me (not really)/kris brownlee
I'm buzzing around like a crazy-bee lately. Thus, my post-per-week average has been a little low in March. If you come to this blog regularly, my apologies. Here's some of the really awesome things that have been sucking all my time (ie: that I've been very much enjoying the opportunity to work on.)
ANDROID
andra rosenberg/dj android in nyc
I interviewed local artist/stylist/DJ Andra Rosenberg for AltDaily. She's one of the most talented and motivated people I've ever met. She's responsible (via her six-year stint as The Wave's 80s Night DJ) for breaking down a lot of social barriers in our conservative lil Norfolk, especially when it comes to gender and sexuality. She also has insane, kickass, radballs taste in music.
And, we're friends. That's me and Andra (and our friend Grant, owner of the photo booth) at an event last year. She did hair, makeup (including mine), and DJ'd for it. I didn't stop dancing for very long. She just DJ'd The Chrysler Museum last night, which I'm sure was killer.
I encourage you to read the piece. Beyond the styling and music, she also unexpectedly became the pseudo-mom to her teenage sister two years ago when their father suddenly passed away. Transitioning from a prominent nightlife figure to a parent couldn't have been easy, though she makes it look that way.
CONCRETE
From the Honor Code/Squealer/Ancient Ruin show at Concrete
I also recently interviewed Stephanie Lou Hauge and Calum MacPherson-Smith, two of the three owners/curators of the new DIY space in Virginia Beach called Concrete (Grow Together.) These kids are 22 years old and running one of the most invigorating venues our region has seen in nearly a decade (last one I recall this good was Relative Theory, which closed its doors five years ago.)
Concrete's been doing some restructuring and are re-opening this month (April 15). I'll have my real feature on the space, its owners, and all things DIY published around then as well. I expect mucho greatness from these dedicated kiddos.
MUSIC FESTIVAL
justin townes earle
Another thing I've been active in lately is Tidewater Arts Outreach. Each April they put on the Sea Level Singer/Songwriter Music Festival in Norfolk. It's been a lot of fun getting to know these folks and getting even more involved in the local music scene. Last Saturday, I was one of the panel who willowed applicants to finalist spots for the Emerging Artist Showcase (dream come true...and there was wine.) We started with over fifty and ended up with ten. So so much fun.
Justin Townes Earle will be headlining the festival. It'll be good to see him in such an intimate setting (The Naro) before the show I'll attend this summer at Bonnaroo. I'm also (via AltDaily) planning the Emerging Artist Showcase official afterparty, which will feature my frequent blog subject, Mr. Phillip Roebuck himself. He's been on tour lately, so I'm hoping all of Norfolk will want to show up and welcome him home.
KILLER ART SHOW
Clint Wilson/O Brother Where Art Thou?
I'm also working on a story about next weekend's Quentin vs. Coen art show at Bold Hype Gallery in NYC. The show features talented, up and coming artists from around the country who submitted work based on either a Tarantino or Coen Brothers film.
Cassie Podish/Inglorious Basterds
I found out about this via Cassie Podish, whom I met when she did the design for The Rise Up! last December. She's totally freakin' great at design and I can't wait to see the rest of the pieces from her and everyone else.
RIOT GRRL LOVE
Me and Kathleen.
Last night I got to hang out with Kathleen-freaking-Hanna. I don't have words. Actually, that's a lie. I have about 9,000 words sitting in a document I need to whittle down to a readable feature by Monday. She is one of the most inspirational figures in music, women's rights, fashion, DIY, and on and on. I especially was lucky to ask her opinion on blogging and where she sees DIY going in the 21st century.
REVITALIZATION
pic: juxtapoz
Lastly, I've been getting more vocal in my support for the Norfolk neighborhood Park Place. Adam and I actually just put in an offer on a duplex fixer-upper on 30th Street, which we hope to fix up and rent out. I'm so lucky to have the chance to even own rental property, so doing it in a place I actively try to help revitalize makes me feel I'm putting my money where my mouth (pen? keyboard?) is, so to speak.
This is a piece I wrote yesterday comparing Park Place to Detroit and its demise-then-revitalization via art and culture. Check out what Juxtapoz has got going on there, it's something I want for The P.
THE END
Hopefully I'll get back on here more in April. Fingers crossed.
