The Creators Project x Beijing

Check out J.Lam's great B+W photo gallery of the Beijing Creator's Project. This traveling multi-media art extravaganza was brought to the masses by Intel+Vice. A really phenomenal production featuring an innovative group of young creatives! Check the full dedicated Creator's Project site here.

Gil Scott-Heron x Chris Cunningham

POPRALLY PRESENTS
New York Is Killing Me
featuring Chris Cunningham
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
8:30–11:00 P.M.
MoMA

Join us for the world premiere of Chris Cunningham's audiovisual remix of Gil Scott-Heron's "New York Is Killing Me," which will be projected across three screens. This unique event will be preceded by a conversation about the making of the video with Cunningham and Barbara London, Associate Curator of Media and Performance Art. Doors and bar open at 8:30; conversation starts promptly at 9:30. Buy tickets here.

Cult filmmaker, musician, photographer, and producer Chris Cunningham is known for his highly acclaimed music videos for artists including Aphex Twin, Björk, Portishead, and many others. Since 2003 his focus has moved to music: he worked as a producer on The Horrors' Mercury Prize–nominated Primary Colours; won a Cannes Golden Lion for his reworking of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" in his 2008 Gucci Flora commercial; and created audiovisual remixes for Gil Scott-Heron and Grace Jones. Recently, he has headlined festivals around the world with his new live show, and is presently working on his first audiovisual album.

Check out this heartbreaking portrait of Scott-Heron from last month's New Yorker.

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson + Aloe Blacc

Love Miguel Atwood-Ferguson's orchestral arrangements and collaborations with contemporary LA-based artists. Download the track for free here! Thanks Chuck!

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox

After escaping from an insane asylum where he was locked up for spreading the gospel of the Moral ABC, Dr. Emmanuel Bronner decided that the best way to spread the message of his All One faith was to make the best soap in the world and print the Moral ABC on the label. Thus Dr. Bronner's Magic 18-in-1 Pure Castille Peppermint Soap was born. A 5th generation soap maker, Bronner's vision for uniting spaceship Earth is carried out through the ethics and practices of the company. His grandson now helms the family-owned business using only organic fair-trade ingredients, investing in olive oil from the holy land, and was the first company to use 100% post consumer recycled bottles! Check out the clip from Sarah Lamm's amazing documentary about the man, the mission, and the soap.

Viva La Mexico!!!

It's the 200th anniversary of mexican independence!! Celebrate with my favorite Mexicans in NYC!!
La Superior
295 Berry Street/ bw S2nd & S3rd/ Williamsburg
TONIGHT Wednesday Sept 15th
11p- till you drop

FREE!

Devin Troy Strother @ Richard Heller

Checkout Devin's solo show at the Richard Heller Gallery and see some of the amazing work he put together during his artist residency this summer.

Devin Troy Strother
Please Don’t Act a Fool in the Club: A Memory of the Sugar Shack & Stuntin’ Like My Daddy
September 11, 2010 - October 9, 2010
2525 MICHIGAN AVE, B-5A
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
Opening Reception: 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Growing Power

As New York hits High Fashion Frenzy this week, Im off to Milwaukee for a weekend of education and community building with people from around the country in the urban agriculture movement. I received this email in my inbox yesterday and it got me more excited than ever to head to Wisconsin! I thought Id share Will Allen's words with my friends! You can download the whole conference program here.

Welcome to Milwaukee, our great city by Lake Michigan.

In the fall of 2009, I was thinking about how we will grow Good Food Revolution. I realized that we did not have all the players at the Good Food Table. Over the years, many people have been working hard on getting good food into our communities in many different ways, but all too often they were working only in their own sectors. I feel that for us to fundamentally change
the food system, we must work together as a team.

I have worked at, spoken at, participated in many gatherings and conferences over the years. At these conferences, it seemed there were never all the players needed, to know each other and eventually work together. This conference is my attempt, and Growing Power’s attempt, to bring to the table folks that have never worked together to build a new food system that works for everyone in every community. Some of these folks are farmers like myself, urban planners, government officials, financiers, corporate companies; teachers and university academics; doctors, dieticians and nutritionists; folks in the fitness field; people in renewable energy; aquaculturists, composters, recyclers and reusers; environmentalists including freshwater, wastewater and stormwater experts; brownfield specialists; and perhaps most importantly, youth, whose world will be shaped by what we do or not do, here and wherever we all return to.

Over the next few days, working hard while eating some good local food from our local and regional producers, I hope that all of you will learn more, gain new partners, get inspired to go back to your communities and Grow the Good Food Revolution. Our ultimate goal is to make sure everyone, in all our communities, has access to healthy, safe, affordable and culturally appropriate food. Food is the one thing we all have in common. Building a Good Food system is the No. 1 thing that will lead us in building sustainable communities.

This is really what social justice is about.
Will Allen

Dare to be Square

Ive had a quilt project in the works for about a year now and seeing this trailer for Boo Davis' badass quilts is getting me psyched for some downtime during the winter!! Bring the quilting bee on!!! Dare To Be Square, her new book on quilting looks amazing and inspirational!

