Middletown Artist Cooperative

Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair Saturday December 10th and 17th

2011-12-06T08:49:00.000-08:00

A arts and crafts fair at the MAC 650 Gallery! Find unique gifts for the holidays made by local artists!

If you wish to sell your items please contact us in advace via e-mail:

There is a $15 charge for vendors which includes both days.

The event takes place from 11am to 4pm at the "MAC 650 Art Gallery" located at 650 Main Street Middletown CT across the street from the Middletown Community Health Center.

ART WITHOUT JUDGES

2011-07-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

MAC650 an art space

Call to Artists

"Art Without Judges"

An art show open to all... open to all styles...

At the MAC/650 An Art Space Gallery at 650 Main Street in Middletown.

This show will be from September 3rd until September 25th. There will be a reception on September 3rd from 7:00 pm until 10:00 pm.

The artist drop-off will be on August 28th from noon until 5:00 pm.

This is a non-juried art show, hung in the gallery style. Our focus is on showing the art and meeting fellow artists.

The entry fee is $12.00 per piece.

All types of art are welcome, including, but not exclusive to: Paintings, Photos, Sculptures, ect...

Size Limitations are as follows: 24" x 36" for 2 dimensional pieces.

3' x 3' x 6' for 3 dimensional pieces.

Please contact Paul Gobell with any questions at gobellstudio@gmail.com

***Please keep in mind that this is a show for everyone, so please use your best judgment on what pieces you submit***

Be sure to visit our website mac650.blogspot.com

Gallery Opening, this Saturday! April 9th, 7-10PM

2011-04-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

April 9th, 7PM, gallery opening.
MAC650 Gallery. 650 Main St.
UNTITLED: Graphic Books, Art Books, and Literary Art Illustrating a Diverse World.

Work by:
Olof Aspelin
Blue Corn Comics
Stephen Farina
Donna Fleischer
Stanford Forrester
Eric Gansworth
Tomie Hahn
Richard Kraft
LisaAnn LoBasso
Maria Louise
Charlotte Salomon
Robert Seydel

THE ART OF SPEED

2011-02-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

March 4th -27th, 2011: "The Art of Speed" Hot Rod & Kustom Culture Art Show
Presented by Hot Rod Revival and **Roads to Ruin**

Sounds by DJ Death in Jim

OPENING: March 4th and 5th, at the gallery, 6-11 PM

AFTER-PARTY: Join us at the Art of Speed after party Eli Cannon's Tap Room
Friday March 4th, 11pm, sponsored by Narragansett Beer

CLOSING RECEPTION: March 27th, 11AM—4PM

($5 Donation Appreciated)

Featuring the Art of:

Keith Weesner, Makoto(Japan), James Owens, Ghost(Japan), Tom Fritz, Mr. G (Japan), Doug Dorr, Jeff Norwell, Dwayne Vance,Max Grundy, Big Toe, Dan Burns, Candy, Jeral Tidwell, Tick One, Charlie "One Arm Bandit" Decker, Scott Fisk, Michael Ulman, Bernie Ramirez, Jeremy Lee, Mark "General Gow" Phelan, Jonathan Bradstreet, HotRod Jen, Chuck Vranas, April May Photography,Jeremy "Relic" Pederson, Greg "Von Poot" Vaughn, J Adametz, Clare Jordan, Walt Scaden, Harley Carrara, Grumpy and more

UNABLE TO MAKE IT TO THE OPENING(S)? - for those that would like to purchase art from these amazing artists ... YOU WILL STILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO VIEW AND PURCHASE ART FROM THIS EVENT Throughout the month at the gallery or on www.hotrodrevival.com. Art that has not already been sold will be available for online purchase beginning the week following the opening.

Apartments available!

2011-01-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

Affordable Artist Housing Vacancies in Middletown at the North End Artist Cooperative

A one-bedroom unit is available. Rent $600-$660 depending on your income.

Also, one bedroom in a shared two-bedroom unit is available. The other tenant in the two-bedroom is a non-smoking, easygoing, female visual artist. Rent is $550 per person.

Each unit has studio space, dishwasher, washer & dryer, hardwood floors, carpeted bedroom(s), and on-site parking. One pet is allowed per unit.

The North End Artist Cooperative (NEAC), located in the historic North End of Middletown, is within walking distance of Wesleyan University, 'Restaurant Mile', and other amenities such as It's Only Natural (the best natural foods store in the area), the Buttonwood Tree and Green Street Arts Center (which offer entertainment and cultural events), and diverse ethnic, as well as vintage and urban, clothing shops.

Acceptance to NEAC requires 30 hours per year of community art service. Upon completion of community arts advocacy, coop members share in equity ownership of the coop. Affordable rent rates ($550–$660) are based on income and applicants must meet eligibility limits.

Qualifying applicants are currently working artists who can provide some proof of income from art in the past year, and are committed to the cooperatives’ mission.

For a preliminary application or further information, please call Stephanie Elliott at 860-371-9930; or selliottcoop@gmail.com.

About NEAC

The cooperative is a nine-unit, limited equity coop for visual, performing, and literary artists. NEAC was designed to offer affordable living and work space for people committed to integrating art into the North End neighborhood, greater Middletown, and the surrounding community.

MAC650 Artspace is the cooperative’s up and coming gallery and performance center focused on introducing the arts into the North End of Middletown.

MAC650 Gallery Space

Studio space and kitchen of one bedroom unit. Bedroom not shown here.

Another Holiday Gift Idea

2010-12-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

Coop member Jade Smith creates beautiful jewelry. Check out her work on Facebook. She works with fresh water pearls and Swarovski Crystals. Jade works at Beads of Paradise in Branford, CT, where she teaches classes for those interested in learning about jewelry making, stitching, and embroidery.

Holiday Gifts and Entertainment!

2010-12-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

Coop member Erica Lynn Hulme's Gypsy Lantern products

(www.gypsylantern.com) will be available at the Gallery 46 Holiday Gift Show (www.gallery46.org) in Vernon Rockville and at the 3rd Annual Snow Ball Art & Music Festival (www.charteroakcenter.org). Both events feature handmade gifts by local artisans. You can also enjoy live music and a variety of food at the Snow Ball Festival.

The Gallery 46 show will run from Dec 6-22 and is open 4-8 Mon through Friday and Saturday 10-4, and is located at 46 Union Street in Vernon-Rockville, CT. The Snow Ball Festival, sponsored by Creative Consciousness Arts Collaborative, is Saturday, December 18th from 2-8PM, at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Ave. in Hartford.

December 3rd, "The Modern Figure," Paintings by Daniel Bohman

2010-11-29T15:21:00.000-08:00

The Libertine Collective and MAC 650 Gallery would like to invite you to the opening of The Modern Figure, December 3rd, 7-10 pm.

Paintings by Daniel Bohman seek to explore the human figure through different styles and techniques. Bohman's work will be on display throughout the month of December. Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday, 11AM -3PM.

Contact Info for Artist:
860.965.4056
dbohman41@gmail.com

http://danielbohman.deviantart.com/gallery/

Figure Drawing Group / Art Bares All Exhibit

2010-11-20T13:04:00.000-08:00

Continuing our celebration of the "Art Bares All" exhibit, MAC 650 is offering figure drawing sessions during the month of November. Join us on Tuesday, November 23rd, 7-10PM for our next session.

We offer a comfortable, friendly environment for aspiring artists of all levels. Do not be discouraged if you have never participated in a figure drawing study before.

$10 for evening, with a 50% discount with student ID or proof of unemployment or disability. All proceeds go to the North End Artist Co-op to support our efforts to offer programs in art and music to the North End community and surrounding neighborhoods.

The model begins posing at 7PM, so allow time for parking. Bring and easel if you have one as supplies are limited.

Art Without Judges 2010

2010-08-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Steampunk Bizarre is Over.

2010-07-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

However...things are looking up.

Greetings for a long time, from long times ago. This is James Day from the recent outing adventure.
My nerves are frayed and my mind is fried, but oh how good to be alive!

Links to member artists below,
Submission Proposals to the North.

http://notebookpapercomics.blogspot.com

Hip Hop Love

2010-06-20T12:17:00.001-07:00

A community event celebrating hip hop culture.
Saturday July, 3rd 2010 @ 7P.M

Current Events at MAC650

2010-02-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

"Inner Eclectica"
An art show by Erika Arneson

Throughout the month of February, a collection of Erika's oil paintings which feature her series of "inner expressionism" will be displayed at MAC650. Erika's works consist of works rendered in formless shapes and colors, intended to play upon the relm of inner thought and emotion, to move the viewer beyond the usual perceptions of everyday visual "reality". Artist reception will be Friday, the 26th, 6pm-10pm.

“Dejemos turbarnos”

2009-10-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

Pechitos Ecuestres (Equestrian Chests) is an instrumental/vocal trio from Uruguay. Founded in 2006, Pechitos consists of the three Montevideo-born musicians and composers: Vladimir Guicheff Bogacz, Juan Martín López and Marcelo Rilla Sánchez, who are among the most active young figures in the Southern Cone New Music scene. Having performed at national and international premieres of works by Latin American and European composers such as Alcides Lanza, Osvaldo Budón, Gerardo Gandini and Louis Andriessen, Pechitos Ecuestres has also been performing improvisational-composed music in a great number of urban and rural venues across the Uruguayan urban and pseudo-urbanized territory, within the departments of Montevideo, Colonia, and Rocha.

Individually and together, each of the musicians clearly share a common thread within an understanding of musical production. This thread, or aesthetic, can be shortly defined as a particular taste for the proliferation and germinability of so called “lateral” instrumental techniques. It should be mentioned that this aesthetic is largely informed by the strong influence that choral music represents in Uruguay, which is based upon a positive regard for musical “amateurism.” As new performances and contexts arise, Pechitos Ecuestres enjoys the need to adapt to new conditions and contradictions of the physical and social spaces within which they arrive to play their music, thus constantly coming up with different instrumental and technological ad hoc approaches. Through this iteration of “emergency” performances, these ad hoc decisions progressively accumulate and crystallize, turning into fictional “traditions,” a number of which we conserve and expose in new contexts.

