+DRAWING+MODEL+MUSIC+BEER+: White Xmas

Drawing by I. Moros

White Xmas setlist

The funny thing about looking through a music library, no matter how broad, is the inevitability of finding a familiar ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, etc. breakdown. In other words, it's a majority white man's, man's, man's world in both the real and in our lp/cd/tape/mp3/cloud collections. Call me a product of the affirmative action age, but I often make it a point in my sets to find room for other voices. If anything, it's a great realization finding the voices I am not including and figuring out how to include them. Or finding other ways to flip my ideas of what a certain voice sounds like.

So, why a white Christmas? Sure, we hear plenty of the lily-white this time of year. But there are plenty of white folks that have played to other crowds and with the sounds of the other. The line between appropriation and appreciation is actually pretty distinct to me, so I figured why not pay tribute to those that pay tribute?

That said, I have to give much respect to the godparents of this line of thinking: Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Hollywood, Frankie Crocker, et. al. The idea of crossing lines to find the right beat is an old one, indeed. And a lot of these beats are classics: Rare Earth, "Black Betty," "Take Me to the Mardi Gras..." Admittedly the set just wrote itself.

I didn't think the music would have much to do with the drawing besides playing the role of the bleachers, but, man, Ms. Moros came through with a mind-bender for me. For the record, it was not the Beasties, but a Beck (by way of the Dust Brothers, who also worked with the Beasties) beat. But I love her use of text alongside the images. Maybe there's another idea: lyrics to match poses?

P.S. Peep game to screen right: Tony Rico and I are DJ'g NYE at Draft Bar in the LES. Be there. Holler at me via F-book for more deets.

P.P.S.



sintalentos - winter 2010