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Post #1070 – Curly Castro’s “They Call Me Castro” music video

// December 6th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Curly Castro, music, video

I recently had the pleasure of working with Curly Castro on a video for his latest single, They Call Me Castro.  Produced by Blueprint, the track is from his upcoming Fidel LP, that should be available sometime in Jan. 2012.

When it comes to hip-hop, I grew up on groups like Public Enemy, BDP, LL Cool J and De La Soul, leaning more toward the politically charged (Dead Prez, Nas) and the rough and rugged (Wu-Tang). So I was pretty blown away when I heard Winston’s Appeal, Curly Castro’s full length from earlier this year, which combined all those influences and filtered it through his own effortless yet raw style. Yeah, it was about lyrics and skill, but it was also about content, which I respected. Old school with a reggae influence, slightly militant but not without heart and humor. So I was super excited to work with him on this video, because I think he brings back a lot of the edge that hip-hop originally had.

Much of the video was shot in Oct/Nov at the Occupy Philly site, on three separate occasions, including his live performance there from last November.  The archival black and white footage of the Black Panthers and the march on Selma, Alabama was taken from the National Archive and is listed as public domain. The nighttime performance footage was shot one night in West Philly, guerilla style.

And for those wondering if we’re related – well, we might not have fallen from the same family tree, but we come from common ground.

Anyway, I hope you dig it – I’m pretty proud of this one. And be sure to check out more music on Curly Castro bandcamp page.

Post #1067 – Full Spectrum (the Zilla Rocca/Has-Lo music film)

// October 25th, 2011 // No Comments » // music, super 8, video, zilla rocca

For those who missed it’s official release yesterday, Zilla Rocca dropped a new music vid. for his song, Full Spectrum.  Taken from his excellent Nights and Weekends EP, the track features a guest verse by Has-Lo.  The film was shot and edited by myself and Justin Clowes (aka SlowMotionTrax).

We shot the whole thing on August 29 in Asbury Park, NJ, the day after Hurricane Irene blew through town, leaving a few spots without power and more than a couple of trees knocked down.  Asbury ‘s a cool town – pinball museum, paranormal museum, the Wonder Bar, good pizza – and provided a pretty cool backdrop for a rag-tag group of misfits  running around it’s streets with outdated super 8 film cameras.  The people were friendly and everyone was super nice. Good times, good times. Thanks to everyone involved.

Rhymestreet magazine followed along and did a behind-the-scenes photo feature in  thier Oct-Nov issue.  You can check it out here.

And for all those keeping score and wondering what ever happened to the Weak Stomach video – it’s finished and has just been sitting quietly for the past 9 months waiting for it’s release.  Honestly, I don’t know what the hold-up is, something to do with lawyers and red-tape. Hopefully soon.

And below are some photos from the shoot, taken by Justin Clowes.  Check out his flickr page for more visual goodness.

Post #1066 – Rare Situation interview (Christopher and John Paul)

// October 23rd, 2011 // No Comments » // interview, The Situation, Uncategorized

A few months ago, I came across an old box of CDRs, one which contained this rarely heard interview with Christopher Tucker and John Paul Travis from my old band, The Situation.  This was originally broadcast on WVUD, the University of Delaware’s radio station, in 2002, a few days before we were scheduled to play their annual Radiothon benefit with Raccoon (who would later morph into Dr. Dog.)  In classic Tucker form, Christopher managed to let a few expletives slip, which oddly sent the powers that be into a tizzy, and we ended being banned from the radio station shortly afterwards.  Not quite the Pistols on Bill Grundy but hey, that’s Delaware for you.  And for those wondering where Laz and I were, we did our interview with a different DJ the following day.

Anyway, being that today would have been Christopher’s 40th birthday, I’m throwing this out there for your listening pleasure.  This brings back a ton of memories for sure. It’s good to hear your voice again, man – rest in peace, my friend.

And for you completests out there, you can also download the interview here:  part 1.   part 2.

Never forget.

