Movmnt Magazine | Issue 1 | Following Lights with Danny Tidwell and Desmond Richardson (June 2006)

FASHION DANCE MUSIC SOCIETY

Yin or Yang?

DANIEL VICTOR UNCOVERED

Mia Michaels IN THE RAW

Debbie Allen

DANCE AS A SCIENCE

LIGHTS with Desmond Richardson

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Following

US: $5.95 CAN: $6.95

Inside MySpace, Pimp My Sneakers, CAUGHT: a fashion experience

BABY PHAT AND

ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF PHAT FASHIONS LLC. 2006 TRADEMARKS

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letter from the editor

REMEMBER YOUR FUTURE movmnt is here to fill a gap. Every generation looks for something new, fresh, different. An online culture still needs its own magazine. The themes – dance, fashion, music, society – blend into a global aesthetic. The fashion world feeds into the dance community, and vice-versa, while musicians are in eternal motion as our society evolves faster than ever. movmnt is about us – about the urban lifestyle citizen.

Joyful and open-minded, concerned and curious. We want to know more, to understand better, to educate ourselves while being entertained.

Through pictures and thousands of words, conversations, portraits and interviews, movmnt is yours to discover.

We will meet extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances. Catch riveting moments and excerpts of lives lived with passion and style. Discover talents ready to pop into the public eye. In this issue, we investigate all the way from China to the processors that make up the MySpace phenomenon.

We are young and independent like you, dedicated to our magazine and the world that surrounds us. We invite you to be a part of our experience. Join us as we bring a little more life to our existence – more music, more energy, more steps, more innovation. Remember that every day you are building your history, your memories, your base. Remember that with every movmnt you are a part of the present as you explore your own future.

Today’s acts reflect tomorrow’s realization. Remember your future.

David Benaym

contents

dance

fashion

IN THE RAW

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16

19

Choreographer Mia Michaels takes time away from Celine and reality television to speak to movmnt

TRAVIS WALL

Portrait of the young man as an artist

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Pointe shoes and pavementa photo essay by Dane Shitagi

The legendary Debbie Allen celebrates the innovators of physics and motion

CAUGHT

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Three extraordinary dancers captured in couture

by Roger Moenks

IF I WAS 2 POINTE FINGERS

Dwight Rodhen exposes the magic of his creative process

FOLLOWING LIGHTS

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Art Pimpin’ Shoes 101 with Daniel Quinones

GROUNDED BALLERINAS

THE SCIENCE OF DANCE

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PIMP MY SNEAKERS

In an exclusive fashion feature, Danny Tidwell reflects on the life and education of Desmond Richardson

Cover: Photography by Roger Moenks Colors: Peter D. Brown Designed by David Benaym

contents

music

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59

society

UNCOVERING DANIEL VICTOR

Lauren Adams discovers Neverending White Lights

A YEAR IN MUSIC Daniel Victor offers sounds for all seasons

BEIJING YIN OR YANG?

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A rare glimpse of ancient calm in a modern city

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D. Michael Taylor investigates the networking phenomenon that is changing the way we interact

DISCOVERING MOZELLA

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A conversation with the unique new voice of Maverick Records

INSIDE MYSPACE

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REVIEWS

New music you need to know about

JOSHUA RADIN An unplugged chat with an acoustic talent

Swiss made

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Photo: Samuel Bristow

contributors DANE SHITAGI

DANIEL QUINONES

Dane Shitagi is a New York Citybased photographer. Originally from Honolulu, he followed his photographic instincts to take inspiration from the sights and sounds of the City as well as from the energy and diverse arts that thrive here. Rather than molding his ideas to the studio setting, he has taken his creativity and inspiration from the world outside – preferring the rawness that only a living city can bring.

Benjamin Daniel Quinones has agreed on a special assignment for movmnt. Providing his own imagery, illustration and design, he helps us discover the world of pimping shoes in California.

Dane’s most recent project grew from the idea of New York City as a magnet for creativity – an idea that surrounds him in his work in the photo industry. His identity as a pilgrim to this place of creative struggle was the seed of inspiration for The New York City Ballerina Project presented exclusively in movmnt.

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This project is the ultimate expression of the struggling artist experience, which Dane himself is living and enjoying in the East Village.

Other current projects include Seasons – a documentary-style collection of images that present themselves as a perspective on the life of emerging fashion designer Nicole Romano, tracing the evolution through four seasons of work. Dane has also been photographing for clients such as Capezio and Fujifilm.

Born in Santurse, Puerto Rico, Daniel now lives in Huntington Beach, California where he has managed to create his own company, Poabdesign.com, and an apparel division, Poabstyle.

He has worked with many companies from Houston, New York, Boston and California. He helped in developing CD covers, posters, logos, brochures, flyers and corporate identification for all his clients. He also sells and distributes T-shirts by Poabstyle to local clubs and people through the internet.

With all his experience, Quinones still feels he has much more to learn. His artwork has developed a feel of its own due to all the different experiences he has encountered living in a variety of environments. He has learned from all types of artists such as cartoonists, graffiti artists, classical, modern, and the list goes on.

Daniel will be attending a school in California after gaining residence, studying fine arts and animation when the time comes. Ultimatly, Daniel Quinones wants to be able to keep on the move and study art to expand his growth as an artist.

D. MICHAEL TAYLOR D. Michael Taylor has been a New York-based writer for almost a decade. A long string of odd jobs, such as assisting a French anti-marijuana crusading research scientist who was a former spy in the Resistance, gave him all of the quirky life experience necessary to drone endlessly on about almost anything.

The best advice he ever received was to “never trust a woman spy,” an omen that prefigured his stint with the all-female staff of a national print magazine for the past five years.

Senior Society Editor of movmnt, Taylor also writes for Circuit Noize and sporadically on his brilliant blog, AatomBomb.

His adventures in the blogosphere made researching MySpace a truly enjoyable experience, punctuated by his geeky obsession with electronic media and how it is changing the way we coexist on this shrinking planet. He can be found on any given afternoon sucking down cocktails in midtown Manhattan, doing research for his rehab memoir.

Photo: Patrick Swirc

www.movmnt.com

ANAIS MARTANE Anaïs Martane is a 26-year old French photographer. Eleven years ago, she made the strange choice to learn Chinese at the high school in Nice. In 2001, she chose Beijing as her home city, and does not intend to leave it!

She first started working in Beijing as a photographer and assistant producer, promoting Chinese talents for the Beijing photography agency Traffic d’images.

Later, she initiated a serial work about passages of Jews in China, that brought her to Harbin, Kaifeng, Shanghai. She used photo and video documentary as mediums. In Fall 2005, she held an exhibition in Paris, “La Maison de La Chine,” that drew attention to the heritage of Jews in Shanghai who escaped the Nazis during the war.

In 2004, she started to work on a documentary based on the coming of Claude Lanzmann and his film Shoah in China and the reactions of the Chinese audience. All these works are supported by the film production company Rosem Films that Anaïs represents in China. They have produced several Chinese authors’ films within a few years; in 2006, two of these films will be selected for the Cannes Film Festival. Anaïs also works as a freelance photographer for titles like Time and Liberation.

She experiences Beijing as yin and yang, aggressive and quiet, but never where you expect it.

She has shared this vision with her journalist friend Abel Ségrétin, also based in Beijing, for many years.

Co-founders David Benaym & Danny Tidwell ____________________________ Editor in Chief / Publisher David Benaym Creative Advisor Danny Tidwell Production Manager Rami Ramirez Senior Editor Jeffery Taylor Senior Music Editor Lauren Adams

Senior Society Editor D. Michael Taylor

Columnists Debbie Allen - Dwight Rodhen Contributing Writers Daniel Quinones - Beth Konopka Darryl Lindsay - Chris Masters Brooke Robertson - Liz Schmidt - Bruce Scott Contributing Photographers Anais Martane - Roger Moenks - Dane Shitagi ____________________________ Advertising Director Semina De La Sloan For all advertising requests, please contact us at advertise@movmnt.com - Tel: +1 646 486 1128 ____________________________ 3D Design Retouching Ilan Benaym Peter D. Brown ____________________________ Board of Advisors Michael Anthony - Kenny Easter - Denise Hurlin CJ Tyson - Denise Womble Special thanks for their help and support to David Benattar - James Campbell - David Martin Castelnau Matt Golding - Jaime Goodwin - Lauren-Beth Kassinger - Xuan Li Cory McCutcheon - Matt Napoli - Desmond Richardson Jessica Saund - DJ Wess - Dancers Responding to Aids - Gstaadt House Of Joy ____________________________ movmnt magazine is an e-maprod Inc. Publication 50 Pine Street - 9N - New York, NY 10005 - USA T: +1 646 486 1128 - F: +1 646 290 9196 www.movmnt.com - movmnt@movmnt.com To Subscribe please call Rami: 1 646 486 1128 For circulation Customer please call Districor Melanie Raucci +1 631 587 1160 Issue 1 - Summer 2006 - Printed in Canada

interview

MIAMICHAELS

INTHE RAW As layers of celebrity are peeled further and further back in the age of reality television, the viewing audience is increasingly exposed to more of the process that goes into the creation of a final product. Designers, supermodels, stylists, and choreographers are all stepping up to center stage for their moment in the spotlight.

Few talents deserve the attention more than Mia Michaels. Her resume reads like a choreographer’s dream. Celine. Prince. Madonna. Cirque du Soleil.

And most recently, as a celebrity judge on So You Think You Can Dance. movmnt caught up with Mia recently, enjoying a moment behind the scenes with her, a luxury she is not often afforded now.

Jeffery Taylor

with

Lauren Adams and David Benaym

Did you have fun doing So You Think You Can Dance?

I had a really good time. I wouldn’t be doing it again if I didn’t.

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How did you get involved with it?

[The producers] are all Europeans, mostly from London, and were big Celine Dion fans.

They saw the show about three or four times.

How was it working for Celine?

Great! I loved working with her. Her sense of humor is fantastic, always making jokes.

We laughed more than we rehearsed. She was great, very eager, very generous as a performer, and to her dancers.

She gives so much to the artists.

I wish that all dancers were taken care of the way Celine

takes care of her dancers.

How did you like working with Franco Dragone?

My experience with Franco was amazing – the most amazing experience.

Was that the first project you worked with him on?

Yeah. He was taking submissions for new choreographers. He wanted to branch out. He just opened his company in Belgium.

