Sayonara Sweeties

It's been a blast !! But with the impending launch of The powerHouse Arena, and our plans for 2007, I must bid adieu to this blog ..

Hope you can join us—in person—to celebrate the launch of The powerHouse Arena ..

powerHouse Books, VH1, and Brooklyn Bodega are pleased to announce

No Sleep ’til Brooklyn
A powerHouse Hip Hop Retrospective

Event Programming at The powerHouse Arena
During VH1 Hip Hop Honors Week: October 13–16, 2006

Exhibition Open Daily to the Public: October 13–November 19, 2006
No Sleep ’til Brooklyn: A powerHouse Hip Hop Retrospective
The powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201
For more information, please call 212-604-9074 x100

No Sleep ’til Brooklyn is a 30-year retrospective of hip hop culture documenting its humble beginnings in the South Bronx through its glorious rise to global domination. The group exhibition represents every element of hip hop—from the breakers, graffiti writers, emcees, and djs to the photographers, writers, personalities, and fans who have made hip hop the greatest single force in pop culture. But this is by no means a story of celebrity, fame, and mass-market names. As KRS-One said, “Rap is something you do, hip hop is something you live.” And so we dedicate No Sleep ’til Brooklyn to the people and to the streets, paying tribute to the founders, the innovators, and the next generation.

The show will feature works by artists including Charlie Ahearn, Janette Beckman, Peter Beste, Le Bijoutier, BLADE, Boogie, Martha Camarillo, Henry Chalfant, Vincent Cianni, CLAW Money, Joe Conzo, Martha Cooper, CYCLE, DAZE, Martin Dixon, DR.REVOLT, ©ELLIS G., Delphine Fawundu-Buford, Carol Friedman, William “NIC ONE” Green, JAMES TOP, Hamburger Eyes, Lisa Kahane, Brenda Kenneally, Brian Kenny, Seth Kushner, LADY PINK, Maripol, Slava Mogutin, NATO, Charles Peterson, Mark Peterson, Ricky Powell, QUIK, Lee Quinones, Carlos “MARE 139” Rodriguez, Randy “KEL 1ST” Rodriguez, Thomas Roma, RUEDIONE, Q. Sakamaki, Jamel Shabazz, STAY HIGH 149, Peter Sutherland, TEAM, TOOFLY, Craig Wetherby, Dondi White, David Wong, David Yellen, and a very special guest!

To preview the exhibition please visit: http://powerhousearena.com
Gallery Hours: M–F: 10am–7pm, Weekends: 11am–7pm

Friday, October 13, 2006, 6:00–10:00 pm
Film Screening: Hip Hop: By All Means Necessary
Hosted by Mass Appeal
Music by DJ Synapse (Beautiful/Decay, Good Peoples)
Tech equipment courtesy of Pioneer
Drinks courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery and FIJI Water
New York premier screening of the first documentary film by acclaimed photojournalist Brenda Kenneally.
The film is a graphic and gripping journey inside the rap game. Featuring the members of the MMO clique based in Brooklyn, including Big Trigg, Sha, Skinny Minnie, and Foogie, the film travels around the city and across the country to explore how young black youth are hustling hop hop as a way to make something of their lives. But this is by no means a sugar-coated story; the film opens with a young man killed by the police; it takes you on stage with Ol’ Dirty Bastard at one of his final performances; it shows life in the projects as they are lived. Hip Hop: By All Means Necessary includes appearances by Brooklyn’s own MMO clique; Bushwick Bill (Geto Boys), Kurupt (Tha Row), Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Wu Tang Clan), LA Confidential, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Funkmaser Flex, and Kanye West, among many others.
Panel discussion featuring MMO clique members Big Trigg, Foogie, Sha, Skinny Minnie, and others to follow.

Saturday, October 14, 2006, 1:00–4:00 pm
Cookin’ Up Customs!
Hosted by femalesneakerfiend.com
Tech equipment courtesy of Pioneer
Join us for an all-girl sneaker customizing party giving females the chance to show off their skills or learn new ones at our Custom Clinic and Custom Competition. The party includes free Nikes for the first 25 customizers, free paints, DJ Nomadik from Boston’s Sole Kore, b-girl performances, award-winning sneaker displays and more… (Bring Your Own Kicks in case you miss the free ones!). The entrance fee is $5 at the door.

Femalesneakerfiend.com is the online community for women and girls who are passionate about their sneakers. This interactive site includes interviews, articles, sneaker art, surveys and photos, as well as forums with over 3000 members. Femalesneakerfiend.com has repped for the ladies on MTV-Canada, weeklydrop (podcast), Boston Globe, the Phoenix, Sneaker Freaker, Kicksclusive, Lace (Germany), hypebeast, highsnobiety, kixandthecity, ladykickz, coolhunting, and exhibitions such as Sneaker Pimps, International Sneaker Battles and Sole Collector/Niketown.

