These two early 90's video clips (above and below) explain and demonstrate the inspirational Soviet Union "tape-jockey" duo from Latvia featuring Pasaules and jeb Modris Skaistkalns known as Mr Tape. In the above 22 year old clip from the 1991 DMC Finals and introduced by DMC top man Tony Prince the two tape jockeys from Latvia (back then still part of the Soviet Union) demonstrate their craft. In the video below, from the same early nineties time period and produced in Amsterdam by Dutch TV, the two Latvian tape jockeys break down how they do what they do. Both loved techno house and hip-hop music with a passion. They also loved the concept of DJing (spinning & mixing beats, scratching, and beat-juggling etc.). The only problem was that, due to the market restrictions of their communist homeland, they literally had absolutely no access to the three main components that went into doing being a DJ in 1991:  Technics 1200 turntables, records, and a mixer. Most would give up at that point but not them. Instead in an inspired DJ McGyver like move they got two reel to reel tape decks, recorded songs onto individual reel-to-reels, and manually tweaked the tape machines to do some extra tricks: including building in a cross fader, and then then tapping their finger tips on the tape heads to get effects normally achieved on turntables and a mixer. In the DMC video they have no mixer but in the demo from Dutch TV they utilize a simple small mixer. I find this to be truly inspirational stuff because it proves that with a strong unstoppable passion for something coupled with a good imagination that you can overcome lack of resources and achieve your goals. 

Opening in theaters today (January 4th, 2013) is Texas Chainsaw 3D - the seventh and latest in the long running horror flick franchise that began with the extremely low-budget, yet phenomenally successful and influential Tobe Hooper produced and directed 1974 slasher B-movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So how different (better or worse, or more importantly, scarier) will it be from its six predecessors, especially compared to the original that when it was released four decades ago was billed as "the horror movie to end them all"? 

For one thing the producers have noticeably dropped the word "massacre" from the title: the reason for which I am guessing is either A) to distinguish it from the others in the series or B) the more likely reason, in my skeptical mind, that the producers feared offending the American public with the word "massacre" given this very real and tragic age of mass shooting massacres that we live in.

Tomorrow, January 4th 2013, marks the 27th anniversary of the death of Thin Lizzy front-man Phil Lynott who died from complications of an apparent drug overdose at age 36. It also marks the 27th year back in the artist's Dublin hometown that the beloved legendary Irish rocker will be honored again with the big Vibe For Philo celebration. Begun as a humble, heartfelt low-key gathering by fans and friends to mourn his tragic passing in the days following his January 1986 death, Vibe For Philo morphed into an annual event that has steadily grown over the years. It is now a three-day, mini festival like celebration with a slew of Thin Lizzy tribute acts that draws Lynott and Lizzy fans from all over to the Irish capital of Dublin. Coincidentally the theme of this year's Vibe For Philo, which begins today (Jan 3rd), is "Dublin."

According to Vibe For Philo organizer Smiley Bolger this Lynott-hometown named theme was inspired from the song "Dublin" off the 1971 New Day 7" EP on UK Decca. "Philip got it spot on when he wrote: How can I leave this town that brings me down, Has no jobs, is blessed by God and makes me cry. Dublin." Indeed considering the current dire economic state of the recession era Ireland (one that makes today's US economy look almost robust) this 2013 Vibe For Philo theme is most fitting.  

Like the early 1970's era Dublin with "no jobs" that Lynott sang about the current dismal Irish economy is back at that same unfortunate place. The once boisterous Irish economy took a double whammy of a blow when it crashed and burned about five years ago. After enjoying the almost surreal dozen plus years of the bubble that was Ireland's so-called "Celtic Tiger" (1994 - 2007) it crashed hard and fast. To make a bad situation worse this economic collapse coincided with the global banking scandals that brought down other countries. Currently Ireland, which during its Celtic Tiger years was for the first time experiencing an influx of immigrants, is now back to its old status when emigration (usually to the US, UK, or Australia) was the only option for survival for many Irish. So high were those numbers (76,000 for the 12 months leading up to April 2012) that they are now at the highest point since the devastating Irish potato famine of the 1800's.

Continue reading...

By early afternoon on Tuesday (January 1st), the estimated 50 tons of garbage left behind by the crammed crowds of approximately one million partiers, who had descended upon Times Square the night before to ring in the new year, had been cleaned up and by this morning when I passed through the "crossroads of the world" you could not tell that such a large scale, multi-faceted event had taken place there at all. Instead, on this first day of business of the new year for most, New Yorkers were rushing in every direction returning to work or maybe to the gym to live up to their New Year's resolution, many clutching newspapers with front page stories on 2013 predictions. At least two NYC papers reported on changes New Yorkers and New York can expect in 2013. These include a better prepared NYC for another Sandy, and a return of the NY Marathon. Also coming in March is the dreaded but inevitable public transit fare increases when flat train/bus fares will increase from $2.25 to $2.50 and monthly unlimited passes increase from $104 to $112, which still not bad compared to the BART or most other US public transit systems. Another much talked about change to take place this year is in mid-March when the new law banning "big gulp" soda drinks from being sold in NYC goes into effect. This has been both controversial and fodder for late night talk shows since the law was pushed in 2012 by the health conscious mayor Michael M. Bloomberg.