunt them, flirt with them, or whatever.

On the Boston side, our video signal will be fed into the VJ’s mixer, where he will be able to manipulate the imagine and project it on the walls. As a video artist I am notquite so sophisticated, so expect to see their image projected as-is in the back room of the loft.

I’ll also be capturing some footage of Spot’s 25-foot projections. Depending on the quality of the footage, and what technology turns up, I’ll either post it here in movie form….or stream it live over the web.

Posted on March 6, 2007 - by dionysus

the Projected Psychedelic Electric Sheep art-loft party

On Saturday the 10th of March the NYC underground was treated to a classic art loft party of a kind not seen since Gulliani transformed this city into the dour place it is today.

As we previously mentioned, the electric sheep and their shephard Spot Draves debuted in New York back in January at the Ethnocentric Salon at CoSM. The exhibition engaged an at-capacity crowd at Alex Grey’s Chelsea gallery and sanctuary. It was a digital symposium featuring the hi-fi dreams variant of electric sheep, followed by a dialogue between the visionary artist and the visionary programmer. The curious came to see the sheep and the famous sacred art, then stayed amazed and danced until morning.

It was the first taste of psychedelic trance for many of New York’s counter-cultural elites.

Out of that night comes this non-commercial multimedia event. Spot’s electric sheep will be cast large on the walls while we dance to progressive psychedelic trance mixed artful across the span of ten (or so) hours. Three psy headliners are flying in from Sweden this Saturday — Reefer Decree, Ibojima, and Christer.

The remaining… eight-or-so hours of music will be provided by DJ’s Dave Henshaw and AmmonEP, from the Boston-based Sonic Beating psytribe, and Lauryn and Tony Unorthodox, standing for 28thday and NYC.

• listen to meltburn by Reefer Decree

 

No true multimedia art party would be complete without the chance to play with fun technology. In this case, an A/V chat will link the two psy parties in Boston and NYC. Perhaps also a webcast of the video projection, should the tech gnomes and I happen across a cam worthy of the task. More on that as the date approaches.

All that is publicly known for now is that it is somewhere in Queens. This is a private exhibition so, if you want to attend, you will need to email shift@28thday.com or purchase a ticket directly from the 28thday site. In this spirit, the location will remain a secret until Thursday night, at which point RSVPs will receive full directions.

Psynoptic Shift: 11PM – 8:30AM, $20 in advance, $25 with RSVP
• event information – psyNY
• Dreams in High Fidelity
  

“It is winter proper; the cold weather, such as it is, has come to stay.
I bloom indoors like a forced forsythia; I come in to come out.”

Anne Dillard

[UPDATE] 3/20/07: Still not much in the way of memorabilia. Check back later.