Cultural adventurer and social butterfly who enjoys the art and wisdom of good conversation. With a passion for art, film, fashion, and food this ECONISTA loves to travel, take pictures and explore new places. www.reggieworld.com www.thefete.com

A lifelong resident of Queens' Long Island City and direct child of its burgeoning art scene, Shan Nicholson was reared on the streets of New York City during the politically turbulent and artistically rich period of the early 1980s. Within the span of his 15-year career as a music producer, renowned graffiti artist and DJ he has worked extensively within the genres that have since dominated the sounds of both the city and the greater world, and continues to record and publish music with his collective, Cloudkickers. Nicholson, initially introduced to filmmaking as a student at SUNY Purchase, first realized the documentary concept, as well as the grand cultural and fiscal opportunity that it presented after his audience gave him continual questions throughout a particularly energetic/successful period deejay set. The artists and music featured in Downtown Calling remain crowd-moving staples within Mr. Nicholson's legendary DJ sets at some of New York City's premier clubs and parties. Downtown Calling is Mr. Nicholson's directorial debut.
Most famously known as the lead singer/songwriter for the iconic new wave band Blondie, Downtown Calling's Narrator, Debbie Harry, is recognized the world over as the iconic sex symbol of the year zero punk generation. In addition to writing and performing smash hits like "Heart of Glass", "Call Me", "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture", Harry has acted in over thirty film roles and numerous television appearances.
Ben Velez has turned a lifetime steeped in downtown NYC culture into a craft for launching and growing brands. Known for rebranding and growing the international streetwear brand Triple Five Soul (at which he served first as Global Brand Director before becoming Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations), his career has also included playing an integral role at Burton Snowboards' higher echelon line, Analog and UK luxury streetwear brand, Maharishi. A multi-disciplinary background in deejaying and music journalism to fashion styling and public relations, combined with an anal-retentive professionalism and a lifelong set of strong relationships with peer creatives and businesspeople alike, has led Velez through a successful and renowned career that has traversed the high-end sportswear, streetwear, action sports and music industries. Velez has also spent the better part of his life compiling and curating music for fellow artists, producers and companies, and is currently the owner of his own full-service marketing consultancy and music supervision company. In addition to his corporate skillset, Velez has, over the course of his lifetime, built a strong, personal network of music celebrities and record label honchos upon which he relies upon regularly to combine work and pleasure.
David Viola, a native New Yorker who has been working in the film business in varying capacities since his graduation from Binghamton University in 1998, is a film producer at Filbert Steps Productions in New York. He is currently in post-production on Trumbo, a film about the Hollywood blacklist and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's resultant experiences. Featuring Liam Neeson, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane and David Strathairn, Trumbo expects to make its world premiere at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival. Previously, David produced Runaway, which premiered to rave reviews at the Tribeca and Toronto Film Festivals and won the Best Narrative Feature award at the 2005 Austin Film Festival. Runaway starred Aaron Stanford (X-Men 2 and 3, Tadpole and The Hills Have Eyes) and Robin Tunney (Vertical Limit, End of Days, The Craft and Fox's "Prison Break"). Before joining Filbert Steps, David's experience included stints at Julia Roberts' Revolution-based Shoelace (now Red-Om) Productions and indie-leading Artisan Entertainment during the Blair Witch Project and Requiem for a Dream projects. He had also freelance-evaluated scripts for independent production companies and studios throughout the city. Viola brings his invaluable, personal industry relationships with top festival programmers, agents, distributors and sales reps to the Downtown Calling production team.

Here is the run down."How to Make It in America" follows two enterprising Brooklyn twenty
somethings as they hustle their way through New York City, determined
to achieve the American Dream. Trying to make a name for themselves in
New York's competitive fashion scene, Ben Epstein (Greenberg) and his
friend and business partner Cam Calderon (Rasuk)
use their street
knowledge and connections to bring their ambitions to fruition. With
the help of Cam's cousin Rene (Guzman), who is trying to market his own
high-energy drink, and their well-connected friend Domingo ("Kid
Cudi"), the entrepreneurs set out to make it big, encountering
obstacles along the way that will require all their ingenuity to
overcome.
"How to Make It in America" also stars Lake Bell as Ben's ex-girlfriend Rachel, who is concentrating on her own career and a new relationship; Martha Plimpton ("Beautiful Girls," "200 Cigarettes") as Rachel's boss Edie, an eccentric interior designer; Shannyn Sossamon ("40 Days and 40 Nights," "The Holiday") as Gingy, Ben and Cam's artsy friend; and Eddie Kaye Thomas ("Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," "American Pie") as David Kaplan, a successful hedge fund manager and high school friend of Ben's.
Creator and first-time writer Ian Edelman is collaborating with Emmy nominee Rob Weiss ("Entourage") on many of the show's scripts. The pilot and other episodes of the show are being directed by Julian Farino. Additional writers and directors will be announced as they are confirmed.
"How to Make It in America" is produced by HBO Entertainment; executive producers, Stephen Levinson, Rob Weiss, Ian Edelman, Julian Farino, Jada Miranda and Mark Wahlberg; producer, Jane Raab.

