11/13 Groundhog Day, 11/17 Wye Oak

Last week was pretty cool. I’ve started an internship with the Maryland Film Festival and I’ve been helping out by selling tickets for screenings. Last week Dan Deacon & Jimmy Joe Roche’s “Gunky’s Basement” presented “Groundhog Day.” I actually hadn’t seen the film and was pleasantly surprised.  What a refreshingly weird/ semi- goofy film. Bill Murray is awesome and gives a great performance.

I also really enjoyed the crowd– sometimes when you see a film it’s quiet– and everyone is focused in a very individualized way, but this audience had  a really unified laughter which made it feel as though we were all in the same living room. If you haven’t been to a Gunky’s Basement film, I’d say go for it. After all it’s only 5 bucks.

my favorite scene:

On Saturday 12/17, I saw Wye Oak at a sold-out show at the Ottobar. They played a mix of songs from “The Knot” and “Civilian,” my personal obsession “I Hope You Die” from their EP My Neighbor/My Creator and a few cover songs. I was really impressed with how hard they played. Maybe I had wrongly stereotyped them as a soft indie rock duo… that they are not. It was very cool to see them as notable Baltimore musicians playing to their hometown audience.  I don’t think any videos have surfaced from this show, but here is a taste of Holy, Holy live.. somewhere else..at some other time!

//Update// Where have I been?

“I shouldn’t have left you without a dope beat to step to.”

Hello Readers,

I want to thank people who have contacted me in recent months to cover their events, openings etc… I’m sorry that I haven’t been the best at getting back to you. I’ve been out of school for over a year now and so I’ve been working on (freaking out about//but not actually applying to jobs) what I should be doing post-graduation. But hey.. so is the rest of my generation! and I’ve missed talking to people about what they do and why they do it. So I’m back.

My only note to people who want me to cover events: if you only send me a press release with no introduction, I’m probably not going to get back to you. A press release with no intro is cold, yo! Anyway. Hope you’ve all been well.

 -KK

Copy Cat Theatre to perform at the BMA

On Saturday October 1, the Copy Cat Theatre will perform at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The performance, “The Queens Game” will start at 9 p.m. The Copy Cat Theatre is one of many b grant recipients from the 2011 B artist awards. Other performers/recipients include Mara Neimanis, Fernando Quijano III, Nelly’s Echo, Justin Sirois, Ellen Cherry and Michelle Antoinette Nelson.

There will also be the exhibition of works by the three Mary Sawyers Baker Prize winners: visual artist, Gary Kachadourian; performance artist, Audrey Chen; and beatboxer and vocal percussionist Shodekeh.

Holy Shit Opening 9/8

New video works at Boombala 9/18!

Sam Shea is organizing a monthly show called Boombala Video Cabaret. Each show will feature new video works from a variety of artists. This months show is Sunday, September 18. The show will start at 8 p.m and is being held at Soft House, 1511 Guilford.

“People should expect to see a dozen short videos by local video artists.   Boombåla showcases the diversity within the community.   Pieces range from feature film teasers, video art, narrative shorts, music videos, installations, animations, and video performance artists,” organizer, Sam Shea said.

works by:

Snacks, Tim Paggi, Jenny Graf, Mark Brown, Chris Ferrera, Jordan Bernier, Josh Van Horne, Bethany Dinsick, Jimmy Joe Roche, Miranda Pfeiffer, Mike Collins, Justin Kelly, &  Sal Farina

Check out “Holy Shit!” a three day event, Sept 8-10

“Holy Shit” will run Thursday Sept 8-10. Nomad gallery is throwing the event which will include music and art.

WHERE: 11 W. Chase St. Baltimore MD 21202

WHEN: The Opening Reception is Thursday 7pm-12 am

Gallery is Open Noon to Midnight

Here is my interview with co-founders Julia Johnson (JJ) and Yerin Kim (YK.)

BMORECULTURED: What is the Nomad Gallery?

