FRANK 19: Maharishi's Disruptive Pattern Material by Frank151

Disruptive Pattern Material

Mode2

100

Skip Diorama

Barefoot Doctor

102

Norbert Ninja

Urine Therapy

104

Toby Ziegler

Spider Man

110

Vox Pop

Zoltar Dreaming

116

Mamis in the Mist

Bonsai Forest

126

Surrender to UNKLE

Delicate Filth

128

The Scratch Perverts

Peace Cranes

130

Jaguar Skills

Space Invader

132

U.K. Pirate Radio

Plastic Idols

135

Inspired Skateboards

Camo Toys

138

Visual Kidnapping

Alfrex

142

Natural Camo

Michael Lau

Figure Customisation

Founding Publishers: Publisher: Creative Director: UK Guest Editor in Chief:

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FRANK is published quarterly by Frank151 Media Group L.L.C. “Frank,” “Frank151” and “Frank151.com” are trademarks of the Frank151 Media Group All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.

Camouflage patterns can be seen everywhere these days â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on the uniforms of soldiers, in the collections of high fashion houses, and more generally on the everyday clothing of civilians throughout the world, however, it is often forgotten that these designs are inspired by shapes and colours that have evolved in the natural world for millennia. Now, after a decade of research, DPM Disruptive Pattern Material will be the most comprehensive book ever released on the subject of camouflage. Compiled and published by Maharishiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hardy Blechman, DPM is a 944-page encyclopaedic art book that charts the history of camouflage, illustrated with over 5,000 images and split into three very different sections. Throughout this unique book a strong anti-war sentiment is expressed as DPM challenges perceptions about the militaristic, aggressive associations of camouflage and seeks to remind people of its natural origins and aesthetic beauty.

NATURE The story begins in the natural world with the colours, markings, and deceptive techniques that have evolved in the plant and animal kingdoms. Explanations are given of spectacular phenomena found among land and aquatic organisms such as disruptive patterns, mimicry and countershading. This section celebrates the diversity of camouflage in our surrounding environment and highlights how humans have, in fact, learnt most of their camouflage tricks from the natural world.

MILITARY An original take on the development of military camouflage is presented in the second section of DPM with an emphasis on the crucial role that artists played in translating protective colouration and disruptive patterns from the natural world to the uniforms and machineries of war. Many artists were conscripted during WWI and WWII and put to work camouflaging troops and equipment. Since then, camouflage patterns have become strongly associated with armed forces around the world and, unfortunately, the atrocities they commit. Militaries continue to issue uniforms with new camouflage patterns even though they are useless in hiding from electromagnetic sensors on today’s battlefield.

CULTURE DPM, for the first time in print, thoroughly documents the rise of camouflage outside of the armed forces in the work of fashion designers, painters, sculptors, graffiti artists, graphic designers, costumiers, architects, musicians, film stars, toy designers, and many others. This third ‘Culture’ section shows how, through continued reinterpretation by civilians, camouflage is increasingly being detached from its military associations and often being reconnected with its natural and artistic origins. DPM explores how camouflage, like denim before it, has gone through a dramatic change in symbolic value. In some cases the camouflage pattern has become as innocent and commonplace as the floral print.

MILITARY CAMOUFLAGE PATTERNS OF THE WORLD This 224-page supplement (only available with the UK edition of the book) is an exclusive guide to the designs used on the uniforms of 107 nations around the world. This is the most extensive guide of its type ever published. It includes full colour pictures of troops in uniform and swatches of patterns past and present as well as a chronological account of each country’s use of various designs. Details are given of the key camo stories such as the development of: the Vietnamese ‘tigerstripe’ patterns, the British ‘DPM’ pattern, the US ‘woodland’ pattern, and the recent digitised designs of the Canadian Army and the US Marine Corps. The extended UK edition of DPM Disruptive Pattern Material (ISBN: 0-9543404-0-X) published by DPM Ltd costs £100 and is now available directly from www.dpmhi.com. The US edition of DPM Disruptive Pattern Material (ISBN: 1-55407-011-2) published by Firefly Books Ltd costs $125 and is now available from all good booksellers in the USA and Canada.

Mode 2 would like to dedicate this article to the memory of James “DJ” Leacy 10/05/1971-10/14/2004 R.I.P. Kay One: When and how did you start writing? Mode 2: I first picked up a can of spray paint during the early summer of ‘84, having been trying my hand at drawing letters on paper a bit earlier than that. I remember even doing wildstyle-esque letters with enamel paint on a couple of grey and navy-blue Nike windbreakers for this crew called “Street Rockers” in Covent Garden. The scene was on such a buzz during that early summer, even before Subway Art, Breakin’ (Breakdance in the UK), and Beat Street. We had Tim Westwood on LWR every wednesday night, Spats on Saturday from midday until three, then of course Covent Garden itself, Leicester Square at night, and the underground walkways around Charing Cross station, especially the bit by a restaurant called The Tappit Hen, as it had the dark glass in the reflection of which guys were practicing their dance-steps. Scribla was a dancer then with a guy later known as Mc Duke, and my brother and I had seen their crew dancing since the previous autumn. I only discovered he was a writer when he caught onto my drawings and told me how he had got busted for doing a piece under the Coliseum, and was on a year’s probation. He’s the one that got me to use spray paint.

Kay One: You moved to Paris in the mid eighties, how did you link with your crew?

goal being to unite the writers with the most skills in one crew.

Mode 2: I moved to Paris at the end of March ‘87 to work at a computer graphics company partly. I had been coming to Paris since two years before though, to meet, then paint, with Bando and Step h in May ‘85, then back with Pride in June, then with all The Chrome Angelz in July of that same year. Bando had been a rival that Scribla and I met in Covent Garden in April ‘85, and we were so impressed by each others’ work, that we got down with his crew while he did the same with ours. That’s how the London-Paris connection got set up. We did most of our painting together until ‘87, when Bando and Steph had a falling out, Pride and Scribla had gone back to Art College, and I was out in Paris painting mostly with Steph. I didn’t last long in computer graphics, as the technology was so primitive then, while we were going out tagging or doing tracksides and pieces.

When we met Bando, we became down with his crew Bomb Squad 2, which he subsequently change to Crime Time Kingz, as he incorporated TCA, and cleared out some other dudes who were in Bomb Squad 2. He was a bit ruthless that way, but that was the thing then, who had the crew with the most skilled writers. The illegal side was almost secondary to the talent. The competition in Paris then came from the Bad Boys Crew, with Jayone, Saho (Ash), and Skki, as well as another crew called the Buccaneers. Not taking anything away from those in London who were beginning to hit steel hard, and were just up a lot, Haze 115 (Karst) springing to mind. Style wise we were a bit bored, as we fed off of each other in TCA, and progressed really quickly, each developing his own style that got subsequently bit by other crews. That same summer of ‘85 we saw the pieces from Shoe, Jan, and Jaz along the Paris riverbank and, sure enough, when we hung out to see if they would come to look at their pieces in the daytime, we hooked up; total chance meetings, but we really sought each other out back in the days, looking for competition to burn. Shoe had been given photos and pointers from Dondi, and was consequently really advanced, and he and Bando clicked. Bando started on regular trips to Amsterdam from the end of ‘85 or beginning of ‘86, and there was a strong CTK connection set up there. Delta came to Paris in the late spring of ‘86 with Jezis, and Angel was more or less holding it down for the characters while I was in London, back at school, but trying to keep busy. Steph came over and did the graffiti with me on the Smiley Culture tour that October.