Date: Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Time: 5 to 7 PM performance
Location: MAC650 Artspace, 650 Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457

Also, be sure to tune in to La Pipa de la Paz on WESU 88.1 FM, or streaming live at WESUFM.ORG on Tuesday, November 3rd for a “live” interview and performance broadcast with Pechitos Ecuestres.

2009-08-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 9th marked several firsts for the MAC650 Artspace. In the first one-person photography show presented by the alternative artspace, Colombian photographer Juan Pablo Assmus exhibited a series of images under the theme "Herencia Africana" (African Heritage), in his first US showing of his work. It was also the first ever gallery talk given by an exhibiting artist at MAC650, a trend that will surely continue in the future.

Thanks to all who attended the recent opening and today's talk. And if you already haven't, come on by to see the wonderful Ghanaian arts and crafts along with stunning Afro-Colombian images!

Gallery hours for week of August 10th is:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Saturday: 10 AM to 5 PM
Sunday: Noon to 5 PM

Jorge Arévalo Mateus

Say Yes to Yoga!

2009-08-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

!!!3 YOGA CLASSES!! All levels, all ages welcome!! $1.00 (One dollar) Admission!!!!!!!!

Visiting Yoga Instructor Marcea R. Patterson will be hosting a full day of Yoga instruction on the 18th of August. Amongst the current Ghana Awareness/ African Heritage exhibit, it should enlighten unlike no other!

Classes will be from: 9:30am-10:45am, 4:00pm-5:15pm, and 5:30pm-6:30pm.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcea is a native of Hartford Connecticut. She has been a public school math and science teacher in both urban and suburban settings for more than 12 years almost exclusively at the middle school level. She has recently completed yoga teacher certification at West Hartford Yoga. She has specialized training in Yoga Ed Tools for teachers as well as Yin and Yang yoga. Marcea has become known as not only a teacher and healthcare professional but artist, writer and spiritual advisor.

The one common element in all of her walks in personal and professional growth is a commitment to public service and promoting the growth of others. Currently Marcea offers periodic free yoga courses in the Hartford region.

Open Call for Artists!

2009-08-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

Our Annual Art Without Judges Show, curated by Paul Gobell, is almost here!

The show will be from September 4th until September 20th. There will be a reception on September 4th from 7:00pm until 10:00 pm.

The artist drop-off will be on August 29th from 12 noon until 5:00pm.

This is a non-juried art show, hung in the gallery style.

The entry fee is $12.00 per piece.

All types of art are welcome, including, but not exclusive to: Paintings, Photos, Sculptures, etc…

The size limitations are 24” x 36” for 2 dimensional pieces and 3’ x 3’ x 6’ for 3 dimensional pieces.

***Please keep in mind that this is a show for everyone, so please use your best judgment on what pieces you submit***

Celebrate African Heritage/Heréncia Africana With Us!

2009-07-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

We will have a new show starting August 7th, combining a Benefit for the Artisans of Ghana with exposure to a African Heritage/Heréncia Africana Artist! Barbara Toce, a fellow co-op member, will be displaying recycled-glass beaded jewelry and garments. International artist Juan Pablo Assmus will be displaying photographs representing his rich cultural heritage.

Come out for a night of diversity and beauty!

Juan Pablo Assmus is a Colombian photographer and biologist. He’s a travelling man, calls nowhere home, and goes wherever his feet take him.

“My passion for photography started many years ago. I have always loved the beauty of the world around us. Some of the most beautiful things are often hidden in the little details: I endeavour to capture that beauty and bring it into the light. I draw inspiration from everywhere, mainly from the many biologically and culturally rich environments that I have lived in over the years”.

“I’m an adventurist when it comes to photography. I like to explore images and see something from a new perspective. Most of all, I try to capture the energy and beauty of a moment in time: the very soul of a photograph. My photographs are reflections on the natural and unnatural, the good and the bad, and the immensity of life on earth”.

New Artists Network!

2009-07-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Check out the Middletown Artists Resource Collective, at http://ctartists.ning.com.

A new social networking site which seeks to unite artists of all creative backgrounds in order to encourage a cooperative atmosphere!

Stay tuned for new events!

My Colombian Music – 2009 Folklife Festival- Un Mundo Musical

2009-07-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

Jorge Arévalo Mateus

I recently attended the opening weekend of the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., which was especially gratifying for me on both personal and professional levels. Having spent nearly two decades researching, investigating, and playing Colombian musics (soon to culminate in my doctoral dissertation at Wesleyan University), I have observed and documented Colombia’s musical heritage as it develops and takes its rightful place among the world’s great music cultural expressions. While young Colombian artists such as Shakira, Juanes, Carlos Vives, and Fonseca have risen to remarkable heights within global popular culture, I am so pleased that musics which once were limited to local or subcultural spaces, marginalized as archaic “traditional” or “roots” music, have also filtered, or rather, are infiltrating their way, into the worlds of academia, major cultural organizations, even national institutions (like the Smithsonian). A major portion of this year’s festival program, appropriately titled Las Américas: Un mundo musical/The Americas: A Musical World, featured three exceptional Colombian groups.

It amazes me, still, because I can recall, when, as a child, there were no other Colombians to be found, not at my parochial Catholic school; not in my neighborhood; not anywhere. Learning English, at that time, seemed like a matter of life or death—often resolved in more than a few after school street fights; and, when the only kids I could understand were a few Puerto Rican kids and one Cuban boy who communicated in Spanish. Looking at my Colombian homeland from the North demands a certain acceptance that—while my own identity is ineradicably linked to that of the Colombian nation—my study of Colombia musical culture requires as much cultural distancing as it does complete immersion—a tricky feat of identity leaping, which my own assimilation and enculturation—agringado, we call it—in this regard, actually helped.

In any case, given the stunning diversity of musics that Colombia proffers, it makes perfect sense that musicians often guard traditions closely, even while sharing them on world stages. Back at the Folklife Festival, the Colombian groups included Grupo Cimarron, representing the regional music culture of los Llanos (the eastern plains that run along the Orinoco River in Venezula); Las Estrellas del Vallenato, from the Atlantic coastal region of Guajira (a peninsula that juts out into the Caribbean); and, Las Cantadoras del Pacífico, currulao musicians from the southern Pacific coastal areas of el Cauca.

Las Cantadoras del Pacífico perform currulao, cantos de boga (river chant), jugas, bundes.

These festival artists were drawn from the Smithsonian Folkways Tradiciones/Traditions recording series roster, and it was wonderful to observe intracultural and intercultural dialogue in play. For example, while Paraguayan and Mexican harp traditions met and melded in a unique Central American crossing, a bass taller (workshop) demonstrated how electric and acoustic bass functions in vallenato, Dominican merengue, and música llanera (i.e. joropo). Hence, the Colombian bassists exchanged performance practice methods with their Caribbean counterpart as well as each other!

Taller del bajo.

Moreover, Colombia audience participation was revealing, confirming the strong regional allegiances mentioned above. At one point, Las Cantadoras agreed to perform a chirimía as an audience request; one clearly made by a Chocoano (person from the state of Choco), who was thrilled to hear their music represented, although not in a “traditional” manner. The Cauca musicians in Las Cantadoras nevertheless seemed happy to comply, playing a currulao version of a chirimía!

In yet another example of Latin intercultural exchange, Cumaco (a conflation of the terms cuero, madera, costa), the Afro-Venezuelan ensemble accompanied Las Cantadoras, performing a juga de arullo (a Christmas eve song). Interestingly, when asked how they learned to sing currulao, a tradition that, as women, they were denied, Ana Hernández simply replied, “by watching, listening.”

Grupo Cimarron members Carlos Rojas Hernández and Ana Veydó and Estrellas del Vallenato singer Isaac Carrillo were panelists in a lively conversation about the process of recording for Smithsonian Folkways Records, specifically the Tradiciones series. Recordings Director Dan Sheehy led the discussion, wherein the artists shared ideas and concepts around which they participated in their respective recording projects. While the taller could have turned into a living Folkways marketing infomercial, each of the musicians were frank about the obstacles they confronted with their projects—especially given the authenticating brand that the Smithsonian label confers on the musics produced. “The recording studio affects the way of playing…musicians have to recapture the feeling of playing ‘live’,” indicated Carlos Rojas, who both played and served as co-producer for several of the recordings. Thus, the challenge of producing a recording that captures the energy of live performance with a recording that captures a cultural and historical artifact poses an ongoing challenge to both artists and Folkways. For Ana Veydo, she expressed her joy at the opportunity to see women in traditional music, recording and creating a space for themselves. In her interpretations of música llanera, Veydo’s performances exude cojones, that is, she emulates and reassigns to the hypermasculine vocal style of men’s singing her own feminine strength.

Ana Veydó’s raw vocal delivery crosses gender boundaries of the joropo tradition.

As Colombian musics work their way into academic programs (Columbia University’s gaita ensemble, for example), my own workshops (Wesleyan University), and Colombian scholars, both in Colombia and in the US, develop curriculum inclusive of these musics, surely one of many benefits will be to present a new image of a country to the world that, as Dan Sheehy sympathetically noted, “has been through a lot.”

The As Yet Un-Named Success!

2009-06-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the North End Artist Co-op!

-co-op members James Day and Melissa Williams-

The As Yet Un-Named Art Show (http://asyetunnamedart.blogspot.com) was a hit! Eleven different artists, from a variety of visual art backgrounds and experience, converged upon the mighty MAC650 Artspace last night for a celebration of the creative spirit and communicable energy.

Packed with over 60 interesting paintings and photographs, along with a newly released book from co-op member James Day (http://notebookpapercomics.blogspot.com), prints from Matthew Graham, and prints from Mark Robinson, something for everyone was sure to be found!

The artspace will be open from 10AM-3PM, Saturdays and Sundays, for the next 2 months. Come on down and support your local arts!

+photos taken by William Stewart+

Latin Jazz at MAC650! It’s ON for the Summer!!

