THE FOOD CHAIN

A LOVE LETTER TO BOB WEISZ FROM RUSTY LAZER THE ILLEST BOUNCE DJ!!!! LOVE YOU BOB!!!

rustylazer:

What do Go Loko, Beasts of the Southern Wild and MGMT have in common? Bob fucking Weisz. That’s what.

I’m so proud of this new video from Nicky Da B, Clayton Cubitt and Bob Weisz. I feel like Bob and I (and a bunch of others too numerous to mention) have been reaching for a video for a while now that captures the essence of what it feels like to get into Bounce. Go Loko is about as close as it gets. The best Bounce videos make you slack-jawed in admiration of the dancers abilities, but the best of the best Bounce videos make your heart pump just sitting there. I feel that way when I watch this. I get physically excited and can’t sit still!

Bob Weisz is a mutherfucking genius, and if you’ve seen Beasts of the Southern Wild or any of those trippy MGMT videos, or that one amazing glitch art masterpiece he did for Chairlift, you’ve seen his work, and the work of his friends, Court 13, and you’re the better for it. No one understands what it takes to make weird make sense like Bob does.

I’m so glad Bob and his friends in Court 13 moved to New Orleans after Katrina, and they have, in my humble-ass estimation, earned their stripes here. They brought boatloads of talent (literally!) and made Glory At Sea, which is undeniably one of the best magical stories about loss and desire ever. Benh Zeitlin and his friends captured the sense of how much it hurts to dream of reuniting with the ones you’ve lost, and how breathtaking it would be if you actually got to do it. I cry every time I watch it, as much for the characters in the film as for myself and the friends I’ve lost.

It seemed like their film came along at a moment when most of us who lived here had no voice at all; stunned speechless and in a permanent state of shock. What they captured in Beasts takes Glory to the next level and really illustrates why those of us who live down here really can’t imagine a life anywhere else. They get right to the core of what matters most to us, which could best be summed up as a right to be what we want and be accepted for it. It’s the kind of universality that merits 4 Academy Award nominations, and the respect of the people in the bayous and small towns who helped them make the film, and they got both. Total success. And Bob’s involvement in Bounce is a logical leap if for no other reason than Bounce, as a cultural gift from New Orleans, embodies that same spirit.

Bob did this video by himself, mostly on a shitty computer (sorry bob ;) in a matter of days. If you’ve ever done any editing I’ll leave it up to you to praise him for that feat alone.

I’ll most likely tell you more about Clayton soon too, he’s making shifts in collective consciousness that most of us will only recognize after the shift happens, and we’ll all be better for it, I’m sure. If you’re familiar with the brilliant Hysterical Literature series he did you’re already aware of him and might not even know it.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this.

You completely rule.