Bandubi Records
This week's poster does not advertise a show, nor a rally, nor even a political agenda defined by simplistic logic and naive faith in the obsolete precept of pacifism. No. This week's poster is an advertisement for a record label called Bandubi Records [Ed. note: Bandubi has already been given a shout-out by Charles Mudede, Poster of the Week, Oct 3, 2002]. I have never heard of Bandubi Records, nor any of the bands listed on the flier (International Farmers, Knowledge Born, Filibuster). Upon further investigation, I learned that Bandubi Records specializes in the kind of music I usually walk a mile to avoid--ska, reggae, dub, "roots," etc. There is one Seattle-based band, Last of the Melodicans, on the label, and I have never heard of them either (though I do love a melodica). I'd be willing to bet that I'll never purchase an album on Bandubi Records, or willingly go see one of their acts play a show. But I really like this poster, which brings up something I've been wanting to say ever since the vile poster ban was overturned and this column got going: It's really great that The Stranger is devoting space to celebrating the art of the flier, but it's important to remember that the two most vital elements of that art are utility and disposability. Read about the show, then move on. By fetishizing the aesthetics of posters, we run the risk of making them too precious, and losing the "instant litter" factor that makes them such a subversive joy. So as for the Bandubi Records flier: I don't know who designed it, I don't know what tradition it corresponds to, I don't even know where the label is located. I don't want to know. I just know that it made the telephone pole look a little more beautiful as I walked by. So I tore it down and wrote this. SEAN NELSON