Now here's some work you can sink your teeth into. Composer Vijay Iyer and Poet Mike Ladd have created a work of art called "Still Life With Comentator."

Ladd and Iyer, a music producer and an award-winning jazz pianist, respectively, first collaborated on a 2004 spoken-word oratorio, In What Language. Then the Abu Ghraib prison scandal got them to start thinking about the possible relationships between atrocity, media and viewers. As network coverage developed critical mass in April 2004, Iyer recalls, "We really began to watch ourselves watching ... and that ultimately became what we were more qualified to speak on." For Ladd, understanding his own role (and possible complicity) in the media became a key concern: "Unfortunately, we're always 'functional,'" Ladd notes. "We are always serving the spectacle at some point."

These chaps are out of LC's neck of the woods. Excellent Work. Go here to read the full article and for a list of shows. Photo by Anette Aurell. Thanks DBannon!