DJ and "Hamlet" Acting for Zombie Shakespeare! and DJ/ASL Poetry at Equal Grounds

On October 31st, I will be DJ-ing during warm-up and intermission for MuCCC (Multi-Use Community Cultural Center) on October 31st. It will be a halloween-themed show titled "Zombie Shakespeare!".

Here is the hypertext for you to click on to get the details and get the tickets:

http://muccc.org/events/?p=15347

Besides DJ-ing, I will act as Hamlet's ghost father by translating the script into ASL (American Sign Language) and a person will speak the lines in English simultaneously.


On November 8th, I as DJ WildPoet, Eric Epstein, and Dangerous Signs will perform ASL poetry, stories, and songs at Equal Grounds. This show will start at 7:30 PM and it will be a fundraising effort to support DDW (Discovering Deaf Worlds), a non-profit organization, that seeks for deaf/hard of hearing people in other countries for better education, quality of life, empowerments, and cultural preservation.

Here is a flyer and you can click on the image to see it bigger.

Dangerous Signs "Twilight Zone" and My DJ-ing as DJ WildPoet

From October 2nd to October 4th, I DJ-ed for the first time out to the public. My DJ entertainment took place in room 1510 at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) under Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The DJ-ing was for a warm-up during audience's entrance. I played my own original composed electronic music and famous musicians' work. I just manipulated the sound effects with the loops, pitches/bass/etc and so forth. A director, Luane Davis Haggerty, mentioned to me that she was approached by 3 people who liked my DJ performances and asked for my business cards (which I did give them to her). Saw people bobbing their heads, grooving along and etc before Dangerous Signs performance began. This is a great privilege and new experience for me. I am honored to be able to finally do the DJ-ing outside of my home. Here is a photo of me as DJ WildPoet.

By 7:20 PM, I took down my DJ devices and the crews took my speakers out of the spot, then I joined Dangerous Signs. My performances with the cast members were great. We all performed songs, poems, social comments, and acting/mime in American Sign Language (ASL): Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" song, my "Blade Gray Sky" poem with original composed electronic music, and many other great skits. This Dangerous Signs performance has been a great experience for me since I joined them about 3 years ago.

Here is a photo of the flyer below.

Nude Male Mixed-Media Painting

To see the picture bigger, click right on the image.

I have been working on this project for a while, using a found object. It is a cardboard frame that used to hold an item I bought in the store. I just added a canvas with glue to the frame. I then used watercolor paint to create a rainbow background. I then found a photo of a nude man as a reference and drew the image on the rainbow-colored canvas with a pencil. I then used a black paint with a small thin paintbrush and painted on the outlines of the male figure. I painted the whole cardboard orange in acrylic. I then added the flower pieces that came from a pride parade necklace given to me during the pride event. I just took each flower out of the necklace string and lined them up in a rainbow order  horizontally, using strong glue, right on the white duct tapes below the male figure. In between those rainbow flowers and white duct tapes, there is a shiny blue fabric, which I attached, using some glue. Afterwards I used the blue glitter to create the lines around the figure as if to make the image more of a carnival look or the window entertainment look. There is also a black velvet cloth that covers the image as a curtain, which it is left open above the whole work. When this piece is hung on the wall, the black velvet curtain covers the work and people will have to lift the curtain in order to see the nude male. This is certainly a gay pride issue and it conveys the message upon sexual liberty against puritanical views or restrictions.

DJ The Porn Kings and My One Work Plus Self-Portrait

I just uploaded a video of myself playing my Numark Pro 2 DJ device. I used The Porn Kings' sampled electronic music titled "Up To No Good" and my own titled "Come On And Then Pump It" in the DJ device. I played them back and forth as I went along. I also translated the sampled words into ASL when they came on. This is to give you an idea that I can switch the 2 music back and forth.

I also created a new DJ WildPoet self-portrait for profiles and so forth. Here it is.

Unfortunately, the video turned out dark without realizing that I should have added more lights in the room. The other problem was my mistake to forget to turn off the "Scratching" buttons. When I spun the wheels, they created the "scratching" sound effects, which I didn't anticipate to allow that to happen. I usually don't like doing the scratching effects. I did eventually turn off the "Scratching" buttons, which I then was able to just speed up the tracks into faster beats per seconds; that was what I wanted to do. So that was the only thing that you may noticed. Other than that, the other sound effects sounded great and wildly ethereal. 

I am planning to look for a DJ table or holder or shelf of some kind where I can put my Numark Pro 2 and laptop on during performances soon. Once that is taken care of, I will pursue for performance opportunities, hopefully by this Fall season.

Here is the YouTube video of the Porn Kings and my work. Just click on the hyperlink and you'll go right to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_k-MLAXIRA&list=UU--8Y0Cb1tGGhm1Nj2ewPHQ

DJ WildPoet Projects: Business Card Design, Fan-Based Facebook, and 1st Video of "Rebellion"

It's been about 2 months since I purchased DJ Numark Pro 2 device. I have been learning, practicing, and incorporating music in the device. It has been a great and challenging learning experience. I have been using my own original electronic music (with spoken word poems or instrumental) and famous musicians' songs or music. As I went along to play them, I had to figure out how to make special sound effects and tricks such as repeating the part of track, increasing or decreasing the pitch sounds, speeding or slowing the beat, and so forth. The discovery of ethereal sound effects were exciting and fascinating. As of now, I am getting there toward performing out to the public soon.

