Art Shanty season approaching fast!

Dear Ice House Karaoke enthusiasts,

The 2009 season of the ArtShantyProjects is a few weeks away. We should have sufficient ice to get our shacks out onto Medicine Lake.

This year I will not be participating in much ASP, Norae action but rest assured the Norae Shanty will continue to rock throughout the 5 week exhibit. Thanks in most part to this years super KJ team of Jesse Siegel and Taffi Vagilante.

Enjoy the project and hopefully I'll make it out for a few songs.
best,
Mike

Projects Dates January 17th through February 14th.

Bringing down the house...

I got a sweet call from J-Ham as I was getting on I35 heading south toward home after a long week of work. It was news, rather sad news, that they were assembling yesterday evening (Hawaii time) to strike the Norae Shanty. J-Ham was curious as to what would be a good send off song as they were planning to sing karaoke outside while taking the shanty down. It was a sweet and sad way to hear it was going down.

I could not come up with a good song other than the songs that are always sung in the Norae Shanty (love shack, bohemian rhapsody,etc.) so I threw out The Smiths as I knew Gabe from Papa Lucks would appreciate that. We had a few good Smiths "Rock Blocks" during my short run in HI. I heard from J-Ham that she and Jeff both showed up with their Rock Block shirts on, pretty sweet!

After we hung up I quickly texted back that there should definitely be some Prince, preferably Purple Rain.

Lets hope it all came down easily and nobody got hurt by falling speakers or sharp corrugated metal. To all my HI peeps, I'll be singing one for you tonight. Please send pictures!

-hapa9

UnConvention installation

During the Unconvention at Peavey Plaza, Art Shanty Projects and Kulture Klub Collaborative will install a shanty base-camp for various public arts activities. These activities will respond to the unconvention themes of non-partisan intersection of participatory media and participatory democracy by inviting artists and youth experiencing homelessness to engage the public in workshops and presentations including; free workshops where the public creates personalized stenciled lawn signs and flags, as well as letter pressed playbills, guerrilla cinema projections of videos created by homeless teens, Auto ethnographic guided tours led by artist and youth.

There are shirts available...

Yes friends, we have shirts once again. My dear friend Paul at Elpis Enterprises helped me print another round of shirts in sm, med, lg, xl. They are printed on gilden 5000 cotton t-shirts and the price is $15 each. email if interested because the are going to go quick!

Carry on, carry on...

Thanks for a great residency. This clip says it all...
-hapa9

Back on the main(?)land.

Yep, I arrived safe a few days ago. I suffered a heavy dose of food poisoning from a little sushi joint in Hilo. It was the first time I had puked on a plane in my life, thankfully I made it to the bathroom in time. Unfortunately it has hung with me for a few days, I'm beginning to think it might be stomach flu, but who knows...

When I got back I was greeted with rainy 40 degree weather, and the next day it snowed. An awful homecoming. But the weather, like the tainted raw fish churning in my stomach, will pass and give way to warmth as Spring officially returns to Minnesota. Its good to be home.

Big Island, short time

Before heading back to Minnesota, Jean Pitman and I took a quick trip to the Big Island to experience life on another island. These pictures are randomly ordered. but it will give you a glimpse of what can be seen in two short days on the Big Island if you travel with someone whom is willing to just see everything and anything. Here are a few shots of a wondrous short stay...
Silly sign (I think its legit) in the middle of a lava field. We passed by on our walk to see the lava flow into the ocean. In the upper left corner you can see the steam venting down the volcano slope.
We stopped and walked along the black sand beaches, the sand is all volcanic.

When we first arrived in Hilo we found a sweet little 50's malt shoppe, with some original sign age. Pretty sweet! A total time capsule of a dinner.

We stayed one night at an amazing little privately run Hostel called the Holo Holo Inn located right in Volcanoes Village. A bed was $21 per night in the dormitory. Just one mile from Volcanoes National Park main entrance.

Some random fern budding. I just thought it was gorgeous and a little scary looking. The ferns were larger than a two story house.

This is a shot inside an old lava tube. You could literally drive a car through it at most points. Pretty amazing that this was a chamber for flowing lava.

Here are some steam vents. The trade winds were really low so the Vog (Volcanic smog) was at a dangerous level. They ended up closing the park later that afternoon.

A night shot of the actual lava flow as it poured into the ocean. It created this gigantic plume of glowing steam that just billowed and ungulated hundreds of feet into the air. It was really hypnotic to watch.
A random pug we met at a roadside coffee stand. He was happy to have company.

A shot inside one of the two main craters at the VNP. There are actually people walking along the basin of the crater. It stretches a few miles from end to end and the cupped edge along the base is 50 ft tall.

Jean resting during our walk along devastation trail. This huge section is just south of the crater and is a preserved wasteland.

Another two shots of devastation trail.

