This is some great inspiration information for the weekend from the indomitable Andrew WK— producer, musician, nightclub owner and inspirational speaker. An advice columnist for Anthem Magazine, I thought this was some real food for thought. Click for the full read.
ANDREW W.K. ON THE ECONOMY
I am 25 years old, and until recently had a media job in New York City. Like most people, I just lost my job and I'm now living on a few weeks of unemployment and trying to figure out what the hell to do with myself. Should I suck it up and escape the city, and go somewhere cheaper like Philadelphia or the Deep South, or should I keep on fighting to make my life work out the way I want it to in the greatest city in the world?
I've been thinking a lot about the recent situations with the economy, with New York City, with jobs, with money, and have been trying to decide how to think about it; how to keep those ideas in my mind in a way that's responsible and what some might call realistic, while also being optimistic and, I guess, confident.
Rather than thinking, “I lost my job because of the economy,” consider: "did I really want this job? Is there something deep down inside of me that wanted a change and has manifested this, using the economy as an excuse?" [Moving] to a Southern town or to Baltimore or Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, or any of these other nearby towns—is that a healthy urge that is taking you to new uncharted territory, or is that an urge that's been self-destructive and is trying to hold you back out of fear of doing bigger things or fear of success or just feeling overwhelmed?
For Andrew's advice and more click here.
Andrew WK says...
Friday, May 08, 2009 | | Labels: inspiration
Freezer Fun
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 | | Labels: food
I am kinda obsessed with Mark Bittman. I wish that I could hang out in his kitchen, maybe lick the spoon after he's mixed up something tasty and new. Besides his New Year's post about cleaning out our kitchen cabinets, today's article about freezing food will go up on my kitchen fridge to inspire thrift in these crazy times. Check it below:
If I tried to sell you a new appliance that could help you save money, reduce food waste and get meals on the table faster, the only thing you’d ask would be “How much?”
The answer is “Nothing.” You already own it. For just as the stove comes with a hidden and often overlooked bonus — the broiler — so does the refrigerator: the freezer. Why not use it?
I know: you do. In that messy box you have some ice cubes, some stuff you bought frozen — a pizza? Lean Gourmet? peas? — and maybe, if you cook a lot, some stock or hastily stored leftovers. You also have a load of things you’ve already forgotten about and will eventually toss, even though you would have been guilt-struck if you had discarded them when they were fresh.
But if you conscientiously use the freezer in two ways, you’ll value it as never before. The first: take raw ingredients you have too much of — or whose life you simply wish to prolong — and freeze them. The second: take things you’ve already cooked — basics like stock, beans, grains and the like, or fully cooked dishes — and freeze them.
To the extent that you do both of these tasks regularly, and keep your freezer organized, you’ll make your cooking cheaper, more efficient and faster.
Read the whole article here!
Click Mi Finger - World Premiere!
I heard this jam at the Jamrock Festival in Kingston back in December of 2007 and fell in love with it then. Eddie Stats dropped the official video for the song today! Big Ups!
Bjork and the Dirty Projectors
Tuesday, May 05, 2009 | | Labels: music, new york
Another strange and beautiful collaboration that could only happen in New York! Support Housing Works...they're a New York institution!
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
126 Crosby Street, New York
May 8, 2009
8PM
In a never before seen or heard collaboration with The Dirty Projectors, Björk will perform a suite of new music composed for her by David Longstreth of The Dirty Projectors. The suite, written for five voices, will pair Björk with the Projectors (Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Dekle).
In 2008, the Dirty Projectors covered Björk’s “Hyperballad” for a Stereogum tribute CD, a track-by-track covers project that also includes Liars, No Age, High Places, and members of Grizzly Bear, among others. Housing Works Board Member and Stereogum Senior Writer Brandon Stosuy, who knew of Björk and David Longstreth’s admiration for each other’s work, approached the artists about performing together at Housing Works. It is their first collaboration.
