Tags archives: Art For Progress
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10 years ago
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Premiers aren't just for Hollywood theaters anymore. Now movies and entire TV series can materialize on Netflix or on some other streaming service sans the red carpet party and garner just as much success. This is due partially to the raise of the internet. While box office sales are still important, the web has an increasingly important role in a film's pre and post release existence. You can follow films from funding to box set all via Twitter feeds and emails.
For new movies, the internet has somewhat infinite potential when it comes building hype. Think of how many times Netflix tried to get you to watch Blackfin or YouTube showed you yet another trailer for The Great Gatsby. In this day and age, you don't have to go to a theatre to see a trailer anymore. You can watching a clip on infinite loop until the film premiers and then long after.
Here are some recent music documentaries/bio-dramas that have utilized it in different ways. Some used the web purely as a promotional tool, one used it to crowdsource the filming and another used it as its release platform. The main tread that ties them all together is that they have been popping up in forum discussions, some for years now, and the have the internet talking.
Straight Outta Compton
“Our art is a reflection of our reality”
Due out August 13th, this film follows the rise of rap group NWA. Raised in Compton, California, the group's members Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella translated their experie[...]
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10 years ago
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Art for Progress is proud to announce their upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing. One of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, Much Ado also takes a complex look at love, relationships and searching for "self," This production will use the classic language of Shakespeare in a modern setting - demonstrating the relevance of the writer's work in present day. This incredible show will also feature some of NYC's finest actors, comedians and public servants all on stage for a good cause. After production costs - all profits will go to Art for Progress's Education Program - helping young people tap into their artistic abilities. We hope you can contribute towards this important work and look forward to seeing you at the show.
We need your support to present 'Much Ado About Nothing'!
Your donation will go to:
•Theater rental
•Our musicians
•Rehearsal space and rehearsal pianist
•Publicity
To thank you for your support we have the following perks:
•VIP tickets to the show
•Signed programs and posters from our cast and crew
•An invitation to our wrap party
•A private concert in your home
•And much more!
Any funds we receive will go towards paying our production costs. Any additional funds past our goal plus all tickets sales will go directly to Art for Progress in support of their educational programming.
Please help us spread the word about our fundraising campaign, Arts for Progress: Much Ado About Nothing, and our upcoming performances!
•Share our[...]
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10 years ago
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For 40 years, the Brazilian-born photographer Sebastião Salgado has been documenting people and events around the world, driven by curiosity, adventure, and deep empathy for the human condition. Trained as an economist, he left the security of that profession to travel to such farflung places as the Arctic Circle, remote Andes villages, Kuwait, and several African nations, where he lived among locals and immersed himself in the culture. The resulting collections of stunning black and white images include his books Other Americas, Workers, Terra, Exodus and Africa.
At one point, soul-sick from the tragedy he had witnessed in Rwanda, Salgado lost his desire to work, but regained it when he and his wife/work partner Lélia decided to replant the forest around the family ranch. That project ultimately became Instituto Terra, a thriving ecological reserve. Salgado’s current work involves the discovery and documentation of untouched landscapes, a tribute to the beauty of the planet.
When Sebastião’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, a documentary filmmaker, decided to make a movie about his father, he enlisted the help of renowned German auteur Wim Wenders, a friend and admirer. The result of their collaboration, The Salt of the Earth, is a beautiful, profound work about a remarkable artist, his family, and the bonds he forges with his subjects. Following are excerpts from a recent roundtable discussion with Wenders and Juliano Salgado:
Did you think about the differences be[...]
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10 years ago
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Join us for another excellent night of live music featuring NYC based artists that stretch across all genres of music and style.
This month we're very pleased to have The Tall Pines performing for our HomeGrown series. They've played with the likes of Charlie Louvin, Norah Jones and Justin Townes Earl among other greats, and their first self-titled album was named one of top ten best albums of the year by NPR's Meredith Ochs.
