EBN’s reputation is known wider than 16:9 High-Definition. Shrouded in intrigue, the luminaries behind U2’s ZooTV video-satellite-jamming and their own mobile entertainment products, Emergency Broadcast Network has inspired a generation of live and off-line video musicians.
When it comes to video, the group practically invented culture jamming, and their infoganda-style videos alternately blur and expose the lines between video editing, broadcast television, and overt propaganda.
Determined to contribute to the post-9/11 need for emergency entertainment, EBN is re-deploying a newly enhanced network of special agents, field operatives, and embedded media correspondents– purportedly working in voluntary cooperation with the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security.
Long a developer and incubator of advanced media repurposing technologies, EBN recently endured significant neo-conservative criticism for supporting the application of “video sampling” technology to “DJ” music and culture. “The need to sequence, mix, and scratch video is clear,” declared EBN senior official Gardner Post.
A veteran of EBN’s original Gulf War coverage, and the inventor of both the Telepodium and Golf Bag Missile Launchers, Mr. Post recently revealed his latest video sampling efforts, a project salvaged from John Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness (TIA) program: VBGP. Or, as it is becoming more widely known, “Video Baby Grand Piano.”
“The Video Baby Grand Piano is vital to our mission of making EBN available as an advanced, broadband entertainment platform for civilian electronic artists,” according to Greg Deocampo, a former EBN Special Agent with a reputation for technically advanced field operations.
Mr. Deocampo presently describes himself as EBN’s “industry liason,” responsible for working with the defense contractors implementing EBN projects– a role in which he has already sparked controversy from both the left and the right by refusing to disclose information regarding how U.S. emergency entertainment policy is formulated and pursued.
Washington watchdog groups point to a no-bid contract recently awared to EJ Enterprises for their Video Turntable hardware and ScratchTV software – core technologies used in a key Video Baby Grand Piano subsystem, as evidence of favoritism.
Deocampo denies any wrongdoing. “The EJ MIDI Turntable system retrofits existing DJ turntables in seconds to output standard MIDI. By using EJ Enterprise’s technology, we can build the best possible EBN Video Turntables. Video DJ’s spinning in pursuit of freedom deserve no less. To suggest otherwise would be unpatriotic.”
Justin Kent, president of EJ Enterprises and inventor of the EJ Turntable, could not be reached for comment, but a spokesperson for the company responded, “We enthusiastically disavow the use of any EJ systems for copyright infringement or political subversion. Any such allegations should be investigated by the proper authorities and dealt with accordingly.”
The Video Baby Grand Piano is on display through June 10th at the hot new Tribeca gallery, Gigantic Artspace. “EBN is proud to be working with the patriots at Gigantic,” said Mr. Post. “Curator Lea Rekow has enabled us to directly tap into and exploit a civilian infrastructure for disseminating emergency entertainment.” The VBGP will be back in the gallery through August, and will be used by an independent press organization covering the Republican National Convention.
Fusing the woodworking and cabinetry of a traditional baby grand piano, with an enormous six-speaker sound system, a pair of 64-bit, 200 gigabyte EBN Video Jukeboxes, and a pair of EBN Video Turntables, the Video Baby Grand Piano is a rare hybrid of classical and cutting-edge technology, a retro-futuristic music / video behemoth.
MVWire caught up with EBN’s Greg Deocampo at the opening of the Gigantic Artspace show, Tactical Action, where the Video Baby Grand Piano was being used in active field manuevers.