Kim Kalesti:Before the show

It was a last minute addition to the list but I thought I could make it; two events damn near back to back. But as it turned out Kim's show started at 8pm, not 7pm like she thought. That evening The Chase Experiment(see June 8th post)was happening in Park-Slope and I was already locked in for that one. As always Kim was lively, funny, sassy, an amazing to talk to. We spoke for a bit about women who hate on other women for not wearing their "best". Kim told me about advice she got on performing/dress: you wear your best outfit and walk through the crowd(if you can)towards the stage, that way all the "bitches" can get there fill. And you start the show with a bang. Her show was @ 5C cafe on 5th st and ave C(Manhattan). As we realized I couldn't stay for the full show, she started playing and I started recording. The show is part of "The underground Howl festival"  going on for the entire month of June. The festival is produced by Shell Sheddy and features extraordinary talents of the lower east-side. Kim Kalesti is a seasoned professional singer, composer and pianist. Often involved with others on various musical projects, "Kimistry(Kimistry and the Living Museum) is when two or more people get together as a team to create the magic feeling as sounds, rhythm and poetry..." Would you like to know more or hear other songs? :www.reverbnation.com/kimistryandthelivingmuseum Article & vid-cilp by K.K.W

The Chase Experiment: @ "The Tea lounge"

The last of the light was dying in the western sky on Union st(Bklyn Calling), giving way to the cobalt Jazz blue that is the night. This time of year we love to feel the breeze coursing through the streets of Park-Slope; like the notes, scales, sounds, and arrangements of the musicians in "The City". Its funny how you don't think "The Tea lounge" would have a bar, but Jackie Coleman and The Chase Experiment knew before most of us did. What a place!. When I got there, they(The Chase Experiment)were warming up, and Jackie was out an about, shaking hands and greeting the people. Their first set started like the opening of a great game of wicked sound. The hot, funky, smooth/loud horns blasted off and let lose the hard, retro funk-rock dogs of war. Their combined sound comes off tough, brings you round and gets you hot. Its an edgy, intense, seeming wave of musical energy that connects with some and keeps the rest @ bay. Their arrangements, notes and tempo, what they are, shows enormous potential for even better musical creativity. But its observing the growth and change thats the point of checking out their sound-right now. Chase that sound, their sound. And try to understand. The Chase Experiment is: Jackie Coleman- trumpet&arrangements, Bryan Davis-trumpet, Michael Davis-trumpet, Mike Taylor-trumpet, Jay Jennings-trumpet, Brad whiteley-Keys, Deen Anbar-guitar, Nick Oddy-guitar, Adam Minkoff-bass&vocals, Sean Dixon- drums, and Maria Eisen-vocals. Would you like to know more?:www.myspace.com/thechaseexperiment Studio-Phoenix would like to thank Jackie Coleman for the invite. Article, photos & vid-clip by K.K.W   

Urban Art: Morgan Ave, L-Train(Bklyn)

The style of this is fluid and haunting.
I can't tell which side is better the left or right.
And then there's the colors, Striking without being to flashy. 

The first time I saw these, I was meeting a friend Irina(shes on my face pg)last summer around this time. These are some of the most kick-ass graffiti/illlustrative works of "urban-art" I've seen in a while. Bold, striking, surrealistic and flowing with the power of the masters who can bring a wall to life. The work stands out in an area that has a feel of industrial, urban-suburban. A place that seems like the edge of town, some place away from the norm. Another world within the world that is, New York City.

How anyone can use spray-paint
to do things like this is beyond me.

The girl is petting that "creature"
but yet shes looking away as if something
distracted her. The guy seems like he's a symbol
of the outside world, just over her shoulder.

I love the industrial feel of the area. There's a feeling of open space
and something out the "City".

The color combination, matched with the fluidity
of the line work and undulating curves, is awesome.

This one has a cool 2d-3d effect, the colors are in
almost sharp contrast to each other.
The linear curved, geometric style is hot. 

This one has an electric feel, like the letters
are radiating with the power of lighting.

Break on through to the other side.

The color of the lettering is bright and should over-power
the figures, but the style of the figures keeps the balance .

This one has a real kooky, modern funny sense
to the illustration. With the girl and the shark,
its like a metaphor for the world.

The curves, colors, and contrasting visual sense
has a calm feeling to it.

It makes me think of metal, of trains.

The color coordination and 3 dimensional space
of the line work is amazing.
 