He had just left Cirque and he was looking for new energy. He was working on this new project with Celine. He knew it was going to be a dance show, but when he goes into a project he doesn’t like to border himself into concepts or anything. He just likes to say, “This is the project and now let’s let it breathe and see what it is because we don’t know what it is until it tells us.”

Kalfamanolis

And I always think that’s such a great way of creating because you’re not locked into anything.

You just let it inspire you.

He had submissions from choreographers from all over the world and my agent submitted me. At one point, there were about six of us being considered for the project. The next thing I heard was that he was going to use all six of us because he wanted it to be a big dance show and he thought it would be interesting to use a lot of different energies from different choreographers.

Then two weeks later I got a phone call basically saying, “Franco just decided he wants to use you because you’re so versatile and your reel has so many different styles on it that he thinks that you’re the one!”

I remember so clearly; I was

in my apartment in Chelsea. I didn’t have a lot of money. I was struggling...

When was this?

It was... 2002.

A lot of things can happen in four years…

So much! Wow, so much... I remember it was a Friday night at about five o’clock. I was sitting on my windowsill and I got this phone call and they said, “You need to leave in about a week and you’re moving to Belgium for six months and then you’ll be going to Vegas for six months.” And I knew… I knew that project would change my life. I knew it as soon as I got the call. I knew that not only in many ways would it change my life as an artist, it would change me. And I remember putting the phone down and crying out

of gratefulness because I had been struggling for so long to pay bills and to just be heard.

I put my furniture outside on the sidewalk for the homeless, packed my bags, took my dog and my bags, and I moved to Belgium. And my life has been forever changed.

It gave me the outlet to keep going, to pursue the things that I wanted to do. My dreams are much more colorful now. They’re much brighter. They’re not the poor artist’s dream. There’s something really beautiful about the rawness of no money, and I never want to lose that. But I dream much bigger now.

The name of your company was called RAW. Why is that?

Because I like the untapped. I like the quality of not produced and not structured. I like the

reality of the dirtiness of what it is and the reality of what it is to live in this world.

DR

It seems like your process is very organic…

I’m very much about seeing what the artist brings to me that I can manipulate and... play - it’s more about a playground. Franco said something to me once, “If you don’t find one moment of magic in a rehearsal, you’ve lost an entire day.” And one moment of magic is not necessarily a dance step or something that looks amazing, but it might be that person over in the corner lighting a cigarette, or someone that fell and is on their hands and knees and can’t get up. It’s those moments of humanity that

make him - and me - tick. A whole piece could be derived from one person just watching someone fall, as opposed to, “OK! This is the choreography, kids! Here it is!” And I think that’s where I’ve grown; I’ve moved out of that.

I’m very aware. I have eyes in the back of my head I’m more aware of the humanness - the dancers bitching in the corner, or someone that’s just not feeling it that day, or someone that is mad at themselves.

I really allow the individual to come out now more than ever.

When I had my company, it used to be all about technique and fierceness and strength and the wow factor. And now, yeah, it’s important to entertain, especially

From left to right: Brian Friedman, Mia Michaels, Nigel Lythgoe and Dan Karaty

people edit that out because it doesn’t read to the masses. I’m really happy for them and for the dance community that they’ve kept that in.

D o ell

How did you approach working with dancers with such a wide range of backgrounds?

You try to get them through to the next round. I think a good choreographer knows how to find the strengths and eliminate the weaknesses as best as possible. That’s something I was really trying to do.

H

Do the dancers respect this?

Sometimes they’re hungry for that, and sometimes people are not ready to open themselves up to that place. Dancers like to hide behind movement, because it’s very safe. If they’re good at what they do, they can hide behind the choreography without showing their guts and their soul.

Tell us about So You Think You Can Dance and the second season about to start in a few weeks. Second seasons are always harder for every show. How are you going to approach that in your role as a choreographer and a judge?

I have to say, I’m really proud of Fox, honestly, and Nigel because they never said once to me, “I need you to be more commercial.”

They really embraced who I am as an artist and they want that on the show.

And it’s really important that they’re keeping that. So many

Is that challenging?

Sometimes. But if their work ethic is really good, you can smooth over it painlessly.

What’s next?

I’m going to work with Anna Vissi again, the Greek superstar.

She’s amazing! I’ve been working with her for a while.

Then I’m going to Moscow to work with Philip Kirkorov, who is probably the biggest pop star in Russia. He’s hilarious! Then I’m going to do Hello Dolly! at Papermill. It’s going to be really interesting for me to do musical theater.

“D

! y oll

should be a progression of your last. If you do the same work all the time, you’re never growing.

Constantly progressing, moving forward. What did you take from it? What did you learn from it? Some of the most painful experiences you have are the ones that make you go to the next level. It’s up to you to pick yourself up and keep going.

How do you go about preparing for something like Hello Dolly!

I don’t jump into a project until a couple days prior because I go from one project to the next.

Wherever I’m at in that moment, I focus on that. So anywhere from two days to the night before, or maybe even the morning of preproduction with a cup of coffee, I’ll start listening to the music.

You have worked with artists like Prince and Madonna.

What did you learn from them?

Prince was awesome! Madonna was Madonna. I’ve come to a point in my career where it’s not worth abuse or having no fun at all. We work so hard; if you’re not enjoying it and people are just

ancers like to hide behind movement, because it’s very safe.

Is this a first?

I’ve done regional theater, but people are afraid of me on Broadway. They’re afraid to take a chance. But what they don’t realize is that I come from a traditional jazz/Broadway background.

What would you say the basic approach to your work is now?

I’m in a place where I want every job I do to move me to the next level. Twyla said this once to me, and it stuck with me, that every piece of work that you do

”

nightmares, then it’s not worth an extra line on your resume.

That’s the one thing I learned - if it’s not working for you, it’s OK. It’s just not the right place or time. It doesn’t mean that you’re a failure. You have to enjoy your process and you have to enjoy your life, because it’s so short.

And if you’re not enjoying it, then what’s the point of doing it?

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when people are paying $200 a seat. Yes, you have to entertain your audiences. But I would not be a happy artist if it was only about the entertainment factor.

I have to walk away from a project changed. I need to feel different. I need more than just amazing movement. But I had to go through that in order to get to where I am now. I had to have my company and have the best technical facilities and the best dancers to jump around and do ten million pirouettes, because now that doesn’t impress me.

That does nothing for me. Now it goes past that, and it goes into the humanity of who they are as dancers, as artists. I remember saying it on the show, “The human is first, the artist is second, and the dancer is third.”

And I stay true to that.

portrait Portrait of the young man as an artist

Travis Wall 16 - movmnt magazine - 1 - Summer 2006

At the tender age of eighteen, Travis Wall has accomplished more than most will in their adult lives.

Trained in Virginia Beach at his mother’s studio, Denise Wall’s Dance Energy, he found his first moment of fame at the age of nine in a Dr. Pepper commercial playing himself essentially, a young talented dancer grabbing the spotlight from the rest of his classmates.

Embodying the best impulses of the online generation, Travis can regularly be found multitasking his life in a dizzying variety of ways. One might find him texting friends and surfing the web while remaining fully present in a conversation at the same time he is customizing his phone with rhinestones. In his professional life, this takes the form of mastering a wide range of dance techniques, from tap to ballet to hip-hop, even gymnastics. An upbringing fraught with challenges yet nurtured by dance, Travis’ focus encompasses more than simply just steps. From intricate choreography to original costuming, the stage is a universe he inhabits relentlessly.

From his professional debut on Broadway in The Music Man to his latest work in concert dance with Evolution Dance Company under the direction of Mark Meisner, his strength, versatility and musicality sets him apart from most dancers his age. A passion for dance that trumps a desire for fame has led him to explore various projects in New York simply for the creative process.

Despite his early accomplishments, this star shows no signs of fading. His journey has only just begun. Who knows where we’ll see him next?

Photo: Roger Moenks & Laurent Alfieri

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groundED Ballerinas photography

by Dane Shitagi Through the five boroughs of New York City, Dane Shitagi

Brooklyn Heights Megan LeCrone (New York City Ballet) Coat by Nicole Romano

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has captured ballerinas in surprising moments.

Here is an exclusive look at his work.

WEST SIDE HIGHWAY Violeta Angelova (New Jersey Ballet) Jersey Dress by Nicole Romano

CONEY ISLAND Laura Di Orio

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Bowery Violeta Angelova (New Jersey Ballet)

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FORT WASHINGTON PARK Michelle de Fremery - Jersey Dress by Nicole Romano

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ASTORIA, Queens Laura Di Orio

HARLEM Amelia McCarthy

DUMBO, BROOKLYN Violeta Angelova (New Jersey Ballet)

column

thescienceofdance

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To Dance is to command time and space.

To Dance is to defy gravity.

To Dance is to know quantum physics where there is no beginning, no middle, and no end.

To Dance is to be expressionistic, In the moment.

When I sat down to write this article, I had a grand idea of developing an essay about the science of dance – an essay that would liken dance to science as a body of gathered, measurable, perceived, and ever-progressing knowledge of the order within the art itself and the causes of that order. Science gathers knowledge about the world and condenses and organizes it into testable laws and theories.

Imagine the discovery of the patterns in nature, the rotation of the stars, the seasons, the weather. Physics is the study of the universal rules that show how beautifully connected everything is in nature.

I’m sure you are asking, what

the hell does this have to do with dance? What is choreography but patterns of movement and stillness that connect together and express how we experience the world? Physics deals with the laws of motion, force, energy, sound, light, and the inner workings of atoms. Dance is revealed through motion, force, energy, sound, light, and, like atoms, comes from deep within.

I found it fascinating to revisit the history of physics with its intellectual rebels who were often persecuted and even condemned before later being anointed and regarded as essential to the progress of mankind. Aristotle theorized about natural and violent motion and had the Earth

standing still, circled by the sun.

Copernicus was persecuted for formulating a theory of the moving Earth which was in direct conflict with the church. Galileo defined inertia as the property of an object to stay in motion unless acted on by a push or pull force.

Newton showed that the universe ran according to natural laws that were neither capricious nor malevolent. This was the type of knowledge that ushered in the Age of Reason and gave tremendous promise and inspiration to writers, artists, philosophers, and people all over the world.