With two opening acts selected by Bjork and The Dirty Projectors: Ólöf Arnalds and Kurt Weisman.
Only tickets available via auction here!
About Housing Works
Housing Works is the largest community-based AIDS service organization in the United States, as well as the nation’s largest minority-controlled AIDS service organization. Since our founding in 1990, we have provided lifesaving services, such as housing, medical and mental health care, meals, job training, drug treatment, HIV prevention education, and social support to more than 20,000 homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS.
Housing Works also runs social enterprise businesses that raise millions of dollars every year to help pay for the services that we provide, spread awareness of our mission, and provide jobs to graduates of our Job Training Program. Our best-known businesses are Housing Works Thrift Shops, a chain of upscale thrift shops located throughout New York City, and the Housing Works Bookstore Café, a used bookstore, literary hub and concert venue located in Soho in downtown Manhattan.
Nieves Zine at Printed Matter
| | Labels: magazines, new york
100+ Nieves Zines at Printed Matter in New York
Come and have a look at all 100+ Nieves Zines since 2004 and a broad selection of Nieves Books.
Including rare and out of print titles by Aaron Rose, Adam Hayes, Alexis Saile, Alexis Zavialoff, Amigos Koike, Andrea Heller, Andreas Banderas, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Andro Wekua, Anja Kirschner, Annelise Coste, Anthony Record, Ari Marcopoulos, Bastien Aubry, Beau LaBute, Beni Bischof, Bruno Peinado, Catalina TM, Chris Johanson, Chris Lindig, Christian Andersen, Cody Hudson, Daniel Johnston, David Chieppo, David Shrigley, Dimitri Broquard, Dylan Martorell, Ed Templeton, Eddie Martinez, Fergus Purcell, Florencio Zavala, Francis Upritchard, Frédéric Fleury, French, Gabi Berüter, Gareth Bayliss, Geoff McFetridge, Georg Gatsas, Grrrr, Guy Meldem, Harmony Korine, Hendrik Hegray, Henry Roy, Himaa, Holly Stevenson, Jaret Penner, Jason McLean, Jay Nelson, Jo Jackson, Jockum Nordström, Jody Barton, Jonas Delaborde, Josh Petherick, Katerina Christidi, Keegan McHargue, Kevin Lyons, Kim Bennett, Kim Gordon, Kim Hiorthøy, Körner Union, Kuniko Nagasaki, Kyle Field, Larry Clark, Laura Owens, Leah Singer, Linus Bill, Lizzie Finn, Lorenzo Petrantoni, Marcus Oakley, Mari Eastman, Matt Leines, Matt Lock, Matthew Chapman, Marcel Dzama, Mark DeLong, Masumi Yamauchi, Maya Hayuk, Mehdi Hercberg, Michael Dumontier, Michael Günzburger, Mike Mills, Nakako Hayashi, Nathan Gray, Neil Farber, Nick Haymes, Nicola Pecoraro, Nicole Bachmann, Oliver Grajewski, Paul Davis, Perks and Mini, Peter Piller, Peter Sutherland, Reala, Rick Myers, Rita Ackermann, Robin Cameron, Rockmaster K., Ryoko Aoki, Samuel Nyholm, Scott Barry, Spike Jonze, Stefan Marx, Susan Cianciolo, Susanna Howe, Takashi Homma, Tal R, Talia Keinan, Tanja Helena Roscic, Taro Hirano, Taylor McKimens, The Changes, Thurston Moore, Tim Barber, Tobin Yelland, Tucker Nichols, Warja Lavater, Wesley Willis, Yoshimi, Yuka Katagiri and Yukari Miyagi
Printed Matter
195 Tenth Avenue at 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011
Tel. 212 925 0325
Opening Reception Saturday, April 4th, 5 - 7pm
Exhibition April 4th - May 23rd, 2009
Thanks Cody!
