Ashkahn Show!!!

For all my LA heads, this show is not to be missed!

YOU FORGOT THIS ON THE WAY OUT
New Prints & Things By ASHKAHN

Saturday, March 13th
7-10PM

Flock Shop
943 N. Broadway #103
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Village Voice Choice Eats

The folks over at the Village Voice are bringing together over 50 of the cities most diverse and delicious restaurants together for a food extravaganza in the third annual Choice Eats Tasting Event!! Some of my favorite restaurants including the homies from An Choi, Mantao Chinese Sandwiches, Pinche Taqueria and Kuma Inn will be dishing a selection from their menus. Check the full list of participants here!

The Village Voice’s Third Annual Choice Eats

Monday March 22, 2010 6:30 - 9:30pm
The 69th Armory at Lexington Avenue
68 Lexington Ave @ 26th Street, NYC

Featuring eclectic culinary favorites of resident food critics, Robert Sietsema and Sarah DiGregorio, The Village Voice is proud to present our third annual curated Choice Eats tasting event. Handpicked restaurants from all five boroughs featured in the Fork in the Road and Counter Culture columns are represented, along with complimentary craft beer pairings, wine and liquor beverages.

Ask Lee a Question

Lee Quinones, amazing artist and friend, is being featured on NYTimes' City Blog this week! Ask him a question and he'll be responding here!

This week, Lee Quiñones, an artist who emerged from the subway art movement of the 1970s, will be responding to readers’ questions about his life, work and the evolution of graffiti as art in New York City.

Phantogram

I've been feeling super nostalgic for the days of trip hop recently. It might be the weather, it might just be that time, but my old Portishead, Massive Attack and Morcheeba albums sound completely on point. I just downloaded the Winter Mix from Chirp, a seasonal "mixtape" put out by Kevin Byrd and Co. Each quarter he gets a homie to design a cover for his compilation. I jam out on it on the regular. I was psyched to discover Phantogram, a duo comprised of Sarah Barthel and Joshua Carter from Saratoga Springs, NY. Their part of the Ghostly International family and I loved the record As Far As I Can See from their debut album, Eyelid Movies.

Documentary Fortnight @ MoMA

With the blizzard outside, what better time to head inside and check some art and film. This is the last weekend to catch some of the amazing documentary films on view through MoMA's Documentary Fortnight program. Established in 2001, this annual event brings some of the world's most compelling non-fiction stories to NYC. The dynamic programming covers stories big and small ranging from the housing market in Williamsburg Brooklyn to the amazing collection of Western masterworks housed at Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art (see below). Check out the full program here and a selection from a series of films focused on Iran that are screening on Saturday.


The Treasure Cave
2009. Iran. Directed by Bahman Kiarostami. Residing under one of the most vehemently anti-Western governments in the world, Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art possesses a treasure trove of masterworks that—virtually unseen for all but a few of the last three decades—are all but forgotten outside knowledgeable art circles. The film recounts the history of a museum that, despite possessing the most extensive collection of late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western art outside the West, has been transformed into a place for honoring the martyrs of the revolution and Iran/Iraq war. In Farsi; English subtitles. 43 min.

Statues of Tehran
2008. Iran. Directed by Bahman Kiarostami. Statues of Tehran provides a brief overview of sculpture in Iran’s capital city, with a focus on two works. One of the first modern works to be erected in Tehran was created in the 1970s by Bahman Mohassess for what was then the Royal Family. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War, the city’s public displays were limited to revolutionary and ideological works, and Mohassess’s sculpture was destined to disintegration and storage. In contrast, Iraj Esskandari’s statue in Enghelab (Revolution) Circus has been standing in a prominent location of Tehran for the last twenty-seven years, a symbol of the revolution and the war. Now this statue is set to be dismantled and replaced by a subway station. Presented by Howard Weinberg, President, New York Film/Video Council, in collaboration with the New York Film/Video Council. This program is supported by the E Ike Eshagian Foundation. In Farsi; English subtitles. 60 min.

Saturday, February 27, 2010, 4:00 p.m. , Theater 1, T1 (U.S. premieres. Followed by discussion with Bahman Kiarostami)

Act of God @ HSNY

Act of God is a feature documentary about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. The event represents the paradox of being singled out by randomness, and so precipitates questions about chance, fate and meaning in life. The film explores seven stories from around the world that raise and respond to these questions, while keeping the sky and what comes out of it as a central visual metaphor and thread. Paul Auster, who was struck as a teenager, philosophically anchors the film, along with Fred Frith, the improviser, who both imaginatively underpins it and personally demonstrates the ubiquity of electricity in our bodies and the universe.

