I vividly remember seeing DJ Spooky for the first time at the Knitting
Factory in NYC. He was the opening act for a sax player from the
legendary Sun Ra Arkestra (note to self: I need to do something on the
Sun Ra Arkestra later and who the heck was that sax player? Was it
Marshall Allen?). I was skeptical of any musician that started
his pseudonym with the letters DJ. I understand the significance
and relevance of DJ which has become as common as MC or Mr. (I prefer
Professor) for that matter, but I guess I just worried I’d have to
prepare myself to watch some dude on stage with turntables and an
insistent scricketee, scratch, scratch. But that’s not what we
got. DJ Spooky wasn’t mixing this night, he was playing standup
bass with a band consisting of drums and moog. He wasn’t exactly
a Mingus on the bass, but he played in a uniquely, jazz/hip hop/funky
way, as if the bass were a turntable.
Spooky’s latest project is political in realm. He’s tackled the
controversial, racist film from 1915 by D.W. Griffith, Birth of a
Nation. This was the silent film (praised by that ‘other’
promoter of democracy and so called ’self determination’, President
Woodrow Wilson) that glorified the KuKluxKlan. I’m kicking myself
for missing his live performance at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in
SF a few weeks back. He had the film playing as a backdrop to his
composition.
Thanks to John Hell for the link.
DJ Spooky : Rebirth of a Nation (excerpt)
Real Player Sounds here
Wilco rocked pretty gosh-darn hard at the Greek Theater in Berkeley on
Heads up to Will Georgantus whose music comes under the name of 