Village Interviews: Lloyd McNeill

Dear Friends,

The following can be viewed on any high-speed computer anywhere or on TV in Manhattan:

This Wednesday (tomorrow), April 23 at 7:30 PM, on my shoestring cable show Famousx2, I am re-airing the first of three half-hour programs of interviews I did in 1997 with Lloyd McNeill, Jazz and classical flutist, Painter, student of Picasso and Eric Dolphy, teacher raconteur and...renaissance man.

In this installment, in addition to some shots of Lloyd jamming and talking in Washington Square Park (a place you all should remember despite the travesty occurring there now), I interview him in his studio about his childhood in segregated Washington D.C. (under which system he believes he received a superior education) of the 30s, 40s and 50s. He then discusses his years as a conga and bongo player with the D.C. Latin bands of the 50s, including Maria Rodriguez and Rolando Cave. Next, he tells of how he was introduced to the flute and later to Eric Dolphy; Lloyd was the only student Dolphy ever had as the latter died a year after Lloyd studied with him. Finally, he explains what Doplhy taught him about music and explains what he meant when he told him "No note is the wrong note."

If you are in Manhattan and have access to Time Warner, you can see it this Wednesday at 7:30 pm (DST-that's NYC Daylight Savings Time) on channel 67. On the RCN system,
that should be Channel 85 or thereabouts these days.

Note to techie curmudgeons: The sound quality and lighting are good on this one....:)

If you are outside of Manhattan, anywhere in the world, and you have high-speed connection on your computer, you can go to mmn.org and click on channel 67 to see it at the same time.

Sometimes MNN does screw up broadcasts, but usually they air things without too many problems.....so be patient.....

Best,
Jason Howard

Faux Painting: BEFORE: Ragrolled Foyer

The ceiling will be painted black.
Stay tuned for photo updates!

Film: THE NEW YORKIST (short film)

Directed by Dana O'Keefe, THE NEW YORKIST is about a troubled artist paralyzed by the disparity between the possibilities he imagines for himself and the reality he instead inhabits. One morning, he resolves to undertake an enterprise of monumental importance, for which he will be enshrined in the annals of history. This abstract notion quickly evolves into grandiose delusion as Alex constructs an elaborate fantasy involving The Gulag Archipelago, an infestation of ants, and a doomed plan to invade Kyrgyzstan.

An epic short that speaks to a generation disenfranchised by our own historical irrelevance.

THE NEW YORKIST will premiere in competition at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in the "Off the Beaten Path" shorts section. The film first screens on Thursday, April 24th at 5pm at the AMC VIllage VII, Theater 2. Other screenings are:

Sunday, April 27th at 10:45pm, AMC Village VII, Theater 1
Wednesday, April 30th at 7pm, AMC Village VII, Theater 2
Friday, May 2nd at 2:30pm, AMC Village VII, Theater 5
Sunday, May 4th at 2pm, Village East Cinema 2

Tickets and the full screening schedule are available via the festival website:
Tribeca Film Festival

Village Interviews: Jerry Tallmer

Play Time. Edward Albee, left, with Jerry Tallmer at the Obie awards. (May 1960)
photo: Fred W. McDarrah

The following can be viewed on any high-speed computer anywhere or on TV in Manhattan:

This Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 PM, on my shoestring cable show Famousx2, I am re-airing the third of three half-hour programs of interviews I did in 1998 with Jerry Tallmer, one of the founders of the Village Voice and long-time theater and cultural critic at the Voice, Post and now The Villager.

In this installment, in Washington Square, Jerry talks about the cultural liberation that Lenny Bruce represented, not only for comedians but also for society at large. Then we move over to the current site of the Public Theater on Lafayette Street. There, Jerry tells stories of the early days of the institution's performances at various venues along FDR drive for the "neglected" communities of the Lower East Side in the late 50s and early 60s. He talks about some of the early legendary performances of actors such as Roscoe Lee Browne, Colleen Dewhurst and Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. He talks about how Joseph Papp stood up to Robert Moses, who tried to eject the theater from giving performances in Central Park,....and won! He discusses his close friendship with the great playwright Lorraine Hainsberry and how he and others fighting the corrupt Carmine DeSapio Tammany political machine that controlled lower Manhattan for decades were an inspiration for her play The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. Finally, he discusses his extremely negative experience with Rupert Murdoch at the New York Post and declares that Murdoch has helped to destroy everything good that did once exist in U.S. journalism.

If you are in Manhattan and have access to Time Warner, you can see it this Wednesday at 7:30 pm (DST-that's NYC Daylight Savings Time) on channel 67. On the RCN system,
that should be Channel 85 or thereabouts these days.