We stopped for gas somewhere along the southern coast of Hilo to fill up our Jeep. Gas was $3.96. At least it was full service.

Some wonderfully funky hybrid architecture in Hilo. This was now a Christian church.
We drove down along the southern coast of the Big Island after VNP was closed down. Jean noticed that there was a road called South Point, which led to the southern most point of the United States of America. So we went to check it out. It was a spectacular place to chill out for a few hours.

Here is a shot of Jean at South Point. The road had collapsed some time ago.


A few more images of the lava fields and black sand beach. People carry coconuts out into the lava fields and plan them along the path.



The final norae shanty night wound... I had a sub woofer fall from a shelf and split my head open. People were just rocking the shanty so hard that it started coming apart around me.

Tree canopy. Just pretty.

Tree molds. During a lava flow the lava came up through the tree stumps in a grove and burned them from the inside out, leaving these statued molds of the former trees. You can even see the hollowed out trucks when you look down into them.

More Lava field shots. Lovely texture everywhere. It still looks liquid and flowing. Its amazing to see nothing but this black bubbled char stretch for miles around you.

Last Norae Night!

Well folks, the Norae Shanty came to a close last evening but I'm proud to say we went out in a momentous way. The shanty started rocking at 5 pm and ended up running until close to midnight. It was not without a few minor bumps (thuds) as the sub woofer fell off a shelf and conked me right on the head. A little blood and a minor scare but I was fine after taking a look at it. Someone said that you have to bleed a little for your art. I did my share last night. In the end a bunch of people stuck around and sang through the night. It was a great close to a really fabulous project.

Thanks again to the UH art faculty and students, the Intersections program, Jean Pitman, and in particular Wendy Kawabata and Jaimey Hamilton for their hard work and guidance.

Shut um down, shut um shut um down.

Manoa Valley

I made a stop over in Manoa Valley located just behind the UH campus. I'm not sure why I have not gotten over there more often, its a stunning and serene valley setting. Sarah mentioned that she saw this little Korean lunch spot that looked like it was a place locals frequented so I popped in for lunch. It was simply perfect.

I ordered a BiBimBap and a pepsi. $6.00. There is really nothing that can even come close to eating a $6 lunch sitting on a patio looking at the side of a mountain range. What a perfect little spot.
I had to find a park to sit in so I could digest my lunch before peddling back over to campus. Manoa Valley has a quaint small town feeling to it. Very relaxing and mellow.

Hawai'ian Biennial Exhibit

I was given a chance to check out the Hawai'ian Biennial exhibit at the Contemporary Museum. All in all this was a really solid show. It was great to see what local contemporary artists were doing. I was particularly taken by the work of Yida Wang and Eli Baxter.

Yida Wang installation.

Eli Baxter installation. Cut and sculpted recycled inner tubes. Seriously meticulous.

Honolulu Star Bulletin coverage!

Oh yeah, we made some more press. This time we broke into the fashion blogosphere! Pretty great blurb by Nadine Kam. I really like the video and how its edited. She made it sound like we gave her the hard sell, but we all knew she secretly had to let out her inner diva.

Back on UH campus! A few art classes...

One it gets rolling there is no stopping the karaoke action. Please don't skip classes, your education is important (and expensive).

Some good line dancing outside. I think this was during "New York New York", or maybe "Volare".
Gabe stuck around for a few songs, some Cash and air guitar action.
Starting it all off. It always takes one brave soul.


Some curious onlookers. Some were too timid to enter, but hung around to check out the action.

UH Manoa Shanty Hours

We have reinstalled the Norae Shanty at UH Manoa near Papa Luck's and the Art Department. We have posted some public hours this week. Please stop in to share in a song or two.

Norae Shanty’s
Hours of Operation:

Tues. April 15th 3-5 pm;
Thurs. April 17th 1–2 pm;
Friday April 18th 6-8 pm

soooo yeah, whales...

I was granted a wonderful day on the north shore at a spot called Sharks Cove. A hotbed for snorkeling and swimming. We swam with the beautiful fish and I found myself laughing a giddy laughter underwater because it was such a surreal experience. Later, we caught a group of humpback whales frolicking off shore. In a rare moment like out of a Oceanographers documentary we caught a whale breach the ocean surface. It was the most spectacular thing I've ever seen in nature. It looked like a entire section of a locomotive erupting from the ocean surface. And then it just crashed down into the water and disappeared. They played for another hour, flapping tails and blowing fountains of water. Truly a surreal experience.

One of my favorite things was that I had the fortune to spend the day with one of the most magical 4 year olds you could ever meet. And after 10 minutes, he was completely bored with the whales. It was so funny to think that whales were mundane for this young man. Its amazing to think that the ocean is so available to everyone here. Leisure is just sort of a necessity here, and how could you possibly ignore the sun, the ocean? I sliver of paradise in your everyday routine is a true gift.

Chinatown - Fort Street Market