Kay One: Tell us about this European connection around CTK with writers from Sweden (Disey, Ziggy) and the Netherlands (Shoe, Angel, Delta, Gasp). Mode 2: I first met up with Scribla in summer ‘84, and then we hooked up with Zaki, Eskimo, and Zerox (Kev One) in the autumn of that year. They were known as “The Trailblazers”. I remember seeing Pride, this big, intimidating dude, painting at this jam on the South Bank, 3D from Bristol was also painting that day. Danny Francis, the dancer was painting a “Glidemaster” memorial piece with Scribla and me, as he had just passed away around that time after a motorbike crash. We really wanted Pride to be down with us though, as he was the most talented writer from London that we knew. When he finally joined, we founded The Chrome Angelz, our

When there was UK Fresh ‘86, loads of Hip Hop heads came to London from all over

Europe, and important connections were made there, especially with Scandinavia. I went to Copenhagen in August ‘86, and spent a day or two in Stockholm, where I ran into the most unlikely duo; a half Swedish, half Japanese guy going by the name of Disey, and with him this blond Swede called Ziggy, both with hair down to their waists, the Stockholm style of back then. When I went back to Stockholm at the end of November ‘86, I had to hook up with them, and they really had skills too, Disey having incredible outline control. They were burning then, but we together were also partying too, like crazy, getting up to all types of mischief. Bando was making regular trips to Amsterdam and New York; CTK becoming THE crew with all the connections. We’ve been thinking on how to write a book about the flow and spread of style from one guy and one place to another during that era, as so much was laid down in such a short space of time. Kay One: How would you describe the style of your crew and why has it been so ripped off by a lot of writers, especially in France? Mode 2: I was the youngest between Zaki, Scribla, into CTK, Danny, Pride, and myself. Even though someone like Danny was more of a dancer, he could draw, and most of our inspiration came from people like him, from the Mighty Zulu Rockers, from DJs like Cosmic Jamm, and the other guys hanging around Covent Garden. We had all developed styles and personalities as individuals, and shared everything style wise, as we knew that the other crew members would turn that into something of their own and new. We had not so much documentation and only really had each other, but we were really motivated by this brotherhood in style. This gave us each a unique direction that other crews had a hard time compet-

ing with, as they had perhaps each only one “stylemaster” and pace-setter in their midst, names like Juice or State of Art. So people would come and shop for style at TCA, picking whose style fit best with their own taste and personality; that’s why we went to Paris. Our arrival in Paris brought new directions to the game, as we shared ideas and letters with Bando, and I pushed my characters further still, since I was basically employed as “the character dude”. Still, there were quite a few of the simple letter pieces of Bando’s that had my original pencil outlines on paper; but he was the man as far as how many drawings you could pump out per day. Anything he put his mind too, he’d take it all the way, and further still. The impact of Spraycan Art is what really set it off, even though many had been trying to get close to Bando’s style, save for the crews that I was talking about earlier. Guys like Darco FBI were also heavily influenced I think, and the Stalingrad Hall of Fame became THE place to paint in Europe, and Bando’s distinctive letter-science was exported eastwards and southwards. So much seemed derived from what he was setting down as being “European” style. As for me, I got more into letters as I painted less with Bando, but was aware of what went on with the younger crews, and the tag styles evolving in Paris then. By the end of the ‘80s I was doing styles developed by thickening tags which a lot of other writers picked up on. Even if I was inspired by others, I would make it my own interpretation, and would rather lead than follow. Kay One: A lot of writers got inspired by the way you work to the point that we get confused sometimes, do you think that they don’t know the rules of biting, compared to way back? Mode 2: There was a time when you would

show up to Covent Garden on a Saturday, show your blackbook, and get so dissed and laughed at if you had stuff that looked like someone else’s, that you would have to go back and find your own. Biting was such a humiliating thing to do then, and nobody wanted to get pulled up on that. Since the fanzines in the early 90s, and the websites and jams and all that, people started to get into biting to such a degree that no one seems to care that so much looks the same, and that we don’t have the richness and diversity of the mid ‘80s. If you’re not in that crew, you can’t use that style, that’s it, period. That’s what made things evolve so incredibly on the New York scene, where people were always fighting to be more original and come with something new. Things would get sorted out physically or violently back then anyway, if heads started to break the rules. People were getting hurt for more trivial stuff anyway, so imagine if you were biting style from a bigger crew than yours! I see the same thing in graphics, in the bboying, and on wax also; people are incessantly using other people’s stuff, and not even acknowledging where they bit something from; check out how Delta’s style got ripped by people like Daim for instance! Find your OWN shit, dude; but once you feel like you’ve moved on, don’t act like it never happened, as there are a lot of people alive who do not forget, OR forgive for that matter. Kay One: Tell us about the good old days in Paris around ‘87, with the hall of fame in Stalingrad, the other crews like BBC and then the second generation of writers coming around the late 80’s, early 90’s, no regrets? Mode 2: My main regret was the coming of Boxer because he had a truck that allowed us to go and rob paint further and further out, as the Paris stores got hotter. Stalingrad was

THE place, as I said before, and I STILL get on with the BBC guys, even though we were bitter rivals before. You just have respect for guys who have constantly evolved and adapted, and remain somehow at the forefront. Many guys came along in our wake, biting any of those first pioneers a bit like with TCA back in London before. I know that, after doing workshops with younger writers towards the end of 1990, many people did pick up on what I was showing them then. I don’t think there had been up to that point, open talk and advice being given to younger writers on how to grasp style quickly until then. Looking back on it, they were pretty lucky to get one of those who had to learn the long way to teach them all these shortcuts. I think that our long way is what has also contributed to the longevity of many of those from my generation. Kay One: You got involved in a lot of jams all over the world like B-Boy summit and many others, what keeps you so motivated? Mode 2: I went to the B-Boy Summit in ‘96 and ‘97, but I’m still heavily involved with Battle of the Year, being part of the committee that makes decisions on which way it should be going, as well as doing the posters continuously since 2000. I have great faith in Thomas, the guy who started it all out, as well as Storm and Crazy, who devised our Excel-based judging system. Though not a b-boy myself, the best of them have always inspired me, as I see a parallel in our struggle to be original and stay ahead of the game, while keeping that sense of duty to the history and those that came before us. I feel that b-boying should find its own way to stand alone, and not be relying on rap videos for the best dancers to earn anything near decent, when you consider just how much they put into their art. The idea of trying to pass on the blueprint

of Hip Hop in as open and freeform a way as possible, while remaining linked to its roots, is what keeps me motivated for certain jams. The chance of being able to make a novice discover this whole universe, away from all that is preformatted for economic or other reasons, feels almost like a duty. It just landed on us in the early 80’s, and was so open to interpretation. There were no magazines, music videos, DVDs, websites, or graffiti stores; you just made it all up in as close a way to what little idea you had of New York then. This allowed for such a diversity that seems to be sadly lacking today. I did the jams throughout the 90’s, as it was a chance to travel, meet new people, but also get to see friends such as Sharp or Delta (Amsterdam) in different circumstances every time. We would talk about hip hop and life in general, and share our views on the goings on of the day. When I realized that most of those organizing jams were more into it for themselves, or having their heart really into it, but being grossly incompetent or misled by what they thought Hip Hop was; I decided to chill on the whole thing. What used to be new and exciting and fresh became repetitive; the whole sense of merit for performing on a jam was gone with the advent of these massive jams where everyone was painting. It all just seemed chaotic and pointless. We’re supposed to pick out a handful of our best ambassadors and let them perform, in all disciplines; not just make it this free for all where there’s no sense of hierarchy with regards to actual skills. This is why I’m super-picky about the whole thing now, rather than falling into a routine where you show up to what seems either like an old people’s home with dudes repeating the same old tired moves, or else these jams where the motivations behind them are as naive as the look on the young crowd’s faces.

Kay One: There is a big gap between Hip Hop culture and the rap industry. Is the culture going back to the underground? Mode 2: I personally don’t think that underground can truly exist anymore. Everybody and their mum and dogs got a website now, so things get blown up way before they’re ready. With the years of the rap industry’s involvement, as well as the fall-out from all these “Pop Stars”-type TV talent shows, so many of the weaker minded just cannot resist telling their neighbor or taking some kind of shortcut that would just give the game away. We have to find today’s definition of the position of opposition that we had towards society and accepted culture back in the early 80’s. That does not mean wearing all the clothes and attitudes of then. We were constantly evolving then, so why do some heads hold onto the cosmetic side of all that like some kind of security blanket? I think that those who wish for something more wholesome will go and seek it for themselves, rather than relying on the different forms of media to bring it to them on a platter... When it comes down to it, Hip Hop is the ethos by which you can rap about how fucked up your neighborhood is, but rise above that in your lyrics and propose some path to a solution or at least a debate. (C)rap just feeds off of what is fucked up, covering shit with icing and serving it to you like dirty drugs; just creaming anything and everything you can out of what’s around you, at their expense and to your profit. I’m not saying that everything should be serious. Indeed, it requires great skill to drop wisdom about the serious shit, but with humor. If you’re not bringing me some kind of enlightenment, upliftment, or inspiration, no matter who you are and what’s your trade; you’re not hip hop, period. Kay One: After the “RATP” in Paris approach-

ing Futura to hijack posters from “Le Printemps” almost 20 years ago, a lot of people from the industry used graffiti art like they always believed in it, how did it come out? Mode 2: The industry only uses (graffiti) writing when it will bring them some plus to whatever product that they have to push. They realize the impact potential of the art form as far as certain products go, and all they need to do is find the chimp or the chump to do it. I personally only get involved with products that I use myself, and I have never helped used my art to push something I wouldn’t touch myself, such as cigarette companies, the petrol-chemical industry and so on. Our full potential has rarely ever been used by the clients; the rare occasions being the CK1 bottles by Delta, Espo, and Futura for instance. This is why it’s great to have the connections we have with companies who’ve collaborated with us on numerous projects over the years; the foremost of course being Sartoria, in Modena (Italy). What the clients don’t have the balls to do is where we actually start devising new projects, ideas, or directions with partners like Slam Jam. I have no faith in “the industry” and live by word of mouth or chance meetings as far as my work goes. Even buying two pages in LeBook, with exposure on their website, has brought me no work whatsoever. Kay One: After watching writers doing their own personalized jacket or very demanded limited edition t-shirts, streetwear clothing companies started to come from everywhere, have you been working for anybody or do you still do your own tees? Mode 2: I used to do my own t-shirts (limited edition and destroying the screens as soon as the last shirt was finished!), taking them on the jams and selling them

hand to hand, just so as to have money while I was in whichever country. I’m not very business-minded, so I didn’t go about setting up a clothing label, like so many have done so in the recent years, whether they be rappers, sportsmen, or drug-dealers trying to launder their profits. I remember how buyers (meaning hip hop heads at the jams coming up to me, or guys from the neighborhood) would haggle and try to price me down, the thing they would not think of doing at the supermarket; so why me? Fair trade had better start right here! I’ve wanted to make myself a jacket with the painted back-panel, like we had back in the days, for at least five or six years. I even talked to Shoe about it, and we both said, yeah, we’d have one each for that coming summer; as if! I’m still thinking of getting something happening by myself, perhaps with two really close friends on board, but there’s so much to do right at this minute anyway. I’ve had this series of t-shirts called “I hate London”, emphasizing the love-hate relationship I have with this city, with it’s over-hypeness, it’s me-me-me attitude, and its inefficient yet expensive infrastructures such as public transport. This series has been ready since 2001, but the samples are sitting in boxes since the Santa’s Ghetto thing we did with Pictures On Walls, when I want to see someone on a train platform sporting it at one of those oh-so-common transport chaos moments we go through on the trains and the tube. We try to do what we can with all the designs at P.O.W., but we can’t afford to have everything out there, and the t-shirt situation’s been the same for everyone here. Kay One: How is the graffiti scene in Europe now, I see a lot of writers using those

Delta 3-D’s in their letters or doing too many backgrounds but no letters, s’up with that? Mode 2: I guess things move on and people wish to push the envelope and explore new directions, experimenting with letter-free and character-free compositions in the same way that heads bit Jonone in Paris in ‘87, calling it freestyle, when we knew that dudes who couldn’t rock letters went to hide in there. Jon himself got this from Futura and murdered it on the NY transit system, but at least he has the humility and respect to state who his sources of inspiration have been. What I don’t like is this unhealthy situation, that’s been around since fanzines like On The Run, Underground Productions, Fatcap, or Bomber Magazine in the mid-nineties, where heads are just biting style straight up, and not giving the credit where it is due. Delta from Amsterdam is of course THE individual that opened the door to direct application of 3-D into letters, on which other writers like Daim, and all those who follow that train (bandwagon?) of thought, built their careers and credibility; what’s UP with that? Back in the Covent Garden days, you’d get slated, dissed, cussed, generally humiliated by a bunch of heads laughing in your face over biting someone’s stuff! Back in New York, you’d be lucky not to suffer some bodily harm! The internet and the general distance to have to cover to kick someone’s arse makes it easier for all these biters! I remember Delta 2 from New York, who was painting with Sharp, wanting a plane ticket to Amsterdam to kick my mate Delta’s arse! I admire originality, before technique, as the latter comes so much quicker these days than when we first started out. I personally don’t look at people’s pieces that long, as your subconscious will record what’s in front of you, and the next time you’re drawing something or painting, your brain will tap into that “virtual memory” and make you do shit

you’ve seen elsewhere. So sometimes it’s not blatant conscious biting; you just find yourself reproducing what you’ve seen before. Kay One: What is your definition of a “king”? Mode 2: Somebody who’s original and has always strived to be, whose name is up wherever you go, even worldwide, someone who has style from a simple well-executed tag, as well as its placement, right up through throw-ups, simple pieces, wildstyle; whatever. Someone who, when branching out into the commercial world outside of the culture, can somehow keep this from tarnishing his writer identity by flipping some new game and adapting to “gallery-culture” with equal skill and cunning as the street or the yards. There are very few kings left in my eyes anyway, not to say that they all belong to the old school; it’s just that it’s hard to take what was part of a New York underground scene of thirty years ago, and balance that with all of today’s bullshit...

A sketch of “Kneel” is available in a limited edition of 69 prints, signed and numbered by the artist from www.picturesonwalls.com

and how to control your shot

The Barefoot Doctor BAREFOOT DOCTOR. Healer, Tai Chi Master and world famous author hangs out with Welwyn Garden City’s very own Hip-Hop playboy JAGUAR SKILLS in an attempt to help B-Boy’s who bust just way too soon. JAGUAR SKILLS: HO! So Doc, you know I’m a player, right? I mean, I get all the girls, man - I’m a super star Hip-Hop playboy the ladies love me dude...It’s crazy. But, erm, I’m wondering, what if you’re checking a girl and well, you’re coming too soon. That can be embarrassing for a Rapper, right? So what’s the deal with that? Come on Doc, help a brother out. BAREFOOT DOCTOR: It’s a kidney energy thing - and probably happening because you are such a player - all that energy you’re putting out there being the dude may be pulling on energy reserves in your kidneys, which over time depletes them. When your kidney energy is strong you can keep going for as long as you like but when it’s not, no matter how much you think you’ve got things under control, you come at the drop of a hat. Best thing to do is to squeeze and release the muscle between your legs (that muscle you would use if you needed to stop pissing part way through – Ed) 81 times 3 times a day for three days and get hold of some “Job’s Tears” (herbs from oriental herb shop) and drink three cups of tea of it dai-

ly. Alternatively get hold of some Chinese herbal erection boosting capsules off the internet which work the same way on the kidney energy. Finally, whilst in the midst of the act, be sure to breathe very slowly throughout as this puts you in command of the tempo of your mind and that puts your mind in command of the tempo of your climax. On the other hand at no time waste even more precious kidney energy worrying about it (worrying depletes kidney chi) instead forgive yourself for being human. JS: Thanks man...oh, but check it. This girl gave me the karma sutra to read. It’s like, i don’t need to read that man. Come on, I’m the mack, right? Anyway, I threw that shit out, but now I’m going out with this chick who does all that tantra sex biznizz. and it’s like, I want to impress her man. So Doc, what’s the best move? I mean, I want to pull some ol’ gung fu sex move on her. Ya know one? BD: OK, spend a lot of time being perfectly still with your glans (helmet) just inside her vaginal opening, gazing into her eyes, breathing slowly together, with one finger touching her lightly at the base of her spine. After many minutes, pull out almost completely then thrust two inches inside and hold still again as before. Then pull out almost completely and thrust four inches and so on. When you’re all the way in, remain

completely still for quite a while, pulsating inside her - at this point if she knows what she’s doing, which she probably won’t, but anyway, because it’s usually all talk this tantra business, she’ll start using her vaginal wall muscles to massage your shaft. Very important not to move and to breathe slowly now in case you come by surprise. Once you’re really settled, pull out almost all the way, then thrust all the way in and repeat at least 18 times - that should cause some serious sparks. JS: Man, you’re the don. I’ll try that one right there! Oh...oh, listen, I’m smoking a lot of ganga at the moment. Would that effect my skills in bed? BD: Yes, excessive use of pot depletes the kidney energy, which is what controls your sexual energy levels in general. You could counteract this by also drinking three strong cups of nettle tea a day (from a healthshop) and doing some kind of regular daily exercise preferably something like taichi to give your kidney region lots of movement. JS: Ah - so it’s all about the gung-fu, right? I should learn some shit, init? So Tai-Chi, that’s what those old chinese dudes do in the park, right? Hey, will I be able to kick someone’s ass with that? BD: Yes, you’ll be able to kick anyone’s ass with that with aplomb, but it does take quite a while to learn to do it properly with chi. It doesn’t use external strength, it uses the power of the mind, channeled and focused through the hands or feet, but it has an even greater benefit than just being able to kick peoples’ ass with aplomb. It also makes you healthy, balanced, calm, powerful, charismatic, magnetic, enlightened, clear, creative, damn sexy, generally wonderful, modest and humble; just like me, in fact.

