“Even with an ocean between us, and a stay at home order, we can still groove together. Each musician – one live take!”

NYC recording artist Valerie Ghent was scheduled to be in France in May and on tour there in July. As lockdown kept all musicians indoors, in early May Valerie and her bandmates in France, Jérôme Buigues, François Gomez and Fred ‘Diego’ Alfonsi, decided to make a live recording of one of their most popular tunes, Get Funkay. Recorded in the South of France and NYC, each musician recorded one live take, videoing at the same time.

What do you do when you’re stuck in NYC and your band is in the South of France? “Make a live video!” Valerie exclaims with a smile. “We wanted to capture a real-time, live feel, no overdubs or punch-ins. It’s the way I make all my records, bringing great musicians together to record live. Though we couldn’t all be in the same room, or even same continent, we can still make music together! I was jumping around the house all day, playing with Fred, Jé and François was the most fun I’d had since being confined at home in early March.”

In April 2020, Jérôme started a video series of “Lockdown Sessions” with French musicians. Get Funkay is the first international video in the series. Get Funkay was written by Valerie and Jérôme a few years ago – and first released on Valerie’s album, Velours. It’s a fave at all their live concerts. “We wrote Get Funkay in about 20 minutes, the lyric/melody came to me while walking home one day, I heard this guitar riff in my head. When I got to France I sang it to Jé and he brought it to life!” Valerie explains.

“For this version, I was super excited that Fred could record drums at his home studio – Fred and I played together in Cannes, he’s great! – and François Gomez (bass) is the best, part of my band whenever I play in France. Jé surprised me by adding in the breakdown we play at concerts, and a killer guitar solo – and then sent the tracks to me in NYC to add vocals/keyboards in my home studio. What you see and hear is my first take! It felt like we were all together again. Keeping it live, fun, stripped down, and real. We hope this version of Get Funkay brings a smile and makes you wanna get up and move!”

More info at:Valerie Ghent.com

As artists, we had reasons we already felt were relevant in making “GANG” as concept, theme, content creation and final works.
We do not support violence & unfortunately our content continues to be relevant in 2020 forward. “Gang”’s content reflects a repeating situation of oppression, divisive politics.
The divisive nature of the current presidential seat is disgusting.
He is a danger to everyone.

THIS CANNOT HAPPEN EVER AGAIN.
OUR UPSIDE DOWN BLACK AND WHITE FLAG REPRESENTS THE CURRENT STATE OF AMERICA.
WE ARE NOT OK WITH THE CURRENT VIOLENT, DIVISIONIST, LYING, WHITE HOUSE ADMINISTRATION.

WAKE UP!!! THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!

THEY ARE BREAKING DOWN OUR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA & DESTROYING OUR RESOURCES, OPPORTUNISTIC BRIDGES AND GLOBAL REPUTATION EVERY DAY.
THIS IS NOT ENTERTAINMENT OF LOSS AND STRUGGLE, THIS IS REAL AND ENLIGHTENING TO A REPEATING REALITY!!!
ALLOWING IT IN AMERICA CREATES SIMILAR EFFECTS OF DISSONANCE & MISMANAGEMENT AROUND THE WORLD.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS INDIVIDUALS IS TO BE GOOD PEOPLE & HELP EACH OTHER!!!

OUR ARTISTRY IS HERE TO STOP DISCRIMINATION & VIOLENCE!!!

LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

LCKYxKXXNYCxBONNIEBLUExKBM GANG GOLDMASTER T11 G

Produced by: @LCKYNYC
VIDEO & MEDIA BY @LCKY.IMG
Video & Studio recordings: 10/31 – 11/04 2019
LCKYNYC, RRNYC, B&BMG

LYRICS BY:

@KXXNYC
@Bonitaazul
@BOYOKY22

STYLES BY:

@angrm_tokyo

THANK YOU:

@meganoke
@boyoky22
@delnyc
@brianayoga
@westbeth_artists_housing

Westbeth volunteers: Blanka Harper, Mar Reagon, Samantha Hall, Halina Warren, and others, plus Erik Bottcher, Chief of Staff for Speaker Corey Johnson

NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s office distributed 2,000 pantry boxes to homebound seniors and families across Council District 3.

IAC and High Line together purchased $50,000 worth of Fresh Direct boxes filled with groceries.

Volunteers from an effort launched by Johnson’s office will deliver the boxes to residents. Volunteers called thousands of seniors to check that they had supplies. The boxes will also go to public housing complexes and other affordable housing buildings for distribution.

“When times are tough, New Yorkers come together and help one another,” Johnson said.

– Beth Dedman
Read complete article in AM New York

l-r Blanka Harper, Halina Warren, Samantha Hall, and Mar Reagon

At NYCHA Fulton Houses with volunteers and Westbeth ladies preparing 200 Trader Joe’s pantry bags containing a total of 600 meals for seniors for COVID relief.

Lorraine O Grady ART IS…Line of Floats 1983-2009 (Detail)

Lorraine O’Grady’s Art Is … (1983/2009) was a joyful performance in Harlem’s 1983 African-American Day Parade. O’Grady created the work as a rebuttal to an acquaintance’s assertion that “avant-garde art doesn’t have anything to do with Black people.” Putting avant-garde art into the largest Black space she could think of—the million-plus viewers of the parade—she sought to prove her friend wrong.

As the nine by fifteen foot antique-styled gold frame mounted on a float moved slowly up Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, framing everything it passed as art, O’Grady knew she had resoundingly proved her acquaintance wrong. She watched the fifteen young actors and dancers dressed in white frame viewers with empty gold picture frames to shouts of “Frame me, make me art!” and “That’s right, that’s what art is, We’re the art!” She would later conclude, “[Art Is …] was to be about art, not about the art world … rather than an invasion, it was more a crashing of the party.”

Alexander Gray Associates offers these groupings of available prints from Lorraine O’Grady’s Art Is … as representative of the artist’s celebrated series.
Please note, prices are subject to edition availability.

See the entire Lorraine O’Grady’s ART IS

Continue reading →