Wednesday, April 24, 2013

streaming conscience

By the time I got to the Master's level I had started believing my poor study habits would have served me well thus far. I believe myself to be bright. I may be writing a precursor to a rude awakening that I am in fact not bright and I say this cause at this point I also know humble pie is real having had more than my fair share of servings. It's just me trying to prepare myself to lie in the bed I made as this study program comes to a close or an end. I am now at the point where I begin my practicum. It's also Easter according to the religious calendar so may be I'm confessing but having gone to a Presbyterian secondary school I'm not sure I should be, given that I believe Canadian men rule the world and most of my friends who went to Catholic schools denounce Catholicism. All the same I can't escape the stereotype and surrender my truths if out of deference and respect for the choices my ancestors made, like being Christian, while wondering who's going to respect the choices I made given that I would perhaps rather they didn't.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Lovers of Che Lovelace

Even though the paintings revolve around the theme of "Lovers", and some of the characteristic or typically representative images of lovers are used, what interests me is not what is obvious or illustrative. Seeing the figures, not in fixed unreactive ways, but trying to unlock fresh ways to characterize and imagine them, is a priority. To this end the activity and process of making paintings remains the most important aspect of art-making for me. - Che Lovelace

Rachel Rochford, Dean Arlen and Rubadiri Victor

Love, Brown

Forest

Melanie Archer

Tow Figures and a View

Che Lovelace and son

Ravin Ramkissoon and Nalini Lalla

Sea

View

Karina Jeffrey

Kissers

Charlotte Elias and Roxane Herbert

Figures Cosmic

Love Abstraction (Tree)

Klysha Best
Dianne Job

Y Gallery

Dale Ramirez, JP Richardson, Jade Drakes, GA Gardner and Valdez Brooks

Views

Love Dreamscape

Eniola Adelekan, Oonya Kempadoo and Richard Mark Rawlins

Lovers is open at Y Gallery, 26 Taylor Street, Woodbrook, till April 29, 2013.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Gratuitous post..

So much things to say right now it have so much things to say, so says Bob Marley, 3Canal also echoed the sentiment. Its so like me to attach to greatness to help me define myself and my views. I ain't saying nothing, though.

I marvel at parents, it must be so exciting to know you're bringing a new creation into the world. I feel a modicum of that when I start shaping a post for my blog. Its like I feel it will solve all that's wrong, I just have to create it and the world will be better.

I see my friends getting engaged, excited about expecting babies and I remain placated by the chance to speak to you, the reader. I do get excited.

Well I don't have anything I want to say in that there is stuff I can say but still nothing I want to say. Expect something meaningful soon though as life is always best with promise and potential and possibility.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

P-young Gang style


Who knows where slangs come from? But in Trinidad and Tobago we have a history of coming up with terms that permeate a generation. To me they are like values that we share as an age group. There have been so many there have been over the years.

The thought for this post came to me this morning while listening to BLS online, NY radio station WBLS, known to New Yorkers as BLS. A caller said “I’m 41 Sun!” I thought to myself that there may be young people wondering why an ‘old man’ would say “sun”. The fact is that his generation would have been using that slang in their youth, in their 20’s and so it was still his. But that may not be understood by some who feel him too old to use that kind of slang.

It’s interesting what people feel 40 something’s should be doing and saying. Most are married with children and should be protecting their young ones from the evils of the world, insisting on proper values.

In Trinidad and Tobago it’s worse in that the values we ascribe too are determined by the ruling political parties and those in my view are rooted in the post independence era, heavily imbued with colonial mores.

One term that my generation coined was the phonetic equivalent of pyong, much like the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. It means one who loves something a lot – a t.v. pueong watches a lot of t.v., a mango pueong can’t not eat a mango. And in true Trini form one is mildly but albeit vilified for being a pueong/pyong. The contemporary equivalent would be a "banton", I hope – it not being any longer my generational responsibility to come up with slangs and be able to defend their definition.

As I write the UN believes that any exacerbation of the North Korean dilemma would be “uncontrollable” to quote General Secratary Ban Ki Moon. My only hope is that if my Seoul is in danger that I have enough time to fly south for the winter as it would mean a new cold Cold War. 

Monday, April 8, 2013

River Colors


Went to the Caura Valley in east Trinidad this morning. It was a beautiful walk with my friend, designer Robert Young of The Cloth, and his dogs Jasmine and Ramses.

Robert, Ramses and Jasmine

Robert and Ramses

And we're off!

Jasmine

Light, water and rocks

Ramses

Ramses and Jasmine

Jasmine

Making time for a little business

Jasmine

A beautiful pool at the end of our walk

Bamboo patch

Jasmine, Robert and Ramses

Ramses, Jasmine and Robert

Yellow Poui in bloom


Friday, April 5, 2013

Houseless

Ask me what my favorite genre of music is and I'll tell you House Music. Its true. There is no other music that makes me feel like House. Its gender neutral for the most part and usually positive, when its not its gender-bending and fun or funny.

I was introduced to House in the 80's in Trinidad at clubs, that like they do today, play a cross section of music. My friends and I would revel, though, in the thumping bass lines of songs that were taking electronica into vocal realms never heard before.

When I moved to NY in the early 90's it was a whole other world. I so remember Glenda saying she had found a club she thought me and Gillian would like. We all worked for Le Croissant Shop, along with her steady of many years, Brian Richardson. Many would remember him as the hot and moody pantomime on TV and around town, an actor par excellence. We all ventured that late night to a place I'd come to know well.

The club was the Sound Factory and the funny thing was that at the time it was Frankie Knuckles, The Godfather of House - who I'd later befriend- who held it down at that point. He had just released his phenomonal hit The Whistle Song. It's funny because he was half of a DJ war that many times left me divided (see Junior Vasquez).

After that introduction Gill and I found shelter at the Shelter for many years with its resident Trini export, Timmy Regisford doing a whole other style that remains inimitable and legendary. The Sound Factory would become, though, in later years, the place where Junior Vasquez claimed my heart. He is one of my favorite House DJs, when he's in a good mood (there were many theories and stories about his state of mind and life when he played sets that left some of us less than effusive about NY's best club night). Junior, to me and many others, was the opposite of Frankie in many ways except in their undeniable mastery of their craft.

I sometimes a longing to be Housed again, in a way that only few can, if you know what I mean, lol.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Question..

Ever felt like you needed a miracle? Its a simple word, we use it all the time, but its complex too. You might think after reading this that I need help, but no what I need is a miracle, trust me.