Mad Decent & Mosquito Project Present…

FAVELA ON BLAST

NYC Premier August 4th 2009
Tribeca Cinemas as part of the Brazilian Film Festival

Presented in 35 cities so far, plus another year to circulate the globe, the music documentary, “Favela on Blast” has been on a worldwide tour, exposing national and international audiences to the Rio de Janeiro phenomena of “funk carioca” .
The musical word “Funk” resonates many different meanings and interpretations across the world, but in Rio de Janeiro, funk is the face of the city. Funk is a type of dance music out of Rio, and it is also referred to as funk Carioca (Rio funk); it is a lifestyle and a culture, which for the past 20 years has defined the music of the Rio favelas. Recycling the music of the United States, “funk carioca” is a byproduct of the Brasilian (Rio) ghetto, to which everyone can be cultuarally connected.
“The first thing kids learn in the favela is funk culture”
This is a straightforward, humorous, unapologetic film, which depicts Rio’s, “funk” music, (also interpreted as “baile funk”) as the most natural outlet and creative response to life in the favela, by the people of the favelas. This documentary could have easily had turned into a typical “issues” film , but that is not the case at all. It isn’t that the antagonizing degradation of the favela life and social strains of these people are ignored, but the film organically shows that there is more to life in the favela, besides struggle and strife. Rather, the filmmakers, Leandro Hbl and Wesley Pentz (Diplo), find a genuine, natural balance to these elements and stay true to their vision of exposing a musical and cultural as something that is “cool” and exciting. “Favela on Blast” not only educates audiences about the history of funk carioca, how in the past twenty years this genre of music has blossomed from its Miami Bass derivative; but it highlights the numerous funk artists telling their own personal relationship to funk and what it means to them, and how it is shaping their future. The stories of seasoned DJs , as well as emerging artists on Rio’s funk scene are featured such as: MC Deise Tigrona, Mr. Catra, Mc Duda Do Borell, Mc Colibri, Mcs Gorila and Preto and Dj Sany Pitbull plus, many more. This documentary teaches about a sound that has been created in a city of violence and oppression. Funk carioca produces a livelihood for the musicians of this movement. The filmmakers show how these funk sounds unite the people and children of the Rio favela communities who breathe and live by the beats. The music is vulgar, fast, magnetic and provocative, which to some audiences, may be disconcerting or misinterpreted. But “Favela on Blast” defends the notion that it is not violence comes from baile funk. Baile funk is an outlet from the violence of the socially marginalized. These musicians, mothers, fathers, young women and men, and children are unapologetic, and proud of the music that comes from their home. “Favela on Blast” epitomizes how, without even realizing it, the people of the Rio favelas have reinvented a sound that is crossing boundaries and borders , that has put Rio on the map, and has created a movement that will not fade away.

Suspended Cirque’s latest performance Urbanopolis at the Galapagos Art Space tells the story of a young man who enters into an urban  labyrinth where he meets over the top creatures . Urbanopolis is a different kind of performance as it incorporates dance, singing, musical instruments  along with amazing aerial  acrobatics.

The master-mind and curator behind P.S. 1’s Summer event Warm-Up, musician Zach Layton, brings together  the underground music sounds of New York City with stunning visual architectural pieces from P.S. 1’s contemporary art center. Every Saturday starting July 4 and ending September 5 the Warm-Up summer series merged the sounds of djs from all over the country with contemporary installations.  The courtyard was transformed as it became jam packed with musicians, composers, music lovers, artists and families. Every year Warm-Up brings people from all over together as a way to enjoy the summer fresh air, set to music, while exploring the amazing architectural pieces and exhibitions from the 2009 winners of young  architects program.

These days everyone has something to share, and they do it all online with their blogs, facebooks, twitters, etc.  Tumblr is the blogging platform described to be ‘the easiest way to share yourself online’.  Many people seem to have found their blogging niche on Tumblr- from artists, writers, designers, photographers, and musicians.  For those who claim they don’t know what Tumblr is, they’ve probably found themselves reading a tumblelog at some point, with users such as Katy Perry, Pete Wentz, and Black Book, among others utilizing the service for their blogs.

Tumblr recently tapped into the talented pool of musicians on the site by throwing their first musical showcase at The Gramercy Theater, aptly titled “Reblog This Concert”.  The community aspect of the site was not overlooked, as they posted a call for bands to participate in the show.  The final line-up featured Shinobi Ninja, Bamboo Shoots and The Urgency, with DJ sets from DJ Machine and Bearbot.

We rocked to the bands as they rocked the stage, rocked out with the bands backstage, and talked to Tumblr founder David Karp about his amazing blogging platform.

Steve and Rhema Trayner are the founders of the Maven Collective, a retail pop-up team serving the public trendy fashion lines at affordable and discounted prices. They are rightfully named “mavens” of their profession, catering to the American notion of immediate gratification with their pop-up locations and impromptu forms of advertisement, including word of mouth, twitter or grabbing a local off the street to work a sandwich board advertisement.

Their high-end collections briefly take up a raw space in the group’s cities of choice and are packed up and off to a new city days later. The Maven Collective has made appearances in cities such as NYC, LA, Orange County, and San Francisco.

Swatch is a world-renowned watch brand, founded in Switzerland in 1983.  The literal translation of “Swatch” is “Second Watch,” named because the goal was to create a watch that could be worn everyday during a time when watches were expensive and mostly made of hardware. The Swatch brand innovated the watch market by infusing a variety of fashion patterns and art into its design.

