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Can anyone me with this one? I cannot access google or more importantly gmail here at home. I can get to any other websites, but I also cannot connect to my pop.gmail account via Thunderbird. I could access gmail yesterday at work, but no luck here. What is the deal? Has my server failed me?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Also what is the deal with cold, crappy weather? I am in a MOOD.
Tonight I stopped by the Studio Museum Of Harlem to check out the opening night of Chris Ofili's exhibit, "AfroMuses 1995-2005". It is brilliant! Loads of beautiful people walking around checking out the lovely watercolors that Ofili has painted. It was crowded, but I did see Lola Ogunnaike of the New York Times and designer Cynthia Rowley. Gawker! Where were you?
Carolyn is "guest-producing" and hosting the show on April 26 (tomorrow) and I am so psyched! Here is the fantastic lineup:
Blog Sheroes is NOW in session!
Liza of Culture Kitchen and I of Nichelle Newsletter are so happy and honored to host the inaugural monthly meeting of Blog Sheroes. Lovely and intelligent women came from as far as Ontario and as close as Fort Greene, Brooklyn to take part in this gathering. Bloggers, non-bloggers ane even a bassist from a rock band joined us tonight. Plus mother and daughter bloggers, Barbara and Erin were in attendance. The funny thing is that Barbara started her blog first and getmore hits that her daughter. This proves that blogging isn't just for kids, but for everyone.
Here's a list of the ladies in attendance. Add them to your blogrolls!
Lorraine Berry of Stregoneria
The Great Maha from The Mahablog
Elayne Riggs of Pen-Elayne on the Web
Erin of fshk.net and elsewhere
Carla Murphy of Cohobblopot
Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise
Bitch Ph.D.
Carolyn Tate http://www.subvic.blogspot.com
Chris Lombardi http://scrivovivo.typepad.com
Elizabeth of Half Changed World
Elissa of Contrarian Quarterly
Asha Taylor (web designer)
We even got a nonblogger to become a blogger in about 5 minutes. I helped Elexis (now known as Rock-Chicka) start a blogger account. Send her a comment and check out her band, audiofiction.
We talked, shared blog war stories and connected. We are building a community. Come join us!
Thanks to Amy McCloskey of Madame X for letting us convene at her lovely lounge.
Friday night when I was hanging out with the lovely Girly and I said that the only things that make me feel really fat is trying on clothes in a store and talking to my mom. Today, I thought of another thing--looking at women's magazines where everyone is tiny. Real women have curves and are not a size" 2". Yesterday I met Gwen Devoe and some of her Dangerous Curves models. It reminded me of my friend Constantine Valhouli's documentary about plus-sized models, Curve. I met Costa back in 2001 when he was working on the film. He had several screenings of the film in New York and along the East Coast, and it was well-received but it never got major distribution. I enjoyed the documentary because it followed the stories of beautiful plus-sized models. Plus,there are interviews by Supermodel Emme, Simon Doonan, Todd Oldham and others in the fashion industry. See the trailer of the movie here. The tagline for the movie is excellent:
"You don't have to be a size 2...to be a perfect 10"
Author Tayari Jones read from her new book, The Untelling, at Chocolat, a new lounge at 111 and 5th Avenue. It was a nice crowd who listened to Tayari as she read a passage from her book. I just finished reading the book a few days ago, and I really enjoyed it. Lauren from the Cupcake Reading Series and I talked about the latest projects we're doing.
I met a lot of nice people including Crystal from Brownstone Books, Dominga Martin from Creme Magazine and Linda from Time Warner Books. The party really started after the DJ started playing some hiphop and reggae and then a few of us were dancing. I got my copy of the book signed, ate catfish fingers and had a couple of those chocolate shots pictured above. It was fun!
Tayari's recap on the evening!
My friend Christabel is working on a piece about Black and Latino Bloggers and she asked me to posed this question to you guys:
"Why don't we see more African American and Latino bloggers getting the amount of press in MSM as the melanin-challenged (White) bloggers?"
Prometheus' take.
Please email me or reply in the comments section. I want your feedback so that the article will have more than one voice and/or opinion on this topic.
The next brown bloggers meetup is May 15! More details to come.
I got another clipping! Read my review of the new TV show "Craft Corner Deathmatch" at The Simon.
Here's a poem I wrote last December that was inspired by media and the holiday season.
POP CULTURE
Revealed!
Uncensored!
It's true; he lives.
The shocking sells
The Stocking rip,
In hopes that Santa
Delivers the goods.
The nice are forgotten,
The naughty are waiting
There are no more secrets;
There are no more idols.
Ryan Seacrest is everywhere.