Dare to Be Square Quilting by Boo Davis from Quiltsrÿche on Vimeo.

Urban Homesteading

Thought this was a cute straight-forward post on how to start your own little urban farm! Raise chickens, can jams, grow some veggies! Thanks Apartment Therapy!

The Free Experience

Stumbled upon Nick James' great music blog, The Free Experience, today when searching for the below Bilal/Miguel Atwood Ferguson Download. Thought I should shout it out -- not only does James have great free music downloads and coverage (check out Sonnymoon...what?!) but he also puts together some cool mixtapes. Im checking out the Soul Reggae mix now.

RECESS:: Bocce + BBQ @ Governor's Island

This Saturday at Governor's Island witness the showdown of the summer -- RECESS pt 2 :: Bocce Ball on Colonel's Row! Watch creative agencies battle it out, take a spin around the picturesque island courtesy of Linus Bikes, and grub on some delicious Texas-style smoked brisket courtesy of HNH BBQ! Sweet Jewels' red velvet cakeballs will be dishing delicious sweets as well!

Garden of Eden

Collage Artist Christa Joo Hyun D'Angelo is dope! Check out some of her new work, just in time for Fashion Week!

Chillzine Season 2

Attention attention! Chillzine Season 2, Issue 7 is out!! This Seoul-based arts 'zine is lovingly curated by three creative superstars who met one another in art school. "Chill," in Korean, can be loosely translated to mean, "to color" or "to paint" and Maia, Jaewon, and Heoji have used the medium of the 'zine to paint their own world into reality. After a short hiatus, the zine is relaunching this month with collaborations from photographer Jay Lewis! Pick up the newest issue at Printed Matter in NYC, Donlon Books in London and throughout Seoul.

Mind Your Head

Poster from Johannesburg-based designer!

Upstate Labor Day

Ramadan 2010

Next Thursday is Eid ul-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. One of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims around the world follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad and fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan is a prayerful month and the idea that people all over the world are fasting and reflecting on their spiritual journeys is very powerful to me. Check out the Boston Globe's series of beautiful images of Muslims across the globe coming together for Ramadan--in prayer, in celebration, and in meals. (Can someone please make chocolate mosques in NYC?) Happy Eid ul-Fitr to all my folks! Thanks Rukhs!!

Carolina Chocolate Drops

As a Southern girl I really love the sounds, instruments and soul of folk music. I mean this in the broadest of terms--zydeco, tejano, rockabilly, bluegrass and outlaw country--peppered the airways and public spaces of my youth. When I heard the 3-piece string band Carolina Chocolate Drops I fell in love with their musical arrangements and the brave way they're interpreting a traditional genre. Check out their cover of "Hit Em Up Style" below and Dom Flemons' lesson on how to play bones! NPR interview here!

How to Play Bones w/ Dom Flemons

Soul Food

The NYTimes published a great interactive feature about combat meals served to soldiers from over 50 countries in Afghanistan. A totally fascinating viewpoint on the comforts of food, home, and military culture on the ground. Soldiers from different countries trade meals; the French ration of cassoulet, deer pâté and nougat, used to be worth three American rations. I especially love all the different matchboxes included in each combat ration. Check out 14 dining packets from varying countries here!

Sprouting a Community Garden: ATL

Sprouting a Community Garden in ATL -- love the idea of documenting the rollout of a community garden from start to finish! Thanks CityFarmer!

Healthy Bodegas

What would NYC be without our cornerstores, delis, and bodegas! GrowNYC, the organization behind the city's greenmarkets, has started a welcome new initiative with the DoH and Red Jacket Orchards to deliver farm-fresh, locally grown produce to Bed Stuy bodegas! Ive loved the influx of green carts across the city and in my neighborhood and this new program is another great step in the right direction. Healthy Bodegas has the potential to transform the "food desert" of neighborhoods like ours by offering healthy food options AND convenience. Now I can grab beers, snacks, seasonal vegetables AND vanilla dutches at my corner spot. Thanks Kat!!

Healthy Bodegas Initiative from CENYC on Vimeo.

Arcade Fire: The Wilderness Dowtown

The Wilderness Downtown. Honestly the most amazing and beautiful thing I've seen using our current technology. Thanks Arcade Fire for being f*cking awesome.

Papa Issue :: Bold and Spicy

As a Houstonian, Ive always been lucky enough to have access to one of the best contemporary Latin American collections in the United States (see Mari Carmen Ramirez, curator for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston) and even saw Inverted Utopias in '04, the landmark exhibition of up-and-coming Latin American artists like Jesus Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez. Thanks to the beauty of the interwebs, we can roam through the mini-galleries of Papa Issue, a collection of works by Latino artists from around the diaspora working across different mediums. Architecture, music, illustration, conceptual art, and interiors seek to inspire people to create. Thanks TSA!

North Korea + Funkytown

North Korean People's Army Funky Get Down Juche Party

I know President Carter is currently in North Korea on a humanitarian mission to free American teacher Ajalon Gones while Kim Jong-Il is gallavanting across China. But this video is pretty amazing.

