Santa Baby

Eartha Kitt passed this xmas at the age of 81, but this song will live on.
New York Times article

Sweet Dreams

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Crush & Lovely on Vimeo.

I'd wake up on the beach, on Big Island, and go for a wake-up swim with the turtles....how about you?

That's So Gay

When I went away to school in Massachusettes (almost a decade ago, yikes!) it felt like everyone would say "that's so gay" ALL the time. I was offended at first, then sort of let it get drowned out. There was no way that I was gonna change the lexicon of an entire campus. When I came home for a break and spent some time with one of my dearest friends, somehow that phrase passed my lips, and I saw his heart sink. I think I didnt even finish my statement when I began appologizing and explaining my inundation into stupidity.

Prop 8 was a huge set back. Not just for same-sex marriage rights, but for human rights, and most of all our current fantasy of true progress and "CHANGE".


Nuance is everything...

How It's Going to End

They've begun dismanteling Astroland a few weeks ago. Eviction date is Jan. 31st. The rocket is looking for a home, the rides are gonna live on as far away as Australia, and I just welled up over the sight of the bumble bee and the apple ride. One of my favorite childhood pictures was taken on that ride. My mom: young and pretty. Me: barely a yard tall, wearing a purple jumpsuit, tall brown boots, and a fraggle fur coat. I wish I could have that day and that outfit again.

With New York in a state of financial panic, and Thor equities getting their plans shut down by the city, one is left wondering about the fate of Coney. Maybe it's time for a facelift, I just hope the bandages don't stay on too long.

Good-Bye Kisses

"You and Your Friends Vs. Me and the Revolution"

The New Yorker shows up at my door, every Tuesday. It doesnt let me catch up on other reading, so Im usually fighting against the clock just to finish one before the next shows up. This week it struck a few personal cords.

During an interview with Naomi Klein (the lady working on moving the center of politics and understanding generation branding iron), she touched upon the energy of the pre-9/11 globalization movement. She talks about Quebec City during the Summit of the Americas in 2001. April 19, 20, and 21 as I recall. We missed Extravaganja, and thats hard for the young and outraged.

" ...when the officials surrounded themselves with a tall protective fence, a group of activists built a medieval-style wood catapult and lobbed Teddy bears over the top."

We presumed it was Ya Basta, the Italian yippies that also wore full body armor made of stuffed animals. I have a picture up close of that catapult. It was glorious.

" 'Quebec City was just madness,' she says, 'It was one of those times when nobody knows what's going to happen, and there are these breakthrough moments, these liberated moments, of euphoria. It was mostly young people, and they were getting gassed, but they were still enjoying themselves tremendously, playing cat and mouse with the police. What I loved about it was that the whole city joined in - people working in cafes on the main streets, and neighbors got buckets of water to wash out people's eyes. It was like an alternative reality.' "

When we left the country, we expected the border police to hassle us.
"Did you get wet kids?"
"What? The rain? It wasn't that bad."
"We meant the hoses. Have a good day."



The next editorial was about Derrick Parker, he just released a book "Notorious C.O.P.: The Inside Story of the Tupac, Biggie, and Jam Master Jay Investigations from the NYPD's First "Hip-Hop Cop". Starts explaining the politics of urban nightlife, he's got a security service now. He still recognizes people he's arrested and investigated from his detective days, but he's been retired since 2002.

"Guys I arrested back in the day are surprised I still remember their real names, their priors, what they did time for, the names of their baby mamas.....A couple of years ago, at this club called Avalon, this dude tried to slip by with his hat down over his face, and I looked and I recognized him. It was a guy who'd been an enforcer for some Brooklyn drug dealers called the Ortiz brothers, Dominican guys. While he was working for them, this guy had a guy handcuffed in a bathroom and he was beatin' him tryin' to find out what he'd done with some moneyhe owed the Ortiz brothers, and this guy gets carried away and he kills him. So now he doesn't know what to do, so he cuts the guy up into parts, and later the victim's bones were found in trash bags beside the highway. The guy eventually got arrested for something else, and he turned state's evidence for the Feds...he was out in eleven years.

