Souldish NYC: June 26- July 3

Salma

Have fun with all the great events this week in and around New York City and keep July 12th open for Reality Sandwich's one-year anniversary celebration, "Evolver Illuminations."  Email your events to me, salma(at)souldish.com.  For more in-depth listings, subscribe to the Souldish newsletter.

=====Friday, June 27 – Sunday, June 29====

FIGMENT

FIGMENT is an annual participatory arts event on Governors Island in New York Harbor. The mission of FIGMENT is to provide a forum for community-based participatory art and experience. FIGMENT strives to build community among artists and participants, to foster the participatory arts in New York City, and to demonstrate a vision for the future of Governors Island as an international arts destination.  FIGMENT was launched on July 8, 2007 as a one-day cultural event serving 2,500 participants. In 2008, it will be a three-day event from June 27–29 that will accommodate approximately 10,000 participants.  About Participatory Art:  We believe that participatory art, because of its interactive and immersive nature, can be a vehicle for personal and social transformation. Participatory arts include any works of art that require the interaction or engagement of participants, which bring together artists and community members in ways that build relationships and unlock individual creativity. Participatory art can be seen as a bridge that fills the gap between the artist or artwork and the viewer, which further enables art to function more as dialogue rather than monologue.  Art projects for FIGMENT will go through a curatorial process, based on artistic merit, ambitiousness, and interactivity.  About Commodification & Gifting: Our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. FIGMENT is devoted to acts of gift giving and volunteering—in fact, FIGMENT is entirely run by volunteers, with no one on staff receiving any monetary compensation. The value of a gift is unconditional and does not expect a return or an exchange for something of equal value. This is why FIGMENT does not allow vending, busking, passing the hat, or tip jars. We encourage our participants to find other, non-monetary ways of showing their appreciation.

Check out Reality Sandwich contributors and participants Propaganda Anonymous, Anthony Williams, and Kiana Love at the Urban Mystic Village.

(10a, Free)
Governor’s Island
Ferry departs from Manhattan every hour
http://www.figmentnyc.org/participate/

=====Friday, June 27th=====

Ubaka Hill

Ubaka is my favorite drum teacher and is one of the planet’s most sought-after teachers of hand drumming, Come join her for a fun and empowering exploration of the art and spirit of drumming that will help foster our ability and authentic self-expression. We will learn complete drum songs rooted in various cultural and contemporary rhythmic styles and patterns, and focus on developing and improving our playing techniques, tonal definition, clarity and rhythmic ability.  Come widen your vocabulary of rhythm, pulse, time and tone, and learn about correct breathing, playing posture, concentration, warm-up exercises, drum etiquette, acquiring a drum, care of your hands, drum maintenance and tuning. Experience the wonderfully unifying, energizing and revitalizing effects of individual and group/ensemble playing, improvising and singing.  Note: This workshop, geared to beginner and intermediate levels, is open to men and women. All and drums and percussion instruments welcome. Please bring a tape recorder and blank tapes.

(7p–10p, Members: $40 / Nonmembers: $45)
NYC Open Center
83 Spring St # 1; (212) 219-9635
http://www.opencenter.org

=====Saturday, June 28th=====

The Action Arts League presents…

F O R T I F I C A T I O N: A Fundraiser for FIGMENT

As the sun sets on Saturday, June 28, we ask you to rise up and in defense of the arts. At the very southern tip of New Amsterdam in the shadows of the gleaming towers of trade and upon the meeting of the Hudson and East Rivers, we will be lowering the drawbridge to Castle Clinton for a single night of grand celebration and epic amusement.  When you cross the moat from the outside world into FORTIFICATION, prepare yourself for a journey through imagination featuring the city’s finest musicians, performers and DJs. Ready yourself to do battle with the world of the mundane and bland by cloaking yourself in your most fabulously fortified costume– think medieval carnival and conquest, colonial creative revolutionaries, damsels in shining armor and knights in distress.  Join us to bear witness to the thunderous rhythms of Manhattan Samba, summertime funk from Out of Pockets and analog electronic madness by Spiral Blaster. DJs Dhundee, Jesse Mann and Joro Boro hold down the fort with a mix of floor-stomping house, funk, disco, brass bands and world-traveling beats. Roving performers galore amuse and entertain from above on stilts.

