In just a few days I’ll be boarding a plane to Austin, TX to join the SXSW festivities. I’ll be VJing at this event on Congress called House by Southwest on St. Patricks day!!  Very much looking forward to all of SXSW, meeting up with some DJs, and especially sitting in on the Michel Gondry film panels!

I’m VJing for my brother’s band tonight. It’s a special birthday bash for the singer!

8PM-2AM

Friday night was spent running around town and picking the right shade of red to adorn the wall that will be behind my desk at the new Danger Studio.  After much deliberation and speculation under different light sources, I went with Behr’s “Cherry Tart”. It is the most perfectly dangerous red that I could have found!  It’s dark and bold, and has hints of burnt lava orange. Spicy and delicious… I’m in love!

I was very lucky to have such great friends join me, drop in, hang out and help paint, during my first night building up the space. Special thanks to,  Jeff Schram, Liz Squillace, Mike Lupinacci, and Chris Harrington. You guys rock!! It made for a very memorable unofficial opening night for me.

This week the second coat goes on, and over the weekend the furniture will be moved in! I’ll be organizing a studio warming party sometime soon once we get it all together. Gotta start building the bar! (Essential to any good design studio in my opinion.)

]]> http://www.hollydanger.com/blog/and-thus-it-begins/feed/ 2 http://www.hollydanger.com/blog/studio_sxsw/ http://www.hollydanger.com/blog/studio_sxsw/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:21:13 +0000 hollydanger http://www.hollydanger.com/blog/?p=1181 It’s been quiet over the last few days, as the city has been under blankets of ice & snow.

Two quick pieces of news!

I’m excited to announce that I will be getting my very own studio space dedicated to all of my Danger visuals work!! I was waiting to blog about this until I had some photos to go along, but they will have to wait until after I’ve signed the lease and retrieved my keys. I will be setting up shop at the Loft Artists building in Stamford in just a few days!  More on that to come.

I’ve also just bought a gold pass to the SXSW festival in Austin which starts in a month. I’ll be bringing my VJ equipment along for the ride and see what events might let me hop in. If anyone knows of any opportunities, please send me an email or leave a comment here.

Photo by Mary Woods

Photo by me

Thanks to all who came out to the “Chocolate & I” gallery show last Monday in NY!!  I had so much fun meeting everyone, tasting truffles, and sipping their chocolate margaritas. Mmm. Music, visuals & chocolate are some of my favorite indulgences.

This was the first show of mine where I was able to incorporate both of my projectors at once, split the VGA signals and mirror the images across the beautiful gallery wall. I usually don’t have the luxury of having so much space and freedom, but this felt absolutely wonderful to break free of the singular image and experiment with some new ideas.

To think, just over a year ago I didn’t even own any of the equipment to be able to perform like I can now. I had always wanted to, but it seemed overwhelming. It’s quite an investment:  laptops, mixers, projectors, cables, stands & adapters. Now after a year of experimentation, and slowly accumulating a studios worth of equipment, I can’t imagine my life without performing. I’m inspired in new directions from each and every show.

If anyone reading this photographed the night I would love to see your collection!!  Feel free to send me an email, or post them here.

Video soon to come!

To celebrate some good news that I will be posting about in upcoming days, I’ll be giving out my new DANGER PINS at the next few performances. Just come over and say hi!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If any of you are in the CT area on this snowy friday evening, I will be projecting some videos over at the City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport from 6-11pm tonight. Thanks to Liz of Paradox Ink for inviting me!

I picked out 10 of my favorite experimental pieces that I worked on in 2009 and this will be the first time they are landing on gallery walls. I’m sure at some point in the evening I’ll end up free-form VJing a bit too.

City Lights gallery is debuting their first Nu Media show, involving a mixed collection of video art, short films, and  animation. Hope to see you!

City Lights Gallery is located at 37 Markle Court Bridgeport, CT 06604  : $5 Entry fee

Kodomo + Danger Monkey town - 1/2/10

Thanks to everyone who made it out on Saturday night! It was another sold out show at Monkey Town and I had so much fun hanging out with all of you. Special thanks to Cutlery for inviting us to play, and special thanks to my brother who made it out to see us for the first time.

Kodomo & I debuted some new material which got a lot of great feedback.  Here is an early video version of what I cut up and re-mixed at the show for the new track. The original animation was not created by me, it was black and white, and used for a Raveonettes video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is the latest bit of my experimental vj works. The concept based on my mantra, energy for energy. The impact of two elements coming together and creating passion. Creation, exchange & fire. Highly compressed but wanted to share anyway! The song is called “Surfin” by William Orbit. Footage both found & mixed with my own, plus some final cut manipulation.

SATURDAY – JANUARY 2nd

8PM

RESERVE A SEAT ON THE MONKEYTOWN SITE

I’m keeping my fingers crossed… I’ll be calling a couple of potential design studio spaces this week to see about taking my biz out of my crooked little apartment and into town. Wish me luck!!

TYCHO – Dictaphone’s Lament
Dictaphone’s Lament

It was a truly beautiful experience of dreamy audio and visuals Sunday evening during the Tycho set at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. His set is a stream of ambiance mixed with heart pounding beats, and all consuming visuals that melt into a subtle colorful bliss.

