I settled on Kai Lin and Artlantis. Kai Lin is a gorgeous destination gallery on Peachtree Street in Midtown, and Artlantis is an annual music and art event held in my neighborhood, right near the edge of old money Druid Hills and the current hipster headquarters, Poncey-Highland.

Music pulsed as Yu-Kai’s space was thronging with the Midtown gays, the fashion set, the hot girls, the urban swanksters, all dressed to the nines in overpriced casual wear. I immediately spotted the jovial Ted Bruner; he’s a friend of mine and work colleague of my wife and the immediate past president of the Atlanta Gay Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. “The girls are out,” he jokingly commented about my wife’s a bit too-revealing top. I looked around the space, concurring inaudibly.

You know it’s not a scene without the king, and cool Nick from King of Pops was there with product cart ready-to-sell. I commented on noticing his recent expansion to Athens. He said, “Athens, Charleston and Asheville.” My pop was blackberry mojito, and it “actually mixes well with the drink,” he informed. “We call it poptails.” I concurred again, this time with a slurp of free booze, which was being soaked up by the delicious homemade pop. Ted said, “Your popsicle matches her dress.”

My attendance had been in doubt and when Yu-Kai noticed me he said, “You came.” I felt so welcome and really got why Yu-Kai is at the top of his game as one of the most creative businesspeople in Atlanta. So many nametag-plated reps, so professional, and the free food by Sufi’s, flowing cocktails and hot art didn’t hurt.

Interior designer Gil Hammond and I explored the work, which as he commented is “certainly affordable.” Small, fun, childlike wood block pieces by Janie Stamm amused me. Greg Noblin’s color-saturated, whimsical detailed photographic story paintings captured my eye. And Adam Wellborn’s urban image, orange-red mixed media pieces reminded us that this is the city. My favorite was his tank-like train rumbling through urbanity, called “Mass Transit.” I utterly adore taking the train.

My art train next saw me super bouncy bright and early up the block by foot to Artlantis. An ice coffee from Aurora got the day started right, and then I made the mistake of accepting a free Red Bull from the hot Red Bull girls. So I was amped.
The Beep Beep guys arrange this great outdoor event, and the usual faces from the local lowbrow art scene were well represented in artists’ booths with works for sale. WonderRoot and Burnaway are local non-profit organizations that fight the good fight for local art, so I enjoyed rapping with them. The Dashboard co-op folks were also on hand with stickers stating, “Awesome Rides our Coattails.”

Body painter and fine artist Stephanie Anderson was painting away on the sweaty flesh of a festival visitor as the music started. Multiple sets by a myriad of talented acts were scheduled throughout, veering mostly in the direction of local art-rock.

Timothy Michael’s color-in-color is applied with brushes and forks, using cool on warm colors to express a modern twist on Cezanne’s pre-cubist framework. Vail Davidson’s Innerlight Creations express positive messages via word collage. And Louis N LaPierre’s free pins will go so nicely on my denim jacket when in season.

My favorite stuff I saw all weekend was by Chris Hamer and Jeffree Lerner. Lerner’s modern primitive work is full of life – I’ve owned one of his owl magnets for a year and want to get a larger piece soon. Chris Hamer’s Urbnpop brand features a one-eyed, friendly monster popping up in unusual places. I bought one of his bottle openers and vowed to work with him as my illustrator on an upcoming project.

As the sun reached full bore and the summer heat fully threatened to begin, I reached my air-conditioned home worn out but wearing a wide grin. Let art in.

Halloween comes a little early this year. On Sept 30, Ben Carson will release his highly anticipated EP Melodic Monster. How does Atlanta’s resident rock star celebrate? With one of this years nastiest rock shows along side the brightest rock acts in Atlanta: theDOLLDAZE, Quench and Jack Preston. Doors open at 9 PM. The show starts at 10 PM. Tickets are $3 in advance and $5 at the door. And there are drinks under a $1, basically you can’t lose with this one. The first ten advance tickets will receive a free copy of Ben Carson’s EP Melodic Monster.

CLICK HERE to RSVP on Twitter

CLICK HERE to RSVP on Facebook

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW:

Tickets

1 Ticket $3.00 2 Tickets $6.00 3 Tickets $9.00 5 Tickets $10.00 10 Tickets $20.00

Art Nouveau, GreatEclectic & Ben-Rocks.com present
“MELODIC MONSTER”

feat performances by Ben Carson, theDOLLDAZE, Quench & Jack Preston

Hosted by Guy Anthony
Sounds by GreatEclectic

Sept 30 at WonderRoot
921 Memorial Drive
Atlanta, GA 30316

Doors open at 9 PM | Show Starts at 10 PM
Tickets: $3 in Advance | $5 at the door

Here’s an oldie but goodie if you haven’t seen it or wasn’t there. Here’s a video of Corinne Stevie & Ka’Ra Kersey, collectively known as Land of the Free performing “Mo’Ammo” live at WonderRoot for a Haiti Benefit Concert. Download “LAND OF THE FREE” at www.landofthefree.bandcamp.com.

On June 18, Art Nouveau Magazine & GreatEclectic present “Art Stars,” a concert featuring performances by Corinne Stevie, Ka’Ra Kersey, Richelle L. Brown, Ben Carson and Jay Scott. The show will be hosted by singer Guy Anthony and will feature sounds by GreatEclectic.