We're equally pleased to have Daughter Vision performing the late set. When they take the stage you can expect a multimedia, theatrical, sexy, philosophical experience. Blythe Sword is a new project featuring the vocals of Blythe Gruda and the music of Anton Sword. The band recently returned from a European tour where they delighted fans with their electronic textured dark ballads. Skunkmello returns to follow up on their great performance at HomeGrown last year. The band will be fresh off their date at SXSW and energized for a top notch set at Bowery Electric.
--March 18th: The Tall Pines, Blythe Sword, Daughter Vision, Skunkmello
8:00pm - Skunkmello, 9:00pm - The Tall Pines, 10:00pm - Blythe Sword, 11:00pm - Daughter Vision
Doors: 7pm, Music: 8pm, Cover: $10
The Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery Street, NY, NY
Hosted by Art for Progress
--April 22nd
We Deliver presents “Mother Earth Jam”
In celebration of Earth Day…
Featuring: Wyland, Polyvox, Blythe Gruda, Idgy Dean
Doors: 7pm, Music: 8pm, Cover: $10[...]
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10 years ago
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Frank Whaley is probably best known for his acting roles in Pulp Fiction, Swimming with Sharks and The Doors, but he’s also written and directed a few movies over the years, most notably 1999’s gritty Joe the King, about the hellish life of an abused boy from a badly broken home.
His latest directorial effort, Like Sunday Like Rain, is about an entirely different sort of boy. Twelve-year-old Reggie (played with remarkable poise by newcomer Julian Shatkin) is a New York City rich kid and all-around prodigy who not only plays cello beautifully, but composes serious music. The film centers on the growing rapport between him and his 20-something nanny Eleanor, an equally lost soul played with nice understatement by Leighton Meester. Like Sunday Like Rain is a somewhat conventional film about an unconventional relationship. Though bumpy in places, this buddy movie/love story is elevated by Jimi Jones' languid cinematography and the two leads' performances and repartee.
At the movie’s start, Eleanor breaks up with her boyfriend Dennis, an undependable musician who causes her to lose her barista job. Played by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong in his feature film debut, Dennis is a bratty loser type and Armstrong doesn’t add much to the part. Meanwhile Reggie’s distant, preoccupied mother (Debra Messing in a one-note role) is planning to visit her husband -- Reggie's stepfather -- overseas and needs a new nanny pronto. With no real experience or references, Eleanor is sent [...]
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10 years ago
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It was a cold Saturday afternoon, but I was motivated to trek over to Chelsea to check out the Kitchen Girls & Toy Boys show at Rush Arts Gallery. Artists Sindy Butz and Sol Kjok are participating artists in the show and have both worked with AFP on various projects.
It didn't take long for me to identify Sol's very large piece, "Strings Attached" as I walked into the gallery. Her figurative work bursts off the canvas with great detail and her use of color brings out the emotion in her characters. In this piece the characters are strung together and appear to be grasping and climbing over each other while still maintaining a certain co-dependence.
I was impressed with the overall quality and diversity of the work in the show. The work of Reinhold Gottwald caught my attention. His colorful, small, abstract pieces on wood are hung/arranged as if they are a group of planets sharing the same solar system. I found Markus Fiedler's beeswax sneakers quite intriguing and an interesting piece(s) to be included in the show. I was impressed with the incredible detail he was able to achieve using beeswax.
I noticed Sindy crouched down on the floor, but I didn't realize that her performance had already begun. What is she up to this time? Sindy's not afraid to take on the not so obvious social issues of the day. Her thought provoking work continues to evolve and this performance would not disappoint. The message on the floor read, "The West Tastes like Gold." As Sind[...]
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10 years ago
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Brooklyn by way of D.C. band Jukebox the Ghost playing Irving Plaza Saturday night to a packed house. For what was effectively a hometown show, the fans showed up in force. Openers Secret Someones and Little Daylight warmed up the crowded venue and around 10 the band finally took the stage.
