Disco Underworld #11

disco
under
w o rld
issue #11
september 2009
Cop
ies
the still
ava
ilab
Gold le Pur
c
wor hase b
ld-w y
ide 20th
deli O
ver ctobe
Edition y in r
tim for
e fo
r Xm
as.
2009 Jules Campbell issue #5

disco
underworld’s
Julie Broberg issue #7
very first All your favourite photos and
interviews from the last 10
print issues of disco, alongside a few
of the more memorable people
issue and photos.
100 advertising-free pages,

delivered to your door (or the
door of a loved one) all for $40
WIN Brigette Bouquet issue #9
NZ (delivered within NZ)or $53
NZ (delivered world-wide).
AC
OPY
!
Simply become a facebook ORDER YOUR
fan of disco underworld by the COPY off our
30th of September to be in to
win one of three signed copies blog by clicking
of The Gold Edition. here. Elsa Mora issue #6
www.discounderworld.com. issue #11 contents. page 5
issue #11
features
30 8
22
Positive
Impact
64 44
56
mike’s
space
www.discounderworld.com. direct address. page 7
Next issue’s theme is “Legal
direct address
Alien: life in another culture.”
Drop me a line if you have

anything to contribute:
stacey@discounderworld.com
disco underworld, september 2009
Hello again, If you haven’t yet, please grab

your copy of The Gold Join Music Sandwich!
welcome to our “Positive Edition, it is going to be a Cover
Impact” issue! beautiful collection of all the A little bit club, a little bit image by
best photographs and toasted, a little bit jam, Music Gregory
It has been awesome interviews from the past 10 Sandwich is the digital music Christie.
learning about some of the issues of disco underworld. You publication which lets you share Read his
things people are doing to make can’t get this in stores, only your work with the world. article
a positive contribution. From online here. on page
giving back knowledge to Do you have a music video, 8.
biking 16,000 kms across That’s it from me, please audio, photography, reviews or
Euroasia, it is nice to know enjoy this issue, and if you have events you’d like to share with
that there are people out there any thoughts/photos for next others?
who are, in whatever way they issue’s theme be sure to send disco underworld is published by
can, doing their bit to make Online INsight Limited © copyright
them through, If so jump on to facebook, find 2009. By reading and interacting
the world a little more positive the Music Sandwich page, with our magazine and website, you
place. Stacey stacey@discounderworld.com become a fan and start posting agree to the terms laid out
under the “terms of use” on the
your offerings on the wall. site www.discounderworld.com.
Editor: Stacey Childs
Invite your friends and once we stacey@discounderworld.com
Contributors: Mike Woodruff,
have 150 facebook fans, we will Blanca González, Amanda Gray,
publish the first issue. Dillie Baria, Stacey Childs.
If you aren’t on facebook, email:

Coming up in the next
stacey@discounderworld.com few pages:
with links to your contribution.
Gregory Christie
Each issue will be available here
as it is published: Ways we can get to know
www.music-sandwich.com each other better

www.discounderworld.com.
gregory
mike’s
twitt
christie.
space.
twitt.
page479
page
gregory
christie

gregory
mike’s
twitt
christie.
space.
twitt.
page
page 47
119
G

regory is a freelance
American artist with
an interest both artistically and
socially in illustrating children’s
books.
Influenced and inspired by

Picasso for his talent and Oscar
Wilde for his ability to use
language, Gregory began his
career scrawling in grammar
school notebooks, and now
travels the world giving lectures
in schools and libraries, and
mixing with artists.

gregory
mike’s
twitt
christie.
space.
twitt.
page 47
139
page
“I've enjoyed sponsored trips to

create art for private parties,
and live paintings on
Scandinavian stages with Jazz
musicians. I’ve sold watches
with street kids in Indonesia,
given books to small villages in
Western Africa and been a
travelling children's book art
gypsy for many years.”