October 30, 2009-January 31, 2010 Brooklyn Museum Info
Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, 5th Floor
Who Shot Rock & Roll
is the first major museum exhibition on rock and roll to put
photographers in the foreground, acknowledging their creative and
collaborative role in the history of rock music. From its earliest
days, rock and roll was captured in photographs that personalized, and
frequently eroticized, the musicians, creating a visual identity for
the genre. The photographers were handmaidens to the rock-and-roll
revolution, and their images communicate the social and cultural
transformations that rock has fostered since the1950s.
The exhibition
is in six sections: rare and revealing images taken behind the scenes;
tender snapshots of young musicians at the beginnings of their careers;
exhilarating photographs of live performances that display the energy,
passion, style, and sex appeal of the band on stage; powerful images of
the crowds and fans that are often evocative of historic paintings;
portraits revealing the soul and creativity, rather than the surface
and celebrity, of the musicians; and conceptual images and album covers
highlighting the collaborative efforts between the image makers and the
musicians


Before I moved to NYC in the late eighties I lived in London for a year. These two shots crack me up, Agyness Dyen on top and the kool skool of London Punk on the bottom. Style is always regurgitated and recontextualized by the new generation that make it their own.


by. Hello ebay and the old internet is my friend when searching out materials. These are some of the spectra shots I did for Paradise Lost. The show is set in Miami during the drug wars and the disco era.
Since his first movie, The Punk Rock Movie (1978) Letts has expanded doing documentaries and music videos for multiple bands. But it wasn't till 1997, he traveled to his family's native Jamaica to direct his first feature film, Dancehall Queen. [4] While filming a history of punk in 2001 Don was in New York when the Sept 11 2001 terrorist attacks occurred.[1] His film Westway to the World won a Grammy award in 2003. source: Wikipedia
A consummate chronicler, Patrick McMullan began his career in the early 1980s shooting the downtown scene alongside nightclub scribe Stephen Saban for the original Details magazine, with nothing more than an Instamatic camera and the encouragement of Andy Warhol. In so8os, he brings us back into the exclusive world of glamour and glitz as it was experienced by the era's greatest fashion, music, and art icons that mixed uptown elitism with downtown eccentricity in New York City's nightlife. Shot in such legendary nightspots as Studio 54, Area, Danceteria, Limelight, and the Cat Club, so8os features unreleased photos from the Patrick McMullan archives.
In these pages, McMullan
shares with us his photographic diary that holds the essence of New York
characters and night crawlers. (source: Patrick's site)
Tony was the shit back in the day. One of the founding father's of skateboarding and a bonafide rock star in his style and attitude, Tony now has a gallery and supports the arts, in addition to being a streetwear and skateboarding legend. Check it. A little history.......
Tony Alva was born in 1957, in Santa Monica California. In 1968, Alva got his first surfboard and skateboard and developed a passion for surfing, skateboarding and rock-n-roll. In 1972, he joined the legendary Z-Boys skateboard team along with Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta. Alva later went on to win the Men's World Overall Professional Skateboard Championship in 1977.
In the
1980s, Tony formed the infamous "Alva Posse" and
sponsors innovative skaters including: Christian Hosoi, Ray Barbee,
Mark Gonzalez, Dave Duncan, Eddie Reategui, Chris Cook, John Thomas,
Jeff Hartsel, Craig Johnson, John Gibson, Bill Danforth, Fred Smith
III, and Jim Murphy.
In 1999, he was presented the X Games Life Time Achievement Award from Tony Hawk, and in 2000, he received the Legend Award from Transworld Skateboard Magazine.
Recently he was featured in the Sundance and Independent Spirit award-winning documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys" (2002). Tony Alva was an authenticity consultant and stunt coordinator on the upcoming Sony feature film, "Lords Of Dogtown" (2005),
based on his life with the Z-Boys. The first skateboarder to
successfully market himself as a brand name, Tony Alva continues to own
and operate the innovative Alva Skateboard Company in Oceanside,
California. Considered the originator of vertical skateboarding, Alva
continues to develop new technology to advance the sport he loves.
Staying true to his roots, Tony Alva surfs and skates pools almost
everyday. Bio about Tony courtesy of Alva Skates Tony's site
The Boneyards launch party was Friday night in LA. The clothing and stores collaboration launched June 21. Punk rock music, smoke machines, hot dog stands and carnival prizes accompanied the launch to showcase the sneakers. The exhibition-installation upped the ante for product launch parties. Much of the inspiration for the installation came from 80's NYC art legend and underground conceptual sculpturer Cady Noland. (more about Cady later) In New York, Kids were waiting in line overnight to see the new line. A mixture of biker, flannel, motorcycle high and low art, tattoos and San Pedro chic . I am proud to say I worked on some of the images in the Boneyards newspaper launch. Location images were shot by art director Rob Abeyta, then converted to analog slides that I projected over the models like tattoo artist, John Hall. Pretty cool. Here are some pics. Official Boneyards site

Danielle Decker and Undefeated's Jupiter, FUCT's Erik Brunetti and myself, Rob and Christina Abeyta with daughter Engracia, a carnival worker from the launch and Skate photographer and Tokyo pal Rip Zinger.
Photo Credit: I. C. Rapoport



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