Photo Recap: TTK x SlaveForYourself- THE LAST SIX MONTHS
TTK and Slave For Yourself presented a brief samplings of their work last Friday. Under the title “The Last Six Months” both artists showcased works, ideas and concepts created over the last (possibly six??) months. Solid turnout of folks and many thanks to Scratch DJ Academy for hosting it and Andre Clarke for the invite.
Fresthetic 2 Year Anniversary Party
This was stop #2 on my 24-hour fun binge yesterday. Fresthetic celebrated the 2-year anniversary yesterday in WillyB. I passed through with my homegirl and a friend to check out the space for the first time. The small spot has a cornucopia of art affairs for all senses and what made yesterday’s event even better – THE ICEE Man was present. For those not in the know, the Icee Man is a name blanketed on all in the profession of service icees. The more established/traditional ones of this ilk tend to have three or four flavors max and these are always: Coco (coconut with real pieces), Cherry, Pina (Pina Colada) and Rainbow (time to time this flaor is not listed on the cart but is something you have to ask for). The Icee Man seemingly always know when an event is going on as they are always found near large or small gatherings of folks.
Fresthetic is a concept space founded by Randy Quiles, Michael Cordero, Eddie Soto, and Omar Corder in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The store front serves as a gallery space for a wide spectrum of artists and a shop featuring silk-screened clothing, bespoke jewelry, films and more. Back story time -I went to Junior H.S. (Phillipa Schulyer – still have my gym shirt) with Michael and we recently bumped back into each other a couple months back at a party in Fort Greene. Since then we continue to cross paths (most recently was at Afro Punk) at various artsy fartsy affairs around the city. As I continue to do artful good, I realize that the circle of similar folk is small, growing community. Pictures from the 2 year anny below.
Kiante and SoleFood NYC Block Party
Kiante the Sneaker Mann and Solefood teamed up with several sponsors, including The Source Magazine, to transform Lispenard Street (TriBeCa, NYC) into a Back to School block party, that featured live painting, giveaways and a back to school fashion show. Also, there were live paintings by 5 artists with 4 of them doing tributes to Mr. White Socks aka the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The event had a decent turnout as I can’t think of anyone in NYC who doesn’t like free music, giveaways and fun. I See the gallery below for images of the artists, their paintings, a performance and people that were all out at the event yesterday. I had to leave as the fashion show got started, so I didn’t get any pictures from it.
Recap of Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson Birthday Party
The posthumous power of Michael Jackson continued on Saturday as Spike Lee threw a birthday party for him in we Brooklynites’ claim to grass aka Prospect Park. There were easily over 1,000 people dancing through the rain soaked ground for a little over 5 hours as guests, including politicians, celebrities and the general audience came out to celebrate Michael’s 51st birthday. The power of Michael and his music were evident in the diverse and friendly setting that blanketed the park, as you had all makes of people out and about infectiously dancing, smiling and mouthing the words to Michael’s songs. I enjoyed seeing the impersonators – especially Black and White Mike dance in lockstep to several of MJ’s songs. You have to understand these two guys met in the press pit, for what I assume to be the first time, and reenacted Michael’s moves without a flaw. The musical selection, while great, left me with a slight gripe as there were several of the popular tunes replayed throughout the course of the day.
It is Michael and I have no problems with hearing P.Y.T., Beat It, Thriller and the list goes on, 2 or 3 times but when you get that count up to 5 or 6 and more often back to back playbacks you are left to wonder what about his other music. Easily the King of Pop has songs to span over 5 hours, while all are not dance/party-tempo friendly, the majority of his catalog contains songs that you can’t help but succumb to and groove.
White socks, glitter gloves, posters and bootleggers were all abundant to honor the King of Pop. All in – Spike Lee, NYC Parks, and all the people who helped make this happen did a phenomenal job on organizing, relocating and executing a birthday celebration that will go down in history for the positive vibes and the good, clean fun it provided. I look forward to seeing what he does with the footage. Below is a sneak peak at the pictures I shot from the event, I have many more that will be online later tonight.
August 31, 2009 | Categories: Art + Design, Audio + Video, Commentary, Events | Tags: Events, michael jackson, Spike Lee | 1 Comment »