I somehow managed to hold out to see it, despite the set going on last and driving back to CT at 2:30AM, but it was worth the wait as it usually is.  Of course, this coming from someone who flew to San Francisco earlier this year to see his set at the Mezzanine.

Throughout the years, Tycho has been one of my strongest inspirations as a designer and as a VJ.  I’m always excited to see how he takes his design concepts and brings them to an altered state and performance level. Something I’m constantly striving to do as well. I’d be quite honored one day for the possibility of performing alongside such an amazing talent. Maybe our shows will cross paths in the near future.

Listen to sample tracks of Tycho on tychomusic.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

My little hut at La Zebra the last few days in Tulum

2009 has really been one of my favorite years to date. I’ve always said that if I were to get into video art, that my main goal would be to find the means to travel while doing what I love to do. My goals being to incorporate my love of art, music, culture & adventure with the world of design, performance and exploration.  Keeping those ideas in mind, a lot has shifted this year. I am slowly feeling this awakening of a newly positive outlook for 2010 and what is to come.

I just returned home from a long weekend in Tulum, Mexico. A birthday gift to myself for entering a new decade and welcoming my 30th year. What a magical little slice of the earth that place is. This particular adventure bought an overwhelming sense of peace, serenity and unbridled creativity. It was a slower pace than I’m used to, but wonderfully so, and a much needed breath of fresh air into a part of the world that I had never been.

I stayed in a variety of little palapa huts on the beach all along Boca Paila, a long beach road in Tulum. Very charming atmosphere with endless waves crashing on the turquoise shore, hammocks, hand painted signs and solar/wind generated cabañas. I planned my trip with two events in mind:  A weekly festive event at the Mezzanine, including puppets, stiltwalkers, breakdancers, djs and fire spinners and a salsa night & fire pit roast at La Zebra.  I’m hoping in the future I may be able to meet some folks over there who would like to incorporate video into their events, and possibly go back out there to perform. That would be quite a dream!

After a few days/nights of swimming in the Carribean, drinking fresh mojitos, feeling the powdery sand beneath my feet, snorkling in ceynotes, and bicycling above the tree-line, I’m ready for my next round of creative projects that are coming this way through the end of the year.

Saturday, January 2nd, will be the next big Monkey Town event for Kodomo and I, and we will be playing with my good friends, the Cutlery with visuals by Waking Dream.  We’re on at 9PM, so I will make sure to send out reminders for reservations when the date gets closer.  In the meanwhile I’m catching up with some outstanding projects at the moment and will be up for new endeavors as the new year begins. If 2010 is anything like 2009, I will have a big smile on my face all year round.

A drawing sample from students in class

Friday night I trekked out to Washington, DC to join the Motion Graphics Festival. The workshops all sounded wonderful, but it especially piqued my interest when I read that VJ Shantell Martin was teaching a workshop in live-painting. On the practical side of what I do, my instinct was to take the After Effects class, but the VJ side of me couldn’t let go of the opportunity to hang with other visualists from around the world, so I signed up.

The class introduced the idea of using a wacom tablet mixed with painting software to drawing live and intuitively to music, while recording your session and being able to cut it up and re-use it as animation in performance or later for editing. I found this particularly useful because I never record what I’m doing directly from the screen. There is a program called I Show You which does this perfectly, creating a high res quicktime file.

While much of my personal VJ style has been to mix motion graphics & after effects work, with video files, I’m interested in seeing what direction the concepts I learned in class could take on for me. Definitely a lot of fun, and definitely a new tool to play with and explore.

Thanks to all of you who I met this weekend. I hope our paths cross again soon!

Hello all!  I’ve been back for a little over a week and it has taken me this long just to catch up with life, time zones, and the digital realm of documentation. Our first european show was so incredibly fun and soulful. Many thanks to Camilo Tribin of Makinola who organized, promoted and put the whole thing together. Gustavo Osorio and his amazing photographic talents. Margarita Rojas of the Crayon Incident for her creative inspiration and beautiful performance with us at Miscelanea. Emily and Bryan Dunn for letting me run around with them all day and crash their honey moon. And of course Kodomo, whose music continually inspires me to do what I’m doing. Many thanks to all the lovely people that I met along the way.

Day 1

My adventure began when my plane arrived early at the Barcelona airport around 7AM. The place was dark and desolate, and our flight was the only one that had landed. I had been in the air since 5:30pm the night before, wired and exhausted. The hotel I had booked wouldn’t have an open room until 2pm that day, so I made arrangements with two of my favorite Brooklynites to meet at their place at 10AM. I had just done projections during the ceremony for their wedding a couple weeks before, and as synchronicity would have it, they happened to have one day left in Barcelona, the day I arrived.

Having 3 hours to spare before meeting them, I connected with another lone american traveler, who guides bicycle tours in Utah & Oregon. She was waiting for friends, and I was waiting for a reasonable hour to head out into the universe, so we chatted and had a great morning meeting each other and exchanging travel stories.

