Cult radio favorite Benjamen Walker takes listeners through a novel, lawyer-free look at recombinant art.

SAN FRANCISCO, USA October 21, 2004

At 2pm this Sunday, October 24, San Francisco’s KALW
will debut a unique new radio special: “The Creative Remix,” written
and hosted by Benjamen Walker and sponsored by the nonprofit Creative
Commons, is an hour-long “lawyer free” examination of the art, culture,
and history of the remix in the broadest sense of the word. (More: http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/radio/).

The hour kicks off with a musical analysis of a familiar sort of remix: DJ Dangermouse’s
infamous mash-up of the Beatles and Jay-Z. Walker then takes listeners
back in time to check out the ancient Roman art of the poetry mash-up,
or the Cento. The show then rewinds to the 18th century to check out
the birth of copyright and how it affected writers like Alexander Pope;
and the early 20th century when the visual artist Marcel Duchamp used
the remix to reinvent everything. Walker also takes a field trip to the
Mass Mocca museum of modern art to check out the exhibit “Yankee
Remix,” where he talks to a few grad students and a pair of
curmudgeonly New England antique collectors to investigate different
attitudes towards remixing.

In the second part of the
program Walker speaks with three unique remix artists: The historical
novelist Matthew Pearl, “Walkman Buster” Gideon D’arcangelo, and Cory
Arcangel, a Nintendo hacker and one of the youngest representatives at
this year’s Whitney Biennial.

“‘The Creative Remix’ will
enlighten even the confirmed aficionado of recombinant art,” said Glenn
Otis Brown, executive director of Creative Commons. “I manage an
organization dedicated to highlighting artistic re-uses and
transformations, and I had never before thought of remixing in quite
the way Walker presents it. It’s eye-opening stuff for anyone who cares
about art and the increasingly disturbing trend of lawyers’ influencing
it.”

The show airs the same week that WIRED

magazine’s special November music issue hits newsstands. The issue will
ship with a CD with tracks by the likes of the Beastie Boys, Gilberto
Gil, David Byrne, and 13 others. Every song is covered by a Creative
Commons copyright license that invites fans to file-share the songs or
sample from them, on certain conditions. (More: https://creativecommons.org).

About Benjamen Walker

Benjamen Walker’s weekly radio program “The Theory of Everything” can be heard on WZBC
in Boston and, beginning Oct 31st, in San Francisco and on the
Internet. His previous show, “Your Radio Nightlight,” established a
cult following across the country and earned praise and awards from
several publications and other radio shows.

About Creative Commons

A
nonprofit founded in early 2002, Creative Commons promotes the creative
re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the
public domain—by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by
the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D.
and Catherine T. Mac Arthur? Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation.

For general information, visit <https://creativecommons.org>.

Glenn Otis Brown (San Francisco)

Executive Director, Creative Commons
glenn@creativecommons.org

Press Kit
https://creativecommons.org/presskit/