Celebration, remembrance and cultural exploration are the prevailing themes of NYC’s second annual Roma Film Festival. The socially conscious fest — also known as the Gypsy Human Rights Film Festival — is set to screen over 25 films from all over the world that explore the conditions, lives and history of the Roma peoples.
One such film, “Searching for the 4th Nail“, engrosses the viewer by seeking to answer the question of what it means to be a gypsy. The film details the journey of filmmaker George Eli as he treks across America in search of the meaning of his people’s traditions so that he may teach his sons what it means to be a gypsy.
The Roma Film Festival runs from July 8th to the 15th. For more on location and screenings, check them out here.
Take your average front man during a band’s period of creative hiatus. Damon Albarn is not that guy. Instead of focusing the pursuits of his off-time on reality variety shows or eco-friendly clothing labels, this lead vocalist of the legendary Britpop band Blur has worked as main man behind the Gorillaz, and the Danger Mouse collaboration The Good, the Bad, and the Queen.
In 2002, he co-founded the Honest Jons Record label which Entertainment Weekly refers to as “the hippest world-music label going.” Their Lincoln Center musical revue promises a swift education in contemporary black music with Cadi Staton performing (remember “Young Hearts Run Free”?) alongside Simone White, Tony Allen, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and many others.
The International Center of Photography’s most recent exhibit is bringing Japan back to New York City. Heavy Light, featuring photography and film from 13 of Japan’s most talented artists show that there is more rising from this island nation than just the sun. From Hiroh Kikai’s stunning black and white street portraits to Miwa Yanagi’s eerie theatrical re-creation of childhood fairy tales, the exhibition represents a link between traditional culture and emerging elements of Japanese society.
Asako Narahashi’s series Half Awake and Half Asleep in the Water blends the turbulence of nature with the futuristic urban architecture that lines Japan’s coast. Asako’s images evoke an isolation that could only result from floating just out of reach from the safety of land.
Masayuki Yoshinaga’s video installation showcases the modern rituals of Japan’s infamous motorcycle gangs. His light screen display of Lolita Gothic fashion is also a must-see. Photographed in some of the most famous trend-setting districts in Japan, such as Harajuku and Shibuya, Yoshinaga’s collection explores bizarre and daring Japanese street style.
Don’t miss out on this illuminating display, running now until September 7th. More info here.
Have you ever made love to a weirdo? Odds are, you probably have but won’t admit it. Well, 2008 is the year to start fessing up because being as out there as possible seems to be everyone’s new goal.
A music group bringing new flavor to hip hop, Hollyweerd, is also raising the question of whether or not you’d make love to a weirdo, and gaining much attention from the online community. Self proclaimed as the New Wave/Rap/Ghetto Tech Music genre, Hollyweerd brings a hip new swag to the south. Dreamer, The Love Crusader, Tuki and Stago Lee came together in mid-November of 2007 and have since worked to produce a fresh sound to Hip Hop with and electronic/alternative vibe.
If you find yourself in or around London for the next three days, set your radio dial to 87.7FM to catch an aesthetic explosion airing live from Abbey Road Studios. Presented by Showstudio and Swarovski, Fashion DJs emphasizes how fashion and music are constantly interlinked by putting top designers, models, and musicians behind the turntables. A few of the rumored names set to play are Naomi Campbell, Lily Cole and Giles Deacon.
And if that isn’t music to your ears, video footage and live radio content is available online here and here.
A videotape of a bloody-faced woman wearing a Viking helmet and carrying around a giant piece of foam Swiss cheese may seem like an odd choice to categorize as a work of art. But Harry Dodge and Stanya Kanh’s piece captures the crude, gritty, symbolic, fantastically quirky and somewhat funny spirit of their work. The previously describe Viking woman (portrayed by Ms. Kahn herself) is the subject of Dodge and Kahn’s video piece “Can’t Swallow It, Can’t Spit It Out.”
The video piece was screened back in 2006 by the Elizabeth Dee Gallery and later included in an exhibition (”Eden’s Edge”) at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles as well as tapped for the Whitney Museum Biennial.
Ms. Dodge and Ms. Kahn first met in San Francisco in 1993 where they were part of a burgeoning performance art scene. They began working together — Kahn is usually in front of the camera while Dodge is the behind — in Los Angeles where they created their first short titled “Winner” back in 2001. Dodge and Kahn’s roots in performance art are apparent in their video art as characterized by the improvised dialogue and movement in their pieces.
Their latest work “All Together Now” (26 minutes and 34 secs) is a bit different in the sense that the character’s identities are not clear — they wear blue and white hoods. These hoods prevent dialogue — the improvised quality that has garnered them much success.
“All Together Now” is currently in display at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery till August 2, 2008. More info here.
There’s definitely more than Abba in Sweden. But who is hiding behind the enigmatic name of Those Dancing Days? Five young women (two are still in school) from the outskirts of Stockholm who’ve just released their first indie debut album Run Run including hit Hitten.
Their name comes from a tribute to the legendary rock group Led Zeppelin and their song “Dancing Days”. With their refreshing pop, their have won over their home country up to being nominated last year for Best Swedish Act Prize at the MTV Music Awards. Their music made of lively melodies accompanied with sweet guitars and soft voices turns into a perfect summer soundtrack. So let’s dance!