As I said good bye around 9AM, I walked out into the grey rainy weather welcoming my arrival, to a little black and yellow taxi cab. I said something like, “¿Me puede tomar usted a mi hotel?” and showed him an address on calle Mallorca, and off we went. About a half hour later I arrived at a cool little boutique hotel, nestled in the middle of a vibrant NY-like city. Memorable amounts of colorful graffiti were splashed across doorways, cabs were plentiful, and there were dozens of bicyclists and pedestrians all across town.

I arrive at the hotel, and am pointed upstairs to my friend’s room. I lugged my equipment and bags up to the fourth floor and was greeted with huge hugs from the newly married couple. It was such a surreal meeting of worlds to have been in Brooklyn with them a couple weeks earlier, and in another country then and there. So I dropped off my bags, grabbed my umbrella and we headed out. We maneuvered in and out of amazing narrow, beautiful streets, until we made it to Barri Gotic, the Gothic quarter of the city. Absolutely stunning. Cobblestone streets, archways, exquisite cafes, cathedrals that look like dripping wax and even the occasional street performer playing instruments or wearing costumes.

We arrived at a little cafe to order a coffee and chocolate y churros! My new favorite indulgence. After catching up on the news and sharing some delicious pastries, we headed to the famous La Ramblas to veer off into La Mercat de la Boqueria. By far the best market that I have ever experienced. My eyes were overloaded by the color, texture, variety and freshness in every direction. Such a wide creative mecca for people who love and appreciate good food.

From there we wandered in and out of cathedrals, dodged raindrops, walked along the dock near Port Vell, and mused about the inspiration of the city. Eventually we made our way out of the rain, and into a cozy vegetarian cafe, which was serving a buffet of salads, quinoa, soups and other such delicious options. Everything we had was incredibly fresh and colorful. I can easily see why there are so many great artists in Barcelona, and I can’t wait to plan another trip there (possibly) next year to re-indulge myself in such inspirational surroundings.

As we finished our meals and made our way to the door we were stopped for a few minutes by the ensuing of quite a monsoonish downpour. Emily made the comment that even the rain is passionate in Spain!

We soon left into the rain, where we caught a cab and we headed back to our hotel so I could pass out for a few hours before dinner, and before the show schedule for 11pm that night! Yes, not only did I arrive in a whirlwind after not sleeping much, and a day of wandering, but I had to be awake enough to perform our first show! Mind you, starting at 11pm in Spain, is 5AM in New York. I was looped out of my mind, but so thrilled and excited, a few hours of sleep at the hotel would do just fine.

After the rain passed, and a double rainbow appeared just in time for our evening out on the town, I had a drink at the hotel bar and we made our way to a very unique restaurant in the area known as El Raval. Interesting seafood dishes, ox tail soup, and a variety of vino later, we all made our way to meet Kodomo, and crew who were setting us up over at our first gig at Bar Lempika. Drinks were passed around, shots that tasted like mini mojitos were shared, and this little Brooklyn-like Barcelona bar slowly became more and more crowded to come hang out with us. I projected some fun italian cartoons that I had just pilfered from the library last week for fun, and let it run while we set up to play. We began playing at midnight and had a great response from everyone there that night. Even the local guy who walks in and out of bar trying to sell roses decided to stay and watch the action. It really turned out to be such a fun evening, and it was great preparation for the next night for our gig at Miscelanea.

Day 2

Sunny skies poured through my window at the 987 that morning. I gathered all my equipment and bags and made my way over to Pension 2000 to meet up with friends. The morning began with a short walk to La Rambla, and into a beautiful pastry shop of sorts. Cafe con leche, a potato tortilla y tarta de manzana. Delicious food everywhere we ventured. Then a short trip over to the market once again for more photos, fresh juice and food samplings. The day consisted of an amazing stroll up and down the Mediterranean coast line, past the sandcastles, and dipping our feet into the smooth sands and warm water at Port Vell. Quite a magical place if you ask me.

It’s hard to recount exactly where the wandering lead after that, because Barcelona is possibly the most amazing place to wander by foot that I have ever been, but I do remember an incredible italian restaurant where the chef had made his own pasta, and the prawns were freshly caught that morning.

The night came quickly and it was time to prep for the show at Miscelanea. Very cool art space! Upstairs bar, white gallery walls, and funky art on t-shirts and in book cases. There was even a little wink from the universe, when I saw posters by my favorite designer, Scott Hansen, hung up on a little clothes line of art strung between a nice little collection. There we set up limited edition CDs & vinyl for sale and continued to set up for the show. Unfortunately with my new mac pro I’ve run into all sorts of issues with being compatible with certain projectors and S-video cables, but 50 feet of VGA cable later, solved the problem.

Set up had been achieved and it was nearing showtime. Kodomo and I did a quick interview with a lovely journalist, and it was soon time to start. The Crayon Incident & GLUP! began their amazing set of very innovative electronica, and gorgeous hand created live visuals. I’m completely enchanted by their performance, and hope to see them perform again.

Around 9PM it was time for us. The room had packed itself with a wonderful crowd, and it was vibrant with incredible energy. I couldn’t have asked for a more fun performance and such an organized event. I’m still editing down video clips from the show and will be posting here shortly. We received warm smiles and a wonderful audience response all night long. Continued the show later at an after party, where I shot video and danced until we had reached the end.

