"Groundbreaking, encyclopedic" - Foreword on STREET KNOWLEDGE

We're gearing up for the 3/31 publication of King Adz's STREET KNOWLEDGE, the new insider's guide to Street Art being published for the first time in the U.S. Much more to come, but first, here's FOREWORD's excellent review of why, exactly, this book matters.

Street Knowledge

Genre: Art

Author: King Adz
Publisher: The Overlook Press (March 1, 2011)
ISBN: 9781590204771
Reviewed: March/April 2011

Street Knowledge, by artist and author King Adz, is a groundbreaking, encyclopedic insider’s guide to the world’s fantastically diverse urban landscapes and the arts cultures that identify each of these places as unique neighborhoods.

But why do we need a printed guide? Isn’t this concept counter to the subject’s inherent spirit of rebellion? Shouldn’t we be able to check out these places easily enough by typing ‘street art’ into a search engine?

Scottish author Irvine Welsh’s foreword to the book explains the purpose of this lavish assembly of places Adz has traveled to and the art, fashion, food, and people he encountered. “It’s 2010 and we’re all down with the latest thing,” says Adz. “Nothing is hidden; everything is instantly accessible.” Welsh goes on to question whether the Internet brings “everything that’s good up into the light?” Food for thought. In his collection, Adz has gathered magnificent images and interviews and offers low and high art for us to consider together. Welsh suggests we look into his book and try shaking off the ways we are “being force fed” the polished and carefully formulated world on our screens that has been increasingly manufactured by marketing professionals. He suggests perceiving the world as a richer, more complicated place than one that identifies “art, literature, travel, cooking, crime, romance, thrillers, classics” as simply things to just consume.

Street Knowledge incorporates the history of old-school graffiti legends as well as current thinking concerning avant-garde street artists, photographers, filmmakers, DJ’s, designers, writers, and spoken word artists. It includes work and interviews from some of this arena’s most infamous artists, such as Banksy, David LaChapelle, Kelsey Brookes, Quik, Tony Kaye, Tama Janowitz, The KLF, Shawn Stussy, Obey, Irvine Welsh, Martha Cooper, and Benjamin Zephaniah, as well as rising talent. The book may be read in two ways, both valuable: as a reference tool or a narrative journey. See the section called “How to Use This Book as a Time Machine.” Using the journey approach, there are clues to follow; the way the reader jumps around sifting through layers of assembled history isn’t that different from flipping through an artist’s sketchbook or a museum collection’s database, building knowledge as you explore. As he takes us from the pop culture of MTV to the present work of Know Hope, Adz invites us to dip into websites and blogs that expand upon his subjects and even recommends the best places for snacks in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. “Don’t be afraid of eating street food as it is the absolute bomb,” assures the author. If you’re looking for an adventure, so is this book.

Pamela Ayres

ForeWord praises "The Piano Player in the Brothel: The Future of Journalism"

It's a snowy day here in NYC, but we got some great news this morning when we opened ForeWord's review of The Piano Player in the Brothel: The Future of Journalism, by Juan Luis Cebrian. The review says that the book is "a thoughtful collection of essays exploring the storied past and shifting present of reporting, a call to encourage what is best in journalism as we move into the tumultuous era of online news." It goes on to conclude that Cebrian's work is "a thoughtful collection of essays exploring the storied past and shifting present of reporting, a call to encourage what is best in journalism as we move into the tumultuous era of online news."

The whole review is below. This book goes on sale March 3, so current and aspiring journalists and media-watchers, take note. Happy reading!

The Piano Player in the Brothel: The Future of Journalism
Juan Luis Cebrian
Eduardo Schmid, translator
Overlook Press
Hardcover $24.95 (192pp)
978-1-59020-394-1

Veteran journalist Juan Luis Cebrain finds his occupation embattled on many fronts: Newspapers losing readers to the immediate news available online; the globalizing effects of the world wide web are reshaping languages all over the globe; one hundred million blogs exists, with roughly one thousand added each day. What is the role of journalism, and journalists, in a landscape that changes so rapidly? The Piano Player in the Brothel is Cebrain’s answer, a thoughtful collection of essays exploring the storied past and shifting present of reporting, a call to encourage what is best in journalism as we move into the tumultuous era of online news.

Cebrian’s title is taken from a popular joke: one man admits to another that he is a journalist, but pleads “Don’t tell my mother I’m a journalist. She thinks I play piano at the whorehouse.” A comments on the fluid state of journalism, at times contemptible, other times noble, always changing in relation to the people it serves. No one knows this better than Cebrain. After starting his career under the Franco regime and becoming the director of El Pais, Spain’s largest newspaper, Cebrain is an authority on the democratizing effects of an open press.

Cebrian uses this first-hand knowledge to color his essays, mapping the historically tenuous relationship between journalist, government, and reader. He visits America for his example of maintaining journalistic integrity, noting, “Watergate was a reminder of journalism’s role as a watchdog against corruption and has come to symbolize journalistic independence, a check against political power.” He describes the difficulty of telling the truth under the Franco regime, where journalists were routinely bullied by the government’s Press Agency. Cebrain’s analysis of the role of journalism in the war on terror is nuanced and thoughtful: he applauds the media’s show of respect by not showing the bodies of victims on television, but finds reprehensible the large television networks’ manipulation of viewers while covering the Iraq War..

Some of the most salient questions in modern journalism are raised in this collection. What is the role of traditional journalism in a world of blogs? Can a society retain its unique culture in the face of the globalizing behemoth of the Internet? Is it possible for newspapers to maintain their independence while experiencing shrinking profits and massive budget cuts? These questions have stumped journalists across the globe, and Cebrain does not have the answers. But he believes the solutions may be found once the questions are brought forward and discussed. “That is what I have attempted to do with these essays: to destroy myths, to provoke discussion fit for whorehouses,” Cebrain writes. “Maybe this is the secret to survival in the digital revolution.” This collection is a sure to do just that, educating the reader of journalism’s past while reminding us of the qualities found in the best reporting, those that are needed more than ever in the digital future.

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(A picture of our Wooster Street office this morning, after 19 inches of snow. Woo!)