The Garden @ HSNY
THE GARDEN
NYC Premiere Film Screening
2008 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE: Best Documentary Feature
Directed by: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Featuring: Danny Glover, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Daryl Hannah, Dennis Kucinich, Zak de la Rocha
The Horticultural Society of New York
148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor
Wednesday, May 6
7PM
The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community.
But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.
The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers:
Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public?
And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.”
EVOL @ Wilde Gallery
I saw EVOL's work at SCOPE New York this past March and really loved his architectural renderings on found cardboard. His work really speaks to an urban existence and a sort of nostalgia. He has a new show up at the WILDE gallery in Berlin this month! Check out some of his new work and support!
EVOL's interests have focused on the overlooked and the refuse of urban society, offering visual comments and thoughts that remind us of the failure of modernism and its visions of an architectural utopia. EVOL draws our attention to the collective memory of places, a memory that is open ended, but in it’s decoding always seems to remain strangely personal. The artists’ exploration of urban sites and the visual ‘background’ noise of the city is a stark reminder of the transience of life as well as the certainty of death. The pictures of EVOL are quite literally decaying from their moment of inception. The artist places materiality itself in the forefront of his expression of the urban condition, its promise of ruin and eventual cyclical gentrification.
Architectural elements dominate EVOL’s images and their photographic precision is the result of a multitude of labour-intensive stencils that are layered, applied and traced with spray cans on found wood and discarded cardboard. It is a reverse imaging process that finally arrives at a model of representation that is not painting, not photography, not graffiti and not drawing, but a synthesis of them all.
New Work by EVOL
May 1 - May 30
Wilde Gallery
Chausseestrasse 7
D-10115 Berlin
Celebrate Brooklyn 2009 Season
Monday, May 04, 2009 | | Labels: brooklyn, music
There is no better place than New York City in the summer. Besides the bike riding and bbq, we are lucky enough to enjoy FREE world class live music performances in the beauty of our public parks!! Celebrate Brooklyn!'s 2009 concert series was announced today with an opening night performance by David Byrne followed by a full season of shows from artists like Femi Kuti, Blonde Redhead, the Kronos Quartet and Big Daddy Kane! And did I mention the Purple Rain sing-a-long?
Thanks to BV for the listing and for more info about the Celebrate Brooklyn check here.
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Monday, June 8, 8:00 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) David Byrne
Thursday, June 11, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Goran Bregovic & His Weddings & Funerals Orchestra
Friday, June 19, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) David Rudder/Samantha Thornhill
Saturday, June 20, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.
La Nave de los Monstruos, with live score by Ethel and Gutbucket Part of Celebrate Brooklyn!'s Music & Movies Series
Thursday, June 25, 7:00 P.M. (gates open at 6:00 P.M.) Femi Kuti & The Positive Force/Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity
Friday, June 26, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Blonde Redhead
Saturday, June 27, 7:00 P.M. (gates open at 600 P.M.) Dr. Dog/Phosphorescent/These United States
Thursday, July 2, 7:00 P.M. (gates open at 6:00 P.M.) Obie Juan Bermudéz/Cucu Diamantes/Rebel Diaz Bud Light Latin Music Series
Thursday, July 9, 8:00 P.M. (gates open at 7:00 P.M.) Dance
STREB: Invisible Forces
Friday, July 10, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Celebrate Brooklyn and LAMC present Los Amigos Invisibles/Aterciopelados Bud Light Latin Music Series
Saturday, July 11, 4:00 P.M. (gates open at 3:00 P.M.) Ezra Jack Keats Family Concert A Very Special Show with They Might Be Giants
Thursday, July 16, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Kronos Quartet/Luminescent Orchestrii
Friday, July 17, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) The Robert Cray Band/The Sweet Divines American Express Roots Music Series