Day 3

Sadly, this was already my last day. It was the quickest whirlwind weekend possible. I spent the time taking photographs and getting lost in the city. Tempting to do some touristy ventures, but I instead chose to let the day take me where my intuition guided. That will remain with me forever, and really have no words to capture it’s meditative beauty.

Day 4

Air Italia and Rome. Craziness. That is all I have to say about that!

~

I loved every second of my time in Barcelona and will definitely be going back, as soon as it is meant to be in future dates to come.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Videos to come!

Thanks to Jimmy Deane & Ryan McCann (aka Media Victim), I got to meet some really wonderful VJs from around the world at Burning Man this year, during their organized VJ meetup at Center Camp. Ryan was sweet enough to give me this wonderfully edited clip to capture a few words during my playa adventure at Burning Man as a VJ.

Thanks again guys! From this point on, I’ll learn how to speak in front of the camera lens!! Usually I make a point to stay on the other side. Nor do I usually wear kitty ears. Well, sometimes.

Below is a link to the full segment of all the VJs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo by one of my lovely campmates, Rebeka Bieber

Grateful. I’ve just re-entered the digital abyss after two weeks of a disparate connection.  Hot generous sun, moon and mountains behind me.  The laundry piles from my desert journey have each a layer and a story. Not one item of clothing was spared. Just one step forward into this ethereal Black Rock City, into the Black Rock desert of Nevada. The inevitability of overwhelming dust takes over you and all that you have. You have no choice but to embrace what comes.

It’s a desert dream. A whirlwind sand storm. Blink your eyes and it’s over. A powerful oasis of magic and art if you choose to see it that way. Liberated matter of the formal routine. A re-awakened world that doesn’t compromise our personal art and expression for practicality purposes. Art for the sake of doing, being, sharing. Life for the sake of living simply, yet extremely. No money exchanged, only energy and ideas.

My own centered routines turn into dust immediately as I pack my last bag and board my first plane. This feeling of no turning back hummed a mix of wired & tired, for the four hours of sleep I had shaken minutes before.

Everything after that is a blur of watercolor and ink. Lights and stars. Sound vibrations. Fuzzy laughter. Scientists and pocket watches of burning time. Hugs of old familial energy. Self-contemplation. Fish bug fire. Night visuals upon a Phage car. Meet & greet of international VJ’s. Prima Tivo wine tasting. Jazz clubs. Fly me to the moon. Abstract angles & electrolytes. Barrels of flying fire. Warmth and sun. Bicycle wheels spinning, and a penny slot in Reno which won me $75 bucks and a philosophical conversation.

Spare change?

I will try and set free the disappointing lack of time that I spent at the Temple. The solitude that I craved there and had not taken. The personal compromises I made to find balance. The expectations of health & motivations within myself. And other such thoughts that would tap me on the shoulder and walk me through the desert hand in hand.

I’ve seen the universe wink in many colors, shapes and languages on this trip. After four years of making this journey to BRC and back, I hadn’t expected to feel as different coming home this time, but I do. Something is calling. Shapes have shifted and I am listening.

Visual inspiration = infinity

Burning Man 2007

My little studio is quickly becoming overwhelmed with equipment. I’ve decided this year for my annual trip to Burning Man, that I would take a small amount of my VJ gear out with me, and meet up with the video artists from all over the world, to collaborate for a variety of amazing events and parties.

In order to do this, I’ve had to purchase some used equipment that can live and breathe in the dusty environment and last for many hours. Last night I picked up an Epson Powerlite 76c (only 26 hours on it) with screen for $350! Never underestimate the power of people wanting to get rid of things in their homes.  Also brought home a used 13′ Macbook that is perfect for traveling. I need to come up with a plan to keep all of this stuff as dust proof as possible and with only 6 days to go, I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do it all. I am however really stoked to experiment out there. Not looking forward to lugging all this equipment on the plane with me, but there are an amazing amount of VJs that go to this event and I’m excited that this will be the first year that I am joining my peoples!

If you’ll be out there this year, I’ll be camping at 7 & C. Come find me & say hi. I will unplug from my computer universe here from Aug 28th and will be back in the default world September 8th.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Shot by Holly Daggers, aka, WetCircuit. Thanks Daggers!!!

And a different camera angle, same song, shot by me in the clip below. More to come!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here for our info on Monkeytown’s website. The calendar for August was just launched.

We’re getting excited for our upcoming show!! Mark your calendars and send an RSVP here. August 6th, Thursday at 8:30 PM. We are currently looking for a second act to play with us, open to suggestions!

Soon I will be posting the massive amount of photos & video that were taken this weekend in the Chrysalis Dome from the festival we performed at in upstate NY this past weekend. The rain gods did not hold off on any rain that they had planned for us despite my plea, but as a result the adventure became that much more spontaneous and unpredictable.

Unfortunately we were only able to get Chrysalis up for two nights before the rain turned everything into swamp lands. We then took our cables, projectors, tarps and equipment over to a smaller inflatable dome to keep the party going to finish out the weekend. Either way, the project continues to become more interesting with each launch.