JS: Shit Doc, you’re the don! Listen, before I jet, you know any pressure point’s you could press that could make some one better between the sheets? BD: Yes. In the perineum between the legs muscle just behind testicles/vaginal opening stimulates flow of generative sexual force and helps you maintain deep thrust action for longer. JS: A pressure point to make you better looking? BD: Centre of the forehead just above the bridge of the nose to relax the face which always makes you look your best. Though for real change you need to stretch the face rhythmically every day. JS: Is there one to press to make you a better emcee? BD. Sure. Just up under chin into the muscle in the direction of the roof of the mouth. This loosens the vocal chords and relaxes the throat to make the voice smoother and more fluid. JS: Thanks D. I’m sure this will change the Hip-Hop world forever! Check you soon Doc, peace! HO! BD: Ohm.

BAREFOOT DOCTOR’S new book “108 Blessings” is out now. Published by Harper Collins. Be sure to check his web-site for all your daily chi training! www.barefootdoctorworld.co.uk

Text by Matt Ckills Wee, piss, pee, golden water, transparent liquid shit, the elixir of life, or whatever you want to call it, urine is a vital component of the human being. Along with breathing and eating, urinating is what connects you with every known being in the universe. It’s a fact: everyone pisses. “I apply fresh urine daily all over my skin,” says Yoga master and urine therapist Swami Pragyamuriti Saraswati. “I also drink it two to three times a day. The first benefits I noticed concerned my skin and greatly increased my energy. That first winter I didn’t get a single cold, whereas in the past I had spent months coughing and sniffing. This led me to think that urine must have a positive effect on my immune system, so I’ve continued to experiment with my consumption of the Golden Nectar.” So you still think that consuming urine is disgusting and damaging to your health? Coen van der Kroon, author of ‘The Golden Fountain: The Complete Guide to Urine Therapy’ begs to differ. “95% of urine is water, 2.5% consists of urea and the remaining 2.5% is a mixture of minerals, salt, hormones and enzymes,” informs Kroon. “Only urea, the substance after which urine is named, can be poisonous when present in very large amounts in the blood. However, this is irrelevant in the

practice of drinking urine, as urine is not immediately put back in the blood stream. In the small amounts that urea gets back in the body, it is purifying, clears up excess mucus and has a number of specific, very useful effects. Furthermore, urine is entirely sterile after secretion and has an antiseptic effect.” “We have been told that urine is dirty,” continues Kroon, “in reality urine usually does not taste dirty. Many people who have been drinking it for some time think it tastes and smells pleasant. The taste of urine partly depends on what you have eaten and drunk the previous day. If you eat a great deal of animal proteins, use a lot of spices or drink strong herbal tea, your urine will probably have a strong taste. Also, when your body is out of balance, for example when you’re sick, urine often tastes stronger than normal. A good way in which to gradually become accustomed to the taste is to mix urine with water or fruit juices or mix a spoonful of honey into the urine.” “In general, taste is subjective. What is delicious to one person is disgusting to another. Furthermore, your taste can change in time. Regarding medicine, it is interesting to note that people are willing to ingest the most disgusting tasting drinks and pills as long as the doctor prescribes it.”

For more information on UrineTherapy check out these books.

THE HIP-HOP VIEW OF URINE THERAPY Hip-Hop Monk: “I’ve never had a full glass of urine, but I always dribble a few drops of pee into my morning orange juice. It helps me relax with pep.” DJ MK: “Nah, I’ve never heard of this practice, and I do not intend to be indulging in such a strange activity. Too many people take the piss, so why drink it?” Lewis Parker: “I wouldn’t want to do this myself, but if someone else wants to do it, it’s a free world. But really, I don’t want to be putting urine in my mouth, thanks.” Cam’ron: “I’ve never done it and I don’t think I’ll ever do it ‘cos it’s not part of my culture. I wouldn’t drink on pee, I wouldn’t put it on my skin. I think I’d break into some rash over that shit, ‘cos I don’t drink a lot of water. I drink Alizé, yo! I suppose the one place I’ll pee is on my foot. Yeah, I’ll take it to the foot. But the thing is, if it works on my foot, a complexion problem may happen, so yo, it might go on the face! [laughs] That’s what I think niggas are scared about, if this pee shit works, they might use pee for other shit! Yo, I’ll have an orange juice and pee on the rocks. [laughs] Yo, that shit is crazy. But you know, some niggas pee on their girls. I’ve never really been into that, but I did drop a teeny speck of pee on my girl and she punched me in the face! I’ve also peed the bed once and my girl was in it! [laughs]”

Interview by: Cap One

Photos by: Damian Castro

“I would like to introduce the world to my friend Charlie ‘Spider’, he has more dead bodies in his house than anyone else I know” - Cap  Charlie Seiderman is a self-taught expert in the field of Entymology.  Mr. Seiderman has explored the world high and low in search of some of the rarest insects known to man, and along the way he has even managed to discover several previously unknown species.  Frank151 sent true legend and all around head cracker Cap One on a mission up to Mr. Seiderman’s Bronx home to view his private collection of insects from all around the globe, and learn more about how camouflage is found throughout nature. Cap: What on earth got you interested in collecting spiders? Seiderman: Well going to the museums, the old Hall of Insects and Dr. Gersh, who used

to work there, and Alice Grey from the Museum of Natural History, but mostly my friend Arthur Bordus -- the original spider man. I went with him on the February ’76 expedition to southern Venezuela and northern Brazil, we covered over 4,000 miles and we rediscovered the Black Widow on the Brazilian border, Latrodectus Curocariensus. His dream was to find the giant spider Theraphosa Blondi, and I did one better than that, I found the largest and heaviest of that type plus a new species, Pseudotheraphosa Apophis. Cap: Where have you traveled to? Seiderman: I have been to 36 of the American states, the rain forest in Puerto Rico three times and Trinidad once and I’ve been on 15 expeditions to the Amazon – south Venezuela and northern Brazil. Cap: There are a lot of colorful butterflies and beetles here, can you give me some insight as to the way some of these creatures camouflage themselves? Seiderman: There are insects and arachnids that imitate plants and you have plants that imitate insects and arachnids, so it works both ways. Sometimes you get yourself in an area at night with a headlamp and you are looking around and it is hard to tell the plants from the spiders. Cap: What is the name of that butterfly (pointing to a preserved butterfly)? Seiderman: It is an Owl Eyed butterfly. It is a type of morpho. On the other side it has the blue luster, the iridescences. But when it feels threatened by a predator it turns to the other side and opens up and shows the two, what it looks like, owl’s eyes and they think it is a bigger animal than it is and they back up.

Cap: Can you tell us why each insect has such different colors? Seiderman: You have to remember there are more insects than any other animal on earth and there are more beetles than any other insect. So the varieties are endless. The males have to attract the females and so they usually are more colorful. It also depends on the species and region. They have dead leaf butterflies that fall on the ground and show the other side of their wings and look like a dead leaf to avoid being eaten by a bird.    Cap: You want to talk about some of your beetles? Seiderman: I have my long horn beetles from South America. Big Goliath, Mega Soma, Atlas and Hercules beetles. All the ones from the new world I captured myself. This one in the middle is a Hercules Dynasties I caught myself and I caught all of these except these five and they are Goliath beetles from Africa. I had traded with my friend Charlie Miller who used to go on expeditions in Cameroon. Cap: Can you tell us what the vision is like for a spider? Seiderman: Actually spiders can only see about an inch or two. They have eight simple eyes. Two large posterior eyes and six smaller ones; they can only see a short distance. They have hairs all over their body that are very sensitive to wind. They can hear you long before you can see them. Cap: I am interested in the Walking Sticks you have over there. I’d like to light that one up right now and smoke it. It looks like a joint to me (laughing).