Thursday, 2/25
Horticultural Society of New York
148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor
Doors open at 6pm; film starts promptly at 6:30pm
Refreshments served
RSVP via email at hsny@hsny.org or call (212)757-0915 x115

todo el mundo - everybody everybody

Todo El Mundo (Everybody Everybody) (Original Version) Ricky y Nelson Proyecto Uno 1991 PNP Records Merengue version of Black Box's classic house track oww!

Photoshop Cooks

A video made in stopmotion for competition AdobeYouGC. What if you could use photoshop to whip up cookies instead of images?

Watching

USPS Automated Postal Center

Topping the list of folks' most dreaded errands is probably a trip to the Post Office. Long lines, unfriendly counter ladies, and screaming kids make the absurd waiting times nearly unbearable. I was anticipating a pretty long afternoon at my local post office when i was overjoyed to discover a newly installed USPS Automated Postal Center. They were rolled out in select locations last year but i hadnt encountered one until today. The process is as straightforward as buying a Metrocard or Self-Check kiosks at the airport cutting my wait time down from a 20+ person lineup to about 2 minutes start to finish. Kudos to whoever spearheaded this effort to bring our postal system into the 21st century.

Food Print NYC Mini Conference

Foodprint NYC is the first in a series of international conversations about food and the city. From a cluster analysis of bodega inventories to the cultural impact of the ice-box, and from food deserts to peak phosphorus, panelists will examine the hidden corsetry that gives shape to urban foodscapes, and collaboratively speculate on how to feed New York in the future. The free afternoon program will include designers, policy-makers, flavor scientists, culinary historians, food retailers, and others, for a wide-ranging discussion of New York’s food systems, past and present, as well as opportunities to transform our edible landscape through technology, architecture, legislation, and education.

Date: Saturday, February 27

Time: 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Location: Studio-X (180 Varick St., Suite 1610, New York, NY 10014)

Free and open to the public

DJ Sneak for Fool's Gold

I listen to some random podcasts (HVW8, Deadly Dragon, Yoruba Soul Radio, Truth+Soul, Stones Throw...) to keep the work day movin' forward and was pleasantly surprised to be seat dancing on a dreary Friday afternoon to DJ Sneak's "For The Ladies" podcast for Fool's Gold. Subscribe through ITunes or check it out here.
House hero DJ Sneak provides “For The Ladies, Vol 1″ with his signature house take on the holiday’s luv-ed up vibes, an hour and change of feel-good vocals and some very unexpected remix choices.

Deitch...In More News

And this piece of news I got while at the opening but was so shocked about it I felt like it deserved its own separate post. Last month Deitch announced that he will be leaving NYC to Direct the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA!! What will it all mean for New York City, New York Artists and his SoHo Wooster Space? NYMag's culture Vulture slices it up here.

Kehinde Wiley x Puma @ Deitch

I stopped by Deitch on Wednesday to check out Kehinde Wiley's new collaboration with Puma. The opening drew a great cross-section of downtown heads, artists, and creatives from across the board including OG Chuck Close, Fab Five Freddy, Toure, Lainie Balby, Oscar Sanchez, and Raul (Hood by Air). Wiley's large scale portraits were on display as well as video content showing the backstory for his trip across Africa and interaction with the continent's biggest soccer stars. Check the video below. Rich Medina was on the decks and there was a special performance by Zozo Afrobeat.

To celebrate this summer’s World Cup in South Africa and PUMA’s long standing partnership with African football, PUMA has partnered with Kehinde Wiley, one of the world’s most sought-after artists, and commissioned him to create four original works of art inspired by three of football’s most decorated players. Wiley’s paintings, along with PUMA’s collection of lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories that incorporate his graphics — as well as the PUMA Africa Unity Kit — will be on display in NYC for a special exhibition at the Deitch Projects. Of The Same Earth, a film documenting Wiley’s experiences visiting these athletes in their home countries, will be screened throughout the exhibition.

PUMA-sponsored football stars Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboué of Ivory Coast all sat for individual portraits plus a ‘Unity’ portrait with all three players together, symbolizing the united countries of Africa. In the ‘Unity’ portrait, the players are wearing the PUMA Africa Unity Kit, a special kit that is registered as the third kit for all PUMA-sponsored African football teams in 2010.

The exhibition is on a seven-country tour which started in Berlin in January and ends in South Africa in June during the World Cup. The exhibition also stops in Paris, London, Beijing, Milan, and Tokyo.