With the glut of “designer toys” cluttering shelves and display cases and floating around the interweb, it has naturally become a bit more difficult for designers and artists to distinguish themselves from the plastic masses. Difficult, but not impossible.
Enter The Mirf.
No, it’s not a blaxploitation-era Kung Fu flick about a housing project super who’s visited in the night by a mystical cockroach—the body of which houses the spirit of an ancient Wu Shu master—who then blesses said super with near invincibility and the fighting skills of the 12 most powerful Shaolin monks of antiquity, thus allowing him to clean up the streets and kick some Vice Lord ass, ending their reign of terror, getting the girl and generally saving the day and all that jazz.
Though that would make a pretty dope flick, The Mirf’s got little to do with the stuff of Kung Fu legend. The brainchild of 1134NYC’s graffiti duo Mint and Serf and NYC’s art toy house Thunderdog Studios, the Mirf is truly the first of its kind: a graffiti-inspired, wall-mountable soft-vinyl toy. Available in four different colorways (with 200 pieces of each), the Mirf’s creators consider the piece more of a sculpture than a toy. Getting bump from design and graffiti world luminaries such as HAZE, Claw Money and Carlo McCormick, as a bonus the limited edition piece comes in so fresh and so clean packaging which features a slide out box, silver foil and a two-sided, flocked blister tray.
And to bleed off the steam that’s been building since hype over this paradigm-shifting piece of soft-vinyl deliciousness first buzzed about the Lower East Side a month ago, 1134NYC, Thunderdog Studios, Rogue Status and Vapors Magazine are putting their power rings together to drop the Mirf bomb in dual Left Coast launch events tonight and Thursday night. New York hip-hop trio Team Facelift will be holding it down at both events. With that said, expect lots of nudity (thank you Fat Jew), more than a few Jewish girls from Long Island, a tangerine bathrobe or two and possibly even some drunken, passionate Mirf chants (most likely in the nude). You know you love it.
After a three-year hybernation period, PPP, formerly known as the Platinum Pied Pipers, is finally back! It is all worth the wait as the new album takes music production to the next level. After a long searching process, the core PPP — consisting of Detroit-bred, now Brooklyn-based duo, Waajeed and Saadiq — found some outstanding musicians to match their talents for this highly-anticipated album.
July 8th marks the release date of On A Cloud, their first single from their new album Abundance. The title track features new vocalist Karma Stewart, a singer whose powerful vocals recall Aretha Franklin’s soul-shaking force, while the beautifully layered instrumentation blends elements of Led Zeppelin-esque rock tunes, soul and gospel-flavored melodies matching Detroit’s Motown legacy with high energy horns and drums into a sound that is super fresh and is so characteristic of PPP’s pioneering musical experiments. On the flip side is Angel, boasting a similarly big sound inspired by another Detroit roots, Funkadelic. Angel features their brilliant St. Louis-based new vocalist-songwriter-poet Coultrain, who wrote the majority of the songs for the album.
Waajeed means both “finder” and “seeker”, and it was probably not accidental that he was given this name by an elder. As he describes the making of Abundance, “this new album is as much about the process as about the outcome” — as much about the process of seeking to realize this new project as about finding the perfect vehicle for it.
You can catch Waajeed doing a DJ set on Thursday, July 10th at Sutra (16 1st Ave, NY), with old-time friends, T3 of Slum Village and Dwele.
Europeans are ahead of the game, PPP have already begun touring the old continent with the album, but if you’re lucky you can catch them live at their home-base on Saturday, July 12th at Southpaw (125 5th Ave, Brooklyn) as they will provide the highlight of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival at the Official Afterparty, along with DJ House Shoes, Invincible, and DJ Parler. Not to be missed, people!
“Primordial Punk,” reads their mission statement, “represents what’s been missing from the cultural dialogue of beauty. It calls upon the talents of professional artists to challenge, confront, rearrange, and revisualize the standard against which AFRICAN-AMERICAN beauty is measure.” What better way to celebrate a new aesthetic for beauty than with some funky pictures and a party?
The Pictures: The 1st-ever BLACK PUNK PIN-UP CALENDAR 2 Primo Pin-Ups, Tamar-kali, Imani Coppola, Sylvia Gordon, MilitiA, DJ Reborn, dj.shErOck, Ife Mora, Nneka Bennett, ninja.bot.body.rock, Josiane, Lesley J, and Bailey Davis. Each model was styled after song lyrics written by a Black rock artist or band. The Calendar ships out in October with proceeds benefiting the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls and the Black Rock Coalition. But until then, we can satiate our punk pin-up cravings by sinking our teeth into…
The Party: Primordial Punk’s 1st Annual Debutante Ball runs in conjunction with the 4th Annual Afro-Punk Fest in Brooklyn. The event will feature 4 hot numbers by our loves, Brown Girls Burlesque with live accompaniment by Mackie Riverside & the Street Pushers, live sets by Apollo Heights, Betty Black, Chewing Pics and Sweetie, DJ Tjade on decks, and live painting by Fly Lady Di. Information will be on-hand to pre-order the Black Punk Pin-Up Calendar for $10.
Debutante Ball Launch Party
Friday, July 11th
Galapagos @ 10PM
70 North 6th Street in Williamsburg
FREE and open to the public
