The United Colors of Benetton has me convinced that not all major fashion companies contribute to world malaise. Benetton consistently keeps it real by giving back to world communities, and their most recent humanitarian campaign is no different. Last month, the company teamed up with Youssou N’Dour, one of Africa’s and Senegal’s best-known singers, to launch “Africa Works,” a spotlight on entrepreneurial Africa.

Here’s the gist:
“The campaign promotes the Birima micro-credit programme in Senegal, a co-operative credit society founded by N’Dour. [It] offers financial services for SMEs [small and medium enterprises], craftspeople, professionals and artists to help them start and independently develop their business.“
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Take a break from all the stuffy Chelsea galleries, and enjoy a breath of fresh air at Jonathen LeVine’s gallery. His space completely focuses on underground art, and in doing so brings in the cutting-edge and quirky artists that could otherwise fall through the cracks. The gallery formerly operated in Philadelphia and New Hope, PA as the Tin Man Alley Gallery and moved to New York just a few years ago. Exhibiting celebrated, unknown, and controversial artists, the exhibitions run approximately every six weeks, and this six-week cycle, showcasing the art of Lori Earley and Tara McPherson, has only a few weeks left.

Fade to Grey is Lori Earley’s solo exhibition, focusing on a subdued color-palette (a first for the artist) of graphite drawings. In Fade to Gray, Lori Earley evokes mood and intensity by blending photorealist painting techniques with Mannerist elements of surreal distortion in haunting female portraits. The muted colors express the artist’s exhaustion from a period of arduous work, and expanding on this theme for the installation itself, all pieces are framed in white and displayed on custom Victorian-inspired wallpaper. Jarring and intriguing at the same time, its surreal nature pulls you in.

Lost Constellations is Tara McPherson’s solo exhibition, that combines oil paintings and resin-cast sculptures (a new medium experience for the artist) incorporated into site-specific installations. Depicting adventurous super-heroines from an alternate universe, crossing dimensional planes of time and space, McPherson considers the idea of parallel existence. Using her signature bold and graphic style, Tara’s imagery uses a reoccurring cast of female characters appearing in various states of action - fighting battles and growing toward self-discovery. McPherson’s visual stories explore love, loss and loneliness through variations on strength, vulnerability and female empowerment.

The female artist tag team’s combination of distinct styles is enough reason to pull you into LeVine’s space for a look at some of today’s real underground art - a chance to breathe easy in the freshest originality. For more info click here.

American Gangster hit the DVD shelves on February 19th, and TRACE has 5 extra freebies to give away! We were on top of our game when we predicted the pending frenzy over the film, and interviewed its rising stars in our Sporting Life issue. With an all-star cast (Denzel Washington, Russel Crowe, and James Brolin) and a story based on one of Harlem’s most notorious crime bosses, the film was a box office hit. To get your own free copy, email TRACE’s Web Editor at lmarcus@trace212.com. We only have a couple handfuls of these DVDs, so get your own copy fast before all the gangsta glory is gone.

Italians Do It Better, the independent music label, has hit a sweet note - or more accurately a consistent beat. Here’s how the story goes: Mike Simonetti, a Jersey native and traveling DJ, started a blog in 2006 called Vivaitalians, and it quickly evolved into a disco, dance-flavor imprint when Mike joined forces with Johnny Jewel based in Portland, Oregon. Italians Do It Better represents six acts as of now: Professor Genuis, Farah, Mirage, Glass Candy and Chromatics (the two most widely fawned over by the music blogs), and their most recent signing, Tiedye, a Swedish (no surprise there!) band that Simonetti swears “is a proper band and not a dude behind a laptop.” Need I mention the overly-hyped ‘dude’ that comes to my mind? Yes, I do - *cough* Girl Talk.