2009-06-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

by Jorge Arévalo Mateus

The first Latin jazz workshop of the summer of ’09 turned out some exciting new players, including Wesleyan musicians Eric Sherman on trumpet and Joseph Getter on clarinet. Together with the ensemble’s percussion lineup of Gregg Allen, Ron Shepherd, and Oscar Colon, the ensemble’s sound is expanding and the rhythm was popping; even saxophonist Dave Davis was heard sitting in on bongos!

Since the bimonthly gatherings began (every first and third Tuesday of the month), the workshop continues to grow as a space for some Latin-flavored experimentation right in the heart of Connecticut. Even bassist Thomas Van Green showed up and the session decidedly took a turn toward the Funk! Although the workshop is primarily for Latin jazz rhythms, melodies, and harmonies, no reason not to get funky, at least once in a while!

Added to the ensemble’s rep was Joe Henderson’s “Recordame,” so practice up, and get ready, we are going to hit it again. Come on down and be ready to play! For the next session, we’ll get back to some basic rhythm patterns: rumba columbia, yambu, guaguanco, and cumbia!!!

Hope you can join us at our next session, scheduled for June 16th at 7 pm sharp!

Pa’lante!

Latin Jazz at MAC650 transforms into a Psychelia Drum Circle!

2009-03-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

by Jorge Arévalo Mateus

Owing to the absence of a few key players, last night’s workshop turned into a session for the ensemble’s drummers to lock-in on essential rhythm exercises. Accompanied by bass, and with new participant James Day adding electronic washes, psychedelic atmospherics, and crunchy melodic elements a la Korg, the ensemble’s forays into odd-metered, ambient Latin funk, rumba columbia from Cuba, and Brazilian street carnival samba rhythms took on an entirely experimental cast. It was, as if, Andy Gonzalez (Fort Apache Band) had jammed with Sun Ra’s Space Arkestra! or if Zappa had delved into Afro-Cuban son montuno. Adding to the rhythm-fest was local artist Paul Gobell, whose uniquely idiosyncratic clave and guiro added yet another dimension to the percussive sonics.

It was a fun session—one of those where you feel re-energized by the end. And these musicians worked it!

I have never heard anything like it! It was different and inviting, with a few curious passerby’s stopping in to the MAC650 Artspace for a closer listen.

Hope you can join us at our next session, scheduled for April 7th at 7 pm sharp!

Global music, culture student in residence at Wesleyan

2009-03-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 5, 2009
Middletown Press, CT

By JENNIFER SHAFER WOOD
  MIDDLETOWN — The city’s North End is where multitalented musician Jorge Arevalo Mateus is based and where this well-known music archivist, ethnomusicologist, scholar, musician, composer and audio installation artist is studying for his Ph.D in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University.  

Mateus was born in Colombia and migrated to the to the United States as a child. His family settled into Yonkers, N.Y., where he was raised, and at the age of 9, he started playing guitar. Now he is a Grammy-winning producer for Best Historical Recording. In 2008, Mateus also won an award for writing from the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, CD Liner Notes, and he has published many essays, articles and reviews in academic and popular journals, edited volumes, and other publications such as New York Archives Magazine, Ethnomusicology, Journal of Popular Music Studies; and Centro, The Journal of Puerto Rican Studies.  

His music has taken him to far away places around the world and he has played with a variety of musicians — Jeffrey Lohn, Rhys Chatham, Anthony Braxton, Guillermo Gregorio, and Peter Kotik, choreographers Karole Armitage, Donald Byrd and Jody Oberfelder.  About music, he said, "It’s the connection to one’s self. That’s what music is about, really." He has a master of arts degree in ethnomusicology from Hunter College, N.Y., and specializes in Latin American, Caribbean, jazz and popular music.  

According to Mateus, "Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its social and cultural environments." Once a limited study of music focusing on primitive music and culture, ethnomusicology is now a global study of music and culture.  Mateus says Wesleyan has one of the best ethnomusicology programs in the nation. In the final stages of his dissertation, Mateus is writing about how music travels beyond its indigenous origins. His focus is Colombia and explained how Colombians have a bad reputation in the world for violence and drugs.  However, he examines how musicians carry music from one place to another, "How it’s received and perceived. How it effects audiences, people and the musicians themselves, why they do it and how they do it."  Mateus has discovered that the people of Colombia are reshaping their global image with music.  "Colombians are very much involved with changing the image through music. So people aren’t so quick to judge," Mateus explains the evolving perception of his people.  

Although Mateus resides in Middletown, he considers himself a New Yorker, and travels from Connecticut to New York regularly. While in Connecticut, he lives in the North End Artists Cooperative in the city’s North End.  Mateus is active within the art and music scene in Middletown. He explains that being a part of the cooperative is good way to get involved with the local art scene. "We try to work together ... doesn’t always work, but we try to work together to do things with the gallery space by bringing in different kinds of programs."  

Mateus has a passion for Latin jazz and a desire for more Latino culture in the area.  "The music that you play is your voice," he says. Recently, he started a Latin jazz workshop on Tuesday nights at the MAC Gallery, 650 Main St. He wants to reach out to Latin jazz players from around the state.  On his blog, mac650.blogspot.com, he writes, "The goal of the workshop is to grow Latin jazz right here in Central Connecticut. With the participation of musicians interested in creative experimentation with Latin rhythms from all over, and new improvisational techniques, the aim is to forge a collaborative ensemble inspired by the work of Latin jazz artists such as Ray Barretto, the Fort Apache Band, Eddie Palmieri’s orchestras and Sergio Mendes, among many others.  "The musical field is wide open and the MAC650 workshop is an ideal laboratory."  

Mateus has his own company, a music consulting business called Arevarc. He has a new Web site up and under construction about his life, work and business at http://web.mac.com/arevarc/iWeb/Site/homepage.html.  "What I provide is consulting services to individuals, organizations and institutions that have music collections, music instrument, manuscripts and rare historical material," he said.  In 2008, Mateus won a Grammy award for his restoration of a Woody Guthrie recording, "The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949."  Mateus has been the head archivist and curator for the Woody Guthrie archives at the Woody Guthrie Foundation in New York since 1995. The lost recordings were found in Florida and Mateus restored them into Grammy-winning material.  

On Tuesdays evenings from 5 to 6 p.m. on WESU-FM 88.1 radio, the musician hosts his own show, "La Pipa de la Paz," or "the peace pipe."  His goal is "featuring traditional and folkloric artists as well as contemporary pop and jazz innovators. What links them? The musical cultures that define and express Colombianness!" states the WESU online program guide at www.wesufm.org.  When Mateus completes his dissertation later this year, he plans to produce a Colombian music concert at Wesleyan that will exemplify his doctorate work. He plans on bringing in musicians from Colombia and New York.  

Aside from his musical and artistic pursuits, he is an animal lover and has helped to care for the feral cats in the North End. Mateus explained there is no animal shelter in Middletown and that makes it very hard to care for the lost and abandoned cats.  He is a member of Cattails (www.cattails.org) and has helped to find homes, and neuter homeless cats. "We care a lot about the animals here," he said.  For information, see mac650.blogspot.com or www.woodyguthrie.org. 

“My Colombian Music: Pablo Mayor’s FOLKLORE URBANO at the Highline Ballroom, NYC

2009-03-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

Jorge Arévalo Mateus

Showcasing their latest release, Corazón (Chonta Records 2009), at the Highline Ballroom in New York City’s Chelsea district, Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano demonstrated once again why they are one of the top Colombian bands of the aptly termed Nueva Colombia music movement.

Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano in performance at the Highline Ballroom, NYC, February 25^th, 2009. (JAM photo)

Performing two sets of Mayor’s distinctive arrangements for 14-piece band, including selections from previous releases Aviso (2003) and Baile (2005), it became abundantly clear that Folklore Urbano has methodically evolved artistically, developing its musically rich and entertaining hybrid of salsa, Latin jazz, and popular or traditional Colombian musics. The audience of mostly urbane, cosmopolitan Colombians, after overcoming some initial shyness—typically not a Colombian characteristic—reacted to FU by turning the sophisticated supper club environment into a carnival-like atmosphere of unbound joy and dancing excitement. Having observed this sort of public reaction to FU time and time again, it is a remarkable testament to Mayor’s dedication to presenting the dynamic experience that is Colombian “party” culture.

Since moving to NYC in 1999, Mayor has been actively involved with its growing Colombian musical community. Dating back to the mid-1990s (and earlier), Colombian musicians like pianists Eddie Martinez and Hector Martignon, among others, worked in numerous salsa and Latin jazz groups, creating a space for Colombian musicians within New York’s highly competitive Latin music scene. Prior to that, the number of unknown and unheralded Colombian musicians that played in big band and mambo dance orchestras of the late 1950s and 60s established a historical precedent to the present and lively Colombian music scene, undoubtedly a promising area of further historical musicology and research.

Nevertheless, Mayor’s formula is an eclectic composite that retains the power brass of salsa’s Fania All-Stars combined with the colorful, harmonic “big band” language of Stan Kenton’s orchestras—at times, the horns and woodwind sections sounded more like the full Basie orchestra, testament to Mayor’s sophisticated orchestrating and arranging skills. Rhythmically driven by a traditional Afro-Colombian cumbia percussion section, Mayor draws from a wide palate of rhythmic foundations that result in the musical merging of intermingled musical currents. The addition of Baranquillero percussionist Nestor “Nestico” Gómez Jr. is particularly noteworthy to the percussive mix.

“Nestico” playing the vallenato caja

As such, Mayor recalls the modernizing innovations of costeño bandleaders Lucho Bermúdez and Pacho Galan, who transformed cumbia, gaita, and porro into popular dance music, but—and here is where it breaks new ground—with the additional polish, grittiness, and energy of New York City-based jazz improvisation and polycultural influences.

On Corazón, Mayor appears to shift his focus toward a more personal side, giving greater attention to song lyrics and poetic texts than on either of the previous releases. With his life and musical partner, talented flutist Anna Povich de Mayor, they are recent first-time parents, possibly explaining this more intimate side. Interestingly, Mayor chose to record and produce Corazón in New York (and New Jersey), instead of Bogotá, resulting in a recording that lies somewhere between two places, influenced by many sources, yet with flourishes and inspirations that are true to all of them.

