I found some eye-catching posters while walking along Linden Street in Hayes Valley. They give an arresting commentary of the current local zeitgeist:
Culture
20
Apr 08
The Ghost Orchid
Ghost Orchid
After picking up coffee at Farley’s this morning, I went to Aquarius Records to browse through my favorite section of the store, Exotica/Novelty. That’s where I found The Ghost Orchid, a bizarre collection of paranormal voices and sounds recorded on magnetic tape. Curated by the world’s leading EVP researchers, these tracks are known today as examples of Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP), or the recorded voices of the otherworld.
Recordings from The Ghost Orchid range in both topic and length, from singing to multilingual responses in English, Latvian, German, or Russian. Often, the recordings are a scrambled combination of several different languages. They were captured in various methods: some came as mysterious appearances on home tape recordings; others were interruptions to public radio broadcasts; and many were direct, shockingly insightful responses to EVP researchers who engaged in dialogue with these so-called “voices”.
Superstitious folly? I couldn’t exactly tell by the cover art alone, but once I started listening to snippets, I became hooked and listened to the entire album. I heard conversations between EVP pioneers and the “voices,” who disclosed answers regarding specific individuals, events, life after death, and even their own origin.
Friedrich Jürgenson
Here’s one example: Friedrich Jürgenson, a painter/singer who enjoyed recording his own singing and that of wild birds, noted that strange noises and voices often appeared when he played the recordings back. After questioning the validity of these occurrences, he suddenly realized that they were no accident when he heard the voice of his (deceased) mother in one playback, saying: “Friedel, can you hear me, it’s mammy…”
Before I give too much away, I’ll stop here and let you pick up your own copy for review. It’s a trippy, unearthly experience which I wouldn’t want to spoil for the rest of you — especially those who are interested in field recordings and found sounds.
12
Apr 08
Yuri’s Night
A great lineup is in store for Yuri’s Night at Nasa Ames. Of note on the audiovisual side is a psychedelic drawing interface installation by Joshua Ott, Ezekiel Honig, and Morgan Packard (see screenshot above).
Other artists like Jon Tejada, Lusine, Deru, and [a]pendics.shuffle will keep the tunes going alongside all of the technological wizardry that one can expect of a Bay area geek spectacle. See you there!
Yuri’s Night Bay Area website
Upcoming.org post
27
Jan 08
Winterland.
A friend from the East coast called a few weeks ago, grousing about the so-called “Californian” attitude toward winter weather (which, as she duly pointed out, stems the lack of proper seasons in the Golden State). The weather gods must have heard us, because since then San Francisco has experienced unseasonably wet weather, complete with dark skies, constant rain showers and blustery winds.
Now I step out of the house each morning toting an umbrella, darting rain puddles on my way to work. While it was adventurous in the first week, the lingering gray weather has sparked a renewed interest in beating the winter blues with cheery color. This weekend I headed to the flower market and found some lovely quince branches to take home; their pinkish blooms instantly brightened up my day:
15
May 07
Maker Faire!
I’m excited about this weekend’s Maker Faire at the San Mateo Fairgrounds! I’ll be there to help demonstrate scratch foam printmaking with Logos Graphics. We’ll be alongside other crafters in the Craft section of the Expo hall, sharing extended workbench space with the San Francisco Center for the Book. Stroll over to say heyo, and also try your own hand at this super easy, non-toxic intro to printmaking using soft foam and water-based inks. We’ll be selling printmking kits for you to try out at home too. It’ll be a great weekend for crafting, hacking, and DIY sweetness.