20 Exchange Place

20 Exchange place - photo: Wikimedia common

Wall st Sector is home to some truly amazing architecture,but 20Exchange Place, in many respects, is unique amongst the others. At 741 feet tall(59 floors)with some of the most elegant, beautiful Art-Deco style carvings and symbols, its an architectural work of art. Formerly known as the City-Bank-Farmer's trust Building, it was built between 1930-1931, for the newly merged National City-Bank of New York and the Farmers loan and trust company; predecessor firms of Citigroup.Designed byCross & Crossto have no particular architectural style, it was described at the time as being in the "Modern Classic" style, with minimal Art-Deco ornamentation. Some of these ornaments have a powerful visual meaning. Land, Sea, Air, secret knowledge(the entwined serpents). With delicate strong, simple Art-Deco style face's at the top of the base and symbols, adorning some of the facade and metal doors, the building radiates a great force all its own; a silent witness to the passage of time and the changing skyline of N.Y.C. In 1996 it was designated a landmark. It made an appearance in the movie "Wall Street", served as several different bank locations in the 'Fringe' episode "safe". In 2006 the building served as a fictional branch of the "Manhattan Trust Bank", in the movie 'Inside Man'(Spike Lee).Currently, the 16th through the 57th floors are now residential  spaces. One  day last week, while exploring the area I came upon Stephen Scheer, a photographer and Architectural sleuth. Mr Scheer is at present capturing the images for a web-site devoted these buildings. As soon as I saw him and the strange looking camera he was using, I was thankful to meet another person who respected and understood the aged beauty of 20 Exchange Place.   Article by K.K.W

20 Exchange place. Photo: Wikimedia common

Possibly add in honor of the age of shipping and Luxury liners.
Canon IXY  

Stephen Scheer @ work. He actually polished a few
of the symbols before taking the pictures.
Canon IXY

Stephen Scheer. A man prepared for battle.
He brought a ladder, luggage cart, metal polish,
and I think a sandwich.
Canon IXY 

I this one is a Locomotive.
Canon IXY

Canon IXY

The entwined serpents is common
glyph on various buildings throughout the City.
It stands for secret Knowledge.
Canon IXY

Gil Scott Heron(Fallen Star)-Prt 1

He(poet&recording artist)syncopated spoken style and mordant critiques of politics, racism and mass media in pieces like "The revolution will not be televised". During one of the greatest era(late 60's-80's)his voice, his words, rang true. Gil Scott Heron's work is considered by many to have pre-figured 'Rap/Hip-Hop'. Mr Scott often bristled at the suggestion, once having said "I don't know if I can take the blame for it". He thought of himself as a Bluesologist drawing from the traditions of blues, Jazz and Harlem Renaissance poetics. Mr Scott died @ saint Luke's hospital in Manhattan on May 27th 2011, more than likely due to the fact that he was HIV positive, and the effects of his struggle with drug abuse(crack&cocaine). His death was announced in a twitter msg(I don't think that was right)by his British publisher, Jamie Byng. According to the associated press he had become ill after a trip to Europe. Mr Scott was born in Chicago on April 1st 1949. Despite this he was reared in Tennessee and NYC. His mother was a librarian and an english teacher; his estranged father was a Jamaican soccer player. Gil Scott Heron began as a writer back in the day, before he took the stage by storm. In his early days as a teen, detective stories were his first foray into writing. His work 'won him a scholarship to the Fieldston school in the Bronx, where he was one of 5 black students in class of 100'. As Langston Huges did he went to the historically black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Scott wrote his first novel @ 19, "The Vulture". A book of verse, "small talk on 125th st and Lenox" and a second novel, "The Nigger Factory", soon followed. Although his work was well received, Scott, in search of a broader horizon and greater things- began to work with music. He began collaborating with Brian Jackson, a collage friend, and they produced his first album "Small talk at 125 and Lenox"(1970-Flying Dutchman records). The album included a live recitation "Revolution" accompanied by conga and bongo drums. Another version of that piece was recorded with a full band, including Jazz bassist Ron Carter(Carter would later work with "A Tribe called Quest": 'Low end theory'). It was released on Mr Scott's second album "Pieces of Man". With pieces like "Revolution" he derided society's dominating forces as well as the gullibly dominated. With a barrage of pop-culture references, sardonic sharp wit, he was the voice and inspiration of campus activists, media theorists, coffee-house poets, and of course those who would begin what would be called Hip-Hop. But despite being seen as a prodigy with significant potential, he in some respects never achieved more than cult popularity. Between 1970-1982 he recorded 13 albums. However, buy the mid 80's Scott had begun to fade, and his recording output slowed to trickle. And, like so many great minds, talents, artist, and musicians he would go from casual drug use to the path of addiction. "Since 2001, Mr Scott-Heron had been convicted twice for cocaine possession and he served a sentence at Rikers Island for parole violation. He would often dodge questions about his drug use. Being himself quite troubled by his appearance(due to smoking crack&abusing other kinds of drugs), like a vampire he avoided his own reflection. "Ten to 15 minutes of this, I don'thave pain", Scott had said in an article(New Yorker Profile), as he lighted a glass crack pipe. "The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer award theater and will not star Natalie Wood and Steve Mcqueen or Bull Winkle and Julia". "The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal". "The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, brother". One would ask, of course, how could this happen? How could such a gifted mind fall victim to one of the very evils he spoke so resoundingly about? Without making excuses I would ask you dear reader, do you know what it means to be at the forefront of social change? Do you know what it means to carry the hopes, dreams, and pain of not only your people but your country? Sooner or later you grow to resent the burden. For "he who makes beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man". In an era when African Americans at the vanguard of great change were targets and being pursued by agents of the state and haunted by the burden of that struggle night and day, keeping hope alive within yourself and others must have been a real fucking bitch. If its one thing the "System" has learned to do is to change its tactic's in order to avoid a loss of control. "When change threatens to rule, the rules are changed"(Michael Parenti). 1st-gather info on the leaders, 2nd-exploit there weakness or the weakness of there follower's, 3rd-whenever possible, kill them out right, or jail them, 4th-feed the general public(mass- media) what will cause fear to rise within them, 5th-use economics(silent weapons for a quiet war) to cripple the cities they live in, 6th-Chemical warfare(Crack&Heroin), flood the cities with drugs so that the weak will perish, and the strong will lose hope in watching them die. Armed revolution was simply not an option, but social revolution was, and still is. Gil Scott and others would have to wait out those dark times, but within those dark times the gangs, and drugs, and a lack of options due to economic down-turn would lay waste to so much of their hope. More and more him and others became relic's from that turbulent time, to be replaced by new "heroes"(Public Enemy, Boggie down Productions, Arrested Development, TLC, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Digital Underground, WU Tang Clan) for the youth; some fit, many themselves unfit to wear the mantle of leadership. Many of these "heroes" would remember, recall, and re-use the words(Sampling) of Gil Scott Heron and others. But out of the ashes of strife and struggle would rise a "new revolution", a revolution of the mind, the body, and the soul. Only through this can we as a people hope to stand, deliver, and hold our own(with or with out "leaders")in the wake of the "New World Order". Gil Scott Heron's body may be broken but his great work will live on, for at the very least he left behind something greater then himself. May flights of Jazz notes wing you to your rest my friend. "The revolution will not be televised...."  because the revolution is now, the revolution is you. [end communication] Some of the info in this article was taken from Ben Sisario's article for the N.Y Times online and Wikipedia. Article by K.K.W, Photo: Wikipedia. And as always if you have something to say about this, click the word comment beneath this post and follow thru. "Art is the reason, Art is the way" 

