Those of you living in Minneapolis surely must have come across the larger-than-larger-than-life stencil paintings of giraffes, lions, babies, porcupines, and sharks from the Broken Crow. Those of you living in Austin TX are currently being treated to a brand new slew of paintings put up by the duo just last week and might be wondering what? who? how? huh?

Rest easy, we’re here to answer your questions and help get everybody familiar with Broken Crow in preparation for brand new art print diptych we’ll be screenprinting and publishing! We will be debuting the print set at our booth at Flatstock 24. Drive around Austin and see if you can find all of their new murals, then take the prints home with you.

 
So just who is Broken Crow? Introduce yourselves!
Broken Crow is John and Mike. We cut holes in things and paint through the holes. We like to do this as large as time will allow.

 
Why stencils?
There’s really nothing more bad-ass than playing with knives for a living. Cutting stencils is the exact opposite of making artwork in public, and we need balance in our lives.

  
Can you briefly explain your process? How do you go from the initial idea in your head all the way up to a gigantic painting on the side of a building?
We have lots of conversations. Then, we make lots of drawings. Throw in some coffee, some whiskey, some sleep deprivation. We pick the drawings we like the best, spend 20 hours turning them into large-scale stencils, and find a wall to paint it on. 

How did the mural project in Austin come out? What is the connection with the art print?
Austin came out better than we could have anticipated. We ended up doing 10 walls in 6 days, it’s been a total whirlwind. Billy Bishop of Obsolete Industries has been our cultural ambassador down here, and went above and beyond anything we could have expected. 

When we were coming up with concepts for what we were going to paint in Austin, we got really excited about the new drawings we were working on. At that point we got ahold of Ben, he was into it, and the rest was history.

Broken Crow Stencil Mural – 1 Day Time lapse – Lion Man from The BFC on Vimeo.

 
What other artists’ work have you been enjoying lately?
Carrie Thompson, C-215, MF Doom, M-City, Eelus, Logan Hicks, Erik Burke, Doomtree, Blu, Maria Juranic, Elbow Toe, Sten & Lex, The Chicharones, Four Tet, MOP, The Weakerthans, El Mac and Retna, Meggs, Drew Peterson. We could go on and on…

This coming Saturday, February 27th, we are proud to host “Soft Targets,” an art show starring Landland, in our First Amendment gallery. Landland has really been doing their thingthing for several years and we have been fans since day one. To make sure everyone knows the deal, we walked down the hall, knocked on their door, and asked Dan Black and Jes Seamans a few questions about their work, their studio, and Saturday’s show!

BRLSQ: Tell the readers a little bit about Landland.

DAN BLACK: Landland started in 2007…it was me and Matt Zaun and kind of Jes Seamans (even though she was living in San Francisco at the time). Matt and I had been following each other from job to job for the last seven or so years, and the whole time kinda messing around with screenprinting in different basements and wherever we could set up shop. After moving all of our stuff around a few times, it got old and we set out to find a more permanent space. I knew Wes from around town and at some point asked him if he knew of any spaces that were opening up…that was how we ended up in you guyses’ building. I think we got the room that someone was using to store sculpture stuff in…there was nothing built in there at all, so we got to work building all the stuff we’d always complained about not having in our cramped basements and weird garage situations. We spent the first summer just building, and a few months after we’d pretty much moved in, Matt died of a heart attack. I was talking to Jes about it shortly after, and she offered to come back to Minneapolis to help out with things, which is pretty much one of the most amazing things that anyone’s ever done for me. So now it’s me and Jes, and we’re making things all the time and trying to spend as much time in there as we can without pissing off {1101 Stinson-mate and graphic designer Michael} Cina too badly with all of our noisy equipment and me singing along to stuff I listened to in high school.

BRLSQ: How did you end up moving in down the hall from us?

DB: I guess I covered that in the last answer…we really couldn’t have ended up with a better setup. The building is great, and it’s rad to be next to you guys all the time. Also, with the karate studio upstairs and the armor shop at the other end of the hall, I think it’s probably one of the more fortified spots in Minneapolis, so we’ve got that going for us too.

