It has been three years since Richie Havens graced this planet. I thought my readers would love to see a beautiful New York City Earth project his spirit supports.
Glass, unscented
Candle height: 8″
Burn time: approx 90 hours
Labels made with eco-friendly materials
Made in USA
Stormy Forest will donate $5.00 from the sale of each candle to the New York Restoration Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating greener and more sustainable urban spaces in the five boroughs of New York (including Richie’s beloved hometown of Brooklyn).
Rough Trade NYC held its soft opening yesterday at 64 N 9th Street in Brooklyn. The music of our heart was there in spirit even though I was teaching a computer course in Connecticut on Monday. I was socially connected via the Rough Trade NYC Twitter Page and checked in at the breaks and lunch time 😉
Rough Trade NYC
Photo Courtesy of Instagram/Cool Hunting
The 15,000 square-foot music outpost is a former HBO prop warehouse that has been re-fitted to house a meticulously curated collection of books, magazines, records, and CDs, as well as a sizable performance space. Rough Trade NYC is the latest addition in a trend of label-associated record stores that have opened in the Williamsburg and Greenpoint sections of Brooklyn over the past few years alongside Mexican Summer’s shop Co-Op 87 and Captured Tracks.
Guardian Green Room
The Guardian Green Room is a multipurpose “Interactive Digital Lounge” that delivers the Guardian’s Music content to Rough Trade NYC shoppers. It is housed inside one of the shipping containers which is the interior “theme” of Rough Trade NYC.
The room is outfitted with touchscreen displays that visitors can use to read Guardian music coverage, as well as to communicate with the outside world.
“Visitors will be able to explore the Guardian’s music and cultural coverage, interface and engage with the Guardian’s wide assortment of interactive content, browse store events and daily happenings, compare music tastes and cultural trends across the Atlantic, share insights, ideas and opinions,” The Guardian states.
The room is positioned as an in-store content creation hub. The Guardian and Rough Trade NYC have established a powerful “International” partnership. Their mutual goal is to prove Rough Trade NYC to be a trusted global symbol of personable music retail.
I champion this idea. My guess is that the synergy The Guardian and Rough Trade NYC is generating will help forge informed customers who will make pertinent music selections with lasting value. I also feel the digital content will help people browse record stacks with a more discernible taste. This team approach will aid customers who aren’t sure what they want to buy. Having accessibility to interactive content becomes the next logical step music consumers could take before/after utilizing the in-store listening stations. I think The Guardian Green Room will serve as an opinion influence.
I applaud Rough Trade NYC as they bivouac in with their strategy to neutralize Internet music purchasing. Buying on the Web is a cold and nebulous experience. It’s great to have these sanctions lifted by a music outpost that cares about promoting and selling music for the right reasons, personal enjoyment, deeper connection and final satisfaction!
My association when I hear or read the word Nepenthe is the Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur, California. Rosemary and I spent a picturesque afternoon there on our drive down the California coast in the 1980s. We had an exquisite meal on the verandah, peacefully overlooking the serenity of the mountain scenery.
As I listen to Julianna Barwick‘s new album, Nepenthe on NPR’s First Listen, I become reconnected with that fresh mountain air, the cloudy blue sky above my senses. I am one with the natural splendor and my troubles slip effortlessly away.
I know nepenthe is supposed to make you forget but thankfully Nepenthe helps to remember and harkens us to return to Big Sur someday very soon 🙂
The Rock Poster Society, TRPS (known as Trips) is the world’s largest organized group of rock poster collectors, fans, artists, and dealers. I have been a member of TRPS for three years now. I love the connection with San Francisco, vintage rock posters, and the music woven all together.
One of these days I am going to take the Mrs. to the TRPS Festival of Rock Posters held at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. It is usually held the first week of October. We have several friends in San Francisco we would love to visit with there as well.
We may not get there in 2013 so it’s a comfort to know that the East Coast holds a similar event at the Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY. The Art of Moonalice Poster Show is usually held at the end of October.