Sol LeWitt: Conceptual Artist

I'm still feeling the "color accent" fuction on the IXY:)
I think it fits the look of the "Structures". 

Sol LeWitt was born in 1928 in Hartford Connecticut to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants. It was a leap year starting on a Sunday. The year was filled with many odd and happy events. The river Thames (London)floods, the moat at the Tower of London(drained in 1843)is filled in by a tidal wave. Estonia changed its currency from the Mark to the Kroon, "Piane Crazy" is released by Disney(the first appearance of Minnie&Mickey mouse). Lev Trotsky is arrested by the OGPU. And the "Pineapple primary" takes place(a fight between various underworld figures and gangs in Chicago and the politicians who protected them. Hand grenades were used by some, hence the name)in Chicago. Linked to various art movements and a large number of people, Sol LeWitt is regarded as a founder of both Minimalism and Conceptual art. Along with this he was prolific in a wide range of media's, including drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. After receiving a BFA from Syracuse U.N. he traveled to Europe where he was exposed to the work of the old Masters. Shortly thereafter he served in the Korean war. In 1953 he moved to N.Y.C and set up his studio on the lower east side(The old Ashkenazi Jewish settlement on Hester st). During this time he studied at The School of Visual Arts while also pursuing his interest in design at Seventeen magazine, where he did paste-ups, mechanicals an photostat's. In 1955 he was a graphic designer in the office of I.M Pei for a year. Around that time he came upon the work of 19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge. These experiences combined with an entry level job as a night receptionist and clerk at The MoMa would have a huge impact on his later work. He would also come to know many other artists(Robert Mangold, Robert Ryman and Dan Flavin)while working at the MoMa. His frequent use of open, modular structures originates from the cube. A form that has influenced and taunted LeWitt's thinking from very early on. Something taken, however small, from all these experiences, places, moments, media's, people, and ways of expressing creativity, must have caused LeWitt to think in terms of 3 dimensional "structures". Free standing shapes of varying degrees in an environment it is immediately at odds with, but after a while, depending on the individual, it's accepted. Or its looked at in an apathetic way, dismissed as just another meaningless object. An yet still there are those who are puzzled by them and seem to like them for reasons they don't understand. Either for the shape, shadow play, or simply how it makes them feel.  Sol LeWitt's work is meant to spark something within you, make you stop and wonder what a pyramid is doing in City Hall Park. Is there some greater meaning to it than what your seeing? What would drive someone to do this? LeWitt's "Structures"(1965-2006)will be on display @ City Hall Park until December 2nd 2011. Sol LeWitt pasted away in April of 2007. I think this event and public showing of his "Structures" is a much needed thing. Its strange, I had just begun to gain a greater awareness of Abstract painting when he passed away, and I had not known about him until now.

These two face Broadway. Out of all the "Structures"
at City Hall Park these are my favorite.