Art Nouveau Magazine + GreatEclectic present “Art Stars”
June 18, 2010 at WonderRoot
982 Memorial Drive Southeast
Atlanta, GA 30316

Feat Live Performances by: Corinne Stevie feat Ka’Ra Kersey, Richelle L. Brown, Ben Carson & Jay Scott.
Hosted by Guy Anthony
Sounds by GreatEclectic

#FreeEntry All Night!

I tell people that my life is a movie and I tell them no lie. I had the most random Wednesday when I called up my friend Sonny Psy whom I met at this place called Wonderroot where artists in Atlanta usually meet. He took me to a lot of random places that day as we ended up chilling with this old hippie guy talking about the universe and how the stars align. It was pretty intense!

One of the first places that he took me was this studio that he was renting out to a friend. His studio was also a part of a building that held many more studios where other people were doing their own thing. As I usually do, I let my curiosity take way and I began to walk around to the different areas of the huge studio space. Most of the places where pretty decent, but one of them blew the rest to musical abyss.

The room number was 306 I believe and what I heard blew my ears away from outside of the door. It was so intense that I recorded the music from outside and it sounded so clear. My curiosity took another turn and I knocked on the door, hoping they would answer. They did and I saw this tall guy with a beard as long as Zakk Wylde. As soon as he opened the door, I started rambling about how awesome their music was. By looks of their faces, they were just as shocked as I was! After my rant, we started talking about Alice in Chains and how one of the guys was going but me and the other one wasn’t.

I asked if I could listen and they asked me to come back because they were just warming up. That was definitely a surprise from what I heard earlier. I left and came back about 30 min because Psy needed to leave and I was his ride. I knocked on the door and when the guy opened it, I explained my situation. They agreed to play two songs that lasted about 5 minutes each so I got my camera out and was ready to record. This is what happened…

Kollasick from Ben Carson on Vimeo.

On Monday, April 19, Atlanta artists marched two miles from Woodruff Park to the state’s capitol. The march was to raise awarness of the 2011 state budget passed by Georgia’s House of Representatives which would eliminate the Georgia’s Council for the Arts. This would make Georgia the only state in the country without an arts council. This all translates to zero funding for a burdegoing art scene.

The senate is expected to vote on the budget next week, before sending a final budget to Govenor Sonny Perdue for approval. Painter Fahamu Pecou joined art organizations such as Wonderroot and Sam Flax for the march. For him the situation “hit close to home.” He calls it a “It’s a major blow to the arts in the state of Georgia.”

“People had to act,” Fahamu explains. “Their basically pulling the rug out from under us in terms of how we can operate and function. We seen time and time again the negative effects of removing art and culture from governing bodies.”

“[The March] was about raising awarnesss but it was also about taking a stand. Alot of the people who were present weren’t not neccessarily politically inclined, It’s not enough that we came to march, alot of work still has to be done and we have to put pressure on elected officials to do more in terms of art,” he adds.

Check out these photos by John Goode from the march below. And click here to voice your thoughts on the elimination of the Georgia Council for the Arts.

[View with PicLens]

I love how random things happen to me, especially when it deals with music and finding out new things. So I was at Wonderroot finishing up a Final Cut Pro session and I heard some music playing in the building. It sounded like a live band was playing, so I asked the lady at the front desk if there was a band performing that night. She said that there actually was one, and after finding out that the music I was hearing was really a speaker up loud, I found out that there was going to be a punk rock night where different bands will come out and play. What made me even more excited about the concert was that it was free for Wonder Root members which I have become a part of. The cover was only $5 and the best thing about it was the alcohol was really cheap: $1 for PBR, $2 for wine and $3 for some other drink. This experience was too sweet to pass up, so I dashed home to change and even called up my friend Andre to join me at the concert.
With a brown bag holding two tall PBR cans inside, Andre and I walked into the back door of Wonderroot where people were already hanging outside taking a smoke break and talking to each other. One thing that I love about Atlanta is how friendly people are (this coming from someone who has been here all his life) and that they will welcome you into their circle as long as you’re cool of course. After going inside to see the band that was playing, Andre and I went back into the cold outside to drink and chat with the people outside. We talked with a few people who were also playing in the concert that night. I met Gus who is the drummer of popular band the North Trolls and we discussed how simple three letter names are the best ones to have. We also met this guy named Sunshine who was really cool and even bought Andre a beer. After chatting it up, we all went inside to enjoy the show.

Earlier, I had met Alec and Matt who were members of punk rock group Small Talk. They told me that their influence was 80’s punk which would be something like The Misfits. Upon hearing this, I was stoked to hear what their music would sound like more than the other bands. Thankfully, they were the aggressive punk rock band that I expected them to be with heavy big muff guitar riffs and fast paced bass lines and drumming. There was even a point where the bassist fell into the drum set from rocking too hard. The band definitely delivered and kept the crowd enthused and moving. A band called Unwelcome Guests performed after Small Talk and although they weren’t as heavy as Small Talk, they did have some pretty good tunes for the audience and kept your head bobbing.

It seemed as though everyone was waiting for the North Trolls to perform so I was definitely looking forward to hearing them play. A couple of people described them as “the Beatles on steroids” and after listening to them I can see why. Their songs are very catchy with a fast paced vibe to it. Towards the end of their set, they had half of the audience swinging from the roof while others wrestled on the couch. In the middle of their set, people even started a mini mosh pit that ended with everyone falling on the couch. It was definitely a cool way to start off the week.

Later Days…