Satorism Exhibition A Success

I am happy to say that the Satorism exhibition was a success. Once it was placed on the wall, the work looked amazing and had a powerful impact on all those who came to view it. Satorism is a concept I created as a way to focus attention on art that communicates something meaningful. There is a lot of work being presented in New York that is so uninspired that it seems the artist's only motivation is to seek fame & fortune.

The name Satorism comes from the work Satori - An exhibition of art that inspires personal, political, or spiritual awakening.

The one day exhibition featured the artists Stephen Woods, Jorge Namerow, Jody Fallon, Jennie Booth, Liya Sheer, Keith Duncan, Helene Ruiz, Steve Geyer, Cheryl Fallon, and Danylo Pelonis.

It was a crazy day. We rented the gallery, which is located on 42nd street. A block away from the U.N. and a few blocks from Times Square. We started working at noon and we were still finishing up at 7PM when the doors opened. I had hoped to go home and get a shower before The Imperial Orgy performance began at 8PM, but had to settle for bathing in the bathroom sink at the gallery.

We had a good turnout and a very enthusiastic crowd. Below is some of the art that was presented:



American Joy Ride by Brooke McGowan

http://www.brookemcgowen.com



When Brutality & Honesty Plot by Stephen Woods

http://www.stephenwoodsartwork.com



Had Enough by Jody Fallon

www.JODYFALLON.com



Longings by Jorge Namerow

http://namerowdesigns.com



Scorpio Sting by Liya Sheer

http://www.liyasheer.com



A Map Of My Strange and Soulful Journey Thus Far

http://www.jenniebooth.com



Protestors by Dan Pelonis

http://www.danpelonis.com



The Window by Cheryl Fallon

www.CHERYLFALLON.com



Venus & The Art Lover by Caeser Pink

www.caeserpink.com

Brave New Hymn

Last week I had a recoding session and we are close to a final mix for the song Brave New Hymn. We added a French Horn, some female choir vocals, and a little slide guitar. I think the French Horn and the Choir vocals could be turned up just a hair, but it is overall, just about completed.





Avon days, Acid nights
Letter perfect in the light
Nuclear, Static free
With liberty between the sheets
Garden hose mastadons
Peasants bask in golden rays
Prayer room bingo game
All bounty in his name

C'mon patriots wave your flags
If you don't cheer, then it's clear you're against us
Home of the brave, land of the free
Bow down to democracy

Jesus idol postage stamps
Back seat Chevy baby boom
Marilyn, JFK
Martyrs for the Brave New World
H-bomb bikini dream
It is sacred evermore
Drop out, peace is won
Hippie ventures come to naught

C'mon Christians believe as a child
The son of God will provide all the answers
Faith is blind, do you believe
Heaven waits, will you see?

Nihilist, underground
Johnny Rotten takes a bow
Reagan era confidence
The bully boys are swatting flies
Teenage slumber, MTV
Primal urge on sex machines
Pleasure flesh pantheon
Yet they say 'all you need is love'

And the working man desires delusion
The wife in the kitchen clings to the illusion
Freedom rings, can you hear it call?
Just don't question it at all

1994 - Caeser Pink

The Maine Campus

CD: Caesar Pink

By Mario Moretto, Opinion Editor
Posted on 3/26/09 at 2:47 AM EST.

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Courtesy of The Imperial Orgy

Working for the style section of The Maine Campus, we get many CDs in the mail. Usually they're new releases by artists we've at least heard of, but every once in a while, a weird artifact from the past shows up. Lewistown, Penn.'s Caeser Pink & The Imperial Orgy's 2006 opus "All God's Children" is one of those gems.



A little background info, courtesy of the interwebs. The Imperial Orgy is a cross-media art and activism project founded by Caeser Pink, lead songwriter and vocalist on the album.