They began with “Postcard” off of their newest album, Jukebox the Ghost, which came out earlier this year. It’s an upbeat follow-up to the more somber, but still poppy Safe Travel that the band released in 2012. The record was the first on their new label Cherrytree Records. Jukebox signed to the branch of Interscope Records in late January. The month turned out to be a busy one for the band. In addition to releasing a new records, the band also played Conan, did a cover swap with Twin Forks, recorded a Bangels cover with Secret Someones and did a Bands and Brews sessions with Baeble Music. The band's guitarist Tommy Siegel also spoke to the Nerdist for their Car Tunes and Cartoons series and released a book of his "van doodles" after a successful Kickstarter campaign.
For their Irving Plaza appearance, the band played a mix of songs from each of their albums. This included tunes from their debut Let Live and Let Ghosts, like "Static to the Heart" and "Victoria", and songs from their second album Everything Under the Sun, like “Schizophrenia” and “The Stars”. For long-time fans, a highlight of these older songs was the combination of “My Heart’s the Same” and “Lighting Myself on [...]
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10 years ago
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The first feature from writer/director Lance Edmands (who previously served as editor on Tiny Furniture, among other movies), Bluebird is quiet, brooding, and visually stunning. The film’s slowly unfolding narrative tracks the reverberations of an accident on a small Maine logging town and its working-class inhabitants. Meditative and highly atmospheric, it’s as much a portrayal of a harsh, bleak environment as it is of the individuals who live there.
Amy Morton plays Lesley, a longtime school bus driver who becomes distracted at the end of her shift one day and fails to notice a sleeping boy in one of the rear seats. Her husband Richard (John Slattery), a logger, is largely preoccupied by news of an impending mill shutdown and probable layoffs while the couple’s sensitive teen Paula (Emily Meade) is engrossed in negotiating the beginnings of a new romance.
In the accident’s aftermath, the affected parties react in various ways: the boy’s young, irresponsible mother (Louisa Krause) hires a lawyer against the wishes of her own mother (Margo Martindale); the devastated Paula lashes out at her father and seeks comfort in her budding relationship. Though seemingly impervious and a bit distant, Richard shows clear signs of stress and the outwardly stoical Lesley herself eventually and quietly breaks down. These are not demonstrative people; though there are outbursts of emotion, much is kept under wraps.
The gradual unraveling of these characters is shown amid the[...]
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10 years ago
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Beginning with the opening track off their debut album Throw Up Your Hands for One Night Stands, Freshman 15 played a short, but enthusiastic set at Chinatown's Santos Party House. The floor was dotted with young fans (and a few 21+s in wristbands) who had arrived early to see the one of the many openers that night. Before the Georgia pop rock band took the stage their statemates, Everybody Run, played an equally empty house. Despite the showing or rather lack there of, both bands played a high energy and spirited sets. Freshman 15 especially played a well-rehearsed, even choreographed show with intermittent, but well-timed stage jumps and similar stage antics. Lead singer and bassist Davey Fortner hoisted his instrument in unison with guitarist Mike Baker, showing a clear chemistry amidst the band. Despite being down a member and having to borrow Everybody Run's bassist Shaan Singh, they showed no signs of being tired of the road or of one another. The Don’t Worry Be Happy tour they were on with headliners Carolina Kings and Survey Says was well underway, but even missing a bassist (Davey Hoogerwerf left the band in 2012), Fortner, Baker and drummer Leo Teran powered through.
The earlier band's bassist meshed seamlessly with their energy and matched their goofy smiles with a grin of his own. There was a positivity to the set, as there was to their second album, that translated to their live show. "Our California Song", a sad tune with an upbeat and plenty of crunchy [...]
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10 years ago
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One great thing about living in NYC is the wide range of new movies to pick from. These two have just opened in theaters: serial killer horror/comedy or backstage ballet documentary? Your choice...
