GETTING THERE
ARTS and Music SECTION SPRING 2015
Contents Introduction Some Shred by Big Mike Zeachin' by Bike Mike A Savage Review of Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman Spring Documentation of New Park by Elija h Shanelaris An Album Analysis of "36 Seasons" Scott McCurdy's Collection of Awesome Outro
Welcome Skateboarding season is upon us. It’s time to break out the camping gear and head to the suburban sprawl infecting the North East. To a magical land where grom moms have campaigned for state-of-the-art skateparks for Theodore or Shelly to get serious vertical on their Razors or whatever monstrosity they choose other than a skateboard (or some bikes). Yes, it’s time to stock up on NH’s greatest commodity, tax-free liquor and beer, and head down like heathens to conquer the kingdom of Connecticut, hindered by no pink polos.
This month Getting There Magazine explores the narrative of Carl Hoffman and his descent into a jungles of cannibals (formerly), the musical prowess of Ghostface Killah, the photography of Big Mike, the stunning artwork of Scott McCurdy, and a spring warm up captured through Elijah’s lens of New Park (here to stay). I don’t want to get into a lengthy and idealistic introduction like the last issue. Big Mike’s photography speaks volumes and Scut’s artistic eye never strains. Elijah constantly on the documentation of the world around him, and I was fortunate enough to write some dribble that I hope you skip over and admire everyone else’s work. Spring is Getting There, now land some shit.
"A society without Jaywalkers might indicate a
society without artists." - Paul Theroux
Photos submitted by this guy, Big M ike, who is truly G etting There on a regula r ba sis. G etting Where? Who knows, but he rules: behind the lens, a t the tip of a ta ttoo gun, a nd pretty much wrote the book on snowboa rding without a shirt on. The Zea chma n cometh. Check out www.etsy.com/shop/lifesa zea ch if ya know wha t's good for ya .
“A world where a boy in a wolf suit could dance with creatures who gnashed their terrible teeth and roared their terrible roars.” Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman describes “A life of Cannibals, colonialism and Michael Rockefellers tragic quest for primitive art” is a travel narrative into the depths of New Guinea, and to the fringes of society beyond comprehension of personal experience. Into a wilderness our technological world deems unfathomable without the journalistic venturing of Hoffman’s interest into the frontier lifestyle. The book describes Hoffman’s travels in the Eastern Indian ocean, along the islands of New Guinea that were relatively untouched by a notion known as border. Hoffman follows the last known remnants of Michael Rockefeller trail, who was the son of the nation's richest man, a New York governor and presidential candidate Nelson Rockefeller early in the 1 9th century, who was searching for ‘primitive art’ for his father’s collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. ‘Primitive art’ is a misnomer Hoffman emphasizes the Harvard graduate Michael Rockefeller’s came to understand before his disappearance faded off into obscurity in contemporary history. It is a misnomer because their art, their totem poles of vengeance, are highly intricate. Without a perceptual analysis of their culture, comprehension is as illiterate as a police officer analyzing a 360 flip. Savage Harvest follows the Getting There mantra because it seeks out something that could be considered deviant to society as we interpret it, but it also follows the story about searching out the true fringes of cultural knowledge. Unfortunately it ends tragically fatal, for Rockefeller, someone who was passionate about expanding knowledge available to the human race. Michael Rockefeller knew that the high-society of New York his family had championed in capitalist energy ventures, political success, was only a singular spectrum to understanding art and human race. Hoffman writes:
“All of which led me to the idea that traditional tribal societies living in the jungle might show me the root of something. Of who we are. Contemporary anthropologists long ago abandoned the idea that there is some steady, linear march from primitive to civilized and now discount the very notion that modern, technically advanced cultures are any more ‘civilized’ than ones like the Asmat, with all its complexities. Nelson Rockefeller's museum, in raising the art of illiterate and isolated tribesman to the equal of anything produced by overeducated Westerners, was a nod to this idea. But boyhood dreams die hard. Primitive, tribal, call it what you want, but I hungered to see a humanity before the Bible, before the Koran, before Christian guilt and shame, before clothes and knives and forks. Indeed, a world like the one described by Kirkpatrick Sale, inhabited by medieval wild savages, men possessed of the secrets of nature, a place where natural desires still reigned.”
TV is relentless, honored by his shred.
Sweatbox is relentless, the world is his concrete oyster.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.� - Marcel Proust
"36 Seasons": That's like 9 years...
Simple, yet, elegant. Curtains rise, and Ghostface Killah sets the scene in his new album 36 Seasons. The album is a concept album, a fictional narrative between two star-crossed lovers. Killah’s character enters as the protagonist and his thematic comic book inspired alter ego, Tony Stark, dissatisfied the way his hood has changed since he was gone nine years (hence the name 36 seasons). Antagonist enters, played by collaborator Kool G Rap and his character a “Kingpin named Future.” The album portrays a narrative that is hard to avoid sitting down and listening to heartbreak, revenge, and triumph. A staple to buy if you’re a die-hard Wu-Tang Clan fan, but necessary for a few listen-throughs on Spotify or NPR if you consider yourself hip-hop fan regularly gagging at the ‘music’ they play on the radio. New to the genre and interested in something new? This album could be a jumpoff for future hip-hop investigation. Interludes by sensational band The Revelations bringing back blues with “Its a Thin Line Between Love and Hate” and Brooklyn borough’s beautiful Kandace Springs’ cameos throughout the album (“Bamboo’s Lament”), also starring as Stark’s girl who didn’t wait the many seasons till their reunion. I’ve never publically reviewed artists in critical light, but this one I could not let pass. From the beginning to the end, this narrative provides something I haven't been able to put under my thumb, but I love it. I don’t think I can rate it numerically, in caricatures of stars or otherwise. Written and produced in only 11 days, 36 Seasons can't be considered anything but a marvel of Ghostface Killah’s instincts when provided a thematic backdrop to focus his work into artistic creation. It cannot, also, be considered anything but a collaboration project. The nod to political discourse and Eric Garner in Double Cross also had me inspired something worthwhile will appear in mainstream hip-hop more prominently in the next few years: “We built on this / Illegal chokeholds, slap cuffs on my wrist.” The destruction of Iggy Azalea by Q-Tip, for those up to date with Twitter beef, sheds light that people that know the roots of hip-hop are dissatisfied by it’s current climate. While Ghostface Killah might not been thrown into the limelight as Wu-Tang Clan’s prominence in the 90’s. It still reflects an important part of music as manifestation of society and culture through a musical outlet. Has “The Man,” aka Corporate America, taken away the political power of hip-hop and the golden age recedes into trap music: verses about weed, party and bitches? Maybe so. Photos courtesy of "The Come Up Show" via Flickr. Jah bless
Parker Szumowski hanging five on the coping Photo by Cole Martin
ARTIST STATEMENT: My work is a way to develop as an artist and apply experience to something that I can share with others. I enjoy the ability to communicate with the viewer through powerful color, narrative, or strong imagery itself. When I draw I either challenge skill, creativity, or produce something that simply makes me happy. If I can relate to the viewer through an image, that is when I feel my work is most successful. My process is consistent throughout mediums, and explores my capabilities with those mediums. I pay attention to detail, and create contours, and textures through mark. As I continue working, my process changes and develops which is an aspect of drawing that keeps me interested. -Scott McCurdy
You made it this far? Wow, you need to get out and skate. If you have anything laying around feel free to contribute words, photographs, art at gettingtheremagazine@gmail.com Outro photo by Big Mike