Thanks to everyone who made it all the way up there and stuck it out through the rainy conditions. I had so much fun working with everyone and experimenting with this amazing project.

I expect that I’ll be projecting video for the next 4 days on the dome! Much much photo & video will be sorted through and posted here in the next week. Then it’s time to prepare for Monkeytown with Kodomo, Thursday August 6th, 8:30PM!!  

Thats all I have time for, for now!  Struggling to finish editing for the night at the day job. Then movie trailer graphic revisions. Then VJ editing. Then packing gear. Then a stop at Trader Joes to fill my coolers…  Don’t know which direction to go in first. Full report upon return!  

Pray to the rain gods and please ask them to hold off on any precipitation until next week!!

Photo by Waking Dream

This weekend, July 17th & 18th will be the first launch of the Chrysalis multimedia dome project at Lorenz Studios in East Morris, CT. There will be a number of DJs coming up to perform and myself & my friends of Waking Dream, Light Harvest & Levitation Theory will be spinning the inner world with our 360 visual designs.. 

I’ll be up there Saturday July 18th and setting up camp! Looking forward to road-tripping out there & projecting in the middle of the woods! Come out and play with us!

Details:

Chrysalis is an interactive multimedia performance space. Full surround visuals and sound inside a 100′ inflated dome. It will be a unique experience, which we hope to present on an ongoing basis. This event is to help us get it up and running, and to help us present it at the Starwood Festival the following week. Please come support us and spread the word to all your friends and please have them do the same. Free Camping. $20 Donation. Food & Drinks served. Music featuring live electronica by the Spinning Plates, electrofunk by Stratus-M, and guest DJ’s.

(left) Album by Kodomo called Still Life (center) Monkeytown venue in Bklyn

Kodomo & I will be performing at Monkeytown next month!  Thursday August 6th, 8:30 PM. This will be a very, very, special show, and I’m incredibly happy to make this happen, and honored to perform there again. New visuals & new tracks on the way!!  I can’t wait!  Please come, and mark your calendars now!  I want to get as many people out with us for this particular show as possible, and make it a truly, uniquely, memorable night of music & art.

Tonight I designed a flyer to promote a few upcoming fundraiser dates for the project. I’ll be projecting visuals in the dome on Saturday July 18th, with Waking Dream, Light Harvest, and Levitation Theory. There will be endless amounts of music both nights, and camping available for free.

Make sure to mark your calendars for July 17th, 18th, and a pre-event fundraiser at the House of Love on July 11th.

Click here for location of the dome in Google.
 

Monkeytown with the Cutlery

Thanks to all who managed their way to the couches of Monkeytown last night!  The haunting jingle jangles, clarinet, record player, typewriter and banjo strings of the Cutlery ominously echoed the walls and brought a sultry, nostalgic mood to the shadows.

The room had a nice mellow feeling of serenity throughout our set, and was a lot of fun to edit live in my spontaneous ways of vision. I planned to have the visuals take you on a journey through time. We spent most of the evening floating between the 1920s and 1930s. Flappers, poetic meanderings, dramatic romances, cryptic cartoons and a side of Charlie Chaplan. In addition, lately I’ve been missing one of my very best friends, Zora, who passed away a few years ago. Her and I had just begun to collaborate on beautiful things together in the year before she passed.  I know she would have loved the type of work that I’m doing these days. I always wonder what we would be creating today if she were still around. In our short time together we collaborated on one stopmotion film, Fascade Filosophia (also posted below), a few bare experimental tests of painted waves (will be posting soon) and animated sand.

Fascade, full of dark puppetry and mysterious castles, was a big hit last night from what I heard after the show. It felt amazing to have her with me last night, breathing through the walls. I’ve been missing her something fierce and showing that film reminded me that she’s still here inspiring me everyday. For me, last night’s set was dedicated to her.

That venue is so intimate and personal, I wish I could project visuals there more often. It’s absolutely my ideal space, and motivates me to make better and better work.

Click here to view the embedded video.

J&R Kodomo Danger Show / 6/20/09

Yesterday morning, I packed up my car with my new portable screen, my laptop, mixer, cables, gaffer tape, wires & hard drive, and headed south to hit J&R’s Summer Expo.

At noon Kodomo and I set stage amongst thousands of CDs in the back of J&R for an afternoon set promoting his album, Still Life. While projecting under fluorescent lighting makes for a difficult performance on my behalf, it was a lot of fun and ultimately a successful rainy afternoon for both of us. I didn’t realize how much I missed being amongst all those records & CDs, and I always love performing. Especially for a good old fashion record store audience.

I really miss the experience of going to my favorite local record store on any given afternoon and spending hours wandering in the aisles. Record stores have always felt like design museums to me. Album covers spanning years of musical history and varieties of style, art and culture.  Since downloading has been so easy and accessible in the last few years, I’ve watched all of my favorite music stores close down one by one, and many more musicians releasing digital downloads instead of putting money into tangible albums.

These days if I want the experience of picking up an album I have to either drive an hour north to Culters in New Haven or an hour south to my NYC spots. My preference these days is Kim’s Video, or my latest favorite, Ear Wax in Brooklyn. J&R was a first for me, but they had quite a collection, and it was cool to be a part of it.  Happy Summer Solstice! 