Seiderman: These are from the Pasmid group and they look intimidating but they are really harmless, they are vegetarians, they are found on plants. You can see as far as camouflage they have spines all over their body and on the plants that they stay on they are virtually invisible unless they move.   Cap:  Tell us about some of the most vicious insects. Seiderman: The Pepsis Wasp, they call it the Tarantula Hawk and they actually go out and they sting a spider, drag it back into its borough and lay an egg on it and it actually eats it alive while it is paralyzed. I was stung by one and my hand blew up like a balloon, it was very hard, itchy, and painful. I was talking to people in the Museum of Natural History and they said as far as pain intensity, the Pepsis Wasp is one of the highest. The most feared thing in the jungle is not what the natives call el tigre. It is not a crocodile or piranha but the army ants. They come through in a column like a mile wide, maybe ten miles deep and they just come through. When the natives are in the ants’ path, they leave the villages and they let them come in and clean up the huts and eat everything. They can literally eat you alive. They can fly, they can sting and they can bite. If enough get you, they form an acid poisoning and they will literally eat you down to the bone. Cap: Speak to me about the tribesmen in Venezuela and how they camouflage themselves before they go on hunts. Seiderman: They mark their bodies and look like the jaguars down there and some of them actually tattoo their bodies permanently. Plus some put things in their

lips coming out almost looking like cat whiskers.   Cap: Can you share your story about fishing with the natives? Seiderman: I had told him that I didn’t bring any fishing poles or reels and indicated what I was doing down there with gestures. He knew what I meant. He says no you catch them with your hands and he showed me how you keep your hand very still and you put these things in your hands that would attract these fish. They will eat out of your hand and you can grab it from under the gills and throw it back onto land. They taught me how to fish with my hands; they also showed me how to extract a giant spider out of its borough with a stick.   Cap: What are your ambitions for the next expedition? Seiderman: I’d like to go into the holes of Sarisariñama. It is on top of a plateau in a part of southern Venezuela. It consists of giant caverns that go into the Earth; it is a depression, 1000 feet wide at the mouth and 1000 feet deep. There have only been 12 people, as far as I know, who have set foot in this place and no one has stayed in the holes over night. I plan to stay there for seven days and check out the nocturnal life down there, you know the spiders, centipedes, and scorpions that come out at night. And whatever is on top of this plateau will be found no where else on earth and this is what I am planning on doing.   Cap: The only way I would go down there is if I had a space suit.   Sir Frank would like to wish Charlie Seiderman good luck on his future expeditions.

All Photography and Artwork By: The Zoltar Posse

Photography By: Sue Kwon

In his exhibition The Collector â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Works on Paper, British-born, Brussels-based artist Tom Gallant has combined the Eastern fine arts of origami (paper folding) and kirigami (paper cutting) with the filth of Western pornography. The exhibition includes 1001 Origami Cranes (arranged in a way reminiscent of a beaded curtain in a Soho sex shop) and 108 Moths (kirigami pieces arranged in a grid formation), all made from pornographic magazines.

Tom Trinkle: Are you hoping to deceive the viewer? Tom Gallant: You have to get quite close to the piece to suddenly realise actually what’s going on. For me it’s very important that the viewer is taken by the beauty, the colour and by the fetish nature of the amount of work that’s gone into it and then there’s this question of ‘why is it porn?’ TT: What is your interest in Eastern attitudes to pornography? TG: The Japanese relationship to pornography has changed over the past 200-300 years. It used to be beautiful and much more like erotica but it was sold as being pornography. Books of 12 prints by the likes of Hokusai were called ‘laughing books’ – laughing being a euphemism for masturbation, in the sense of laughing by one’s self as well as a sense of shame and embarrassment. Looking at contemporary Japanese pornography and the relationship the West has with the East and vice versa, I started to become interested in the misappropriation and how the West misunderstands Japanese culture in terms of history and the now. TT: Do you find Japanese culture sexy?

TG: I find it provoking. What attracted me to the Japanese cultural relationship to art and pornography is its delicacy and beauty and really this fetishism, as in Japanese rope bondage you have this incredibly beautiful craft that is very much on the fine line of life and death. One bad rope can suffocate. TT: What part does pornography play in your life? TG: For me it’s schoolboy titillation. Without sounding strange, what turns me on is text and literature, and I’ve far more empathy with reading pornography rather than looking at pictures. That might be just because I’ve been working with so many magazines that I’ve gotten bored! You also have incredible repetition in them, which follows into my work. Pornography is a subject that’s incredibly difficult to be opinionated about because on the one hand you have the huge exploitation that goes on and on the other you have anti-censorship issues and the rights of people who would otherwise be exploited by capitalism on a very different level, you know earning $20 a day – they’re [porn stars] earning $400 a day – but that certainly doesn’t make it right. Tom Gallant’s piece 1001 Origami Cranes is currently on display at the dpmhi store, 2–3 GPS, Great Pulteney Street, Soho, London, W1

Tom Gallantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s both delicate and filthy combination of kirigami and porn can also be seen in this piece â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DeWalt 12v Cordless Drill (exploded diagram).

Origami cranes have long been regarded as symbols of peace and luck. On 6 August of every year, in remembrance of the victims of the US bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, children and adults from all over the world send paper cranes to decorate monuments in peace parks in various countries. In 2003, for example, 140,000 cranes were delivered to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Two years prior, California-based rap activist/peace advocate Shingo Annen (aka Shing02) launched Operation Peace Crane with the intent to spread peace with cranes made from camouflage paper. He set up a website from which people can download the designs and fold their own cranes: www.e22.com/peacecrane. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the age of hawk vs dove, the crane rises,â&#x20AC;? comments Annen.

Photo by: Sam Handy

21 Steps to Making a Peace Crane

1. Take a square of paper that is coloured or patterned on one side (ideally with camouflage) and fold in half diagonally.

13. Making sure you have the correct side up, valley-fold on the dotted lines using the top layer only.

2. Fold in half diagonally again.

14. The figure should now look like this. Turn it over.

3. Take one layer of the pocket, spread it out, and fold it along the line marked in the diagram. 4. Your figure should now look like this. Turn it over. 5. Repeat the process in Step 3 on the other side of the figure. 6. The figure should now look like this. 7. Fold left and right corners (top layer only) towards the centre line and then fold top corner along the red valley line. Note: The folds are only to create a crease. 8. The figure should now look like this. 9. Now open the the pocket by pulling the bottom corner up.

15. Repeat Step 13 on the other side. 16. Reverse-fold at dotted lines to form the neck. 17. Slightly open the side, and bring the neck part up like this. 18. Bring the neck up to this point and do the same to form the tail on the other side. 19. Reverse-fold at the dotted lines to form the head and beak. 20. Bend the wings out into position. Blowing into the hole underneath the crane will help to shape its torso. 21. The finished crane. Use it to spread a peaceful message.

10. Like so, and then fold inwards towards the centre along the crease.

Peace crane concept by: UCCI for Droppinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Lyrics.

11. The figure should now look like this. Be careful to score the edges and corners cleanly. Turn over and repeat Steps 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Instructional pictures courtesy: Shingo Annen, Urban Demographics Team XGND

12. Now you have the base.

For further instructions check out www.e22.com/peacecrane

Interview by: Chéz Whitey Space Invader’s ubiquitous mosaic creatures have been sighted attacking city walls world wide. An invasion on a massive scale is now in full effect. Rather than trying to stop it, Frank151 set out to try and befriend these intruders. Chéz Whitey: What is your attraction to pixilation?  Do you feel that the world is being invaded by pixilation due to the introduction of more and more digital technology?  How does this influence the way humans see and understand the world?   Space Invader: The word Pixel comes from the combination of picture and element. The pixel is the smallest element of a digital image. I more see it like a historical value, Pixel becomes low tech compared to today’s standards which are hyper-realistic. CW: Are invaders good or bad?  Please explain. SI: They are neither good, neither bad. They don’t think in those terms. They just are, spreading and making humans react. CW: Will the invasion ever be complete? SI: Maybe but not for the moment, there is much more work to do: Only 4 continents are invaded and many important cities haven’t been invaded yet! CW: What is the Invader’s natural environment? SI: All kinds of spaces. CW: How does Space Invader feel about camouflage? SI: I often create camouflage space invaders, because when I locate a spot which is too

sensible for a normal invasion (statue, official building...), I sometimes make a camo invader who will blend with the color of the stone behind. That is what happened in Avignon, a city in south France. I did a special camo invasion because the city is very historical and protected. CW: Do you feel that human’s are invading the digital world? Or is the digital world invading the human’s domain? SI: I think there was the world before and the world after computers and digital technologies. Humans created computers but now they cannot walk back, they have to deal with it. CW: What artists and writers currently influence and inspire you?   SI: I try not to be influenced by other artists, I like the work of some of them but that is not an influence for me. I prefer to look for influences in other areas than art. The last book I read was “City of Quartz” by Mike Davis. It is a book about Los Angeles. I also am publishing a book about my invasions in LA. CW: Are you an optimist or pessimist about the state of world?  What do you think the future holds for humans and Invaders? SI: I think the question should be “Is the human good?” because the future depends on him. CW: Any final comments? SI: Invasion of Frank151 successful. Space Invader’s latest book documenting the invasion of Los Angeles, will be available at www.space-invaders.com.