Folklore Urbano, Pablo Mayor, Corazón, Chonta Records 2009 (www.folkloreurbano.com)

Tracks include:

1-Algo Bueno (4:55)

2-Cada Vez (4:17)

3-Expresar Amor (5:01)

4-Fandango (4:27)

5-Déjate Amar (4:40)

6-Alma Mía (4:23)

7-Pepe (4:51)

8-La Carta (4:48)

9-Maximina (5:03)

10-Pañuelitos Blancos (4:58)

jorge arévalo mateus

arevarc@mac.com

Latin Jazz is growing on the North End!

2009-02-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

Jorge Arévalo Mateus

The MAC650 Latin Jazz ensemble’s repertoire is growing rapidly, as a core group of musicians including Gregg Allen (percussion), Michael Piccirilo (bass), Ron Shepherd (percussion), Brian Stevens (violin), and David Davis (sax) gathered at last Tuesday’s session to play and stretch-out. After only the second workshop, the ensemble has already workshopped an eclectic set of tunes:

“Angel Eyes” - Dennis/Brent

“Blue in Green” – M. Davis

“Come Candela” – M. Santamaria

“Ojos de Gato” – C. Bley

“Para Ti” – M. Santamaria

“Manteca” – Gillespie and Fuller

“Mambo Inn” – G. Sampson

“Well You Needn’t”/“Freedom Jazz Dance” – T. Monk/E. Harris

“Wave” - A.C. Jobim

And it’s sounding GREAT!

Next up at the workshop is Cal Tjader’s “Mindanao,” Mongo’s “Afro-Blue,” and maybe even some originals!

So in the spirit of a true and open musical community, come on down and join us. Everyone with the desire to play is welcome, and it’s free!

Our next sessions are scheduled for Tuesdays, March 10^th and 24^th. Mark your calendars and warm up that clave—la rumba is going to get hot on the North End!

For further info, call 860-343-1516

One-Act Play Festival

2009-02-25T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

Hope everyone is doing well. I would like to invite you to a One-Act Play Festival this weekend in New Britain. I am directing one of the plays called Close Your Eyes by CT. playwright Erin Striff. Debra Walsh and Iris McQuillan-Grace are starring along with my friend Kevin Dechello.

New Works New Britain was founded to give an opportunity to CT playwrights, both professional and aspiring, to have their work presented on stage in their home state. Drawing from the inspiration of its sister festival, New Works New Haven, the NWNB festival hopes to continue to be held annually at Trinity on Main in New Britain, CT.

There will be a diverse group of nine selected plays, including ours, that will be performed in the weekend long festival from Feb. 27-March 1.

To purchase tickets please go to the website at www.nwnb.webs.com

Show times are:

Friday February 27, 2009 8 pm / doors open at 7 pm

Saturday February 28, 2009 8 pm / doors open at 7 pm

Sunday March 1, 2009, 4 pm / doors open at 3 pm

I hope to see you there!

Thank you so much,

Enza Giannone

Latin Jazz at MAC650 is ON!

2009-02-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday evening, Feb 10th, the MAC650 Latin Jazz Workshop held its first session of the Spring 2009 season. The new ensemble of local and student musicians gathered to “woodshed” some classic and unusual Latin jazz arrangements. It was great to have both novice and professionals interact without pressure, trying out rhythms from guarachas to to chachachas, from extended guaguancos (jams) to rumba and samba-inflected interpretations. Saxman David Davis, along with bassist and radio host of WESU’s “Rumba en el Patio,” Michael, were joined by percussionists Gregg Allen and Ron Shepherd.

Playing charts, including Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca” and Mongo Santamaria’s “Come Candela” and “Para Ti,” there was room to grow and for the music to flow! A reading of Carla Bley’s “Ojos de Gato” also gave the group a chance to lean into the more experimental and fusion side of Latin jazz, a la the Gonzalez brothers’ Fort Apache Band. And, of course, Colombian music director and guitarist Jorge Arévalo Mateus brought in a cumbia medley version of Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” and Freedom Jazz Dance,” inspired by Mingus’ foray into cumbia, as heard on “Cumbia and Jazz Fusion”
(Atlantic SD8801; reissued on Rhino 71785).
With the participation of the young violinist Brian Stevens, the group even flirted with charanga, the Cuban flute and violin driven sound made popular by Johnny Pacheco, Pupi Legaretta, or, more recently, Alfredo de la Fé. All we need now are some flutes!

The MAC650 LJW ensemble got off to a great start—and may even have an opportunity to perform in public. Our next session is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24rd at 7 pm. So mark your calendars. We look forward to seeing you on the hot side of Middletown, the North End!

Jorge Arévalo Mateus

What a Grammy actually means to me.

2009-02-08T16:25:00.001-08:00

By Jorge Arévalo Mateus

Exactly one year ago my wife Mimi and I were cruising around Los Angeles trying to find the NARAS offices so we could pickup our VIP tickets to the 50th Grammy Awards. Having received a nomination for producing The Live Wire, a rare live performance of Woody Guthrie from 1949, it was exciting to be in one of my least favorite American cities for such an auspicious occasion, although I especially looked forward to spending some time with my niece in Venice Beach.

Got the tix!

While it was gratifying to get congratulatory notes and emails from friends and professional colleagues far and wide—for those who did not acknowledge the achievement, all I can say, Brooklyn style, is “See me, Hi Hater; See ya’ Bye Hater!”—it was especially rewarding to see a project I sheparded from inception to completion receive mainstream recognition with the music industry’s top honor. More importantly however, the winning historical recording garnered wider public and media attention, becoming the most successful production in the history of Woody Guthrie Publications, the small, independent company run by Woody Guthrie’s daughter, my dear friend Nora. Since then, Guthrie has re-entered America’s consciousness big time, as evidenced by Springsteen and Seeger’s performance at Obama’s inauguration concert.

So what does winning a Grammy actually mean to me? Although I’ve long regarded award ceremonies as generally cheesy affairs, when you’re at the Staples Center, sitting in the nominees section, surrounded by music biz royalty, including artists and producers I’ve long admired, like Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Fogerty, Butch Vig, Daft Punk, Tina Turner, and on and on, it is quite the surreal experience, one that can only be compared to a rather bizarre dream.

Daft Punk perform at the 50th Grammys

Perhaps my friend Hillel’s comments provide a good perspective:

“Yeah, the Grammys are a funny thing. We all agree that they are really flawed, and that the awards are usually given on some basis other than musical merit...but the award still means something, even if only that you (or someone in your camp) is an industry player. I'm sure that being at the ceremony was a fascinating experience.”

Well, maybe there is some bias evident, but in that moment when your name is announced, the validation comes more from knowing you did the best work you could do for the project than from the spectacle of the staged “production.”

So as the golden award sits now on my piano, it means both a lot and nothing.

Still, I look forward to the next one! Maybe an Oscar for a traditional film score?

MAC 650's "Wandering Uterus" Show, makes it into the press!

2009-02-06T08:38:00.000-08:00

By JENNIFER SHAFER WOOD, Special to Weekend

MIDDLETOWN -- On a bitter cold night, the wind chill is 5 below zero. Inside the "Wandering Uterus: Our Experiences, Our Travels as Women" exhibit, it was hot and steamy at the MAC 650 gallery in Middletown's North End.

This all-female-artist show features the work of 10 women. The reception is abuzz with more than 100 people mingling, enjoying a dynamic show produced by one woman, about women.

The art is an eclectic array of paintings, photographs and sculptures. Each wall is covered with a moving story, watercolors depicting beach bungalows, black-and-white photography with hints of color painting a scene. There's a collection of paintings depicting female faces in brilliant shades that bounce off the canvas and grip onlookers. As visitors walk through the gallery, they are given a visual tour of the unexpected.
Detailed illustrations of female characters exemplify technical skill. A painting of a female body in ethereal colors -- she is one with the earth. Fused faces of glass sculptures framed in wood invite the audience to wonder.

Smoke-fired sculptures of spines, plastic nipples and pacifiers melded together tell a tale of motherhood. From one artist to the next, the viewer is taken on a feminine journey, a journey only a woman could travel.

Carrie Swider came up the idea of doing an all-female show last spring after being approached by the gallery director, Joseph Dinunzio. She got busy and invited artists whose work she admires with the intent to show a wide array of art by women. An artist herself, Swider received her bachelor of art and art education degree at New York University and a master of arts in liberal studies studio art concentration from Wesleyan University.

She teaches drawing classes at the city's Green Street Arts Center. She has taught art to students of all grade levels in the public school system and has been a master artist for after-school and summer programs like the Greater Hartford Arts Council's Neighborhood Studios. Swider has exhibited her own work in galleries in the Hartford area since 2000 and produced several exhibits at Artspace Hartford. Swider works as a visual arts educator at RHAM High School in Hebron.

Swider paints and works in ceramics and fused glass. Her painting, "From Within," acrylic on canvas, is part of a series she's been working on for little over a year.

"This series of works continues the exploration I began in the fall of 2007 into the connection between the sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) and the human form. This series is, in a way, a series of self-portraits," Swider explains.

Through her art, Swider captures the natural world of womanhood, both delicate and powerful. To see more of her work, visit www.onoclea.blogspot.com.

Other highlights of the "Wandering Uterus" show include H.L. Groen, who has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Art Institute of Boston, as well as a master of arts in holistic thinking from The Graduate Institute in Milford.

She paints with expression and vivid colors., "Wisdom at Hand," an acrylic on canvas, is full of an energy that vibrates off the canvas. "My art is how I find my way; who I was, who I am and who I will become. Through life, we continue to go forth again, again and again. What 'truths' we may have known as children have become altered in the present and will again alter in the future," Groen writes on her blog at myspace.com. For more information, see www.myspace.com/hlgroen.

Shelley Osowiecki-Dobson and Katie Osowiecki are identical twins who are both skilled illustrators. Osowiecki specializes in comics and art directed toward children. She recently returned home from Japan, where she was a freelance illustrator and taught English to children. She graduated from Hartford Art School summa cume laude with a degree in painting and illustration. Her illustration, "Camp Fire," watercolor on paper, is a humorous depiction of a campfire scene with sizzling marshmallows and a screaming child. View her work at www.katieoillustration.com.