So it has been for dance - the most original art form with its beginnings in the antiquity of every culture on the planet. Dance

defines ritual, culture, and the state of man, and has also gone through centuries of celebration, persecution, discovery, and change. As a natural expression for life, death, war, rain, and harvest, dance allowed the human spirit to freely commune with the Earth – jumping, leaping, spinning, and standing still. The encroachment of “civilization,” like the industrial world’s effect on the rainforests, sought to contain, control, cut down, and cover dance’s disciples.

Note the Christian missionaries’ presence throughout history with their prayer books, holy water, and restrictive clothing trying to convert the millions of African captives as they were hoarded onto slave ships bound for the New World – a forced separation from their dance, their drums, their religions, and their ties to the metaphysical world. It all resurfaced, or shall we say evolved, into America’s most original dance forms: Gospel, Jazz, Swing, Breakdancing, Hip

ever come out of America. The U.S. State Department prohibited her from performing outside of the States after her Southland ballet premiered in Europe depicting a lynching on stage to protest the racial terrorism tearing our country apart.

Jerome Robbins was crucified by the critics for portraying gang violence in song and dance with West Side Story, which went on to become one of the most quintessential Broadway musicals of all time. Then there was Merce Cunningham who often played to empty houses because he was so abstract.

Alvin Ailey, informed by the Lester Horton Technique, created a classic American Mural, reaching deep into his gospel roots with Revelations.

Boris Eifman, who grew up in Siberia, was influenced by Pink Floyd and AlvinAiley. His work, originally banned in Russia and called pornographic, is now the crowned glory of the Russian dance world.

bydebbieallen Hop, and now Krumping.

Like the rebels of science, dance survived and progressed, and the genius masters furthered the concepts and theories, often facing harsh critics. Michael Fokine dared to create a ballet with no story. Isadora Duncan, who was very popular in Germany, ushered in a new form of expression – modern dance – in an atmosphere of neo-romanticism, paving the way for Mary Wigman and Martha Graham.

All of this is to say that the physics of dance and choreography, like the laws of the sciences themselves, is still revealing itself to those who have the courage to create what they see and feel.

To those who dare to try things a different way, I say, “Praise be your name!” The world is built on the wings of change. It is the nature of our art, our dance, and our science to explore and find new meaning, new techniques, new rules…

Katherine Dunham, one of the true giants of dance, created one of the most successful internationally recognized dance companies to

The only real rule in dance is discovery, discovery, discovery!

Photo: Steve Vaccariello

if i was 2

by

Dwight Rodhen

The uncanny impulse to imagine simply drives one to dream.

Have you ever had a storm of ideas invade your consciousness?

Their relentless drive wiggles and squirms into a form that rears its pretty little head when you least expect it. They kick and whirl about in your brain, and have been known to deprive you of those much needed eight hours of shuteye. These self-proclaimed pioneering thoughts can puzzle and confuse, yet push and motivate. They sometimes won’t leave you alone until you give them a platform and a spotlight to be realized. When the thrill of unsatisfied potential and what is yet to be has you all fired up, and the fascination with invention is an inevitable open road to that utopian paradise of creativity… it is at this point that you must know you’ve been bitten by the bug. Needless to say, and in my case specifically, the “choreography” bug. I have to say, my system has been profoundly and permanently compromised by the joy of movement. This makes me a long-time survivor of a serious malady, and at present I am symptomatically having an intense romance with the creative process. With an uncontrollable obsession before me, I’m looking for someone to take responsibility for my condition. I warn you, this “condition” could be infectious, but I hear these days it’s all the rage.

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pointe fingers

If I was to point fingers, and I will - I’d have to blame my mother whose infatuation with the “new” had our family relocating almost as many times as you close fifth position at the barre in ballet class.

Whether we were moving

sprawling ultramodern condo by the mall, this middle class, middle child of five was caught in a tornado of everchanging decors, renovations, and color schemes, not to mention social circles and neighborhoods.

The

I believe that directors and choreographers must create a secure setting for artists to be comfortable with being uncomfortable

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from the cramped ranch in the ghetto to that three-story English Tudor in the suburbs, where I could attend the fully integrated Catholic Academy, or to the

cascade of ever-changing atmospheres kept a resilient wandering imagination occupied with a kaleidoscope of environments to dream and

make believe in. And while I’m playing the blame game, that eccentric grandmother of mine wasn’t much better (with her mix of fine antiques and more knick-knacks than I could playfully swing a baseball bat at and break in a single weekend visit), always either parked at the piano fingering out a prelude from Chopin, preparing veal, learning the latest dances, or discussing ad nauseam the complexity of the face of an oak leaf. She taught all that would listen how to capture a glimpse of the moon while on a casual stroll in the park, to marvel at the beauty of the infinite sky. Viewing life from this perspective lent hope for an impetuous kid to find his way in an overly stimulating, ever so exciting world - a world that seemed as though change was imminent, and anything was possible as long as you dreamed big and were committed. Now, if this sounds a bit like you’re in an episode of Oprah’s dream catchers or in a scene with Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz, and it does – then perhaps the notion that life is a perpetual creative process isn’t so far-fetched after all.

Being creative is how we go through our daily lives – setting a plan in place, composing our day so that we accomplish things within a set window of time. Time and space often become the parameters that frame creations.

Inspiration and the need to say and/or accomplish

something furnish the incentive to complete the task at hand. Ideally in an hourand-a-half dance class, the instructor guides students through a series of exercises that prepare the body piece by piece to conquer anything that comes his or her way in the choreographic process.

It’s about setting priorities, sequencing events, and being skillful and crafty in rendering a plan. So, does carrying out a creative task require some level of technique and planning in order to realize it fully in an efficient and economical way?

I think it does. It requires a desire and a plan to get from A to B, and then from B to Z. It’s all relative and comes down to style and preference. We live in a world of extremism where we talk on the cell phone, send an email, and text a buddy, all while cooking breakfast.

Today’s dancers are incredible athletic specimens; their abilities seem to supersede what seems reasonably fathomable. They have eight pirouettes in their back pocket, and pyrotechnics is the norm.

The joy for me these days is not to see a dancer jump higher, or do the next big trick, but to help them realize the power of their gifts, the impact of a simple gesture, and the amazing responsibility that they have to this formidable art form. I believe that directors and choreographers must create a secure setting for artists to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. We must allow ourselves to risk it all, if we expect the same from our artists. This is the only way I feel we will continue to push the form. And we must push the form, or what is the point?

I’ve been called a “dancer’s

choreographer,” and I relish that idea. Making dances today requires a fresh yet fundamental approach, a need to say something, and the ability to articulate it to your dancers so that they can breathe life into it. I tell dancers there really are no new steps, just new approaches and points of view. For me, a great process starts with a great relationship with the dancer. Great choreography comes out of a choreographer’s ability to inspire and empower an artist to discover. The other part of that equation is, of course, having the craft to assemble an idea with purpose, to engage your audience, and speak clearly of your concept.

I often find myself searching for the most concise way to convey what I want in a new work – it’s actually a process within a process. Being in sync with that progression as a new work is being born, witnessing the achievements and missteps along the way, is a delicate yet insightful vantage point to observe an artist’s transformation.

Choreographers sometimes have the job of being the proverbial cheerleader, one who helps the dancer take that challenging next step and keeps the creative party flowing. He or she becomes

that they play a vital role in the end result. Here again is where communication is key.

People always ask – where does one start when making a ballet? What comes first?

The whole chicken or the egg analogy. Who knows? Who cares. I start with where I want to go, and then go back and figure out how I’m going to get there. For me, this is where the fun comes in. Creativity starts with imagination, a vision or dream, an ability to see something that is not yet there.

In other words, possibilities - that array of options or choices. A selection of courses of action and alternatives. It’s a colorful world we live in. Our minds are fertile ground for beginnings, and our hearts are the endless lifeline of tenacity. And our souls? Well, the soul brings the passion and the pulse to our life and work. This is the indisputable originality to what we create.

It’s much like the DNA of our own ingenuity.

The magic of the creative process after all is said and done really eludes all of us, if we are honest. In fact, while writing this article I composed drafts in various orders. This is one of many versions. How many can you come up with?

So many, that if I continued to explore every possibility, this

Creativity starts with imagination, a vision or dream, an ability to see something that is not yet there the canvas keeper, being sure that the paints, in all their brilliance, don’t dry up before they reach the canvas. Trust is paramount between dancer and choreographer, and it’s important for the artist to be a willing participant, and know

article would have never made the deadline. Like I said, much happens by chance, individual notions of time and space, grandma’s knick-knacks, the Dalai Lama, and just maybe where the moon is.

conversation

Following

LIGHTS

Desmond Richardson - Danny Tidwell

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Surprisingly, the prevailing top line: “Nothing to prove, only to share.” 2006, finally the time and place to be outspoken.

So clear and full of life, this man’s work seems endless. As Desmond Richardson warms up before the first movmnt photo shoot, Denise Wall, dance teacher/studio owner, gets a new perspective. Strength, Courage and Wisdom is served in every ounce.

Photography by Roger Moenks Text by Danny Tidwell

“

you gotta

live a little

you gotta

love

”

a little

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It’s very exciting being in this situation, asking your artistic director questions that draw full circles of an artist. “Well, I’ve always been dancing,” Desmond says, but it was at the former High School of Performing Arts that marked the beginning of his formal training. Denise and Desmond Richardson refer to the movie/TV series Fame as inspiration for that time. “I got bitten by the dance bug,” states Richardson.

Sophomore and Junior year, Desmond was invited to study classically at The Summer Academy of Dance in Germany. From watching videos of Nureyev, he became familiar with excellence.

“While you were at Dance Alliance, I was so impressed that you took hip-hop class, and then taught a master ballet class,” Denise said. Growing up, Desmond shares that his major influence was street dancing. Coming from a similar street life as a child, I almost forget that some dancers didn’t experience the joy of finding their own personal groove before formal training. This is where education vs. education came to me.

“How many kids get to that place, not knowing how they got there?” Denise comments. I have been fortunate enough to be nurtured by both Denise and Desmond as a dancer. They make it imperative to understand where you’re coming from. It starts to become serious when it’s time to surface life to the product. Desmond adds that, “It’s really important for the person giving class to really invest.” Denise to second that, “Each person is such an individual.” With complete comprehension as a performer, I now have the option of using my body as a tool, to school the audience.

Desmond Richardson: Alexander McQueen tuxedo jacket, trousers and shirt Danny Tidwell: Alexander McQueen suit raw silk scarf by T-County

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Eventually, Desmond finished up his training at the Ailey school. At 18, he joined the company of Alvin Ailey. As a young performance artist in the professional world, I often hear stories of what Alvin Ailey was like, or crazy things Mikhail Baryshnikov would say. Instead of sitting back and thinking that these old people are stuck in the past, I try and use those words for myself, almost as if those words were chosen for me. “Now is the time to show your artistry to the world. It’s not going to happen overnight. You gotta live a little, you gotta love a little. But you will find that it will be much more than your technical Polaris,” Desmond repeats advice Mr. Ailey gave to him on tour in Paris.

Stylist: Reynaldo Davis Carter - Hairstylist: MichaelAnthony for WOON Salon NYC - Make Up Artist: Jeremy Dathan Jones

“Whatever I am doing at that particular moment is my favorite thing.” Desmond Richardson is clearly no stranger to the word movement. Dancing for names like Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Principal contracts with major companies American Ballet Theatre and Alvin Ailey.

His long range of talent has landed him on Broadway many times, dancing and singing in shows like Fosse and Movin’ Out, not to mention as a featured dancer in the movie Chicago, as well as in On the One, a film directed by Charles Randolph Wright. Mr. Richardson along with Dwight Rhoden provide inspiration on a regular basis. Desmond has had a major influence on my life and will forever remain one of my favorite dancers.

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Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden are the artistic directors of Complexions Contemporary Ballet. And, as a result of years working under the late Alvin Ailey, both chose to approach their work with such alarm. Dancing with Complexions, it becomes very clear, very fast how serious our directors take this art. I couldn’t help but to ask, what effect did the death of Alvin Ailey have on his dancing.

“Immensely,” responds Desmond. I take it that around this time many of the men of the Ailey company carried the HIV virus.

Performing in Madonna’s Girlie Show tour, Desmond found out about his mentor’s death. Immediately returning to New York City, he performed with company, driving Alvin’s teachings through to the audience.

Behind the

SCENES

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Photos by Jeffery Taylor

Finally a book that brings together the emotions of fashion, photography and dance David Benaym Presents

Moving Still a life performance

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROGER MOENKS & LAURENT ALFIERI CHOREOGRAPHY BY LAUREN ADAMS

FEATURING : DANNY TIDWELL TRAVIS WALL CINDY WELIK JASON PARSONS KENNETH EASTER ALEXANDRE HAMMOUDI CJ TYSON

www.movingstill.net

AD

M

“ y kicks are cleaner than yours!” screams the designs on the shoes created by artist Daniel Quinones. He has allowed us to take a glimpse into his world of pimpin’ out shoes.

In a world of mass production and rivers of mainstreams, Quinones strives for what today’s society lacks - individuality portrayed in his one-of-a-kind custom kicks. The epidemic of custom-made shoes has been around long before the who’s who of manufactured shoes made by top brands.

Now everyone wants a piece of what is scarce and soul-perceived. Today, famous actors, artists, and anybody who is anybody invest in the endless pursuit of having the cleanest and freshest pair of transportation aka ‘shoes of art.’ So, while everyone battled it out and the old-schoolers pointed and laughed, Quinones brought it upon himself to make his own one-of-a-kind customs with his art.

Pimpin’ Kicks for with Art and Style...

trends

Day one I had to pick a pair of kicks I owned to start going mad on them. I did not want to pick any of my kicks because I thought I’d ruin them and then I wouldn’t wear them again. I had no choice, so I just grabbed my dunks and put them in front of me and did what I do best - create art. I had no plan, no concept of what I was going to do; I just looked at the dunks and started creating art on them. I used acrylic, spray paint, Sharpies, and pen and ink to create the shoe. Four days later, I had finished one whole shoe but could not finish the other one in the short time I had, so I just took them what I created. I met up with the Sneaker Pimps cats and they loved them and off went one of the shoes to go tour the world with the show. I stayed with the unfinished shoe, which I still can’t wear because I only have one. So now when I look at the lonely shoe, I’m as sad as a fat man hungry for a burger and a diet coke with no money.

Daniel’s art and designs can be seen at his site at www.poabdesign.com

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the masses ......

Daniel B. Quinones here to tell you about my pimped-out kicks. Well, it all started by browsing the net for kicks that were unique and had style.

While I was browsing, I ran into the Sneaker Pimps website. Born in Puerto Rico but raised in Houston, I had never seen such cool-looking kicks. In my hometown of Alief, Texas, it’s just what you can find at the stores or by going to Sharpstown for some kicks that others might not have. So when I saw the site, I jumped on it and emailed them to be part of the show as it was coming to LA and I had recently moved to California. I contacted the guy who runs the gig and he liked my art and asked me if I ever made custom kicks before and I said yeah! So he told me, “Well, drop them off before the show and you’re in!” Well, I was as happy as a fat man eating a burger with a diet coke! But, the thing is, I had never made custom kicks before. I had no idea what I was going to do and I had five days to finish a pair of custom art shoes and drop them off.

Caught Photography by Roger Moenks

Stylist: Reynaldo Davis Carter Hairstylist: MichaelAnthony for WOON Salon NYC Make Up Artist: Jeremy Dathan Jones

Jessica Saund (American Ballet Theatre) Dress by Alvin Valley

fashion

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Matt Golding (American Ballet Theatre) Trousers and tuxedo shirt by Alexander McQueen

Jaime Goodwin Skirt and sequined top by Alvin Valley Jessica Saund Trousers and sequined top by Alvin Valley, T-Shirt by Topless California

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Jaime Goodwin Sequined top by Alvin Valley

Jessica Saund Dress by Alvin Valley

Uncovering Daniel Victor Just to set the scene: I meet Daniel at his house. We enter through the side door, which is left ajar and leads into the basement, or more accurately, an immaculate recording studio where he recorded the treasure Neverending White Lights - Act 1: Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies. He’s listening to Dallas Green’s new album, the singer of Neverending White Lights’ hit first single “The Grace”. Daniel is tall and beautiful, with a head of hair that won’t quit, a bit reminiscent of Edward Scissorhands. (He mentions it’s not the first time he’s heard that.) After our introductions, I throw my hands in the air and simply say to him: “Talk to us!” His stream of consciousness comes in abundant doses of intelligence, clarity, and warmth.

Without further ado... I introduce you to Daniel Victor.

Lauren Adams with

Darryl Lindsay

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The enigma behind the groundbreaking record: Neverending White Lights Act 1: Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies

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“I do find comfort in the thought of believing in angels” “I was born and raised in Windsor (Ontario, Canada).

My dad was a musician. I was raised in a studio. This was supposed to be where my toys were. I’m supposed to come downstairs and play with my friends, but there are drums and guitars and people smoking weed and making records. So I had kind of a different upbringing in that sense. My friends always wanted to come over just to watch. So we’d hide out in the dark and listen while people recorded their vocal tracks and we thought it was the coolest thing. I was doing mixes and recordings when I was about six years old. I would sit on my dad’s lap at the board and play with the faders. He’d let me do my own versions of the songs they were recording.

I was already developing my sense of production and engineering.

My dad stuck me on a piano when I was five. I was taught by nuns; they were really strict. I remember once we were allowed to bring in one piece that wasn’t classical, a pop piece, and I brought in “When Doves Cry” by Prince and they flipped out saying, ‘You can’t bring this in here!’ I actually ended up quitting piano when I was old enough to have my own say, but I’m glad I did take lessons because piano is the foundation of any instrument.

My first band might have been when I was eleven years old, just fooling around with my friends. When you get to high school you can start taking music a little more seriously. Right away I got involved in the music department. I was a drummer and I ended up learning how to play the guitar. I graduated

and just wanted to start making my first record, right out of high school. Instead, my mother said, ‘You have to go to university and get your degree.’”

Neverending White Lights is the album Daniel had wanted to make. On the album, Daniel collaborates with fifteen different artists, among them Nick Hexum from 311, Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace, and Dallas Green aka City and Colour.

Daniel remarks, “In ‘The Grace’, I think that Dallas brings that song to life and I wrote it with that in mind, because I can’t sing those parts like he can sing those parts. Along the way I found the right combination of song and singer. I came up with that whole concept and that’s kinda when it all started. At first I wasn’t sure how far I’d be able to take it, but I never

doubted myself. I just thought I’ll take it a day at a time and see what happens.”

So for the burning question: How did he get the artists to work with him having no track record? He had never released a record, been in a video, or toured with a band. Some of these guys are veterans; some of them are legends. Why would they want to work with him? His response: “There’s only one answer and it’s the simplest answer: they liked the music.

The music spoke for itself end of story. That was it, and every call I got back was ‘I love this song, I want to do it.’

“I was doing a lot of reading about worldviews and religion and they started making their way into all the lyrics. Then there’s this whole angel theme going on - the record is called Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies. I do

find comfort in the thought of believing in angels. I think that it’s something that’s dying. It seems like people don’t really believe in the things that they believed in a really long time ago. So I wanted to make a record that was saying goodbye to these beings. In a similar sense, the title Neverending White Lights is a take on life in the sense that when we die, we leave our bodies behind, and then our spirit moves into the next life like a light. I always say like a light that doesn’t go out or a light that never ends - a neverending white light. I think that’s why people find something here; it’s deeply rooted in my soul. It’s very personal and genuine.

When speaking about his first single, “The Grace,” he says, “As it started to get radio play across the country, it just struck a chord with people. It started to grow and

The Missing Link In the CD, Daniel thanks “all the artists involved [for their] patience and willingness to contribute [their] wonderful talent.” First on the list is Jonathan Foreman, to whom he writes, “We can feel the ‘letdown’ from here.” That’s a reference to Switchfoot’s 2003 album, The Beautiful Letdown, which features the track “On Fire,” a collaboration between both artists. It was the first song written for NWL. Switchfoot recorded it, and the album went double platinum. Daniel was able to live off of the royalties for five years, allowing him to focus solely on NWL and complete the album. It was a fait accompli that came right at the beginning - one he’s grateful to for “keeping him alive.” To replace the song on Act 1, they wrote “Throwing Chairs.”

Unfortunately, last spring, Daniel got a call from Switchfoot’s management informing him that he would not be able to use the song on NWL’s record, as it timed too closely to the latest Switchfoot release. Daniel argues, “It’s not even the same genre of music! They thought that maybe it would compete with their release. It’s completely sickening. I haven’t spoken to Jon in a really long time, since everything happened.” You don’t miss the song on the album, but those who have heard “Throwing Chairs” are praying for a truce! Pehaps then we can look forward to a NWL B-sides album.

grow and grow, and people started to buy the record. I started getting emails and people finally started telling me what they thought about my music. That was when I realized, someone in Halifax is listening to my record.