Saturday, October 14, 2006, 6:00–10:00 pm
The Fun’s Not Over Yet!
Hosted by vmagazine.com
Music by DJ Synapse (Beautiful/Decay, Good Peoples)
Tech equipment courtesy of Pioneer
Drinks courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery and FIJI Water.
Film Screening: Trailer for the upcoming documentary film Patti Astor’s FUN Gallery (RobertsDavid Films)
The world famous FUN Gallery was the epicenter of the early-80s East Village cultural explosion. The first gallery in that then-tenement neighborhood was founded in 1981 by underground film star Patti Astor and Bill Stelling. It showcased the works of artists such as Jean Michel Basquiat, Lee Quinones, Keith Haring, Dondi White, ZEPHYR, Kenny Sharf, FUTURA 2000, A ONE, FAB 5 Freddy, and DR.REVOLT. The gallery provided many artists with their first solo shows and introduced countless others to the established art world for the first time. In 1983 then–Citibank art advisor Jeffery Deitch stated in People magazine that the Fun Gallery was “one of the hottest galleries in the city.”

FUN! The True Story of Patti Astor, her first book, to be published by powerHouse Books, relates her escapades at that pioneering storefront space along with the unique FUN Gallery crew of graffiti artists, rock, rap, and movie stars, uptown collectors, scheming SoHo dealers, and neighborhood kids and hipsters.

The FUN Gallery panel will be moderated by Patti Astor and features some of the influential and original members of the FUN Crew:
• FAB 5 Freddy on the landmark coming together of uptown and downtown for which he was the chief ambassador.
• Diego Cortez, who curated the first "outlaw" art shows, Batman, Grutzi Elvis, and the groundbreaking New York New Wave on bringing this art to a larger audience.

Film Screening: Wild Style
For those craving the true roots of rap, Wild Style captured the hardcore South Bronx scene at its birth. The stars of Wild Style form the pantheon of hip hop’s pioneers: DJ’s Grand Master Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, D.St.; rappers Grand Master Caz and The Cold Crush Bros, The Chief Rocker Busy Bee, Double Trouble, Fantastic Freaks and Rammelzee, and b-boy champions The Rock Steady Crew. Beat Music by legendary Blondie guitarist Chris Stein and Fred Brathwaite. Wild Style stars the legendary subway artist LEE Quinones and the queen of the graffiti scene, Sandra PINK Fabara. Graffiti Masters DONDI, ZEPHYR, and DAZE also bombed for the movie. Patti Astor stars as Virgiina, the downtown reporter who comes uptown to dig the scene. Fab 5 Freddy, who along with writer/producer/director Charlie Ahearn, helped create Wild Style, shines as the smooth hip hop impressario Phade. Wild Style follows the outlaw artists through the train yards to the rap/breakin’ clubs. The movie culminates at a massive outdoor jam, definitely the most famous hip hop party in history.

Sunday, October 15, 2006, 4:00–8:00pm
An Afternoon with Jamel Shabazz and Joe Conzo
Hosted by Wax Poetics
Music by Jamel Shabazz and Joe Conzo
Tech equipment courtesy of Pioneer
Drinks courtesy of FIJI Water
Since the 2001 publication of his first monograph Back in the Days, hip hop culture’s premier street photographer and documentarian Jamel Shabazz has inspired a new generation to learn their history and celebrate their heritage. Possessing a vibrant record of thirty years of urban culture, Shabazz is devoted to teaching documentary photography to the youth in various communities both here and abroad. Complementing his work is that of photographer Joe Conzo, who intimately captured the birth of hip-hop as it came up on the streets of the South Bronx. Conzo became the The Cold Crush Brother’s exclusive photographer, and also shot legendary groups including Treacherous 3, Fearless 4, and Fantastic 5 in famed venues such as The T-Connection, Harlem World, Ecstasy Garage and The Roxy. Committed to preserving the community and uplifting the people, Shabazz and Conzo will host an afternoon talk featuring a selection of the music that inspired their work, a slide show and lecture exploring their vast archives, host a Q&A session, and screen a trailer from the forthcoming documentary film 1 Love, on Shabazz, Conzo, and photographer Ernie Pannicoli.

Film Screening: From Mambo to Hip Hop
From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Story, is an hour long documentary produced by City Lore, Inc. and directed by Henry Chalfant. The film presents a panoramic view of the music that blossomed in the latin community of the South Bronx from the late 1940’s when mambo burst onto the New York cultural scene through the birth of hip hop in the 1970s. The film chronicles two generations who grew up literally on the same streets, and both used rhythm as their forms of rebellion—for the older generation it was the pulsating rhythms of Cuba; for their children it was the rhythms of rap. The film, designed for public television and possibly theatrical release, aims to bring attention to the Bronx neighborhoods and communities who, with few resources, transformed the world’s pop culture. From Mambo to Hip Hop features: Ray Barretto, Benny Bonilla, Orlando Marin, Manny Oquendo, Willie Colon, Africa Bambaata, Charlie Chase, Fabel, Luis Chaluisan (El Extreme), Kid Freeze, Track II, Trace, Bom 5, Sandra Maria Esteves, Bobby Sanabria and more.