Osowiecki-Dobson received her bachelor of arts degree in art education summa cum laude from Westfield State College in Massachusetts and is a student in Wesleyan University's Graduate Liberal Studies Program. With a strong interest in animation and media arts, she combines digital imagery and watercolor. Her piece in the show, "Attack of the Toddler," shows a giant toddler dropping animated characters on a cityscape -- a combination of watercolor and digital technology.

"In my work, I vary between the two mediums of digital imagery and watercolor. Through both mediums, I consider the childhood experience as I see it as an adult through my daughter and my own experiences," says her artist statement. Her work can be viewed at www.button920.deviantart.com.

Tricia Anderson Kelly is a multitalented artist who works in a variety of mediums. This is the first public display of her recent photographs. Kelly runs a small graphic design business, Anderson Kelly Studio, www.andersonkellystudio.com. She graduated from the University of Hartford with a bachelor of fine arts degree in illustration. Kelly designed the poster and the postcards for the "Wandering Uterus" exhibition, a picture of five pink mopeds in a row titled "Pretty You," digital photograph on metallic paper.

"I am also strongly motivated by whimsy, and humor -- 'Pretty You' was taken on my honeymoon in Monaco. The adolescent posturing of the mopeds makes me laugh. As I walked away, I swear that I heard them giggling in French," says Kelly.

Erin Harpe played an acoustic delta blues for the opening reception. "An authentic blues chanteuse" in the vein of Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith, Harpe is earning a reputation for her raw style and "total, selfless and compelling immersion in the music." One of contemporary acoustic blues' most accomplished female guitarists, she is often compared to JoAnn Kelley, Rory Block or early Bonnie Raitt," according to her Web site: www.erinharpe.com.

The gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. "Wandering Uterus" will be on display until Feb. 28. For information, see http://mac650.blogspot.com.

Es Tiempo!/It's Time! The first Latin Jazz Workshop of the Spring season

2009-02-03T08:22:00.000-08:00

Next Tuesday, February 10th, starting at 7 pm, we'll be launching the Latin Jazz Workshop
at the MAC650 Artspace.

Please shoot me an email to confirm your participation. Looking forward
to working with you on those Latin Jazz chops!

Jorge Arévalo Mateus
Director
MAC650 Latin Jazz Workshop

Location: 650 Main Street, Middletown, CT
Information: 860-343-1516

Email contact: jarevalo@wesleyan.edu

The Semi-Regular

2008-12-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

by James Day

Well, Connecticut sure gets cold this time of the year. Not that I need to remind you, of course, but please stay warm. And what better way to stay warm than attending one our fantastic mac650 shows?! How about glimpsing the secret, inner workings of an artist's studio space?

Well, you asked for it.

Creep.

First off, here's a couple of shots of the new composition I'm painting. A work in progress; about 50% done by now I'd say. Click on every picture to get a full size version.*

By the way, I do apologize for the infrequent updates. Here at the production facility, things have ground to a gummy halt, due to my own pursuits of laziness, tiresome wage slaving, and a general avoidance of all things easel-y.

Moving right along! Exclusive shots from the upcoming (don't hold your breath) Comic! Featuring characters I've held close to my heart, for the most part hidden from prying eyes, for the past 14 years. They'll see the light of day soon enough, one may hope.

Why not one more, eh?

Aside from all of that, I'll attempt to solicit your musical ear by pleading for your listening patience at http://www.myspace.com/topofthznyth , where I've posted the atmospheric, soundtrack quality "soniz".

Learn to love it, as I am.

*I internet good.

Coop Member Paul Gobell at White Space Gallery

2008-12-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

MAC 650 makes the Middletown Press once again.

2008-12-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

THE MAC650 LATIN JAZZ WORKSHOP

2008-12-04T20:58:00.000-08:00

While playing at last nights Latin Jazz workshop—the first ever held at the MAC650 gallery in Middletown—the small gathering of talented local musicians experienced once again how time itself becomes somehow different than the usual passing of seconds, minutes, or even hours. As any musician can attest to, musical shifting of temporal space, and how within that space time unfolds in ways and through movements which lie beyond familiar temporal frameworks, is a sensation unlike any other.

True music lovers know that close listening offers some of this sensation and, for lack of a better word, enjoyment! (and dare I say “entertainment?”) However, playing music is an experience that cannot be easily put into words, although music students and scholars, journalists, and critics certainly try their best, attempting to describe what is a rather ineffable, ephemeral, and simply indescribable artistic phenomenon. In any case, it is a sensation that I wish everyone could experience as musicians do.

David Davis

Meeting to experiment with the music of Mongo Santamaria, Miles Davis, Carla Bley, even attempting to play a reworked version of Eddie Harris’s classic “Freedom (now Latin) Jazz Dance,” Middletown saxman David Davis and percussionist Trevor Davis joined in to play Latin jazz masterworks such as “Come Candela,” reworked standards such as “Blue in Green,” “Ojos de Gato,” and Brazilian Jobim’s bossa nova chestnut “How Insensative.” Coltrane’s “Naima” in 6/8 meter was a highlight of the session.

The goal of the workshop is to grow Latin Jazz right here in central Connecticut. With the participation of musicians interested in creative experimentation with Latin rhythms from all over, and new improvisational techniques, the aim is to forge a collaborative ensemble inspired by the work of Latin Jazz artists such as Ray Barretto, the Fort Apache Band, Eddie Palmieri’s orchestras, Sergio Mendes, among many others. The musical field is wide open and the MAC650 workshop is an ideal laboratory. So join us!

Trevor Davis

If you’re interested in participating in our next Latin Jazz workshop, call 860-343-1516; for further information, check back on this blog.

To get on the Latin Jazz Workshop email list, write me at arevarc@mac.com.

Consider yourselves invitados. P’alante musicos!

Jorge Arévalo Mateus

Co-op Insight...

2008-11-12T12:40:00.001-08:00

by Jorge Arévalo Mateus

Lest we forget.

Prompted by Papa John’s Commemorative Veteran’s Day Pizza email offer, I would like to share some thoughts on this day; the one day in which the men and women who have served in the nation’s military are, or should be, remembered.

Today, in Middletown, Connecticut, a memorial service was held at Veterans Memorial Park, just off of Route 66. On that small green—regularly driven by, with hardly any thought of what it represents—monuments to World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam honor those who served during those conflicts. Located just across the street from Wesleyan University, which, sadly, was neither represented nor attended by University officials, or any of the young undergrads who have directly benefited from sacrifices made in the name of democracy and freedom, in attendance instead was a small gathering of local veterans from different military campaigns, a group of friends and families who lost loved ones, local dignitaries and politicians, and Middletown’s Finest and Bravest.

Perhaps it was the words that one senior veteran of WWII spoke, or the sentiments expressed by longtime Middletown resident and state legislator Joe Serra, or the dignified presence of a group of Black veterans that made me think about the responsibilities that I, as an artist, have to remember these truly courageous men and women, regardless of my personal political views or anti-war beliefs.

Recently, in a letter widely distributed in the blogsphere, when asked, “Mike, what will you do now that Bush is gone?” […] What will it be like to work and create in an environment that nurtures and supports film and the arts, science and invention, and the freedom to be whatever you want to be?” documentary filmmaker Michael Moore responded:

“We may, just possibly, also see a time of refreshing openness, enlightenment and creativity. The arts and the artists will not be seen as the enemy. Perhaps art will be explored in order to discover the greater truths. When FDR was ushered in with his landslide in 1932, what followed was Frank Capra and Preston Sturgis, Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck, Dorothea Lange and Orson Welles.

While we bask in this incredible “Anything Is Possible” moment of hope, relishing the optimism and potential collective goodwill that President-elect Obama’s win has fostered, I believe it is also time for artists, too, to not just remember our veterans—all our veterans, including, as one speaker poignantly reminded today’s gathering, we have yet another new generation of veterans; that is, the young men and women returning from Iraq, Afghanistan, and conflicts elsewhere—but to celebrate and show our gratitude in our work, for the lives of those who return, and for those who do not. As Serra put it: “Let us not forget the commitment and obligations that our elected officials have to remember the men and women who have served and sacrificed.” If we, as artists, forget the enormity of a soldier’s sacrifice, we forget a part of ourselves—a part that most of us, thankfully, do not ever have to confront.

Lest we forget, the expression of “truths,” however defined artistically, cannot happen without the humanly created conflicts from which they emerge. Although a world without war is a personal goal of mine, I acknowledge what in Hindusim is known as the Shambala Warrior, that is the human warrior who fights in the name of peace, despite profound and inherent contradictions.

PEACE

Jorge Arévalo Mateus

The Semi-Regular

2008-10-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

by: James Day

Greetings! James is my name, and I am severely new to Middletown. Soo...here's a Halloween picture about a zombie, and Ween's "Happy Colored Marbles" to let you all know a little more about me. I'm not sure what these things are supposed to tell you, but...WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING STANDING BEHIND YOU??!!?!?!!
-James...end transmission....

MAC 650 Family Funday

2008-10-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

MAC 650 Family Funday was an amazing success. It was the perfect event for the community and we got a ton of positive feedback and worthy praise. We had close to 60 enthusiastic children come and spend the day in our coop, a day filled with festivities, art and optimism. It was a great celebration of diversity as we had African American, White, and Latino children come together for a great cause. Mothers and fathers alike were completely engaged with our efforts and again couldn’t say enough about the day. They are looking forward to our next family funday (sometime around Xmas)

The Haunted Gallery Show

2008-10-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

The first Halloween Group Show at MAC 650 was a complete success. The Sunday Herald Press did a great cover story on the event. The pages are down bellow if you would like to view them and get a little glimpse at the event. Here is the link to the online version also. Please enjoy, and try and stop by the gallery to view the work, if you have not already. the show is up until November 1st.

The Celluloid Roll

2008-09-22T19:23:00.001-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

This one takes place in a diner, and there is a train involved.