[Opposite page] In January 2005, maharishi will release DPM Identifier Series 2, a collection of six 6 cm Kubrick figures, in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Japanese toy manufacturer Medicom. Following the DPM Identifier Series 1, which featured some of the camo patterns used by maharishi for its clothing lines, this second series features patterns from Andy Warhol’s 1986 Camouflage series. The intention behind the DPM Identifiers is to draw attention to the artistic beauty of camouflage patterns, and to promote the use of camouflage outside of its military context. [Below] Mahatoys has collaborated with Medicom and the Andy Warhol Foundation to release Andy Warhol Real Action Hero (RAH) 12” figures in both 1960s and 1980s versions. This is part of the 20th Century Artists Series which represents mahatoys’ ongoing commitment to non-violent toys. The 1960s Andy comes with a tambourine accessory and the 1980s Andy comes with a cathode ray tube accessory. Both figures are available from www.dpmhi.com. “When you want to be like something it means you really love It / I love plastic idols” Andy Warhol

Michael Lau began releasing 6-inch versions of his renowned one-off gardener figures in 2003. He used outlines of each character to compose figure-specific camouflage patterns for the packaging. Pictured here, the gardener 094 Guilty Gardener figure. Available from www.dpmhi.com.

Gardener 070 Stereo figure, made by Michael Lau’s crazysmiles company. Available from www.dpmhi.com.

Various colourways of Pete Fowler’s Big Monstrooper 8” vinyl figures, first released in 2002. Courtesy Pete Fowler.

Concept illustration of a Playbeast SprayCam Cardboy, 2004. Design: Mark James. The finished toy is available from www.dpmhi.com.

Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K) 1:16-scale Snake Eye figure, available from www.mech-a.com. Kubrick versions of this series are available from www.dpmhi.com.

1:6 Figure Masters Alfrex is renowned for its range of incredibly detailed 1:6 scale action figures based on Jidaigeiki (period drama) Samurai stories. Made in limited runs in their own studio in Japan (rather than mass-produced in China), the company’s figures are considered to be some of the finest action figures in the world. Alfrex has produced renditions of some of the most famous characters in Japanese cinema including The Seven Samurai (from Akira Kurosawa’s legendary film), Sonny Chiba and Lone Wolf and Cub (the main characters in Shogun’s Assassin). Here, Alfrex figures are depicted dressed in one-off exclusive 1:6-scale versions of clothing from maharishi’s Samurai-themed, 10th anniversary Autumn Winter 04 collection. [Left to right] A figure from the Seven Samurai set in maharishi X Web Jacket and Pants. The Torioi Kori Yumo figure in maharishi Recycled Antique Kimono Appliquéd Jacket and X Dress with Maha Love embroidery. Ogami Itto from the Lone Wolf and Cub set in maharishi Fire Dragon Tour Jacket and Pants. Alfrex figures are available directly from www.dpmhi.com.

Photo by: Sam Handy

The undisputed champion of contemporary toy design, travelled from his native Hong Kong to unveil his ‘FINAL S.F. @ GPS’ exhibition at the gallery space in the new dpmhi store in London on 22 October. The show is based on Michael’s SFCC (science fiction crazychildren) figures, which are his reaction to 21st century insularity and the explosion of home shopping via web sales and e-commerce. The SFCC’s are a courier team who deliver purchases made online, ensuring that customers never have to leave home. The exhibition includes never seen before pieces on display and for sale and runs until 30 November. The SFCC figures are sold exclusively at the dpmhi store and online at www.dpmhi.com wearing maharishi jackets in five different colourways of the ‘Bonsai Forest’ camouflage pattern.

Photos by: Sam Handy

Figures from Michael Lauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new SFCC (science fiction crazychildren) range in limited-edition maharishi camouflage jackets, left to right: G.E.O.R.G.E., P.E.T.E.R. and T.O.M.

Customising your Medicom Kubrick, Be@rbrick and B@wbrick figures It may not have crossed your mind, but the compatibility of the connectors between the Kubrick, Be@rbrick and B@wbrick ranges means they are ripe for customisation. All parts of the figures are push-fit only and can be easily separated by hand. Almost all the parts are interchangeable, allowing for numerous customisation opportunities. At 6–7 cm tall, Kubricks and Be@rbricks are somewhere between 1:32 and 1:35 scale, which are both popular scales used by the modelling community. Therefore, you can create a diorama that features your Medicom figures using the huge variety of suitably sized buildings, scenery, vehicles and accessories widely available from model shops. If you’re feeling more adventurous, you might want to paint your figure with your own colour scheme and embellishments. This can be done using either enamel or acrylic modelling paint. Before applying the paint it is advisable to prepare the surface by lightly rubbing it with ‘wet and dry’ paper or a green plastic scourer (the kind used for washing up). Even more ambitious customisers may want to sculpt appendages on their figures. Milliput modelling clay is recommended for this as it is very malleable and dries into an extremely hard surface that can then be painted. Before applying the clay, prepare the surface to be customised (as described above). We welcome any photos of your customisations and dioramas for exhibition at the gallery at dpmhi, 2–3 GPS, Great Pulteney Street, Soho, London W1.

Maharishi formed mahatoys in 2002 to encourage a positive change in the toy market. The first release is this 1:6 scale Piece and Munitions Dump in which to deposit any unwanted weapons from your action figure collection. In this picture the weapons amnesty is being coordinated by the Beastie Boys (who were released without weapons by Medicom Toy Corp) and a Blade Runner-era Harrison Ford. Osama bin Laden is next in line to surrender his firearm, followed by representatives of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading toy manufacturers including Dragon Models, Hasbroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vintage GI Joe,

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and Palitoy’s vintage Action Man. On the right of the picture, demilitarised figures peacefully gather in discussion, including Santa Inoue’s LOVE and IWAO, mahatoys’ Sharp, Recon’s Stash (with his laptop), and a SOLDIER 13 Desert Tiger prototype figure. Subsequent mahatoys products have included positive, non-violent figures such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat (in collaboration with Medicom), and Sharp, released in 2003/04 as part of the company’s 20th Century Artists series. Photo: Sam Handy

Camouflage Ninja crosses 1970s Action Man rope bridge, Tokyo, 2004. Photo: Norbert Schoerner for DPM, digital artist: Martin Smith, art director: Hardy Blechman Based on a concept by Robin Kwok, the 1:6 scale Camouflage Ninja was produced in 2002 as a collaboration between Heroes Club (San Francisco) and Tao Production (Hong Kong) in a limited run of 200. The figure was designed by Jason Ng, a Hong Kong-based tae kwon do master.

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In the work of the British artist Toby Ziegler, geometric patterns are used to describe forms and landscapes. The repeat pattern is wrapped around every surface in a virtual space, and this disruption of the grid creates an image that is constantly shifting, alternately flattening out, and opening into deep perspective. The sculptures shown here are part of Zieglerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new exhibition Enter Desire, to be held at the Chisenhale Gallery, East London during February and March 2005 (see www.chisenhale.org. uk for more information).

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Enter Desire Artwork from the invitation to the Enter Desire exhibition based on a graphic used in the show. [Previous spread]

[This spread] Pods

[Top] Faceted Sphinx – concept drawing for this sculpture that will measure 10ft long and 6ft high.

[Left] Designated for Leisure – a 6ft’ printed and painted paper icosahedron (a 20-sided shape constructed of triangles).

[Bottom] Compulsory Euthanasia - a stretched dodecahedron (a 12-sided shape constructed of pentagons) lamp shade.

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[Right] Zero Tolerance – a 3ft’ printed and painted plastic dodecahedron.

4th Disciple

Producer - Wu-Tang Familia

Muro

King of Digginâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Juju

Dante Ross

Artist

Producer / Part time Hooligan

Cynical

Kota

Buck Town

BQE

4th Disciple, Producer - Wu-Tang, Sunz of Man, Killarmy I wear camo for the simple fact that 4 me it represents a militant state of being. Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dealing with the constant battle for the balance of positive and negative or dealing with the balancing of the family. Life is a constant struggle for peace or balance and camo is a representation of the battle for balance.

