Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Best Place on Earth.......?


God, i couldn't resist myself on this one. the bullshit hoopla of the olympics, which keeps getting more and more expensive.....homeless rates up 373% since 2006, child poverty in BC is 1 in 5 kids living/raised in poverty, though, the number is probably higher...and so on.

i grew up poor. i mean, i grew up with a single aboriginal mother, who was 16 when she had me. sometimes, i feel like a veteran of some nameless, endless war.....lean forward and whisper into your ear.....'I've seen shit man....shit you wouldn't believe!!!"

i live in a town that until somewhat recently, has been a brutally racist place to live. indians used to get jumped and beaten, myself included, for nothing other than being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. now the racism is subtle. a little bit more anyway.

first nations people hold all the records in canada, highest dropout rates, highest rates of children up for adoption, highest suicide rates, highest HIV/AIDs rates, highest prison population male and female, most likely to die violent death, highest spousal abuse rates, etc, etc.....you get the picture.

in a land, where supposedly, we get free houses, free education, and so on.

right.

we need leaders. we don't need chiefs acting as 'politicians.'

obviously, their way of doing 'business' just ain't working.

'cause nothing has improved or changed thanks to them.

things just keep sliding.

it's enough to make a person say, "GFY!"

when you are told about the land of opportunity and the rest of that horseshit.

Friday, January 30, 2009

30 days into this project.

well, 'officially' i'm thirty days into this project.

but, really, i started this idea the first week of december, 2008.

back in a time, when i was feeling trapped in what should have been a dream job, but instead, it turned out to be a nightmare. i hated my boss. the idiotic, double take rigid, moronic rules, the obsession with 'optics', which means, 'if i see you at your desk, then i feel you are working' even though i could have been playing video games or pissing around. the negativity, it even affected my health, ( i was constantly sick!), mental health (stressed and miserable!) and every facet of my life. fortunately, i reached the end of my contract and bowed out without much of a fight. i haven't felt this good in over a year since leaving that place.

so, what that means is, do what you love. do what you are good at. too many of us, i feel just do what it takes, the means to an end. which, actually is frightening sounding when you say it slowly. means.....to.......an.......end........

i wondered what had happened to the creative things i used to do, so i started tinkering with the idea of posting something online every day for a year. it'll get my chops back up, and that way, i can at least look back at it hopefully remember some of it.

now i'm trying to figure out how to make a difference, and do something positive with my life instead of pissing it away. which i often feel i have been doing for so long.

this blog helps do that.

discotech 5


a few years ago, i took pictures for a year from my apartment window, facing east. these are just a few of the photos.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dinosaur Lives!!!


a short film i made for my son........what's better than dinosaurs fighting transformers?
my first little venture into stop motion.........

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Native Art

native art. what is it? is it trite cliched stuff? what is native music? native hip hop?
native blues? native folk?

i was wandering around town tonight, by foot and by vehicle.....and i think i have to leave town for awhile. i've just been here too long to have perspective. some focus.

some people, they fit 'in' and this town rocks for them, doors open that i've never seen open here....and i'm not sure about vancouver, i think i'll hitch east when the weather gets warmer. time for change. for perspective.

her satanic majesty's request

Sunday, January 25, 2009

burn sucker burn.....


i guess over a hundred years ago, the original kamloops indian residential school
burnt to the ground. it was constructed of wood. there are, of course, no records
of how many native children died. but, when i first worked in the current
scary, goth looking brick building. i used to hear kids playing in the halls
and see stuff all the time. weird ghosty stuff. oh, i used to work graveyard shift either drawing or silkscreening, which meant, i was hearing kids running up and down the halls playing well past midnight. i even saw the ghost of a priest or something in black walk through a room i was working in. it gave me the chills. and i packed up and left immediately.

i shouldn't say this, but a few times, some friends and i dropped acid and ran around the building peaking out, and looking for hidden passages and stuff. i can't tell you what we found. but it was creepy. i think part of you dies when you see things you aren't supposed to see. anyways, scary buildings i would be happy to see burn to the ground. of course, there are toxic levels of asbestos wrapped around the pipes in the basement, so, that's another hazard. if wasn't small pox blankets, it was asbestos. man, they really wanted to get rid of us.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

A value village find!!!


Value Village is a rip off. But, now and then, you can
find really funny/tragic native Kitschy items there.

the drum above is an example. i've also seen
native salt and pepper shakers, which, i wish
i bought. and other weird stuff.