Totally tired but went to see Audio Fiction last night. It was great to see them live and hang with Jenny. Later, we stopped by the Delancey and chatted with comedians for a minute. Then we finished the night at Barramundi and the famous Ned stopped by.
I walked along Central Park this evening and it was nice. Central Park is my backyard. Central Park is my playground. Central Park is my oasis.
Good news! Brown Blogger and Photographer Donald will be in Jen Bekman's next show. He is one of the winners of the Hey! Hot Shot competition. The opening reception is May 5. The Jen Bekman Gallery is located at 6 Spring St near Bowery.
Ames knows how to do a proper party.
1) location, location, location ( not too trendy not too touristy)
2) invite interesting people (more than the usual suspects)
3) open bar ( with friendly bartenders)
4) music (no indie-punk boy band crap)
5) a goodie bag with books, a condom, moist towelettes and lip balm
Name dropping starts here:
Jonathan Ames, Rick Moody, Nick Denton, Jennifer Blowdryer, Ada Calhoun, Felicia Sullivan, Mike Daisey, Albert Lee, Reverend Jen, Amanda Stern, Lockhart Steele, Shaggy the Party Crasher, Sloane Crosley, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Girly NYC, Emma Taylor, ZeroBoy and many others.
Read Scott's take on the party.
By the way, the book is Sexual Metamorphosis, An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs.
A Poem by Me:
Cotton Summer
Puffy white clouds play hide and seek in a brilliant blue sky
Girls play hip-hop-scotch
As the cars go by.
Boys racing up and down the street
Grass turning brown from the heat
Southern sunshines bright
Mississippi moon moves in at night.
Feliz aniversário! B-Muse!
Mary Ann is SO cool! She brought me "Cherries in the Snow" lipstick. I wanted this color since reading Emma Forrest's book. The color may not fit my skin tone, but it's quite pretty.
Speaking of ladies and lipstick, there will be a great reading this Friday at Bluestockings. "Southern Girls Do It Better!", Georgia native Tayari Jones (www.tayarijones.com) - winner of the Hurston/Wright Award for Debut Fiction for"Leaving Atlanta" - reads from her new novel,
"The Untelling" (Warner Books, April 2005)
Plus, Texas-born, Florida-raised New Yorker Maud Newton (www.maudnewton.com), who reads from her novel-in-progress about fundamentalist Christians in1980's Miami and how extremism can pass from one generation to the next. At Bluestockings, 172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington. FREE.
I Love The 90's! Did you think that the world would end in 1999 because you heard the Prince song when you were a kid? I did. Six years later and I can't believe that we're still here! It's all good.
First I stopped by Derek and Romaine's 2nd Anniversary party at the Sirius Studios. Bacardi debuted their new flavored rum, Bacardi Big Apple. I had a couple of apple martinis.
Wade Williams, Hollyood caterer to the stars and E! commentator, supplied the festivities with chocolate pecan cookies. He is expanding his LA-based company, Picnic, to New York. I checked out the spring/summer menu and it includes Chocolate and Vanilla Baby Cakes. [Sounds like cupcakes to me]
Angel Idealism stopped by the party just before I left. She is a singer, female drag queen and vocal contortionist.
Then the cocktail reception for the Community Service Society of New York. It was cool! Carolyn was the MC and the crowd loved her. Two open bars in one night. A goodie bag included a Toblerone, Altoids and a baseball cap.
I met the Glamazons. Plus, I saw Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran in the lobby of Sirious Studios. Yay!
First up is Blog Sheroes on Sunday, April 24. This will be the first in a sensational series of monthly meetings for women who blog that Liza has created. The inaugural event:
Tits, Twats and The Politics of Blogging
Location: Madame X, 94 West Houston Street 7-10PM
RSVP: MeetupI am honored to serve on the Advisory Board for BlogHer Con and there is so much to be excited about! Blogher is a network for women bloggers to draw on for exposure, education, and community. By holding a day-long conference on July 30, 2005, and establishing an online hub, BlogHer is initiating an opportunity for greater visibility, learning and success for individual women bloggers and for the community of bloggers as a whole.
Save the Date: July 30, 2005 BlogHer Conference '05
Destination: Santa Clara, CA [Left Coast, Baby]
Tonight at the Cupcake Reading Series, I met authors Rene Steinke and Paula Kamen. One of the many books I am reading is Steinke's Holy Skirts. I was a total book geek and brought the book for Rene to sign. She's also a new mom, and she plays keyboards in a band. Cool!
I also saw my friend and part-time boss, Karen Salmonsohn. Karen read last Sunday at Elise Miller's East Side Oral, and then Elise, RKB and Chelsea Peretti did SMUT on Monday.
Monday, April 18, my friends Neal Medlyn and Cheryl B will be doing SMUT.