JJ- Nomad gallery is traveling pop up music and art exhibition space. We go into empty and abandoned spaces in Baltimore , renovate them and hold a temporary show.

Yr- It is also a type of an artist collective. Instead of making art work together we make art show together. Creating opportunities for each other and more.

 BMORECULTURED: How long does it take you to set up each gallery? What does it entail?

JJ- In both shows we have opened at 11 W. Chase street the space is donated by a local landlord in Baltimore who had this space for unused for over 10 years. We twisted his arm and he gave us the key two weeks before first show, SURFACE had our opening 15-17th (Artscape 2011). For the first exhibition we quickly hauled out rotten construction garbage, installed some walls and some minor construction scraped the floors and used lots of paint. We made a light installation on the ceiling that really tied to the the whole space. With this show Holy Shit we gave our selves a little more than a month, this time we tackled the back room, more hauling, painting construction, and installing an art environment in the back. We built a bar, and seating for the music.

Yr- Well, first show, because we were not sure if we were getting the space until the very last moment, curating to renovating, choosing the theme to press, whole thing was put together within two weeks. So many people were over working without wanting anything to be paid. Julia pulled all-nighters and I was hospitalized at one point. lol

This time for HOLY SHIT we have about 5weeks. But that much, we try to elevate things and be more ambitious.

 BMORECULTURED: What kind of work do you try to feature?

Yr- I will pass this to our guest curator Kyle Freeman

KF- Initially, the three curators sat down at Red Emmas over coffee and tossed around some ideas and concepts for the exhibition. We wanted to do something along the lines of Worship and Idolatry, but wanted to deal with those concepts more abstractly. The thought of dealing with idolatry in the face of nihilism was introduced, and we developed the exhibition from there.

We included local artists whose work is loosely tied to the theme. Many of the artists currently attend MICA or are alumni of the school. The exhibition’s title may seem like funny, haphazard exclamation; however, when thought more about more carefully, presents a slew of complex contradictions. How can be something be both holy, and shit…. praiseworthy, and worthless?

BMORECULTURED: Your event Holy Shit! is a three day music/ art event how have you chosen both the art and music? Was it hard finding pieces and music that would compliment each other?

JJ- I think in today’s culture with contemporary art being such a broad term, art is harder to describe; there are so many new categories art can be pin holed in. Art is transcending into the music spectrum, and vise versa. I think the art gallery and music venue complement each other well with show but also present an interesting duality. We set up this art show in the front room, the room is all white and well light, the music is going to be preformed in the back room, all black and darker. There is a striking contrast between the two rooms and the two spectacles we are presenting.

YK- we decided to have a music show because we are only allowed to have the space for a short amount of time; music would maximize our visitor outcome. The space used to be a church 10 years ago when it was last used. The theme of the show our curatorial team came up with; holy shit, is about belief, decay and rebirth. We found the theme to be very proper for the character of the event. We wanted people to enjoy the art exhibition as well as installation space with out being too distracted by the music, we wanted the public to enjoy the space and have the two compliment each other.

 BMORECULTURED: Why do you think people should attend your three day show? What shouldn’t they miss?

JJ-We want to create opportunity, so support the arts, support the music and support us so we can do this again!!!!!!

BMORECULTURED: anything else?

JJ-Yeah, so we love building things with our hands and watching the space come together. We love socializing with people and making new friends. We love throwing parties and hosting these events. We love and live for art. We love seeing live music. We’re having a blast.

YK- It’s really fun I love doing this, thanks for the interview look out for our next show and new location!!!!

Kickstart Matt Porterfield’s “I Used to be Darker”

The cast of "I Used to be Darker"

This summer Baltimore filmmaker, Matt Porterfield is directing a new project called “I Used to be Darker.” The film will be a narrative and was co-written by Porterfield and Amy Belk.

You can help Porterfield and his team by donating to the project on kickstarter now. The film is set to shoot August 1-19.

Porterfield’s last film, Putty Hill, went on to show at the Maryland Film Festival Berlinale, SxSW & Cannes. Support the man!