Monday, October 16, 2006, 4:00–7:00pm
Women in Hip Hop
Held in conjunction with Black Girls Rock
Hosted by Brooklyn Bodega
Music by DJ Synapse (Beautiful/Decay, Good Peoples)
Tech equipment courtesy of Pioneer
Drinks courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery and FIJI Water
All too often, women are overlooked, marginalized, or just flat out insulted in hip hop culture. This event is designed to give women their due while creating a forum for critical discussion and pro-active and positive approached to problem solving. Featuring a panel discussion with acclaimed female artists and writers, Women in Hip Hop will discuss the challenges they have faced as women setting out to make their mark in a traditionally male-dominated culture, providing both inspiration to young women and girls, as well as offering insight of their struggles with the men and boys with whom they work, love, and live. The event will also feature a performance from local Brooklyn songstress Maya Azucena, who most recently performed at the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, as well as a PSA from Black Girls Rock, and a multi-media presentation for We B*Girlz, the first book of female breakers around the world today by Martha Cooper and Nika Kramer.

The Women in Hip Hop Panel discussion will be moderated by powerHouse Book Publicity Director and No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn curator Miss Rosen and will feature a broad range of women whose work has influenced hip hop for the past three decades including:
• Patti Astor, co-founder of FUN Gallery
• Maya Azucena, Brooklyn-based songstress
• Janette Beckman, photographer of some of the most iconic album covers of the 80s
• Beverly Bond, Founder and President of Black Girls Rock
• Martha Cooper, legendary hip hop documentarian
• Delphine Fawundu-Buford, street photographer and portraitist
• LADY PINK, legendary graffiti writer and artist
• Joan Morgan, author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost
• TOOFLY, hot young urban muralist
• Violet, old-school b-girl and founder of KR3Ts

Short Film Screening: Redder than Red
Celebrated photographer Martha Cooper and writer Nika Kramer make their directorial debut with the story of Hanifa “Queen” Hudson, aka Bubbles, the pioneering female breakdancer who rose to fame in the early 80s with breakdance crew The B-Boys, via appearances on TV and in early hip hop films Electro Rock and Bombin. Widely acknowledged as the first female breaker to compete with men in the almost exclusively male, emerging hip hop culture, Bubbles remains an inspiration to b-girls all over the world. Bubbles became famous through a line in Electro Rock when the host says: “Check out the one in red—it’s a girl!” Combining vintage and recent footage, the film explores the life history of a talented, now-37-year-old, Jamaican-British girl who got caught up in the excitement of hip hop in the early 80s, attained a measure of fame, was virtually forgotten, but has recently re-entered the scene. In the intervening years, Bubbles married, had a son, divorced, and converted to Islam, changing her name to Hanifa. The film captures the excitement of the early days of hip hop as it arrived fresh from the Bronx to England in the 80s. The film’s highlight is a reunion of Bubbles’ crew, the B-Boys, in the local community center, where they dance together for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Tuesday, October 17, at 9pm ET/PT
VH1 Hip Hop Honors will honor Wu-Tang Clan, Afrika Bambaataa, Russell Simmons, MC Lyte, Rakim, Beastie Boys, and Eazy-E. The week of events kick off Thursday, October 12 and will run through Tuesday, October 17 at 9pm ET/PT, when viewers can tune in to VH1 and see Ice-T host the broadcast of the 3rd Annual Hip Hop Honors.

Founded in early 2006, Brooklyn Bodega is a collective of creative minds and Hip Hop heads who live and work in Brooklyn, NY. Producers of the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, www.brooklynbodega.com not only serves as the home-site for their live events, but a blog, weekly reviews, and general rants and raves. Brooklyn Bodega is a media sponsor for the Rakim Tour this September, and are producing their 5th Annual CMJ Showcase on October 31st at BB King's.

The Brooklyn Brewery was founded in 1987 by reporter Steve Hindy and banker Tom Potter to brew traditional beers of quality and character. Today, The Brooklyn Brewery is among America's top 40 breweries, and Brooklyn Lager is among the top draft beers in New York City. Our Brewery is open to the public Friday evenings from 6pm to 11pm and tours of the brewery are available Saturday from noon to 5pm. To find out what's going on at the Brewery check our website at brooklynbrewery.com

FIJI® Water, a natural artesian water bottled at the source in Viti Levu (Fiji islands), is the second largest imported still water brand in the United States. A product of one of the last virgin ecosystems on the planet, natural pressure forces FIJI Water out of its aquifer deep below the earth’s surface and into its iconic square bottles through a sealed delivery system free of human contact. FIJI Water is available in 330 ml (11.16 oz), 500 ml (16.91 oz), 1 L (33.81 oz) and 1.5 L (50.72 oz) servings at leading grocery and convenience chains, as well as select hotels, restaurants and gourmet shops. FIJI Water is also available for home delivery in the continental United States at http://www.fijiwater.com. FIJI Water received the United States Secretary of State’s 2004 Award for Corporate Excellence. It is the fastest-growing super-premium bottled water and has been top-rated in taste tests among bottled waters by Cook’s Illustrated Buying Guide, Men’s Health and others.