Saturday April 23, I plan to check out Tayari Jones at the Chocalat Reading Series. Whew!
Two weeks ago, I went to Columbia for the "Noise from Underground: Pop Criticism and Cred in the Era of MP3s, Zines, and Blogs". event about pop music critics. One of the panelist was Tracks Editor Anthony DeCurtis who was cool but a little dismissive of blogs. Today, I read that Anthony may have to resort to blogging or doing free reviews for Pitchfork because Cincinnati investor Frank Wood is pulling out of Tracks magazine.
"It was just going to cost a whole lot more to get to break even, and I couldn't do it anymore," he said. "You try a great idea, and if it moves too slowly, it can kill you."
Ironically, the tagline for Tracks magazine is "Music Built To Last". [There were no guarantees on the magazine's life]
The RAT was on 14th Street on Monday!
A few things of note:
Chicks and Giggles is tonight at Raga 8:30PM
Michelle Matlock's The Mammy Project is April 14-24 at PS 122 (150 First Avenue). Michelle Matlock, a character actress and physical comedienne will present her unique one-woman show. "The Mammy Project" digs up the dirt on the century-old icon of Aunt Jemima. Tickets $15 http://www.ps122.org [I have one comp ticket for opening night(April 14) please let me know I will get your name on the list.]
Margot Leitman's one-woman show debuts next week at UCB.
“Just Here For the Day”
a comedy about growing up, working in an elementary school, selling out,
becoming a reluctant role model, rock n roll, and Kiefer Sutherland.
Wed. April 20 7PM
UCB Theatre, 26th and 8th
$5
reservations: 212-366-9176 or www.ucbtheatre.com
Yay! Free Books! Miriam Parker sent me two books that I want to read:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (APRIL 11, 2004) Nichelle Newsletter announces a new category for posts related to summer events: Baked Apple. Whenever you see a post in this category, you will know that it is HOT! 7 weeks to Memorial Day! The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is Saturday June 25. Glitter, sequins, pasties, Oh my!
On Colskee's last podcast, he played "Time For Deliverance" by Do Me Bad Things. Do Me Bad Things are a nine piece band from Croydon, England, and they are pretty fanstastic! The music sounds like Freddy Mercury meets Destiny's Child. Their album Yes will be released today, April 11 in the UK. Gotta get it!
Collecting my thoughts on tonight's event....
I am so honored that bloggers flew in from the West Coast (All ABout George) and the South (EJ Flavors)for our inaugural Brown Blog event. Plus, Harlem and Brooklyn was well-represented. For the first hour, we mingled and invited people to register online at Brown Bloggers. Liza has created an aggregator so that you can go Brown Bloggers to see feeds from member's blog. [The site is still in ultra-beta, but check it out.] It was so nice meeting all the people that I have been emailing and reading their blogs. Here's a shout out some of the people who came last night:
Jose who is getting married in less than month.
Rachel and Allison (my cupcake sisters)
Yummicoco, Aeki and Vans-wearing Lex
Mary Ann and Andrew
Ronn Taylor
Lynne Johnson
Donald
Angela
Hashim
Update: You can see George's pictures from Sunday night!
There's a podcast of the talk, but I'm afraid that I don't have enough bandwith so, it will either uploaded on Brown Bloggers or on Culture Kitchen. Brown BloggerCast brownbloggers.mp3[Note: It's an hour long]
Favorite Quote of The Evening:
"Now if I could just get an IV injected into my arm for my Bloglines..." EJ Flavors
There's a bigger family of bloggers who share similar interests and passions. We have voices. Can you hear us now?
The pizza place was shut, so I had to settle for a cheeseburger at McDonalds. In search of pizza podcast
It's tomorrow! Avenue C is a mecca for international food and drinks For those looking for a place to eat on Avenue C, check out Esperanto. Yesterday, I had fantastic tuna ceviche and delicious empanadas. It's at 145 Avenue C at 9th St. There's also Sunburnt Cow (Australia) and Zum Schneider (German).
Also, if you bring your laptop, Lava Gina has wi-fi through Boingo. It's $9.95 for a day pass.
Invite your friends who are curious about blogging to come. See you tomorrow!
I saw this while walking in the East Village today.
The Lenox Lounge is the place that I passed by on my way home from the subway station.Tonight, I went to Jinx Magazine's debate. The topic of the debate was " Does the Whole World Need western-Style Democracy?" Alex Jacobson took the affirmative position and John Carney debated the negative position. The moderator was Richard Ryan. The crowd was attentive and asked great questions. John Carney won the debate. It was a verbal smackdown. My friend Chris who is a producer for the Laura Flanders show on Air America was impressed.
I asked my very special correspondent from Salerno, Italy to capture the emotions of the Italians regarding the death of Pope John Paul II.
