my new hobby...dj le crush

my first opulent magazine article

I don't feel I need to explain my art to you Warren

treasured memories of free beer...

rize superstar tommy the clown

general pants epeople e-zine meets tommy the clown

Clowns + Hip Hop

As a child of the 80’s, I’d sooner associate clowns with psychopathic kid-slayers, than with the coolest hip-hop dance style to hit since the mashed-potato. It’s called Krumping, and it’s all thanks to Tommy the Clown and his crew of Hip Hop Clowns. What started as a side-job entertaining at South Central LA birthday parties, has spun a phenomenal ghetto-culture whirlwind, as explored in music-clip guru David La Chapelle’s film, Rize. It documents how Tommy the Clown has motivated LA’s poorest kids to lead a better life through dance. It’s inspirational stuff and could have you moving, shaking and grooving in ways you didn’t know existed.

Q.n.A with Tommy the Clown

Let’s start with the basics – what is Clowning, when did it start, and how is it different from Krumping?
I started Clowning in 1992 when I became Tommy the Hip Hop Dancing Clown. Clowning and Krumping are really the same dance, except Clowning is more entertainment and Krumping is the dance without the sense of humour!

It looks like Clowning gives kids something to do other than gangs and violence?
At first I didn’t realize what was happening, but then I noticed that kids who were bad, changed because dancing became more important than gang life or drugs. Kids love the dancing, they want to be a part of it, and that’s why I started my Clown Academies. It’s where they learn to dance and entertain, and it gets them off the streets.

How important is the face painting?
Face painting allows kids to be creative and express themselves as an individual. That’s what Clowning’s about.

Has Rize changed your life much?
I’m always amazed every time I see Rize. I can’t believe I’m on a big screen! It really hasn’t changed much except more people know about me now. Before it was like, ‘Tommy the who’?
The awareness has grown a lot. Rize has shown a lot of people who I am and what I’m all about. I hope it grows to where I can open Clown Academies in other cities.

I imagine Rize has opened up a lot of doors for you?
Yes, Rize has opened doors for many of us. In fact, we just sent four of my Hip Hop Clowns to Japan for a tour there and we’re all about to go to Berlin. Also, my whole crew and I were flown out to Hong Kong for a live performance!

Australia’s “scary neighbourhoods” would probably make you laugh compared to South Central, but is LA really as bad as in Rize?
Life can get pretty bad out here, especially for the kids. It doesn’t get to me, but it does make me sad and makes me want to get out there more and do something about it. That’s why I’m grateful that the kids embraced Clowning and Krumping. It lets them express what’s happening around them in a positive way. The Battle Zone contest is another way that the community can get together and enjoy the dancing, and support each other.

Will Krumping and Clowning come to Australia?
I haven’t been to Australia but I would love to come! I don’t know much about your own hip-hop scene, but I hope to bring Krumping there! It’s something anyone can do!

even better than blogging

At 24 years of age, I’ve racked up a substantial quantity of trips to the loo, and like any fragile princess, avoid public toileting at all cost. That changes, of course, after a night on the turps, when closely following the ingestion of my 11th saki-bomb, the bar’s toilet transforms from an exercise in seat hovering to god-sent salvation. It’s at this point that the cubicle comes into it’s own, revealing an inspired world of art and poetry. Easily dismissed by daylight, those toilet door ramblings now begin to make sense, and you can safely assume you’re wasted. You’re in a special place, a place where some of the most important thinkers of our day meet to share their ideal, philosophies and notifications of love interest. That lipstick poem, hastily scribbled now reveals the very essence of life’s mysteries. Howard is a cunt – yes! And Randall does have a big cock. All this and more on the back of a lowly toilet door. Which if looked at in another way, proves how shit comes out in more ways than one.

if only this was appropriate corporate wear...

In remembrance of the day I turned Aussie

Most memorable was the fact that at the citizenship ceremony, I was the only person tall enough to flick a light switch without a ladder, and the only person with a somewhat pronounceable surname. That’s what you get when you’re sworn in at Moreland City Council Townhall. Hearing the Aussie anthem sung in an amalgam of accents was unreal though, and I’m proud to be part of the changing face of Australia!