pretty things

Camille Hempel not only designs jewelry with an androgynous focus but also photographs ugly couches and fixes motorbikes. My kind of gal! I especially like the bear paw and button rings. Above, custom fingerprint wedding bands. Check out her store in Williamsburg (317 Wythe Ave., Brooklyn, NY) or online at http://camillehempel.com.

RIP Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson died today in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest. Words cannot describe the sense of loss and sadness the world feels today. He was 50. Thank you, thank you, thank you Michael Jackson for sharing your gift with the world! Download DJ Ayres' incredible Michael Jackson career mix here.

Michael Jackson - Rock with you

Ciara featuring Missy Elliott - WORK

The FADER posted this great video from Ciara's new album and all i could think about was the voguing balls from Paris is Burning and how much fun this song would be at the club for this weekend's PRIDE celebrations here in NYC. WORK it girls!!

RIP Farah!

After a lengthy and public battle with cancer, Farah Fawcett died today at the age of 66.

Red Stripe Presents...

The nice folks over at Red Stripe put together a quick summer tour featuring Terry Lynn and Johan Hugo! Download the album for FREE here and check them out live in NYC-DC-Miami-Chicago-Austin-LA!

Reading Material

From the TheMoment Blog:Who says print is dead? Koji Suzuki, the Tokyo-based author of smash-hit horror novels like the “The Ring,” has found a new publishing medium: toilet paper. Suzuki has teamed with Hayashi Paper Company, which makes novelty printed paper products for public restrooms, to manufacture rolls of toilet tissue stamped with a nine-chapter horror novella called “Drop.” The story, about a goblin living in a public restroom, places the reader at the center of the tale, and each roll contains several copies of the novella so that you can easily pick up the narrative where you left off. (A friend of mine in Tokyo said it’s so scary, she was frightened to be alone in the bathroom.) A roll of “Drop” costs 210 yen, which, at just over $2, is a fair price for disposable art.

Sa-Ra Creative Partners on KCRW

The interplanetary producing trio of Sa-Ra Creative Partners dropped by Garth Trinidad's show on KCRW in Los Angeles to pick some tunes and preview their new album, Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love out today on Ubiquity Records. Listen to the guys discuss everything from staying independent in the music industry to making music in the post-Bush age.

Free Iran

Ashkahn is back again. He made these beautiful FREE IRAN posters! Download to your desktop, print it up at your local print shop and circulate amongst friends or buy the T-shirt for $10 here! President Obama called a midday press conference today condemning the Iranian crackdown against demonstrators and declaring the rest of the world "appalled and outraged" by the violence going on there. Read the NYTimes coverage here.

The Simple Things at Art Basel

Speaking of diamond-encrusted objects...Of the many interesting pieces coming out of the post-Basel wrapups, I thought this video of Pharrell explaining his approach to his collaborative art piece (with Takashi Murakmi and Jacob the Jeweler was pretty fucking hilarious. The Simple Things features diamond-encrusted personal items beloved by Pharrell including a cupcake, a bag of Doritos, a bottle of Heinz ketchup, a can of Pepsi, a condom and a bottle of Johnson's baby oil. Note: the piece has already sold for $2.8 million. Thanks EatMeDaily!

iartistlondon

Some say imitation is the highest form of flattery. The folks at iartistlondon are taking the DIY asthetic to the next level promising to enable crafty folks "to make real contemporary art pieces in the comfort of your own home." With DIY artist kits that rip-off contemporary British artist's most iconic works, the company treads a thin line that brings up a lot of questions about intellectual/artistic property, hipster mentality and aesthetics and capital. Where does the value of fine art really come from? Is a fake Banksy or Damien Hirst even worth the £49.99 worth of materials this company is selling to you? Check out the kits ripping off Banksy, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

Uniqlo Pac-Man Challenge finals on June 19th

So the UNIQLO PAC-MAN CHALLENGE is heading into the final round this Friday, June 19th at UNIQLO SOHO, 546 Broadway in NYC. Expect to your favorite media companies such as Complex, Giant Robot, Blacksmith, Superfuture, Vinyl Pulse East, Going, Crispy Gamer, and Fusicology competing for the top spot! The walk-in challengers will compete for their top spot within their category. There will be plenty of prizes for competitors and also for spectators courtesy of UNIQLO and Namco Networks. There will be UT PAC-MAN T-SHIRTS autographed by Mr. Toru Iwatani (creator of PAC-MAN)! UNIQLO PAC-MAN CHALLENGE will be held from 4PM-8PM at UNIQLO SOHO, 546 Broadway. All event information here.