gregory
mike’s
twitt
christie.
space.
twitt.
page 47
159
page
Through his work in schools and

with illustrations, Gregory is as
he puts it, “sweeping in front of
my own house while giving out
brooms to others.”
He tends towards children’s few pages:
books that focus on history and
culture, using the medium to Ways we can get to know
build bridges between people each other better
that may otherwise never come
Positive Impact
in contact with each other.

gregory
mike’s
twitt
christie.
space.
twitt.
page 47
179
page
“Some kids know how For me it seems like

to dive on the floor some children are
when a gunshot fires, being prepared for
others live in pristine jail and others the
environments with corporate world.”
tons of resources.

gregory
mike’s
twitt
christie.
space.
twitt.
page
page47
199
A belief that there is a basic

social and economical
foundation from which all
humans beings have a right to
start, drives him to work with
children from all walks of life.
“Real nourishment, protection,
education and opportunities
should be a base. From
there, it is up to the
individual to make their
own way.”
Check out Gregory’s website for

more details on his work:
www.gas-art.com
If you would like to vote for

Gregory to appear in our print
issue, enter your email here and
hit vote. Your vote will count
once your email has been
verified. Only one vote will
count per email and person.
get to know
ways we can
each other a little better
Join us on
@discounderworld
a
become
fan
p you cool
ee
It’ll k
Join our newsletter to get each issue of

We are always on the hunt for new people to disco underworld delivered to your inbox.
interview. Don’t be shy your mother wasn’t,
email stacey@discounderworld.com if you Email stacey@discounderworld.com, and she
have something to share. will add you to the list. Thanks!
www.discounderworld.com. postive impact. page 23
P
lived in South Korea Tom (Irish), Katie (American)
e
about two ½ years and Jared (a Kiwi) are right now
i v
ago, teaching English. The are cycling all 16,000 km (9941
s
o pai t c t
foreigner community there
is awesome, and I met and
worked with many many very
miles) from Seoul to Dublin. So
far they have passed through
South Korea, China,
im
cool people. Three of those Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
people were Tom McCloy, Jared Uzbekistan, Georgia and are
Mitchell and Katie Tibbets. I left currently in Turkey. Why you
South Korea, but all three of ask?
them stayed, and they are now
doing something I admire very The yellow line marks their
very much. approximate route
At the heart of disco underworld lies the desire to learn

about people from around the world.
Not when they are convicted of atrocious acts or killed

in a horrific way or flash their boobs on television, but in
a good way.
This issue I wanted to highlight some of those

people in our communities and world who are doing
great things. I thought I would only highlight people
already in my community to prove that there are
people in everybody’s lives doing great things.
Stacey Childs
Tom explains, “first and And this is what you can do to

foremost, there is the desire to help too. If you live near their
prove to that with the right planned route (keep tabs on
attitude, proper preparation, them on their Facebook page),
and careful planning, a few let them know that you have a
determined friends can take on hot shower or home-cooked
the world.” dinner for them to enjoy, or
you can help their KIVA cause
Proudly doing it all without by pledging just $25 US.
sponsorship or trust funds, any
money anyone wants to donate The three friends have a whole
to help is being paid forward to catalogue of great stories,
the charity KIVA. movies and amazing
photographs on their website
“What to do with offers of help www.brakingboundaries.org.
and financial assistance? Why
not, we concluded, pay it They have also catalogued Scenes from Uzbekistan, one of the Braking Boundaries Team’s
forward to those who really ferry timetables, cheap favourite countries so far.
need it: people struggling to accommodation, visa processes
achieve their own dreams and and other random notes about Videos from Uzbekistan include “Black markets are fun,” “Our
ambitions, people for whom things like where to find Uzbec Family” and “Private Registan Tour.”
that helping hand, that timely internet cafes and
gesture, might mean all the supermarkets to help fellow Click on the video title to be taken to the video on
difference.” intrepid travellers. www.brakingboundaries.org
Just some of the thousands of