A creative exercise by Nick Willete and Justin Liberman

The station is down the street a little, not even a block away from where you sit by yourself in a booth in the diner. The brilliant sun setting behind the elevated platform straddling the thinly-trafficked street shines directly through the window in front of you and pours yellowly on the table, --a little dazzling but oddly comforting. It reminds you of the first sandcastle you ever built. You recall the suniness of that childhood day, the beach, a long, endlessly bright strand, the satisfying texture of wet sand under your fingers.

A waitress puts a white porcelain cup of coffee in front of you. You do that routine you have with diner coffee, one you don’t even have to think about anymore but which brings a moment of peace as you perform it, a buoyant pleasure rising through you like a slightly electric balloon. Gently, carefully peeling back the paper lid of a miniature container of cream, you nevertheless get a drop or two on your thumbnail—happens every time. Half the cream goes in the cup; you aren’t that wild about a lot of cream. Two packets of sugar follow and the mixture whirls briefly of its own accord, the cream slowly billowing up through the now chocolate-colored coffee. Dipping the spoon (easily the ten-thousandth gripped thus, between thumb and forefinger) into the cup; you stir thoroughly. The metal tinks, comfortingly on the porcelain. This is a vital part of the ritual. You remove the spoon, leaving a whirlpool to spin centripetally, hypnotically. You watch the slowly decelerating whirl as you firmly shake the spoon downwards to free a few clinging drops from it before laying it, concave-side down, on a napkin. When you look at your own reflection in the bowl of a spoon, you appear upside down. You prefer to keep things rightside up, even if only while drinking a cup of coffee in a mid-afternoon diner near a train station. The whirlpool slows and stops. But just then, a train rumbles through the station and the calmed surface of the stirred coffee is ruffled once more, as if a pebble of sound has been dropped into its depths. In the few seconds it takes for the train to doppler itself into oblivion, you wonder about the people traveling on it—the variegated city travelers you know so well.

You are sure that there is a gaggle of businessmen dressed in their finest traveling suits wishing and wondering of all those sales that lye ahead in tomorrow’s afternoon. Topeka, Omaha, Fresno- thousands of miles apart, marked by millions of sales in between. You hope for that wide-eyed young man- with a paperback in his hands and a knapsack on his back, watching the passing America with a sense of awe. Maybe he has brown hair and looks like you when you were his age. He could be your son- had your son not die at childbirth. And there is the woman. Long hair of Raven dark and soft gentle hands. She thumbs her cameo necklace that hangs from her long neck as she looks out the window at nothing in particular. You would stake that she is traveling to visit her sick mother or perhaps on her way to reunite with a long lost love. There is peacefulness to her- and it is comforting like your coffee.

Another train snakes its way into the station, screeching to a metallic halt, bringing you back to the diner. The cup of coffee has been warming your hand for a few long moments of thought, and now you hook a finger through the handle, taking a first sip. Your ritual has paid off—it’s perfect, just how you like it.
As the train pulls out of the station, the sun winking in and out of sight between the cars and silhouetting the figures of the passengers within each one, you call the waitress over and ask what types of pie are on the menu today.

For a quick dose of relative musing I ask you the artist to allow yourself the time to write creatively once a week. With no pressure or real expectations try your hand at creative writing for it’s liberation and it’s ability to make you feel good. Writing short stories are a great way to get the creative “fix” we are all jonesing after. It allows you to explore avenues and routes in your head that you may be afraid of or unwilling to investigate for it’s lack of development. Fear not what you can write down on paper and throw away. It’s all part of the process.

CALL TO ARTIST...FOR OCTOBER SHOW!

2008-09-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Co-op Insight...“My Colombian Music”

2008-09-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Back from the Field; Shooting the ENCUENTRO documentary!

After traveling to Bogotá, then heading to the Montes de Maria region on the Atlantic coast, we shot a great deal of performance footage, interviews, and photography at the annual Gaita Festival de San Jacinto, the traditional music festival that features some incredible artists from throughout Colombia playing cumbia, porros, gaitas, and puyas, the variety of genres which define costeño musical culture. As any decent filmmaker can tell you, the documentary medium poses some real challenges, since it relies less on written or improvised scripts, actors, or standard production techniques and methods, and more on the dynamic action of capturing real life, which often presents incredible obstacles. Nevertheless, with the help of my incredible DP, Juan Pablo Assmus, we collected some great stuff!

Here’s a view from a street parranda as it winds its way through the pueblo.

The Gaita festival competition was intense, as I documented the participation of the NYC-based gaitero MartínVejerano and his Marioneta project, which won 2nd place in the “aficionado” contest for the second year in a row! The band was made up NYC, Bogotá, and costeño musicians, who won over the local audience with their talent and genre-expanding innovations and style.

Here we are after a public presentation we did together at the National Library in the capitol city, my first presentation completely in Español!

The Ministry of Culture did a small write-up: see
http://www.mincultura.gov.co/eContent/newsDetail.asp?id=1804&IDCompany=4).

It’s all coming together, albeit slowly. And in any case, where there’s tons of footage to edit, dozens of interviews to transcribe, and great music to produce for the ENCUENTRO film, it’s all part of a creative process that is steeped in real people and real music.

Paz y nada mas o menos.
Jorge (aka DJ JAM)

And don’t forget to tune in to my weekly radio show—La Pipa de la Paz—on WESUFM.org, every Tuesday evening at 5:05 PM! Escuche!

Co-op Insight...

2008-09-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

On August 30th the Coop decided to have a "Coop Togetherness Day". The mission was for the members to come together to accomplish some much needed maintenance around the building and the MAC 650 Artspace Gallery. In addition to the maintenance, two huge murals designed by Joseph Dinunzio and Paul Gobell were started. Here are some photos from that day taken by Melissa Williams. Enjoy...

The Green Event

2008-09-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

MAC 650 opened it's doors for the first time in Months with the first of many events to happen over the coming years. The Green Event blew the doors off on August 29th. Ivan Bright brought Hip Hop, Hardcore, Metal, and Break Dancing to the Artspace. It was a complete success. Here are some photos from the event, taken by one of the Coop's newest members, Melissa Williams.

The Celluloid Roll

2008-09-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

Last year I got the chance to work along side writer/director David Mamet on his latest film Red Belt. Throughout my life I have been lucky to live through some amazing experiences; watching Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and Dave Matthews do a sound check in front of 15 people at Farm Aide, rafting and climbing the Grand Tetons, shaking hands with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in 1990, and hearing Rosario Dawson say my name, but above them all is my experience working with David Mamet. As a man, Mamet is both kind and fierce, and equal balance of reason and romance. He is a slave to his own word and a person who is unable to lie, either pay a false compliment or fib a little white lie. His honesty is portrayed not only in his work but more importantly in his work ethic. He is a filmmaker in the purest term; he is a collaborator before he is a maestro. He takes greater pleasure in seeing his crew work hard and laughing then seeing his actors speak his perfect dialogue. His relationship with his Cinematographer Robert Elswitt (2007 Academy Award Winner for There Will Be Blood) is a relationship that can be comparable to a couple of seven year olds playing in the back yard. It’s full of wonder and kindness, which leads their efforts to brilliance. When you meet Mamet you forget that he is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and you forget about his Tony Awards and Oscar nominations, you cannot help but to focus on his primal nature; his instinct to make people laugh and convey his true thoughts. His art is simply a world he can play in, it is not what he is or who he is, it does not define him, it illuminates his talents as a writer, director, actor, scholar, historian, and humanitarian.

I write about Mamet this week because the film Red Belt was just released on DVD. His latest effort is a samurai film in the vein of classic Akira Kurosawa films. It tells the story of Jiu Jitsu instructor Mike Terry (played with precision by Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his quest to regain honor and pride in his art. Like Mamet’s signature films, Red Belt is a con movie set in the neo noir world of an American fight film. Mamet’s homage to cinema is paramount in this film’s telling and is highlighted by his usual players; Joe Mantanga and Ricky Jay smooth performances. Red Belt’s language is tight with lines like “The one who imposes the terms of the battle will impose the terms of the peace” and “There is always an escape”. A favorite line of mine comes from the whimsical mouth of Ricky Jay when talking about an upcoming fight when he says, “It’s back to the 30’s. Grudge match. Black vs. White, Irish vs. Jew. Give me some velocity, some velocity eh. Or you just have two monkeys in the ring.”

I encourage all of you to see this film. It’s a throwback to Jules Dassin’s noir classic Night and the City and Kurosawa’s best. It’s a departure from the popcorn fare that is plaguing box offices these days. It is good cinema done by one of America’s best cinematic talents and it’s most prolific writer. Do check it out.

For filmmakers out there, please understand that when you are making a film, you inevitably end up making three completely different films. You make a film that you write, a film that you shoot, and a film that you edit. Understand the evolution of your film project. Be able to cut it up and say goodbye to those beloved scenes that do not move the story forward. It’s a director’s biggest curse however; if you can do this, it will be your greatest asset. Frame Fuck your film to perfection and it will be great definitive film you set out to make.

Peace and Love,
-Justin

Opening This Friday!!!! 9/5/08

2008-09-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

"Art Without Judges"

Open to all...open to all styles...At the MAC 650 Artspace Gallery. Hosted by the NEAC in Middletown.

The Show is September 5th until September 28th

The Reception September 5th from 7pm - 10pm
with refreshments and music.

Artist drop-off: August 31st from 12 noon until 5pm
Entry fee is $12 per piece.

This is a non-juried art show, hung in the Salon gallery style. Our focus is on showing the art and meeting fellow artists. All types of art are welcome, including, but not exclusive to: Paintings, Photos, Sculptures, etc.

***Please keep in mind that this is a show for everyone, so please use your best judgement on what pieces you submit

Elizabeth Saunders is Performing Bolcom Cabaret Songs this Thursday in Mystic

2008-08-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Just a quick note to let you know I'll be performing seven of William Bolcom's "Cabaret Songs" this Thursday night at 7:30 with the Chamber Music Mystic Summer Festival.

For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they are quite quirky and fun - and in true cabaret style, not exactly appropriate for kids. Nothing vulgar, just "mature themes" and some very dark humor.

