That Subliminal Kid
Went out last night and got my brains scrambled by Dj Spooky. He was giving a lecture at the University as part of his book tour for Rhythm Science. The lecture was the a keynote of sorts for an electronic music festival going on at the U of M called the Spark Festival. I think I’m really out of practice when it comes to this whole ‘being lectured to’ business. To his acclaim Dj Spooky really knows some nice big words and has memorized some fine quotes by a lot of obscure French philosophers, mathematicians, and 20th Century architects. His presentation style at the podium and on laptops and turntables was cut-paste-remix to the point where it felt like somebody was reading Mad Libs with the Encyclopedia Britannic.

Dj Spooky remixed the lecture. I’m so used to the lecture style of; 1) welcome everyone, 2) here is my sweet hypothesis, 3) Here’s my research and arguments, 4) Here comes the conclusion, 5) Applause, 6) Q&A. Which seems rather quaint in this day and age. It’s like getting a tidy package all wrapped up in a bow and everybody leaves the lecture hall with pretty much the same package. Fast Forward to Dj Spooky who presents his materials and arguments in such a cut up manner that it becomes the work of each audience member to pull from the assault of Spooky’s material those few nodes that reference work, relationships, current attitudes and historical backgrounds that are mixing around in their head at the time when they enter the lecture hall. In the end it’s their job then to use those nodes to construct custom made hypotheses and conclusions. Probably each person walks away with their own.

I’m still not sure what I walked away with last night except for that I’m out of practice in the category of sitting through lectures. On the musical side he did play a selection from his upcoming project with Chuck D and Dave Lombardo from Slayer. It’s called ‘Drums of Death’ and sounds like some classic old school Public Enemy stuff. Dj Spooky even convinced Chuck D to rhyme in his olde style.
Also, the one metaphor that’s still resonating with me this morning is that of Googling as a new form of ‘Crate Diggin’ or ‘Diggin in the Crates’. Crate Digging of course being what a DJ does when they are in a record store searching for dusty rare records. Obviously, most blogs, including this one, are the result of crate digging via google in order to get samples that can be remixed to make your own contribution. For example here are my mostrecentfinds.

I would also like to note that after the lecture, cigars and drinks were had at Rossi’s Jazz Club where it turned out that Cynthia Johnson from Lipps Inc., the one who sang, “won’t you take me to…Funkytown“, was singing with her own Jazz Quartet. They sounded great and she rocked a nice rendition of Killing Me Softly.