Can A Sista Rock A Mic? Grand Opening: Dionne Farris & more

Renaissance Reduxx : Solo works by Kelly Castillo

Kelly Castillo is an artist intertwined in the underground emerging artist scene in Southern California. Not only an urban contemporary artist, she is also a gallery owner & an arts Commissioner for the City of Anaheim, CA. The premier of her 2010 series, Renaissance Reduxx, is a feminist critique of the modern day Renaissance women submitting to and breaking out of societal confines. Renaissance Reduxx follows the pursuit of women out of the banality of the traditional roles that subjugate women, portraying them on the verge of their journey in finding more exotic pursuits by way of eastern religions and empowered sexuality. 


The opening night will be June 5, 2010 6pm - midnight 


This exhibit will be showing  June 5, 2010  - July 5, 2010
 
Location: Art Whino Gallery
173 Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD 20745

Bassey World LIVE

If you are on Twitter and you are not following Bassey Ikpi, you just aren't doing it right.period.
Bassey Ikpi is a 5 time Def Poetry Jam Poet, blogger, writer, and all around hilarious woman. Her live poetry is amazing...I saw her do a poem on Britteny Spears mental breakdown and it actually made me care about Brittney for like two seconds.  At Bassey World Live Bassey will be performing spoken word, discussing pop culture, current events and relationships whilst being live streamed and interacting with her 4618 followers on Twitter. Accompanying her will be Danielle Belton (www.BlackSnob.com); Yesha Callahan (ww.fungkeblakchik.com) and many others.  I know I say this a lot but you don't want to miss this...no, you can't miss this.  So go get your tickets here. 

Info:
Bassey World Live will be performed at Liv Lounge 2001 11th Street NW Washington DC
Tickets: $13 @ the door (but I think some are left on Event Brite)

Sustainability Lab May 1 - 8; June 3 -12, 2010

Transformer and Brooklyn-based cultural worker Jeff Hnilicka  explore emerging models of cultural production, the sustainability of these models, and their impact within communities though a series of workshops, talks, skill shares, potluck dinners, and artistic actions. Discoveries made during Sustainability Lab will be shared at the Open Engagement conference in Portland, Oregon (May 14 – 17) exploring similar themes. Hnilicka will then be back at Transformer further investigating and interpreting outcomes of Open Engagement.
 For more information click here

If you must go out for the Inauguration...

I totally support Obama, but I am not leaving my house when the those massive crowds come to DC, it's just not worth it for me. That being said, this event seems pretty cool. So, if you are going to be out partying check this out!

For more info and/or to buy tickets just click on the flyer.

Laced

The guys over at Laced are doing it again, this with live sneaker installation by SDTV, live art by Greg the Color Slinger, and fashions by Bliki Clothing.

It's going down Thursday, March 20, 2008 at the Cue Bar

For more information visit Sol Source

Wangechi Mutu

Go meet and hear Wangechi Mutu speak about her latest collection at the Hirshhorn on January 31st at 7pm.
Mutu creates collage that analyzes female sexuality, cultural tolerance and identity.
This event is FREE. Visit the Hirshhorn online for more information.

A few of my favorite things...

That illustration up there is from one of my all time favorite illustrators; Jason Sho Green. I wish I could give you the link to his site, but he seems to have disappeared from the internet.

The New Young Pony Club. I am obsessed with this band, right now. Their sound is so 80's
Check 'em out here

Zatinya. Yeah I know this restaurant has been around forever, but I just discovered how damn good the food is! If you get a chance check 'em out. It's the perfect date spot.

I have also rediscovered my love for U Street. U Street and I had a thing going on for years, but after they built that Starbucks, I had to break it off. Now, we are back to together again.

Plastic Land!!! I love this online store. Very cute, unique stuff. I have recently come to hate the term "funky", if I hadn't I might have used it to describe the clothes at Plastic Land. Visit Plastic Land here

I have also been feeling Jefferson Pinder's performance art and collages. I read about him in The Post a few weeks ago. I wanted to interview him for my blog, but things didn't work out.
Check out his site

Oh and FREELANCE..who will be having his first solo show this Wednesday at the Velvet Lounge. This cat has been putting in work on the underground hip hop scene for years, playing drums, keys and anything else you can imagine. Check him out here

Les écailles de la mémoire

For over twenty years The Urban Bush Women Dance Collective has been telling the stories of marginalized voices through contemporary dance. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar started UBW in 1984 to honor the sassy, multi-dimensional women she was raised around in Kansas City. Jawole has managed to create something so timeless and provocative that UBW has affected how dancers and audiences view themselves and the world around them.

