We Can Make Sandwiches...

Happy Hump Day! This is one of my all-time favorite jams. The Detroit Grand Pubahs burst onto the national scene with this dancefloor anthem back in 2000. You can be the bun/And I can be the burger, girl/I know you wanna do it/We can make sandwiches. Thanks Sasha for dropping the video on me!

The Kitchen Tuesdays : No Ordinary Monkey

The weekly event series has been a huge hit with an amazing lineup of DJs and great music. Thanks to everyone who has made this late-summer jump-off a huge success. We have two more to go before we wrap up the summer so don't miss tonite's jam with the gentlemen of No Ordinary Monkey, our favorite disco party. They've been throwing underground dance parties since 2004 with some of NYC's finest guest DJs in secret loft locations and afterhours chinese restaurants! Come through on Tuesday and enjoy the musical stylings of one of New York's best kept secrets and dance the night away under the moon!! As always we'll have snacks, spacecakes, and drink specials! RSVP at thekitchentuesdays@gmail.com

p.s. this will be our second to last event! We'll be taking a break on labor day (09.08) and finishing off the series on September 15th with Amir, Ge-Ology and Waajeed!

*********
THE KITCHEN TUESDAY @ Jungle Garden

in association with PUMA
and The Horticultural Society of New York

Every Tuesday
8PM - Midnight
61 Kent Avenue and N10 Street
Williamsburg Waterfront, Brooklyn

TUESDAY 09.01.2009

NO ORDINARY MONKEY

Cakeballs by Sweet Jewels
Spacecakes by Let Them Eat Cake

Cheap Drink Specials!

$3 Suggested Donation at the Door
RSVP thekitchentuesdays@gmail.com

21+ ONLY!
Cash only, the nearest ATM is 5 blocks away.

From the Bedord Avenue L Train:
Walk west on North 7th towards the waterfront (Berry Street). Take a right on Kent Avenue. The venue is on the corner of N10th and Kent Avenue.

Vertical Farming

NOTE: This is one of the most important Op-Ed pieces I've read in awhile! Let's bring agriculture to the heart of our cities!!! Happy Monday reading.

By DICKSON D. DESPOMMIER

If climate change and population growth progress at their current pace, in roughly 50 years farming as we know it will no longer exist. This means that the majority of people could soon be without enough food or water. But there is a solution that is surprisingly within reach: Move most farming into cities, and grow crops in tall, specially constructed buildings. It’s called vertical farming.

"Imagine a farm right in the middle of a major city. Food production would take advantage of hydroponic and aeroponic technologies. Both methods are soil-free. Hydroponics allows us to grow plants in a water-and-nutrient solution, while aeroponics grows them in a nutrient-laden mist. These methods use far less water than conventional cultivation techniques, in some cases as much as 90 percent less.

Now apply the vertical farm concept to countries that are water-challenged — the Middle East readily comes to mind — and suddenly things look less hopeless. For this reason the world’s very first vertical farm may be established there, although the idea has garnered considerable interest from architects and governments all over the world.

Vertical farms are now feasible, in large part because of a robust global greenhouse initiative that has enjoyed considerable commercial success over the last 10 years. (Disclosure: I’ve started a business to build vertical farms.) There is a rising consumer demand for locally grown vegetables and fruits, as well as intense urban-farming activity in cities throughout the United States. Vertical farms would not only revolutionize and improve urban life but also revitalize land that was damaged by traditional farming. For every indoor acre farmed, some 10 to 20 outdoor acres of farmland could be allowed to return to their original ecological state (mostly hardwood forest). Abandoned farms do this free of charge, with no human help required.

Read the full NYTimes Op-Ed here.

Gold Coast Trading Company

Facebook is a strange and beautiful thing. A couple weeks back i was randomly "friend"-ed by Gold Coast Trading Company. A new line from Emeka Alams (formerly of 21MC), the transatlantic designer splits his time between Seattle and West Africa. Melding an interplanetary design sensibility with his life experience in both Nigeria and the US, Alams has set out to reshape the conversation about what constitutes African. He explains that, "it's not so much of rehashing slavery and rebelling, while slavery shaped our story it's not my history. I was tired of the same ol' hipster afro stuff I was seeing or the "Save Africa" tees. That has nothing to do with Africa or what's actually going on there. With Gold Coast Trading I'm just showing you the actuality of my Africa. Africa is more than just music and colors; it's so complex." Check the video inspiration from Gnarls Barkley for GCT's next season and peep the design jams below!

Gnarls Barkley - Going On

Happy 51st Birthday, MJ!

