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(8 months ago)
Soundlab Cultural Alchemy presents DRAGON SQUARE
Sunday, 1998 July 26th
DJ Wally, DJ Spooky, Singe, Verb, Kee, Blank Slates, Ambassador Jr And others...
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Soundlab Cultural Alchemy presents DRAGON SQUARE
Sunday, 1998 July 26th
DJ Wally, DJ Spooky, Singe, Verb, Kee, Blank Slates, Ambassador Jr And others.
Finally got around to editing this video I shot of an outdoor Soundlab event on New York's Lower East Side (North Chinatown). In my mind 1998 was sort of a "scene" high water mark before the dot.com bubble got too flush with money and crowded out the arty vibe that prevailed downtown in the early 1.0 community. The soundtrack of that time was drum & bass and a local nexus for that was Soundlab (see below for details and more editorial). Though often declared and bemoaned, I'll call '98 the end of an era in the East Village - LES. While I'm on the soapbox I can't help but remark on the diversity of this crowd, which was not engineered in the normal, top-down bureaucratic sense of the word.
Location -Sara Delano Roosevelt Park between Chrystie and Forsyth Street
http://www.soundlab.org/
Here is a blurb about two Sound lab principals BETH COLEMAN & HOWARD GOLDKRAND
Beth Coleman is an artist who mixes text and sound. Since 1995, she has been co-director of SoundLab Cultural Alchemy, a digital-media group and record label.
Howard Goldkrand is an artist working with a mixed vocabulary of visual installation, site-specific conceptual work, and sound. Since 1994, he has been the artistic director of Cultural Alchemy's SoundLab, the electro-tectural nomadic happening, designing its visual and sound environments. He has created live and recorded sound works for the internationally roving SoundLab events.
Now back to more Paul D. editorializing...
Though shot only eleven years ago, the area has changed a great deal since then. Nothing dramatizes that more than the launch of an MTV virtual world (VLES.com) - based on a few blocks below Houston St. now called "Hell Square." This area has more bars and clubs than just about anywhere and most all of them popped up in the last ten years. As a long time resident I welcomed the night life at first, then became too much of a good thing, it's now a theme park.
p.s. Note - Watch in HQ! (High-Quality) sadly the slow pans strobe when transferred to web video. Content-wise, this video is atmospheric. As an inveterate "people watcher" the crowd gets top billing here.
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