Today Swatch is writing a new chapter in this tradition, creating something for the modern world, but with the style of the 80’s fully in mind.  Influenced by 80’s street art and fashion, Swatch teamed up with Billy the Artist in their new CreArt Collection.   Billy captures the energy and power of the city around him in the two watch styles designed for the collection.  The ‘Morning Glow’ watch exudes color and brightness, while ‘After Dark’ gives you that punch of black and white.

After launching the watches in Venice, Billy the Artist returned to New York for the US unveiling. We caught up with him at the CreArt Party, along with Swatch general manager, Patricia Higgins, to talk about revolutionizing the watch industry, the artistic collaboration and Billy’s mantra of “creating your own reality.”

The Lovely Caitlin Moe is classically trained as a violinist, and uses this talent to bring a sensual, classy edge to her catchy, sexy pop songs. Watch this for this rising star…

June 19, 2009

To learn more about Robin Coudert’s personal project, click here: www.institubes.com/rob/

You haven’t seen skills like these since childhood circus visits. Francis Stallings is an acrobat and performance hula hooper.

If  you like what you see here check out her aerial silks piece at Galapagos Art Space in Dumbo, Brooklyn on July 6th.

Last Wednesday, June 17th, we checked out Bacardi’s B-Live party tour at M2 Lounge in Chelsea.

Jazzy Jeff and A-Trak spun the hits to an excited crowd. Brooklyn band, Matt and Kim, also performed a few songs including,

“Daylight”, which plays in a Bacardi commercial…it will sound familiar!

Check it out…

We also ran into Theo Keating from “The Black Ghosts,” who gave us the inside scoop about his new project, “Fake Blood.”  http://www.myspace.com/welovefakeblood  For those of you who don’t know this DJ legend’s story, here’s the low down: Theo Keating, a well known British producer, DJ, and musician, received recognition in the early 90’s as ½ of the British hip- hop/electronica group, The Wiseguys, and evolved into the DJ scene with success as Touché, and in 2006 formed the electronic music duo, The Black Ghosts, with Simon Lord.  Currently, he is the driving force behind: Fake Blood, his newest endeavor in the DJ arena.  Keating is putting his own Fake Blood “twist” on the remixes he produces by recording the name “Fake Blood” into every track. He does this by “chopping up the original acapella, and assembling the words with individual vowel and consonant sounds”; meanwhile the only vocals present are the same ones heard in the original song.  He is remaining somewhat aloof with Fake Blood projects and promotions, but with singles, such as Mars and Blood Splashing, being sold on Itunes as of 2008, and a packed 2009 international summer tour,  it will not be long that the electro-world with which he hails from with soon catch on.

Five years ago Jonathan Bricklin began documenting his father’s most recent attempt to pull off a million dollar business deal for the third time.  Malcolm Bricklin, famous for bringing the Yugo and Subaru to the United States, wanted one last chance at fame and fortune after making and losing millions throughout his lifetime, and his son Jonathan saw a golden opportunity to exploit his father’s dynamic and relentless character to launch his film career.  We caught a screening of the film at The National Arts Club (15 Gramercy) on June 8, 2009.

“The Entrepreneur” takes viewers through complicated business proceedings with a Chinese car company called Chery in an attempt to create a cheaply made luxury car to be sold in the U.S.  Malcolm’s quirky persona keeps the tone of the interesting documentary light and amusing.  In one scene he strips off his clothes during a Chinese business meeting, in an awkward attempt to exemplify his raw honesty and transparency.  After years of painful ups and downs, his crazy antics eventually win him the deal, but after contracts are signed, the Chery Car Company completely screws him over when they ignore the legal agreement, poach the investors and sign a similar deal with Chrysler.  Litigation is still pending…

Watch the “The Entrepreneur” trailer by clicking on the picture below:

Watch an interview with filmmaker, Jonathan Bricklin:

Jonathan directed and produced the film with his production team called, what else, Ridiculous, Inc., which also includes Franck Raharinosy and Bill Mack.  “The Entrepreneur” seemingly burnt them out on documentary filmmaking, but inspired them to entrepreneurship with their other passion, ping-pong.  The trio is set to open a ping-pong club called  “SPiN” in New York City (Park and 23rd) for pre-registered members at the end of June and for the general public in early July.

“SPiN” is more then just your average ping-pong club.  The Ridiculous, Inc. guys brought their friend Susan Sarandon in as a business partner, who has added an entirely new and interesting dynamic to the project.  We caught up with Sarandon at “The Entrepreneur” screening.  She told us she got into ping-pong through her 19-year-old son, and admitted she needs to step up her game because, “everyone is challenging” her. “What’s so great (about ping-pong) is that it transcends generations.  It has such a wide demographic,” said Sarandon.  She listed George Clooney and Edward Norton as ping-pong lovers from her circle.

Many New Yorkers will tell you there’s an interesting underground following of ping-pong players in the city, or that the sport is making a comeback.  The Ridiculous, Inc. guys have been a huge part of that movement.  They started holding competitions in their TriBeCa loft in 2006 and were coined “The Naked Ping Pong Guys.”  At the time they were surviving by filming naked instructional videos by day, and having ping-pong gatherings at night.  They’ve since left the loft, and matured into “The SPiN Guys,” but “SPiN” promises to give the same party-like experience in a bigger space—15 ping-pong tables, a full bar and private rooms.

Photo Courtesy: www.spinyc.com

If you become a member you can receive benefits like:

- One free playing hour a month
- Discounts on table rentals
- Exclusive access to Member’s Only tournaments

There are 250 members already committed.

For more info visit SPiN’s website here.