“Cuz I don’t like to dream about gettin’ paid.” Eric B. and Rakim – Paid in Full, 1986.

Hard to believe this year marks the 25th anniversary of this incredible album. When did I fall in love with hip hop? 25 years ago.

“When times is hard, people can hear a rapper that inspires them to do what they supposed to do.” –Rakim, 2011.
Rakim / EPMD / FunkMaster Flex
When: Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage

 

Busby Berkeley, Daft Punk, Maxence Cyrin.

A couple of weeks ago on KCRW, I heard a great acoustic piano rendition of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” by Maxence Cyrin.

While I normally can’t stand most acoustic instrumental covers of pop songs, especially the kind found on Youtube, one can easily hear that this person is more than a serious amateur sitting in front of a pop music sheet book.

So, I looked Cyrin up and found a bunch of videos he’s posted on Youtube, many set to beautifully edited clips from old films, including his “Where Is My Mind.”

My favorite of these is the piano cover of Daft Punk’s “Around The World.” Utilizing scenes from the incredibly produced 1934 Busby Berkeley musical Dames, the music and editing makes the synchronized swimming seem even more surreal while perfectly nailing the patterns (musical and otherwise) that influenced Daft Punk’s original video by Michel Gondry. The choreography by Bianca Li is dynamite. I loved this one when I first saw it.

Check out both below.

Piano cover by Maxence Cyrin. Numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley.

Music by Daft Punk. Directed by Michel Gondry. Choreographed by Bianca Li.

 

“You have to have something to offer in order to lead.” –Willi Ninja, Paris is Burning.

Inspiration can come from some very unexpected places. Not sure how this popped up but I recently stumbled across this clip of the late Willi Ninja taken from the great documentary Paris is Burning.

Willi Ninja was one of the leading and most respected practitioners of voguing. If you don’t know what I mean by that, go back to whatever you were doing before you clicked on this blog.

I was just a teenager when Willi Ninja was the mother of the House of Ninja. Never mind that I was too young to enter clubs, not gay, not black, and my neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens was a world away from Harlem. But, I heard much about Harlem’s drag ball houses from some friends and was made to understand that what was happening inside was original and exciting way before Madonna borrowed their style and music.

I started clubbing soon after this movement hit, but the rave scene I somehow fell into while in college in Boston mainly consisted of white middle class kids from the suburbs and one did not vogue at these get togethers. And by the time I rented this documentary as a sophomore, voguing was almost only done by white middle class kids from the suburbs. And, only during high school dances I bet.

Still, dancing is dancing and some are high practitioners. Willi Ninja wanted to be the best voguer out. “Hit hard, hit fast… and come out to assassinate.” Like him, with whatever it is that we’re doing, we should strive to be on top. I know I’d like to be known worldwide someday.

Sadly, Willi Ninja died of AIDS-related heart failure in New York City in 2006 at the age of 45.

Paris is Burning. Directed by Jennie Livingston. 1990.

 

For professional dreamers only.

The film “Encounters At the End of the World” is a beautiful and moving documentary directed by the great Werner Herzog. Opening with an otherworldly image of Herzog’s friend floating underwater beneath a thick ceiling of ice, Herzog turns his lens towards the people, the “dreamers” who travel to the southernmost place where all lines of the map converge in search of science, truth, and the meaning of our existence.

In Antartica, Herzog finds really hardcore travelers and adventurers full of thrilling stories, are thirsty for true freedom, and have the unreal fortitude to survive under difficult conditions.

There are encounters with scientists who dive deep below the ice shelf, ecologists who study seal milk, volcanologists who stand at the edge of lava pits as well as philosopher/forklift drivers and former money men in search of their soul. The surreal underwater recording of the seals calling to each other is reason enough to see this film.

But, for all the raw, stunning imagery and meditations on nature, there is a dire warning about the fate of this planet and the place humans have on it. It may be cold outside here in New York City, but the scientists and realists in even colder Antartica are absolutely clear about the consequences of global warming.

Despite that, I felt a bit of optimism about our future while watching the people who work and play in this harshly rugged environment committing themselves fully to the realization of our humanity.

It took me a while to get around to seeing this film, but now that I have I’m ready to see it again.

 

Classic Vs. Old School

Photo by Lyle Owerko. The Boombox.

On the eve of my my birthday, I was struck by the title of a mixtape I’ve had on repeat recently.

Classic Rap Vol. 1 is, as the dj duo puts it, “an attempt to combine rap nerd scholarship with DJing craftsmanship.” As a big hip hop head since my teens, it strikes me as curious to see names like Kanye West, Mos Def, Andre 3000, Nas, and others on this one.

