Since posting that Chris Cunningham ad, something kept striking me as elusively familiar about it. I’d seen similar effects before. The smeariness I mean, not the bullet time pans. I was wandering down countless memories of smearing things in unison with xerox lamps when it hit me. Ira Cohen. Specifically, his photos of Hakim Bey in the CD booklet for the spoken word version of TAZ, using his signature technique of capturing reflected images in the bent liquidity of flexible mylar mirrors.

With roots firmly planted in the beat and acid generations, Ira Cohen has spent a lifetime creating and collaborating in the avant and exploratory circles of cognescenti. Thurston Moore, Sunburned Hand of the Man and DJ Spooky to name a recent few.

While digging up some mylar examples, I stumbled upon a portrait of Jimi I hadn’t seen before, and a long excerpt from his 1968 short film, The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda. I’d never seen his brilliantly trippy analog tech in motion. Now that Arthur Magazine has reissued it on DVD I plan to look closer. Especially considering it includes such extras as new works (Brain Damage), the amazing original Angus Maclise score, plus two alternate tracks by Sunburned Hand of the Man and Acid Mothers Temple!

The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda: excerpt (16.7MB, mov.zip) via The Wire
Angus Maclise: Soundtrack (80MB, mp3.rar) / via Mutant Sounds
DVD available at Arthur Magazine

Collection of photography at Cynthia Broan Gallery
Various performances and readings: s|b tube

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