Molly Crabapple is my new hero. When I emailed her to set up some time for me to meet her and watch her in action, she replied, “I’m pretty much ALWAYS working.” It’s true. You’d need to hire an assistant just to keep up with this girl. With this much success at age 27, its hard not to wonder how she got to this point.
New Year. New Music. New Favorites. ChinaShop handpicks the Women to Watch in 2011. Don’t sleep…
Visiting New York and getting your geek on? Wondering where to go for a post-outing nightcap? Brooklyn is the NYC borough to beat when it comes to geektastic drinking establishments, boasting two locales that appeal to lovers of genre fiction, gaming, and good beer.
Last week, the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) took New York City by storm with a slew of exhilarating performances featuring some of the top acts in the world of Latin music.
Despite my complete love for music, aside from the occasional spin on the ol’ salsa dance floor, Latin music isn’t something I’m all that familiar with or find myself listening to very often, so I was eager to check out just what LAMC had in store.
Whilst I enjoyed pretty much every show I checked out, Wednesday night’s acoustic showcase at S.O.B.’s was by far the highlight of the week.
It doesn’t get much geekier than hotel rooms organized by the Dewey Decimal System. Yet this is exactly what you’ll find at The Library Hotel in New York City, a swank, yet cozy boutique hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
On July 10th, teams of inventors, makers, and hackers will head to Brooklyn, New York where they will embark on a 72-hour anything goes build-a-thon. The event, known as Red Bull Creation, will challenge teams to push their imaginative limits and “create the future.” Upon arriving in New York, contestants will be given a theme, taken to a creative build space, and unleashed on the streets of New York city as they scramble to acquire materials and seek inspiration for creating a potentially winning masterpiece. After being judged in front of a live audience, the winners will go home with a load of cash and tools to support future projects.
16 teams are officially in the running, with six deemed as wild cards. Among the wild cards is the all female team of Zorah and Tirzah Rodgers, Laura Leva, and Sarah Kihls who call themselves “Effin Ladies.” The ladies bring a twist to the contest, as unlike many of the contenders, they are scattered around the United States and until July 10th, have never collaborated on a project as a unit. They haven’t quite lined all their ducks in a row but come contest day, the Effin Ladies plan on bringing the heat.
ChinaShop tracked these ladies down to pick their brains on their backgrounds as artists and to nab some insider secrets on how they are preparing for the big day.
To celebrate the U.S. launch of The Red Bulletin magazine, New Yorkers and famous athletes flocked to District 36 to party down with July’s cover girl and two-time World Champion Hurdler Lolo Jones, along with the Boston Celtics’ Rajon Rondo, Red Bull Racing NASCAR driver Brian Vickers and Dahani Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals.
It was Sunday afternoon and I set out to enjoy the last of the Northside Festival riches. Four days of music and art were drawing to a close and I was content with the events of the weekend. I fought my way through crowds, rubbed shoulders with indie music celebs, I saw more shows in four days than I have since SXSW and I’ve got a list of EP’s to download.
Surfer Blood opened for WAVVES who opened for Guided by Voices during Saturdays day shows at McCarren Park.
Most people in attendance were there to see Guided by Voices. I know this because the demographics were much more something you’d expect to see in Williamsburg’s southern neighbor, Park Slope; lots of old dudes and so, so many children. I totally wish I was one of those babies at music festivals with the hot pink ear protectors on my head and I bet if, god forbid, I ever birth such a thing I’m gonna drag it along with me. Maybe thats what outside day shows are for. Bring your kid to a music festival during the day and everyone will glance over and be like, ‘OMG, isnt that rocker kid so cute. And look at his mother! I hope I have that many tattoos by the time I’m a parent.’ Bring your kid to a bar at 1 AM and you’re likely to get picked up by social services.
It was day two of Northside Fest in Williamsburg and thunderstorms threatened to shut the main event down. But just before Yellow Ostrich went on the Steve Madden stage in McCarren Park, the clouds cleared and a double rainbow stretched over the Manhattan skyline, or at least that’s what I heard via Twitter. I had taken cover in a nearby bar and made it just in time to see the end of Sharon Van Etten as she played to a sparse, rain drenched crowd. The rest of Williamsburg poured in shortly thereafter, anxiously awaiting to see Beirut. The band had been relatively quiet since 2007 but with their release of The Rip Tide in August 2011, momentum picked up and they became a group everyone was talking about again.