The Bear

So this video came in a Mom email (note it's from 1988 but still making the rounds) - Hi, all: You've got to see this one!!!!!!!!!!! Fen - and I totally watched it all the way through. Sometimes I feel this way when I'm struggling in the concrete jungle...

Happy Birthday Tupac

Happy Birthday Tupac. You and your music are missed.

RECESS: The Greatest Moments of Recess History

In the spirit of offering a lifestyle alternative to the otherwise rudimentary activities that dominate and sometimes dull our urbanite senses — RECESS is an ongoing series of sports and games that redefines our shared philosophy of play by fusing healthy sportsmanship, unbridled creativity and the people responsible for that creativity.

This great concept is being launched this Saturday at NYC's historic Governor's Island with the Lawn Series (sponsored by Tretorn and Puma), a summer-long, 3-event faceoff in the classic games of Badminton (June 20), Table Tennis (August 22), and Bocce Ball (September 26). Teams from creative companies around NYC will battle to the end (of the day, that is). Even if you're not competing, come out and support, polish up your own game or grab a bite from the Le Gamin or Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Trucks. Just a quick free ferry ride from the south tip of Manhattan!

this day in history...

June 13, 1967 - Thurgood Marshall appointed to U.S. Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson.

It was Marshall who ended legal segregation in the United States. He won Supreme Court victories breaking the color line in housing, transportation and voting, all of which overturned the 'Separate-but-Equal' apartheid of American life in the first half of the century. It was Marshall who won the most important legal case of the century, Brown v. Board of Education, ending the legal separation of black and white children in public schools.

The BLK JKS Countdown Begins...

Your favorite South African psych-rock group (and mine) the BLK JKS announced the release date for their upcoming debut full-length, After Robots, set to drop September 8th on Bloomington, Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian. Admist the critical praise the essence of BLK JKS' music — a collision of township blues, fringe jazz and renegade dub, heard via the lens of prog — shines through. Music from Africa has never quite sounded like this, as BLK JKS bring the concept of Afro-futurism into a new century.

BLK JKS consists of childhood friends Lindani Buthelezi and Mpumi Mcata who grew up on the same block in Johannesburg's East Rand where they taught themselves guitar. After the band's current lineup took shape with the addition of bassist Molefi Makananise and drummer Tshepang Ramoba, both of Soweto, they embarked on a schedule of heavy touring throughout South Africa that earned them a loyal national following.

Download "Molalatladi" from After Robots HERE! (Right-click, Save-As)

Crayola: A Look Back

The Dieline Blog has a great look at the brand history of Crayola's Crayons! Next to Play-doh and Band-Aid, Crayola courts one of our earliest brand loyalties. Thanks NotCot!

Superflat First Love: Murakami x LV

SUPERFLAT FIRST LOVE by Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton. Celebrating six years of collaborations. Thanks Phil!

Banksy Opening 06.13.09

Posted on Banksy's site just after midnite on June 10th, the mysterious street artist opens in his hometown of Bristol on Saturday! Check his site for more details.

Northside Festival June 11-14

The Northside Festival kicks off today with over 50 music and art venues in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area participating in this first annual festival from the good folks over at The L Magazine. Highlights from the festival include opening night party at Studio B headlined by Brightblack Morning Light (Thu), Miho Hatori at the Superglorious showcase at Glasslands (Thu), Ghostly International's 10-Year Anniversary Bash at Studio B (Fri), Zoe Kravitz's Elevator Fight and Blk Jks at Trash Bar (Fri), AsiaDog at the Gothamist Afterparty (Sat), Mira Bilotte from White Magic (Sun) and showcases from BrooklynVegan, KEXP, Ernest Jenning Records, and Brooklyn-based bands like Apollo Heights and Himalaya.