photos on the Braking
Boundaries website:
www.brakingboundaries.org
Best of luck for the rest of your

trip guys oxo
Claire Sawyers is a young For example, Claire’s mother

Click to
Aucklander who saw things owns a flower shop. She used
watch a
lying around in her garage and to throw the off-cut ends of
video of
cupboards, and wanted to find ribbons used to tie bouquets
Claire
somewhere meaningful for away, now bags of them are
explaining
them to go. snapped up by early childhood
the
centres for the children’s
DonateNZ
This led her to came up with the creative projects.
concept on
idea for DonateNZ: an online
YouTube
portal where one man’s trash There are nearly 900
is a school or kindergarten’s organisations on the site, based
treasure. right throughout New Zealand.
They consist of everything from
Established in 2006, the animal rescue services, to
website acts as a matchmaker, playcentres and schools, to
pairing those who have migrant services.
something to give, with a
charitable organisation who can DonateNZ allows community
use it. groups to save money for other
resources, and donors to see
what was previously trash be These are just a couple of the
re-used, helping the positive contributions people
environment and community. in my community are making, if
you can, please support them,
You can even donate your time and please support any
if you have nothing to give, but initiatives in your own
still want to help out: community, sometimes just an
encouraging email makes all the
www.donatenz.com difference :)

blanca
mike’s
twitt
gonzalez.
space.
twitt.
page 47
319
page
blanca gonzalez

blanca
mike’s
twitt
gonzalez.
space.
twitt.
page 47
339
page
B

lanca, a Spaniard living
in England, and her
partner Jon, spent 10 months
of last year travelling and
volunteering in South America.
During their trip, they visited
Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Colombia and Uruguay.
Blanca did a lot of research into

finding the right volunteer
projects to be involved with
before leaving England. She
wanted to find a “grass roots”
organisation to support,
avoiding organised volunteer
holidays, which can be more
based around lining the
operator’s pockets, than
helping communities.
“It was important for us to make

sure that we would really be Coming up in the next
making a difference, working few pages:
with organisations with long
term goals, and on projects that Blanca Gonzalez cont.
help empower the locals, rather
than providing them with short Devika Bilimoria
term solutions,” Blanca explains.

blanca
mike’s
twitt
gonzalez.
space.
twitt.
page 47
359
page
Quilotoa Lake, Ecuador
They ended up deciding to

spend two months in Quito
(Ecuador), working with an
organisation called CENIT, and
another two months working
with Swiss organisation, Cielo
Azul, based in the north of
Ecuador.
CENIT is a school in the South

of Quito that provides basic
and flexible schooling for
working children, and Cielo Azul
(Blue Sky) provides school
materials and organises
volunteers to teach in the small
village schools around Otavalo,
an indigenous region in the
Ecuadorian mountains.

blanca
mike’s
twitt
gonzalez.
space.
twitt.
page 47
379
page
“In both places, we were beginning, and I soon realised were working at the markets The volunteers would collect
working with kids. I remember that the children only craved where the children work. the children from their market
being apprehensive before I love and attention.” Sometimes they get there as stalls and give lessons in a small
started. I didn't know what to early as five in the morning classroom inside the markets.
expect, and I wasn't sure how Working with two different and work all day. Most of them
the children would react to yet organizations gave Blanca and don't go to school because
another stranger coming to Jon the chance to experience they have to help support their
work with them. But they were two very different family, so we provided basic Two of the children from
so welcoming from the environments. “In Quito, we education for them.” Mayoristas markets

blanca
mike’s
twitt
gonzalez.
space.
twitt.
page 47
399
page
Blanca and Jon's second

voluntary project was in
Otavalo, where they worked
with Cielo Azul.
Blanca organized reading and

writing workshops for the
children at the schools where
she worked.
One of the activities that she

recalls fondly was helping them
to write a story. “At first it was
incredibly difficult to get them
to create something by
themselves, they simply didn't
know how to use their
imaginations.”
The effort however, paid off.

