Ostertag, Bob 1957-

views updated

Ostertag, Bob 1957-

PERSONAL:

Born April 19, 1957, in Albuquerque, NM. Education: Attended Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.

ADDRESSES:

Home—San Francisco, CA. E-mail— contact@bobostertag.com.

CAREER:

Composer, musician, performer, historian, journalist, activist, and writer. Living Cinema, cocreator; University of California at Davis, CA, associate professor of technocultural studies. Performs solo and in various groups with other artists, including Otomo Yoshihide, Fred Frith, Pierre Hébert, Gerry Hemingway, Jon Rose, and Ikue Mori. Solo live performances include Spiral, Yugoslavia Suite, Say No More, PantyChrist, Desert Boy on a Stick, and House of Discipline. Has taught kayaking.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and Aaron Copeland Fund for American Music; Meet the Composer International Collaboration Commission Award, 2000, and Prix de la Creation Artistique du Conseil des Arts et des Lettres de Quebec, 2004, both for Living Cinema.

WRITINGS:

(With Mike Bonano and Andy Bichlbaum) The Yes Men: The True Story of the End of the World Trade Organization, Disinformation Press (New York, NY), 2004.

People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 2006.

Creative Life: Art, Politics, People, Machines (essays), MusikTexte (Cologne, Germany), 2006.

Contributor to Arcana: Musicians on Music, Granary Books (New York, NY), 2000; contributor to Living Cinema films and projects, including Between Science and Garbage, Endangered Speices, Portrait of Buddha, and Hunting Crows; contributor to international periodicals, including Piensamiento Propio (Nicaragua), Piensamiento Critico (Puerto Rico), the Guardian (London, England), the Weekly Mail (South Africa), Mother Jones, the NACLA Report on the Americas (US), and AMPO (Japan).

RECORDINGS

All the Rage (sound recording), Elektra Nonesuch (New York, NY), 1993.

Verbatim (sound recording), Rastascan Records (San Leandro, CA), 1996.

Recorded musical compositions include Sooner or Later, 1991; Burns Like Fire, 1992; Say No More, 1993; Say No More in Person, 1994; Dear Prime Minister, 1998; Verbatim Flesh & Blood, 2000. Recorded solo improvisations include A Melody, No Bitterness: Bob Ostertag Solo Volume 1, 1997, and DJ of the Month: Bob Ostertag Solo Volume 2, 2002. Band recordings with others include Fear No Love, 1995; PantyChrist, 1999. Also contributor to recordings Fall Mountain: Early Fall, 1979; Getting a Head, 1980; Voice of America, 1982; Attention Span, 1990; Twins!, 1996.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bob Ostertag has had a varied career as a composer, musician, multi-media performer, and writer. He collaborated with Mike Bonano and Andy Bichlbaum to write The Yes Men: The True Story of the End of the World Trade Organization. The book recounts the real-life exploits of Bonano and Bichlbaum as they impersonate World Trade Organization executives on television and at business conferences around the world. The impersonations develop from a Web site the duo set up to mimic the real World Trade Organization Web site. When they began receiving invitations to appear at important functions by people unaware that the Web site is fake, they take the opportunity to make satiric presentations targeting the very people they are addressing. Despite their lampooning of businesses and organizations at various events, the attendees don't seem to understand that they are the targets, often thinking that their outrageous ideas are good ones. Keir Graff, writing in Booklist, commented: "This lavishly illustrated paperback is funny and chilling."

In People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements, Ostertag writes about the various newspapers and journals that grew out of the social movements of abolitionism, woman suffrage, gay and lesbian rights, and environmentalism, as well as the underground GI press during the Vietnam War. The author examines the journals' effects and the various people that worked hard to create a venue for alternative viewpoints and to speak out on social issues. Vanessa Bush, writing in Booklist, commented that "readers interested in the intersection of the media and social movements will appreciate this insightful book." James Boylan, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, noted that the author "finds fresh insights in the abolition and women's suffrage movements and their overlaps." An Internet Bookwatch contributor wrote that the author "speaks eloquently of the need for media reform beyond any thus far attempted." In a review in the Library Journal, Judy Solberg commented: "This well-written book provides an excellent context for analyzing alternative journalism."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2004, Kier Graff, review of The Yes Men: The True Story of the End of the World Trade Organization, p. 544; May 1, 2006, Vanessa Bush, review of People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements, p. 54.

Columbia Journalism Review, July-August, 2006, James Boylan, review of People's Movements, People's Press, p. 61.

Internet Bookwatch, August, 2006, review of People's Movements, People's Press.

Library Journal, May 1, 2006, Judy Solberg, review of People's Movements, People's Press, p. 96.

New York Times, January 14, 2003, Jon Pareles, "Creating Layered Sounds to Match Layered Animations," p. B2(N), E2(L).

Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2006, review of People's Movements, People's Press, p. 60.