Meanwhile, I took the time to create a business card, using InDesign graphic design software in my desktop computer (real old computer and still working). I had to find the best font that fits my DJ style through online that offers free font styles, which I downloaded and saved into my desktop computer. I then took a photo of myself with some eyelid, eyeliner, and cheek make-up on, and a wild looking pink hat. I then put the photo of myself into PhotoShop software and manipulated the photo into high contrasted black and white, only to remove my mouth/nose area, just focusing on my eyes and the part of my hat. I then combined the photo and the font together in the business card. Here it is. There is no contact info in the photo for privacy reasons (which I don't want to show online all over the world).

I also video-taped myself, using my digital camera set on a tripod. I played my original electronic music with spoken word poem titled "Rebellion". I demonstrated how I repeat the tracks, changed the pitch sounds, increased or slowed the beat, and so forth plus translated the poem into American Sign Language (ASL) when the spoken words came on. It's my very first time to show my DJ tasks. Here is the video, uploaded into YouTube for you to see. Just click on it in order to watch my DJ-ing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yadWuHXbyxs&feature=youtu.be

I also completed a "Like" fan-based Facebook, which is titled DJ WildPoet. I uploaded the photos of my business card, the video of "Rebellion", SoundCloud of my electronic music, and invited friends/family (which I have 28 people liking so far). Of course, I will keep adding more videos, music, and so on as time goes on to increase visibility and the number of fans down the road. To see my WildPoet Facebook, just click on the Facebook address.

https://www.facebook.com/DJWildPoet?ref_type=bookmark

All in all, I will receive the business cards in the mail from FedEx via online submission sometimes very soon and get them distributed to many people around me (250 business cards). I will create a promo project soon and get that out to the public. Also, some friends are encouraging me to join the DJ groups that gather in spots in the city of Rochester, which I will go to get myself exposed and learn more. And yes, I will eventually perform my DJ stuff for whatever available such as weddings, parties, or so forth. I am indeed excited to go toward new DJ-ing performances.

Dangerous Signs Performance for CDR/RCIL Expression through Visual Arts

I, Jamal Jones, Troy Chapman, and Nic Shaw performed ASL poetry/storytelling/songs as Dangerous Signs for Center for Disability Rights (CDR) and Rochester Center for Independent Living (RCIL) exhibit and performance event titled Creative Expression through Visual Arts on July 22nd at Art and Vintage on Main Street in East Rochester, NY. We did 2 Robert F. Panara's work (who just passed away two days ago, July 19th, at 94 years old): "Dream of Green Field and "On His Deafness", Gnarles Barkley's "Crazy" song, our own "Bully" storytelling about bullying experiences, Langton Hughe's "I Know Rivers" and "Dreams", Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" song, and my own (Eddie Swayze) poem "Bones" (ASL poem) and "Blade Grey Sky (electronic music and ASL poem). This Dangerous Signs performance was directed by Luane Davis Haggerty.

The event was to celebrate and honor deaf and hard of hearing artists in the city of Rochester and abroad. There was an art exhibition of 4 deaf/hard of hearing artists: Laurie Monahan, Sharon McKenney, Raymond Dunham, and Nancy Rourke. 

I was honored to become part of this unique event.

Here is a photo of us Dangerous Signs doing our skits. Click on the photo below to see it bigger.

Acting in Midsummer Night's Dream

It's been an amazing experience to act as a fairy for Peter Quince in Midsummer Night's Dream production in the city of Rochester. About 33 cast members, hearing and deaf/hard of hearing, perform together, using ASL and spoken English, on stage. This kind of two language/two cultures approach has never been done by the Rochester Shakespeare Players before, which it became a historical moment in the city of Rochester's history. Rochester's City newspaper, Democratic and Chronicle, and WXXI Radio informed the community about this event. The crowd came and ended up 500 plus people for the shows. The production is currently running from July 5th all the way to July 19th. 

Our ongoing efforts to implement and combine ASL (American Sign Language) and English, then act on stage is a daunting task to take. It has been challenging and great learning experiences for all of the cast members, including myself as well. It's not just language and acting, alone, but along a real live music band on stage with us. We also developed mime skills such as slow-mo running as one example that we actually do on stage. Also, spoken-English cast members was taught to develop speaking skills, using a cork in their mouths and speaking their lines. That was an interesting thing to see and listen. All of these work we put into created a sense of family in a theatrical world, an intense relationship among ourselves that grew from the first day of rehearsals to our ongoing shows this month. For this, I shall never forget and shall cherish every moment. I shall tip my hat to our director, Luane Davis Haggerty, for making this historical production happen and the Rochester Shakespeare Players for allowing this to become possible.