For this particular performance, UBW will be performing with Compagnie Jant-Bi, an all male dance troupe from Senegal started by Germaine Acogny. Jant-Bi is known for tackling hard to address issues such as the genocide in Rwanda through African dance and movement.

These two amazing dance companies are coming together to perform; Les écailles de la mémoire (The Scales of Memory). In this union of traditional African dance and African American contemporary dance they will explore the dynamics of resistance, memory and love

Les écailles de la mémoire runs February 1-3 at the Kennedy Center.

For more information on ticket availability please visit the Kennedy Center online.

Marvin's

A few weekends ago some friends and I went out for drinks at Marvin’s. For those of you that haven’t yet been to there it’s a Marvin Gaye themed restaurant/bar brought to by the Thievery Corporation (the same guys that own 18th Street Lounge). The idea of a Marvin Gaye themed spot seemed kind of corny to me, but I still wanted to see what all the hype was about.

On entering the place there was nothing Marvin Gaye-ish that stood out. It also was missing one key element; soul. Marvin’s has got to be the most soul-less spot in DC. Starbucks has more soul than this place. From the door man, who was wearing huge Run DMC looking glasses, white tennis shoes and an ill-fitting business suit, to the tragically hip crowd of people smoking out on the patio, there was nothing authentic about it. The Belgium inspired menu didn’t help either. Was Marvin Gaye’s mom from Belgium? Did he get locked up there? I just didn't understand what the connection was. So, I did my research, turns out around 1981 Marvin Gaye moved to a small town in Belgium called Ostend. While there he cleaned himself up, got off of drugs and started boxing. He stayed in Ostend for less than two years. This is why Marvin’s restaurant/lounge serves Belgium food and beer. Make any sense to you? Because, it doesn’t make any to me, why would you build an establishment inspired by a prolific entertainer who is known all over the globe for creating soul driven baby-making music and the theme be based on a very lonely short part of his life in a washed up beach town in Belgium.

The crowd, if you dare call it that, was a mix of ex-cool kids and buppies varying in ages between 20-40. By the end of the night, everyone was crowded around the bar; night club style which I totally understood considering the drinks will put hair on your chest. But, that was the only reason to stay. Yeah, there was a DJ and he was good. But, honestly, the place was just too small and filled with to many pretentious wanna-be’s to really get into the music that he was spinning. Considering the scene at 18th street lounge I should have been prepared for that type of thing. Maybe I was putting to much stake in the many rumors that I heard about this place. In its short life span Marvin’s has acquired quite a reputation for housing the “movers, shakers and beautiful people in DC.” And, yes someone actually said those words to me that’s why I put them in quotations. Needless to say, I didn’t see those people there.

Don’t take my word for it though, go check it out and judge for yourself; just get there early because this place has the potential to get packed.

FYI: Dinner entrees will cost you on average around $20. Beers will run you between 7-10 bucks. There is no cover charge or dress code, but I do suspect on nights that there is a line (and I have seen lines at Marvin's) they will get choosey about who they let in, so if you are not feeling especially "hip" that day, avoid the line.

Wall/Paper

In the Spring of 2007 the Transformer Gallery began a “flat file” of unframed works ranging in sizes 16" x 20" and smaller. Wall/paper highlights a number of pieces from this file including works by Andy Kozlowski and Lisa Marie Thalhammer. If the aforementioned artist’s names mean nothing to you don’t feel bad, I have included links to their sites so that when you go to the exhibit you can chat it up with all the artsy folks and not feel all uncultured and stuff. Transformer Gallery mainly showcases contemporary artist and their works, so if that is your thing then this is your exhibit. There 2007-2008 exhibition series is supported by a vast array of foundations including the Andy Warhol Foundation and The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.

The opening reception is Saturday, December 15, 2007, 7-9pm. The exhibit runs through January 19, 2008

For more information on the exhibit visit Transformer Gallery
For more info. on Lisa Marie Thalhammer click here
And for Andy Kozlowski click here

Beaujolais Nouveau

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive! Every year on the third Thursday of November millions of cases of Beaujolais Nouveau (a very easy to drink, fruity red wine) are shipped to Paris where they are immediately exported all over the world. This may not seem like such a big deal to a mere American, but to the French it means party time!

This year, the Alliance Francaise de Washington is inviting musical guest Simone Marchand to perform songs by Edith Piaf and other popular music from vintage French parties. But, what makes this affair extra special is that DJ Stylus will be conducting the vibe via the turntables with a funky mix of hip-hop, electronica, and soul, blending the nouveau with the vintage.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau wine release party is on Friday, November 16, 2007, from 6:30pm-9:30pm.

For more information and ticket prices visit The Alliance Francaise de Washington

For information on DJ Stylus visit The Vibe Conductor

MOCADC

Washington DC is known for politics, not really a place you would think to look to for cutting edge art, MOCADC as set out to change that, and has been quite successful in doing so. By offering the public a visual art space that houses works from emerging contemporary artist, MOCADC has broken the mold. Hosting exhibits such as Erotica 2007 and Heads & Tails, an exhibit featuring portraits of nudes and “tasteful backsides”, MOCA is bringing flavor and variety to DC’s art scene and has no intention on stopping or slowing down.

Heads & Tails runs through December 2, 2007, and MOCADC host gallery openings every first Friday.

For more information visit MOCADC

Fernando Botero: Abu Ghraib

Art imitates life. Fernando Botero’s series of paintings depicting the torture of Iraqi insurgents is a testimony of that. Botero got his inspiration for the paintings in this exhibit from reading official reports of the terror and torture that has been going on in Iraq. While this exhibit is painful to take in, these are images that we have been bombarded with via the news for the last five years. Botero’s focus was to “concentrate on the suffering and dignity of the victims rather than their tormentors". This exhibit will hopefully allow the public to feel more compassion for the victims of torture and not just see them as a casualty of war.

This is the first U.S. viewing of Abu Ghraib.

Abu Ghraib runs from Nov. 6, 2007 through Dec. 30, 2007 at The Katzen Arts Center (American University Museum)

Wild Choir by Jeremy Clark

Jeremy Blake’s digital video montages make you feel like you just took a hit of acid. His pieces are vivid, colorful and fluid. In this collection he has collaborated with fashion designer, Ossie Clark, and poet/independent rock musician David Berman. These ultra-hip pieces were inspired by such topics as the mega mall, drug addicts and reality television.
Jeremy grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland attended Albert Einstein’s magnet art program, and eventually went on to the Art Institute of Chicago, so he is home grown.

Wild Choir runs through March 8, 2008 at the The Corcoran Gallery of Art

No Time Like the Present by Linn Meyers

DC native Linn Myer's large scale pieces seem to change form right before your eyes. The untitled pieces are almost all created by small etchings made on a Mylar canvas. Her work is abstract in the classic sense; however it is very pre-meditated and measured. If you look closely at her pieces they resemble graphs, each line is perfectly placed next to the one before it. The result is swirls of color and light that seem to turn into to each other and dance on the canvas.

The opening reception will be on November 3, 2007 from 6:30pm- 8:30pm at G Fine Arts

The exhibit runs through December 15, 2007

Juliette and The Licks

Actors/actresses turned musicians usually don’t work out. That is not true for Juliette Lewis who after acting in a long string of movies including; Natural Born Killers, Strange Days, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, decided to form a band. Juliette & The Licks got their start touring on the Van’s Warped Tour in 2004, opening up for acts such as Courtney Love and Turbonegro. According to Juliette “ The prototype for a female is that they're desirable, pretty to look at, predictable and safe.” She wants her music to be the antithesis of that…and it is!

Juliette & The Licks perform with Scissors for Lefty and Suffrajet at the Rock & Roll Hotel on Nov. 8, 2007. Doors open at 8pm.

For more information visit The Rock and Roll Hotel online.

WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution

WACK! is one of those advant garde exhibits that you will either love or hate. However, no matter how you feel it about it, it will affect you. Vagina paintings and huge sculptures that resemble ovaries are just some of the highlights of this exhibit. It is no surprise that this showcase of over two-hundred and fifty paintings, and sculptures was organized by the liberal peoples of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (LAMoCA).

This is the first East coast showing of WACK!

WACK! runs through December 16, 2007 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.