Happy Birthday, Michael Jackson! Brooklyn knows how to throw a birthday jam!! "Happy Birthday to ya, happy birthday to ya, happy birrrrrth-day!" 08.29.09 - Michael Jackson Birthday Celebration: Spinna x Spike Lee @ Prospect Park

Fat Pat and DJ Screw @ Maysles Institute

The Maysles Institute has only been open a year but they have had a phenomenal run of documentary programming bringing the lifestyles and social issues of regions around the world to their cinema space in Harlem. Besides screening documentaries from local filmmakers and the Maysles Brothers (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter, Christo in Paris) the Institute also has a youth media program and the Kham Film Project that supports Tibetan and American documentary filmmakers working to bring Tibetan issues to the greater public. Check their calendar for what's cookin' at the Cinema!

This week the Institute has programmed an amazing group of documentaries exploring the culture and lifestyle of 3rd coast rappers in Country Rap Tunes: A Dirty South Film Festival (Music Films and Videos From the 3rd Coast). As a Texas transplant, I find theres a lot of hostility in New York regarding southern hip hop and its so important for folks out here to understand the context for which a lot of this music has grown. I am really excited to support the Maysles Institute and go check out some of these films. Reppin' for my hometown, the showcase is debuting Soldiers for Cash, a documentary about the life of DJ Screw shot right before his death. Other documentaries focus on Houston luminaries including Pimp C, Lil Boosie, Fat Pat, ESG, South Park Mexican and H.A.W.K.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27
Fat Pat: Ghetto Dreams
Fat Pat is one of the original members of S.U.C. and, alongside DJ Screw and Pat’s brother HAWK formed the Dead End Alliance (DEA). The best part of the film is the music video for Pat’s slab anthem, Tops Drop.

DJ Screw: The Untold Story, 8:00pm
Robert Davis Jr. a.k.a. “DJ Screw” is the master of “Screwed & Chopped” music, a technique of slowing the music to a drag personifying the underground lifestyle of the Houston streets that made him famous. With a small army of MCs known as the Screwed Up Click or S.U.C., Screw began a mix-tape movement that would one day take the music industry by storm. This DVD contains never-before seen footage of the one man who gave Houston its sound identity, at work and at play as well as interviews with the original members of the S.U.C., Davis’ family members and others whose careers are influenced by his music.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28
S.U.C.: Soldiers United for Cash
Dir. Rel, 2004, 75 min.
Ariel Santchi’s crucial documentary provides the most in depth interview with DJ Screw. Outstanding performances by HAWK, a youthful Z-Ro and an endless freestyle by Lil Flip in pre-Flipperacci form.

Miss Chin Answers: Can I Freeze Milk?

Every day brings new questions about the world we live in and today's most serious question: Can I Freeze Milk? I typically buy jugs of milk for cooking/baking reasons and then feel the pressure to try to finish it up before it goes bad. I'm happy to report that you CAN freeze milk (skim and lofat work best because they dont separate as much). Just make sure to use some of it first so that the carton doesn't explode from the pressure as it expands. Best used for baking or cooking, freezing milk arguably doesn't change the taste of baked goods. I wouldnt suggest it for drinking tho although freezing milk ice cubes sounds like a good alternative for iced coffee.

UWS hearts MJ too

If you want to get intellectual about it...KEEP MOVING: Michael Jackson’s Video Art

Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 6pm. The Walter Reade Theater is located at 165 W. 65th St. (upper level) on the Upper West Side. Armond White joins us on stage for a one-of-a-kind tribute to the King of Pop.


Michael Jackson’s pioneering work in music video raised the art form from cable television footnote to the highest standards set by the movie musical tradition—and invented a few more along the way. Cultural critic and author Armond White returns to the Walter Reade Theater to reacquaint us with Jackson’s singular music video innovations.

“When Hollywood didn’t come calling, Jackson responded with a series of short musical films that displayed his affection for pop tradition,” says White. “From the popular Thriller to the great Black or White and other landmarks, Jackson—the ultimate performer-as-auteur—changed the way the world responds to cinema.”

Animal Collective @ Celebrate Brooklyn

This past weekend, Brooklyn's own Animal Collective did back-to-back shows at the Prospect Park Bandshell. A fundraiser for Celebrate Brooklyn!, all of my friends who attended couldnt stop gushing about the experience. A true concert experience, people not only loved the music but the creative set design by artist and sister of Animal Collective Dave Portner, Abby Portner, was a real standout feature of the show. Her "handmade" quality set featured multi-layered moving "waves" light-up oversized tiki torches, and a "shark!" For the current issue of Theme, my friend Duane Harriott actually interviewed Abby about her work for Animal Collective and their record label, Paw Tracks! I fell in love with her beautiful illustrations and great sense of humor in the interview. Check the below video from the soundcheck for a daylight glimpse of her set design for the show!!

