Culture jamming – imho – is best seen by the works created by the minds that are the Billboard Liberation Front. By subtlety modifying advertisements in the public space, these “culture jammers” express an opinion about how they feel about the public space being inundated with advertisements (so-called “a-political” advertisements). Letting advertisers take up massive amounts of space creates an environment where it becomes increasingly more impossible (read too expensive) for artistic and political voices to have a place in the public sphere to express themselves – freedom of speech is effectively taken away by the fact that in order to adequately speak you have to have millions of dollars.
Another point to remember is that advertising is NOT a-political; rather it is a HIGHLY political medium (capitalism is about as political as you can get, right?!).
So, culture jammers see our common public sphere being acquired by private, political interests and this acquisition is at the expense of cultural interests that reside outside of capital. I totally agree and love the idea of re-interpreting advertisements and putting them back out into the public. I can’t say I’m as good as the folks at BLF but, personally, I don’t really think it’s about “being good”. 
About the image. The public transportation train in the SF Bay ARea is called BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and their police force has committed some serious blunders in their time but most recently they went over the edge. One night on the train there was a ruckus and the police took some people aside for questioning and felt one (Oscar Grant) was being uncooperative. So one of the officers forced Oscar to the ground and while Oscar lay face down on the concrete, with his arm twisted behind him, the cop proceeded to shoot him in the back. Dead. This whole scene was caught on video from various sources and no where is it clear that Oscar was ever resisting nor was his behavior warranting the use of a taser (the weapon the cop says he was intending to go for). Anyway, it’s a really, really sad story of which BART has not really made any significant changes that people can see. I mean they haven’t shot anyone lately so I reckon that’s a good thing. But when I saw BART’s new “…and you’re there” advertisements the first thing that came to mind was the above image. Not a masterpiece but you get the point.
Here’s an older image of mine. One in which I received my very own cease-and-desist letter from those wonderfully wealthy corporate attorneys at BofA…
[original BART image; BART video; original BofA advert]
Activism, capitalism, entertainment, news, politics, the media
Activism, branding, consumerism, entertainment, funny signs, news
I really hate the idea of commercial brands USING musicians to sell their products. It’s a popular method that only seems to be growing. Check out this posting on the Audio4Cast blog. I’m all for artists getting paid but I guess I want to live in an ideal world where they get paid because their work is valued; not because their work is seen as a good platform to sell ones’ own product. Though I do have to back-peddle a bit. In my own ventures I am exploring the idea of connecting local businesses with local musicians as a way to boost each other. I see these two as having more in common and not so much of a “big guy” exploiting the “small guy”. Am I wrong?
capitalism, entertainment
branding, consumerism
As most any independent artist does I had a day job to pay bills. That “day job” was at a local store called Elephant Pharmacy (www.elephantpharm.com). Since the beginning of January there has been a growing rumble of serious financial troubles. Products not being restocked, no new DVD rentals being offered, displays disappearing permanently, etc. This morning I got THE call…the below pretty much sums it up:
February 3, 2009
It is with a heavy heart that we post this notice: Elephant Pharm, which has served over 1 million customers in four Bay Area markets, has closed indefinitely. As a small business, we’ve been hurt by the terrible turn the economy has taken and the tightening of the credit market. It’s been a very special six years since we started this drugstore revolution, and we certainly couldn’t have made it as far as we did without you—our customers.
We hope that you will continue your pursuit of a good, long life, well lived.
http://www.elephantpharm.com/closed
Not that I planned on working at this place forever but it was a solid little gig, good people, and a cool business…with the mighty words of Steel Pulse I am engulfed by unemployment:
And the struggle goes on—
Some say the earth
Will keep on turning
Dread times are near
And I’m not joking I a warning
As we continue that same old moaning
The chosen race just keep on begging yeh
And I wanna know who’s responsible?
They don’t give a damn no
capitalism, news
It’s with a bit of hesitation that I share this link with you (even though it’s been out on the web for many years now). In 2003 I started a web site called “CalifOracle” in response to never-ending stories of corporate acquisitions and the de-humanizing of the world by capital interests (in this case the acquisition of the state of California by Oracle – Calif…Oracle). So, one of the stories I wrote was a satire (albeit DARK) of the issue of gays, lesbians and same-sex marriage. I most intentionally took a very disconnected, capitalist, de-humanized, and clearly homo-phobic tone. If you have the stomach for and/or enjoy dark humor head on over to the article “Sodomy Tax” over at www.califoracle.com. Note, overall the site is a bit of a mess as I haven’t touched it in years…enjoy? lol
update: woh, check this out. one step closer, yikes!
Activism, capitalism, funny stuff
Ahhhh, the beauty of that thing we cherish most in life…capital. This is where you never grow tired hearing, “This was not a decision that was based on content (of the show)…It was based on financial considerations.” Oh yes, America. A place where cultural value must compete with pop icons and multinational corporations for a spot on the radio dial. A fair fight? Yeah, right…this reminds me of a conversation I was having with a radio producer recently. He had been doing radio for a long time in the States and finally got tired of this uphill and most often futile battle and moved to Germany where this is much, much, MUCH less of an issue. But do we all move to Germany? Seems a bit out of most of our means/desire. So when and how will this “war on culture” be had?
What pray tell got me on this subject today? Well, KQED recently cancelled “the only nationally syndicated public radio program about Asian American affairs.” You can read the article here.
capitalism
Culture jamming – imho – is best seen by the works created by the minds that are the Billboard Liberation Front. By subtlety modifying advertisements in the public space, these “culture jammers” express an opinion about how they feel about the public space being inundated with advertisements (so-called “a-political” advertisements). Letting advertisers take up massive amounts of space creates an environment where it becomes increasingly more impossible (read too expensive) for artistic and political voices to have a place in the public sphere to express themselves – freedom of speech is effectively taken away by the fact that in order to adequately speak you have to have millions of dollars.
May be “Sarcastic Friday” would be a better title. However, yes, our Republican lead country and state has now hit a new low, a 
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