NWAA Group Exhibition 7.3.09

New Wilmington Art Association returns to the Wilmington Art Loop in July with a massive group exhibition of artwork. The show will be on view from July 3rd to July 25th on the second floor of 605 N Market Street. The space is directly above Sneaker Villa, and right across the street from the Delaware College of Art & Design.

The opening reception will be held on Friday, July 3rd from 6:30 to 9:30pm. M. Snail from Plaxico Records will be performing with Sic Vibe a.k.a. Sicilian Vibration at 8pm.

http://paxicorecords.com/artists/m.snail.html

http://paxicorecords.com/artists/sicilianvibration.html

http://www.myspace.com/sicilianvibration

For those of you who will be out of town this weekend, fret not, for there will be a closing reception on Thursday, July 23rd from 6:30 to 9:30pm.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

I already did the Michael Jackson R.I.P. post, but it doesn't seem to be enough at the moment. MJ is all over the internet, television, and radio right now, due to his recent, sudden, and most certainly unexpected passing, but not everything we hear or see is positive. I'm not shining a light on the turmoils of Michael's life, and I really would never want to. There are those more qualified to do so, and at some point they probably will. However, while the general populace celebrates and mourns simultaneously the life and career of the greatest entertainer that ever lived (in my personal opinion), some want to talk about the entire story right now.

Look, I'm not saying that we should turn a blind eye to the things Michael Jackson has done/allegedly done over the years, but being that he left us so abruptly, right now is the time to honor the man, not tear him down. The sad thing is, some can't wait to bring his demons to the forefront. But hey, that's just the way it works, right?

With this, I'm reminded that yes, this is the way it works. When you're famous and you pass, people want to put the full story on the front page. Let's not depict a fairytale world where this being has done no wrong, but instead, let's show them all the full Monty, so there's nothing to hide and no guessing work to be done later.

What really pushed me to do this was a visit to Jon Jon's blog, Sound Verité, in which Jon Jon posted his own tribute to the late MJ. One of the pieces on there was a video of a James Brown concert from 1983, in which James pulls MJ out of the audience to perform on stage, then MJ pulls Prince up to do the same. Epic? You betcha! Immediately after watching that clip, I watched a clip from a BET awards show where Brown was performing, and Jackson surprised him on stage. Once again, Michael did a little impromptu hustle.

Why the mention of these events? It's quite simple really. When James Brown passed, there were those who mourned the loss of the Godfather of Soul, and there were those who felt the only thing worthy of discussing as far as James Brown was concerned, were his problems over the years. Now they're doing the same thing to Michael Jackson. Will it happen to Prince? It's quite possible.

I just hope things don't get too out of hand.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson 8.29.1958 - 6.25.2009

One of the world's most iconic, influential figures has moved on. Let's remember him for all the good he did before he left.

Gone Too Soon

The Verdict

Refer back to this post to see what I had to say prior to viewing TRotF.

A few weeks back when I heard Fandango.com placed the tickets for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen up for sale on their site, I acted with haste in securing my seats for the nationwide premier. Since then, slowly but surely, the reviews and ratings was making their way in. Most of them were quite unfavorable on the the new Bay film.

Last evening was the first chance to see Transformers if you're not a Hollywood A-lister, and the fans came out in droves, displaying their allegiance proudly on hats, hoodies, t-shirts, etc (I'm not exception). Naturally, like many midnight premiers, the environment was full of angst and ready to blow. After all, Transformers fans have been waiting for this sequel since seeing Starscream fly back into space after the defeat of Megatron in the franchise's first iteration.

This isn't a review, but really just me saying, despite the general consensus, I loved Revenge of the Fallen! I can understand why some people don't like it, or others aren't completely satisfied, but as I stated previously, let yourself go. Revert back to your childhood and ask yourself how much character development and plot matters. I didn't make up stories. My toys transformed and fought one another. That's all that mattered then, and it's all that matters to me now.

I went back to torture myself with more Rotten Tomatoes reviews, and I came across this reply to a review:

Adam A. writes:
on Jun 24 2009 07:48 PM

This is the point where I'm grateful to have a little perspective. I can appreciate great movies, but I'm not too pretentious to have fun.

It's a movie about giant fighting robots, based on a poorly animated 1980's cartoon with no purpose than to sell toys. I can't imagine what you haters were expecting.

Agreed.

I F*cking Hate Rappers

Yeah, you heard me. If you've ever been to my MySpace page then you've probably seen my default image that states, Rappers are Snitches. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. I'm not a follower of the Stop Snitchin' train, but rappers are hypocrites to the fullest. They point the finger, point the finger, point the finger, but then they turn around and do exactly what they're accusing others of being guilty of.

So if you're anything like me, PackFM of QN5 and Extended Famm, Masta Ace, Poison Pen, Sadat X, and many others, then you fucking hate rappers too! Check the videos and join the movement.

Don't Fight It

Maybe it's the fanboy in me. No, it is the fanboy in me. Like most power players out right now, I'm a Reagan Baby. Yes, the '80s have come to inherit the earth. In the next 10 to 20 years, the kids born in the '90s will have the thrown. In any case, everything from the '80s is a golden ticket.

Fashion has come back, and now everything from live-action television shows, movies, and cartoons from the time period have progressed from mere references to being reworked for "modern" audiences. I'm sorry, but it wasn't that long ago. However you look at it, I'm not upset. I run on pure, unfiltered nostalgia.

Thundercats, He-Man, Voltron, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, etc. are all in the works. A few of the previously mentioned titles have already seen reincarnations, but there's still more to come. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be released in a few days, and I couldn't help but to be curious as to what the very particular people at Rotten Tomatoes had to say about it. Clearly, they're a bunch of haters. It's too long, coming in at 2 1/2 hours! There's too many explosions! Where's the creativity? Blah blah blah.

You see, Transformers is a movie based on a cartoon, comic book, and toy line from Hasbro. It was created for little boys with imaginations, not so much for adults hell-bent on criticizing the dreams and imaginations of others. I loved the first Michael Bay rendition, and even if this new installment is more of the same thing, it's exactly what it's supposed to be. For the love of (insert your god here), it's a film based on a toy line! If you're looking for Citizen Kane, then stay home and watch TMC. I'm just glad to see the diecast and plastic figures I played with as a child do all the things I used to pretend they did.

I guess I'll have my definitive answer come Wednesday morning. I'll be the guy in the office too tired to work, who also forgot to change out of his Decepticon t-shirt into his work clothes.

Twin Cities Week

Minneapolis/St. Paul. It's come up a few times here on this blog. People close to me know I have a chubby for the Twin. Really, it's Mpls, because I've only spent a couple hours in St. Paul, and that was to eat at one of the best burger joints in the world.

Minneapolis is a great place to hang out and chill. Everybody out there hates snow as much as people in the UK hate rain. I don't know why everybody's crying, because I love the snow and the rain! What really grabbed my attention about the TC was the music/arts/entertainment scene out there. During my first hoo-rah back in December I visited MCAD to see what they're about. That has to be one of the best art schools I've ever seen in my life. It made me want to go back to school...there, of course. But all in all, the music is phenomenal. Prince is great, but we're in the 2000s here! It's all about Hip-Hop right now.

The group Atmosphere has done so much in terms of promoting their city. Each album is littered with references of their hometown, but also outright name-drops. Add a good portion of the Rhymesayers Entertainment roster, along with the Doomtree collective and you've got the North Star confederacy. Let me clarify. People in the South are very "patriotic", and the people of Minneapolis will defend their territory to the death. It's not about America, it's about where they lay their heads first and foremost.

Beyond the tangents, on May 24, 2009, RSE put on Soundset 2009 in Shakopee, MN. It was the follow-up to last year's Soundset 2008, held at the Metrodome parking lot. The first event garnered so much attention that this year things ballooned, with interest coming in from MTV (it really helps that they're all over. P.OS. right now, and Atmosphere just last year).

MTV decided to run what they titled, Twin Cities Week on MTV2. Artists such as P.O.S., Mike Mictlan of Doomtree, Slug of Atmosphere, Toki Wright, and Brother Ali of RSE were all interviewed by the station to show it's viewers what their scene, music, and lives are all about. The artists spent some time online hyping up Twin Cities Week, understandably so, to let their fans know to keep an eye out for them.

Look, I know how this works, and it played out exactly how I knew it would. MTV does not do true features on artists. Instead, they force people to sit and watch their lifeless programming in anguish in order to see what you're truly after. These guys' segments were played during commercial breaks and in between shows with 10 minutes of mindless waste preceding and succeeding it. Needless to say, I couldn't bring myself to be turned into a troll by the one-time cutting edge music station. The people I was looking out for are great artists and nice people, and I enjoy supporting them. However, I wasn't up for it on this go 'round. The Twin Cities Week link above will give you a small taste of some of the coverage, but it's definitely not everything they did. So the next time you hear that your favorite artist(s) is/are being featured on MTV, don't put yourself through the agony. Just pretend you never heard anything. Seriously.

MTV, what did I ever do to you?

Hit the Blue Note

There's a little slack in my pimpin'. I've posted some recent events over on MySpace, but I've sort of neglected this gig for a little bit. I'm still dropping in on others' blogs, but mine has received little to no attention.

The Greek Festival here in Wilmington wrapped up a couple weeks ago at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, with a Saturday date since that Friday was rained out. It was a fun time to be had by all. Lots of food, family, friends, and well...Greek people.

St. Anthony's Italian Festival just came to a close this past Sunday with Vice President Joe Biden in attendance. Why was he here? Because he's from here, and unlike all the other "important" people in the world, Biden isn't a deserter.

Moving along. Due to my tardiness, we're now two days into the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. This is an annual, week-long music festival to honor the late Clifford Brown, held here in downtown Wilmington, DE. It's free, for all ages, and hosts some of the most talented acts around. Last year brought George Duke and David Sanborn to the stage in Rodney Square. If you weren't there, you weren't doing anything. This year's main attraction for the festival is Kem. In addition to all the great music are various food offerings, as well as art sales, live art demos, and other amazing items to pick up for yourself or someone special.



The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival will conclude Sunday, June 21, 2009.

MGMT - Kids

The band MGMT has released their latest video last night for the song Kids. I don’t know much about MGMT, but I checked out a few songs of theirs to get acclimated. Honestly, I can’t say that I’m into it, but I don’t not like it. Get it?

Anyway…my good friend, Henry Thurlow did the animation for this video (around the 4:50 mark). If the work reminds you of the Adult Swim show Superjail, well it’s because Henry and the other animator involved also worked on that show. See how that works?

Think Little Monsters with Fred and Ben Savage, meets The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Terrifying, then tripped-out...but still terrifying.

Eat it up, digest it, and spread the word. You’ll like it.