“By the end of my time there,
all the children had written a
short story and created a mini
book to write it in.”
Blanca is convinced that

through creativity,
especially writing, these
children can grow enormously,
express themselves, and
imagine a better future.

blanca
mike’s
twitt
gonzalez.
space.
twitt.
page 47
419
page
She also believes that when you

volunteer you receive as much
as you give. “You get
immersed in a fascinating
culture, meet interesting
people, make friends... We have
beautiful memories of our
travels, South America is an
incredible continent: the
dramatic landscapes, the
chaotic cities, the bustling
colourful markets, but what
stands out are all the people we
met whilst volunteering,
especially the children, their
faces, their energy and their
laughs.”
“In the future, I'd like to

volunteer again.
Hopefully, for a longer
period of time.”

blanca
mike’s
twitt
gonzalez.
space.
twitt.
page 47
439
page
For more information on the

volunteering projects Blanca
worked on: www.cenitecuador.org
and Cielo Azul: www.cieloazul.ch
To read more about Blanca and

Jon's travels in South America:
www.oursouthamerica.wordpress.com

Blanca to appear in our print
www.discounderworld.com. devika bilimoria. page 45
Article by Amanda Gray

M

elbourne is
literally in
photographic artist Devika
Bilimoria’s work.
Her camera-less images feature

everyday objects from her
studio and local community.
With Polaroid paper, she
“It is a photo with a creates “photograms”, through
moth, not of a moth.” a process of placing objects on
light-sensitive paper and
exposing them to light.
“The presence of the object
few pages:
eliminates a degree of
Devika Bilimoria separation or manipulation
between the photograph and
Mike’s Space the object - it is a photo with a
moth, not of a moth,” she said.
For her first collaborative

project, Devika worked with
musician Jody Lloyd to create
12 Polaroid images which Devika describes the
corresponded to each discontinuation of Polaroid
individual track on his CD. (Jody paper as a “sad and challenging
was interviewed in the last affair.” Part of her daily routine
issue of disco underworld, you includes searching the Internet
can read his article and hear for remaining supplies, as she
tracks from his album here). aims to stockpile as much as
possible.
“For this project, I applied my
unique Polaroid process, where Working from a warehouse
handmade 35mm studio shared with 14 other
positive/negatives are artists, Devika also makes
created from a selection of jewellery from pantry items and
found objects (dead or alive), other found objects, collects
and liquids,” she explained. tea bags and edits videos.
Experimenting with
photography at secondary
school led to the creation of
Devika’s first photograms.
She has since refined her
technique by using vibrant
colour to show objects in
greater detail.
Born in Fiji to Indian

parents and raised in
Melbourne, Devika graduated
from the Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology (RMIT)
with degrees in Fine Arts
Photography and Media Studies.
Melbourne shaped her
expectations, education and
encouraged her artistic pursuits.
Devika’s also credits her Indian

heritage with influencing her
aesthetics, and her Indian
classical dancing classes with
keeping her grounded in the
history of her culture.
In the future, she intends to

expand her jewellery
design and extensive
Polaroid collection.
Visit her website at

www.devikabilimoria.weebly.com

Devika to appear in our print

mike’s
twitt
space.
twitt.
page
page47
579
The Best
Reality Show
You’ll Never
See
I

always chuckle a bit when
I tell people I work at a
group home for kids and they
say, “Oh, I would love to work
with kids. It must be sooo fun!”
Ha! Here’s the deal. Children of

all backgrounds are not nearly
By Mike Woodruff as sweet as they seem. They’re
inherently selfish, greedy,
inconsiderate of others and
generally evil. Stamping out
these problems and making
children less inherently evil is
what’s referred to in society as
“parenting.”
Not everyone has parents