Post #1064 – RIP Mikey Welsh (lost interview)

// October 11th, 2011 // No Comments » // art shows, interview, mikey welsh, music

As most of you probably already heard, abstract artist and former Weezer bass player Mikey Welsh passed away over weekend in Chicago.  I got to meet Mikey this past July during the opening for his solo show at the Slingluff Gallery, where I ended up doing a 45 minute interview with him, covering everything from his early days in the Boston music scene, to success in Weezer to his current passion for art.  Now, I’m not going to claim knowing the man or anything but being an artist and fellow musician myself, I felt like we bonded a bit and had a few things in common, albeit with obviously different methods of artistic attack, not to mention life style choices. It was also plain to see that his struggles were far from over, but I left hoping he would eventually sort it out and pull it together, especially for his child, who he obviously cared a great deal for. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.

Anyway, the idea was to eventually run the interview on clubmumble.com, but for reasons not really worth mentioning, it never happened.  So, instead of leaving this to rot away on some hard drive, I’m posting the entire unedited audio here.  For his many fans and friends, I can only hope the sound of his voice brings some comfort to you. There are lots of good stories and insights in here – I hope you enjoy. And I apologize in advance for my constant rambling during our conversation

Rest in peace Mikey.

and please keep in mind, media vampires, no portion of this interview may be reproduced without the written consent of mightyjoecastro.com.  © 2011 All Rights Reserved. So please, just ask first – it’s the right thing to do. Photo above by Mr. Jonathan Slingluff.

Post #1062 – Put us on MTV, all we really need….

// September 22nd, 2011 // No Comments » // art, design, music, posters

Sometime this past August, I was approached by the MTV World Design Studio in Buenos Aires to create a “gig-poster style” print ad for their 2011 European Music Awards, which will feature a live performance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Now, as a late 80′s skate rat, I grew up on the Chili Peppers, picking up the Uplift Mofo Party Plan on cassette after watching them live via VHS at the Vision Skate Escape, and even though I haven’t really followed the group over the past few years, I was still stoked to work on something for the band.

MTV provided a specific reference photo for the illustration, as well as the EMA logo, a style guide and three specific colors that needed to be used (the pink, purple and dark purple that you see in the poster, which, as you might imagine, proved a little difficult to work with.)  After a few rounds of back and forth, what you see to your left is what we came up with.

Internally the folks at MTV Design dug it, but higher-ups in the company decided to go a totally different direction, preferring to use a photo of the soon-to-be-announced host instead.  A bummer for sure but what can you do.

So, instead of leaving this to languish in some digital graveyard, I decided to post it here for your enjoyment.  Like Kurtis Blow said, these are the breaks.

Post #1061 – schroeder redux

// September 20th, 2011 // No Comments » // music

As some of you may have heard via the grapevine, last Friday night I performed two songs with schroeder at their final (maybe?) reunion show at the Logan House in Wilmington.  I go way back with these guys, as my former band Nero used to play shows with them all the time in the early/mid 90s, and I’ve always been a huge fan of their music, so it was a real honor (and a lot of fun) to join them onstage once again and jam on some tunes (for those interested, we played Waste of Time and Vitamin Purple, both off of the Moonboy album).  Unfortunately, I don’t have any video to share yet (although I know some was taken) but will post it the moment I see it so stay tuned.  In the meantime, you’ll have to live with the video below, shot at the Baccuss Theater at the University of Delaware in 1995.  I believe we call those the salad days.

Special thanks to Darren O’Toole for the photos. And for those who are bummed about missing it, I apologize for not giving a heads up.  The whole thing was meant to be a surprise and details were only worked out a few days before the gig.

And if you’re wondering how it felt to be back onstage playing after 5 or so years…..well, it felt great. Thanks to the guys in schroeder for making it happen.  Much respect.