Saturday, July 18, 2:00 P.M.‹9:00 P.M. (gates open at 1:00 P.M.) African Festival with King Sunny Adé/Freshly Ground/The Mandingo Ambassadors/Cheikh M'Baye & Sing Sing/Abena Koomson/Yasser Darwish American Express Roots Music Series
Thursday, July 23, 8:00 P.M. (gates open at 7:00 P.M.) Dance Stephen Petronio Company
Friday, July 24, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Buckwheat Zydeco/The Holmes Brothers American Express Roots Music Series
Saturday, July 25, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Kailash Kher/Electro Morocco
Thursday, July 30, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Burning Spear/Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens
Friday, July 31, 7:00 P.M. (gates open at 6:00 P.M.) The Royal Family: Soulive's 10th Anniversary Celebration, with Special Guests John Scofield and Christian Scott/Ivan Neville & Dumpstaphunk
Saturday, August 1, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Music & Movies Dean & Britta: 13 Most Beautiful Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests/ Crystal Stilts
Thursday, August 6, 7:30 P.M. (gates open at 6:30 P.M.) Music & Movies Purple Rain Sing-A-Long with Escort
Friday, August 7, 7:00 P.M. (gates open at 6:00 P.M.) Grace Potter & The Nocturnals/ Deer Tick / The London Souls
Saturday, August 8, 7:00 P.M. (gates open at 6:00 P.M.) Celebrate Brooklyn & Lyricist Lounge Present Big Daddy Kane (with Special Guests TBA), Plus a Screening of BDK: The Big Daddy Kane Story
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Celebrate Brooklyn! Benefit Concerts
"Celebrate Brooklyn! benefit concerts offer rare opportunities to see great artists at a reasonable ticket price while supporting the festival's free performances."
July 1
MGMT (Sold Out)
July 21
Jackson Browne
August 11
TV on the Radio
August 12
Bonnie Raitt & Taj Mahal
August 14 & 15
Animal Collective
Chicken Fried Steak
Sometimes, you just cant get the real thing in New York. When it comes to Southern home cooking, New York is lacking in a solid place that serves a consistently satisfying meal. After a disappointing bout with Jambalaya, I had an even more disappointing Chicken Fried Steak at Marlow & Sons this past weekend. It was soggy, served with salad, and not only was there no gravy (gasp!) but when I asked for some, I was told there was a lot of butter on the steak.
I used to go back to Houston for the holidays and my mom and I would have a special meal together...at The Black Eyed Pea. Now this local Texas franchise we rarely frequented growing up but as a college student my mom would take me there for one thing and one thing only...the best chicken fried steak in our 'hood. Now I've had my fair share of CFS...Thursdays at Clear Lake High School was CFS day. You'd get it served smothered with gravy and with some corn, mashed potatoes, and a roll on the side. Cracker Barrel is also a good option if you're not in Texas. In New York, Chat N' Chew's CFS can hold you over until you cross the Mason-Dixon line. But theres always something missing. My answer is just to make it yourself...this might have to be my weekend project.
Chicken Fried Steak
Ingredients
* 2 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
* 1 3/4 teaspoons black pepper, divided
* 4 (4-ounce) cube steaks
* 38 saltine crackers (1 sleeve), crushed
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 4 3/4 cups milk, divided
* 2 large eggs
* 3 1/2 cups peanut oil
* Garnish: chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper evenly over steaks. Combine cracker crumbs, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, red pepper, and baking powder. Whisk together 3/4 cup milk and eggs. Dredge steaks in cracker mixture; dip in milk mixture, and dredge again in cracker mixture.
Pour oil into a 12-inch skillet; heat to 360°. (Do not use a nonstick skillet.) Fry steaks 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and fry 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove steaks to a wire rack in a jelly-roll pan. Keep steaks warm in a 225° oven. Carefully drain hot oil, reserving cooked bits and 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet.
Whisk together remaining 4 cups milk, 1/4 cup flour, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon black pepper. Add milk mixture to reserved drippings in skillet; cook, whisking constantly, over medium-high heat 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened. Serve gravy with steaks. Garnish, if desired.
From Southern Living, JANUARY 2006
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