BRLSQ: Who are your favorite poster artists these days?

DB: I think I’m kinda partial to the weirdos lately, and I mean that really affectionately…Sonnenzimmer, Scott Campbell, my roommates Dan (DNML) Luedke and Casey Deming are turning out some amazing stuff. I have really been loving what Jay Ryan has been doing lately…it seems like something snapped in there in a really good way. Ryan Duggan, Nate Duval, people like that. I’m really trying to refrain from saying anything about you guys, because I talk you up a lot when I’m, you know, not talking to you. There’s like a million other people that I’m all about. If you want me to keep going, I can.

 
BRLSQ: What can people expect when they come to this art show on Saturday?

DB: Every single thing that we’ve made since moving in, including some new art prints and a bunch of work we’ve done for out-of-town shows, which is a relatively new thing for us. We’re releasing a record on Saturday…it’s a split 12″ with the incredible Nate Denver’s Neck on one side, and Jes’ band Best Friends Forever on the other. It’s the first release on a kinda separate thing we’re doing called “Landland Is Not A Record Label,” which seems a little like a record label, but it’s not, because I don’t have the patience or the time to actually do the all the ugly work of real record labels. We just want to put things out periodically…records, books, whatever. So it’s all that stuff, I guess. 

BRLSQ: Isn’t Jodi awesome?

DB: Yeah, Jodi’s pretty awesome. If I could make a list of five people that I would want to let me into our studio after I’ve locked myself out, she’d be at least four of them. I have a feeling she also has to deal with me singing along to stuff she probably hates, and she’s never once mentioned it, so she’s a good person for that too.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Don’t miss Landland’s “Soft Targets” show, opening Saturday February 27th
7-10pm at First Amendment Arts (1101 Stinson Blvd at Broadway in NE Minneapolis).
Live music from Best Friends Forever
Free admission / all ages

RSVP on Facebook

Find out more about Landland right here: http://landland.net

Our man Jimmy 2 Times put together one hell of a mix dedicated to the even mainier man right now – Dr. Dre. One of the DJs performing at this Thursday’s Dre Day at Triple Rock Social Club, Jimmy blew the roof off with this one! If you have even one grain of appreciation for the doctor, download this right NOW and get in the spirit! We are just ONE DAY AWAY from Dre Day!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD or you can also grab the mix from our BRLSQOTHEQUE podcast!

Go grab your advance tickets for Dre Day at triplerocksocialclub.com – don’t get left out in the cold on Thursday!!!

Tracklisting for the official Dre Day mix
1. Jimmy2times – Dre Day Intro
2. Blackstreet f/Dr. Dre – No Diggety
3. 50 Cent f/Mobb Deep – Outta Control(Remix)
4. Dr. Dre f/Snoop Dogg – Tha Next Episode
5. Snoop Dogg – What’s My Name
6. Dr. Dre f/Snoop Dogg – Deep Cover
7. Snoop Dogg – Tha Shiznit
8. Dr. Dre f/Knoc’Turnal – Bad Intentions
9. Dr. Dre – Let’s Get High
10. Snoop Dogg – Gin & Juice
11. N.W.A. – Gangsta Gangsta
12. N.W.A. – Fuck the Police
13. The D.O.C. – It’s Funky Enough
14. Dr. Dre f/Snoop Dogg – Little Ghetto Boy
15. Dr. Dre – Let Me Ride
16. Snoop Dogg f/Xzibit – Bitch Please
17. Dr. Dre – What’s the Difference
18. Dr. Dre f/Hittman – Ackrite
19. Snoop Dogg f/Tha Dogg Pound – Doggy Dogg World
20. Mary J. Blige – Family Affair
21. The Game f/50 Cent – How We Do
22. Snoop Dogg f/The Lady of Rage – G Funk Intro
23. Dr. Dre f/Snoop Dogg – Still DRE
24. Dr. Dre f/Kurupt, RBX & The Lady of Rage – Lyrical Gangbang
25. Busta Rhymes – Break Ya Neck
26. Eminem f/Dr. Dre & 50 Cent – Crack a Bottle
27. Snoop Dogg – Lodi Dodi

Brand new mix from Friend-of-Burlesque DJ Morse Code. Spaced-out indie dance nuevo disco party time music. I designed the cover artwork for this one.