Don’t forget, this week I’ll be at Monkeytown, Thursday (Jun 25th) projecting for the Cutlery. 8PM Showtime.  Just make sure that if you plan on attending that you shoot your info over to Monkeytown’s reservations. You can do that by clicking here. See you Thursday!

Photo by Holly Danger - Theatre Ste. Catherine

Firstly I want to thank Warper folks for such a fun event in Montreal a couple weeks ago. I’ve been a little out of the loop with documenting on here since I’ve gotten back and have been in the midst of planning for the next few shows. 

Just a heads up, but I wanted to leave a quick note to say that there are two shows on their way in the next week. One is with the Cutlery at my favorite venue Monkeytown on June 25th at 7PM, and another with Kodomo for a daytime promotional event & Summer Tech Expo sponsored by J&R Electronics, June 20th at noon. New footage is in the works for both, but I won’t give much away. Working on footage for 10 songs with the Cutlery this time, and excited to once again project on the 4 encompassing Monkeytown screens! Hope to see you!

Warper Party May 26th Theatre Ste. Catherine Montreal, QC

It’s official! I head out in less than a week to make a trek to the lovely & charming Montreal. I’ve taken off a few days of work following Memorial day, and am ever so tempted to use a few more days and stay out there to make another visit to Toronto while I’ve gotten that far. Especially since there is another Ghostly International tour happening the day after our show that I would looove to be at. It would involve some last minute maneuvering, but I’m tempted!

As it stands, Kodomo & I will set stage at 6pm at the Theatre Ste. Catherine in Montreal on May 26th to be part of the Warper / PreMutek Party. I’m a little nervous about the early time slot, but we’ll make the best of it. Very much looking forward to another journey, and see what may happen along the way..

Driving home from yoga, Saturday morning sun. Canon SD780.

I finally received my new digital camera in the mail last week, the new Canon SD780. My last camera was my absolute favorite, the Olympus Camedia 5050z, and I’m looking to resurrect it from it’s death one day. However, for now it’s all about life through a new lens. I’ve been without a point and shoot for nearly a year now, and I think it’s finally time for me to open up my eyes again. I’ll be doing a series of test shoots over the next few weeks and collecting them here. We’ll see how she fairs next to my old trusty Olympus.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is the live video from last week’s show as promised!  

This was our first collaborative gig at the Warper Party on May 6th at the Delancey. Minus the unmistakeable red hue that lit the screen throughout the night, the scraggly tape that held the sheet to the wall, and the discoball that sprinkled little lights on top of my visuals, I’d say it all came out great!  I’m so glad that I decided to document. After watching this I completely see what I need to work on to make an even better set as we move forward. This show really solidified that we can put on a great performance together, and we’ll be looking to seek out more gigs very soon. If any of you have a heads up on places to play, please leave comments here or send me an email. 

Music written & performed by Kodomo. Live Visuals by me, mixed, made and collected from various places. Some are my own, some are sampled, some manipulated. RT: 36 min.

I am VERY happy with how many people showed up from all over (much appreciated!), the energy of the place, and our performances went better than I could have even expected. There were a few personal flubs that were probably unnoticeable to anyone other than myself, but it will just fuel the fire to keep doing this and get better and better. This was the first gig that I’ve actually rehearsed visuals with a musician beforehand, and designed different concepts around each song specifically. The results, to me, are far more exciting and stronger than anything I could have ever improvised.

Right now I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting the time to digitize footage from last night. Check back tomorrow and I will have a full posting of video from our gig!

We are currently looking into the possibility of playing a show in Montreal during the Mutek festival that is happening at the end of this month, but need to see how we should go about doing it. If you, or anyone you know has any insight to Mutek and/or booking shows during that week up there, please let me know!  I can’t wait for the next show!

 Work in progress of a series of Danger pins that I’m currently creating.

Just a quick reminder that I’ll be at the Delancey Wednesday this week, projecting in collaboration with the music of Kodomo. We’ve been working hard for the last few months to get things ready and this will be our first performance together, and my first choreographed video performance. Should be a great night, especially with the dozens of other musicians booked for that evening!  I’m excited and hope to see many of you guys there!  9:30 sharp, 40 min set.

Also, I wanted to note a change in dates for the June gig at Monkeytown with Cutlery. Instead of June 11th, we’ll be there June 25th. Sorry for the mistake!

In other news, I’ve been busy feeling the motion of seasonal changes and moving forward on some new projects. Soon you can expect to see an updated portfolio reel from me and possibly an upgrade to the Danger identity that I’ve cultivated for the last few years. Hopefully a full launch of my site is around the corner as well. For now, the process of revising my portfolio has officially begun after building my last round two years ago. It’s amazing how quickly time passes, and how quickly the showcase of your work becomes outdated!

I’m also currently working on making tiny 1 inch “DANGER pins” that I intend to give out at shows, and am having a really fun time with designing them. Right now they are based on the concept of “dangerous things that you’re afraid of”. If you have a special request, please leave comments here!! I’m open to suggestions!  What are you afraid of?  Above is an early rough example of one that I’m making for someone who has a fear of giant squids!! 

