(Daddy’s + Wavves) x The Black Lips = Friday night chaos. My only wish is that, Hipster Runoff, you will treat this with such poetic justice as you have done so before.

Image c/o Gowanus Lounge
In Jack Goldstein and the CalArts Mafia, Robert Longo relays how crazy and different Jack Goldstein was for making his studio home-base in Williamsburg during the 1970s. Like many others of his time, Goldstein was one of the first wave of artists to take advantage of its cheap rent and massive spaces, a situation that gave birth to one generation of artists and musicians to the next.
Jumping to present day Kent Avenue’s glass tower promenade, it’s hard to imagine the opportunity (and poverty) that infiltrated Williamsburg at that time; it seems that those days–if they still exist– are numbered. Loren Munk of the James Kalm Report recently spoke to Art:21 about the last days of artists in Williamsburg. You can read/watch here.

Zero Film Festival bills itself as the film festival for the truly self-funded filmmaker. Tonight, the launch party is hitting up Galapagos in DUMBO with premieres from Peru Ana Ana Peru, Alia Raza, and Aaron Katz.

Image c/o PSFK
Last night, I was able to head down to Santos Party House to check out the latest gem from Stones Throw Records LA-based Mayer Hawthorne. Easily, Hawthorne’s music echoes the Motown era soul of his birthplace–a fact that he doesn’t deny. However, unlike many acts whose retro revival feels like wearing your influences on your sleeve, Hawthorne is charismatic enough to pull it off–with a tight backing band to boot. His stage presence is still a little stogy between songs, but those moments were few and far between as he churned out one potential hit after the next.
Mayer Hawthorne has yet to drop his full-length album, so I am sure it will be awhile before New York sees him again, but when he does, it’s not one to miss.

Tonight marks the closing party of the Bushwick Biennal at Nurture Art, so if you haven’t had a chance to check out the survey of local emerging artists, you have until Sunday to do so.
Below is another artist on artist interview featuring two of the participants in the biennal: Kevin Regan and Radek Szczesny.
Kevin Regan: So tell me about the artist collective you were in with Lolo. What was it called? Is it still active? I heard something about it from Jeremy. This was something you were doing over in Williamsburg, no?
Back in Gainesville, Florida, in the mid 90s, just before I moved to New York, I opened an alternative art space with a couple friends of mine (John Cason and Matt Roberts). It was called Blank Space. I was involved in it for a year and then I moved to New York. We did 10 art shows during that time. We also lived in the space. It was a blast. The whole set up was a little unusual for Gainesville which is more about old houses than industrial spaces. Sometimes Bushwick reminds me of Gainesville.

C/O Kevin Regan

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Gawker is reporting that artist Dash Snow has died of a heroin overdose. They credit several sources in the article. If you are familiar with Snow’s work, you could never really delineate between his intense lifestyle and his artistic output.
I hope the old Irak crew does a befitting memorial.

The Santos Party House Sessions have been going strong for the last couple of months. This week’s promises to be great with an appearance by Growing–which just so happens to include the most recent curator for the weekly residency Sadie Laska. Check them out before they head to the UK.

As many of you know, we are big fans of the New York Eye and Ear Festival. The second incarnation features bands from allover the New York experimental spectrum in three very distinct venues along with film screenings and a well curated record fair to boot.

Tonight’s line up is for me the most exciting. This is a must for any adventurous music lover.
Check the remaining line up after the jump.

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This just in. Good is reporting that the German government has banned the Fixie!!!

In Berlin, fixed-gear bicycles are now illegal. The news comes from The Local, and English-language German news site:
In a country where cyclists are expected to have a working bell on their bikes, it was probably only a matter of time before fixies fell afoul of the law in Germany. … Since there’s no freewheel on a fixie, the pedals continue to rotate as long as the bike is moving forward. This means the rider either has to slow the bike by fighting the momentum or brake by locking up the back wheel to skid to a stop.
Seeing what they considered a growing danger to traffic safety, Berlin police announced this spring they would begin cracking down on fixie riders. Since only April, they’ve confiscated 18 bicycles.
Clearly, fixies are more difficult to ride (and stop) than any conventional street bikes. I’ve heard many an accomplished cyclist explain how he or she tried a fixie once and that was enough. And plenty of city-dwellers bemoan aggressive biking (which is sometimes associated with fixie-riders). But are the bikes really so dangerous that they shouldn’t be street legal? Is this a setback for bike culture in general?

Who wants to organize a protest?

Last night, I headed down to the bastion of avant garde theater and music St. Marks Church. There, I witnessed a collaboration between Kria Brekkan and fellow Icelandic performance/video artist √Åsd√≠s Sif Gunnarsd√≥ttir. Unfortunately, I only was only able to catch it halfway through the performance, so I was not able to completely comprehend the costumes, spoken word and video component. I think the title “Experimental Existence” is a pretty good clue as to what they are trying to achieve; in any case, the mood was very ethereal (as you would expect in such a setting).

From Experimental Existence, Image c/o the Artists
As far as the music accompaniment goes, this was one of Brekkan’s better performances–very light and languishing the way I like her. She just so happens to be playing another show at the newest music spot at the Sycamore in Brooklyn on Wednesday. It’s a very intimate spot, so it should be a good show. More details here.