Have a listen right here.

In a total coincidence, two of Minneapolis’ best DJ-based dance parties celebrate their two year anniversaries this week. Last night, hundreds of muisc-hungry party people packed the Triple Rock Social Club for the two year anniversary of our weekly Triple Double party.

This coming Friday, DJs Plain Ole Bill and Jimmy 2 Times will host the two year anniversary party for Get Cryphy, a monthly party crammed into First Avenue’s VIP Room focusing on rap-related dance music. For two years, these fellas have been spinning everything from E-40 to Disco D to Blaqstarr to 2 Live Crew to Paul Wall to Missy Elliot and have featured guest sets from DJ Sega, Low B, Emynd, Prince Klassen, and Burlesque’s own Mike 2600 and WZZWNSHP. The result is a big, sweaty, bass-filled mess with one of the most diverse crowds in town. We rides hard for Billy and Jimmy and support everything they put their energy behind, so expect to see many more collaborations between Burlesque and Get Cryphy!

photo by Dennis Jeong Plaster

Burlesque has been responsible for the design of 23 of the 24 Get Cryphy flyers and also a brand new t-shirt which will be debuting this Friday! Catch a sneak preview below.

Get more info and RSVP on Facebook!

Tonight we celebrate the two year anniversary of Triple Double. Way back in February 2008, Wezz and I set up a pair of turntables on the floor in front of the stage of Triple Rock Social Club. Along with DJs TRL from Modern Radio and Tanner Klouda (of First Avenue and Triple Rock employment fame), we spun a mix of hip hop, funk, post-punk, ’80s, and more. Rockers, rapsters, hipsters, skaters, punkozoids, and b-boys came out to dance, see their friends, and drink 2-for-1 beers. The $0 cover, cheap drinks, relaxed atmosphere, and great music has been the perfect recipe for this long-running weekly dance party. We’ve heard dozens of DJs spin thousands of songs and seen thousands of dancers do their thing, helping make our Tuesday nights look more like a Friday.

Come out to Triple Rock Social Club tonight to hear more of the great dance music you’ve been loving for the last 103 Tuesday nights.

with your DJs:
Mike 2600
WzzWnshp
Jimmy2Times & Plain Ole Bill
Rambo Salinas
TRL
Shannon Blowtorch
King Otto
Jeff Dubois
717 Boys

One of our favorite local radio stations, 89.3 The Current, just hit their five year anniversary. Part of Minnesota Public Radio, The Current has been supporting great local music and artists since the beginning. We’ve had a chance to design a handful of posters, t-shirts, and CD packages for the station and were thrilled to design the poster commemorating five years of music being broadcast through the air of Minnesota.

Wes and I collaborated on the design, passing bits of Illustrator and Photoshop files back and forth until it was just right:

The posters debuted yesterday at the Rock The Cradle event and, if there are any copies left, will be available at The Current’s SOLD OUT anniversary concert in the First Avenue mainroom featuring P.O.S, Solid Gold, Lookbook, and more.

If you didn’t get tickets to that show but want a poster, The Current will have them available on their website and we will likely be selling a few copies on ours as well.

If you want another chance to catch Solid Gold performing live (they’re all the rage right now), they will be co-headlining First Avenue’s Gimme Shelter concert on February 6th. Organized by the folks at City Pages, proceeds from the concert will go to the Red Cross’ relief efforts in Haiti. Mike 2600 (me) and Jimmy 2 Times will be DJing inbetween acts and I also designed the flyer.