All profits from FORTIFICATION will be used to help support FIGMENT, a massive free participatory art event on Governors Island from June 27-29. You can learn more about FIGMENT at http://figmentnyc.org/.  Castle Clinton is a historic fortress with origins stretching back to the Dutch colonial era. Its iconic circular walls were constructed for the War of 1812. Afterward, it served as an opera house and entertainment venue. Later, it became an immigration center that welcomed millions of people to the New World. Following a stint as an aquarium, it was nearly demolished before being restored to its original splendor by the National Park Service. You can learn more about Castle Clinton at http://www.nps.gov/cacl/

Saturday June 28, 2008. 6pm - midnight. $10 in advance or at the castle gate. All ages. 21+ with ID to drink. No smoking inside the castle. This is an outdoor event and will be cancelled if it is raining. Castle Clinton is located at 1 Bowling Green, New York NY, 10004. 1 to South Ferry, 4/5 to Bowling Green or R/W to Whitehall St-South Ferry.
http://fortificationnyc.com/
fortificationnyc@gmail.com

=====Also on Saturday======

Sacred Geometry Workshop at CoSM
This is going to be amazing.  With Scott Olsen, Ph.D., C. Lance Harding, Ph.D., Alex Grey, and Zachariah Gregory.   1. Olsen: Plato’s occult philosophic doctrine & the golden geometric key to the mysteries, expressed throughout nature and aesthetics via the Golden Section, Fibonacci & Lucas numbers, ?2, ?3 and ?5. Illustrated through visual images, geometric constructions, drawings and measurements of participants.  2. Harding: The Canon of Human Proportion, including the ancient Egyptian, Greek, Vitruvian, and Desiderian canons, with reference to Hindu temple measure, Le Corbusier’s Modulor, and Schwaller de Lubicz’s Temple of Man.  3. Grey: Transformative and practical applications of this universal aesthetics through integrated drawings of the human figure, Kabbalistic Tree of Life and the Divine All-Seeing Eye.  4. Gregory: Practical constructions involving squaring the circle, making a golden compass and creating full-body figures of participants which illustrate their universal, yet uniquely expressed ratios and proportions.  Materials: good compass, straight-edge, pencils (regular & colored) or pens, eraser, sharpener, tape, scissors, sketch-pad (medium to large), tracing paper. Other materials will be provided.  Scott Olsen * Professor of Philosophy and author of the award winning, The Golden Section: Nature’s Greatest Secret.

Saturday, June 28, Noon – 6p, Cosmosis
Sunday, June 29, 1pm – 6p, CoSM
$60 per day for members (please pay by phone)
$150 for non-members

(Noon -6 Sat. & 1 - 6 Sun., $150 - $120)
Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
542 W 27th St (btwn 10th & 11th)
http://www.cosm.org

=====Also on Saturday=====

Healing Hands Massage & Raw Food Party

First, we arrive on time, leaving the cares of the world behind, clean and well groomed and wearing loose and comfortable clothing. We introduce and greet one another and put on name tags. Then the group is led through a series of stretches and easy yoga poses to help relax and unwind. We all sit down in a circle to declare our intentions for this event…more at http://www.healinghandsmassageparty.com/With Dave Bryson (connecting people through touch)

(7p $27 (includes yoga class & raw food buffet))
88 Clinton St.
Loft#2 #rd Fl (Lower East side)
*ATTN*- This Event is limited to 44 people - Advice: secure your spot now!
http://www.healinghandsmassageparty.com/

=====Also Saturday, June 28th=====

Ubaka Hill & The ShapeShifters

Join renowned percussionist, poet, singer and teacher Ubaka Hill as she launches her new CD, Beyond The Wind. Ubaka’s music combines a dynamic, uplifting drumming style with messages of healing, compassion, joy and social change that leave audiences renewed and empowered. Each woman in her multicultural band brings a unique musical voice to the ensemble, and several are multi-instrumental virtuosos. Join them in an exhilarating, multidimensional, vibrational journey of percussion, poetry and song.

(8p, $20)
New York Open Center
83 Spring St; 212.219.2527
http://www.opencenter.org/content/view/1775/

=====Sunday, June 29th=====

Heart & Soul Journey Dance & Beach Celebration w/Trinity Long Beach, Long Island

Get ready.  This Sunday is the first Heart & Soul Journey Dance & Beach Celebration of the summer!  Imagine dancing your heart out & making beautiful heart felt connections with a wonderful community of conscious minded people and then going to the beach to relax, celebrate & play together!  First we gather and dance at the beautiful JCC in Long Beach, Long Island where Trinity’s contagious enthusiasm will guide us on a journey of dancing our full-out passion, power, love, creativity and bliss, without inhibition.  Powerful, improvisational dance rituals will guide you to fully let go, and follow your flow!  It’s easy to get to from NYC- only an hour train ride on the LIRR out of Penn Station to Long Beach and then a three block walk to the event.  After the dance we will walk 2 blocks to the beach and celebrate as a community!  No dance experience is necessary. Come with friends or come solo and leave with new friends!  Presented by Trinity of The Dancing Path and Radiant Life Holistic Center.