"Anyway, as he was goin' by me at Avalon, I said to him, 'So you still like to use cutting tools?' and he said, 'Aww, Parker, man, don't be bringin' that old stuff up, all that's in my past, I did eleven years, I got my life back now.' Later I told the promoter, I said 'What can I do, man? He was dressed properly, according to the U.S. government, he's paid his dues.' "

That's the guy that I narrowly averted having to serve on jury duty for, to determine if he was gonna be looking at the chair. He must have not finished paying his debt.

I Don't Believe in Umbrellas

But I believe in this one. Next time I almost get hit in the face with an errant midtown umbrella spoke, I'll be thinking about this little bruiser. Or maybe I should just invest in a four-finger ring and call it a day.

We Go..."Whatever"

Thank you Pixar...

A Message from the Brooklyn Tourism Board from jeff on Vimeo.

Going Hard

Done by Evan Roth of Graffiti Research Lab (who I love)....

Jay-Z on iLike - Get updates inside iTunes

Magic Doors

"Im a Brooklyn Boy, Might Take Some Getting Used to!"

Yet another (obvious) reason to look forward to the B.I.G biopic....the soundtrack is gonna be hot. Other than the expected BadBoy fare from the vaults, looks like theres gonna be some real banging new tracks.

Brooklyn We Go Hard!

Thanks to Jerry Island for posting this and making this night shift more tolerable...

True Blu

Wishing for Popcorn

..And Then, He Did

There might be one man happier then the rest of us with the election outcomes, and no, I dont mean the big O himself. According to Supertouch, Shepard Fairey (AKA Obey) may see his portrait of President-elect Obama find a home in the Smithsonian. Originally created as the centerpiece of the "Manifest Hope" art show during the DNC (where Fairey also happened to get arrested for...wait for it...vandalism! Duh.) the museum is currently raking up the cash to put the infamous vandal in its prestigious halls.

This campaign continues to prove, there's a first time for EVERYTHING.

Image from Supertouch

Obsession of the Day

Racist, ridiculous, and generally offensive, I gotta admit: I cant stop watching Busta shake em!

Did a ton of photo uploading (after a nearly 2-year hiatus), so click on the flickr badge on the left and take a stream bath...

What's inside?
+ Brooklyn
+ Walls
+ Art Shows
+ Studio Visits
+ General Ephemera

C215

This guy is on my short-list of who I look for on the walls. Keep an eye out, he gwan do big 'tings.

Your Boy Got Jokes!

Whether he wins or not, I gotta say I really enjoy listening to this man speak. Granted if he wins, he will eventually get around to saying things I don't want to hear, but still.

Federation of Light

Im not endorsing anything. Im just saying that tonight there was a crazy halo around the moon so we were up on the rooftop looking at it, and my friend informed me of this Federation of Light theory. So Im sharing it with you.

Swooning Down the Hudson

This opening and show made me incredibly happy, especially the marching band that suddenly started playing R. Kelly "Ignition" (and made me daydream about having a marching band that spontaneously broke into Salt & Pepa's "Push It"). Everything about this installation is so lovely and dreamlike on the grandest of scales. If you haven't seen it yet, you've got til October 19.

Kudos to Scribe Media

Now, with Less Stencils!

Banksy's newest show is definitely a bit different. Open til Halloween, so cruise by (it's visible at all hours): 89 Seventh Ave South, between west 4th and Bleeker.

Love Lockdown

See this is what happens when MTV stops playing videos. Ellen gotta come through and do the countdown. Now that's some real post-modern ish when daytime talk-shows have an edge on music because all MTV has is golddiggers fighting for dates with has-beens. I wonder what Jerry Springer has to say about it.

Kanye- Love Lockdown


Id be in the fetal position too if day-glo tribal warriors stormed through my apartment every time I crushed on the wrong dude.

CookiePuss

In honor of the original Carvel shuttering its doors this weekend, here's a sweet reminder of birthday parties gone by...

"She purchased them at the flea market"

Thank you MissBehaveMag

Oh man...you think Paul Wall has nightmares about this sort of thing?