The band's Web site says, "Whether musically or socially, the Imperial Orgy excludes the prejudiced. The music fan who limits their tastes to a particular style of rock and roll, or who are uncomfortable with a socially open environment, will surely find some aspect of the Imperial Orgy offensive. But for those who have no restraints to hold them back from savoring the feast ... the Imperial Orgy is waiting."



That sums it up better than I ever could. With that in mind, let's move on to the review portion of our programming.



Upon looking at the cover, which features a dinosaur, Mickey Mouse with a Nazi armband and a rather peeved-looking black child with an assault rifle, I thought I was in for lo-fi outsider music or post-punk insanity. Checking out the song lyrics before listening to the album only further supported my assumption. "All God's Children" includes lines such as "Goddamn, I don't understand / How your religion makes you kill a man / Jesus Christ, it just doesn't seem right / All God's children wanna fuss and fight / Holy s--- ain't it time to quit / If that's your religion don't believe in it."



Boy, was I wrong in speculating the sound about to hit my ears.



The first track, "Mickey Mouse World," exposes Caeser Pink's old-timey rock 'n' roll stylings. Caesar's voice is reasonably melodic, and the music is genuine danceable fun rock. There are even sultry female back-up vocals and "woo-ooohs."



All three songs - yes, three, it rings in just under 12 minutes - after the first track follow suit. Catchy pop-rock hooks, surf beats and homage to classic rock icons like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith fill out this surprisingly fun do-it-yourself album.



The best song, by far, is "Dinosaurs (A True Story)," which may or may not be about a one-night stand with Robert Plant. Enough said.



Of all the words I could choose to describe Caeser Pink & The Imperial Orgy, I would choose "fun." Surprisingly, this album has gotten stuck in my head more than any other album I've listened to for a while. The thinly-veiled political messages aren't anything groundbreaking or shattering, but I'll be damned if it didn't have me tapping my foot and singing "My baby's in love with Robert Plant" at the top of my lungs.

Body Painting Film Shoot

I recently directed a shoot for an experimental film series that I've been working on. They are part of a larger collection of films called "Meditations." The films are black and white and in slightly slowed motion. The idea is that the films are more like moving paintings than a film that you set and watch that tells a story. I call them Meditations because in order to watch them you have to slow your mind down and connect with a certain sensuality within the images.

The subset of films which the shoot was for features artists painting on the bodies of models. The shoot was done in PA. with a female artist painting on a female model. It was a pretty magical experience shooting the film. The experience seemed to really inspire all the participants to further creativity.

Here are a few stills from the shoot. The still were shot and manipulated by Steve Geyer. His work will be featured in an Imperial Orgy gallery exhibition in Manhattan in May. Click on the image to view the full sized photo

Prometheus Bound

Last night we had a rehearsal preparing to start a new recording project. We worked on a new song called Prometheus Bound that came out really nice. It is a complicated song with a lot of parts so I thought it would take a while to pull it together, but it seemed to fall right into place pretty quickly.

To give you an idea of how we work - here is a guitar chart we were working from for the song:






Here are the song's lyrics:

Everywhere I look it's comin' down
The dogs are barkin' but there ain't no sound
I tell the truth even when I lie
Gotta see Jerusalem before I die

I talkin' loud and drinkin' fast
Tryin' to convince myself that good times can last
Got a parade float and a circus tent
But got no money to pay the rent

I stole a flame from the sun
Now I'm livin' life on the run
I guess I made a Devil's trade
But if I have my way he won't never get paid

Chickin Little said it hit his head
Superman yelled out, "Hey, I'm not dead!"
But Shakespeare's sonnets are crumpled on the floor"
And the raven sings "boy, you know the score"

The minister's driving a Mustang car
He says he goin' to heaven it ain't that far
But with the price of gas he can only coast
Instead of heaven he's headin' down below

Swing low swing high
The great one heaves a troubled sigh
Swing high swing low
Tiamat gives birth to the Earth below
Day in day out
We close out eyes and count to ten
Day out day in
We take a breath and start again

