The Red Krayola - Hamburg and Berlin 2011

9/30/11 Kampnagel - Hamburg, Germany
10/1/11 Hebbel Am Ufer - Berlin, Germany

We will be opening for Sebadoh at the first show of their 2011 tour.
Flyer by Tom Watson.
Sculpture by Caroline Thomas & Patrick Walsh.

11-1 P.M. Sunday Dec.5, 2010
Meet at the Charles S. Jones Memorial Grove Wall
At the corner of Stadium Way and Elysian Park Dr.
Elysian Park, Los Angeles

UNMANNED MINERALS
MATTHEW HEBERT | JARED STANLEY | GABIE STRONG

Monday, October 25, 2010

Ari
My relationship with Ari is up there in the top 5 most difficult relationships of my life. It was also the most productive and creative relationship I have ever had.

Ari was 14 when I met her. She was a feral child. I watched her become an extraordinary woman.

Ari came to London from German boarding school when she had just turned 14. English was her second language. In those first few years she did not have one friend her own age. It was not easy for her and she had to fight to be taken seriously as an equal person.

Ari was a sponge, she soaked up the ideologies, the speech patterns, the vocabulary of the groups we mixed with. From Finsbury Park lads, through to The Bromley Contingent and Rastas. She was a fantastic mimic too.

She was totally unselfconscious about her body and remained so throughout her life. Ari’s biggest gift to me was she made The Slits a safe place for a woman of any shape or size to be relaxed and free with her body. She celebrated womanliness, she reveled in it. She was so sensual on and off stage it was empowering to any girl who saw her. I’m not kidding. The way she carried herself was a revolution.

Stage was Ari’s home. She was in her element there. That is where she could let go completely. She was at her best there. She pissed there. Stage is one of the only places a woman with that much energy, power and self belief can show off and sometimes get away with it.

The singing voice that Ari developed, that has been so copied and referenced over the years came very quickly. That is because she was true to herself. She used sounds that she heard around her from animals, birds, playground chants, accents and melded them all together. It happened without thinking. She was as unselfconscious about her voice as she was about her body.

Ari had a very exacting ear. She could hear every nuance in a drum beat, a guitar riff, a vocal harmony and a bassline. She played a huge part in creating The Slits’ sound.

Throughout the last 30 years there were many people who tried to suppress and squash Ari. No one succeeded. She was reviled, mocked and criticised for daring to be herself. She could not and would not be tamed. It scared people. It scared men. She was stabbed and attacked in the street so many times. For just emanating too much WILD STUFF.

Ari was the most dynamic woman I have ever known.

September 18 — October 23
Richard Telles Fine Art

Sun Ra and The Arkestra in Egypt, December of 1971.

The Sounds of VTech / Arthur Verocai: Flying To L.A.   

From Mochilla’s Timeless series.

P.E. 20 years ago.

Jean-Claude Vannier and his orchestra working with Yves Saint-Laurent in the early 70s.

My friend Mike Watt is an extraordinary person. And who doesn’t love this guy?
He’ll be playing with Kira as Dos, this Sunday at The Prospector in Long Beach.
Hope to see you all.

Sunday, December 20 at 9pm
at The Prospector
2400 E. 7th St.
Long Beach, CA
(562) 438-3839

Photo above by John Eder taken from Hootpage
San Pedro, CA - 1994
Watt with his Les Paul signature bass.