Monthly Archives for July 2007

From the archives of Anaphoria…

“Orenda”
Archives of Anaphoria AOA 2.5

Orenda-For Three Meta-Slendro Vibraphones
Composed by Kraig Grady- 2005
Performed by Erin Barnes, Kraig Grady, and Ellysa Shalla

Recorded and Mastered by Miriam Kolar
Cover Art by Dori Atlantis

“Orenda is both a Huron and Anaphorian word meaning that kind of power that mortals can summon to combat the blind forces of fate.

“While not a composition from Anaphoria, it is one that is informed by the ambient philosophy that blossoms out of the words and sounds of those people.

“The piece starts at an extremely low volume and listeners might be warned not to increase the level on their sound-producing device.”

Limited Edition of 200 in Two Covers of 100 each

This 3” mini-Cd is the second of a series of pieces conceived directly for this medium.
This is the first to appear on the Archives of Anaphoria label, which plans to continue with a series of like works.

Heliotrope Drive: A Crusty, Pedal-Powered Center of Post-Carbon Los Angeles

All the best things are washing up on Heliotrope by LACC. They split-open, germinate and flower as some fun, accessible, full-fledged post-carbon culture. The souls of dead outposts of everything great but gone (331/3 Bookstore Collective, Luna Sol Cafe, The Print Kitchen, art in action space) are now a part of the expanding LA bicycle universe. Bike culture in LA is categorically people-powered. So many amazing and interesting artist, writers, poets, musicians, environmentalists and visionaries are involved, a book needs to be written.

This weekend the Bicycle Film Festival happened in LA. To celebrate, a party shut down Heliotrope. 400-plus bicycles rode in: dainty cruisers, chopped-down one gears, imported multi-gears, bikes with bamboo peace flags, bikes with sound systems, dirt bikes too. There was this skid competition: folks would tear down Melrose, whip around the corner onto Heliotrope and jam on their breaks- trying to see if they could slide the distance between two wooden towers. Those who did skid got to advance, those who didn’t ended up head-over-heals with road rash. A weird way to spend the afternoon, but the crowd was into it and just being there–bikes!

null

The co-op bicycle kitchen used to be housed in the eco-village, but then moved onto Heliotrope. The Kitchen offers a place to fix up or build a bike. Part of the Kitchen’s mission is to expand bicycle culture in LA. Beyond fostering and supporting many bike and non-bike events and scenes, they’ve been doing this by getting more bikes between the legs of people, young and old. They have also been taking over their neighborhood, literally. Scoops, the least expensive and most “experimental” gelato shop moved in down the block. Across the street a commercial bikeshop, in league with the Kitchen, opened up. And now if you need another excuse to get on your two wheels, newly opened by members of the Kitchen family is the equally inexpensive brew joint and vegan restaurant Pure Luck. They have a solid selection of beers on tap and offer local visionaries a seat to re-imagine the city from. But then again they are all ready doing that.

Take it to the streets, er The Mall.

from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (via Dave Lippman):

“… In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a shopping mall was the modern equivalent of main street, the “normal municipal business district.” It concluded that the landowner could not “limit the use of that property by members of the public in a manner that would not be permissible were the property owned by a municipality.” (Amalgamated Foods Employees Union Local 590 v. Logan Valley Plaza)

But in a subsequent decision the Court retreated from this position, stating that property does not “lose its private character merely because the public is generally invited to use it for designated purposes.” (Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner)

Then, in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially left the question of access to malls up to the states, holding that the federal Constitution affords no general right to free speech in privately-owned shopping centers. (PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins)

However, state constitutions may be interpreted to provide greater protection for expression, and therefore newsgathering, than the U.S. Constitution. States may therefore afford the public greater protection for expression in a shopping mall, even at the expense of the owner’s property interest. Since the high court’s decision in PruneYard, several state supreme and appellate courts have ruled on the issue of whether their state constitutions give people the right to enter shopping malls for noncommercial purposes such as political campaigning or gathering signatures for an initiative petition.

Courts that have found constitutional protection for these activities have given a variety of reasons for their decisions.

For example, the Colorado Supreme Court found that a town’s financial support of a shopping mall, and the range of non-shopping activities allowed there, made the center the equivalent of a public forum. This finding was sufficient to trigger the state constitution’s free speech clause, which prevented the mall owners from excluding citizens involved in nonviolent political speech. Courts have also ruled that if a shopping mall allows some political opinions to be expressed, it must allow speakers of all types onto the premises.

Almost all courts that have found a right of access to shopping malls have also said that center owners may promulgate reasonable time, place and manner regulations on noncommercial speech activities. Under the three-part test discussed earlier, these rules must be content neutral, narrowly tailored to serve a significant state interest and leave open ample channels of communication.

Continue reading →