Deitch Projects
18 Wooster Street
Thursday, February 18th - Saturday, February 20th
12pm to 6pm

Tonite @ 255

Where have I been for the last 3 months, you might ask? Grindin. Come by, have a beer, watch a film and check out what Ive been working on!!

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255 Custom Lab and the Maysles Institute invite you to

JOCK DOCS at 255

THE REAL: Rucker Park Legends
Special Q+A with director Bob McCullough Jr.

Thursday, February 11
255 Elizabeth between Houston and Prince

Doors at 7PM

Coming Up in Jock Docs at 255: 2/25, The Karlton Hines Story

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About THE REAL: Rucker Park Legends
More than five decades ago, a New York City Parks employee named Holcombe Rucker encouraged Harlem kids to stay in school with a basketball tournament and league that would develop into an international phenomenon. Upon his death, two of his pupils continued his work by drawing from the league's Pro Division to start the famous "Each One Teach One" program, pairing up basketball's greats with disadvantaged youth. The innovative idea attracted such legends as Julius "Dr. J" Erving and streetball heroes such as Earl "The Goat" Manigault and Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond. Rucker Park's reputation quickly grew, becoming a virtual training ground for the NBA, influencing the playing style of the game and transforming Hip-Hop culture. Told by the legends themselves, this is The Real: the incredible true story behind Rucker Park from its unpolished beginnings through its heyday in the '60s and '70s to its more commercial present-day. But most of all, it's an amazing tale of how one man's dream and his pupils' gratitude explosively transformed an ordinary neighborhood basketball court into the world's most famous streetball arena.

Ata Kak - Daa Nyinaa

For more on Ata Kak and ghana highlife check out Brian's dope blog, Awesome Tapes from Africa, here!!

Corinne Bailey Rae

British sweetheart Corinne Bailey Rae dropped her sophomore album, The Sea, today revealing a more mature and vulnerable side. Her self-titled first album was full of saccharine dipped pop melodies that brought her critical acclaim in 2006. After the death of her husband from an apparent overdose, she took a 2-year hiatus to release The Sea. Check the video for the new single, Id Do It All Again, below. Thanks Dame!

John Francis Peter @ YES Gallery

YES Gallery in Brooklyn, NY will be hosting a benefit show this Friday January 29th, for the Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti.

John Francis Peter, the photo coordinator at The FADER, will be showing limited edition prints from the series "Where We Stood Together, Haiti, December 2009." "I made this series during the last two weeks of 2009 while I traveled around Haiti for the first time." All proceeds go directly to the Hospital Albert Schweitzer. Along with the images there will be Haitian arts and crafts on display, food and music, so please try to come out, support, and start the weekend off right :)

YES Gallery
147 India Street
Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Ego Trip x Maysles Institute

80 Blocks From Tiffany's
(Dir. Gary Wiess, 1979, 67 min.)

Shotgun
(Dir. Steven Goodman, 1982, 25 min.)

Egotrip and the Maysles Institute have partnered to present Egotrips favourite documentaries in a series titled, Under the Influence. It kicks off tonite with 80 Blocks from Tiffany's and Shotgun, a documentary short.

80 Blocks from Tiffany's is a rich film where filmmaker Gary Wiess and cinematographer Joan Churchill hang out with the South Bronx gang, the Savage Skulls. In Shotgun, this party atmosphere turns tragic. Steven Goodman, who has gone on to lead the field of video education with EVC, provides a portrait of Shotgun, an eighteen-year-old gang member living in the South Bronx, facing serious criminal charges.

Both filmmakers will be present at the In addition, Ponce Laspina, a former 5th Division President of the notorious Savage Skulls, and NYPD Detective Robert Werner (who appears prominently in 80 Blocks) will also be in attendance.

Check out the post Complex did with the crew from Ego Trip about the documentaries they chose for the series here!

About Ego Trip: Ego Trip is the New York-based creative collective behind the top-rated VH1 reality programs The (White) Rapper Show and Miss Rap Supreme as well as the critically acclaimed Book of Rap Lists and Big Book of Racism!

Maysles Institute
2/3 to 125th St
Located on the west side of the street between 127th and 128th streets on Lenox Ave (aka Malcolm X Blvd.)

Barnstormers for Haiti

Barnstomers is organizing a night of music, art, food & drink this Saturday, January 23 in Brooklyn The line up looks dope and includes our friends Dhundee, Yuri Shimojo, B. Satz & Doze Green. If you haven’t seen the teaser for our studio visit, see it here.

