Television is Way Cool
Television totally rocks and this show “The New Yorkers” is really fun and crazy and amazing. It is totally punk rock indie tv. It’s UHF channel 35 (or maybe 26) in New York. The show is also simulcast on the internet and can be viewed here. The guy who owns the station and runs the show, Jim Chladek, is funny and suave but also old school. I’m trying to find the appropriate word for it. In this day and age of multimedia corporate conglomerates what does it take to basically run your own mini-network out of an office building on 23rd Street? It’s not like MNN which is community supported and community access. This station has pretty high production values for a small operation - its like an indie rock label, but on television. And the show is totally cool - its exactly what my campaign is about: The Characters of New York. There are SO MANY incredibly interesting people in this city and I got to meet a handful of them tonight at the show. Here’s filmmaker Amy Leonard and her friend Dahlia:
Amy Leonard and Dahlia
Amy showed some of her film. She doesn’t have a website yet, but hopefully she’ll email me so I can link to it. She said she’s also shooting a music video for a local band called Drown. Anybody heard of them??
More pictures and stories after the jump…
musician and activist Hezues R’
Hezues R’ was shot 22 times in an attempted murder. After that he decided to take action and try and turn things around. So he started this incredible program called Guns For Cameras where they work with law enforcement to take guns from youth and give them video cameras and training in video production. They also use hip-hop and fashion to get the word out. Check out the website and learn more.
Singer/Songwriter Sonya Heller
Sonya is a musician and long-time resident of Greenwich Village. She sang a beautiful song to promote an upcoming tribute to Fred Kuhn from “The Lightshow” on WBAI. The show is Tuesday, June 14th at The C-Note.
Cabaret Performer Frans Bloem
Frans was there, I think, to promote his current show AZNAVOUR IN BLOEM - which is a tribute to the great Charles Aznavour.
The best part of meeting all these people was that is reminded me why I started on this campaign in the first place - for art’s sake. For the fact that it is the artists and the colorful characters and the dreamers that make NYC so fabulous. And we need the city government to respect that! Vive Les Arts!