If you are outside of Manhattan, anywhere in the world, and you have high-speed connection on your computer, you can go to mnn.org and click on channel 67 to see it at the same time.

Sometimes MNN does screw up broadcasts, but usually they air things without too many problems.....so be patient.....

Best,
Jason Howard

Really BAD Art: Dog Starved to Death as "Art"

In 2007, an artist took a street dog, tied him with a short rope to a wall of an art gallery, and let him die slowly of starvation and thirst, as an "installation".

The prestigious CentroAmerican Biennial of Art has approved this cruelty as art, and the artist has been invited to repeat the "installation" at the 2008 Biennial.






Please sign the petition to prevent this brutality from being repeated.

PETITION

Starving dogs being killed not an art form.

Consumer Activism: Pictures from the Reverend Billy Show

It was very difficult to get pictures with my little digital camera due to all the movement and action going on.

If you ever get a chance to see the Reverend Billy .... GO!

Stacy and Max.....he told me to say HELLO to you!

(Check out Max's first blog on The Huffington Post!)

Consumer Activism: Reverend Billy and the Stop Eviction Gospel Choir

Choir Photo - Jefferson Siegel

The Village That Fights Together STAYS Together!

Join Reverend Billy and the Stop Eviction Gospel Choir, April 6 Sunday at 6PM, St. Mark's Church in New York City. Tickets $10, no-one turned away.

Join our gathering of indy shopkeepers and friends from the East Village – our faith establishes an impenetrable force field down the center of 2nd Ave against hordes of chain stores. Keep'em on the NYU side! Resist DEMON MONOCULTURE!

Our special sainted guest will be Angelo Fontana, the cobbler on the intersection of 10th Street and 2nd Avenue for 45 years, now evicted from his shoe repair shop. We will dedicate a new 100% Fair Trade café.

Urban design adventurists, allies of the East Village Community Coalition, will explain anti-chain store legislation in the works. Amen!

The Stop Eviction Gospel Choir, the Not Buying It Band and the Reverend have recently taken their message to Seattle and Oregon and Belgium and upstate country...time to come back to the neighborhood.

Reverend Billy, the Stop Eviction Gospel Choir and the Not Buying It Band
Sunday, April 6th | 6:00pm at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery. All Ages!
131 E 10th St, New York NY 10003 | At 2nd Ave and 10th Street
Take the 6 to Astor Place or the L Train to 1st Ave. Tickets $10, no-one turned away.

More info here.
Click here for reservations.

Great Art: Artwell Gallery in Torrington

SHOW FOR A SHOW

March 29 - May 4, 2008

Artwell Gallery and Community Arts Center

19 Water Street

Torrington, CT
860-482-5122

Gallery Hours: Thursday through Sunday, 12-5

Village Interviews: Max Keiser in Paris

Jason Howard, Max Keiser, and Dana Herbert in Paris
June/July 2007

Dear Friends:

I am pleased to present a program of an interview I did in Paris in the summer of 2007 with former Wall Street economist and inventor of the Hollywoood Stock Exchange, Max Keiser of Karmabanque, Al Jazeera and Resonance FM. Max is fast becoming a legend outside of the U.S. and in financial and political power circles here in the U.S. as a financial insurgent or "financial freedom fighter" as he likes to put it, through his analysis of the market via his sources on the inside and his adept studying of the financial papers.

In this program he discusses his views on how to approach and execute (as he and his friend Reverend Billy have done) targeted boycotts of multinational corporations...and how not to do so. He explains the role of his website in this regard.

You can also find out more about what he is doing here.

Here is an excellent 10-minute piece about the current banking crisis that aired on British TV this past weekend :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxYi2W9vEfw

Although I do not agree with Max's perspective on every point, his way of combatting corporations is truly unique and his perspective on what the left and other folks must do to regain some control over the plutocrats is ignored at our peril.

My program can be viewed on any high-speed computer anywhere or on TV in Manhattan this Wednesday, March 26th at 7:30 PM (Daylight Savings Time), on my shoestring cable show Famousx2, on Channel 67 if you are in Manhattan and have access to Time Warner. On the RCN system, that should be Channel 85 or thereabouts these days.

If you are outside of Manhattan, anywhere in the world, and you have a decent
high-speed connection on your computer, you can go to http://www.mnn.org and click on channel 67 to see it at the same time.

Sometimes MNN does screw up broadcasts, but usually it airs things without too many problems.....Be patient if it screws up for awhile.

Best,
Jason Howard

People & Power: Savers vs. Speculators

Max Keiser looks at the ongoing financial crisis and asks whether the government and Central Bank remedies are penalising workers and savers: