Bizzy Beez in TandT

Well, like Che Lovelace said last night, I hit the ground running. That is, in TandT. I'm so happy I met him in NYC. For years when I lived here we moved in the same circles but never formally met. As a child I read his father's books. Earl Lovelace's "The Wine Of Astonishment" was a requisite on the reading list. Che brings out, besides other productions in art, this studiofilmclub, in collaboration with Peter Doig. You can see Che in one of the pics with Peter on the side. Again I'd heard lots about this in the past, had in fact seen Doig's posters first at the Art Gallery of Ontario some years ago, but only yesterday finally had the chance to see and participate in the studiofilmclub. It was a divine experience.

Not just the warehouse environment that could have been found in any artistic enclave in the world (Berlin, London, New York) but also the warm friendly people (definitely Trinis) but also the wonderful films. It's free to the public and showed two films; first a vintage film about Carnival in the 70s and then a documentary about Bob Marley entitled Exodus 77. For about half the movie I had the burning desire to pee but I didn't move for fear of missing a moment of the film, and an opportunity to hear Bob Marley speak. There can be no doubt that he is one of the greatest spiritual leaders of the 20th C.

Before this I was backstage at the Kings and Queens preliminaries at the Queens Park Savannah. My uncles, both immediate and once removed i.e my grandmother's brother, are building a costume. Lynn, I forget her last name, who lives in Toronto but was born in Trinidad, designed the queen for the band Masquerade. They've won several times and last year there was a big confusion I heard because they said the judges cheated. It went to court but I'm not sure what the outcome was. Bacchanal!

I'm meeting a lot of cool people and hopefully soon I'll have some friends to hang out with. I spend a lot of time with my friend Eugene because he lives down the block from me, but he's usually in bed by 8 and that doesn't work for a party girl like me.

Beach Picnic Bon Voyage

My friend Maike and her friend Samina hosted a Beach Picnic last Sunday, the day before I left for Trinidad. I thought it was an appropriate Bon Voyage Party. My grandmother and I left next day for Trinidad and it was a good flight, though long, and I was happy to land here, though it was raining all the next day. Still settling in now, trying to connect with people to advance the agenda.

Kenny's opening in LIC at M55

If you're in LIC it's worth the walk to M55 to see my friend Kenneth Park in a group exhibition. He has several drawings and four paintings up and people are taking notice. The other artists in the show are his friends from FIT. Recently I've been noticing a lot of talk about artist run galleries. I love the idea of artists taking charge of the art world again; taking charge of their destiny and showing good work again, and not most of the garbage that has been shown, especially in Chelsea galleries, over the last few years, in an effort for the dealer to sell what they think is good in order to pay the rent. What they think however, is not necessarily what appeals to people's deeper sensibilities. Many a good artist in the boom days did not find gallery representation and that's because there was too much other stuff vying for people's attention. Now that stuff hopefully falls away and will let the good stuff rise to the top. For sure the upside to the downturn is that we all learn what we can and can't live without; a sort of cleansing or purge of all the sh*t we've accumulated over the years of excess.

Work has been pretty stimulating these days!

I must say I love the new curator we have at The Chelsea Art Museum. We're so on the same wavelength! Everything moves smoothly with him. He did the current exhibition on the ground floor. I can't say the same with everyone else I work with, but we'll leave that for another time... Plans are coming along well for exhibitions the rest of the year and into 2010. Exciting! Tomorrow evening at 7 we have a panel discussion about the influences of Arab art on European production and vice versa. Friday we have a reading from the play Blood, about the coexistence of people from different ethnic backgrounds in the same city, and Saturday there are poetry readings and music from Persia and the Arab world.

The Gershwin Hotel

This place has been around for years. I remember hanging out at parties on the roof a few years back. I had a boyfriend who lived there once. Danish, an artist. He curated the galleries for the hotel. They still have some sort of artist residency going on there so I went to check out Yandell Walton's video installation.

It's only one week to go before I'm in Trinidad. I can't wait!

The Kin

My long ago guitar teacher, and soon to become a music legend, Thorry Koren, here performing with his brother, Isaac, in the band The Kin.

I've been going to yoga pretty regularly these days. One of them is at a friend's loft in Tribeca, for free, where one of our friends puts in her hours of training as a yoga teacher. After yoga we have dinner. Typically it's only women, but last week Kai had a friend in town so he joined us. It's a really fun, nurturing time. Now that we have regulars we get to know each other better too. I went to the Kin after one of these yoga/dinner nights last Thursday.

Thorry teaches singing as well as guitar playing and his form of teaching takes the shape of therapeutic sound. Through the voice, the body heals itself. Last Sunday at Jivamukti I did a class where chants were incorporated and it was pretty powerful stuff.

Night of the Inauguration

I'm sure there were lots of parties that night; the best one at the White House of course. I like that we have a handsome quasi-rockstar for a President. At least on the same page as most young people. And in fact, at least for now, he's been keeping his promises; putting into action things he said he would do if elected.e.g. closing Gitmo.

Here I'm at a Pepsi sponsored party at La Esquina. Tequila galore. I swear they should make that a prescription only drug. There were many cool people there, a couple art world stars too; Cecily Brown, Francesco Clemente. I asked him if he no longer showed at Gagosian. He laughed and said Good question. Soon. I look forward...

"Let's Party Like It's 2012"

That was the title of Giancarlo's party at a loft on Delancey and Bowery last week. It was a requirement to dress like a shaman and surprisingly lots of people did! There was a definite New-Age-y, psychedelic, 60s thing going on and it was loads of fun, with Rob Garza of Thievery Corp, DJ Spooky and Guillaume Clave veejaying.

Upstairs was a lounge area with cushy couches and Burning Man-eque booths with New Age stuff along with the 2012 book for sale.

The party was in celebration of the book release Toward 2012: Perspectives on The Next Age by author Daniel Pinchbeck, as well as a documentary film, a DVD series, and a new social network, all related to theme of a global shift in society around the the date of the end of the Mayan Calender, 12/21 2012.

Peter Doig's exhibition in NYC and the Plaza Hotel Suite

It's no use to put a link here because there's nothing on the websites of the galleries which show Doig's new work. Uptown at Michael Werner there are some pieces from the Tate Museum exhibition last year. Downtown there are also large and small works, but all new i.e. 2002-2008. Doig, apparently, doesn't produce a lot of work. He works slowly, and sometimes a work like Maracas, can take years to complete.

I met Doig a few years ago in Trinidad, where I was born. I had been given a gift to deliver to Chris Ofili on the birth of his first child, and not having his contact info but Doig's, I got in touch with him. The introduction came through Thomas Kiessewetter, and my girlfriend Jean Lee. Thomas had spent several weeks in Trinidad the year before and had hung out with the two artists on the island.

Doig seems to me a man very bright, very kind, and very fertile. Though he doesn't produce lots of work, he produces lots of children. I counted about six last time we met, but this time, the little baby boy was not there.

Other people at the opening included some Trinidadians, like artist Chae Lovelace, an architect named Jennifer, and Geoffrey Holder, a dancer, who lives in NYC. Geoffrey is the brother of Boscoe Holder, arguably one of Trinidad's most famous artists, now deceased.

I didn't take pics at the opening because it seemed too intrusive, but I took some at my friend's party at the Plaza Hotel. It was Elisa's birthday and they took a suite at the Plaza. Great views though the scene at the hotel lobby and bar seemed a bit subdued.

Inauguration

So the day has come for them to leave. I say "them" because though we share a common humanity, I feel nothing else in common with the last administration of the US Government. Bush, Cheney, and the whole crew of military-minded, money pocket-lining, forest-plundering lot of them are leaving positions of power which I think it is safe to say they abused, and in so doing, abused the American people. But then again, we, the people, let them. By voting in large enough numbers America chose not once, but twice, for that administration.

Well, a new day is dawning. Obama talked about peace in his inaugural speech; that example may prove more effective than military action, in conflict. He spoke about empowering ourselves and working hard. He talked about the environment and the economy. He understands that it's not us and them, but that we are one; one people, one nation, one world, one planet, one universe. We are all connected in our common destiny as human and spiritual beings.

It must be a good omen that that US Airways jet landed safely on the Hudson River with all lives saved.