The emotional wave seems to be rising in Italy since John Paul II is dead, and spreading in Europe and all over the world. Millions of people are expected to go to Roma through St. Peter's Basilica to say goodbye to the pope's body before his funeral on next Friday. The huge crowd formed a long line all around the Basilica, and people are waiting for several hours for seeing the pope. They are from all over the world, and most of them don't seem to be grieving. They seem to be serene and happy to be there, singing and celebrating "The Great Pope". Certainly he was a good and innovative pope, close to the common people and encouraging peace and communication among people. It seems that he was like a father to many people, and he will always be a moral landmark to them.
This Sunday is the inaugural event for the Brown Blog Series. Blogging is where it's at. Come over to the dark side (no pun intended). Keith Ferrazi's Never Eat Alone praises bloggers. He also has a blog. On page 100, he says:
The power of shared passion in bringing people together can be see today in the rising trend of blogs.
Ferrazi goes on to say:
When we are truly passionate about something, it's contagious. Our passion draws other people to who we are and what we care about.
I invite everyone who wants to share their passion to come this Sunday. It's gonna be a stone cold party!
“I remember April 4th… a shot rings out in a Memphis sky” –Bono
I remember hearing “Pride” by U2 and thinking that they were a cool Irish band.
Let us not forget that Martin Luther King died almost 40 years ago with his dream unfulfilled. The title of the Brown Blog event was inspired by MLK.
not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character...
On a lighter note, It was a treat to read this hilarious story, Please Don't Pet The Negro by Kimberly Clark in this month's Fresh Yarn. She writes about her personal battle with nappy hair.
Approximately 10 years of my childhood were lost to spending marathon hours in a beauty shop under hooded dryers that temporarily made me deaf and forced me to read the lips of gossiping women. Although my hair was ever changing, the curiosities of white people have always remained a constant. No matter what my hair was doing, I could always count on someone asking me the ill-fated question, "Do you mind if I touch?"
To start your Monday morning on a happy note...check out Karen's site for happiness tips. BTW, I will be the research assistant for Karen Salmonsohn's next book.
The giant chocolate martini that swallowed Shari was one of the highlights of the Femme Petting Zoo party. Here's the rundown in NO particular order: Porn, ex-boyfriends, comedians, goodie bags, stimulating conversation, band members, champagne, Cheez-its, strange strawberry cocktails, books that were not burned in the fire, a little spanking and spicy chocolate cupcakes.
See more pictures at Flickr.
A podcast for the procrastinators and lovers of pink clothes...
Podcast #10
"All Stories are Fiction" is a series of performances by Mike Daisey.
Every Monday night from now until May 9, monologuist Mike
Daisey will compose live stories before an audience at P.S. 122 in the
East Village. Mike has created a new genre in performance art---the
improv monologue. 45 minutes before the start of each show, he
creates an outline of the show using a Sharpie, a Legal pad and
whatever thoughts that pop into his head. At 7:30PM, the show
starts. Mike comes out and sits at a desk and starts telling a unique
and humorous story. I checked out the show on March 21, the second
week of the run. The buzz of the show is already good, and the small
theatre at PS 122 was pretty crowded. The audience was immediately
taken by the story Mike spun. The title of the show was "On Lacking
Conviction". Mike starts the monologue by saying that he was "waiting
for his laptop to tell him what to do". The audience laughed as he
went on talking about a disturbing and scatological website that a
friend had IM'ed to him. Mike smoothly transitioned from the
website to the mediocrity of entertainment, in particular TV. He was
able to skillfully keep the audience on his side as related a
recent bout of depression. It was amazing to see the subject
discussed in both a realistic and funny way. Mike said, "You can
order so many things for delivery in here in New York, but you can't
order death". As the audience travels with Mike Daisey's
rollercoaster monologue of thoughts and emotions, they are in for a
bumpy ride. It's like riding Brooklyn's venerable Cyclone, and you
want to ride again because it is fun!
All Stories Are Fiction by Mike Daisey at PS 122. Mar 14-May 9
Mondays at 7:30PM http://www.ps122.org
Here's a tip. If the bartender is wearing a T-shirt that says "Evil", then you know you are in trouble. I was out Thursday night with Beebs and Newsy at Epstein's Bar and then we landed at Barramundi where bartender Robert served us strong cocktails. It was a fun night!
I interviewed my friend and fellow cupcake lover RKB for New York Cool. Last night I played Outkast's "She Lives In My Lap" on the jukebox at Epstein's Bar. I love that song!
She stays alone, never sheds a single tear
She stays in the coolest moods, clearly woman of the year
She and all her girlfriends, they go out dressed to win
She comes back to the cooler side of town
but she lives in my lap