(11:15 am all day, $15 adv, $20 after 6/24)
Journey Dance- 11:15-12:30 after beach party 1pm till…
Located at the JCC of Long Beach, Long Island
310 National Blvd. Long Beach
Via Train: Catch the 10:03 Long Beach train out of Penn Station
Turn right out of train station onto West Park Avenue for 1 block
then left onto National Blvd for 1 block
Registration & directions- (917) 517-7724
www.thedancingpath.com
Trinitydances@gmail.com
http://www.rlhc.org
Trinitydances@gmail.com

=====Monday, June 30th=====

Release Party: Josh MacPhee “Reproduce & Revolt”

New York artists celebrate the release of “Reproduce & Revolt,” an extensive collection of contemporary political graphics collected from around the world,  and featuring street artists, poster makers and graphic designers. The book includes a short history of political graphics and highlights the vital role of art in mobilizing social movements. Come out for graphics, refreshments, and rubbing of the elbows. Josh MacPhee is part of justseeds.org, the author of the book “Stencil Pirates,” and co-editor of “Realizing the Impossible.”

(7p, Free)
Bluestockings Books
172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington; 212.777.6028
http://www.bluestockings.com

=====July 1st=====

Whig & Masque Revue: dance with your demons Premiere Monthly Masquerade

Do not come to our party…without a mask. You’ll need to hide your identity in order to take advantage of the experience. Because under the guise of your wig and mask, we’ll use your adventurous spirit, your sense of humor, and your faith in the good of strangers as we take YOUR deepest darkest secret and make a dream come true…it just might be YOUR dream.  Who you are is irrelevant. What you’ve done in the past does not matter. What you want NOW is precious. Don your wig, strap on a mask, and save your inhibitions for next year’s office party.  So, bring your wig and mask.

(7p, $5) ticket grants you admission to the one night, that just might, change…everything.
White Rabbit
145 Houston
Space is limited, get your tickets at http://whigandmasquerevue.com.

=====Wednesday, July 2nd=====

Apocryphon Productions and Reality Sandwich present: Come Together
Pan-Cultural Worldbeat Mashup every Wednesday at Mehanata Bulgarian Bar

This week July 2nd
Live Performances by 9p Naiad Daiad (myspace.com/naiaddaiad) Experimental Electronic Aquatic Dub Worldbeat.  10p Consider the Source Residency - July 2, 9 and 16th Psychedelic World Metal (myspace.com/considerthemusic)  “This white-hot trio uses Middle Eastern motifs as a launching pad for maniacal electric jams that suggest they’ve just come back from Iraq and can’t wait to demonstrate what exhilaration amid chaos sounds like.” Howard Madel - New York Press.  Followed by Worldbeat Dance Party w/DJ Sabine of Brooklyn Mecca (myspace.com/brooklynmecca) Hosted by Akim Funk Buddha

(8p, $5 before 11p, $10 after)
Mehanata Bulgarian Bar
113 Ludlow btw.
Rivington and Delancey
http://www. mehanata.com
http://myspace.com/mehanata

=====Thursday, July 3 - Sunday, July 6=====

Earth Drum Council and Friends present Advanced Hanging Out!

At a beautiful retreat in the Taconic Mountains of Upstate New York.  A great way to celebrate Interdependence Day.  Join Earth Drum Council and Friends for a relaxed weekend in the beautiful mountains of upstate New York. The whole point of this event is to hang out: to gather in community, connect with each other, and drum and dance around the fire together at night. That’s it. No workshops. No vendors. Just getting back to our roots and doing what we love.

http://www.earthdrum.com

=====Also July 3rd=====

Bella Gaia

Kenji Williams presents: BELLA GAIA - A poetic vision of Earth from Space
Live at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival,  NASA Galaxy Stage,
National Mall, Washington DC, July 3-6th
E-Flyer:   http://www.kenjiwilliams.com/spore/2008/06/BELLAGAIA-FolkLifeNASA_fly.jpg