If you are not familiar with Moonalice they are a rock band that was formed in 2007. Principally led by Roger McNamee (real-time anthropologist and well-respected venture capitalist) aka “Chubby Wombat Moonalice” they make fantastic use of technology and poster art to state in producing their brand.
Moonalice’s single, “It’s 4:20 Somewhere” has been downloaded more than 3,200,000 times.
Moonalice invented the Twittercast concert, broadcasting links in near real-time for live concerts and at random times for past shows. The band has done 103 Twittercast concerts.
Moonalice is the first band to Mooncast live video of all of its concerts. Having broadcast nearly all 2010 shows to PCs and Macs, the band has upgraded to first band-operated satellite-based HTML system that enables High Definition live video to smartphones and iPads WITHOUT an app!
What I love about Moonalice is their constant and consistent production of top quality concert posters that are distributed at their live concerts. The entire library of their concert posters is viewable online at their Web site.
Rock Art By The Bay – July 20, 2013
I also wanted to point out an upcoming TRPS poster artist show at the Mission Masonic Center in San Francisco. It is FREE to the public!
Digital print continues to advance visual interpretation with eye appealing content. Direct from Brooklyn, NY, the music capital of the world we find an exceptional catalog of 64 famed guitars, A Visual Compendium of Guitars. Thisdistinctive publication is a limited-edition print from Brooklyn’s Pop Chart Lab that illustrates some of rock’s most iconic guitars in beautifully articulated illustrations.
Each print is signed by the artists and numbered from a first printing of 500.
Using 100 lb. archival recycled stock certified by The Forest Stewardship Council, this poster is pressed on an offset lithographic press with vegetable-based inks in Flatlands, Brooklyn.
We’re talking Brooklyn, Jay-Z and the Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets. Hov performed eight sold out shows at this fantastic, state of the art venue. I was blown away by the stage design they used for the shows.
I love to see when an artist gives back to his community.
Check out this video from Jay-Z, Where I’m From. Granted it’s a little long but I think you’ll find it invigorating and heart warming.
Jay-Z has also produced infectious music for the soundtrack for the new Jackie Robinson biopic, 42. Again about Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Dodger’s greatest legend.
And I don’t think Jay-Z is done exciting us yet. Rumor has it that he and Beyonce play a role in the Justin Timberlake video/single, “Suit and Tie” which premiere’s Monday 1/14 at 12:01 a.m. on Astral’s 99.9 Virgin Radio and on iTunes
High on the list of 2013 concerts for the music of our heart is to see a show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Trust me I will be reviewing the events list closely for that to happen 😉
The Rolling Stones continue to steam roll ahead with their 50th Anniversary concerts. Last night they played the first of four NY area concerts (this includes the recently announced appearance at the 12.12.12 Superstorm Sandy Benefit) at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
The Stones marketing machine is operating at fever pitch. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards will make their first appearance on the David Letterman Show to announce the Top 10 List.
Tickets have been next to impossible to get so we have decided to watch the Pay Per View show on Saturday December 15th.
I especially like this concert footage from the 2003 tour in Twickenham, England.
I was reading the August issue of Uncut Magazine when I came across a story by Louis Pattison about the Dirty Projectors. The question posed at the top of the article states, “Are Dirty Projectors the most original and challenging band in America? I didn’t know how to answer a question about a band I know nothing about. So right away I am challenged 😉
I learned that the Dirty Projectors are from Brooklyn, NY. Very specifically they hail from the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. I have also read that Brooklyn is the Music Capitol of the World (see my past post about Brooklyn from a native artist, Paula Carino) so the puzzle pieces for the question above were beginning to interlock around the edje.
I next looked up Dirty Projectors on Spotify so I could listen to their music substantively. They have released six studio recordings since 2004. I knew I had to giddy up to get in league with where they are at so I chose to start with their latest, most accessible work, Swing Lo Magellan (July, 2012).
