Category Archives: Events

Event recommendation: Escape Route curated by Jesse Cesario at the Port Authority.

Text by Jim Hoey
It’s always exciting to see artists on the streets of New York operating in one way or another, oblivious to all distractions, tuning all the dissonances of the city out as they stand focused and charged with their creation. It happens in Central Park all the time, a wide bush blossoms in the Spring or a bird lands on a rock and an artist with his easel sets up and begins drawing, and slowly a crowd gathers to enjoy the image evolving from life. Or in Williamsburg somewhere, you’ve got 2 painters in overalls reaching, dangling, off of stepladders, brushing an advertisement on the side of a red-brick wall, thick paint waves going up in multi-hued patterns as the day drifts by on a hazy summer afternoon.

Recently I came across Jesse Cesario in the same way, (curator for the Camera Club of NYC and Fashion Center BID), on 39th and Broadway, doing something (illicit, possibly), putting some flyers or stickers on a newspaper box, covering up the AmNew York, or Village Voice, or Gotham Writers pages with his own images of fashion and style around the Garment District.

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Recommended Event: 2012 Festival International de Louisiane (USA)

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Where: Lafayette, Louisana
Date: April 25 – 29, 2012

The Festival International de Louisiane is an annual  free to the public music and arts festival held in Lafayette, Louisiana celebrating the French heritage of the region. Drawing about 300,000 attendees. The festival was first held in 1987 and has become very popular, attracting musicians, artists, and craftsmen from around the world.

This year’s  highlights are: Cheikh Lô, Slavic Soul Party!, Khaira Arby, Seun Kuti & Eqypt 80, Gary Clark Jr., Bombino, Beats Antique, Radio Radio, Téada, and of course Lafayette’s Cajun and Zydeco music.

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DooBeeDoo still supports the Occupy Wall Street movement!

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Since beginning of this year I have been very busy with the production and promotion of my CD. So I was more concerned about myself than others and this movement. Soryyyyyyyyyyy! As you know I was interested and supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement from the beginning and featured it a couple of times in DooBeeDoo.

How do I feel about this movement now? Still very good and I’m very happy that I hear more about them recently in everyday conversations or in the media, such as The Village Voice which is announcing OCCUPY SPRING is coming soon in this week’s issue. Or my subway paper am NEW YORK Sign of the times: Occupy Wall Street pranks MTA. So some OWC actions are already happening. And I really hope that OWC will become a big and loud voice during the presidential election this year.

Here is a video made by Al-Jazeera Occupy Wall Street: Surviving the Winter,” Part Two of the documentary produced by Jordan Flaherty and Sweta Vorha for Al-Jazeera. Might be worthwile watching it.

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2012 NYC Winter Jazzfest Part 1: at the Zinc Bar (NY)

image0021-274x300Dates: Friday and Saturday, December 6 and 7, 2012
Venue: Zinc Bar

Text by Jeremy Siskind

During the 2012 Winter Jazzfest, the Zinc Bar was woefully unable to accommodate the multitudes hoping to hear such topflight artists as Miguel Zenon, Gregoire Maret, and Lionel Loueke. A long line consistently wound onto West 3rd Street and unraveled into Thompson Street, where the bar’s bouncers insistently reminded standers-by that “there are four other venues that have music!”
Inside, the majority of listeners stood in a sweaty bar area while poor weather-beaten waitresses attempted to push by and serve the seated guests. A large percentage of the audience couldn’t glimpse the stage, and many retreated to the back of the bar and began conversing in murmurs that occasionally competed with the softer parts of a show. Fire codes were likely ignored. Standers greedily eyed the seated like a carnivorous cat salivating over the silhouette of an antelope. My friend and I actually drew a diagram of the seating area and formulated a battle plan to storm the room loosely based on Sherman’s march through the South. Despite the logistical challenges and shortcomings, some memorable shows took place at the Zinc Bar. Continue reading →

Occupy Wall Street…never gives up!

Martin Bisi and Sohrab (photo by Martin Bisi)

Text and video by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Last Saturday, December 17th, around 2:15pm I went with my friend Martin Bisi to Duarte Square, at the corner of Canal Street and 6th Avenue, to celebrate the three month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. We expected Lou Reed there to give a music contribution around 2 pm but he didn’t show up, which wasn’t a big deal.

When we arrived there many people, about a couple of hundreds, had already gathered and were getting ready to occupy the park and the fenced-off parking lot next door belonging to the Trinity Episcopal Church which refused to let them use the land as a campsite. As usual music, chanting and art performances were an important part of the protest.

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