I won’t front – I have done my share of drugs, but the only mind-altering substance that has played a key role in my life has been the almighty THC. I’m also addicted to watching documentaries. So when I saw the link to the Vice documentary World’s Scariest Drug, I had to check it out. I’m not going to let the skeleton out of the grave, but I will say the story takes place in Columbia. So after the jump, check this shit out, and be safe!

READ MORE…

X were one of the most important bands to come out of the Los Angeles punk scene. When I used to go to their shows as a teenager, did I know that I was seeing history? Hell No! But I did realize that I was seeing a very special band that sounded like no other. X had a depth to their sound that other bands didn’t have, maybe it was due to the fact they were older. I can’t pin point it, but something about their songs made them the perfect soundtrack for what was happening in the city at the time. Exene was a goddess in my eyes, and I know for a fact she was a huge influence on how girls dressed back then, and her influence can still can be seen today. X were able to take the sleaze of Hollywood and twist it around the blues to create this dark world that would leave you transfixed. I was always impressed with the band’s love for the arts outside of music – ie. poetry, acting and painting. X made just as much of an impact on the young kids as the bands that shouted Anarchy! Today, CVLT Nation wants to share with you the outtakes from the documentary X The Unheard Music. Not only will you see the band perform some of it’s classics, interspersed are shots of Los Angeles that are fucking historic. So now step back in time with me and peep some awesome footage after the jump!

READ MORE…

We all have ideas about how to save the planet from humankind, but many of us are too wrapped up in our own lives to do anything about it. One thing that I never give much thought to is how where I live is not what some people would call “sustainable housing.” A couple weeks ago, I watched a documentary called Garbage Warrior, about Michael Reynolds, an architect that has an imagination almost as big as this universe. His whole vision is to build a house out of stuff that most of us see as disposable, but not only that – in the process, he has the good of Mother Nature at heart as well. As I was watching, my mind was totally bent by the way this human created art that we could live in. Michael Reynolds is an inspirational being, and it’s killer seeing him work for the good of humanity, even while the powers that be have their foot on his neck. After you watch Garbage Warrior, I’m pretty sure you’ll look around at your surroundings and wish for something different. The look of a Michael Reynolds home is next level, beyond awesome architecture. After the jump, check out this extraordinary film, plus a gallery of some homes built by him and his crew!

READ MORE…

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles uprising that took place after the Rodney King verdict. I know when I first saw the police beating King over the head with no remorse, I felt that they would finally get their just due. But this was not to be the case; the racist scum that gave this black man a beat down were found not guilty, and the South Central hood rose up! I arrived in L.A a couple of months after it all went down, and the one thing that impressed me was the amount of black on black love that replaced the black on black violence. Today, CVLT Nation will share with you a documentary entitled Bloods & Crips that will give you insight into why the uprisings took place, plus look at the roots of racism in the LAPD. Chief Daryl Gates gave the orders in the early 80′s to kick in the heads of all of us young LA punks, just because we were different. He was the same police chief that fostered hate and distrust in the black community in Los Angeles before the uprising. When I drive through the hood today, not too much has changed, so don’t be surprised if there is some justice boiling under the surface, getting ready to explode again!…Bloods & Crips showing after the jump!

READ MORE…

I have seen Arrested Development destroy many people from all different kinds of life. A.D. can come in different forms, but one of the common forms is when a young person tastes fame when they are young, and do not have the right life skills to digest it properly. Mark Gator Rogowski fell victim to the dark side of fame, and in the process took a woman’s life. The documentary Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator takes an in-depth look at how this dude had it all, and then lost it all. On a personal level, during the 80′s he was never one of my favorite skaters, but just like everyone else, I was surprised the direction his life took. I respect the way that the director chose to show this to the world. Yeah the film is about a skater from the 80′s, but the subplot is how the skating world creates these young disposable heroes and cast them aside when they are done. Now have a look at Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator after the jump!

READ MORE…

I have always wondered if the humans that society labels as “insane” are really the ones that should be committed to the nuthouse. Especially when as a country we constantly vote humans into power that do not give a fuck about the us or the planet on which we all live! Also, have you ever noticed that someone can be so creative, that he or she becomes disconnected to what we all see as normal?
Wesley Willis is an example of a human that most of society would want to classify as off his rocker. He was a huge creative talent; not only was he a prolific recording artist, but he also was a sensational illustrator. Wesley Willis was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1989 because he said was hearing demons. Maybe it was these voices that spoke to his inner genius and helped to keep his reality in check. There has been several documentaries made about this brother who was in command of everything weird. Today, CVLT Nation would like to share with you The Daddy of Rock n Roll. I really like this film, because Wesley Willis himself was a part of the creative process. When you watch it, you will realize how much love that his friends had for him and vice versa. Another interesting fact is that indirectly, this film examines how we as a society see paranoid schizophrenics as almost subhumans, and do not give fuck about treating them with the real care that they deserve. On so many levels, Wesley Willis was on some real punk rock shit – when you watch this film, recognize that the insane might just be more sane than us all. After the jump, have a look at Daddy of Rock n Roll, plus a huge gallery of Daddy of Rock n Roll art work!


