Recently in New York City a 21 year old "subway surfer" was killed after getting bounced off a moving C line train. Subway surfing is the dare-devil stunt that involves riding either atop or clinging to the side of a moving train. While popular in certain South American and European cities (including in Denmark, where the documentary excerpt below is from), it has only been sporadically popular in New York City's MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) subway system over recent years, and for good reason. The stunt has a very high probability of ending in fatal disaster due to the tight space between the train and the MTA tunnels. Unlike in other foreign cities, where the trains are mostly outdoors, the MTA run mainly through underground tunnels. Four years ago there were several subway-surfing fatalities on New York's subway system within a short time span -- apparently inspired by some publicity about the practice at that time. Since then, the MTA has initiated a campaign educating those foolish enough to try surfing a New York subway car.


In comparison, the relatively tame, although still illegal and dangerous, annual Broadway Bomb -- a race in which about a hundred daredevil skateboarders roll from uptown to downtown Manhattan along Broadway from 116th Street all the way down to Bowling Green, which is eight and half miles, dodging cars, buses, and taxis and ignoring traffic lights along the way -- went without incident two Sundays ago in New York City.  And even though the motto for the event is "You could die," no one has so far. But then, the event is held on a Sunday when there is very little traffic in NYC compared to weekdays. There is also talk that the event, which already has sponsors, may soon become legit.

Brandi Shearer, the premiere artist on the Amoeba Music record label, returns to the Living Room at 154 Ludlow Street in New York City tonight (Thursday August 9th) to kick off her Thursday nights at the Living Room in August series at the Lower East Side (LES) location. Brandi Shearer's anticipated new album Close To Dark -- the first release on the new Amoeba Music record label -- is slated for release in a few weeks, on August 28th, and tonight Shearer will be including many songs off it in her set, which begins early, at 7PM. Also performing at the Living Room tonight will be Lipbone Redding (8PM) and Cresent and Frost (9PM). There is no cover but a suggested $5 tip jar at the Living Room. Tonight is week one of a series of shows that Brandi will be doing for the next couple of Thursdays at the Living Room, including August 16th and 23rd. Also note that the singer/songwriter will be performing in Philadelphia, PA this weekend on Saturday night at the World Cafe, upstairs on a bill with the Anthony Lattanze Band-- 9PM is showtime.

When Brandi last performed at the Living Room a couple of months ago, she played the more intimate upstairs room (Googie's Lounge), but this time round she will perform in the larger downstairs performance space. If you happen to be reading this while you are in New York City on any of the Thursdays that Brandi Shearer is playing (Aug 9, 16. 23), head for this recommended show and hang out afterwards in this cool part of town.  And if you cannot make it to any of these nights this month but have future plans of being in NYC sometime soon, make a mental note of the club and the immediate LES neighborhood it is situated in, as it is well worth a visit.

This weekend, on Saturday (July 28th), from 10AM til 1PM, is your chance to be a star when the world-famous Apollo Theater of Harlem, NY will make its once a year visit to California in search of "amateur" talent for upcoming Showtime At The Apollo shows back in New York City at the historic 125th Street venue. This year the producers of the show will only visit five American cities outside of New York in search of talent, so this is a great opportunity to try out if you are an aspiring entertainer, whether you are a singer, rapper, spoken-word artist, comedian, dancer, musician, etc. And on Saturday their only West Coast tryouts will be held at the Oakland Convention Center located at 1001 Broadway in downtown Oakland.  

If you plan on attending the tryouts (for which there is no charge and which are based on a first come, first served basis) I suggest you get in line earlier than the scheduled 10AM door opening time. The first 300 in line will be admitted to audition. But even though the cut off time is 1PM, the actual tryouts inside the auditorium will last long past that -- until 6PM or possibly even later, so pack a sandwich and bring lots of water and sunscreen (you might be in line outside for hours). And another tip is to get lots of rest the night before so you are at your best.

A couple of months ago I attended one of the twice-a-year tryout sessions held in New York and wrote about it for the New York Press. What amazed me most was the level of quality talent that showed up to audition. I enjoyed the tryouts even more than the actual Amateur Night at the Apollo (held every Wednesday for the past 73 years) and am looking forward to attending the Oakland session -- I am scheduled to write a report about it for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

If you go on Saturday be prepared, and know that you will have only up to ninety seconds to display your skills -- so, if for example you are a singer with a backing track burnt on CDR or cassette, have it ready in your hand to pass over to the sound tech person. The contest is open to all ages but children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Below are the exact rules of the audition. For even further information visit the Apollo Theater website.

Talk about hitting two senses at once! That's exactly what the new line of graffiti themed, rich chocolate bars do. And nothing could be more tempting to this graffiti fan with a sweet tooth than the colorfully eye-catching, decadently yummy tasting new line of "graffiti" chocolate candy bars unveiled recently by downtown New York City's Chocolate Bar company -- the award-winning chocolate maker with an eye for style and originality.

The ten individually flavored chocolate bars are each beautifully presented in graffiti-tagged wrappers, each specially designed by such legendary graffiti artists as Crash, Dondi, Blade, Crime 79, Lady Pink, Dr. Revolt, Iz the Wiz, Voice of the Ghetto, and Spar One. The confection creation, with proceeds benefitting the NYC children's arts' All Stars Project (which benefits New York City high school kids' arts programs) was the idea of Chocolate Bar's Alison Nelson, who said that the reaction from the longtime graf artists was "positive, if not a little suspicious" when first approached to be a part of the candy-wrapper project. But, she said, once the graffiti artists got involved, they had fun with the unique collaboration, even getting to "choose the flavor they wanted to design."

Lady Pink chose Banana Milk, which is described as Milk chocolate filled with banana cream ganache, while Crash chose Dark Rum (dark chocolate with rum infused ganache). Blade's flavor/design is Milk Caffeto, milk chocolate with ground espresso, and Dondi White's is S'mores (milk chocolate with marshmallow and graham bits). The gourmet chocolate bars weigh 2.25 ounces each and are priced at $4 per chocolate bar or $40 for the nicely boxed "graffiti bar set" of all ten, which, while pricey for chocolate, is cheap for art -- provided, unlike this weak AMOEBLOGGER, you can resist eating the art!