Friday, January 23, 2009

digital art.

well, i just wanted to say, digital art is not easy. people have said, "Oh, that's not art," "why?" i asked, "Oh, because it's not a painting or whatever."
"I see." i said.
don't you hate it when you think of your perfect comeback long after the moment has passed?
Today, i didn't, here was my response.
"No art is ever easy.
I've been an 'artist' for nearly thirty years.
say it with me, 'three decades.'
there isn't anything else i like to do, but art, or music, or writing, or photography, or make movies or be.
i just think this art form hasn't received it's 'time' yet.
technology sometimes moves faster than accepted staid ideological beliefs and systems.
my friend craig hates art. he said we've all be fooled into believing a painting is art.
what about sculpture he said? or film? or? or?
ironically, i think he is curating some really great art right now.
and he challenged my own understanding of art and pushed me
to explore further the weird stuff i do called 'digital art.'

i've painted, sculpted, drawn, charcoaled, pasteled, photographed, learned musical instruments, made weird art movies and now, can finally create what i want in the digital realms.

like i said, nearly thirty years of experience flows through these veins, to my hands and out of my eyes onto a computer screen........creating worlds i want.

isn't that what art is?"

by that time, they had left and were half way down the block.

ah, i love small town life.

PRAY FOR TECHNOLOGICAL SALVATION!!!!!


i love technology. and the merging of art and technology.
the art i'm doing now, i've waited nearly 2
decades to be able to do.

ha ha.

it's my turn.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

the priest they called him....


i love this one. don't ask why. i think i got
the photo of the bishop or whatever he is
at a cathedral in victoria a few years ago...
the rest, don't ask....i've got about 25,000 personal
photos in five years......prolly more photos than that.
so, it's a surprise when i remember something
about them.......and i only remember this one,
'cause it had this weird crucifix with a bbq'd looking
jesus on it......but, that might have been in toronto at U of T...
like i said, i can't remember most pics....

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

jesus coyote does not accept your apology


the apology.

i half hoped phil fontaine was going to say 'we don't accept your apology, get off our land....'

but nothing happened.

interestingly, ol' phil was the only one out of all the skins that day, who READ his response
to the apology......the rest of the people just stood up and said what was in their hearts....

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Acknowledging our own Historic Changes on a Historic Day in History!!!! YAY!!!!!!


First Nations people in Canada had synchronous civil rights
acknowledgment wins in conjunction with African Americans in the early 1960's.

Today is historic.

Monday, January 19, 2009

How the West was Lost


a short film i did a couple years ago......i'm working
on urban coyote tv.....should be ready soon...

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

holiday song


i went for a walk the other night. kamloops seemed
extra desolate, cold and lonely that night. i don't
really know what i'm doing here, beside toiling
away in obscurity. the only other person out that night
was this girl, that i've watched waste away year
after year from some kind of drug or drugs.....that's
what i noticed about this town, it eats you alive
if you let it......

Friday, January 09, 2009

the hypocrisy of times

back in the salem witch trials, people were burned at the stake or dunked or tortured for basically no reason.

today, we have bio-engineered everything, and no scientist is burned at the stake.....

heresay.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

urban coyote


vancouver, b.c.
vancougar, b.c.
badcouver, b.c.

last time i was there, they put me up in this swank hotel
downtown on west hastings, where an orange juice was
nearly twenty bux a cup. i went there with about twenty bux.

i just couldn't believe the disparities between East Hastings
and West Hastings.....two totally different worlds..........
one is an illusion and the other a reality? or both illusions?

anyway, i was there a week, and filmed and photographed
nearly everything i could, and am working on a short film
about the trip. walking amongst all these skyscrapers, i couldn't
help but wonder what it was like when downtown was filled with
giant cedars instead of an ocean of glass......

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Jesus Coyote and Fitty Cent busking in Shibuya District, Tokyo, Japan.


Fitty had no problemo helping out his pal Jesus Coyote on a intimate club tour
of Japan and were photographed busking for fun in the Shibuya District.....

Monday, January 05, 2009

Fort Kamloops 1812


almost never got one done today.....stuck for ideas.....then i did three in a row.....weird.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

a new year...

a new year....the last one was full of all sorts of trials and tribulations....the kind i never want to repeat....this year is full of hope and promise....i think i'm just hitting my first steps in a stride...let's hope i don't trip....

i hope everyone has great plans for the coming year, and i hope they all work out....sometimes, i feel something's just gotta give and people get the break they are looking for....

as for this blog, there are three hundred sixty two more pieces to go....i've already done about forty....i've got a series of one minute movies coming up and other interesting experiments....so, i'll keep you posted if you keep coming back.....

i won't let you down......

forbidden fruit