READ MORE…

Interview by Danny Trudell

When I was about sixteen years old, I saw David Lynch’s Wild at Heart and my mind was blown. From a young age, I was seeking stranger, grosser, darker and more obscure films, but Wild at Heart was the first one that really satisfied me completely and I needed more! I instantly delved into the back catalog, watching Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Dune and The Elephant Man, each one it’s own equally strange, violent, beautiful and visually arresting experience. Each one was everything I wanted in a movie, and was not even aware was there for me to want. David Lynch expanded what my expectations of a filmmaker were, as well as what I could and should expect from the movie going experience. Later in life, I read Lynch on Lynch by Chris Rodley, and found David Lynch as a person every bit as interesting and inspiring as I found David Lynch the artist / director. Thankfully, filmmaker Jason S and producer Jon Nguyen found David as inspiring and interesting as I did, and started a documentary series dedicated to exploring his life and art. Here is a short interview with Jon about what we can expect from their third highly anticipated installment to the series.

This is the last day of their Kickstarter fundraising campaign, so it’s your last chance to contribute to their project! Interview and trailer after the jump…
READ MORE…

CVLT Nation is about many things, and one of the most important things we are about is providing a platform for creative humans worldwide to express themselves. I have said it before, I really dig the way that this zine has connected us to some interesting and inspiring individuals on a global level. Jaime Christ, of the band Fifteen Dead from Aberdeen, Scotland, is one of those humans. Not only does his band create some of the sickest blackened crust from the depths of the underworld, but he also found time to make an awesome documentary, SCOTTISH D.I.Y: Palace of Crust. This short documentary focuses on a punk house, where he also happens to live. This film is epic on so many levels, and no matter where you are from, you can relate to the spirit of it. It is so cool to see these Scottish punks coming together for the love of the music and their common bond of not buying into what the masses see as “normal.” Jaime is smart to allow each band to say what is on their minds, which makes you give a shit about where they were coming from. The live footage in this documentary is off the fucking hook. As one of the artists says, all of the groups have their own sound, and he is so right. All sorts of genres are represented in SCOTTISH D.I.Y: Palace of Crust with the utmost respect. There are parts of this film that gave me chills of joy, and the bonds that everyone shares brought tears to my eyes as I watched it. I want Jaime and the beings in this movie to know that they are a huge inspiration to what we do at CVLT Nation. To anyone reading this post: please share SCOTTISH D.I.Y: Palace of Crust with your friends! I would write more, but fuck it, just check out this killer flick below…In Crust We Trust!

By Jahmekya Birhan
“Justice must be served, place them behind bars” they scream, that is the solution! How will metal bars in large concrete buildings solve our problems, beyond those of the money hungry people, hoping to benefit from the screaming crowds? The prison industrial complex that has found its home in the United States is eating away at the minds of many, as they continue to believe that by placing “criminals” behind bars, the world will become a safe place. Incarceration acts as a means through which we as a society can easily disregard the issues of increasing poverty, a failing educational system, persistent racism, exploitation of the have-nots and the vicious cycle that continues to exist in this country and abroad. Dealing with these issues isn’t easy, and we as a society don’t like to have face the ugly reality that the world isn’t perfect. At her talk last week at Columbia University called “Removing the Bars,” Angela Davis spoke about the Prison Industrial Complex, and how it is modern day slavery, and how it’s existence effects everyone. Instead of seeing incarceration as the solution for all things, Davis urges the masses to begin thinking about alternatives, ultimately getting to the root of the issues that lead people to a life behind bars. A dialogue must be created – rather then being a part of the screaming masses, we should take the time to talk to one another and find alternatives to prisons which serve to benefit a capitalist and classist system. Despite the pain that thinking about these issues may inflict on us, we need to think and teach each other about them, and together work to break down the Prison Industrial Complex. After the jump, watch a speech she gave at UCSC, and a Democracy Now broadcast featuring Angela Davis discussing prisons in the U.S.

READ MORE…

I am confident in saying that most of CVLT Nation’s readers have a less than savory view of the world’s police forces. Living in one of America’s metropolises means living under the porky shadow of organizations like the LAPD and NYPD, whose atrocities over the past half-century have made global news. From the Chicago PD’s assassination of Fred Hampton, to the LAPD’s merciless beating of Rodney King, to the NYPD’s attacks against the Occupy protesters, the police organizations have shown themselves to be harbingers of doom for the so-called “lower classes” of America. Kristian Williams, author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America, has spent many years researching the American police forces, and has traced their roots from the slave patrols to their modern day incarnation, an insular group charged with destabilizing impoverished communities of color and protecting the interests of the small number of capitalists who control the majority of this country’s wealth. In the video below, he reads a rough draft of his chapter for the upcoming book We Are Many, a collection of essays about the Occupy movement from AK Press. He outlines how the police have developed strategies to control and subdue the masses in order to preserve the status quo, and how they have been created as a separate and unequal. What’s most fascinating about his reading is the very informed and highly researched conclusion – that we must position ourselves against the police in all things. Williams insists that we can’t separate ourselves by class and race the way that the White Supremacist Captalist system wants us to – we must stand unified as students, working class, people of all colors, free and jailed, against the watchdogs of those that would be our masters. Check out the video below and Williams’ other work here.

Police and the 99% from Because We Must on Vimeo.