Tony Curanaj in NYC to the Weeknd in LA

One my oldest and arguably most talented friends had another art show in NYC. Tony Curanaj (known as SUB in the Graffiti world) Showed some more of his impressive still life oil works on canvass. He shows for a few weeks at the Joshua Liner Gallery in Chelsea. I jumped on a plane and caught The Weeknd at the LA Forum on Dawin's Bday. Lied to him and the gang and told them I was taking them all to see Slayer. They were pretty happy it was Abel instead. And Lana Del Rey came out to do a song together which was a nice perk. Played a bunch West Coast dates with Dawin before heading home to NYC.

Tony Curanaj "Big News"

Tony Curanaj "The Gumball Incident"

Dawin with Kalin White

Dawin in San Fransisco

Abel & Lana Del Rey

Life on the road.

Dessert Paramore

This month was all about that goood old Dessert. Dawin released his official music video for the featured version with Rapper, Silento. We also took a trip to Hawaii to play the official 102.7 Bomb Birthday Bash with Dj E-Man, Silento & Natalie LaRose. Back home the cold weather in NYC makes me miss the road but we did get to eat some great food @ Emporio in Little Italy with Rosanna Pansino and her team while they were in town.

Dawin, Natalie Larose, Silento

After a good Surf Lesson with my boy Stav

Working hard at the hotel

Catching the views before heading back to NYC

Dinner with Dawin, Rosanna, Molly and their amazing team

Striaght outta Astoria

This month was another exciting one filled with shows, and movies. The Martian with Matt Damon is a must see. I think Ridley Scott is reaching new heights in his old age. Black Mass was another piece of art for Johnny Depp, he too keeps stepping it up. A sleeper for me was Sicario, I think Benicio Del Toro was overlooked on this one for sure. And I finally got to catch up and see Straight Outta Compton. The Beats campaign behind this film was amazing and took over the internet and helped the film opening break records. I made it down the Bowery for Jimmy Gestapo's birthday party at Bowery Electric. The vibe at Murphy's Law shows are always amazing. He is such a living legend. I also got to catch a Rancid set in NYC before I hopped on a plane to LA to film the music video for Dawin's chart climbing single Dessert.The video was a fun filled day in Malibu where we were Steve Jocz directed a pool party video with lots of energy. We were also blessed by Rosanna Pansino and her team as Rosanna played Dawin's love interest in the video.

Tim Armstong - preshow

Jimmy G rocking with Murphy's Law on his bday

Big Chris watching over Rosanna Pansino

Steve Jocz directing

Dawin & Rosanna Pansino

Rosanna Pansino - nonstop working  - ethic is 110%

AYER's Shotgun & Zac Brown's Queens visit

This month was the release of AYER's second music video from the In My Headphone's EP for "Shotgun to my Heart.' Directed by Rick Day & Steve Benisty and shot in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Caught him at a show  Dawin released his Dessert EP which added one new song and a few featured versions of his pre-released tracks. My partner has been consulting and working A&R for John Varvatos records (Republic) and this month we got to share in the festivities at Shea Stadium as the Zac Brown Band received their platinum plaque and played an amazing show at CitiField.

AYER live show in the LES NYC

Dessert EP

At CitiField before the Zac Brown show

Summer reuinons

The first show and get together I got to witness was a Lordz of Brooklyn 20 year reunion show @ Gramercy theater. Now for those who don't know who these guys are I will tell you they were pioneers who gave a lot of people influence and inspiration that became superstars. They played shows with everyone from Public Enemy to Korn. Their reunion was epic. The show opener was Danny Diablo's (Crown of Thornz/ Skarhead) new music project The Wilding Incident, with Sacha Jenkins (Whit Man Dingo/ Stealth) and Jimmy Williams (Maximum Penalty)  I also got reunited with a young kid born in LA, relocated to NYC, back to the west coast but visiting his Dad for the summer. It was Dilinger Moses Singer and we spent a few days together, but the best was a bit of a father son day in Central Park. I miss the kid and hope we get to do it again soon.

The Wilding Incident

Lordz of Brooklyn

Dillinger & Dad (Danny Diablo)

Some films and Some AYER

This month, as always I tried to catch as many films as possible. I am blessed to be in the festival circuit with my film Eulogy so I can see what else is being made at the independent level. I attended the Paterson Falls Film Festival with my star Federico Castelluccio. We saw some pretty impressive films there. Federico was a resident of Paterson NJ so we were met with a warm welcome from many of the folks that came out to support him. Next stop was a documentary feature directed by Sacha Jenkins, Fresh Dressed. Taking a very deep look into fashion in the the hip hop community and a discussion on its evolution with many of those who became success stories form it. All the Tuesday's of the month were spent at Piano's in NYC watching AYER perform at his residency there. It was a build up from week to week and a great finally at the end. Check out his new EP if you haven't done so already. 

on the set of Eulogy with Federico Castelluccio

Paterson Falls Film Fest with Federico Castelluccio

With Director Sacha Jenkins

AYER

What to Watch

Well, if its a movie, I highly recommend, Alex Garland's directorial debut, "Ex Machina." He has written classics like, "Sunshine" and "28 Days later" and now has done an amazing job behind the camera with this work of art. For live shows, every May is the BNB Bowl in New York City. Cuz Joe and Freddy Madball out produce themselves each time and this year with NYC legends Burn headlining it was more of the same greatness. Now for music, I will defer to Spin magazine who picked Brayton Bowman as one of "5 artists to watch" in their May feature. It must have been that amazing new EP he released, "Here Now"....  Great work Brayton!

West Coastin'

I spent a heavy amount of time on the West Coast building my next writing project. My good friend and famed photographer, Estevan Oriol made sure I got some lessons in culture during this trip. From the most hidden gem tacos stands to a low rider meet up he toured me around the streets of LA in the evenings giving me a healthy dose of Chicano culture.  During that month our electro-pop artist AYER released his first EP "In My Headphones" A dark and alluring collection of songs he wrote and recorded in LA with producer Bram Score.

The Magic of March

One year ago to the day I was filming Eulogy in the Bronx, sick as a dog, but happy to be directing again. Now, one year later, standing on the N train platform I was on my way to the Queens World Film Festival to watch my film on the big screen. So much can happen in a year and so much did. We were nominated for an award and we took one home; Best Ensemble Cast. I was in heaven when they said our name and at the podium I kept it brief, because this was just a taste of things to come. My biz and I went to Bjork's concert in Brooklyn at the Kings County Theater. The place was redone and looked amazing, the concert was perfection, the "snow leopard" is the last of a dying breed of artists who aren't swayed by anything and make music from the heart and for the soul.

With Don and Katha Cato of the QWFF

On my way!

The star of Eulogy Kaves, holding the winning globe

Accepting the award with the cast of Eulogy

Bjork "The Snow Leopard"

Escape from New York

Good news came in February when we found out Eulogy was an official selection in the 2015 Queens World Film Festival. Although I love my city and state, there did come a point where I really wanted to get on a plane to change the weather, so I did. After watching a bunch of cool shows and hitting the QWFF warm up party with Frankie Z. who worked on the film, I jumped on a plane to polish off the horror movie script I had been working on all winter. My co-writer lives in LA and in a short week we finalized the story and took some meetings with production companies to talk about getting this thing made. My co-writer and I also talked a bunch about working on the Graphic Novel for the film this spring. I will keep you posted for sure.

Its Official!

QWFF pre party w/Frankie Z.

My City.

The LA pad.

Hanging in LA with Skid, Danny Diablo, Brooklyn Dom, Big Chris, & Dillinger