The Meaning of Numbers

"According to the tradition of Himalayan masters, 777 is the number of the celestial man and symbolizes the transmutation which takes place at the time where the man becomes conscious of the necessity to cover the path of initiation, and that he perceives, even of an elementary manner, that the goal is in God."
from RidingtheBeast.com

"And as that $700 billion financial rescue plan went down, the Dow went down like a sub, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 780 points in its largest one-day point drop ever, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason.

"Nobody could believe it," said Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities. "The fact that it did not get done is just mind-boggling." The result on Wall Street was a history-making 777-point nosedive. The Nasdaq plunged almost 10 percent."
from CBSnews.com

Shana Tova, 5769 is off to an interesting start....

Side By Side

Watch CBS Videos Online

For My Hooligans From Brooklyn...

Shockingly enough, Diddy doesnt play every character ala Tyler Perry

Residential Erection

Creative Time put on a great many beautiful pieces at the Democracy in America: The National Campaign show. Stephen Powers Water Board Thrill Ride,


Duke Riley's submarine,


that made its way into the waters of Red Hook (and I so envied in August 07)...along with anarchist ice cream trucks, Chomskyisms, and more than a few compelling installations, definitely worth the trip uptown after work.

What really stuck out (beyond the eerily perfect choice of the armory, and the velvet and Hors d'oeuvres reception in the backdrop) was Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung's film "Residential Erection".

Im not going to try and describe it, but you should click HERE and see it yourself.

Outsiders

Oh boy, oh boy! Those of you who visit regularly know that I am a big fan of JR & Blu. Im super excited to learn that JR's recent additions to the the LES (below)are timed with the Lazarides Gallery show "Outsiders" which includes:

Faile, Paul Insect, JR, Antony Micallef, Jonathan
Yeo, Miranda Donovan, Invader, David Choe, Mark Jenkins, Todd
James, Vhils, Polly Morgan, Mode 2, BAST, Conor Harrington and Zevs

Oh Boy!

Full Scope

Lil Wayne is Inspirational

Other than this video/song just being hilarious, these dutch dudes have aped Weezys style over that "Milli" beat so well, I wish I had an audio file of it.
"Olafur! Olafur! What is in your brain?" "Three tigers, two bears, and a shark on cocaine!"
Those waterfalls have been irritating me for months...Thank you ModernJackass (and Gothamist)



And speaking of jackass....Diddy is a swagger-jacker and dances in his jammies.

What's the Matter? Your Shoes on Too Tight?

Insa takes his sexy heel images, and bestows upon the world ...Sexy heels!

It makes a girl almost want to brave the blisters...almost.

Here's a throw back to a previous post:

Nagi Noda

Young, lovely and eccentric, Nagi Noda passed away yesterday.

rest in peace

Women Are Heroes

And so is JR...

SwitchBack

Image from SuperTouch

Last night I hit the opening of Swoon's, Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea, and although the boats were glorious (and I practically howled at the moon for not being able to board one) the real treat was the MASSIVE installation Swoon put together in the Deitch LIC space.

The two sisters of the Switchback embraced each other amidst a drove of Swoons characters, found materials, paper cuts, wheat pastes, wood carvings, and a handful of vintage snapshots. I killed my camera getting close-ups.

Scribe Media did a piece on the install...update later with a link.

Im looking forward to the performances this weekend. Nothing like bike-punks turned boat-punks rocking pirate gear and singing to the masses.

Banksy updates...

Pre Gustav:


Now:

The KKK took my baby away:

Thanks Supertouch

I play Tetris in my Eyelids...oh

Sam3

Always makes me smile...

Bang Bang Hiss

Watch through past the weird commercial, they go for a tour of the the buildings guts.

Get It Up

Ive been addicted to this track for the last few weeks. Love the chanting, the drums, the everything...go grab it up!

Esau Mwamwaya, Santogold, M.I.A and Radioclit

Road Trippin'

Banksy- Birmingham, AL



and New Orleans...

Funny HAHA

...because my kitchen cabinet is mysteriously filled with gold sparkles, and I dont even own any.

GreenPix

Solar art-chitecture...I likes it. Thanks ScribeMedia

Scream For Reals!

A good friend of mine has been starting her day watching this commercial, as a Chi-town throwback, and passed along the love. She's right, Moo def can take it to the streets with those moves.