The Voices
Whatever one might have expected from director Marjane Satrapi after the acclaimed adaption of her autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis (2007) and the poignant, surreal fable Chicken with Plums (2011), The Voices is not it. (Unlike those earlier films, she had no hand in writing this movie; that honor goes to Michael R. Perry, known mainly for TV work.) A queasy crime thriller disguised as an office romcom, The Voices stars the usually inoffensive Ryan Reynolds as a very disturbed man. Melding the blackest imaginable humor, scenes of bloody horror and some impressively solid acting -- Reynolds hasn’t had a role this challenging since 2010's Buried -- Satrapi has created something quite unique. While not exactly a masterpiece of filmmaking, The Voices is twisted, harrowing and funny, the latter mainly due to a pair of talking animals.
Reynolds plays Jerry, a seemingly upbeat, nice-guy shlub with a dark past, who works for a bathroom fixture company that also employs luscious Fiona (Gemma Arterton) and down-to-earth Lisa (Anna Kendrick). Sharing his home are dog Bosco and cat Mr. Whiskers, who give Jerry advice when he’s off his meds, which is often. Bosco’s a lovingly supportive type, while Whiskers is a taunting, foul-mouthed provocateur -- talk about an[...]
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10 years ago
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In 2012, Emily Hakes and Eric Osman started the Philadelphia-based independent label Lame-O Records. A two short years later Lame-O has bands like Johnny Foreigner, Ma Jolie, Steady Hands, The Hundred Acre Woods, The Weaks and Three Man Cannon on its roster. Pulling from this pool of young talent and the surrounding state, Lame-O has compiled a six-way split entitled Strength In Weakness. The album includes songs by all Pennsylvania-area acts. From West Chester's Spraynard to Philadelphia's Marietta, bands from all over the PA (and one by way of Maryland) contributed a track. Proceeds from the album sales will benefit the Philadelphia area chapter United Cerebral Palsy.
Strength In Weakness is available for purchase from the label’s website as of today. For this eye-catching limited pressing, Lameo released 100 Black/Clear Half and Half, 150 Transparent Sea Blue and 250 Grimace Purple vinyl records; however, when the record was made available for pre-order early last month all 500 copies of the pressing sold out immediately. If you did not get your hands on one or if you prefer digital media, the album can be downloaded from Lame-O’s Bandcamp.
One of the most anticipated songs on the album is "Alpha Kappa Fall Of Troy The Movie Part Deux" by Modern Baseball. Brendan Lukens, Jacob Ewald, Ian Farmer and Sean Huber, members of the Brunswick/Frederick, Maryland band, attended Chestnut Hill College and Drexel University in Philadelphia, which explains their connection to th[...]
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10 years ago
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The words “prodigy” and “wunderkind” have often been used to describe filmmaker Xavier Dolan, with good reason. Not yet 26, the French-Canadian auteur has recently released his fifth feature, Mommy, to general acclaim, including a Jury Prize win at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. A sort of bookend to his first film, 2009's J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother), Mommy stars Dolan regular Anne Dorval as Diane, the desperate mother of violence-prone, ADHD-addled Steve (a very believable Antoine Olivier Pilon). Their raucous, codependent relationship is tempered by the arrival of a quiet, secretive neighbor, played by Suzanne Clément (in a complete departure from her outgoing persona in Dolan’s 2012 Laurence Anyways). As each of the characters in this unsettling, emotional film struggles with personal demons, they form an unusual bond.
Contrary to his previous films I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats (2010) and Tom at the Farm (2013), Dolan -- an actor since toddlerhood -- did not cast himself in Mommy. Like most of his movies, Mommy features complicated mother-son dynamics, arresting visual sequences and a potent soundtrack. In just five years, the filmmaker has created a distinctly unique body of work, all the more remarkable considering his relative youth.
Recently I sat down with a few other journalists for a conversation with Dolan, who was both introspective and forthright. The following are excerpts.
Do you feel different now that you’ve received all this acclaim? [...]
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