James Jean

Earlier this month, I attended the opening of James Jean's exhibition 'Kindling' at the Jonathan Levine Gallery. This guy's art is really impressive, especially in person. A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, so I recommend going down and checking it out for yourself before it's gone Feb.7th!

Aeroplane flies high, turns left, looks right...

As you probably heard, US Airways Flight 1549 had to make an emergency crash landing on the icy waters of the Hudson River on January 15th. I was coincidentally working near the Hudson and was able to snap a few pics as the plane floated past while being tugged to keep it above water and surrounded by a fleet of ships. Amazingly, all 155 passengers made it out alive and the pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger is being honored as a hero. Reports said that engine failure was caused by a flock of birds, but Sully is keeping quiet, causing conspiracy theorists to speculate. Crazy huh? Would you believe there are organizations like the Bird Strike Committee that work to prevent birds from taking out airliners? I did not know that.

Forest Fire n' She Keeps the Bees Knees

Finding myself at Glasslands twice in two days was definitely unexpected. In fact I hadn't been there in such a long time the decor seems to have changed (no more paint-it-yourself room when did that happen?). Ah well Hipsterburg must grow up too, what with the impending flood of yuppie condo dwellers that is poised to populate the Brooklyn side of the East River.

But I digress... We were at Glasslands to see our friends Forest Fire, who were back from Seattle for a short visit. They were joined onstage by Josh Lozano from Inswarm on bass, harmonica, and sometimes drums, and Sharon Von Etten on vocals. Natalie Stormann traded off on drums and keyboards and Adam Spittier laid down some organic samples. It was an intimate, folksy, yet powerful set, so powerful in fact that they blew a fuse towards the end. Electricity came back on just in time for them to play a few more slow thoughtful numbers. That's really how Forest Fire hits you, like a nice hot apple cider with rum; Mark Thresher's sweet, simple guitar licks and vocals draw you in, you are enveloped by the atmospheric call and response of his cohorts, then you get struck by his next line, which could be humorous, biting, or sincere, but always makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.





Right before them , I was treated to the blues stylings of She Keeps Bees. I had heard of this duo before and I must say this was a rare instance of a band really living up to their hype! Jessica Larrabee has one of those voices that just screams instant classic through every song, and the bombastic guitar and drums is a solid one-two punch to the gut.

Spacy jazzy and a little bit spazzy

I was lucky enough to have received tickets to see Pat Metheny at the Calhoun School as a xmas gift. I'd never heard Metheny's music, so, not being much of a jazzbo, I had no idea what to expect. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with the performance. Pat started out with some acoustic stuff, heavy on the reverb, and about 3 songs in he broke out this little beauty:



Some really spacey, eastern tinged stuff ensued, followed by a more traditional jazz set featuring Jack DeJohnette on drums and Larry Grenadier on bass. Hot jazz oh yeah cha cha-cha da duh dun bow!

What IS a fake hooker?

Fake Hooker is my favorite Brooklyn band. They are fast and furious and that's just the way I like it. Combining elements of hardcore, punk, grunge, and screamo, with a modern twist, Fake Hooker firmly stand in contrast to the current wave of hipster pussrock that dominates the scene in Brooklyn. Sadly, singer/guitarist Nate Hall was out sick for their last show that I caught at Glasslands, but the rest of the band thrashed through 10 songs in about 30 minutes. Bravo comrades!

The Voice of Unreason

Just did something totally out of the ordinary and saw a play! This was no ordinary play though. Architecting by the TEAM is a surrealistic cometragedramady that makes David Lynch seem tame. This unique narrative covers New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, told through the madness of a grieving-28 year old-former child genius-daughter of a dead architect and filtered through Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone With The Wind.' Confused yet? Don't try to understand, just let it happen. While the storytelling is anything but traditional, the acting is classically superb and the sound/video design is truly engaging and enhancing to the overall work. Architecting was recently presented at the Under the Radar Festival earlier this month and has been extended now through Feb 15th after rave reviews. Catch it at PS122.

Yes We Can!

Today marked a sea change in US history with the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama into presidential office. I know I am only one of millions, nay billions, or dare i say zillions all across the globe who can feel this very real change resonating through the world. I will admit I don't really know enough about politics to say anything of value here, but in the words of a very emotional Beyonce Knowles, after her performance at the first Neighborhood Ball Inauguration Celebration, "this man was born for this... he was born to lead us... he makes me want to be smarter and more involved..." Indeed, he does. Let's just hope Obama can really come through with his promises, for we all know he has his work more than cut out for him. But hey, why worry about that right now, tonight we party! The man has 10 frickin balls to dance at! Who let the Obama out?

On another note, I too want to be smarter and more involved, so I have decided to actually start exercising my brain by posting on this here blog. I am making a pact with myself, and whoever will join me, to muster just a little more juice and become more active, (if only on the internet!). I held out for as long as I could but by golly it's time to embrace all the wonders the virtual world of social networking has to offer! 

As my oh so wise girlfriend said, "2009 is the year to max out," and to that I say "Yes we can!"