“Children of all though.
backgrounds are not I work with six teenagers
nearly as sweet as getting ready to “emancipate.”
Mike Woodruff lives in Los Which basically means they
Angeles. When not writing, he
they seem. They’re leave residential treatment and
enjoys playing basketball and inherently selfish, head out into that big world
eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. You on their own as prepared as we
can find him on the internet at
greedy, can make them. I humbly
www.mutinouswombats.blogspot.com inconsiderate of submit that watching all this
preparation happen would be
Read last month’s Mike’s Space others and generally the best reality television show
here. evil.” in all the land.

mike’s
twitt
space.
twitt.
page 47
599
page
w

While talking about a
school project:
kid 1: I need to do a report on

saints. Is Don Quixote a saint?
me: No.
kid 1: I know who I'm going to

pick. Obi-wan Kenobi.
me: You can't do that.
Take a
It would be like The Real World
kid 1: Why not?
sans perpetual douchebags and
replaced with potential
me: Two reasons. One the
douchebags.
Catholic Church has not yet
Now, the thing is, for all the
bad times we have at work,
there are also equally poignant
gander recognized Obi-Wan Kenobi as a
saint, and two, he's not real.
kid 1: So? Neither was Don
at a few
times were you really see a light
Quixote.
flicker on in someone’s head
and they begin to get it. These
me: He wasn't a saint either,
moments make it all worth it.
dude.
Which would make watching
on television worth it as well,
because you always want your
of these kid 1: Whatever. Shows how
much you know.
gems w
characters to grow in a story,
kid 2: (eavesdropping,
whether those characters are
sweeping the floor) Wait. Don
real or not. And boy howdy! are
Quixote was in Star Wars?
they characters...

mike’s
twitt
space.
twitt.
page 47
619
page

w While driving a kid to
school:
w

At the Getty, all of
us in a room full of
Greek statues. Kid stops in
kid: It’s really windy today. front of a statue:
Think we might get a hurricane.
kid: Wait. Wait. I know who this
me: We don’t get hurricanes is. Don’t tell me.
in Los Angeles. Just the East
Coast. me: Okay.
kid: Really? kid: (scratching his head.) It’s

um…um…HERPES. There it is.
me: Yeah. They come in from HERPES.
Africa and hit the Gulf of
Mexico. (Everyone in the room turns to
give a curious stare. Kid knows
kid: Like the one that hit New he said something wrong.)
Orleans.
me: (walking away laughing) It’s
me: Yup. Sometimes they hit Hermes, man. Hermes.
Florida too.
kid: I thought Florida was in

New Orleans. Isn’t it?
(Me shaking my head, silently

criticizing curriculum taught in
Californian geography classes.)

mike’s
twitt
space.
twitt.
page 47
639
page
How can you go wrong with Unfortunately, you really can’t

incredibly articulate kids who find out because the best
are trying their best to succeed reality show on television will
with the bum hand they’ve never happen. There are way
been given? too many legal hoops to jump
through to get kids in the
Answer: You can’t. system in front of a camera,
and sadly, the State of
California would never allow it.
Too many privacy laws and
potential lawsuits.
Maybe in a perfect world… but

then, in a perfect world,
this opportunity
would never exist.
www.discounderworld.com. collette fergus. page 65
collette
fergus by Dillie Baria
C

ollette Fergus leads a
colourful life.
Bright, bold acrylics and

canvases fill her days, of which
no two are the same. She
happily juggles managing an art
gallery, running an art space
and voluntarily working as a
motivational speaker to help
other artists create a business
out of their art.
Collette says she has mastered

time-management, working on
her own pieces between her
other commitments. She
dedicates a great amount of
time to preparation, which
involves a lot of research. “This Coming up in the next
can mean anything from few pages:
workshops on materials, to
spending time visiting different Collette Fergus cont.
locations for inspiration and to
Last issue’s favourite
take photos of what I require,”
she says.
With a family background in

painting, art inevitably became
an intricate part of Collette’s
life. Yet she admits that the
biggest challenge she has had
to face was being told that art
was not a real job. “I was
always told this and being the
rebel I am, I set out to prove
you can!”
Her immense passion for