It will be at the Mystic Arts Center; the address is 9 Water Street. If you'd like more information, you can visit: http://www.chambermusicmystic.org

It would be great to see you there!

Best,
Elizabeth

The Celluloid Roll

2008-08-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

Music has always been a corner stone in my creative process. I often listen to music and create play lists while I am working on the development of a new film. Often, a song can express a thought or feeling I am trying to communicate better than my words. When I am faced with that I listen to said song on repeat and write in a stream of consciousness till I am satisfied with the text. It's a trick of my trade.

My love for music has always been paramount in my life. From my earliest memories of listening to oldies in the back seat of our families car to my adolescence obsession with Pink Floyd, music was something I have always appreciated and understood. Last week however, I received a lesson and a demonstration of a redefinition of music, It came from the hands and mouths of Radiohead.

Having liked Radiohead for many years now, I never had the chance to see them live. Their music came to me in various waves throughout their career and my life. Creep was a constant on my grunge mix tapes on the mid 90's and OK Computer intrigued me with its electronic eeriness. Random songs from their Kid A album spoke to me and their sophomore effort The Bends had enough rock and roll in it that I ate it all up. It wasn't till I uncovered their B Side "Talk Show Host" that I became a true believer though. Their devilishly sexy telling of a tragic school shooting had ever fiber of my being on it's edge. The telling just came out, consumed me and coursed its way through my body. Their latest effort In Rainbows has absolutely infested my life. Not since Pink Floyd's Animals has a record spoken to me and stayed with me for so long. The album is rich in tone and aesthetic alike. To me, every song is a masterpiece that successfully portraits a vision and journey of the musicians.

Consuming, intoxicating, sexy, lucid, and remarkable are just a few words that can describe their live show last week in Massachusetts. Having scored amazing seats 26 rows back, dead center, I felt as if I was drowning in a pool of colors. Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway put on one the greatest shows I have ever seen. (David Bowie's Greek Theater show in LA is still my #1) A musician's creativity has never been more clear on stage than Jonny Greenwood's. His ability to create vivid, dense musical worlds for Yorke's angelic voice is an exercise is musicianship. All of the member possess total command over their instruments/worlds. It was a flawless show. Not to mention their lighting and visual design was easily the most creative and exotic I have ever seen on stage. With dozens of long prisms hanging from above, Radiohead looked like they were swimming in a vortex of colors and glass. A four panel teleprompter behind them danced with psychedelic design and avant-garde photography. It was a mind trip like I have never had before. Pure psychedelic punched up with crystal rock and roll sung by a crooked eyed angel.

I took some photos and videos that I want to share with you all. I hope they do the show justice for those who were their. It was a real incredible experience shared and recognized by everyone in the audience. I have never witnessed such camaraderie among concert goers before. Even the drunkards, stoners, and freaks had an communal electricity to them. It was fucking awesome.

Usually I end each post with a bit of advice or musing on cinema. This week, I wanted to share with you a little project that I am incredibly proud of. This video below was shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina in April. I was down there directing second unit for an American Express commercial and shot the following video with help from Antony Hoffman, Maria Alvarez, and Arturo Gigante. Having been strongly influenced by Radiohead's In Rainbows and even more so by the album's final track, Videotape, this project is my best effort to visualize the song's intent. I love it like a junky loves his junk.

Enjoy.

upcoming show: GREEN

2008-08-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 29TH
starts at 8 PM

Imperial Practice presents:
GREEN
with:
EL VEE,
DELEGATE GANG,
BRIGHT,
and more...
at
MAC 650 Artspace

The Celluloid Roll

2008-08-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

Hello Friends,

I wanted to let all of you know about a new film that is coming out soon in a theater near you. It is called "Rachel Getting Married" and is directed by the legendary Jonathan Demme and is written by first time writer Jenny Lumet (Yup, Sidney's daughter). The film stars the porcelain Anne Hathaway, the heartwarming Debra Winger, and one of the most talented character actors on both stage and screen Bill Irwin. Also starring is Rosemarie Dewitt and Pretty Dead Flowers' Beau Sia who is re teaming with Demme for the second time. Please take time and visit the website www.rachelgettingmarriedmovie.com and check out the trailer at http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/rachelgettingmarried/

This should be a refreshing change from the usual box office fodder. This is a tender tale with a spectacular ensemble cast and shot on glorious HD in a very docudrama (or as it was once called, Cinema Verite) nature. Please support good cinema and go and see this film.

For the real Cinephile's out there please rent and watch the Boogie Nights DVD with the commentary track by Writer/Director P.T. Anderson. His kinship with Demme and the insight he lends is nonparallel. Again folks, get drunk off good cinema.

Peace,
-J

Co-op Insight...

2008-08-05T08:23:00.001-07:00

"ENCUENTRO"

Our very own Jorge Arevalo Mateus is working on a new documentary film called "ENCUENTRO". Please view a trailer of the film by clicking on the link below.

http://www.bergen.cc.nj.us/desplazamiento/video_files.htm
(click "ENCUENTRO" Jorge Arevalo Mateus)

The Celluloid Roll

2008-08-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

“Be Your Hero”

I recently completed a commercial treatment for an upcoming NIKE spot that I will be directing sometime this fall. I am very excited about this commercial, as it will allow me to return to the Latino baseball culture I explored in my very first film, Y Nada Mas. The Latino baseball culture is a beautiful backdrop for a NIKE commercial as that community is among the most passionate and dedicated I have ever seen.

NYC’s Venn Pictures are producing the project and we plan to shoot in NYC in early October. Venn’s Pablo Berron will lens the spot for me and it will mark my first full production in NYC. We are currently talking to the Grammy Award winning band Calexico to score the project for us. That would mark a reunion between Jacob Valenzuela and myself, as Valenzuela scored Y Nada Mas in 2005.

I also am excited to share with all of you the actual treatment for this commercial. To my surprise not many people realized what a commercial treatment was and how they are structured. A treatment is essentially a visual representation of the entire commercial. A good treatment is a perfect combination of words and visuals that create an entire world on paper. Please find below the treatment that I created for this commercial.

A little nugget that I would like to share with all of you today is this, one of my favorite quotes by John Cassavetes….

“When a scene plays awkwardly or something goes wrong, I don’t criticize it, change it, or call cut. I look at it and say, alright, it’s not exactly the right reading, but life doesn’t always have the right meaning. We stutter, we stammer through life. We sometimes say things we’re sorry for later. We make fools of ourselves constantly. In life this is frowned upon, but in movies this is revealing. The mistakes that you make in your own life, in your own personality, are assets on the film. So if I can just convince somebody not to clean themselves up, and not to be someone they’re not and just be what they are in a given circumstance, that’s all that acting is to me.”

Co-op Insight...

2008-07-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our very own Elizabeth Saunders decides to critique her Bio, and give some funny insight into her life and career.

Well, the official bio says that I've worked in Germany, Japan, around the States and in Italy. It also says that I've been soloist with choirs throughout the United States, in Western and Eastern Europe, and on recordings made for Moscow Radio, the BBC and NPR, and that my awards include the Western Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Regional MacAllister Awards in Chicago and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards, blah, blah, blah...

What it doesn't say is how much I've loved it, been challenged by it, hated it, been bored by the interim times between contracts, fought for it, wondered why I bothered doing it (sometimes at the same time, and even during contracts), been exhausted by it, and continually re-commit to the work of doing it.

Fun performing experiences that don't fit in my ''Formal Opera Singer'' bio are:

Informal, intimate House Concerts that I still love to give, with piano or guitar

Singing the Star-Spangled Banner for sooo many events in Los Angeles, large and small: from Little League games to the (LA!) Rams Season Home Opener at Anaheim Stadium

Being in the ensemble that sang in the second Three Tenors concert, the one at Dodger Stadium. (Those mega-opera events that Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras do)

Getting to use my Kung-Fu training in performances. I've done productions now where I got to use dual butterfly knives (the review in Opera News read: ''expert martial arts movements and powerful singing'' : ) ) and a sort of Mad Max/Thunderdome version of a bo staff/spear as Rossweisse in Wagner's Valkyrie: since I had some training, and one of the other Valkyries had been a majorette in high school, we got to actually toss and go a bit crazy with our spears before stabbing the skulls of the heroes who had died in battle. Very cool...

Apparently my martial arts training sneaks in even when its unintended: one review for my singing Suzuki, the maid in Puccini's Madama Butterfly read: ''Elizabeth Saunders' Suzuki displayed a broader emotional range than do many: she was by turns angry, amused and of course consoling. Her attack on Goro in Act II looked like a scene from a karate self-defense video''...

Singing for my customers when I used to work at Starbucks. (Best employee benefits program EVER!) Doing Musical Coffee Tastings at one store, perfectly pairing coffee, desserts, and classical song. I'm sorry it didn't take off - could've been a fun series to tour...

The Celluloid Roll

2008-07-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

“God’s Vagina!”
and the Perfection of
Pineapple Express

Okay, so who has been waiting for a proper tribute to those badass action flicks of the 80’s and 90’s? The ones with perfect one liners and ridiculous action sequences. The ones where the bad guys are just a hair away from completing their sinister scheme before our hero comes in guns blazing and saves the day. Now imagine those perfectly bad movies with a big fat joint in the mouth. That is what Pineapple Express is.

Written and starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, PE is a send up to the buddy action flicks on the late 80’s early 90’s. The movie is another monster success and a perfect addition to the Apatow catalogue taking its place in line with Knocked Up, SuperBad, and even Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Like SuperBad, Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg wrote the script creating a hysterical, relevant new hybrid of comedy, a perfect combination of physical farce and witty banter. Rogen and the rest of the Apatow crew are quickly becoming the standard of comedy for today’s audience, not unlike what the early SNL'ers established in the late 70’s. In time Rogen, Hill, Cera, Apatow will be as influential and as culturally important as Martin, Murphy, Chase, and Ackroyd.