Post #1059 – Steely Dan poster

// September 9th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // design, music, posters

I’ll be honest, I never really got into Steely Dan – I’d heard stuff over the years of course, but they never really moved me and it just wasn’t my thing, no big deal – so when I was asked to create a poster for their sold-out performance at the Tower Theater this weekend, I was a bit at a loss on how to approach it. Doing some research though, I found out they took their name from a line in William Burroughs‘ infamous novel, Naked Lunch.  Being a fan of Burroughs, I decide to take the whole thing full circle and do an illustration of the famous author.  I hope the band dig it.

These were printed by the guys at ABNRML and were presented to the band as a gift from Live Nation.  It’s a two color screen print on 130lb Black French Construction paper, size 12.5″ x 19″.  I do have a few extra prints that will be available for purchase in the new online store, once I finally get around to working out the kinks.  Stay tuned folks.

Post #1057 – My Friends, Atlas

// August 18th, 2011 // No Comments » // art, design, music

This Friday night, be sure to catch two of the better up and coming bands from Delaware, Atlas and My Friends, as they celebrate the release of their brand new, split EP (on glorious 12″ vinyl) at the Queen in Wilmington.

I was honored to be asked to design the record sleeve, which features the collage, In Adhesion on the cover. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s much more satisfying working on a 12 inch record, rather than a rinky-dinky CD jacket so I personally can’t wait to see the finished product. I’ve heard both sides, and they’re really good – you can check them out for yourself down below – but be sure to pick up a copy of the record as well, since these guys put a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money into this thing. Honestly, I was first approached about doing the artwork around this time last year, so these guys have been working on this for a few years now. As always, support good music.

Also playing that night are Troubled Hips (who I keep hearing nothing but great things about) and Easy Pyramids, so it should be a good night. The show started at 8:30 pm and is $7 at the door. Friday, August 19th at the World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market Street, Wilmington, DE.

Copies of the EP will be avialable on this site shortly as well, once we get the new store up and running. Stay tuned true believers.

And on a side note, some of you might remember the Atlas track, Blue Lakes, from mighty joe castro podcast #2, Something to be proud of.

Post #1055 – Death Cab for Cutie – a tale of two posters

// August 5th, 2011 // 4 Comments » // music, posters

I was recently asked to design a limited edition poster for tonight’s Death Cab for Cutie’s show at the Mann in Philadelphia. The chosen design (pictured left) is a 2 color screen print on 100# Construction Steel Blue French paper, and was printed by ABNRML. These were limited to a run of 40 and were a gift to the band from AEG.  I have a few copies of these that will be available for purchase in the next few weeks, so stay tuned if you’re interest.

Now, originally, I had the idea of doing a Death Cab poster that was a direct parody of ACDC’s infamous Highway to Hell album cover, because when I realized the band’s initials were DC4C, it seemed like too good of an idea to pass up, and one that I thought for sure that someone else must have used (after a couple hours of solid research though, I never found anything).  And, honestly, you couldn’t get a greater contrast in sound or attitude than between these two bands, which is why  I thought it was funny.  Plus, I figured that, given the age of the Death Cab guys, they were probably into metal at some point of their pre-treen lives, so they would get the joke.  Unfortunately, AEG passed on the design, wanting to go with something much less cartoony, which is totally their perogative, no hard feelings, we’re all professionals here, etc.etc – but I was happy enough with the general idea and execution that I figured it was worth sharing here.  Consider it an unreleased B-side.  Enjoy.

Post #1054 – The Turntable is singing all about you….

// July 25th, 2011 // 4 Comments » // music, The Situation

In honor of my much missed friend and bandmate, Christopher Tucker  (who, it’s hard to believe, passed away three years ago today) I’m posting this previously unreleased recording of one of my favorite Situation songs, Turntable. The band recorded this at Manic Music in 2001 during the same session as The Best Presciption Pill, but we were never completely satisified with it for one reason or another so the recording fell to the wayside in favor of newer material (although we did continue to play the song live).  But as the years pass on, the lyrics seem to really hit home –  yes, the turntable is still singing about you, my friend.  Rest in peace.

Never forget.

Download and enjoy .