painting also spills over into her
social life. “Most of my social
life is also based around gallery
“Most of my social and exhibition openings… who
life is also based doesn’t enjoy socializing with
others in your field with a few
around gallery and glasses of wine in the process!”
exhibition openings… Speaking of wine, Collette’s
who doesn’t enjoy other part-time love is
socializing with experimenting with
winemaking. She’s even painted
others in your field up wine labels for the wines she
with a few glasses of has made, as well as created a
wine group (which you can find
wine in the process!” on her website).
One of them called

us ‘boozehags.’ It
was meant as a
derogatory title, but
I thought I’d turn it
on him and create
a character called
Boozehag, who was
fun and interesting.”
Collette has combined both her Over time, the so-called

loves into a successful brand; in-famous character has
Boozehag. Boozehag was become something of a
developed in 2002, when while trademark for Collette. She has
working as a hairdresser she painted over 100 Boozehag
would regularly have drinks with paintings, and there is even a
a co-worker after work. “We merchandise line, with many
got to know the staff quite women around the world
well. One of them called us embracing the term. “Sadly,”
‘boozehags.’ It was meant as a she says, “some didn't get the
derogatory title, but I thought fun of it and thought I was
I’d turn it on him and create a glamorizing alcoholism, which is
character called Boozehag, who far from what I intended.”
was fun and interesting.”
But people have tried telling

Collette what she should and
shouldn’t be doing before. Her
successful career as an
artist and successful brand
have shown that with a little
passion and a lot of
hard work, anything
is possible.
Check out Collette’s website for

more details on her work and
wine groups:
www.thecollection.co.nz

Collette to appear in our print
is your favourite from last issue,
and the person to be included
in the Gold Edition at the end of
the year.
Check out Amanda’s blog here:
Amanda www.myspace.com/i_love_nz
jessicaRatcliffe
stewart
Get your copy of The Gold
Edition by clicking here.

Disco Underworld #11

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Disco Underworld #11

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

disco

2009 Jules Campbell issue #5

100 advertising-free pages,

Next issue’s theme is “Legal

Drop me a line if you have

Hello again, If you haven’t yet, please grab

If you aren’t on facebook, email:

Influenced and inspired by

“I've enjoyed sponsored trips to

Through his work in schools and

“Some kids know how For me it seems like

A belief that there is a basic

Check out Gregory’s website for

If you would like to vote for

Join our newsletter to get each issue of

At the heart of disco underworld lies the desire to learn

Not when they are convicted of atrocious acts or killed

This issue I wanted to highlight some of those

Tom explains, “first and And this is what you can do to

Just some of the thousands of

Best of luck for the rest of your

Claire Sawyers is a young For example, Claire’s mother

Blanca did a lot of research into

“It was important for us to make

Quilotoa Lake, Ecuador

They ended up deciding to

CENIT is a school in the South

Blanca and Jon's second

Blanca organized reading and

One of the activities that she

The effort however, paid off.

Blanca is convinced that

She also believes that when you

“In the future, I'd like to

For more information on the

To read more about Blanca and

If you would like to vote for

Article by Amanda Gray

Her camera-less images feature

For her first collaborative

Born in Fiji to Indian

Devika’s also credits her Indian

In the future, she intends to

Visit her website at

If you would like to vote for

Ha! Here’s the deal. Children of

Not everyone has parents

kid 1: I need to do a report on

kid 1: I know who I'm going to

me: You can't do that.

kid 1: So? Neither was Don

kid: Really? kid: (scratching his head.) It’s

kid: I thought Florida was in

(Me shaking my head, silently

How can you go wrong with Unfortunately, you really can’t

Maybe in a perfect world… but

Bright, bold acrylics and

Collette says she has mastered

With a family background in

Her immense passion for

One of them called

Collette has combined both her Over time, the so-called

But people have tried telling