Tribute Rewind

In a cunning reversal of fan tribute, OASIS have put their new songs in the hands of NYC street performers to launch their new album – letting others interpret their material before it becomes ubiquitous is an interesting means of subversion, and putting the new songs directly into the hands of buskers is a lovely way of engaging directly with commuter communities.

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul In The Streets


There is an interesting tension between fan made tributes and their creators – while the Indiana Jones reenactment The Raider received glowing praise from Spielberg, it is still only available in very limited release. But despite the sometimes lukewarm reception, fans continue to pay tribute – big and small.


Lego Izzard


Gary Larson Farside Reenactments


Computer Games - Mario Reenactments



Star Wars meets Family Guy in Blue Harvarst


And in a poetic yet labyrinthine tribute to the Michel Gondry tribute film Be Kind Rewind - that follows fans inspired to remake (or swede) their own tributes to films - Gondry swedes his own preview. ow my head.



The Gondry film ends with a celebration of the message that our own stories are often the most important. Demonstrating a common community engagement technique, the characters collect the stories and personal histories of the local neighborhood and create a community produced film event.

Community engagement specialists, architects, urban designers etc often use community filmmaking to engage citizens in the regeneration of their local areas as demonstrated in the short film “I’m Moving In” from Len Grant. It’s about the redevelopment of the Cardroom Estate in Manchester – part of a collaboration between innovative British developers Urban Splash, architect Will Alsop and the community of New Islington.


As Urban Splash continue to demonstrate, community engagement and regeneration can be meaningful, commercially exciting, creatively innovative and artistic. I'm as excited by the possibilities demonstrated by their work in Manchester as I am by the role reversal executed by the OASIS buskers.

(Perhaps, in modern meme tradition, the final clip for this post should be the Manchester band performing a song written by one of the New Islington residents?)