Night/Shift: a photography book

Photographer Lynn Saville has a new book out called Night/Shift, published by Random House! Saville specializes in night photography, capturing the after-hours landscapes of our favorite and unexpected neighborhoods.

Check out her book talk in Brooklyn this Friday June 12th, at 7:00 PM:
BookCourt @ 163 Court Street

From his introduction to Night/Shift Arthur C. Danto says...
"Atget recorded Paris in the early morning, before anyone was about. We feel his presence in the surrounding emptiness he has kept for the generations....Saville is his New York counterpart, the Atget of vanishing New York, prowling her city at the other end of the day, picking up pieces of the past in the present, just before it is swallowed by shadows..."

Weekender 6.5-6.7

FRIDAY
Tainted Love Opening Reception (NYC)
Bushwick Open Studios (Brooklyn)
Lee Fields My World Record release (Brooklyn)

SATURDAY
The Roots Picnic (Philly)
SVA Newfest Florent: Queen of the Meat Market (NYC)

What The Funk?! Fela vs James Brown (NYC)

SUNDAY
Loving Day (NYC)
Purple Reign: Prince Birthday Bashment (NYC)

FRIDAYLa MaMa La Galleria
6 East 1st Street, NYC
6pm-9pm

Tainted Love offers a view of activist art that questions the idea that direct action is the only effective form of politics. The exhibition takes its inspiration from political activity surrounding cultural production within the moment of AIDS activism, although the works represented are not strictly tied to AIDS.


Bushwick Open Studios is a self-organized art festival where anyone and everyone in the community is welcome to participate by presenting art work, organizing activities or helping to produce the event. The purpose is to create an open and inclusive event that benefits the entire community through the sharing of artistic projects and the encouragement of community interaction and dialogue.

BOS is an art festival centered around the open studios of local artists. Also included are myriad other platforms for exhibiting and celebrating the creative energy of Bushwick. Anyone in the community is welcome to participate by presenting artwork, organizing activities or helping to produce the event. BOS 09 will be the Festival’s 3rd year.

Our sponsors are local businesses, our staff are volunteers and we are all about Bushwick!

Lee Fields and the Expressions
LIVE! Record Release Party for My World (Truth and Soul Records)
Southpaw
125 Fifth Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11217
Dj Akalepse (T&S, Plain Jane), Young Chris (Big City), and Egon (Stones Throw) will be spinning in between live sets from the The Ghetto Brothers, Aloe Blacc, and Lee Fields & The Expressions. Doors 9:00 TICKETS $15.

Renowned throughout the global Funk community, Lee Fields has poured his grunts and screams over a legacy of funk and soul hits from the early seventies, including such 45 rpm classics as She’s a Lovemaker, The Bullis Coming, and The Funky Screw, not to mention his well sought after Let’s Talk It Over LP. This LP draws four digit bids from collectors worldwide. His recordings with the hard funk purists at TRUTH & SOUL, Desco, and Daptone Records in recent years has solidified his place as the King of contemporary funk music as well.

SATURDAY
The Roots launch The 2nd Annual ROOTS PICNIC!
Starring The Roots, TV on the Radio, The Black Keys, Santigold, Kid Cudi, Asher Roth & more.

Featuring a special performance by Public Enemy, who will perform
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, backed by Antibalas and The Roots.

Saturday, June 6th, 2pm
@ The Festival Pier, Penns Landing, Philadelphia

Florent: Queen of the Meat Market
Catch the film at the SVA NEWFEST, New York LGBT Film Festival, taking place June 4-11.
5:30PM
SVA Theater
23rd Street between 8th and 9th Ave, NYC

In June of 2008 cherished New York restaurant Florent closed its doors forever, marking the end of an era. Florent Morellet, the openly HIV-positive restaurateur turned his namesake diner in the Meatpacking District into a hotbed of activism and a community that welcomed one and all. These are the extraordinary stories and times of Florent, the staff, patrons, and celebrities who made up an extensive family. With appearances by Julianne Moore, Isaac Mizrahi, and Christo and Jean-Claude.