Sucre ( Haitian Cafe )

520 Dekalb Avenue
(On the corner of Bedford)

Saturday, Jan. 23 – 7:30pm till enough

$10 suggested donation
All proceeds go to first response efforts on the ground in Haiti.

Shipping containers for food and clothing will be on site – suggested items are baby food, shoes, first aid supplies, non-perishables and water.

Eclectic mix of music from Stevie Wonder to Johnny Cash to ODB. DJs, Jazz musicians, Percussionists, dancing and art all night.

BLK JKS Molalatladi Video Debut!!

Directors - Chell Stephen & Nadia Hallgren
Producer - Lisa Diebner
NYC D.P - Gregg Conde
Soweto D.P - Nadia Hallgren
Editors - Chell Stephen & Sam Winter
Production Company - Polite Company
Executive Producer - Jamie-James Medina

RIP Teddy Pendergrass

Rest in Power Teddy Pendergrass!

Taz Arnoldvision

Straight from the LA Valley, Taz Arnold aka TISA from Sa Ra Creative Partners gives a tour of his working studio, his designs for classic 80s cult brand MCM and performs a lil sumthin sumthin with his homies Major and Bailey. BANG! Check it from Creative Control.

Diplo x Gucci Mane Mixtape

As Gucci Mane sits in jail serving out his year-long bid for parole violation, dont think his fans arent thinking of him. Diplo has just dropped a free mixtape off the Mad Decent website with remixes from a great stable of musak tweakers including Teenwolf (from Ninjasonik), Benzi, Memory Tapes, and Flying Lotus. Download it here.

1. "Danger's Not a Stranger (Diplo Remix)"
2. "Dope Boy (Bird Peterson Remix)"
3. "Excuse Me (Memory Tapes Remix)"
4. "No No No (Brodinski & Monsieur Monsieur Remix)"
5. "Frowny Face (Douster Remix)"
6. "Frowny Face (Emynd Remix ft. Playboy Tre)"
7. "I'm Expectin (Teenwolf Remix)"
8. "Boi (Zomby Remix)"
9. "My Shadow (Salem Remix)"
10. "Excuse Me (Diplo Remix)"
11. "Photo Shoot (Flying Lotus Remix)"
12. "I Be Everywhere (Mumdance Remix)"
13. "I Be Everywhere (DZ Remix)"
14. "I'm the Shit (Benzi & Willy Joy Remix)"
15. "Break Yourself (Diplo Remix ft. Lil B)"

Adventures with Ruth

Even though Gourmet Magazine shuttered with its last print issue in November of 2009, the brand continues to live on through some interesting programming choices online and on TV. I caught the last episode of Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth first season today on PBS. Part travelogue, part cooking show, Adventures with Ruth has the former Editor-in-Chief jetsetting to food capitols in Laos, Morocco, Mexico, the US and beyond. The episode I caught features the amazingly charming Jeffrey Wright and explores the culinary landscape of Jackson Heights, Queens with chef Julie Sahni. Not only do we get an insider's peak into the community, the restaurants, and the green market, but our guides introduce straightforward recipes to try out at home. In Brooklyn, you can catch the show next Monday, 1/11 and 1/18 at 7:30PM on WLIW Channel 21. Check the clip below.

Watching

This week's ungodly weather has me inside enjoying some sofa cinema.

The REAL Situation

It's no secret that Jersey Shore is a guilty pleasure of mine. Check out this spoof from FunnyOrDie of Mike "The Situation," Snookie, and Pauly D doing their thing.

Bodega Talk

Where does the food in your bodega — or the corner grocer, the local minimart — come from? Who decides whether to stock tortilla chips or salad greens, and how much they'll cost? How come it's easier to find fresh fruits and vegetables in Brooklyn Heights than in the South Bronx? What's the connection between the incidence of diabetes and the food market supply chain?

Last year the Brooklyn-based Center for Urban Pedagogy set out to answer these questions, and the result is Bodega Down Bronx, a 29-minute video created by CUP staff in collaboration with local high school students at New Settlement's Bronx Helpers, a service learning organization focused on civic engagement.-Thanks DesignObserver

Black Santa!

Right before the holidays Stephen told me "Black Santa" would be available for hire. Little did I know this gem of a video was on its way. Start celebrating Christmas with the South Pole. February 1st it goes down!! Thanks Angelo!

The Gift of Giving in 2010

What if an email for free money was actually true? Mother London explored the gift of giving for the holidays. What a nice way to end the year!
thanks SwissMiss!