Now the bi-coastal indie label can’t stop the buzz after a 2007 label primer and compilation CD release, After Dark, and following its success, each of the acts (excluding Mirage and Tiedye) realeased their own 12-inch. On top of that, a slew of albums were released, Night Drive (Chromatics), Beat Box (Glass Candy), and Professor Genius (Professor Genius). Determined to keep the dance bands separate from the “noise stuff,” Simonetti and Jewel (who also performs in Glass Candy and Chromatics) use a grass-roots approach in which the Italo-disco bands promote and sell the cds on tour. It’s an approach Simonetti believes is missing from dance labels today. And as a extra perk, IDIB and their acts always sample new beat-driven songs on their MySpace pages.

With new stuff happening every week, there’s always something to check out on Simonetti’s blog (most recently, t-shirts!) and the handful of MySpace pages. I’m hooked, and hopefully soon I can catch one of these IDIB acts or even hear Simonetti spin, but until then I’ll keep sampling, purchasing, and dancing to anything by Italians Do It Better, ‘cuz Italians seem to know what’s best.

Try this tongue twister: I’m really likin’ Lykke Li’s “Little Bit” song a whole lot. For once, I feel safe in saying the music blogs are right about Lykke Li and her highly anticipated debut album. As one of the newest singers to break out of Stockholm, her first full length album, Youth Novels (produced with the help of fellow Swede, Peter Moren of Peter Bjorn & John) hit Swedish stores on January 30. Antsy American fans can rest assured that the album is expecting a U.S. release date, and more is on the horizon from this pop singer compared to the likes of Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen and Feist. While waiting for Youth Novels to make its way across the sea, you can visit her MySpace page, and preview most of the album’s jams. And an extra perk - keep an eye out for Lykke Li in the upcoming TRACE Peace Issue.

The song that sealed the deal for me was “Little Bit” and the accompanying video. After countless plays, I still can’t decide if it’s the textured “oo-oo-oo”s that open up the song, the beat that gets me moving, or the catchiest refrain I’ve heard in awhile that keeps me hitting the repeat button. Maybe it’s the combination of all three, but Lykke Li’s lyrics are stuck in my head—and I don’t want to get them out. Go ahead and give Lykke Li a try, just for a little bit. I did, and I still have her on repeat.

American Apparel has always been known for their provocative and explicit advertising campaigns, but more recently the company has been running advertisements that focus on a political issue - immigration reform. Instead of butt cheeks, long legs, and rainbow colored cotton, the new black and white ads feature real American Apparel immigrant workers. The ads have run in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times over the past month, and contain a strong message with apolitical words such as “apartheid” and “purgatory,” and they even include a quote from President Bush.

While I welcome the change from bare skin to “real” faces, and believe that Dov Charney, CEO, really does mean well, it’s hard to take these ads seriously. American Apparel has such a sordid past, with ads that shout “cotton-clad hipsters=sexy style,” that these new ads which speak of “reform” lie buried beneath all those tri-blend v-neck tees and neon leggings. Change is good, and a point has been made by the company, but can an ad that says, “Legalize L.A., Legalize USA” really conquer such a sensitive and controversial topic? It’s a start. If the clothing company wants the message to hit home, then major billboards may just do the trick. There’s not a better place to start than with AA’s billboard on the Lower East Side at Houston and Allen. If reform is really “in,” then the metallic short-shorts need to go. I hope to see more of these powerful faces and a push for their rights, but I won’t hold my breath, because spring is steadily approaching, and I heard that cotton is once again “in.”

I was ready to disregard the sounds of Toronto’s young hip-hop duo Candy Coated Killahz, with song titles like “Booty Bounce” and “It Factor,” but their blended electro-pop dance beats, fresh attitude, and hip-hop bounce made me change my mind. Female producer/MC Tosha Dash, and her rhyming partner-in-crime Icon the Anomali, make up the duo’s flavorful sound and dance club energy. Both youngsters seem to ooze an uncanny combination of stylized innocence, and maturity beyond their years. I recommend listening to their “Rich Kids” song, chock full of catchy lyrics, and layered textures that make you want to bust a move.