Y'know this ain't no reality show
The more is see the less I know
There's robots walkin' everywhere
They been had, but they don't care

I stole my baby a diamond ring
Then packed my bags and sold my things
I went to Memphis to see the king
Got caught up in a dirty low-down scheme

Policeman say I broke the law
But I ain't to blame I swear to god
When the newsman's calling out your name
Innocent or guilty it's all the same

She got candy cotton underwear
She said take a bite, but I don't dare
Now my sweet tooth is comin' loose
I'm diabetic, but my heads already in the noose

The emperor's brand new cloths
Are the latest fashion show
The supermodels strut and they sashay
But there ain't no secrets it's all out there on display

I burned my checks and my credit cards
Out here, life is tough, life is hard
Got caught up in the undertow
From now on baby we pay as we go

I seen those politicians wavin' flags
But I won't take a bullet for that rag
Cause the rich man's pullin' all the strings
He's makin' profit from everything
The rich man's pullin' all the strings
One thing he can't control is these words I sing
One thing he can't control is these words I sing
One thing he can't control is these words I sing

Concert Pics

The Future Is Unwritten

Sometimes the struggling artist life really wears me down. For the last few months we've been putting ourselves out to the mainstream public. Mainly to college radio and newspapers. The response had been an amazing amount of hate and contempt. The people who don't like what we do - don't just dislike it - they hate it passionately.

It is very surprising to me how conformist and conservative college aged people are. They seem to really resent anyone who questions the accepted mainstream views. There seems to be a general consensus that music is wallpaper. Just entertainment that does not make waves or rock the boat. It especially strange because so many people are very into "punk." But again they think punk is a hairdo or a manner of dress. They have no understanding of the core values that were behind the music. I often read blogs where punk fans state that music should not express political ideas.

One of the concepts were are trying to promote is that music is a serious artform that can communicate ideas and effect society. But within college radio and press there is a real distaste for that idea. Actually distaste it too subtle a word, they seem to be completely offended by the idea.

Usually I take it all with a grain of salt, but after months of being attacked and beaten down it starts to make you feel hopeless. With no access to media an artist has no way to communicate to the public. Your voice cannot be heard.

I was speaking with a high school friend yesterday and thinking about my teen years. Even then I was very conscious of feeling like an outcast because of my view of the world. My high school friends seemed to live in a bubble where nothing existed outside of their immediate lives.

Throughout most of my life I kept my views secret because I knew the price of expressing them. Where I came from questioning church and state could get your beaten physically, as well as being socially ostracized.

It seems to me that a lot of this conformity comes from some kind of infantilism. People want to be like children and believe that there are others looking out for their well being. Those others seem to be politicians, corporate executives, and religious deities. It is a nice cozy view of the world. Although I would argue irresponsible.

But if you make people question their values that childlike sense of security is threatened, and perhaps that may explain why people have such violent reactions to alternative viewpoints being expressed. Thinking is hard. Life is full of uncertainty. And the unknown is scary. It's much better to just think like a child and believe someone with power is taking care of you.

After months of bashing my head against the walls of conformist thinking I began to lose hope and the will to go on. My sense of alienation became more heightened than ever. I've lived my whole life within this circumstance so I know to stay strong, but I was weakening.

Saturday night I went to see the movie about the Clash's singer Joe Strummer. (The Future Is Unwritten) The film really revitalized me. It's really important to know there are others out there who share your values. That you're not insane.

In the old Soviet Union they placed political agitators in insane asylums. I can see why because even in the US people who don't adhere to the mainstream value system are treated like deviants, and treated like an enemy.

The one thing that helps me deal with it all is listening to how intelligently people speak. Usually the people who are fighting for protection of the status quo cannot speak intelligently.
This is certainly the case with college media outlets. On Other hand I find that artists and activists that I respect are also respected by others that I respect. It's not random. The Joe Strummer movie was a good example of this. The documentary was filled with great actors, directors, musicians, and artists, who were inspired by Strummer and The Clash.