Hellz Bells

Homegirl Lanie and her husband Bam dropped the fall lookbook for their category-pushing contemporary womens' line, Hellz Bellz, today! Shot by Brooke Nipar and styled by Radio Rose, I'm so glad to see that Lanie keeps it fresh and in the family! Check the full lookbook fall preview here.

Major Lazer's Pon De Floor

Thanks to the Jamaican dance craze, Daggering, hospitals in Jamrock have seen an increase in cases of "broken penis." Diplo and Switch from Major Lazer captured the phenomenon with director Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job in the new video for Pon De Floor. Thanks Ayres!!

Florida foodie finds

This was my best menu find of the week: applewood smoked bacon with chocolate dipping sauce. As a beer snack! You astound me, Datz Deli, in a positive way.

I also wish Crabby Bill's would just go with the subtitle for the Squeeze & Squeal Basket because "Fries topped with crumbled bacon, & melted cheddar, monetary [sic] jack cheeses" sounds much, much better.

James Rosenquist, painter

Painter James Rosenquist lost his beachfront home and studio to a Florida fire in April 2009. Fifteen new canvases were destroyed, leaving an "emotional vacancy." At 75, he reflects upon his life from Aripeka, the coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico where he's just "Jim," the guy in shorts down the bar, and not a world-renowned pop artist. He has been working out of Tampa Bay for over 32 years, having set up shop in Ybor City after the cigar factories had long gone. In 2004, the Guggenheim held a retrospective of his work.

In New York, my first job was painting Hebrew National salami signs on the Flatbush Extension in Brooklyn. I painted signs in Times Square. I had to paint good enough to sell.

My only mistake, if there has been a mistake, is not judging professional people correctly. You think they're good, and they're terrible. That's a mistake.

What you do is at night, you go out drinking at bars with Bob Rauschenberg until late, wake up with a hangover, start working at about 11 o'clock, work until 7 or 8 o'clock at night, rent a tuxedo, go to an art opening at a museum, drink again, wake up with another hangover and keep doing that. I did that one time seven days a week for seven months in a row.

Now, I can see why some fellow artists aren't more well known or not known at all. Seems to me they're not outgoing enough. I don't know how to put it. They're like turtles that stay in their shell and think that something is going to knock on their shell and take them out of there. That doesn't happen.

If a person can see an advantage, do it. Recongnizing opportunity, that's what you have to do. There are opportunities galore, but, whoosh, they'll just go right by.

I'd like all of my paintings back, so I can apply for a grant from the Ford Foundation to study my own life.

Read the entire article here.

Free Music Thursday!!

Damn it feels good to be in Brooklyn during the hot and sticky dog days of summer! Check out this amazing lineup of FREE live music going down in Brooklyn today!!

Zap Mama @ BAM Rhythm & Blues Festival
MetroTech Commons
Noon-2PM
Zap Mama is the Grammy-award winning group founded and fronted by Marie Daulne. Since the early 1990’s, Marie has spent her life crossing continents and winning the hearts of thousands of fans, while introducing her Afropean musical heritage to the world.

Purple Rain Sing-a-Long with Escort @ Celebrate Brooklyn
Prospect Park West
7:30PM
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of history’s greatest pop albums, and the extravagantly, hilariously whacky and over the top film it inspired (the apotheosis of both the purple one’s genius and self caricature), we invite you to don something lacey and ruffled and come get your Prince on. We'll have lyric subtitles, but you know the words already. Joy Dragland of Brooklyn's live disco orchestra Escort certainly does; Purple Rain was the first cassette she ever owned. Dragland and others from Escort will lead the sing-along, after the band puts everyone in the mood with an opening set. (Note: The film is Rated R and admission of anyone under 17 will require an accompanying parent or guardian. The whole evening will feature scenes of extreme sexiness throughout.)

Hall & Oates @ Seaside Summer Concerts
Asser Levy in Coney Island
7:30PM
Daryl Hall and John Oates are the NUMBER-ONE SELLING DUO in music history! Starting out as two devoted disciples of earlier soul greats, Daryl Hall & John Oates are soul survivors in their own right. Daryl Hall & John Oates recently released the DVD/CD Live at the Troubadour. The release marks the 35 year anniversary of their first gig in LA!