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TV / Radio MC

Kelly Rae

Cultural Curator

Ioana

Mordechai

Adam Bhala Lough

Recon

Krinksta

Facilitator

Director

Adam Bhala Lough, Director – Bomb the System M*A*S*H* was my favorite television show as a kid. Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce must have influenced my style at a formative age. I see it as a militaristic blend of art and nature. In a Fidel Castro type of way, camo subtly shows off my dictatorial attitude but yet keeps me in touch with the common man as if to say “yeah I run shit, I call shots, but I’m not wearing a suit and tie, shit I may be even packing a gun.” Coincidentally, Camo is also the name of a rare high caliber 40 ounce malt liquor.

Santi White Stiffed

Promise

Black Angel / Folk Hero

Stash Recon

Sal Morale DJ

Ryan Sikorski

Dirty Whiteboy

Lush Life

Santi White, Stiffed Do you associate camo with art and nature or the military? That probably depends on what day you ask me. Though today, I’ll say that it depends on the camouflage. Nowadays people make camouflage out of all types of different patterns so that’s definitely art. However, I’ve found some of the sickest camo pieces I own at army/ navy surplus stores, and that’s definitely military. Perhaps camouflage is the military’s one artistic gift to the world.

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Tex

Moses

Three-Sixty

Mike Schnapp Uncle

Rastafarian

Futura

Futura Laboratories

Muriel

Actress

Nemo

Documentarian

Nemo, Documentarian Why do you wear camo? To quote the Bhagavad Gita, “There’s a war going on outside no one is safe from”. Do you associate camo with art and nature or the military? Art. Picasso said the idea for camo came out of Cubism. What does camo represent to you? Being in harmony with my surroundings.

Steele

5 Star General

Trevor Andrew Professional

Tubby T

Dance Hall Selectaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Utada

Bad Wife / Songwriter

Vashtie The Female Fonz

Roxy

Cottontail

Steele, 5 Star General My garb represents my militant mind. God made me a Souljah when he blew the spirit on my lungs. My art is militant by nature. The art of my nature is militant. The garb reveals a state of mind, yet conceals a state of being. You have to adjust to your environment whether in the office or the field.

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Ease

StayHigh149

IHS

The Beat Goes On

DJ Drama

Alex Corporan

Gangsta Grillz

Supreme

DJ Haul Producer

Geology

Producer / Visualist

Geology, Producer / Visualist Stealth, survival, a minimized perception of nature, militant mindset, war, street fashion subliminal, concrete jungle, Vietnam, brooknam, hummers, tanks, hip hop, graff, art, design, backwoods, visual assault culture, rebellion, brain washed soldiers, snipers, revolutionaries, nature & land, blending in, marketability, a statement, a thought, a lie, the truth stylized through human eyes.

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Photography by: Jamil GS Styling by: Nana n.y. Clothing & Accesories: yn c. by nny Make Up by: Andy Byrne Hair by: Yasmeen

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Surrender in Singapore is a new concept store created by James Lavelle and Mo’ Wax Arts to showcase collaborations done between Mo’ Wax/UNKLE and friends. The artwork for this pant was created by 3D from Massive Attack for the ‘Eye for an Eye’ release by UNKLE. It appears on the covers of the single and the DVD as well as throughout the video, which was made in conjunction with Shynola. The imagery of the video was strangely prophetic of the bombings of September 11th and features aeroplanes dropping creatures into an environment that is being destroyed. The video received its world premiere at last year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival’s renowned showcase ‘Mirrorball’ and consequently won the prestigious McLaren Award for new British animation, named after the innovative Scots animator Norman McLaren. For this special collaboration, the artwork has been embroidered on to two types of maharishi pant: the ‘Force Snopant’ and the ‘G-Force Cargo Pant’.

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Photo by: Sam Handy maharishi Ă&#x2014; Surrender SnopantsÂŽ

Hailing from the UK, The Scratch Perverts are one of the finest scratch DJ crews in the world. Individually, Tony Vegas, Primecuts and Plus One hold armfuls of titles, and together they have won the DMC World Team Championship twice. They’re also known for their progressive approach to making their own music and collaborating with other artists. With so many new-fangled mixing gadgets hitting the market today, Frank151 chatted with Primecuts about the changing face of DJ technology.

The DPM x Scratch Perverts x Vestax PDX2300 turntable adorned with the white tonal colourway of the DPM ‘Bonsai Forest’ camouflage pattern. This limited edition version of the Vestax deck will be available from December 2004 from www.dpmhi.com.

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Tom Trinkle: Do you scorn the use of CD decks because your art is so vinyl-based? Primecuts: No not at all. I’m not a mad traditionalist, I’m up for any kind of new technology. When we used to get interviewed when Scratch Perverts first started [circa 1996/97] I used to take exception to the term ‘turntablist’ ‘cos I thought it was bit of a wanky term. I’d always make the point that in the future these things will disappear and we’ll end up with this digital instrument that you could download any sound into. I was convinced that we’d end up with this thing that wasn’t vinyl-based but would be based on a disk and the movement of sound forwards and backwards. Which is kind of where we are now! TT: What’s the difference between using vinyl compared to CDs and digital mixing systems? P: Vinyl is far more tactile, it’s more of a ‘human’ thing, you know the grooves wear out. With the whole downloading thing, it’s not the same as going to a record shop and having a human being playing you a tune you’ve never heard before. It’s not the same as having a Marvin Gaye album in your hand and thinking, ‘Oh right, he played drums, he played bass’. Some people might think that’s kind of geeky but for me that’s learning about fucking music!

new stuff on these download sites but if you want to go back in history and try and learn about an artist you’re completely fucked. TT: Are you a member of a dying breed? P: We’re all a part of a dying breed, if you’re involved in music or fashion get ready to fucking die! Everyone does, no one’s cool for the whole of their lives. I’ve been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash and he’s amazing but he went through a period when he was super uncool. Then he teamed up with Rick Rubin and it rejuvenated his career towards the end of his life. Everything in music dies at some point and then it comes back. With the whole DJing thing, I lost interest in scratching for 2-3 years in the 1990s, I got into drumming. For me DJing had reached a really boring point. It wasn’t until some of the West Coast DJs started doing their thing. In about ‘95 or ‘96, Tony Vegas gave me a tape by the Beat Junkies, it was called Comprehension and featured Babu, Melo-D and D Styles just scratching over this really aggressive drum beat and it drew me in. I found it exciting again as someone had really moved it to another level. It comes in fits and starts. Right now I think we’re in a bit of a creative dip as far as the turntable side of things goes.

TT: iPods annoy me a bit because I’ve put a lot of work into collecting my vinyl! P: Yeah, and that little box will be worth precisely nothing in a year’s time because there’ll be another one that can store 10 million tunes! I talk to my younger brothers about this because they have the view of ‘why own it when you can download it?’ But you have to know what you’re looking for. You can get

The Scratch Perverts’ first single “Come Get It” featuring Dynamite (Roni Size’s MC) b/w “Time” featuring Mos Def, Black Thought (from The Roots) and McKay was released on their label Scratch Perverts Records on 25th October 2004. Check their website at www. scratchperverts.com

Two years ago DJ Jaguar Skills released “Revenge Of The Ninja” - a breakthrough underground gem that - amazingly - was produced entirely on two portable mini-disk walkmen. Something that had never been done. Now - on the eve of his next two releases “The Dock Thug 12 EP” and “Battle Fever J LP” - Jaguar Skills - high atop the Catalonian Mountains in his villa - talks to Frank151 about mini disks, ninjas and superhero funk. Frank151: So Jaguar Skills, tell us a bit about yourself. What’s your musical background? Jaguar Skills: Well, I’ve been in the game for years - just under different names. I used to be called Mat Ckillz. I used to publish Hip-Hop magazines in the UK. I worked at Profile records as Afrika Bambaataa’s PA too. I mostly worked as a Hip-Hop journalist. I pretty much met and interviewed everyone who’s anyone in Hip-Hop: Jay-Z, Dr Dre, Puffy, Suge Knight, KRS-One, Kool Herc, Eminem, Chuck D, Big Daddy Kane, Premo, De La Soul...shit, the list goes on and on. I then gave that up and started making tunes. It’s like osmosis, really. The more I hung out with all these dope producers and musicians, the more I wanted to make music. In fact, the only reason I became a Hip-Hop journo, was, really, so I could discover and learn the secrets of making

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a dope tune by the masters. I’ve just been hanging with Roy Ayers recently. He told me how he made “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”. See, I’m lucky. Not everyone gets to talk to the world’s greatest musicians one to one. But I am. That’s why they called me “skills,” I guess. Ha. F151: So why did you make your first CD entirely on two mini disk walkmen? I mean, HOW did you make it? It seems almost impossible. JS: Well, I found out that if you press the ‘track mark’ button at the start of a four bar loop, then press it at the end, then press the repeat button, the mini disk walkman creates a perfect loop. It’s simple really. I just spent a whole year doing that - and hey presto - I made an album. Got some great reviews, and shit, I even managed to sell a few too.

