Name: Eric Adolff
Writing As: Seetwist
Name of Music Column: Aurgasmic
Name of Art Column: Ars gratia artis
Email: Seetwist@gmail.com
Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seetwist/
AIM: Flupidbloroplope
ICQ: 339459815
MSN: Flupidbloroplope
Yahoo: Flupidbloroplope Recently Played Tracks:
Bio:
Eric is a product of the late 70's/early 80's, a crossover child who was born between generations. As a result of his parent's inability to fully commit to Generation X or Generation Y, he remembers the good things about the 70's and 80's (cartoons, toys, music), but he also remembers -and contributed to - some of the horrible things about the 80's (clothes, hair, music).
In the mid-90's, Eric was rocking out hard. Sepultura, Deicide, DRI and Morbid Angel were on his daily play list, and if the song didn't include double-bass or a wicked guitar solo, he didn't want any part of it. But then a friend gave him a mix-tape with Company Flow, The Pharcyde, Hieroglyphics, The Native Tongues Family and A Tribe Called Quest, and Eric's life was forever changed. Being a standard-issue white boy in suburban Colorado, Eric didn't feel hip hop at first; he had never sold crack, he didn't have any bitches or hoes, and his hooptie was a 1986 Toyota Corolla hatchback. He wasn't rolling on dubs, he had no gat to speak of, and Aurora, Colorado wasn't exactly the epicenter of cool. But he cut his long hair, traded the torn blue jeans and Cannibal Corpse t-shirts of for baggy pants and hoodies, and learned to twist up a Philly Blunt in under 30 seconds. He wasn't O.G., but he could fake it.
Eric immersed himself in hip hop culture, trading hip hop CD's with friends like kids trade baseball cards, and attending weekend warehouse parties thrown by local DJ's and MC's. He lurked in the basement of vinyl shops, waiting for new releases to drop, and scoured the internet, looking for foreign, obscure and out-of-print wax to add to his collection. Stacks of compact discs piled up in his room, ticket stubs, wristbands and half-smoked joints splayed out across the counter tops, remnants of last night's DMC battles and b-boy sets. Eric started to forget basic things, like state capitals and the fact that the zipper goes in the FRONT of the jeans (luckily, this was the era of Kris Kross, so not too many people noticed); important information that was squeezed out to make room for musical trivia. What is the most commonly used sample? What are the four original elements of hip hop? And why the hell did so many people like MC Hammer?!?
Eric's obsession with music soon left him broke and in search of a secondary hobby to keep him occupied between album releases. So he picked up his camera and started slogging through alleyways, train yards and under bridges, photographing and documenting every piece of graffiti he ran across. Thousands and thousands of pictures filled his hard drive, and Eric started befriending local and national street artists. Evenings and weekends were spent with a camera, an iPod and a can of pepper-spray (hey, you can't find good graff or hip hop in the safe part of town).
After years and years (and hundreds of gigabytes) of collecting music and art, he decided he should share this knowledge with other people. Lucking, FTTW was willing to give him a forum in which to spew forth his thoughts and ideas about urban art and the people who create it. Hopefully, he won't have to write about state capitals or give advice on how to dress yourself in the morning.
Since he rarely sleeps, Eric can be harassed about music almost 24/7. You can also bug him on TotalFark (where he lurks as Flupid Bloroplope). If he's in a good mood, you might even be able to wrangle a free mix cd from him.
Columns:
Aurgasmic (every Monday) - A weekly tour of the hip hop scene, occasionally taking a break to delve into downtempo and world music.
Ars gratia artis - A bi-monthly column that focuses on street art scenes all over the world. From wheatpaste to stencils, benching to UrbEx, spraypaint, stickering and everything between. Art for art's sake. These people do it for love, not money.
Archives
RJD2's "The Third Hand"
Missed The Bus
The Zydepunks
8 Albums No Sleep
International Hip-Hop (Part 2) - The Middle East
Branching Out (International Hip-Hop Part 1)
Kickin It Old Skool
The G to the L to the U Never Forgetting the E
Endtroducing....
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