HNH BBQ @ Trophy Bar

We're back at trophy bar for our monthly residency tonite and not only are we celebrating the one-and-only Dennis Ngo's birthday but we're also debuting our first fall special -- Four-Meat Texas Chili!! Sweet Tea Cocktails for $5 and Brisket in the Backyard. Sebastian, Don and EPak on the wheels spinning new wave!!

Happy Birthday MJ

A year later and I still get emotional about MJ's passing. This Sunday, Spike Lee and DJ Spinna are doing it again with the Michael Jackson birthday tribute. Come through Prospect Park and help us sing it "ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa!" Check out the clip below of from last year...Rest in Power MJ!

Sissy Bounce @ PS1

Long Island City's PS1 Warm-Up series has been a summer institution. Young architects get the whole run of the front courtyard to design into an adult playland for NYC party people and DJs and obscure art bands get to play a museum (not necessarily a museum crowd.) This coming Saturday, the Queen of New Orleans bounce, Big Freedia and her sidekick DJ Rusty Lazer bring a little bit of the Third Coast to the East Coast. They recently tore it down at a party with Ninjasonik in BK but I got put onto the subgenre, "sissy bounce" from a recent NYTimes article. The sound is familiar from growing up hearing underground beats in Houston but this bubbling culture is gender-bending, female-centric, fast, and LIVE! I might brave the crowds this weekend to check it out! Read more from the Times article below.

If “gay rapper” is an oxymoron where you come from, how to get your head around the notion of a gay rapper performing in a sports bar? What in most cities might seem plausible only as some sort of Sacha Baron Cohen-style provocation is just another weeknight in the cultural Galapagos that is New Orleans. Sometime after midnight on the sweltering Thursday before Memorial Day, the giant plasma-screen TVs at the Sports Vue bar (which “proudly airs all major Pay Per View events from the world of Boxing and Ultimate Fighting”) were all switched off, and the bar’s backroom turned into a low-lit, low-ceilinged dance club, where more than 300 people awaited a return engagement by Big Freedia, who by day runs an interior-decoration business and who is, to fans of the New Orleans variant of hip-hop music known as “bounce,” a superstar.

At 1 a.m., though, Freedia (pronounced “FREE-da”) was still a mile or so away, fulfilling a paid celebrity-hosting gig at Club Fabulous. The fabulousness of Club Fabulous, on this night at least, seemed a function mainly of its Mardi Gras-themed décor, conceived and executed by Freedia herself. Otherwise the crowd was sparse, largely straight and listless. Freedia looked weary as she leaned back against the bar with her dyed, diagonally cut bangs over one eye, holding a cordless microphone. (Freedia, who is about 6 foot 2 and very powerful-looking and dresses in a fashionable but recognizably masculine style, is genetically a man; but neither she nor anyone who knows her uses masculine pronouns to refer to her.) When “Rock Around the Clock,” one of her signature songs, came on the sound system, a few women walked over to Freedia and stood with their backs to her, but the atmosphere wasn’t quite electric enough for them to really start dancing, and the men just continued playing pool. After a while, Freedia’s D.J. and de facto manager, who goes by the name Rusty Lazer — a whippetlike 39-year-old white man with a salt-and-pepper beard — let Freedia know that it was time to move on to the next show.

NY State of Mind

I cant stop thinking about this amazing spread in Elle's September issue. Thanks Sai!! For full spread check here.

Timeless in the Park

The lovely folks from Mochilla are taking over Saint Nicholas Park tomorrow night for a screening and jam fest with Bobbito, Jazzy Jay and Lean Rock! J. Rocc is flying in to do a "Timeless" Video Mix. In case you missed out, Timeless was an unforgettable orchestral concert series that brought together composers like Mulatu of Ethiopia, Arthur Verocai and J. Dilla (RIP) with a 15-piece orchestra interpreting their classic work during the Spring of 2009. This is a really unique way to experience the shows and enjoy the end of summer! Buy the boxed set here!

Growing Power Food Conference

I first came across Will Allen and Growing Power in a 2009 article about urban farming in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine. A former basketball player and marketing guy for P&G, Allen found his passion in urban agriculture early on and his organization, Growing Power, has been a leader in the urban farming movement. Not only have they been able to cultivate sustainable growing practices on the farm, but have been able to successfully integrate the surrounding community into the larger movement of local food. Local schools in Milwaukee buy produce from Growing Power and theyve been able to roll out their business model to other locations including school and community farms in Detroit, Chicago, and other urban centers across the country.

Growing Power will be hosting their first ever Urban Agriculture conference this September 10th-12th in Milwaukee. Besides a keynote address from Allen himself, one of my heroes, Grace Lee Boggs, will also be speaking (via video conference) from her home in Detroit. Tracks for the conference range from aquaculture to social justice + food, and renewable energy. Anyone else down to join me for a weekend in the midwest?

RIP Abbey Lincoln

Jazz Vocalist, actress, revolutionary. You'll be missed Abbey Lincoln! Check the video of her and Max Roach below, from We Insist! Freedom Now.

Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach