Noun/Verb

A Conversation with Rob Lemkin

Noun/Verb — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:40:58 +0000

Rob Lemkin is an award-winning filmmaker, and the founder of Old Street Films. He has directed and produced more than 50 documentaries, and made multiple films about the history and politics of Asia. In his latest film, Enemies of the People, Lemkin joins senior reporter with Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post Thet Sambath in uncovering the truth behind the Khmer Rouge regime and Cambodia's Killing Fields. We recently spoke via email about Enemies of the People and what can be learned from the brutality that took place under the Khmer Rouge.

A Conversation with Ed Kashi

Noun/Verb — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:29:16 +0000

by Brian Leli
photos by Ed Kashi

Ed Kashi is an award-winning photojournalist, filmmaker and educator. He has so far spent 20+ years documenting the world's social and political issues. His images have been published and exhibited all over the world and spawned the release of six books. I recently spoke with Kashi about his vast body of work: how it has affected him and how he hopes it will affect others. [A series of project-specific notes provided by Kashi follow our conversation.]

Sam Cooke and the Civil Rights Movement

Noun/Verb — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:28:21 +0000

by Brian Leli
drawing by Angelo Tillery

Observation: Over and over again, Sam Cooke would attribute his success to the art of observation. He wrote of what he saw and heard. He listened to it and spoke to it. Effortlessly and instinctively, he turned it into music. He sang the songs that brought relief to the civil rights movement. He sang the songs that formed a bridge. He sang the songs that healed. His furious will and feral tenor brought people to their knees, and lifted them to their feet. Then, at the height of his success, he was shot and killed. It was 1964. He was only 32.

It’s Saturday Night in Chicago

Noun/Verb — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:25:40 +0000

by Brian Leli

02-20-10 Chicago, IL:

It's Saturday night in Chicago. I'm listening to When the Devil's Loose by A.A. Bondy and going mad with time and wine. As usual, I've been thinking about a lot of things, too many things. I've been thinking about where I am, where I've been and where I'm going. And for some reason today, I can't stop thinking about a Bondy show I was at on June 18, 2009. I was so lucky to be there.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Noun/Verb — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:08:40 +0000

Trying to Find Loneliness
in a City of 8 Million+
by Kirstie Shanley

It's ok to be lonely, even in NYC. In fact, it might even be good for you. The city has a pulse that would suggest Tachycardia, and with so much stimulation, over time your brain feels abnormal if it isn't processing something visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, vestibular, and/or tactile all at once. Those synapses are busy.

Announcing Live Talks No. 1

Noun/Verb — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:13:20 +0000

I'm happy to announce that the guest for Live Talks No. 1 will be Matt Shaw of The Spend. This first talk and performance will happen Friday, September 17 at the Hideout in Chicago. It will begin at 6:30pm and have a $5 cover. The Hideout is located at 1354 West Wabansia. Hope to see you there. Thanks for reading. Brian

A Conversation with Dax Riggs

Noun/Verb — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:00:13 +0000

by Brian Leli
photo by Danin Drahos

Dax Riggs has spent a lifetime carving his deep and distinct path in the musical landscape. It began most notably near New Orleans in 1991, with the morbidly melodic and miles-ahead-of its-time metal of Acid Bath. Riggs went on to become the mad genius behind the swampy rock of Agents of Oblivion and Deadboy & the Elephantmen. And he's currently spinning a sonorous web under his own name. The unending stream of sound he's left trailing behind has flowed through everything from folk to blues to punk—to the soulful and spiritual crevices of everything else. It is an indescribable mix, and it flows only from Dax Riggs. On August 3, 2010 Riggs' new album, Say Goodnight to the World was released through Fat Possum Records. It sat quietly completed in May, as Riggs and his band set up shop in clubs all over Texas. I traveled to Austin and Dallas to take in a couple of these shows. And ultimately, to sit and talk with Riggs in a pitch black corner of The Cavern—as he prepared to unleash what may be his most enlightened burst of sound yet, into the world.Read more →

The Tunnel Musicians of Chicago

Noun/Verb — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:00:47 +0000

by Brian Leli

Where there are people, there is music. It makes us feel the things we need to when we don't already. It enhances them when we do. It carries us backward and pushes us forward. It can be found in every known culture and has been performed in public since the time of antiquity. It should come as no surprise to find it being performed just a few steps beneath the ground. After all, there are fantastic acoustics and 24-hour audiences to be found in the tunnels below. The tunnel musicians of Chicago can be heard amid the roar of trains. Depending who you ask, there are only four performance-permitted stops: Jackson and Lake on the Red Line, and Jackson and Washington on the Blue. Some will tell you about these four. Some will tell you there are only three. I'll tell you what time already has: where there are people, there is music. I recently spent three nights walking through the tunnels for a closer listen. These are the sounds, and the people I heard.Read more →

The Roar of Morality

Noun/Verb — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:00:11 +0000

by Brian Leli

Now that I'm dead, I want to tell you a few things. If I were still alive I would begin by telling you what day and time it was. I would tell you where I was and what I was doing while writing this. That's how I used to like to start. But I am no longer afforded the freedoms of time, choice and action. These are the things I'd like to talk to you about. If you are still alive there is still time. It does not start tomorrow or the beginning of next week. It does not start at 9am or 5pm. It starts the second you come kicking and screaming into this world and it does not let up until it lets go. It begs you to do the same. When you fall to the side you are dead. No amount of breathing or breeding will change that.Read more →

A Face in the Crowd

Noun/Verb — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:00:42 +0000

Tonight Will Be Fine
by Brian Leli

I was traveling alone in Dallas when I met a waitress at a bar on Lower Greenville Ave. The next day I squeezed into a car with her, her sister and their friend. They told me they were going to show me Dallas. Then, for the rest of the day and late into the night, they did. This is a photo of that waitress taken at an art installation they brought me to. A friend of mine later commented that she has a sadness in her eyes well beyond her years. And yes, I saw it, I see it. I like knowing there are others who see it. I like knowing there are others who have it. It's not that I want sadness for anyone. I just want for there to be care enough to feel it, care enough to share the weight of it. I will never see or hear from these people again and that's okay. There is nothing better than traveling alone—having a moment, then having a longer one to yourself.