Noise Pop and City Arts and Lectures are presenting a very special conversation next Tuesday starring rock legend Bob Mould and street art icon Shepard Fairey. Here are some career highlights from the winsome pair:
This should be fun!
To win tickets, in the comments section below share your best Bob Mould- or Shepard Fairey-related anecdote. A winner will be chosen based on merit by noon this coming Friday.
I don’t have any Bob Mould-related anecdotes. But I am a huge fan, currently reading his autobiography (which I would recommend to anyone — “See a Little Light”) and I played my Zen Arcade cassette(s) so much it actually wore out. I probably wouldn’t have survived my twenties without “Hoover Dam” from Bob’s Sugar phase. I’m very disappointed that I missed hearing him DJ at Flour & Water a couple of months back (I didn’t know about it till afterward, wah). I think his new material sounds as amazing as it ever did, and I have a crazy amount of respect for his ability to age as a musician and remain productive and relevant instead of giving up/having kids/etc. Also I would really, really love to see him speak.
So like 6 years ago (when quasi-intellectual music anthropology was all the rage) I bought a Husker Dü album (zen arcade) after watching Joe Dirt (ie “Husker Düs, husker don’ts…”) and it totes rekindled my rock and roll flame….so yeah….anyways…..like 2 years ago, I remember my buddy Chris talking about Bob Mould and how he was going to start these dance parties and I was all like “NO WAY! BOB MOULD? FROM HUSKER DÜ?!” and he was all like “YEah”…apparently this wasn’t a shock to him because he kinda knows the guy and informed me that he was a bear…..and then I was all like, “Dope…”
So anyway, I went to my first Blowoff Party (I think it was a Folsom weekend), rolled my balls off, and danced like crazy…..then, the next day at the Lonestar, lo and behold, it was Bob Mould chillin on the back patio at the Lonestar with my buddy Chris….so Chris introduced me and I told Bob how much fun I had. He said “Thanks” and smiled, returned to his conversation and I proceeded to get shitfaced before the beer bust was over. And now I see him around every so often and it’s totally cool being in the same city as someone as cool as him.
As for Shepard Fairey, I’ve never met the guy, but I remember seeing the “Andre the Giant Has A Posse” tags all over Counter Strike maps in HS….but yeah….
My favorite is how Shepard Fairey is a plagarist
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm
And a total dick to his wife
http://www.tmz.com/2011/06/14/street-artist-shepard-fairey-obey-obama-hope-wife-secrets-exposed-tmz-on-tv/#.Tm_02OyfbJY
Ugh. Have fun.
Here’s another one — Shepard Fairey’s Image Problem:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/06/14/18507177.php
if you think Fairey’s use of famous propaganda art and iconic symbols in his work is an act of plag(i)arism, as if he is trying to pass off those iconic images as his own, then you probably wouldn’t have much to gain from hearing a pop artist speak.
t.hanks: You said it nicer than I was going to.
He literally took other people’s posters, put his logo on them, and then sold those posters for money. If that’s not plagiarism, what is?
Pop artists acknowledge their referents. Fairey never does until he is pilloried in the press. He isn’t commenting on them, he is stealing them.
And there is not insubstantial evidence that he doesn’t even know the history of the pieces he’s stealing. Causing him to do things like sell a Nazi-tainted image via T-shirts at Walmart and then say he had no idea the underlying image was offensive.
Really? Andy Warhol included a copyright notice from Campbell’s Soup on his silkscreens on canvas? Do show me that!
Pop artists acknowledge their referents.
Is that so? Are they required to publicize this acknowledgement lest they be thought illegitimate? “But you see, he’s not a real pop artist…he doesn’t acknowledge his referents.”
And you really don’t see anything weird in how this incident of Nazi or whatever imagery just happened to be in some work he did for WALMART? Doy.
Easy…Bob solo in New Haven at Toad’s Place fuzzing out a cover of “Cinnamon Girl”
agreed with the remarks above relating to shepard fairey. i wrote an essay about year and a half back about his “issues” with ownership (plagiarizing first and foremost, but then going on and copywriting the pilfered images) if anyone wants any more sources.