The film tells the bare bones adventure of two stoners lost in a world of gunfights, explosions, and car chases. After witnessing a murder, Dale Denton (Rogen) and Saul (Franco) are on the run from the murderous drug cartel headed by Gary Cole. That is the set up for one of the funniest movies I have seen in years. Armed with a duffle bag of “the dopest dope I ever smoked” and not a clue between them, Dale and Saul entangle themselves in a raucous cat and mouse game with Cole and his two armed gunmen, played with hysterics by Craig Robinson (The Office) and Kevin Corrigan (The Departed). Add in a whacked out drug dealer named “Red” played by the fucking funnyman Danny McBride (Foot Fist Way) and you have a complete bong load of laughs. The movie unfolds at a quick pace and does a great job of delivering the buzz.

For me and other cinephiles alike, the real treasure of Pineapple Express is that, it is helmed by David Gordon Green. At only 32, Green has established himself as one of America’s most gifted film directors. Beginning in 2000 with his debut George Washington, Green has delivered poignant, tender, and radically perfect films. His sophomore effort All The Real Girls tells the heart-breaking story of two young lovers dealing with loves complicated circumstances and his southern gothic tale Undertow, tells the a story comparable to a Hardy Boys Adventure told through the eyes of David Lynch. His previous film Snow Angles, which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, is a terrifyingly poetic story of small town life and it’s horrors. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, FIND THESE MOVIES AND WATCH THEM. David Gordon Green has made some of the best and important contributions to the pantheon of cinema as anyone in the last 10 years. Do yourself a favor and find his work.

Known for his art house hits, Green is an unlikely choice for an Apatow mainstream film. This is why Pineapple Express is a cut above other mainstream fares. Green, a strict student of cinema employs with precision all the custom tools and tricks of the action flick genre. When I met (stalked) Green last year on the Sony Lot he described Pineapple Express as a “Cheech and Chong adventure with Michael Mann qualities.” That is a perfect description as PE is a weed cloud of a story with fierce violence that echoes Mann’s gritty crime sagas. The movie is laced perfectly with broad action set pieces and small honest moments; portraits of man’s idiosyncrasies.

Pineapple Express does not open till August 6th. I caught a sneak preview last night and I am still dazed from its effects. Rogen and Franco feel familiar, a duo that you can root for and believe in. In a landscape of Superhero movies, watered down horror formulas, and stuffy political dramas, Pineapple Express is a perfect dose of entertainment crafted by a true cinemaestro.

So to end this entry, a nugget of film know-how. This was passed to me by David Gordon Green himself. He said, “Dude, move out of LA, get out of here. Move some somewhere cheap and make a feature film.”

Stick that in your Bong and smoke it. I did.

Peace.

http://www.ridetheexpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gordon_Green
http://villagevoice.com/2008-07-16/film/david-gordon-green-moves-to-the-mainstream/

Co-op Insight...

2008-07-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

During the summer, our 2008 Grammy award winning producer Jorge Arévalo Mateus traveled to Italy, where he participated in conferences presenting papers and meeting with museum officials to curate a Woody Guthrie art exhibit scheduled for 2009-2010 www.woodyguthrie.org/archives/aa2008italy.htm. He was also invited to attend the opening of the "On the Road" exhibit at the Rock and Pop Museum in Gronau, Germany, then will travel to his homeland, Colombia, to continue work on his doctoral dissertation and film documentary, entitled ENCUENTRO, a work that traces transnational musicians and the history of violence that is as sociated with the nation.

Back in Middletown, Jorge continues to host and produce his weekly radio show of Colombian music, La Pipa de la Paz . here's an image of some of the Colombian musicians from La Cumbiamba Eneyé that he is traveling to Colombia with.

photo credit: l. to r., Musicians Sebastian Cruz, Martin Vejerano, Juan Pablo and Morris Cañate; Jorge Arévalo Mateus (photographer).

some links:
http://www.wesufm.org/
http://www.rock-popmuseum.de/
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/archives/aa2008italy.htm

The Celluloid Roll

2008-07-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

If you are interrested in learning a bit moreabout the film industry in CT, I recently appeared on an National Public Radio show called Where We Live. The topic was the budding film industry in CT. It was a lot of fun and hopefully will be informative to some of you. You can hear the show here.

Wesleyan Musicians Wanted!

2008-07-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

We are looking for musicians who would be willing to perform pro bono at the opening, which will be held on September 5th from 7 pm to 10 pm, at the MAC 650 Artspace. Like the exhibit itself, we are open to all styles.

Interested musicians can call 860-347-0834 for further information.

The Celluloid Roll

2008-07-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

by: Justin Liberman

In hopes of adding some energy and productivity to this newly constructed blog spot (Thanks Joe D) I am going to be contributing a weekly blog dedicated to cinema related musings. I hope I can offer some useful insight to emerging filmmakers and amusing opinions to other cinephiles and fellow artists.

For a brief introduction, my name is Justin. I am 28. I really like a lot of things but above all, film, Neil Young, texture, wine, Jiu Jitsu, and literature. My three favorite filmmakers are Francois Truffaut, Sidney Lumet, and John Cassavetes. On a rainy day I watch Scorsese’s The Color of Money and when no one is watching I re-watch the same episode of the Sopranos over and over again (Season 1- “Pax Soprano”). I recently moved back to CT after living in Los Angeles for six years. You can read more about me here if you care.

I am a filmmaker. A director. It is my job to create the world of the film and help navigate the actors in their quest to bring that world to life. My previous films have been about the place of the Mexican American man in our society, the inner pathos of an aging supermodel, and the consequences of young love. I have had the honor to work with some amazing actors, both classically trained and natural talents. I consider my production team of producers Joshua Mikael, Michael Callaghan, Cinematographer Andrew P. Waruszewski, and film editor Patrick Griffin to be among the greatest creative teams ever assembled. Aside from them being my collaborators, each and every one is a brother to me.

In this blog I will be talking about different films, books, experiences, techniques, and opinions. For now, to get things started, I want to comment on the newly released The Dark Knight, the newest addition to the Batman franchise. I know this film is the talk of the town right now and everyone is rushing out to go see it. I had the fortune of seeing it yesterday and man, was it an amazing film on all levels. The performance that the late Heath Ledger gives is certainly one that will be treasured forever. He has created a rich, textured Joker that would make Daniel Plainview shake in his boots. Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent/Two Face is as equally rich; his character arc is forefront in the film and is finely crafted and perfectly executed. Christian Bale has once again delivered with a perfect portrait of Batman/Bruce Wayne and is supported by the consistent Michael Cane as Alfred. Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhal, rounds out the film with precision and Gary Oldman, whose Commissioner Gordon is seminal character in this new telling.

Writer/Director Christopher Nolan has once again taken the Superhero genre and reinvented it exiling the normal clichés that usually plague such films. At 2.5 hours The Dark Knight plays like an epic crime drama. The beginning back heist is among the very best recorded on film and the visual effects are seamless. Wally Pfister, Nolan’s regular lens captain, crafted the cinematography. The highlight of Pfister’s work is in the details of his stark landscapes. Whether shooting cityscapes of Chicago and Hong Kong or his eerie vacant interiors, Pfister photographs each location with cinematic vigor and artistic uniqueness. I had a chance to meet and hang out with Pfister last year at the Deep Ellum Film Festival in Dallas. He is a kind man who is always willing to talk shop and offer his insight and technique. The relationship that he and Nolan share is one that I try to emulate with my regular DP, Andy Waz. The duo of Pfister and Nolan is cinema’s best dynamo today; their work remains refreshing, poignant, and perfect.

I will end each blog with a nugget of film knowledge that has either been passed down to me; or understandings that I have found in my cinematic quests.

Today’s it is this. To young and old filmmakers alike, please, do not light the actors, light the dialogue.

Until next time…

-JML

Call To Artists

2008-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

VACANCY

2008-07-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

The North End Artists Cooperative is currently accepting applications for a spacious one-bedroom artist studio apartment, available NOW. NEAC is within walking distance of markets, libraries, a movie theater, bars and a rollerskating rink, as well as the Green Street Arts Center and Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts.

This is a mission-based cooperative. Community service and a desire to be actively involved in the co-op is a must. NEAC tenants are required to meet once a month to decide on building governance issues, and provide 30 hours of community arts service annually.

Apartments feature studio space, wood floors/carpeting, dishwasher and washer/dryer. All two-bedroom units have A/C.

NEAC is an Equal Opportunity, affordable housing association, Section 8 accepted. Eligibility to apply for these units is based on HUD income limits for Southern Middlesex County, available online at http://www.huduser.org/datasets/il.html. Maximum income for one person is $41,700, for two people the maximum is $47,700. Maximum number of tenants is two people per bedroom. One cat or dog is allowed.

Please email Middletownartistcoop@gmail.com for a pre-application or to arrange a tour of the building. Serious applicants will be required to provide proof of income earned from art (including performance and literary art) in the past year, interview with current co-op members and present a portfolio of their work.

The screening of Justin Liberman's two award winning short films

2008-07-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

I wanted to let you all know about an exciting event that
is happening in Middletown on July 11th and 12th. The Green Street Art
Center proudly presents' Project Green Street: An Emerging Filmmaker
Symposium on July 11th and 12th. Held at the Green Street Art Center at
51 Green St in Middletown, CT, the symposium consists of special film
screenings, workshops, and networking events.

I am very happy and honored that Green Street asked me to screen two of
my award winning short films for their opening night event. Both Y Nada
Mas and Red Balloon will screen on Friday, July, 11th at 7:00PM. A post
screening Q&A will take place with myself and actor Joe LeMieux (Red
Balloon). Tickets to this event are free and advanced reservations are
strongly recommended.

Aside from the screening there will be great workshops in Hands On Film
Production, Beginners Documentary, and Introduction to Screenwriting
which I will be teaching.

I encourage all of you to come and support CT filmmakers and help make
this annual event a memorable one.

ALSO:: I will be appearing on NPR's WHERE WE LIVE hosted by John
Dankovsky on Thursday, July 10 at 9:00AM. We will be discussing the
recent surge of film production here in CT. Also, kind of weird but
Senator John Edwards will be joining us on the show. Should be
interesting. http://www.cpbn.org/program/where-we-live

For more information please contact Green Street Art Center at (860)
685-7871

Thanks and I hope to see you all at the movies!!!

-Justin Liberman