+ Reverend Billy leads a “Hot & Holy Revival” with the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and The Not Buying It Band to benefit the Carnegie Studio Coalition and save artists from eviction. (Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, Chelsea)

+ Street photographer and documentarian Jamel Shabazz opens an exhibition at The Bronx Museum of the Arts. (The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY)

+ Pravda kicks off a Sunday night film series of Russian and Eastern European films with a screening of work by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Alexander Dovzhenko. It’s free with complimentary homemade chips and caviar dip to help you get in the spirits. (Pravda, 281 Lafayette Street, NY, NY)

Know something happening? Add it to the calendar.

On his own personal blog, Prodigy, the soon to be jailed Queens rapper from Mobb Deep, is claiming responsibility for some of the biggest trends in music, fashion and entertainment. Basically, if you have tattoos, wear Timberland boots, use slang, drink Hennessy, use Pro Tools, or blog, Prodigy wants you to know you’re biting. “#26 I COULD JUST KEEP GOING BUT NOW I’M TIRED… HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY TREND SETTING, LOOK AT WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE.”

Continue reading: Prodigy Did It First So Stop Biting

+ Urbanity on Paper, “a group show that takes as its subtext the entwined aesthetic, philosophical, and sociological facets of cities,” opens at Anna Kustera (520 W 21st St, Chelsea).

+ A benefit show for Showpaper with Team Robespierre, Ninjasonik, Vivian Girls, and Snakes Say Hiss at Market Hotel (957 Broadway at Myrtle Ave, Bushwick)

+ The Saint at Large featuring the sculpture of Marc Swanson, opens at the Bellwether Gallery (134 Tenth Ave, Chelsea).

Know something happening? Add it to the calendar.

Image by Peter Arkle.

KR, the artist and enabler of drippy silver tags, is profiled by Rob Walker in the New York Times Magazine. Focusing on KR’s eponymous silver ink, Walker describes the evolution of Krink, from a home brewed recipe for friends, to a brand name boutique ink, towards becoming a more accepted and accessible artist’s tool.

Continue reading: From Big Tags and Big Drips to Big Business

February 26, 2008

Daily Photo: Faro, Sier & Skull Phone

While our mind was focused on gold pills to make your shit sparkle and Calvin Klein billboards dripping with pink paint, we missed a smaller, but still tall, outdoor installation for the opening of the New Museum. This pink tall bike, with a frame welded in the shape of the museum’s logo, was locked just across the Bowery on Prince Street in December.

The pink tall bike has obvious similarities to failed attempts by Brooklyn Industries and DKNY to use bicycles in their marketing. Two years ago, Brooklyn Industries put tall bikes in their store windows, which became targets of the acid etched message, “BIKE CULTURE NOT 4 SALE”. More recently, DKNY painted their website address on a bunch of orange bikes, which many found too similar looking to the ghost bike memorials for dead cyclists, and locked them up across the city for a Fashion Week promotion of bicycling themselves. Considering this broken, unrideable, mono-color, tall bike embodies elements of both failed campaigns, it is surprising it has drawn little to no attention, good or bad. In the spirit of the museum’s opening exhibit, you could safely call this an Unfailure.

Perhaps the bike’s biggest flaw is taking up one of the precious few spots to lock up within several blocks of the New Museum. It’s a problem easily fixed with a handful of bike racks, free from the city. To their credit though, the one time I paid admission at the museum, a staff member noticed I had arrived on bike and gave me half off the ticket price, in exchange for filling out a card requesting bike parking, which I happily did.

Photo by Clemente on Flickr.

Daily Photo: A Little Late for Flowers