Lastly, I’ve got a new toy that I’m excited to get started playing with. I finally purchased a new digital camera after my beloved Olympus Camedia 5050z died half a year ago. I am now toting a Canon SD780 and looking forward to my memory card showing up any day now so I can begin to experiment! Keep a look out here for massive photo posts to come!

Dvein, Prologue, Psyop, Black Heart Gang, 1st Ave Machine, Imaginary Forces, Rachel Maddow, Moment Factory, Jonah Lehrer.

Since having worked in the corporate world of video production for the last few years, I haven’t had much opportunity to immerse myself in the art world (or even the commercial world) of motion graphics the way I wish I could. Thankfully, conferences like F5, after effects meetups and the VJ world have brought this back into my life in many ways. Most nights after I come home from day to day editing, I begin to collage my own new work and find myself experimenting into the early hours, to create a bigger, more original and more ecclectic library for future live video performances. 

The F5 conference reminded me just how powerful motion graphics are, and how much I love that world & the people who make that sort of magic happen. Not only did the conference showcase some of the best work I’ve seen in years, but there was a really interesting discussion about the state of creativity, and how it works from a scientific angle. We talked about how to better access innovations from the left side of the brain, and how we should be open to all new endeavors that allow us to create connections, and draw inspiration from experience. Insights seemingly flourish best when not forcing creativity. Some highlights for me were seeing & hearing all of the bizarre places that people reach to for inspiration.  Found everywhere from rubberbands that were made into stop-motion spaghetti  to one person dipping their hands & feet in cement just to see what it would feel like to wear on their limbs for a week!  Ideas are formed in some of the most oddly beautiful ways and it has always been a passion of mine to explore how other people’s brain’s work. 

Later this week I’d like to transcribe my notebook that I had with me for the two days and capture the raw thoughts I had while listening to these fabulous heros of mine.  As a result of the festival I’ve already taken some of the advice and put it towards a new identity scope for my danger visuals.

A few frame grabs from new Danger intro visuals

Lastly  I want to mention how VERY excited I am to say that a new collaboration is underway with electronic musician Kodomo. It looks like May 6th will be our first performance at the Delancey for the next Warper Party. Details soon to come!!

Over the last few days I’ve been diving headfirst into a huge number of experimental films and collections. The last film in particular that caught my eye and is holding a fascination for me right now is called Color + Modulation by Rob Tyler. With a variety of oil & ink mediums he hand-painted glass frame by frame and caught them on 16mm film. It was then digitally manipulated and edited to music to produce 8 films within this collection. I find them each to be an absolutely alluring piece of work that keeps my eyes entertained and my brain stimulated throughout the entire transition from one color to the next.

Rob’s music videos are also pretty incredible. The one posted above is just one example of many beautiful pieces. He captures something that I’ve been digging deep to find within my own work. A sort of innocence  and simplicity that exudes an energy that holds you in the moment until it’s ready to release you back to earth.

Inspired by the hauntingly beautiful music of the Cutlery ladies and the poetic words of Nick Cave. I created this piece with an old wooden frame & collaged imagery found from fashion photos from around the world. It almost came together in a seemingly unconscious way, and became an animated photo album that expanded from the corners of my imagination. The photography was altered, animated, arranged and woven into these treasured memories. This piece was created to be projected during the Cutlery’s live performance of this song, and was debuted on the four walls of Monkeytown last Friday night. Looks like we’ll have another gig there in June!!

Lately I’ve been feeling nothing less than colorful & vibrant. The world is opening it’s doors down all the paths that I’m curious to explore, and I’m happily skipping down each one with wide eyes. I had some time today between edits to remind myself how much I love layering in photoshop, and how much I love doing work that is purely for the art of enjoyment. For the last many years I’ve been working insanely long hours, and insanely hard for other people. Finally I have time to make art again, for myself.

This piece is inspired by one of my all time favorite design heros, Scott Hansen. It reminds me that as a designer, sometimes we don’t have to over-think our work down to every last detail.  Sometimes if we just start having fun and doing what attracts us, you get the best results and are happier for it.

This week I’m cutting & collecting clips for my second collaboration with the ladies of Cutlery!  We’ll be playing a short opening set at Monkeytown at 7:30PM sharp, finishing at 8PM. I received a few new spacey netflix DVDs that I’m dissecting right now, and hope to come up with some new approaches to the performance with all this lovely new machinery that I’ll be toting along.

Speaking of Monkeytown, if you plan on attending our show, please note that it’s highly recommended to reserve yourself a spot before showing up at the door!  You can reserve a spot by clicking here and signing up!

Thanks!!

To those who may have been confused by some back & forth scheduling - The Monkeytown gig for April 3rd is back on!  Can’t wait!!!  We’ll be on at 7:30pm sharp!

This place is one of my favorite intimate multimedia venues. The front room is a bar with sketches drawn out across the walls, and the back room is lined with low couches amongst 4 huge video screen walls. The bands/djs play in the center of the room and the video images dance around you 360˚. They have an amazing selection of beers & an awesomely unusual list of food fusions. Absolutely awesome little place. Please come check us out on the 3rd!

Last year I was really inspired by Pipilotti Rist, who created a huge video installation at the MOMA. A lot of her work was seen from a sort of bug’s eye view, and I took that inspiration to do a bit of that style filming on my own at all the beautiful parks in SF. Looking forward to cutting some of that up this week and integrating it into my footage library.

I’d also really like to create a new reel for the hollydanger.com front page, as it is supremely choppy and outdated at this point. The page itself is also unfinished and in limbo, waiting for me to add my entire portfolio to it, and link over here to this blog! Cliche to say, but there really aren’t enough hours in the day. Last night I just finished my 3rd round of package designs for a canadian musician that I’m working for. Things are looking really great, but I’m afraid of how many hours I sit slaved to these machines working on projects! I have a full time 9-5 job during the week editing videos, then I come home to freelance work & VJ stuff on the side. There are barely any hours left to sleep & eat.

Thank god I love to do this stuff, I just wish that I had ways of doing it all faster so I could do more of it.

This week I’ll be receiving my new video controller in the mail!!  I splurged last week and bought the OHM. I should be receiving it in the next two days. Perhaps just in time to learn how to use it, and give it a try at the Monkeytown gig on Apr 3rd. I think I’m also going to drop the dime on a new laptop to make sure everything runs smoothly. It’s about time for a full round of upgrades!

3.21.09 Cutlery House of Love show // Photo by Jeff Schram

Thanks to all of you who came out to the first Cutlery/Danger collaboration show this past Saturday! The House of Love did an amazing job of setting up a huge screen that wrapped around the back wall and made for an incredible backdrop behind the band. Huge props to James for making that happen. I was still feverishly cutting my clips down until an hour before the show because every last clip that I had collected had it’s own special meaning for each song. I realize that planning a show, finding the raw footage, cutting it up, and compressing it is becoming a hefty load of work to fit in the spare few hours I have each day, but it’s all worth it in the end when a show feels like it was put together purposefully. At least to me it does! I don’t rely heavily on effects on the fly, but I do spend a good deal of time choosing my clips and messing with them in final cut & after effects before the shows.

For the Cutlery, after seeing their first live show I envisioned a particular color palette for the entire evening. Mostly high contrast sepias, mixed with black and white photographs, railroads, travel, 1940s starlets, starry nights, and muted dreamy footage. I’m looking forward to our next show, where I’ll probably have a better collection going, and hopefully a new laptop that doesn’t freak out when I play large clips. I found my little old powerbook choking a few times, and while you probably can’t really tell in the audience, I could tell, and I didn’t want to see it happen again.

To sample the Cutlery’s tracks online, you can listen to them here.

Sunny, brisk, energetic, bellowing light, ocean, colored, gritty city hills, homeless, bold coffee, honey-fruit plates & tea lounges, wine & dinner talking to bartenders and travelers, solo wandering, cameras, old friends, dukatis in the street after ethiopian food, scooters in soma, fantastic fashion & tattoos, geekgasms at multimedia mezzanine show, amoeba, celebrity sightings, architecture, trolleys, parks, love, haight and art gallery hostels with barefoot patrons..

My trip recently fueled a new little video piece, and I wanted to share it here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

 The Haight was breathing with gritty, hot, fantasies that day. It’s a nostalgic place full of history, fashion, and subtle unmentionables. Along the outskirts of dirty memories and coastlines that linger, someone is always willing to tell you stories over scotch in the evening, and put a flower in your hair as you undress the sunlight.

Mostly found footage collected from very many obscure locations, mixed with my textures & experiments.

The song is called Lust, by the Raveonettes.

There have been two things I’ve had my eyes on since I began VJing. One was a new mac book pro, and one was Livid’s wooden OHM controller. Both wildly expensive, and beautifully crafted.

I told myself this year that if VJing came as naturally to me as I hoped it would, that I would allow myself to invest more deeply into pursuing this path. Not only has it become a natural progression and flow from my video & design work, but it has become the most exciting exhilaration that I’ve had towards art & work that I’ve felt in years.

I’m a little overwhelmed with the amount of requests that I’m receiving to nurture this newfound talent and perform with bands at shows, but I’m loving every sleepless second of it.

I’m currently working feverishly at my studio to prepare new material for electronic musician Kodomo and start playing live with him. It’s a project that I believe is incredibly strong, and I hope to open up doors to playing for venues such as the Natural History Museum for One Step Beyond, Monkeytown, and any venue that knows how to house a quality multimedia show. Personally I love museums and would love, love, love to find myself in gallery shows in the future.

I’m also starting a new venture to work with cute & chic girl band, The Cutlery. Their sound is hauntingly beautiful and echoes from the soul. Harmonies are accompanied by banjos, violins, oboe, electronics, jingly janglys. I see lots of silent era sepia toned opera films, starry nights, and longing sunsets for their visual scene. We have our first gig together this Saturday night at the House of Love, and April 3rd at Monkeytown. It’s a short set, 7:30-8PM, so get there early enough to grab a seat. Monkeytown has great beer and food, plus it is such a cool, cozy, brooklyn spot. Definitely one of my favorite venues.

Looking forward to it all, wide eyed and excited!