Month: March 2011

Normal History Vol. 105: The Art Of David Lester

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date March 26, 2011

Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 27-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.

Interview with David Lester in With Arms Outstretched Arms zine (Leeds, U.K., 2007)
“I have always loved posters, and I have always had a strong interest in political history. Many people I have admired are quite obscure. Not because they are unimportant, but because they are somewhat lost to history. My hope is that we can learn from history and be inspired by it. But as we can see, even in love relationships, we often make the same mistakes over and over again.

“The key to my poster series is not that these are heroes, but that they are real, flawed people who stood up at a moment in history and took action. I purposely choose a politically diverse selection of individuals because I think that social change can come from individuals you may not agree with on many other issues including their personal lives. Social change can be messy.

“People in my poster series include John Heartfield, one of the creators of photomontage. He is an inspiration because he successfully combined art and politics at a time of great danger to himself during Hitler’s rise to power. American Paul Robeson campaigned against lynching. Imagine living in a time when lynching was actively occurring and the general public took little notice. You have to act. Robseon did, amid great personal sacrifice. Or the obscure American Jessie Lopez De La Cruz, who became an activist for farm workers rights when she was 42.

“When we create our own art, when we engage in activism, it can all seem hopeless and obscure. But that is all the more reason to act. The people I’ve documented faced down that political loneliness. They didn’t know they would succeed (and some didn’t), but their desire for a just world propelled them on.”

GUEST EDITOR

Bruce Cockburn May Change Your Mind: God

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date March 26, 2011

Small Source Of Comfort (True North) is the latest LP from legendary Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn. It’s also his 31st studio album in a career that dates back all the way to the mid-’60s. Over the years, Cockburn has become one of his country’s most successful and honored musicians, winning more than his share of awards and accolades, not only for his music but also for his longtime humanitarian work. This week, Cockburn adds MAGNET guest editor to his already impressive resume. Read our brand new Q&A with him.

Cockburn: In all cultures, all times, there is in people a hunger for the divine. There is a feeling that each of us is part of something universal. That feeling is usually institutionalized into religion, which often replaces the divine with the counterfeit sense of being one instead with the tribe. The divine, though, means different things to different people. For some, it’s the planet. For some, it’s the projected psyche split into parts with the faces of gods, or science.

I believe in God. I believe there is a divine presence, an energy, that is the fabric of everything. Sometimes we can feel this presence as love. My relationship with God is very personal. If I still my internal fussing and pride, I might be able to discern what God wants for me, but I don’t think I’ll ever hear more than a suggestion of what is wanted for anyone else. You for instance. I might make that suggestion out loud, but if you don’t agree or don’t accept it, my part ends there. Anybody who says they know what God wants for you is deluded.

VIDEOS

Film At 11: New York Dolls

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date March 25, 2011

The New York Dolls have released a video for “Fool For You Baby,” the first single off the just-released Dancing Backward In High Heels (429). The Jeremy Johnstone-directed clip features original band members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, as well as a host of other freaks. Watch the video below, and catch the band on tour in North America in June and July.

TIVO PARTY TONIGHT

TiVo Party Tonight: Oh Land, Cut Copy

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date March 25, 2011

Ever wonder what will happen during the last five minutes of late-night TV talk shows? Here are tonight’s notable performers:

The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS): Oh Land
Rerun from March 2. The ballerina-turned-electro-pop star supported her debut U.S. album with a performance of “Sun Of A Gun.”

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC): Cut Copy
Australia’s Cut Copy is plugging latest LP Zonoscope.

GUEST EDITOR

Bruce Cockburn May Change Your Mind: “Dexter”

Post author By MAGNET Staff
Post date March 25, 2011
1 Comment on Bruce Cockburn May Change Your Mind: “Dexter”

Cockburn: For a while, Battlestar Galactica and Dexter were running neck-and-neck as my favorite TV shows, but Dexter wins by default as the last man standing. It seems to me everybody with an imagination has, or has had, a secret inner life. I certainly have. All kinds of things happen in my imagination. Some are terrible, not in a Dexter way, but comparable. I don’t kill anybody, but at times my mind fills with horrible images.

That’s not as significant, though, as the fact of not being able (or willing) to share those thoughts and feelings. Not sharing means having secrets. When a young person develops the habit of keeping secrets (e.g. from parents, teachers, often for good reasons), it can be hard to break out of it later. You create strategies for avoiding the exposure of those secrets, and then you’re—presto—a bit like Dexter.

Video after the jump.