What The Funk?!
Fela Kuti vs James Brown Tribute

With Rich Medina and DJ Spinna
Love
40 W 8th St, NYC

Spinning Funky JAMES BROWN Exclusives, Covers, JB Samples & Funky-Soulful Hits Of JBs` God Children & The Afro Funk Pioneer FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI`s Entire Music Catalog, Afro House, Afro Soul and more!

Tribute To The GodFather Of Soul JAMES BROWN & To The AfroBeat Pioneer FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI

SUNDAY
LOVING DAY
Come celebrate the anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage in the US.
FREE BBQ: all day long
FREE BEER: for the first hour
GET IN FREE: rain or shine
MULTICULTURAL: family friendly

Featuring:
DJ DHUNDEE, Sugarcuts Music
DJ TYLER ASKEW, Rude/MFT

Sunday, June 7th from 3-7pm at Solar 1
East River at 23rd St. NYC

The House of Rumpschpringa presents...

PURPLE REIGN
Prince's Bday Bashment!!!

With DJs:
Lord Easy
Lloydski
+ sTERRYo

Featuring LIVE Prince Covers by…
Sylvia G. (Kudu)
Biclops & Printz
+ Carrie Wilds

Erotic City Polaroids by IHMDJ

$5 Cover/FREE with RSVP to rumpschpringa@gmail.com

$7 Ella Cocktails All Night!!!

Plus... exclusive photographic coverage by Midnight Socialite!!

Ella
9 Avenue A (btwn 1st and 2nd St) NYC
10 PM till…

NYC Food Film Festival

2009 NYC Food Film Festival Trailer from George Motz on Vimeo.

This year's NYC Food Film Festival goes down June 13 – June 19, 2009 in New York City with screenings at the Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, The Astor Center, Manhattan, and at the new South Street Seaport Water Taxi location. Featuring over over 25 short films about food, the festival is where "filmgoers are able to watch food films then sample the food portrayed in those films." Thanks EatMeDaily!

Includes the 42 minute film The Power of the Peep, a documentary about Peeps. And yes, they'll be serving Peeps, 8,650 of them.

Go See: Blind Carbon Copy at Commonspace

BLIND CARBON COPY
Common Space presents a 5-day group exhibition with artists
Andrew Kuo
Sebastian Kim
Jon Santos
Milano Chow
Deanne Cheuk
Saiman Chow
Masayo Kishi
Yuh-Shioh Wong
Confetti System.

June 3-7
179 Canal Street, 2nd Floor
Noon- 6pm

“Blind Carbon Copy” is a sly appropriation of a day’s corporate drama. Narrativeaction item: Global media conglomerate headquartered in New York Citycommissions program bringing to the table ethnic diversity. Visionary programshall jam the culture inbox, host panel discussions, culminate with cutting edgeart exhibition in midtown corporate lobby. Month of June: the Asians. Globalconglomerate enlists core competency to brain dump Asian American artists tohang their art in beige hallways of media triumphalism. Eleventh and a half hourdivision head issues the disintermediate: Shut it down.

At the end of the day refers to what happened during the day – what got dealt,what got salvaged, what got tossed out. At the end of the day, “Blind CarbonCopy” re- shuffles the deck to communicate an elliptical difference, even as thatdifference opposes clear definable equalities. The featured works vary fromfashion photography to drawing, sculpture, graphic art and video. Much of theseartists works deploy a detachment of assimilative meaning.

