Roots Revival

Opening the first weekend of Black History Month, was the cabaret-play-musical production written and directed by my amazing friends (and neighbors!) Cathryn McGill and Regina Dawley.

I cried, I laughed, I clapped, and I wish everybody could see it, if it wasn't for the fact that it is full on SOLD OUT!

I had the honor of creating a video for one of the scenes, and here is a shot from that :
.

Jazzbah !

Tuesday January 17th. ''ENTICE''. Location : Jazzbah, downtown Albuquerque, the hip new jazzclub everyone is talking about.

FEATURING : Yours truly on the live video projections (think orchids and jellyfish in slow motion), DJs & live painters Cloud Face and Randy B, dancers JLeigh and Mikaela of Allure Live, DJ Mr Marvel and Quela, famed Chicago Tribe b-boy Check-It emceeing the night, a silent auction, and a fabulous crowd- especially for a Tuesday night !!!

Here are some images from the night :

The Wonder Chambers

Dear everyone who may be reading this. 

So, as some of you may know, I once upon a time, a couple of years ago that is, created a short film-poem called 'Wonder Chamber no 1' which went on to be shown on a few select international festivals and events, starting with Berlin, London, followed by Sun Valley back home in the U.S., and on to Byron Bay, Australia.

The idea for this film came to me after visiting an exhibition at the Santa Fe Museum of Natural History (I think it was), where for some reason I started daydreaming about the Renaissance, shadow boxes, and all these miniature studies that were made - the Da Vinci sketches, the dissected insects, and the exploratory world of beauty-seekers and science-researchers.

I decided to then create a series of visual shadow boxes, which I named the Wonder Chambers, which would act as a film version of a treasure box, based on the various worlds in which I live.

I shot the first Wonder Chamber in Japan, a country where I have been brought to work a lot recently, and which has been the foundation of my Buddhist life philosophy for 10 years already, as well as my inspiration in the many realms of architecture, fashion, design and lifestyle.  I have mixed into it vintage footage of New Mexico, which I had shot years ago, to explain the parallels (at least, my parallels) between New Mexico and Japan, and the solace I find in the fusion of both these worlds.

I have made my piece available to view publicly, and am now loosely starting to post it around on my various web channels. My blog was next on the list, so here you go :

(sorry this is a link and not an embedded video, but Blogspot is friend with YouTube and not Vimeo, and I refuse the low quality of YouTube videos.. so please do click on this Vimeo link. It will look nicer !)

http://vimeo.com/9045148

Next, came 'Wonder Chamber no 2'. A little bit ashamed of myself, I must admit right now that the film has been shot and edited, music was composed, and graphics were created for it already... quite a few moons ago. I have withheld its distribution, for a reason unknown to myself, but will soon be either releasing it online or sending it off to festivals again. 

As 'Wonder Chamber no 1' explored Japan, 'Wonder Chamber no 2' delved into the world of northern England, with its Edwardian homes, heavy wallpapers and misty landscapes. This is the country where my sister lives, and it has become (and will probably remain) a new chapter in my family's history. 

Next up will be 'Wonder Chamber no 3', for which I have just begun shooting last week in mythical old Las Vegas. I have decided to make this third film-poem about the U.S., but from a vintage perspective, perhaps the one I get to see the most : surrounded by low riders, old taquerias and 40s motel signs, all glories to be found in the American Southwest where I reside. Here are a few teaser images for you : 

All in all, this project of the Wonder Chambers has been and continues to be a dear companion to my roadtrips and overseas adventures. The footage is almost always captured spontaneously, on whatever medium I have at hand.. as I was using my iPhone 4 for the last images captured in Vegas, I will soon be reporting on how well (hopefully) that translates on screen :)

In the meantime, stay tuned for some updates perhaps on 'Wonder Chamber no 2'.. the mysterious unreleased piece lol.. coming soon to a web theater near you :)

Landed in L.A. !

Dear everybody, so I am back by the sea, 3 streets to be exact - Santa Monica yeayeah! - for a couple of weeks, working on a new 'living portrait' with Evolvement Productions :) Took a quick Hipstamatic on the way down.. 

apparently, i manifested these keys :)

see previous post .. and there it was, my very own, absolutely unplanned, gold & white Berlin-made piano, which now sits in my bedroom.. decadence to the max :) and lovin' it

songs in the key of LIFE

summer excerpts!

 our first EVER VJ/DJ show in Montreal at the über-awesome Cinémathèque Québécoise .. 

Song Roulette

Click here to read : Song Roulette : my contribution to this week's Alibi newspaper

old school 3D: stereo photography

a few stereo photographs i own.. thank you albuquerque antiques..

my new favorite photo in the world

My little friend and I carrying paintings in for Cloud Face's art display at the 'Street Warriors' b-boy battle last night in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Please note the awesomeness of the gas mask on him - in case he'd feel like spray painting during the show, when he was not battling himself as B-BOY QUAN-DOE. Love my life !

Shhhh !

We're not really publicizing this too too much, as we are still working on the full length version and don't really want to spill the beans before the whole 7 tracks are done...

... but here is an excerpt of my newest newest video love piece with CloudFace... click on the purple link right HERE :)   Cinematic Cloud_love

BlueDot Design : Vote for my video loop pitch!

please click on purple link below

BluDot.com _ my bid

what i'm working on (amongst other things!)

photography for Desert Harpist (dot) com... compositing images i took during my recent trip to Japan as well as some New Mexico skies.. i will post again when her site is up :)

High On Life book is PUBLISHED !

So, I was asked a while ago to write my story as being one of the 100 Canadians to be awarded the top level Millenium Scholarships, for excellence in academic life and achievements/innovation in my community, etc etc. I wrote a chapter for this book called The High on Life book, which I just took my first glance at today. The book's foreword was written by former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and is currently on a book tour in Canada (the book, not the prime minister :P), as well as being distributed on both major networks Amazon.ca and Chapters.ca ...  Check it out .. :) and buy it HERE !!

link : artist Cloud Face

Navajo/Hopi hiphop instrumentalist, dancer/bboy, painter and human being extraordinaire, on top of being my new collaborator. Go check him out  :    Cloud Face  and see his SoundCloud .. CloudFace has also just done a remix of Bilal's track #Robots, which you can also check out HERE !

... and by the way ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2011, Year of the Bunny, should be promising. In the cards : rekindling with the idea of doing live mixing w fellow DJ, artist and hiphop instrumentalist CloudFace, a collaboration with Japanese singer Kirilola, and a little pick up truck that should be taking me into 4WD territory for contemporary footage of ancient sites.. Montreal, Tokyo, L.A... more paint, more vinyls, and a mini home recording studio are also on their way.. let this be the most exuberant, creative, sunlit, color splashed year of our LIVES ! 

my floor : #random

notice the chairs..

Firegod (Nob Hill, Duke city)

Corrales, New Mexico

after the cranes were done napping... 

oh, shirley ! (shot of the day)