Amoeblog

New York State of Mind Amoeblog #20: Ed Koch's Farewell with "New York, New York," Grand Central Terminal turns 100 years + more

Posted by Billyjam, February 6, 2013 01:47pm | Post a Comment

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, a true blue New Yorker who loved his city with a passion - was born here and never left to live anywhere else, had always said he wanted to go out to the song "New York, New York." And on Monday this week the three term mayor of New York City, who passed early last Friday morning at age 88, had that wish fulfilled at his funeral service at the large and packed Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue at 65th Street where, at the end of the long touching series of tribute (including former president Bill Clinton), as his coffin was slowly carried out of of the Upper East Side temple the organist played "New York, New York." And by the time the coffin - held high by six NYPD officers - was exiting the building the organist had segued into "The Lullaby of Broadway" from the musical 42nd Street. Note that Koch himself, in his ever active post-mayoral decades, did a brief acting role on Broadway when he played Daddy Warbucks in Annie the Musical. Many outside New York might recall him as judge/host of The Peoples' Court TV show in the late nineties. No stranger to the big and small screen Koch appeared in over five dozen Hollywood films and television shows including Sex and the City, Spin City, Saturday Night Live, and The Muppets Take Manhattan - playing himself in each production.

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New York State of Mind Amoeblog #19: Photo Episode

Posted by Billyjam, January 30, 2013 11:26am | Post a Comment

For this special edition of the New York State of Mind Amoeblog, I'm posting a series of pictures (mostly taken in recent weeks around Manhattan as well as a couple of other spots not far from Manhattan) that tell a story of what New York City has to offer. If you move your cursor over the photos most of them have some accompanying text that will identify their location or offer other related information.
 








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Sanae Ponce's Mother Lily's Passing Inspired "Graffiti Against Cancer" Benefit

Posted by Billyjam, October 9, 2012 06:05am | Post a Comment
The sad reality is that cancer is something that many of us can directly relate to; having either lost someone close to us to the deadly disease or else know of someone who has been diagnosed with or died from cancer in its many forms. This year in the US alone a total of 1,638,910 new cancer cases will be diagnosed with a projected 577,190 deaths from cancer predicted by the end of 2012!

Among those to die from cancer this year was 47 year old Beastie Boy Adam Yauch (aka MCA) whose death five months ago followed the artist's three year battle with salivary gland cancer. His shocking death further reminded hip-hop fans of the disease that can strike out at anyone at anytime. Four years ago 30 year old hip-hop artist Camu Tao died following his two year battle with lung cancer. This year his friend/musical collaborator El-P dedicated the acclaimed album Cancer 4 Cure on Fat Possum to Tao's memory. Two years ago Guru of Gang Starr died from cancer related causes. Everyone affected by cancer deals with it in their own way. In the case of San Jose writer Sanae Ponce, who lost her mother a few months ago to cancer, she decided to organize the Graffiti Against Cancer benefit series of fundraising events that will be happening at various galleries throughout the Bay Area later this month. For such a large scale project Ponce is not working alone. "Marito El Nicoya is my right hand man through all this. He's from Cali as well. His family is from Nicaragua. Mario Guitron is also a big part of this event, he's been helping us with the itineraries for these events," Ponce told me when I caught up with her this past week to ask her about her mother, the benefit series, and what folks can do to participate in this timely worthwhile event, that will pass along all proceeds to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

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Endless Canvas' SPECIAL DELIVERY East Bay Art Exhibit Was Great While It Lasted

Posted by Billyjam, October 1, 2012 05:35pm | Post a Comment

If one dollar had been donated for every photo taken at the Berkeley warehouse street art exhibit Endless Canvas' SPECIAL DELIVERY enough money could have been generated to purchase the warehouse building that housed this wonderful, temporary grassroots art exhibit and to keep it open indefinitely - not just in pop-up form. The exhibit ended its all-too-short 3 weekend run yesterday with another extremely well attended day of photo-happy street art fans. For many the temporary nature of SPECIAL DELIVERY  only added to the vibrancy of this exhibit of revered but disposable art - and another reason to document it.

I stopped by yesterday - Sunday September 30th, the sixth and final day - to be simply blown away by the wonderful art on display. About a 100 pieces by such local artists as Swampy and Plant Trees graced near every available corner of this cavernous, two-level 36,000 square-foot abandoned warehouse space down on Fourth Street near Gilman.

Anyone I know who attended this event, like David Ford who worked at it or E-Lit from Amoeba Berkeley who patiently lined up on the very packed opening weekend three weeks ago, were equally impressed by SPECIAL DELIVERY - from the caliber of the art on display to the perfect location of the exhibit. Berkeley's Carbon Warehouse – down near the railway tracks at 1350 4th Street - is a funky and raw building with only natural light. (Hence the darkened, shadowy, shuttered downstairs art area takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to).

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Urban Legends Public Art Exhibition and Live Auction in LA, 4/27 - 5/26

Posted by Amoebite, April 12, 2012 05:37pm | Post a Comment
Urban Legends Public Art Exhibition

The Urban Legends Public Art Exhibition (4/27- 5/26 at LA Mart Design Center) is a first-of-its-kind show celebrating 45 years of global public art from the mid-1960s through today! Illustrating how this
Shark Toof
Shark Toof, Nature Will Always Win.
Herakut
Herakut, street art
movement has affected and uplifted urban life through the vibrancy of color and large-scale sociopolitical works of art, the show is inclusive of all global communities and highlights artists from the U.S., Europe, Africa, Mexico, and more.

The exhibition features works for sale and auction, and two fun-filled opening events to kickstart the run of the show:

Friday, 4/27: VIP Preview, Exhibition Opening and Auction
Press and VIP Preview: 6:00pm -7:30pm
Exhibition Opening: 8:00pm-11:00pm

Saturday, 4/28: PUBLIC Exhibition Opening
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Public Opening Night Highlights:
- Select artists in attendance
- Preview of all works for sale
- DJ’s
- Food trucks

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