Just ask Fuct, a Fairey victim.
Fuct the ravewear company?
I went to hear Bob Mould read his new book at the Booksmith in the Haight. When he signed my book, I mentioned I had seen Husker Du at University of Washington in 1986. Bob said that Kurt Cobain was also there in the crowd.
I don’t give a crap about Fairey – but if I win tickets, I promise to take rotten eggs…
Never liked Husker Don’t, but I do have some of the old Giant shirts the thief did before WWE threatened him with a lawsuit.
Here’s a Shepard Fairey anecdote, for what it’s worth. Sometime around 2002, I happened upon a rather cool-looking yard sale in Portland, OR. The guy had piles of old concert and show posters for sale, among other piles of furniture and apartment detritus. The posters were mostly from local shows; defunct local bands I’d never heard of (he explained that he was a promoter for a time).
Lo and behold, I came upon FOUR full-sized Shepard fairey prints in the mix, each signed and dated (from 96 and 97). One of the original Andre The Giant “NY Wall” prints, two prints from the Black Panther set, and one with an Andre superimposed over a Chairman-Mao looking fellow. Skeptically, I asked him, how much? $3 each, he replied. Five minutes and $12 later I was scurrying home with the posters in tow.
So that’s that. And for all the Shepard Fairey haters, I don’t give a shit about how original they are – I think they look fucking cool. That’s all that matters.
I was interested in the early street art scene, but being from small town midwest didn’t have much firsthand knowledge or involvement. I went to DC one year to skate during spring break, and found an Obey sticker near the reflecting pool, peeled it and put it on my CD player. Even back then (like 98), finding stuff like that made you feel like you were part of something that not everyone knew about. That sentiment is gone now.
When is the Obey for Target line coming out???
Was in college in downtown Atl bought New Day Rising on vinyl when it was released.
Blew my mind. “I Apologize” and “Celebrated Summer” killed. Pre-emo-punk anthems I sing in the shower to this day.
When I moved to the Yay and visited Gilman I was amazed and delighted at how many young bands covered “Celebrated Summer”. And in Bob’s new autobio even Pete Townsend gives the song props.
I was in the pit (a mere 100yards from GaTech Tower’s dorm via tunnel under I-75) for that tour at the 688 club. Bob was bloated and pasty white and sporting a toque as the weather was nearly as cold as Minny. But to finally see them live for the first time was amazing.
After that I backtracked to “Zen Arcade” and “Chartered Trips” became my fave song for years.
And also backtracked to “Metal Circus” and “Real World” is song that often pops into my head these days when I see the Black Bloc and such around the Mission.
After the 688 show I saw them live at the UGA cafeteria(!) with frenemy Bulldog pals. Bob mentions that show in the autobio. Soul Asylum opened and was the first we heard of them.
I also saw them at Emory U outside in Fall 87 when “Warehouse” was released and they were on the verge of breakup. I was new to the MathCS dept and bonded with another newbie and went to the show and have been best friends ever since (Hi Colm).
“Warehouse” was an (double) album I hated for the first 50 listens. Then I got it. Loved it ever since. “These Important Years” should be given to every college grad / young adult.
After the breakup saw a slimmed-down Bob and fancy-dressed high-priced players for the “Workbook” tour at the Cotten Club in Atl. “See A Little Light” is a post-depression classic.
I was not the biggest Sugar fan but Ioved David Barbe’s earlier band Mercyland. And he was living my dream playing with Bob. And he deserved it so much.
And I can’t resist adding at least one url here. My fave cover of all time is “Eight Miles High” by Huskers. Just fuckn rocks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBKyBlJ_JN8
Play it loud.
“Getting drunk out on the street or playing in a band /
When getting out school means getting out of haaaannd /
Is/Was this your celebrated summer?”
…gaak99
ps. In Bob’s autobio all the music info is great, but the surprise –wow– chapter is the pro wrestling script consultant one.