As an owner of several “classic” hip hop compilations, I’m more used to seeing Nucleus, The Sugarhill Gang, Audio Two in the liners. Hell, even Krs-One and LL Cool J qualify. Looking at that second list, knowing I heard those acts on the radio when their singles dropped, there’s no denying that in trying to identify with the different eras of hip hop I’m looking to define the era to which I belong. Or, maybe just sprung from.

Nobody wants to be called old school unless you’re a young hipster trying to impress an even younger crowd. But for me, classic rings too much of Mad Men or sun saturated Ralph Lauren ads. I love watching Mad Men, but if I ever ran into one of those male characters in an alley only one of us is coming out. And, I was always more Lacoste than Polo.

That said, I’m happy I can fully appreciate the classics, even reminisce over some old school joints. But, please don’t call my tastes classic or old school until you see me at my grand daughter’s wedding rocking white shoes with a dark blue suit banging my head to some Fugees and yelling, “Yeah! That’s my jam!”

For now, have a listen to this crazy dope mixtape by Macabee and Verse. And if you’re like me and can relate to this one, check out their other tracks here.

Classic Rap Vol. 1. ITS Overture!

 

“If I only scrape a living, at least it’s a living worth scraping.”

“If there’s no future in it, at least it’s a present worth remembering.” –Mickey Smith.

A few close friends brought this great short film to my attention a while back. I only just now got around to watching it. Good thing because Dark Side Of The Lens is a less than seven minute video I spent nearly half my day watching.

Directed by British surf photographer Mickey Smith (who also did the music) with dazzling cinematography by Allan Wilson, the film is a visual feast that forces you to feel the passion and resilience of the “silent workhorses of the surfing world”.

Like a favorite song, I rewound the film many times returning often to epic beats. For starters, see if you don’t go back to the moments that start at 1:22, 3:27, 5:09, 5:26… I can keep going, but really see for yourself.

“Most don’t even know who we are, what we do, how we do it. Let alone know how to pay us for it.”

Surfers, non-surfers, artists, non-artists, I think we can all relate to the experience of taking knocks while doing a thing we love.

 

A new blog?

I barely even update this one. Very envious of those photographers who can multitask between shooting, promo-ing, meetings, post-production, and everything else. Then they blog almost daily? Sheesh.

I feel good when I can do one of these things per day. The good thing is, I haven’t just been sitting around. The past few months have been pretty active for this photographer. You’ll hopefully see the results soon when the website is updated.

In the meantime, there is my new photo journal. It’s a departure from the current blog as it will be nearly 100% picture based. And, nearly 100% consisting of my pictures at that. Just another portal for personal work as well as outtakes, archiving and who knows what else. Check it out and see. I expect to add images on a regular basis so tune in often. 

chadtenorio.tumblr.com

www.chadtenoriojournal.com

Not to worry, though. Semi-Automatic will remain active and I will endeavor to inspire you all by sharing with you the myriad of things that inspire me.

For starters, have you seen the newly launched website of fellow photographer and my lil sister (from another mother and father) Grace Villamil?

Beautiful, clean site filled with stunning imagery, including examples of Grace’s handmade sculptures. Check it and enrich your life experience.

www.gracevillamil.com

Don’t miss out!

 

Very Grateful

Many thanks to the wonderful Rachel Hulin over at A Photography Blog. Last week Ms. Hulin profiled me on her great blog and allowed me to open up about work I did for the 2010 Adicup tournament in NYC.

Rachel Hulin is one of my favorite bloggers in my biz. I read her posts religiously. To have her do a piece on me makes me feel delirious.

Thanks Ms. Hulin! It is an honor.

You can read the post here.

 

Old work, new work, and more.

Last Saturday adidas hosted the world famous Adicup tournament. Congratulations to the Diner Old Boys for pulling out a tough win. Hope they can make it all the way to South Africa to attend the World Cup 2010. Yes folks, that’s the prize if they beat the winners of four other cities with their own Adicup tourneys.

For the second year, I was tapped to shoot portraits of the 28 teams participating in NYC as well as some of the fans who attended. But before I get to that, I realized I never put up any selections from last year’s tournament. So here are some of my favorites.

And, last year’s winner:

Huge thanks to the folks at adidas and the participating players for being so much fun to shoot.

Thanks to Sam Murray for the wall set, and eternal thanks to my assistants that day: Brian Ferraro, Jeff Vallee, Marie Vic, and Adelmo Braga. Yeah I know, a year late. But I promise I thanked them in private!

Dynamic graphic design by Gabe Kuo.

This year’s portraits session was just as fun. Stay tuned as I’ll be posting images from this and other new projects. For now, you can find my portraits of the teams here.

Goal!

 

Guru R.I.P.

Back to back obit posts. Both concerning massively influential artists.

Yesterday morning Guru died following a yearlong struggle with cancer. This one hits me directly in my gut.

Mostly Tha Voice from the album Hard to Earn. 1994.