F151: People were surprised that “Revenge Of The Ninja” wasn’t a Hip-Hop record. JS: Yeah, but what is Hip-Hop? To me, HipHop was something that always broke new ground - something that was always at the cutting edge. Hip-Hop came from folks that never had anything, but because they never had anything, they took what they did have and made Hip-Hop. I know about Hip-Hop, the culture and mind frame. I spent 10 years interviewing the pioneers and creators of Hip-Hop. So, what I’m doing is making music that - in essence - is Hip-Hop. I’m trying to create the same feeling that a hype HipHop record has. Hip-Hop in its early days was visionary. I’m trying to be visionary with my music - but not too fucking serious either. People need to smile more, right? F151: So describe your sound, man. JS: My music is like watching your favourite gung-fu movie. It’s an adventure, really. Like the A-Team. But not. It’s like watching a hardcore porno Ninja film, featuring the entire cast of Thundercats and Eastenders, on Thames television, in the afternoon, after taking a dab of DMT washed down with a double espresso. It’s like if Bod and Dennis Leary were to remake Battle Of The Planets, with David Icke playing Zoltar and Fozzie Bear as a fake Chewbacca. It’s like the soundtrack to that. It’s like the feeling you’d get when Willow The Wisp came on before the six o’clock news. It’s like when Mr. T made a UFO from

a toilet roll and a blow-torch. Like when you first saw Geoffrey Daniels moonwalking on Top Of The Pops. It’s like... erm...shit, it’s hard to describe, man. Just find it, buy it and listen to it. Next. F151: Finally Mr. Skills, tell the people about your new shit. JS: Well, I’ve got this project. I’m doing a wicked indie label in the states, Art&Craft, called “Dock Thug 12”. It’s an EP. It’s eight tunes of funk. It’s like a soundtrack to a super hype ninja flick, with Japanese robots and Italian gangsters. It features the original dude who did the voice over from the cartoon THUNDERCATS! Man, it’s a very exciting record right there fool. I’m also releasing this joint called “Battle Fever J” - an LP - like “Revenge Of The Ninja” part 2 -slightly shorter and not made on a mini-disk. I can’t be fucked to do that again! F151: So, before we jet - any last words? JS: Jaguar, Jaguar, JAGUAR SKILLS...HO! Yep, that’s about that.

“Dock Thug 12” is out soon on Toyko Bronx/ Art&Craft. “Battle Fever J” is coming early 2005 on Toyko Bronx. www.jaguarskills.com

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Written by: Yeshen Venema Illustration by: Hense Britain’s first offshore radio station, Radio Caroline, began broadcasting on Good Friday 1964 from a ship anchored just outside UK territorial waters in the North Sea. Caroline inspired a host of other radio stations based on boats and marine structures, which were named ‘Pirates’, at one point over 20  were operating off England’s coast playing non-stop music 24 hours a day and attracting up to 8 million listeners. In 1967, all but one (the original Radio Caroline) were forced to close due to government regulations. BBC Radio One was launched due to huge public demand and the station recruited many of the well-known pirate DJ’s such as Tony Blackburn and John Peel. It was not until the late 1980’s that pirate radio experienced it’s second boom period with stations such as Horizon, JFM (Jazz Funk Music), Dread Broadcasting Corporation and LWR playing the soul, funk and reggae not heard on Radio One. These stations moved their point of broadcast inland, within tower blocks (high-rise inner-city housing) and became ever more cunning to avoid the authorities, using equipment and techniques such as the ‘microlink’ (relaying the signal to a distant transmitter). By 1989 there were over 600 illegal pirate stations in the UK. The government offered an amnesty to any stations closing down voluntarily and encouraged them to apply for an official licence, only KISS FM was successful in this respect and has remained a major player on the UK radio waves. After a major downturn in the number of pirates, they experienced a resurgence in 1992 as part of the hardcore rave scene alongside the boom in home recording, independent record labels, white-label record releases and specialist record stores. These new stations were anything but traditional, sounding like ‘raves on the air’: rowdy, chaotic, with the DJ’s voiceover replaced by a raucous rave style MC (master of ceremonies), and with a strong emphasis on audience participation (enabled by the spread of the portable cellular phone, which made the studio location impossible to trace by the authorities). The penalties were huge, but this period showed the biggest ever boom in pirate activity and continues to this day.  Stations such as Rinse FM (Grime, UK Garage and Drum & Bass), ITCH FM (Hip Hop) and Genesis (Ragga, Basement and Reggae) have kick-started the music careers of many artists, in particular MC’s on the Drum & Bass, Garage and Grime scenes.

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a skateboard art exhibition

Skaters, illustrators, clothing designers, fine artists, photographers, mechanics, authors, interior designers, musicians and more were all given a skateboard and told to do with it as they wished. The result was the INSPIRED exhibition, launched in London on 7 October 2004. With an artist list including Mode 2 (graf legend), Shynola (MTV nominated directors), Nick Tentis (GQ Tailor of the Year), Danny Wainwright (one of the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading skaters), Olivia Morris (shoe designer), Maharishi, Paul Cook (The Sex Pistols), the show turned into the art equivalent of a heavyweight sound clash. Look out for INSPIRED coming to the US early in 2005. Check www.weareinspired.co.uk

1 2 3 4 5 6

Pakpoom Tim Shandro Mitch Sean Alexander Lizzy Disney Maharishi

7 Jameson Keane 8 Pete Fowler 9 Fos Heroin Skates 10 Insa 11 Chris / Shynola

12 13 14 15 16 17

Abigail Simmonds Gideon / Shynola Kenny / Shynola Hassan Hajjaj Olivia Morris Adrian / Apart

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Berlin, Alexanderplatz April 02, 2002 5: 37 AM Armed with my scalpel, I climbed the facade of the hotel on which is the Lavazza poster. I began the kidnapping, filmed by a friend down below, while observing the police patrols, who did not think to look up in the air. One and a half hours later, the hostage [the woman’s image on the advertisement] is in my possession and I depart from the scene, leaving on the hollowed poster: “VISUAL KIDNAPPING. PAY NOW”!

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The following day, I created the poster for my next exhibition. The poster depicts the photograph of the hollowed panel after my intervention, and the cut-out and bound hostage figure. I added the ransom demand to it and papered this poster all over Berlin. On the private view day, at the gallery “Rebell Minds” I mailed the hostage’s finger to the Lavazza headquarters in Turin, Italy. One week later, following the diffusion of a documentary on a German television channel and press articles reporting this operation, the police forces came to carry out a search in the gallery. But by then, the hostage was already in a safe place in a Swedish museum, the Mjellby Arts Center of Halmstad. Today the hostage is moved from time to time to prevent any unwanted intervention. As the negotiations with the Lavazza company have not yet succeeded, I proceeded at the beginning of November 2003 with a new postal mail to the brand’s head office: I enclosed a poison pen letter, giving them a last chance to save their image and a video film showing the hostage in it’s last place of detention. The director of Lavazza learned of the kidnapping only three weeks after the operation. It is infuriating that the German branch believes it best to call the police force rather than to take part in what is happening. When my negotiator met the marketing director responsible for Lavazza in Paris two months later they announced to him that two managers where laid off for this marketing error. The possibility of collaboration with Lavazza has been evoked, however they have not agreed to pay the ransom. Therefore, I forwarded to them another poison pen letter announcing the imminent execution of the hostage. In the meantime the hostage is looked after and moved around regularly in order to escape those who seek it. She has been seen in Denmark, in Sweden, in Paris…But her place of detention remains a secret well kept.

Photography By: Hardy Blechman & Norbert Schoerner

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