Genres of ethnicity, commercial, fine art start to slope from fulfillment ofdistinction to interrelations, intricacies and contradictions of meaning, a ghostwithout a host gliding past various check points of identity

Now Open: BKLYN LADER

Folks in Prospect Heights have something to cheer about this rainy June week! The beloved pizzeria Franny's has opened up a prepared foods shop called BKLYN Larder. Check the Grubstreet review below:
In its five-year existence, Prospect Heights’s Franny’s has garnered a rabid following, but even its most faithful customers can’t subsist entirely on the restaurant’s clam pizzas, bucatini with ramps, and nettle crostini (no matter how hard we try). That’s why owners Andrew Feinberg and Francine Stephens have built Bklyn Larder, a specialty-foods shop opening tomorrow just a couple of blocks up Flatbush Avenue. The clean-lined store is putatively intended to serve the culinary needs of home cooks in search of high-end imports like Latini pasta and Italian apricot jam. That’s well and good, but not what will inspire trans-borough pilgrimages. What will do that, we’d wager, is the rotating roster of prepared foods, which can be packed to go (in biodegradable containers) or eaten on premises, if you’re able to snag one of the eight counter-height seats. This week’s starting lineup includes Greenmarket-direct veggies (a Franny’s forte) and the first-ever sandwiches with the Franny’s imprimatur.

Go See: Gagosian NYC

YAYOI KUSAMA Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity, 2009

Larry Gagosian is giving you four reasons to check out his galleries this week! 

In order of urgency:

Yayoi Kusama New Work in a bi-coastal exhibition celebrating the artist's 80th year!
Pablo Picasso: Mosqueteros Exploring the late works of the Spanish master.
Go Figure Figurative Drawings and Works
Marble Survey of Works in Marble

Bond 007: Cold as Ice

Del Monte made these Daniel Craig popsicles in blueberry, pomegranate, and cranberry flavors — less than 100 calories each! Spokesman Matt O'Connor said: "He is officially immortalised as super smooth and licensed to chill." Thanks to EatMeDaily

CTRL Pop Up Shop

RIFT presents: 40 days of CTRL in Barcelona

We are blessed to announce that CTRL is opening a pop-up store, like a candy store but better, filled with fireworks from one of the top tens in the universe. Yes, that's CTRL. The RIFT Store is conveniently located just by the nightlife and skateboarding Mecca, meaning MACBA, the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona.

Go to Barcelona, go check it out and enjoy what life offers in the narrow streets of the Catalan pride. The Rift Store is open from 5th of June until 15th of July. 40 Days that is.

Tuesday to Saturday from 11-15:30 hrs and 16:30-20:30 hrs.
Monday from 15:30-20:30 hrs. Sundays Closed.

Gen Art Shop

Check out my girl Bijules at tomorrow's Gen Art Shop NYC! She'll be hawking her fine accessories including her classic bar rings, nail rings, hairrings and pieces from her newest line, the "Rock Collection" at reduced prices!

Wednesday, June 3
5:00pm - 6:00pm: VIP Preview Reception (Advance Tickets Only)
6:00pm - 10:00pm: Main doors open to all ticket holders

7W
7 West 34th Street, 11th Floor
(between 5th and 6th Ave)

Gen Art invites you to the shopping event of the season! Shop directly from designers featured in Gen Art runway shows as well as New York’s top emerging lines including Qi Cashmere, Whistle & Flute, Falls, DANNIJO, Bijules, Thea Grant, DRU New York and over 50 more. All while enjoying complimentary wine and beer, makeovers by DEX New York, beauty treatments, and more!

VIP ticketholders get first picks of designer merchandise and will take home a SHOP NYC fashion and beauty gift bags. There are a limited number of VIP tickets available, so reserve yours before they sell out!

Don't miss this opportunity to find great deals, meet fellow fashion enthusiasts, and enjoy pampering and cocktails - just in time for summer!

Herb & Dorothy

You don't have to be a Rockefeller to collect art...
Megumi Sasaki's inspiring documentary opens Friday, June 5 in New York at the Beekman Theatre and Cinema Village. HERB & DOROTHY tells the incredible true story of a postal worker and a librarian who built an enormous collection of contemporary art with modest means. In 1992, Herb and Dorothy Vogel donated over 4,000 works of art (amazingly crammed into their tiny Upper East Side apartment) to the National Gallery of Art. Vogel 50/50, the initiative to apportion the overflow of artworks among the fifty states, also kicks off this year. An Arthouse Films release.