And that’s when I had to get comfortable with affecting people.”

Daniel recalls his favorite part of working on the video for “The Grace” was working with Emm Gryner, whom he had idolized growing up. She plays an angel. As her dress is unzipped, two scars are revealed. Daniel sews her wings in place so she can go to heaven. Without her he dies, and in the final scene she comes back to him only to find it’s too late. The final shot mirrors the artwork of the album cover, which is an old Red Cross advertisement Daniel found somewhere in Italy.

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Not being in a set band has opened up his world of opportunity. “I can take this wherever I want and I really don’t have to answer to anybody.” He says the next album will be a whole new group of artists. “I’m actually leaning towards a few Canadian artists. One of them is Rufus Wainwright. I didn’t feel like I would’ve been able to approach him, that’s how much respect I have for his work.

Also my favorite lyricist of all time, his name is Matthew Good, in a band called The Matthew Good Band. I just think he’s a genius. His lyrics blow my mind.”

When asked who his influences are, Daniel responds, “Earlier on I was really inspired by Tori Amos. Her record Under The Pink changed my life. It made me feel very emotional about music.

That album gave music a lot of meaning. I realized there’s a lot of power here. It can affect you like nothing else can. It’s just chords and melodies, it’s just notes, and it’s just the way your ear hears it and the way your brain perceives the sounds, but it gets emotion. And that record turned me onto feeling sad in a happy way, where it’s not necessarily a bad thing to feel emotional or sad.

It reminds you that you’re alive. Happiness is great, but happiness is never happiness unless you know what sadness is. You always gotta have that contrast.“

“and

then our spirit moves into the next life like a light, and I always say like a light that doesn’t go out or a light that never ends - a neverending white light.”

He continues, “Part of the idea of Neverending White Lights was to collect all of your favorite sad songs and all of the slow songs of your favorite albums and make one record of all of them. If you listen to this record from track 1 to 16, I find it emotionaly draining,” says Daniel. It was a trying journey. “I bled for this one.”

Daniel recently recorded a solo album with a projected release later this year. As I hug him goodbye, I am awakened by his last words: “It’s time to change music, change the world.”

a year in music by

Daniel Victor

Illustration

January Eels - Electro-Shock Blues A perfectly depressing album for a depressing month.

Kent - Isola A Swedish band with an amazing sound.

The lead singer’s voice is so rich, it syncs up perfectly with the cold winter.

February Hum - Downward Is Heavenward The last record this band made was their best. Space rock for mid-winter.

Super Garage - The Self-Titled Debut Album By...

This reminds me of a very specific time in my life, and how February can be romantic and warm despite all the snow and cold.

March Pulp - This Is Hardcore A really cool album to put on when you let the early spring air in through your windows. It’s my spring-cleaning soundtrack.

Sarah Slean - Night Bugs When there’s still a trace of snow on the ground and the nights are still cold, the sun sets late into the evening outside my house. Just as it’s almost dark, a blue tint of light is cast onto the white snow, making everything this erie, irredescent blue color - that is the perfect time for this album. I sit by a window with a cup of tea just listening, almost in tears at the beauty that is Sarah Slean, and the month of March.

by

Ilan Benaym

April Ed Harcourt - Here Be Monsters For those rainy days that are a bit sad, this album helps you pass the time and feel better. All the lows and highs are here.

Gay Dad - Transmission A very unknown band from the UK. This CD blends into the obscurity that is the month of April. Not quite warm or cold, the music is not anything you can really understand. It sounds a bit distorted, poppy, melancholic, and awkward all at once.

May Starflyer 59 - The Fashion Focus Jason Martin’s voice is so nice. These songs are for spring.

Smashing Pumpkins - MACHINA: The Machines of God This reminds me of my later days in University when school was getting out. Of course, the lyrics “rain falls on everyone” couldn’t describe the feeling of mid-May any better. Sort of a prelude to the summer months ahead.

June Ours - Distorted Lullabies One of my all-time favorite albums. It announces the coming of something incredible, like summer.

Sloan - Twice Removed This takes me back to high school. It’s a brilliant pop/rock record that makes me pine for old high school summer love that usually happened at the end of the year.

So happy it’s sad.

An interesting fact about Daniel is that he categorizes his CDs by month. Here are some of his personal favorites.

He comments, “I have so many amazing albums set aside specifically for each month. As you know, I only listen to them at a very specific time in order to get the full effect. Here are the two most definitive albums of each season for me (I couldn’t just pick one). They bring out the absolute best of the time of year and evoke passion, emotion, joy and sadness, while supplying the perfect soundtrack for the month and weather they are accompanying.”

July Creeper Lagoon - Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday This album defines summer! Its entire spirit is so warm, it makes you want to open all the windows and take in the beautiful summer breeze. It makes me want the days to never end. It represents summers past, present and future.

Rufus Wainwright - Poses Perfect while having breakfast outside in the sun to start your day. Then in the evenings, it captures the warm feeling of the pure beauty known as a summer night.

August Ho-Hum - Sanduleak A very unknown band that continues to put out great records. This is fun and poppy, yet still very emotive.

Jeff Buckley - Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk Summer nights when it rains and the air gets heavy and thick, I drive around and play this album loud.

September Stars - Heart This cute album is a soundtrack for the warm days of September.

Andy Stochansky - Five Star Motel A Canadian singer/songwriter with a very original voice. Sets a great tone for the month.

October Deckard - Stereodreamscene Just when the leaves are starting to turn color and you need something still upbeat from September, this album works perfectly.

The Leaves - Breathe And, as the leaves begin to fall, this English band, The Leaves, provides the perfect background music.

November Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight One of the best rock albums of all-time, its dark and somber tone fits the early November weather nicely with the last of the falling leaves, the cold air, and the hint of winter to come. Drive by falling leaves with the song “Suburbia” playing and the windows down a bit.

Shudder To Think - First Love, Last Rites A bit of a different sounding record, this is perfect for 11am snowfalls in late November.

December Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright This is what I listen to when I’m putting up my Christmas tree every year! It’s an amazing work of art.

The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart I drive around the city looking at all the Christmas lights while listening to this.

It’s just so Christmasy. Every part of this album is gorgeous.

interview

Discovering

Maverick Record’s New Music Talent:

Like the girl next door only spunkier, Detroit native MoZella recently got off her first major tour with Lifehouse. Mo, as her friends and family call her, has already added a national Mercedes Benz ad to her resume and managed to accomplish that ever-fervent goal all musicians share: landing a record deal, signing with her dream label Maverick. We caught up with MoZella post-performance at the Warner Bros. party thrown in her honor in NYC - an unusual performance for the 24-year old singer/songwriter, who had performed three weeks on tour without a hitch, because she had lost her voice that same day.

Regardless, the charming chanteuse handled the crowd with grace and humor. She did the only thing she could do - she threw back a shot of whiskey and embraced the unpredictable experience of a live performance. Despite it all, she improvised, welcoming fans - Tyler Hilton among them - onto the stage to help her belt out her soulful tunes. Under the same circumstances, most other musicians would cancel, but MoZella chose to practice what she preaches: “You let go one day. When I let go was when people started responding. When you let go is when people relate to you.” She may be on to something...

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Interview by Lauren Adams, Danny Tidwell and David Benaym

Where does the name MoZella come from?

Maureen. When I was a kid, Mo was a nickname. My dad called me Mo, and my family called me MoMo, and then MoZella.

Then Moesha, Mozers, Mozie, Mozambique, Mozarella. So when I got a record deal, they were like, “What do you want to go by?” I said MoZella.

How was it touring with Lifehouse?

They were amazing. They were very conscientious and kind and thoughtful. For as big as they are, they weren’t arrogant at all.

They were really nice. We hung out, went drinking, laughed together. I was so impressed with how humble they were.

How is it to walk the line with Elvis every night?

Oh, with Tyler Hilton! (Tyler Hilton played Elvis in the Oscar winning movie “Walk the Line”) You know,

Tyler and I had been playing acoustic shows together for probably three or four years, before he even was on TV. So Tyler is very no-nonsense with me. We talk like we’re siblings almost. He never acts like he’s too cool for anybody. We met when I signed with Maverick. He was already with them, and we played coffee shops together.

Why did you choose Maverick?

Well, a few major labels were interested, but I always loved Madonna’s label. From the time I started playing the guitar at 13 or 14, I was obsessed with Madonna. She’s from Michigan, so I remember being young and thinking, ‘Oh my god, I want a record deal, I wanna sign with

Maverick, they’re so cool!’ And then when I was auditioning for record labels, a few were interested, but I was kinda partial. They offered an amount and I was like: Done! I just love their idea of female power.

Did you always want to be a musician?

I was always performing and acting in plays and playing the piano all day long. I always sang and loved to be on stage. I thought I wanted to be a theater performer, thought I wanted to dance and sing, and then I got cut from the play when I was in ninth grade! I was like, that’s it, I’ll never be on stage again.

Then I started playing the guitar and realized I love this, and then I was like, I’m gonna get my own show, fuck all these people! So I went to the coffee shop and I

you go to college. I thought, I’m not going to college, I’m moving to Los Angeles! I’m gonna get a record deal!

So what happened when you moved to L.A.?

Oh, it was hard.

Did you move together with your brother?

No, I just called him crying every day. I was like, this is terrible.

I’m alone, I don’t have a car, I don’t have a job, I don’t know anybody. But I finally got a job cake decorating. I got fat in a deli. I probably decorated for like six months and waitressed for two years.

Her older brother Andy interjects and tells a story about how MoZella borrowed his car while she was in high school and when she returned it, there was a bumper sticker that read: “Those who abandon their dreams will discourage yours.” He ripped it off, and says that to this day he feels bad about it.

That was my philosophy in my senior year of high school - don’t let anybody discourage your dreams. So everybody’s applying to colleges, and I went to a preparatory so it was like…

WRITING AND SINGING FOR MERCEDES One of MoZella’s friends was editing a television ad for Mercedes and asked her to send him some songs. While they didn’t find the perfect fit in any of her pre-recorded songs, she was able to write something overnight watching the images of the commercial. Here is how MoZella recalls this experience: “So they sent me the ad, and I put the TV on and turned the volume down, and just watched these flashing pictures of people from the 40s and 50s with their old cars. I sat down with my guitar in front of these still pictures and I said, how would I feel looking at a photograph of people I love with cars? I thought of my dad, and I thought of my mom, and my grandparents, and I started writing this song. It wasn’t about the ad, and it wasn’t about even getting the deal. So I wrote it, and I went into the recording studio and I took a mic - one mic for my vocal and my guitar. I sang it, sent it to NY the same night. The next day, the executive from Mercedes called and said, ‘You got it.’ The demo was used on the ad! And that’s how the song ‘Amazed’ was born.”