Mr. TasTees takes a crazy trip through his hometown Chicago and introduces us to some of the folks in the Chi who are keeping the music scene fresh!

Featured Artists include:
Flosstradamus
Facebook
VYLE
ST!ZO
BBU
Kid Static
Hood Internet
He Say She Say
Clayton Hauck
Mike Terror

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a new stop motion animation film directed by Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket). The movie will feature the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray. Fantastic Mr. Fox will first be screened at the London Film Festival and released in the U.S. on November 13. Thanks Swipelife!

Little Dragon's Twice

Puppet Shadows, crying birds, textile rain and yukimi nagano's voice. what could be more beautiful?

Tim Burton @ MoMA

Whoa!! Tim Burton is having a major career retrospective at MoMA in November!
Following the current of his visual imagination from his earliest childhood drawing through his mature work, the exhibition presents artwork generated during the conception and production of his films, and highlights a number of unrealized projects and never-before-seen pieces, as well as student art, his earliest non-professional films, and examples of his work as a storyteller and graphic artist for non-film projects. For more info, check out the MoMA website or click here. (Thanks Theme!)

Annie Leibovitz is Broke

I read this crazy article in the Sunday Times Magazine yesterday and was not only surprised by it but kind of outraged by how irresponsible she must have been to get into her current financial situation. I think this is a really great lesson for artists of all kinds to take in and really learn from.

By Allen Salkin
If money and fame are the yardsticks, Annie Leibovitz is one of the most successful photographers of all time. She has a seven-figure salary from Vanity Fair and commands tens of thousands of dollars a day from commercial clients like Louis Vuitton. Her latest book, “At Work,” made best-seller lists, and an exhibition of her classic images — Demi Moore naked and pregnant, Mikhail Baryshnikov on the beach — has been touring the world for over two years.

So as the news has spread in recent months that Ms. Leibovitz is facing extraordinary financial troubles, with the possibility of losing her Civil War-era town houses in Greenwich Village, a home in upstate New York and the rights to decades of her work, many have formulated the same questions: How is this possible? How could an artist of her standing be in such financial straits? If Annie Leibovitz can’t make it in New York, who can?

On July 29, Ms. Leibovitz was sued in State Supreme Court for nonpayment by a company that had lent her $24 million, and which demanded access to her homes so it could begin the process of selling them to satisfy her debt. Ms. Leibovitz had taken out the loan last year, pledging as collateral properties in Greenwich Village and in Rhinebeck, N.Y., her negatives and the rights to her photographs. The lender, Art Capital Group, claims Ms. Leibovitz is behind on hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees associated with the loans. Read the full NYTimes Magazine article here.

Ninjasonik x Major Lazer: Hold the Line

Directed by my man, Lazlo Jefferson. Don't sleep.

RIP Baatin

35-year-old Baatin, co-founder of the game-changing hip hop group Slum Village with his high school friend J. Dilla (RIP), died yesterday in Detroit. After their sophomore album, Trinity, Baatin left the group only to rejoin for their upcoming September release, Villa Manifesto. Our thoughts are with his family and the community in Detroit. Rest in Power Baatin!

The Kitchen Tuesdays @ Jungle

THE KITCHEN TUESDAY KICKS OFF!
in association with PUMA at Jungle Garden

Every Tuesday
8PM - Midnight
61 Kent Avenue and N10 Street
Williamsburg Waterfront, Brooklyn

TUESDAY 08.04.2009**
DJ AMIR (Kon and Amir/OnTrack/BBE)
GE-OLOGY (Female Fun/Rotation)
WAAJEED (Bling47/PPP)

Hosted by Wax Poetics

Empanadas by Coque
Cakeballs by Sweet Jewels
Spacecakes by Let Them Eat Cake
Cheap Drink Specials!

$3 Suggested Donation at the Door
RSVP thekitchentuesdays@gmail.com

21+ ONLY!
Cash only, the nearest ATM is 5 blocks away.

**RAIN DATE is Wednesday, August 05.

From the Bedord Avenue L Train:
Walk west on North 7th towards the waterfront (Berry Street). Take a right on Kent Avenue. The venue is on the corner of N10th and Kent Avenue.

Thirsty for Bea Arthur's Underpants

BEA YOURSELF
An LES Bea Arthur Tribute

Nothing draws a crowd like a Bea Arthur tribute, so the nostalgists at Mason Dixon are devoting this Friday night to the fallen Golden Girl, with Arthurian screenings, interpretive reenactments of a few historic performances and a beer-and-vodka cocktail dubbed Bea Arthur's Underpants. Like the underpants themselves, it's not for the faint of heart.