File Under: In Progress

So I've been working on a few things lately. Mainly, putting together a piece on AIKO, and trying to find a happy home for it. I've been meeting up with her on the regular, and enjoying watching the pieces for the upcoming show at Brooklynite Gallery come together.

Those are some of the 400+ handmade invites...

Just set-up an interview with DAIN for next week, and Various and Gould for this weekend. All of them are in the
"Time Machine" show. Also, Brooklynite Gallery.

Here's Gould:



And a cool project Various has been working on called Papergirl (which just hit it's third cycle...no pun intended):

JR Does it Again

JR hits the faevela with his larger than life portraits, this time shining a light on the woman that keep the community grounded.

Check out the whole project: Women are Heroes

Circa '68

Seeing as Im obviously 2 months behind on this, which in net years is like decades, I still gotta say this is making me smile all cheesy. Its got that Laugh-In/Benny Hill vibe, and the only thing that would have made it better is if Dizzee and David Byrne rode through at the end on a bicylce built for two.

Tricked Out Trinies

This has me wondering if Trinidad is infested with these dope DIY party bikes. Definitely rolling on that slow island vibe with that much weight, but then again once they start peddling they're already AT the party.

Losers

Beautiful Losers film trailer from beautifullosersfilm on Vimeo.

The Hard Sell

Serendipity rides again! There I was resigned to not having tix to Cut Chemist & DJ Shadow at McCarren Pool last night, when low and behold, I was able to call in a favor. Thank the God's of tech crews and comp tickets!

When I arrived, my friend Adam informed me that he was the one who had happened upon the rotting corpse in the tool shed during set-up. Ewww...that's quite the cup of morning coffee.

Anyway, here's the film that kicks the set into gear. It had been since The Private Press release that I had gotten to see Shadow, and since the second Bonnaroo since I saw Cut Chemist, so it was far beyond due time for my personal reunion with the vinyl fondlers....

Portrait of Silvia Elena

A truly beautiful and unique exhibit...it might be too late for some of you to crawl down the rabbit-hole but watch the video, courtesy of those sharp-shooters at Scribe Media.

Oh Blu

Playing Misty

Sun is Shining...almost

Ive been slowly coming out of my abysmal hibernation. Solar power is the (my) future, the Aztecs had the right idea. Here's a little springtime ode to Mr Sun, and a nod to his jealous lover the Moon. She needs some shine time after all.

Sunrises
on the hook,
gray,
trees mistake
between day and nights
full Moon

Only a Crisis, Actual or Perceived

Naomi Klein's "No Logo" shook up, at least our generation's, understanding of brand marketing and consumer culture. She is now turning a critical eye towards the Post 9/11 world and its roots deep within a malevolent mechanisms. "Shock Doctrine" examines scare tactics and our disaster economy......check the short

Beautiful Impossibilities

Though this seems like the most beautiful of impossibilities, I am hopeful for Steve's mission. It would not resolve the injustices in the world, but it certainly would be a gesture of the human spirit striving towards a higher realm of coexistence.

Greener Gadgets Conference

Chris Jordan was the opening keynote speaker for Greener Gadgets which i was lucky enough to attend a few weeks back. He also went on to show similar images including daily plastics, office paper, and soda-can consumption and it was truly startling, and made a terrific point about the environment movement.

What he said was it was missing a clear leader, and more importantly a "cool" leader, and that Al Gore no matter how hard he tried wasn't going to do it. It was his appeal to the electronics industry, since they seem to be the only playing field where "coolness" really exists within the consumer market (i.e the excitement and hype surrounding the release of every new computer and cellphone), and that what we need is the Michael Jordan of environmentalism to hit the scene. No, really, he said this and it was amazing. "Remember when Michael Jordan walked onto the courts wearing those long shorts, and he was so cool. Everyone wanted to be like Mike. He changed the look of basketball, because everyone wanted to wear those shorts, and be as cool as him. We need that."

Anyway, I have more to say about Greener Gadgets later, including insights on kinetic energy, pollution sniffing dogs, and One LapTop Per Child.

Just Sayin.....