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played live and they asked me if I wanted to play Friday nights.

I was 15, I had braces. I was all awkward. Everyone from school showed up, probably 100 in this tiny little room, and they were all cheering, “Go Mo!”

Michael Sunga

That whole time you were working on your music?

Totally. I would go to coffee shops by myself. I’d walk with no car, alone. My roommates were two lesbians. My mom’s like, are you gay? I was like, Mom, no, I’m not gay, I just live with lesbians. But for a Catholic mother from the Midwest...

So I’d walk to coffee shops and play the guitar and just try to get my emotions out, because I was in such a weird state.

What did you learn from your experiences there?

Well, you know what I learned? I learned humanity. I learned that no matter who you are, you’re human. I was working in a deli with Mexican guys who have wives, children, families back in Mexico. They’re people. They taught me and they embraced me when all those bitchy waitresses wouldn’t be nice to me because I was blonde and young and chipper. I had no friends and they took me in and spent time with me. So, what I learned is, above all, you treat everyone with respect. That, no matter where I go in life, I’m human. I bleed, I cry, and these people bleed and cry, too. They were born into this situation that they couldn’t help. I’m so thankful for all I had to go through because I cried a lot. And through crying, I learned my voice.

So do you think that’s where your broken voice comes from?

I have a soulful voice, and that

Dancin’ MoZella Before she went to London, MoZella took ballet classes: “I was like, I need to expand my horizons. I took Shakespeare classes, and I took ballet. It made me realize that there’s more to life than getting a record deal. I learned how to stand up straight with ballet.

“I learned that Shakespeare knows his shit! He knows that what happens right now is going to happen in a thousand years. So it made me realize that no matter what I’m feeling, people are going to feel it forever. I started writing from that perspective.”

comes from letting go. It’s hard to let go. You let go one day. So going through all these hardships in Los Angeles taught me that I’m just human, let it go. When I let go was when people started responding. When you let go is when people relate to you.

What happened next? How did you become MoZella?

There were probably ten false starts. Probably ten people liked me, producers thinking I’m it, and I thought I was, so I followed them and it wasn’t it. After all these obligatory false starts, it happened for me. I moved.

I gave up on L.A. I went to London, and I lived there for four months. I actually put time into my art, not into being famous.

Why? Before you were trying to be famous?

I just wanted to get a record deal, not be famous. So I said forget record deals, I’m gonna go make good music, period. I ate great food, I lived a great life. I went to Sweden, I went to Italy, I went all over. I was 21, and I said, ‘I’m an artist now, I’m done worrying about getting a record deal, I’m just gonna be an artist.’ At the end of my trip I got an email that

said, “I work at a record label.

You need to come back and meet me.” And I was like, ‘Oh my god! I let go and somehow it came back to me.’ So I left. I had no job, no house. I couchsurfed. Then I got meetings with record labels out of nowhere.

They discovered me through shitty demos, with just me and the guitar.

So do you write all of your music and lyrics?

Oh, I write everything. I co-write some songs, but most of my songs I sit and write.

How does it happen? Do you hear it?

Yeah. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night, and I’ll be playing a song, and be like, what is that?

And I’ll grab a tape recorder.

Like “Killing Time” came from 9/11, basically. I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote that. That’s how I write. I wake up with an emotion and I write it.

How did you start “Messiah”?

“Oh, ‘Messiah.’ It’s kinda sacrilegious. I sat down one night in my apartment alone, and I thought about all these

Amazing grace comes in the form of a slap in the face Now I don’t believe what I see anymore, ‘cause it’s all the same We wander in and out of love like it’s meant to scar us, and we never change

I thought, I’m not gonna let that happen to me, and if I can prevent it, I’m gonna help other girls not let it happen to them.

No, we never think to change, but don’t tell me that I’m wrong I know I’m not that strong, but I never thought that loving you would hurt for so long So I worshiped you, and I praised your name, and I lived through you like a Messiah I bled for you, and I screamed your name, and worshiped you like a Messiah

What’s the best advice you’ve received so far in your career?

Well, it’s Henry David Thoreau, and it’s “Know Thyself,” because as an artist everybody’s trying to tell you who you are and everybody’s trying to tell you how to do it. I read that quote one

day and I didn’t get it. Not until a couple of years later did I realize what he was talking about. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what they say. Am I who I am?

Do I know that I’m an artist? Do I know that I can write? Can I get on stage and not be able to sing but still be able to hold an audience because I know that I can sing when I’m on it?

Why are you so driven?

Why am I so driven? I’m driven because I feel like I’ve tapped into something, I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I’ve been blessed. And if I didn’t follow my calling, I feel like I’d be doing a disservice to the universe, and not in an arrogant way, just that I can sing. I can express emotions that most people are trying to explain but they can’t.

So it’s not about money, it’s not about fame. It’s about creating and showing people that maybe I’m not perfect. As long as I can show people that I’m an artist and that I feel what you feel. We live, and we die, and we breathe, and we are.

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girls that sacrifice themselves for men, and I thought:

Pictures by Michael Sunga

reviews

Phil Harbut from The Swedes Phil Harbut, born and raised in British Columbia, always had a feverish love for music. In his final year at university, a few months from obtaining a degree, he withdrew to tour with his [then] band The Way Out and made music his life.

Beth Konopka snowboarder, yoga master, homegrown producer, filmmaker and dance lover, his Canadian outdoor-sie personality fits right into the fast-paced persona of the New York multi-tasker.

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“Touring is what made me realize that [music] was a viable option for a career and that’s what I wanted to do.”

The Way Out was tour-mate’s with the now popular rock duo Teagan and Sara who have remained very close friends with Phil ever since. Phil and “the girls,” as he calls them, hope to collaborate again in the future.

Now a two-year veteran performer in the NYC-based band The Swedes, Phil has had no trouble adapting to his life as a multifaceted artist. A proficient crosscountry runner, recreational

“Being more in tune with artistic movement these days, I realize when drumming you’re playing with all four limbs at one time. You have pedals and the sticks. You have 1-8 options of things to hit with your four limbs and any combination within there. You’re creating rhythm.

Rhythm is what makes people move. I watch drummers who are more internal, their postures perfect. They sometimes do less movement in order to play much faster

complex stuff. It’s not like you have to be a jitterbug to create good rhythm. You’ve seen me drum and I move a ton; that’s because I have to move when I hear music.

The movement comes from preference. Whatever you need to do to get whatever it is out of you.”

The Swedes are, at this point, caught up in the crucial promotional efforts many bands face when trying to get noticed, get a label, and get people out to see them perform. With regular gigs at Mercury Lounge and Rothko, to name a few, and some talk about them on the London scene, Phil and The Swedes are more than holding their own.

Phil will have a limited underground release of some solo music this summer under the alias Phillip Alexander.

Phil and The Swedes just released a new album. Info can be found on, MySpace, www.theswedes.net, CD Baby, and iTunes.

Phil moonlights as a super-sexy bartender at Vinyl Restaurant.

Priorities for the next year: getting things finished (like that degree!), mental and physical health, and friends.

BECK - SEA CHANGE

Rock Kills Kid - Are You Nervous?

myspace.com/rockkillskid rockkillskid.com

When you first hear Rock Kills Kid, sure, your head may unconsciously nod along to their music, but what should and probably will stick out from this band’s new album Are You Nervous are the daunting lyrics conveyed in the songs.

Lead singer and songwriter Jeff Tucker had life experience to pull from when writing such songs as “Paralyzed,” their first single. This song, not unlike the rest of their music, draws on feelings of isolation, and deals with frustration from an inability to move forward. It’s hard to categorize exactly what genre of music Rock Kills Kid falls into. While some of their music takes on a more pop/punk sound (like “Paralyzed”), other songs such as “Hide Away” have you convinced you’re listening to U2. Overall, this band is on its way.

“Paralyzed” has been the number one requested song on Los Angeles’ KROQ. Rock Kills Kid is currently on tour. Are You Nervous hit stores in May.

Brooke Roberson

www.beck.com

Kiyanu - Compulsion Guitar savant extraordinaire Kiyanu has been making a name for himself since 2001 when he joined Grammy-winning producer Malcolm Burn to record the album Compulsion with singer/songwriter Chris Grace. He has since toured with the likes of both Gwen Stefani and Ben Jelen, two of today’s hottest stars. But there is more to Kiyanu than big names and sold-out world tours. His new band, Misuniverse (the moniker more akin to ‘misconduct’ and ‘misbehavior’ than the beauty pageant), has a seven-song album titled All’s Well That Ends available now. On the track “Simplicity Herself,” Kiyanu and company cull the finer moments of Sufjan Stevens and Elliot Smith, weaving a lulling melody with the aid of Kiyanu’s tenderly played acoustic guitar. On “M.C. Escher,” Kiyanu reins in the drifting ambience of the song with his strident strumming. With influences as diverse as Debussy and Chopin to Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan, Kiyanu’s role as both player and producer help make All’s Well That Ends an effort worthy of your ear.

Kiyanu with Gwen Stefani

Beck is known for his catchy, somewhat humorous alternative rock songs. When he released Sea Change, this flipped the tables on the music industry’s view of this talented artist. The departure from his norm highlights Beck’s artistic range and keeps his audience on their toes. With songs such as “The Golden Age” and “Lonesome Tears,” this reflective album is a keeper.

Bruce Scott

Angela McCluskey The Things We Do Angela McCluskey’s career has involved working with numerous bands (The Wild Colonials, telepopmusik, Shudder To Think), but her solo debut is a striking example of the raw talent of this artist. With a combination of thought-provoking lyrics and a sound that is unparalleled, The Things We Do is an essential recording. For a sample, listen to “Wrong Side”. www.angelamccluskey.com

Chris Masters

reviews

JODIE MANROSS - FOLK

Beth Hart Live at Paradiso

Some artists are better live, and some are better in a studio. Well, when it comes to Beth Hart, she is incredible regardless of the setting. Her most recent release, a live recording from Paradiso in Amsterdam, is flawless. Two notable selections on this album are “Hiding Under Water,” the first official release of this signature song, and “Guilty,” a rich Bonnie Raitt cover.

