War Photographer

I just watched a Swiss film called War Photographer by Christian Frei, about US photographer James Nachtwey. "Every minute I was there, I wanted to flee. I did not want to see this. Would I cut and run, or would I deal with the responsibility of being there with a camera?" asks James Nachtwey in the film. The photo above he took in Chechnya. Check out Nachtwey's gallery here.

It is a film that any journalist should watch. Anyone working in a conflict zone: exotic or domestic. It reminds me of a 15-year-old from a rich Jewish private school, whom I met taking photos at The Block in Redfern, Sydney. Some days later I invited him for a coffee, and was amazed by his photos of Redfern he brought along. "I want to be a war correspondent," he told me, "and this is Australia's war zone." One day I'll look this guy up again. One day soon I hope my writings I did to accompany his photos at the time, can be published in some shape...

On my wall, I always have stuck these words:
"You have to understand and accept the dignity other people, and share their needs. But it is never enough, to only risk your life. What is most important is the respect towards other people, about whom you are writing."
from Ryszard Kapuscinski, Die Erde ist ein gewalttätiges Paradies

Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies

A friend who plays in a Russian criminal band, emailed me saying he enjoyed the Mexican 'La Cervecita' joke on this blog (scroll down to find it). I asked for something alike, from Russia:

"Little Ivan comes home and asks his Mum: "Am I Russian or Jewish?"
"What! Why do you ask?"
"I'm feeling very confused. Igor next door got a new bike for his birthday, and I can't decide whether to bargain with him, buy it from him, and then sell it for a profit; or just steal it and break it."

For an illuminating look at the apparent Russian attitude towards capitalism, read a story called 'Salt' in Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies by Ken Kalfus.

for MUSIC go to dialect-ic.blogspot.com

To prevent music, Dialect-ic & sakamoiz take over this ChaleChole blog, a new blog has been created at http://dialect-ic.blogspot.com. If ya into beats, rhymes, glitches, scratches, mashes and the latest Dialect-ic playlists, sakamoiz gigs, hypes - you now have another site...

clicks/beats/scapes/states :: Crash@Inflight

Hobart's first multilingual dancehall showcase event LINGO, started with a 100% dub gig the next night. Then it was only pumpin' booty shakin' events. But now the ambient/electro/experimental/dub nights are back at Inflight, and they are known as CRASH. Costa Rican born DJ Hot Property followed a reggaeton-hiphop LINGO set with his own original beats the next night at CRASH, although he holds several Melbourne residencies as a DJ, this was the first exposition of his original work in over a year. Brendan Palmer provided a visual&sonic showcase of his 2003/4 Melbourne club: environ. Inflight is Hobart's only artist run gallery space, and has now become an even more important cultural hotspot on the island of Tasmania. Stay tuned for upcoming events by joining the Uber_Lingua mailing list...

Dirty Laundry :: warehouse party flyer

Speaking of flyers, there should be someone archiving e-flyers. I might as well start now. The easier it is to send information, the more disposable it becomes. Deleted with click. E-flyers also make it possible to be invited to raging underground warehouse parties in far away cities, even when there is no way of ever making it to that party. This is the case with this flyer and the photo-map sent to me by the lovely Ida & Vlad. Indeed, Australia has a lot of dirty laundry that needs to be cleaned, and the type of people looking into that are most likely to be living in the grubbiest parts of Sydney such as St. Peters...

Terraphonic Sound System

Silence on this blog, means all the more noise in my engagements with music. 2006 is building up to be a huge year, and I'm involved in gigs in Tasmania, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and hopefully Brisbane.

But before I announce these tours, I wish to pay my respects to my home island's Terraphonic Sound System - especially their 'Weld Benefit Gig' flyer. I'm gonna make sure I get a hoodie with that design, highlighting the continuing killing of Tasmania's ancient forests - home of the last large remaining tracts of temperate rainforest.

www.terraphonic.org