DJ Spooky

I was able to attend the presentation by DJ Spooky (a.k.a. Paul Miller; a.k.a. "Subliminal Kid"), and wanted to post some information about the presenter and the topics discussed. Professor Fajardo began the evening, followed by an introduction by Catherine Archuleta, the Senior Advisor on Policy and Initiatives for Denver, who spoke about DJ Spooky and his inclusion in the efforts of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Paul got his DJ name from the , and has also chosen the moniker "Subliminal Kid" in reference to William Burrough's novel Nova Express. He has authored two books: Rhythm Science and Sound Unbound, dealing with remix culture and music; the writing aside, he also wants to get people to think about DJ-ing as a form of storytelling as well, just as important to culture an society. He spoke about the concept that there is no longer a passive consumer, and that "social cohesion comes from both sound and found sound." He started as a writer, but while in college he would host "art parties" from encouragement of friends, as he had a decent music collection, and that was the start of his DJ career. His favorite innovator is Garrett A. Morgan, whose street lights "cue systems of movement" and employ choreography to city movement.

Recently, he has traveled to Antarctica to gather audio samples of the ice for his "Terra Nova" Project, in which he intends to study media and sound integration with the environment. The work produced from these efforts will be presented at the DNC here in the fall

- "Gift Economy" - he likes to start presentations by distributing CDs of his to get people thinking about sharing and collaborative efforts in an application of the "currency of memory," placing great value on a collective experience. Different CDs are distributed in the hopes that you and those next to you will get different ones so that you can swap out and get different tracks; in this it is hoped that this will then present an opportunity to network through the swapping of discs, or by passing the idea along.
- Spooky also showed examples of remix culture through the Bush Remix videos, the Gray Album, and much more.
- He also stated that most of the videos he was showing are illegal.
-"The future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed" - William Gibson
-"Birth of a Nation" - a film by D.W. Griffith that was the 1st blockbuster to make over 1 mil, as well as the 1st to be shown at the White House. This was created in 1915, an adaptation of a propaganda piece about the Ku Klux Klan, "The Clansman", written by Thomas Dixon.

You can also check wikipedia's article for more information about Paul (it's beneficial for saving space and time in this post). Also, here is a link to a YouTube video with one of his presentations on Remix Culture. (believe it or not everything except this last paragraph came from notes, and there is still more that he discussed)