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www.bethhart.com

If you are a fan of truly great music, then chances are you’ve already heard of Jodie Manross. Known as “the little woman with the big voice,” this Knoxville, TN-based singer/songwriter has only begun to make her mark on the music industry. Jodie is a small-town girl with a soft spoken personality, and yes, it’s true, she’s a librarian by day. Her music is versatile and ranges from folk rock to soulful blues, but no matter how you categorize it, you can’t deny the passion and honesty that is packed into each song. Adding to her deeply personal lyrics is the way she delivers them, moving seamlessly from a vulnerable whisper into striking and compelling vocals that resonate far beyond the spectrum of her tiny stature and polite personality. When seen live, one can’t deny her power. Of course, Jodie is completely humble and feels grateful for every opportunity she has had as a performer. Her shows have ranged from big venues like the Bonnaroo Music Festival to smaller coffeehouses and even a wedding she once played where the bride never showed up!

So what’s next for Jodie? She, along with long-time writing companion/ guitar player Laith Keilany have recently been featured covering “Green Blanket” on a Peter Case tribute, A Case for Case, whose sales benefit the non-profit organization Hungry For Music. In the past, Jodie has been actively involved with many charities and organizations in the Knoxville area, selflessly using her talents to help others. When asked to state her biggest goal she sweetly replied, “I just hope to reach as many folks as I can through music.” To find out more about Jodie, go to jodiemanross.com.

Download these: “Still” from the album Still and “Marie” from the album Don’t Save the Kisses.

Liz Schmidt

Skin - Fleshwounds

This is Skin’s first solo recording after a tenure with the band Skunk Anansie. If you enjoyed the SA songs “Infidelity” and “Brazen (Weep),” this album is for you. This recording offers less rock guitar, but more of that incredible voice and stunning lyrics.

While her earlier work with the band was very political in nature, this album is an internalized reflection of love and love lost. For a sample of this work, check out “As Long as That’s True.” www.skinmusic.net

Chris Masters

Heather Headley In My Mind Heather Headley is one of those singers that make you believe in the idea of pure, unadulterated talent and beauty again.

D. Michael Taylor

A demure and statuesque West Indian born in Trinidad, she commands your attention on stage with the purity and sheer force of her voice, which has catapulted her to fame on Broadway in The Lion King and as the star attraction of Aida. Looking to parlay that fame into more mainstream success in the music world, she released This Is Who I Am in 2001.

It reached the #14 spot on the Billboard R&B chart with a breakout single, “I Wish I Wasn’t,” which lingered on the biggest dance floors of New York in its Junior Vasquez incarnation.

Her new album, In My Mind, looks to be a promising sophomore effort, once again showcasing her powerful pipes with production work from such heavyweights as Babyface and the Jimmy Jam/ Terry Lewis team. There’s even a surprisingly infectious track in the doo-wop mold produced by Atlanta crunkster and Chappelle Show favorite Lil’ Jon. Each song is solid,

with lyrics that are thoughtful and often complex, painting Headley as a woman at times strong and defiant in and out of love, but also confused, plagued with insecurities and at times even a little guilti.

This is no Beyoncé, kicking men to the curb with a glib girl-power attitude.

Nevertheless, there really isn’t a standout track on this album, like an “I Wish I Wasn’t.” Her flawless voice is at times almost too perfect, never wavering or revealing the kind of intense, awkward emotion that makes someone like Mary J. Blige so moving. If you subtract the two watereddown dancehall tracks, the entire album becomes easy fodder for a posh restaurant, or one of the nicest elevators in the city. There’s a sense

that perhaps her Broadway work trumps her R&B potential, training her to be pitch-perfect and consistent on stage, which translates as a bit stiff and formal in the studio. Seeing her live on Ellen recently reinforced this idea, as she belted out the title track of the album in a much more memorable way than the syrupy recorded production.

The good news is that the major release of this type of raw singing talent bodes well for an industry struggling to

escape from the Britneys and Ashley Simpsons of the world. Shows like American Idol have made singing, real singing, cool again, and lip-synch pop seems to be on the wane. But Headley may have to stick to live work to get her real talents recognized properly.

interview

Joshua Radin Whatever Joshua Radin is putting out there, people are craving; he can’t seem to make his music fast enough for his ever-increasing fan base. You’ve already sampled his first full-length album We Were Here if you’re into shows Scrubs and Grey’s Anatomy, where his lullabies have been in constant rotation.

As he moves his couches to his new home in Los Angeles, the art teacher-turned-singer/songwriter takes a moment to educate us. Eager to discover the secrets behind the effortless songster who wrote his first song “Winter” a mere two years ago, we take notes...

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Lauren Adams

When did you realize you had a good voice?

Well, I sang all the time in the shower (laughs) and in the car.

When I was a little kid, I did plays and theater and summer musicals. I went to a musical theater summer camp, actually, as a child (Stage Door Manor), and got an agent there and started doing voiceover jingles for commercials.

Who inspired you to sing?

Well, I guess growing up it was all around my house. Not that my family were musicians, but they were always playing good music in the car and in the house. My mom would sing

harmonies with me in the car on the way to school and stuff.

I was always happiest when I was singing. So in college I would always be like, ‘Oh, I wanna sing in a band,’ but I didn’t play any instruments, and I didn’t write any songs.

It was tough to just find a lead singer gig, because I’d meet so many people and there would be egos involved. They’d write the song and they wanted to sing it. So I finally just said, ‘You know what? I’ll just write my own songs and learn how to play the guitar.’

Are you self-taught?

Yeah, I never took a lesson.

So do you know how to read music?

No. (laughs) Not at all. I just learned a bunch of chords on the guitar by playing some Bob Dylan and Beatles songs. And that was it, basically. Once I knew those chords, I just started writing songs.

Where’s your favorite space to create? Do you have a place where you feel most inspired or creative?

Definitely. Always in my living room on my couch. That’s where I write all my songs.

That’s boring… I’m usually in my underwear. (laughs) In airplane bathrooms, that’s

where I write my lyrics. (laughs) No, but I have written lyrics on vomit bags on airplanes. I hate to fly, and it’s just the tension, I need something to do.

If you could sing one song with Stevie Wonder, what would it be?

Wow! I don’t want to make the wrong choice! I’ve never thought about this before... probably, “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever).”

Aside from music, what are you passionate about?

I write screenplays. That’s how I was paying the bills before the music.

So you were able to pay your bills with your screenplays?

Yeah, not a lot of bills, not expensive ones! (laughs) I optioned a couple and they never got made, and I started playing music and that sort of took off and I focused on that.

How was your experience working in the movie Garden State?

I just had a cameo. Zach Braff, who made the movie, is my best friend. I was on the set the first day of shooting in New Jersey. I was living in New York at the time. I came up to say hello and he was like, “Why don’t you just get in?” So it was fun. We had to do fake drugs all day in that scene.

Have you lived anywhere exciting?

I moved around everywhere. I went to Berkley, California and then I went back to Chicago and I was teaching art to 5th through 7th grade. Then I moved to Capetown, South Africa for a year. I was teaching an American Cinema class for the high school there and working on my first screenplay.

It was called Purple Paint. It was about a prodigy artist, a little kid who sorta takes New York by storm. Then I moved to New York, with little bits of London in between. I made the permanent move to New York and was there for quite a few years before moving to Los Angeles last year.

What were the fake drugs that you used?

Let’s see, there was fake cocaine that was vitamin B, and fake marijuana that was some sort of ginseng, fake alcohol, fake beer that was apple juice.

Did you enjoy teaching?

Probably the most fun I’ve ever had. I’ll definitely go back to doing that when I can afford to not have to live on a teaching salary.

Your song “Closer” was first of a couple now to air on Grey’s Anatomy. That must have been exciting!

Yeah! I got so many calls from that one, from people I hadn’t

PLAYING FAVORITES Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio College: Northwestern, Degree: Painting and Drawing Last book he read: The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse Favorite book of all time: The Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Favorite American Idol this year: Taylor Hicks Favorite movies of 2005: Crash, Walk the Line, The Squid and the Whale Favorite movie of all time: Annie Hall Favorite sound: The sound of two beautiful voices singing harmony Simon and Garfunkel, The Everly Brothers, Dylan and Baez, Johnny Cash and June Carter.

Least favorite sound: Women crying, I’m a sucker for the tears.

I just can’t deal with it. I give into anything when women cry.

Favorite City: New York City

heard from in so long, just saying, “Oh, I love that show!”

What has been your greatest accomplishment so far?

The day I finished my first record, which was about a month ago.

What did you do to celebrate?

I think I went home and slept for about two days!

What do you hope to achieve with your music?

I just want as many people as possible to hear it. And hopefully, at the end of the day, if I could just have written one song that’s sort of meant so much to a lot of people, helped them out in some way, or given them something to relate to, then that would be really cool.

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BEIJING Yin or Yang?

?

Photography by Anais Martane Text by Abel Segretin

Six o’clock, first rays of the sun, dry and fresh air. The armies of cars haven’t yet taken control of the asphalt. It’s so quiet and so bright. Beijing reveals her secrets at dawn. Empty construction sites pointing to the skies, parks full of people practicing taiji quan. It’s an ancient form of energetic gymnastics, like yoga in motion, with martial elements. It has survived revolutions, destructions and modernizations for hundreds of years, and is still going on well.

Every day, long-time Beijingers rise with the sun, slowly ride their bicycles to the only places where nature still rules - the parks - and practice the ancestral movements. It is said to prolong life a lot.

Like an everlasting orgasm distilled in little drops.

Quiet forces in motion.

Taiji is stillness in movement, movement in stillness.

It is the essence of the yin and yang. Day and night.

Sharp and blurred. Artificial and natural. It’s easy to forget about these cycles, as they are part of every moment of life. One usually feels it only when it reaches the extreme points. This can be precisely at dawn, when the yin of the night turns into the yang of the day.

*Special thanks to the cinematographer Yu Li Kwai for his handmade pinhole camera.

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A new balance is now taking place. The Olympics are in sight, globalization is in the air, but every morning the red flag is still raised on Tiananmen square and hundreds of years old taiji quan movements are repeated. Seven o’clock. Outside the parks, a few lonely people sit still on the pavement, waiting to go to work. They seem lost, powerless in front of the gigantic city under construction.