RSVP on Facebook

JUST ADDED – our friends over at Rhymesayers have put together a monster of a concert to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. Check the flyer below for the lineup and meet us at First Ave!

“The Ultimate Man” t-shirt available in our online store.

What happened this year? I thought about doing some top 5 lists but nobody wants to read those and people always want to question them and get all judgmental. Does anyone who looks at this blog care if I loved Inglorious Basterds or can’t think of any good albums that came out this year off the top of my head? Here is a multimedia chronological look back at some of my memories from 2009.

First, I traveled to our nation’s capital with my good homie Joe (A.K.A. Bitch Ass Darius) to try to look at the inauguration. This is about how close we got:

Joe and I returned home and got real serious with our glockenspiel band, New Kids On The Glock:

As a gigantic icicle melted outside our building, our office flooded the week before Dre Day!

Ain’t no punk ass icicle gonna stop us!

Survived yet another brutal winter in Hoth Minneapolis:

We rang in another SXSW with our second DO IT TO IT vinyl record, release party, and promo video:

Eric Inkala, John Grider, Isaac Arvold, and Keiko Yagishita rocked our First Amendment Arts gallery with their Almost Homeless show.

Syl Johnson put on an incredible performance at Numero Group’s Eccentric Soul Revue in Chicago:

I got to design the poster for the show as well:

Traveled to Vancouver BC for a DJ gig and was floored at how gorgeous the city is.

My Kidrobot Alphabet keychain series was finally released and I couldn’t have been more excited:

As part of Walker Art Center’s “Don’t Sleep On It” 24 hour art-making marathon, we led a roomful of high schoolers on a 3-6am adventure filled with building a wall of giant speakerboxes, overlapping video and slide projections, and plenty of BASS!

Went to Sedona Arizona for my brother’s wedding, stayed for the crystal healing sessions, wizard potions, and magnetic spiritual vortexes… brah.

Added another Bonnaroo poster to our repertoire:

One week after Michael Jackson died, I was in New York and ended up at an MJ tribute night hosted by the great DJ Spinna. It was one of the best all-Michael DJ sets I’ve ever heard and one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had while listening to a DJ spin. I’m talking like… religious experience level shit here, people.

Had to switch gears from Michael to Prince to DJ at the Purple Rain 25th Anniversary dance party at First Avenue. We were honored to have Minneapolis’ Mayor R.T. Rybak attend, share his thoughts on Minneapolis’ rich musical history, and then hand First Avenue a custom-made key to the city!

I spent a year staring at international postage stamps and used all that inspiration to design the packaging for my buddy BK-One’s new CD “Radio do Canibal.”

Autumn kicked into gear and things like this happened:

The whole BRLSQ team helped put together a crazy art installation at SOO Visual Arts Center for the super cool “Non-Consensual Constructivist Post-Dada Cerebral Warts” show with Haze XXL and Aesthetic Apparatus:

King Otto and I rocked the crowd at 7th Street Entry for another Halloween night all-oldies Monster Mash dance party!

The art school at Illinois Wesleyan University hosted Wes and I for the weekend as we installed and opened our largest gallery show yet, simply titled The Screenprinted Work of Burlesque of North America.

My dude Emynd released a digital EP of my music on his Crossfaded Bacon label. “Ready to Rock” is my first ever solo EP and I made a video to promote one of the choons:

We cut our teeth in the craft fair scene at the No Coast Craftorama. Expect to see us at many more arts & crafts-related events in the near future! We bout that craft, son!

2009 was a year of big changes both good and bad for myself, Burlesque, and my friends. I’m looking forward to a clean slate in 2010 to see what great things will come for everyone. LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Whoa! Huuuuuge thank you to our buddy Brian Wybenga for sending us a big ol’ package of Zingerman’s cookies and brownies! Here is the crew enjoying / hiding behind some of the goodies we just got in the mail.

If anyone else feels compelled to send us snacks, our mailing address is:
1101 Stinson Blvd #12
Minneapolis MN
55413