The two released a 6-song sampler called Bloodsugar: The Mixtape this past August, and will release their debut full-length, It Factor this coming March. My booty is a bouncin’, and I predict many more will join in the beat come this Spring. Check out these youthful urban mavens, and all their neon on their MySpace page.

A plethora of white walls, open space, and contemporary art meet the eye in The (new) New Museum, that opened on the first of this month in the Lower East Side. With a lot of hype surrounding its opening, the “stacked rectilinear boxed structure” made news even before construction had began. Many critics highlighted how the museum was just another example of the neighborhood’s rapid transformation. The Bowery’s change has been monumental: from the dangerous days of the past, to a swanky hood complete with a new Whole Foods, expensive condos and hotels. The museum’s move from Soho to the LES, where contemporary art seems to ooze out of every street corner, was an opportunity for the museum to return to its roots. Whether the New Museum is returning home, or bringing new crowds to the neighborhood, the building and exhibitions speak for themselves.

“Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century” is the first sculptural exhibition to grace the three floors of spacious (column-free) galleries, and is part of the museum’s collective exhibition, “Unmonumental: An Exhibition in Four Parts.” The expansive white walls and the high ceilings with sky lights give each floor a sense of freedom that is absent from all other museums in the city. While other museums can tend to make you feel sucked in, The New Museum gives you the room to stroll. Yes, stroll. Not once did I have to push past another art voyeur to take a good look at a striking detail. This subtle yet remarkable difference was cherished during my first experience with the art and its space.

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This past Monday marked the addition of a new chapter in the expansion of Louis Vuitton’s most recent ad campaign, and this one goes above and beyond promoting their brand and lifestyle. As an extension of the print ads, photographed by the legendary Annie Leibovitz, this new campaign entitled “Countless Journeys, Countless Emotions,” focuses on the love of travel, which is a deep rooted part of the Vuitton aesthetic. Featuring three international icons: Catherine Deneuve, Mikhail Gorbachev, Andre Agassi, coupled with their favorite cities, the combination is luxurious. An interactive web site completes the campaign, with a multitude of videos for each chosen LV personality.

Deneuve’s story is the most recent addition, and I can’t decide what I like best. Whether it’s Catherine Deneuve’s classic style and beauty, LV’s donations to spread the word on climate control, or Annie Leibovitz’s participation, what LV is doing definitely works. The combination makes for a savvy, artistic, and mature result. Gorbachev’s chapter is still on the horizon, but while you wait, take the time to go to the website to see and read all about what Vuitton has got goin’ on. Indulging in advertising and shopping for luggage has never been so worth it.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original publication of On the Road by Jack Kerouac, is the New York Public Library’s tribute exhibition, Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac, On the Road. On view until February 24, 2008 and from March 1-16, 2008 is the first 60 feet of the original 120 feet “scroll” manuscript for On the Road, countless preserved notepads, photographs, numerous Kerouac drawings and even personal possessions.

The exhibition fleshes out Kerouac as a drifting artist with a whimsical direction in life. Although plagued with notorious addictions, he was above all a curious and passionate soul. The exhibit is broken up into eight “mile markers” that explore in depth the Beat generation and its prominent members, Kerouac’s early influences, his interests in Buddhism and Christianity, and other work such as his poetry and art.

I found the tiny details of Kerouac’s handwriting, a pressed leaf within a journal and the documents signed in blood jarring and memorable. But of all the meticulously preserved artifacts, the most haunting are the personal possessions neatly angled and placed within a glass case. Kerouac was known as a pack rat, and it is his eye glasses and clip-on shades, the harmonica that touched his lips, the dice that rolled within his fingers, his blood bank donor card, his compass that steered him across the country, his pepper mint gum and the Zig Zag rolling papers that really left a lasting impression on me. Kerouac was more than just a writer; he was a man with personal tastes who created a generation that is still celebrated 50 years later. The Beatniks still beat strong.