Ok Go!

Babs invited me to see Ok Go with her last week at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Since I was totally in love with their first album, and pretty much liked their second album too, I was like "totes!" Plus I've seen them live before (a few times), and if all else fails the lead singer is pretty to watch. Really pretty.
This time they had really neat-o stage tricks, like CONFETTI! Tons of it! For their encore I can only imagine it was inspired by Daft Punk, it was full of LED lights and lasers. Very cool/Burning Man-ish.
There was a beautiful part when the lead singer came into the audience and it was just him and his guitar, and us, and the mike. It was a nice attempt at intimacy.
Overall Ok Go might not make the most mind blowing songs, but they are really incredible, innovative, and catchy pop musicians. They took viral video to the next level several years ago with their dancing on treadmills music video, and they continue to shift a little left of center making work that is interesting on several levels, weather its a new jam with a cool beat, a video with the largest Rube Goldberg machine, or a fun and interactive stage performance. They are the full package, phenomenal entertainers. Plus they are really well dressed.

Below is part of a song they did totally with bells, which I thought was innovative and you can tell they took time to figure it out perfectly.

Bubble weekend

A whole bunch of my bubble friends came to Brooklyn for a delish dinner (thank you Olive Vine Cafe!) and good times. It felt so natural to be all together in the same place again. As though we had never left our bubble bus to pursue real world activities again. As though we were in a dream land where bubbles never popped but just floated back to each other in bubble time...Alas, it was just a wonderful break to the real world. But during this fantasy evening I was able to, for the first time, ride a tandem bike. How fitting to realize a dream during such a fantastical night!
AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I DREAMED IT WOULD BE!
There is alot of trust one must put in their front driver, and it was nerve racking to ride without that kind of control, but it was also a kind of lovely. Perfect for a warm, springtime Brooklyn night.
These two amazing neighbors and I suggested we hit up Soda Bar afterward. We ordered a round of drinks but the booze must have gone to everyone's head. The bubbles were drifting off into various states of sleep, and so the night ended young. Dreams found their beginnings in the sleepy heads of my friends, and my tandem bike dream came true in the humble boro of Brooklyn.

Wake up my bubbles, gently, softly. I may just love you, a little bit.

HAIR

OH YES! I know I just posted, but how AWESOME would this look? Or this?
It has to happen. Like now. Anyone know how to do awesome hair?
For the whole shoot go here.

OBEY!

Look! Shepard Fairey wall paper at the Music Hall of Willamsburg!

Scott Campbell

So- who doesn't love emails that start like this?

"This will be an extremely hip scene. Like, extremely. Want to be my date? I was told to bring my hot and fashionable friends. Come! Plus we haven't hung out in eternity.

xx

Julie"

Basically she was a beautiful siren and I was a lost traveler pulled into her fold of the super schamzcy, ultra-scene-y art world. And I'm not even gonna front, I loved it all.This is what I walked into when I turned onto Crosby street. A street whose cup absolutely over floweth with hip art kids. It was filled with movers and shakers, art lovers, and just those who want some of that to rub off. And of course a grody dude or two who were hoping to get a rub off themselves. There was no way for cars to go through, and there was no way to find the gallery. It was just a black hole in a wall, disappeared by the tangled masses of well dressed people.
And once I found my way to the hole in the wall, and pushed my way into the space (a total fire hazard, with only one way in or out, and a total humid gross zone) there was no way to engage with the art. It was just so crowded (with the likes of Kate Lanphear, Oliver Zham, Terry Richardson, Kaws, and Waris Ahluwalia, to name a few. It was like that night at the Met) but really, isn't that the point of a gallery opening? Obviously to people watch, judge ensembles, network, and pick up attractive people. Otherwise you might as well go look at the art another time. Julie and I wandered back into the gallery space near the end of the night, and finally it had cleared out enough to spend some time with the work.

The work was by Scott Campbell, and made of dollar dollar bills, y'all. The bills were stacked in hundreds and then cut down to create intricate designs. I'm pretty sure much of the work was done with a lazer cutter, the edges has small burns. This one reads "Sweet" "Sour."


OHWOW is hosting the exhibition titled "If You Don't Belong, Don't Be Long," and did a really excellent job designing the space. The lighting framed only the pieces, and nothing else, creating an moody atmosphere for the whole gallery, forcing your focus to where it should be, with the art.

Some of the work was, well, a bit cheesy/cutesy, like this darling butterfly. Like this should be a tramp stamp for a stupid girl, but for whatever reason the butterfly didn't bother me. In fact, I kinda like it. I think I was totally hypnotized by the details. And that is a rarity for me, to let the workmanship sing over the content. I guess this butterfly just seemed to make sense within the context of the show.
"All That Glitters Is Not Gold." A really special piece, the only one in these dimensions. And someone commented on how it also looks like a NYC subway. Very clever, very subtle. I wonder if that was intentional, or a happy outcome?

And this was made out of dollar sheets, before they were cut, straight outta the mint. I liked these ones the best because I like large scaled pieces, they demand attention!

Yay technology!

If you ride the L or have been to Paris you've seen the train countdown clocks. They don't make the subway come faster, and sometimes knowing that you have to wait THIRTY minutes is annoying, but regardless my station has one now, and I'm super amped! So is Barb!

Happy Friday. Here is so good happy Friday jam. This might be a new tradition, a jam for every Friday. What do y'all think?

Philadelphia’s Magic Mosaic Gardens

Let me tell you whats overwhelming. Having 40 new friends that you really REALLY want to see scattered across the states (and the Netherlands!) (and Israel!). After my trip I was lucky enough to have made some particularly phenomenal friends, dubbed Beautiful Bubbles by our tour leader. Now-I'm not planning any trips over seas or across the country any time soon, but Philly seemed manageable. Two (extremely nauseous) hours later Bolt Bus delivered me into the city of brotherly love. Or, as I like to think of it, Bubbly Love. I met up with Lisa and Brian to tour the Magic Gardens of Isaiah Zagar. In a word- overwhelming- in the best way. Just like having 40 friends.
Isaiah is obviously full of krazy. But who doesn't love a krazy every now and then? Especially when they make really amazing art I can walk through? Every inch of the indoor and outdoor space was drenched with mosaic madness.
Isaiah often placed images of himself within the work, always having three arms and often in the nude. Also, if you cared to search the maze, you could often find all sorts of unique items he incorporated into the madness.Embedded into the wall were all sorts of tea pots, bottles, and other liquid containers.And here we found a Buddha just lounging, enjoying the view.
What was so cool about the space was how you could walk through it and really interact. I could feel the 3AM nights, where I imagined Isaiah tired as a mofo but working relentlessly regardless. The drive to make conquering the need for sleep.
Brian, Lisa, and I dreamed up the perfect wedding, designating different sections of the maze as a specialty cocktails area, a vegan pigs in a blanket station (well the vegan part may have been me) and a spectacular dance floor, no decorating required. There were unlimited nooks and crannies for the best man and a bridesmaid to get their make out on. Plus all the kids would just entertain themselves by playing hide and seek in the maze. Perfect!
What was really extra special was being able to spend all this time with these two wonderful people.
Because whats better than a reunion in a magical place?
Isaiah has either been commissioned, or took it upon himself, to mosaic much of the surrounding area. So there are people who live in houses adorned with his work, and store fronts covered with the stuff. Its like an exploration in alternative graffiti. It makes the neighborhood a really beautiful place to spend time in. I'm sure all the residents are saying-