411:
8:30pm, July 31, Dixon Place, 161 Chrystie Street (btwn Rivington & Delancey), NYC

Dragan's Lair

How did a Serbian war criminal hide from the world as a bioenergy-channeling, alternative-medicine-peddling, bearded and, well, nutty guru? After hiding out for the first half of this decade, Radovan Karadzic emerged in 2005 as Dragan Dabic. Tribunal investigators say they believe that the Serbian secret police issued Karadzic documentation in the name of an existing man, a rural innocent who had not traveled much, if ever, and so made a perfect foundation on which to build a character. As Dabic, Karadzic found refuge in the world of alternative medicine with the likes of Mina Minic, center, a Serbian soothsayer and "maestro of radiesthesia." Beautiful portraiture by Lars Tunbjork. Check the slideshow and read more here.

Donate Your Phone, Save a Life

Hope Phones, a program dedicated to recycling old phones to medical clinics in developing countries, does a great service for both clinics in need and for folks who need to get rid of an unused phone. Leave a comment if you'd like to donate a phone and we'll get collection materials together to send off a box of 50!!

Every cell phone given to community health workers connects distant patients to a medical clinic. A $10 cell phone will give 50 families access to emergency medical care, health information, transport services, and clinic resources.

When your old phone is received by the recycling center, it is given a value. We’ll use this value to purchase appropriate, usable cell phones for community health workers at the medical clinics. The average donated phone in the US will allow us to purchase 2-3 cell phones for clinics.Thanks SwissMiss for the info!

William Shatner, Poet Extraordinaire

To help American audiences understand the nuances of former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin's send-off speech, Conan O'Brian enlisted William Shatner to read the speech verbatim in its "intended" poetic form.

Food Truck 2.0

When you talk to folks in NYC about food trucks, they usually assume you mean one of those big industrial trucks slinging tacos, coffee, ice cream, or dumplings. Over the last two days, I've serendipitously run into the work of filmmakers Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney and their efforts to increase awareness about urban farming and sustainable living! Their food truck is Cheney's 1986 Dodge pickup which they've planted with a variety of heirloom tomatoes, arugula and herbs in the truckbed. Using a solar-powered time-lapse camera mounted on the roof of the truck, they are slowly but surely posting their adventure online. For $20, you can share in the truck farm bounty and a promise to receive a copy of the finished Truck Farm DVD. More than a real way to feed urban dwellers, I love that this project challenges people to think of their own creative and sustainable way to engage in food production and gives a new spin on the idea of an urban farmer. Check out Ellis and Cheney's 2007 documentary film on the industrial food industry, King Corn too!

Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out

When Peanut Butter Wolf, the man behind LA-based Stones Throw Records, first heard 29-year-old Mayer Hawthorne's music he was confused by what he was listening to...did dude just cover old tunes? Was he just producing some new stuff with a retro feel? Truth was, Hawthorne was not only singing on his tracks but arranged and played all the instruments for his original music. His album drops in September but until then, check this cute b+w video for his single, "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out." The actual single was released as a heart-shaped vinyl featured in the video.

Nicolas Malinowsky is ILL

Part of the Parisian creative collective Ill-Studio, Nicolas Malinowsky is an ill graphic designer with a penchant for the psychedelic. His B+W collage work has an ominous tone and for his first solo exhibition, Death and the Afterlife, he reflects on objects collected at a second-hand shop, unknowingly from the belongings of a single person who had recently passed. He says, "I wanted to honour this man after meeting him in such an odd posthumous way. Knowing that he was a music lover, I worked from both image and music-based elements – I am influenced by the practice of sampling, which combines, reworks or even redefines the legacies left by previous musical generations." An odd posthumous tribute, Malinowsky's work conjures up a certain mysticism and the surrealist works of Rene Magritte and more contemporarily, the Australian art/fashion couple, Perks and Mini. Badass!!

King Britt x Sun Ra @ River-to-River

Philly's own King Britt created a multi-media electronic homage to free jazz philosopher/artist Sun-Ra. Titled after Sun-Ra's ancestral home of Saturn, Saturn Never Sleeps, Sun-Ra: Lectric combines "audio-visual microcomponents...with live musicians of acoustic and electronic inventions" in the downtown night sky setting of the World Financial Center Winter Garden. Best of all, it's FREE! Thanks Jefe!

River-to-River
Tuesday, July 28
220 Vesey Street
9PM