Suspicion Breeds Confidence

I used to work at an online clothing store, Digital Gravel, back when they were just getting it together ~2001(?). Nowadays, you can pretty much find any and all dope clothing lines selling their gear through them.

Last I was in LA, where they're now based, I linked up with the founder Nima Nabavi (probably the funniest guy I know) to catch up on old times and score some free gear. He was telling me about this quasi-TV show he wanted to start, and showed me a couple episodes he had done. The short and simple premise of it is getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the labels he stocks at the store. One such label is Obey. I'm sure you're familiar w/ the figurehead of the line, Shepard Fairey (aka the guy who did the omnipresent Obama poster).

Here's the episode (filmed just after the Obama print was designed/launched):


And the reason why I'm posting it relates to a blog post I read at Adbusters.org, entitled Politics For Sale. Well, that, and the fact that Santogold did a show that was thrown in conjunction with MoveOn.org and Mr. Fairey (where Moby was talking about the Hipster Olympics, Tim Robbins got drunk and danced with young girls, Heather Graham just kinda walked back-and-forth w/ those deer->headlights eyes, and I got name-drops).

Can any of his future work, which has historically been politically charged and critical of the 'status quo', criticize an administration that he helped put in place vis-a-vis his art? Or, as the Adbusters blog poses, has he always been, or is he now forced to be, a sell-out?

*EDIT: He's also on PBS tonight being interviewed by Charlie Rose.

So much has been written about dude, that I don't need to post this up; but the blog's been slacking and its somewhat relevant to one of my favorite movies ever, Brazil.

The Goodmen - Give It Up