MADE HERE is a new documentary series and website devoted to the challenging and eclectic lives of performing artists in New York City. Over two seasons, the series explores ten essential issues confronting the artists that make this city the creative capital of the world. A collage of intimate interviews, performances and behind-the-scenes footage, MADE HERE mirrors the rich diversity of the artists and communities they serves. Season One rolls out from May through September 2010 with three episodes each month on topics related to: Creative Real Estate, Day & Night Jobs, Family Balance, Activism, and Technology. In the first season, MADE HERE will feature more than 25 performing artists representing the disciplines of theater, dance, opera, music, puppetry, media arts and other performing arts genres. Season Two will premiere Winter 2011.

In keeping with the MADE HERE mission of hosting an event in each of the five boroughs of NYC, the final Season One event will be at CAVE Arts Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm (58 Grand Street, between Kent and Wythe). The event will be a screening of three episodes of the MADE HERE series on technology in the performing arts and a public discussion.

The event will be moderated by Andy Horwitz, the founder of Culturebot.org and a Curator at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Featured artists in the Technology episodes include: Moe Angelos (Theater Artist), Jess Barbagallo (Theater Artist), Anne Bogart (Artistic Director, SITI Company), Toni Dove (Media Artist), Melanie Joseph (Artistic Producer/Founder, The Foundry Theater), Taylor Mac (Theater Artist), Paul D. Miller (a/k/a DJ Spooky – Writer/Artist/Composer), Vernon Reid (Musician/Composer/Multimedia Artist), Charlie Todd (Founder, Improv Everywhere), and Marianne Weems (Artistic Director, The Builders Association).

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The GITS Movie

July 4 – 10, 2008

The Pioneer Theater

http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer

From the website:

Rumored to have been descended from Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, the incredibly magnetic frontwoman had a powerful, soulful voice that belied her inherent shyness and distinguished The Gits from other punk bands of that day.

This riveting documentary is part musical history and part murder mystery, brimming with rare performance footage dating from their Antioch College days through their subsequent move to Seattle just before the world’s ears suddenly tuned into the emerging northwest music scene. The Gits would become an integral and influential part of the milieu if largely unsung in comparison to fellow Seattle bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. But just as they were about to make it big, the band was dealt a mighty blow with the sudden, violent loss of their friend and band member whose lyrics eerily foreshadowed events to come.

Mia’s murder became a rallying point for Seattle music scene, as the investigation ripped through the community with devastating results, leaving many female musicians feeling momentarily disempowered before turning their insecurity into anger and into a statement that would resonate with women the world over. A celebration of Mia’s life as well as a comprehensive testament to the band’s greatness as a whole. The film’s interviews reflect the enormous respect and love Mia’s peers had for her, and also the sadness over her absence that still haunts them today.

I’m going to go see it. Maybe I’ll see you there.

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I think I mentioned this before, but if not, my friend Raul’s documentary on the 2005 NYC Mayoral Campaign is done and starting to play at festivals and stuff. I’m in it, because I ran for mayor that year. It also covers Christopher X Brodeur and Seth Blum and a little bit of Chris Riggs. Actually, its mostly about Christopher and Seth and then me and then Riggs. And of course Bloomberg.

It is called The Promise of New York and it’ll be in Hoboken onTuesday and Rutgers on Friday.

We had a private screening at IRT on Sunday night and everyone loved it. Including Nellie McKay! Apparently I guess she’s friends with Jessy Delfino (singer/songwriter/comedian who is Christopher’s ex-girlfriend and plays prominently in the movie) and came to check out the movie. I didn’t even recognize her. She was really nice. Its just weird because I had never really even heard her stuff ’til I went and saw her at The Rubin Museum a few weeks ago…

Anyway – the movie is cool and interesting and relevant. It features cameos from all kinds of downtown folks like The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Bob Powers and Jon Friedman, Mayor Ed Koch (okay, he’s not a downtown guy) and, of course, the City of New York.

So if you’re kickin’ it NJ-style, go see the movie. If not hopefully we’ll be having lots more screenings soon!

PS: speaking of politics – go see Mike Daisey’s show How Theater Failed America at the Barrow Street Theater. I finally got to see it on Friday night and wanted to stand up and cheer. Anyone who is making theater in New York – or anywhere in America, really – should see this show. It raises some really good questions and offers some really intelligent insights. Kudos to Daisey!

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My friend Tony co-produced this film called Unsettled which is supposed to be really good. I haven’t seen it yet but here’s the deets:

The day after the screening, a Rutgers student said, “That was one of the best films I have ever seen in my entire life. -Rabbi Esther Reed, Associate Director for Jewish Campus Life, Rutgers University

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Variety’s blog, The Circuit, reports that Cindy Sherman has disavowed the documentary Guest of Cindy Sherman, now playing at the Tribeca Film Festival.

I don’t know the filmmaker Paul H-O and I’ve never seen his cable access show Gallery Beat, but I think the documentary – by the fact of its existence – raises some interesting questions about privacy, art and appropriation. Most artists use the people around them as fodder, often creating cruel caricatures, or at least biased portraits, of their ex-lovers, family and associates. Now that the documentary form has become less about objective journalism and more about crafting personal visual essays, which rules apply to this film? Is it truly a documentary or is it a personal essay about a man unhappy with his status in the world and as a +1 to his much more successful girlfriend?

Also, of course, its interesting that Cindy Sherman, whose body of work is largely about her chameleonic recontextualization of other identities, is now being appropriated and apparently unflatteringly recontextualized? And as a pioneering woman artist, what does it mean to have her life and work be so relentlessly subjected, overtly, to The Male Gaze?

Of course, the likelihood of me getting down to the Tribeca Film Festival isn’t high, and the odds of me getting a ticket are even lower. So my “informed” judgement will have to wait!

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