I needed another data point about Dirty Projectors, soon I discovered this paragraph about Swing Lo Magellan.
For the group’s sixth album, Swing Lo Magellan, David Longstreth decided to take an approach that focused primarily on songwriting. Rather than trying to make every track work under an overarching theme, the songs on Magellan were crafted individually and with care. Each tune is perfectly capable of standing on its own, and there is a lot of diversity in the music, but the record still manages to feel whole as a work of art in itself. – Paste Magazine
The more I dig in the more I unearth about Dirty Projectors. They are a fascinating study. I would have to agree that their music is sonic engaging one moment and bewildering the next. . They certainly are original and I must admit I feel challenged by the dense complexities of their never repeating musical structure.
Dirty Projectors will be appearing at The Capitol Theatre in Portchester, NY on September 25th. I think they may end up being the first act we will see at the newly renovated venue.
As a music journalist I love to attend frank, open music dialogues. We decided to take in the International Festival of Arts & Ideas music talk, “Music of the People: Artists Talk About Music Inspiring Change” this evening at the Yale Center for British Art.
Click to Enlarge
It proved to be a very valuable discussion. I learned a great deal in 90 minutes and walked away with many more music resources than when I arrived. The event was moderated admirably by noted cultural critic, Siddhartha Mitter. Not only was he poised and polished but he effectively managed time, task and gave each participant equal air time to unfold their thoughts and impart their knowledge to us.
The participants wereSunny Jain, MC for Red Baraat, a Brooklyn, NY, Indian bhangra and funky New Orleans brass ensemble. He was warm, genuinely enthusiastic about the music he and his colleagues create. He stated that Red Baraat evidences a blended ideology when it comes to inspiring change.
The next artist was Jessica Schmitz, Co-Director of the group, Asphalt Orchestra. Jessica positioned Asphalt Orchestra as a group that busts barriers by challenging new listeners and passerby’s with spontaneous, guerrilla performances. This is how they inspire change through direct interaction and expanding a listeners music horizions.
The most humble yet most charismatic performer was Noori, represented by songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist, Ali Noor. They are from Pakistan and have achieved major artist recognition status in their country. Noori was formed to create music written to bring about change. Noori best fit the ideal profile of consummate activist and musicians affecting change. The very nature of their intellectual fabric has positioned them at the forefront to bring about social reform and change, which came across with a powerful immediacy.
The last panelist was Sujatha Fernandes, an academic and music author (I added her latest book, Close to the Edge: In Search of Global Hip-Hop to my must own and read list.) Sujatha was very in concert with the topic as she is an associate professor of sociology. She has written about black popular culture, global hip hop, and social movements in both academic journals and popular forums, including The New York Times, The Nation, The Huffington Post, and Colorlines.
Sujatha brought us two great music resources that we listened to and grooved with ;). One was Keurgui Crew, a Senegal Rap artist. We heard their selection “Coup de Guele”. We also got to hear Magia MC, from Cuba, perform “La Llaman Puta”, a song about prostitution (an issue that doesn’t exist, according to the government).
Here is the latest video from Garland Jeffreys, made to go with his new single, “Coney Island Winter” from the forthcoming recording entitled The King of In Between due to be released on June 7th. I hope we can buy a CD copy early that night and that Garland Jeffreys will hold a meet and greet after the concert with us 😉
Photo by Danny Clinch
“Coney Island Winter” was directed and assembled by Doug Webbhttp://wildinthestreets.info/ who created Garland’s Wild in the Streets fan site and opens with footage from the 1952 short film documentary “Coney Island, U.S.A.” It also includes samples from a 1991 episode of PBS’s American Experience (“Coney Island”) and the evocative 2010 short film “Coney Island Dream”, filmed and edited byJoshua Brownhttp://joshuabrownphotography.com/.
“The video captures the desolation, but also the allure, the fantasy and the humor of Coney Island that still fills my memories,” says Garland.
My association when I hear or read the word Nepenthe is the 
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