They are migrant workers, small people, and unemployed farmers coming to the big city to try their luck. With their hands they build the high-rise towers, but they will never own any part of them. All over, large avenues and grey towers are replacing the traditional landscape. Old stones and narrow streets are not welcome any longer.

Within a little less than ten years, half of all Beijing builtup areas have been bulldozed to the ground and rebuilt.

Some like to say that this is why Chinese civilization has lasted for such a long time: it can bear constant changes, dynasty after dynasty. Some are just proud of some kind of westernization. Others say that this time, the shift is way too radical: something has gone too far and it will come back at their face violently. But most Beijing people just try to flow with the change. If not, they will be left on the side of the road and they know it. Taiji quan helps a lot with flowing with changes. “You don’t have this in your country” says a middle-aged practitioner. “That’s why you are so stressed.” With this in mind, massive erasure of the past has almost become like a natural phenomenon. Beijing is a city where traffic jams are strangely fluid, where people walk quite slowly, but where no one is late for appointments. “The only thing that doesn’t change is the change itself,” the master said.

investigation If all the world is a stage, then the internet is quickly becoming the greatest show on earth. We are no longer constrained by the boundaries of physical location - the world has gone virtual in a big way over the past decade.

The future never happens in noticeable leaps; it sneaks up on you. But if you could travel back twenty years, the pre-internet universe would seem quaint and archaic compared to the one we live in now. An everincreasing chunk of our lives happens online. Communicating with those we both know and don’t quite know yet, marketing ourselves, shopping, searching a seemingly infinite database for anything we need to know, even exploring the more sinister aspects of human nature. Great power continues to demand great responsibility, making the internet one of the greatest responsibilities we have ever taken on.

D. Michael Taylor

Illustration by Ilan Benaym

Somewhere in the range of 70 million users call MySpace their internet home right now, and that number will be different by the time you read this. Using a model popularized by sites like Friendster and Facebook, MySpace offers each user a place to set up an online identity, meet and communicate with people from across the globe, set up blogs, show off individual talent, and create a virtual community that responds in real time to everything that you do.

But MySpace takes the networking

model to the next level by allowing users nearly unlimited freedom to create a universe within their profiles. This is an HTML-savvy generation, capable of pimping out a webpage to do anything they want. Clicking on a MySpace profile is a unique experience every time, with images floating past the screen, music filling the air, banners and backgrounds jiggling and convulsing with virtual life.

This is the bedroom wall of the future, and instead of static posters of bands and teen idols, a world that throbs with life explodes onto the screen, creating an online identity for each user. Scroll down and find links to a roster of friends who are a mere click away, each with their own universe to share. Moving a handful of clicks away from any one profile can yield networks of up to hundreds of thousands of people, all within a few degrees of separation from one another.

Collecting friends is the new form of swapping baseball cards.

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The MySpace Generation

Nothing embodies the power of the internet quite like the MySpace phenomenon.

To call it a networking tool for an everincreasing population of dedicated users is to radically understate the impact that it is having on society.

Just keeping track of how many people use MySpace is tricky, as the number grows by the millions each and every month.

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More established artists have caught on as well, using MySpace as a platform to launch their albums, provide sneak peeks into their upcoming projects, and tap into the seemingly endless supply of young trendsetting music-lovers who inhabit the MySpace world. Acts like Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Black Eyed Peas, and even Neil Diamond have all launched albums on the site. Madonna marketed her Confessions on a Dance Floor album by releasing exclusive personal “confessions” through her MySpace presence. Death Cab for Cutie, representing the emerging “indie” or “emo” trend in youth culture, premieres singles through MySpace. The logic behind it is simple – where else are you going to find almost 100 million connected kids who all communicate with one another and broadcast their likes, dislikes, and desires in one easy to use platform? It is a marketing nirvana.

More than 700,000 artists and bands use MySpace to market themselves, filling a void that was left when file sharing altered the way we find and explore music, crippling the traditional music industry. Marketing your band used to take years of playing dives and coffeehouses, hoping to be discovered by a major label. Even truly talented artists were simply needles in a haystack that rarely got noticed. The organic communities that spring up around MySpace artists create a form of guerilla marketing that can catapult unknowns into the spotlight in a matter of months instead. The haystack is bigger and the marketplace much more crowded, but true talent tends to break through the clutter and noise to get noticed more quickly. Think of it as a type of PR engine. There are MySpacers with tens of thousands of friends connected to their profiles who act as conduits for up-and-coming talent.

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Friends with the Band

Created three years ago by Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, MySpace was originally a scrappy, organic networking forum that seemed to create a purely democratic community of users. Every new MySpace profile already contains the ubiquitous image of “Tom”, with an actual picture of Tom Anderson sitting at his computer, looking every bit the internet nerd. His is probably the most widely known internet profile in the world at this point. But behind this seemingly grassroots image lies the public relations behemoth Edelman, which carefully cultivates this populist image of the MySpace world, leveraging the word-of-mouth potential for advertisers who are increasingly budgeting more and more to explore this emerging form of advertising. The Edelman website yields marketing presentations that detail how MySpace can integrate your product into the profiles of thousands of well-known artists or MySpace personalities. The era of static print ads and thirty-second television spots is being challenged by a more nebulous form of advertising that attempts to integrate itself into the fabric of your online experience without being quite as obvious about it. The effectiveness of this type of marketing is much more difficult to track, but we live in a TiVo world where ads are much easier to tune out as we become the digital creators of our own unique media experience. Finding ways to incorporate the messages of powerful advertisers who are being lost in the mix is essential at this point.

Google managed to make the online advertising landscape profitable recently with computergenerated ads for blogs and websites.

Take Brownie for instance. Born Brian O’Donnell, Brownie has been making music and playing the bar/coffeehouse scene for over a decade, languishing in relative obscurity like most singers living in New York.

Last year he started a MySpace profile, and was discovered by an evergrowing community of young music fans that are currently obsessed with his brand of melancholy indie pop. He currently has over twelve thousand friends on his profile. He has hired a small PR firm to do nothing more than help him manage friend requests and comments. He is about to release an anticipated full-length album in October, and is planning a national tour where the only coffeehouses he will see will actually be serving him coffee. He is also thinking of touring Europe. All of this happened in less than one year.

Growth Explosion

Now that MySpace has gone corporate, it is already planning to extend the brand in unique ways, leveraging the power of this online juggernaut.

Not only will you hear MySpace mentioned in every third conversation on the street, you will soon start seeing it on cell phones, PDAs, and even television, as they have recently started farming out original user-generated content to interested networks. It’s a YouTube world now, and we’re all slated for 15 seconds of fame.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. recognized the powerful potential of such a phenomenon and purchased MySpace a year ago for $580 million.

Fox News, also owned by News Corp., recently ran a piece about a Columbine-style plot by some young students in Kansas that was thwarted by authorities when someone tipped them off that they had seen some disturbing info on MySpace about the plan. This was a nice change of pace from the usual stories of young girls being seduced and even killed by older MySpace lurkers. News Corp. has a keen interest in blunting the criticism that keeps getting louder as the era of internet predators becomes more of a media circus.

Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL are scrambling to get their hands into the half a trillion dollar cookie jar that online advertising now represents. But MySpace is where the limits of that marketing potential are being revolutionized in real time.

The roster of advertising heavyweights that make up some of the MySpace universe already includes Honda, Wendy’s, Toyota, and Cingular Wireless.

Not only do they get ubiquitous profile integration, but the real sweet spot of the MySpace ad buy is the instantaneous buyer feedback into the wants and needs of the most desirable demographic population in the universe. People are willing to pay big bucks to get their hands on that kind of reliable feedback.

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In February of 2006, police were actively investigating as many as seven assault cases related to MySpace in the Boston area. A police sergeant described the site as a “predator’s dream come true.” One man traveled over one thousand miles to meet a young girl from Connecticut.

Parents are understandably nervous about this new phenomenon.

Their young kids are signing on, faking their age (99 seems very popular with the under-18 crowd for some reason), and making thousands of new friends who may or may not be what they claim to be every time. Here’s the tricky part, some of these kids actually do know they are dealing with much older friends and

are consensually meeting with them anyway. It blurs the line of what we think of when we think of molestation, but remains downright horrifying to parents, nonetheless.

Pesach Lattin, the man who invented the annoyance of popup ads strangely enough, wrote a piece describing his experience looking for inappropriate behavior on MySpace, and came to the conclusion that, “MySpace is a buffet for any pervert looking for easy targets.”

He found “private” groups that are theoretically monitored filled with a cornucopia of ageinappropriate activity, including one for young girls to meet older women.

Regulating this type of activity will be tantamount to regulating the internet itself, a task pretty much deemed impossible by most. MySpace has tightened its monitoring practices, but in

MySpace is here to stay, obviously. It has achieved a critical cultural mass in just a few years that makes even Google look slow by comparison. There is a legion of copycats on the horizon about to inundate the market with every conceivable niche network you can imagine, hoping to strike the same gold that MySpace has found. Very few will actually succeed, but enough will to ensure that almost every internet junkie in the world will be a part of the phenomenon somehow, and soon.

Networking sites will continue to change the way that we market our bands, our art, our lives, and ourselves. They will also continue to reformulate how advertisers approach the marketplace, with tools that will become more and more sophisticated and integrated into our lives. They will, in short, change how we approach the world, granting us the power to communicate with the global community in ways that will make the current incarnation of the internet look as quaint as a pen and paper do to us now.

Is this a good or a bad thing in the end? It’s probably a bit quaint to think in these sorts of binary terms about MySpace as well. The powerful tools that we create to communicate with one another are rather neutral constructs. Who could have foreseen the ways in which the printing press would change the world, making it smaller, easier to understand, more democratic? But the written word itself is also a double-edged sword, and in the wrong hands has been used to create fascist states, start wars, and stoke the fires of human strife. Wishing this kind of power away only makes one despondent and irrelevant. The only way to approach a new communications paradigm is to embrace it, looking for the ways that it can help us, and others, become better, more developed human beings.

the end, the power of internet networking works the same way for everyone, even those who have less than noble intentions. MySpace is merely the most visible example of this sort of problem, however; you may as well blame it on cars when strange men cruise by a playground with their window rolled down to pick up children with the offer of a lollipop.

Society will have to learn how to cope with these issues online, just as it has had to learn to be more vigilant with their children in the real world over the past several decades.

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