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BYE, MOM. BYE, DAD. PLEASE STOP STRUGGLING. IT’S JUST A COUPLE YEARS IN A LABOR CAMP. I KNOW YOU WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO RETIREMENT BUT YOU CO-SIGNED FOR COLLEGE, REMEMBER? IT WAS EITHER SELL YOU INTO INDENTURED SERVITUDE OR GET SOME CORPORATE CUBICLE JOB TO PAY BACK MY STUDENT LOANS.
NO OFFENSE, BUT I DIDN’T GO TO ART SCHOOL TO WORK IN AN OFFICE, OKAY? I NEED TO BE IN A NURTURING CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT.
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Clara Fernandez | http://behance.net/cla
Graphic designer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Focused on design, illustration and typography.
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Whitney Houston, for the Grantland Quarterly! (to accompany this article) More on my blog.
(via loubird7)
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[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Santigold
January 17, 2012
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Led to the basement of the venue. A lot like the Bowery Ballroom. Chillin’ on the couch, waiting for the doors to open so I could feel less awkward/ stop debating on whether or not I should check in my coat.Doors open and I decide to stand on the main floor. I want to dance tonight. The view was more than I hoped. For once there was no barrier between the stage and the audience. I was three people away from touching the stage and I haven’t been that close in forever.
So we’re all waiting for the opening act to come out. These two dudes appear on stage and introduce themselves as part of the Spank Rock experience. “Cool”, I thought as I saw them set up their equipment.
I thought it was going to be a DJ type thing with a light show (never heard of Spank Rock before that night) so I was plenty surprised when two other dudes came out and started rapping very intensely.
I loved their set from beginning to end; the look, the feel, the sound! I enjoy hip hop. I enjoy it more when the backing track is something slightly…a-typical. Spank Rock had this electric feel. Very high energy and the performance included African drums—LIVE. There were African drum players just banging away on the stage.
Some of the lyrics I wasn’t so pleased with (too graphic for my liking), but it is what it is. It’s like that observation by Chris Rock: women dance to the dirtiest shit, no matter how offensive it may be to our gender. The excuse being “well, he ain’t talking about me”.
Spank Rock finished and we wait a half hour before Santigold finally arrives. I read on some blog that her show was more of an experience and that person was right. The band comes out first, decked in some white outfit, geometric gold bling and white Ken doll hair. Then these two chicks (who are dressed alike) wait at the edge of the stairs, shoulder to shoulder, in preparation for Santigold’s entrance. She entered decked out in a skirt, shirt and a crown (among other things) and began to sing.
There were choreographed dance moves throughout the show, which I wasn’t expecting. In the middle of “Go”, Santigold looked towards the stairs on the edge of the stage and started smiling. For a moment I was worried I was being duped and that the girl on the stage wasn’t Santi herself, but some look alike.
Listen, I haven’t seen many pictures of the girl. I just listened to her music. I was expecting her to have short hair in a lighter color. Also, this wouldn’t be the only time I was duped into thinking that I was watching an artist perform, not a look alike. Back in ‘09 I was part of the crowd standing outside Radio City Music Hall on the night of the MTV VMAs. At one point Taylor Swift came out to perform on top of the venue. We all cheered until we saw the REAL Taylor Swift come out of the subway system, singing. Turns out the girl on the roof was just some blonde stand in, there for the benefit of the crowd outside.
Anyway, it was really Santigold on the stage that night and she was looking offstage because Karen O made an appearance. In that moment I realized that for half a second I confused Karen O with Beth Ditto (I know, I know. And I call myself a fan of music. To be honest, I just got the names mixed up not their respective bands or voices).
The concert went on. There were many fabulous costume changes and some seriously cool dance moves. For real, those girls up there with Santigold were fierce!
Here’s the weird thing: the girls sometimes danced suggestively like booty shaking, toe touching type things. When I see that I get turned off because I then feel women go from human beings to objects of desire (emphasis on the word “objects”) in the matter of seconds. Not that night. That night I felt for once that it was just a celebration of happiness and all things wonderful. Shaking what yo’ mama gave ya and being damn proud of it. Those girls worked it. I think I accepted the situation easier because the girls were covered and I just heard appreciation, not catcalls from the crowd around me.
I also fell in love with Santigold. Such a girl crush, oh my gosh. The style, the passion, the talent…just how much fun she seemed to be having and sharing that joy with the audience. Just living! Happiness makes people beautiful.
By this point I’ve been to so many concerts and each one is amazing in it’s own way, but that night, ugh, it was such a killer time. My emotions can only be expressed in random characters and punctuation marks.
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Bucket List Item #47: Attend a live performance of every musician I like if it’s within a reasonable distance and the tickets are under $100.
Simply put, I attend concerts and I have stories that I want to share about my experiences.
I like, dare I say love, music. I don’t consider myself an expert on the subject and I’m definitely not a music snob. I believe that everyone should have the freedom to enjoy listening to whatever they like and not be ashamed about it.At press time (ha) I’ve seen 27 artists/musicians/bands that I like a lot, perform live. I’ve collected images, videos, t-shirts and a bunch of others things from each one that I want to share. I originally planned on creating a separate blog just for that purpose but, let’s be real, not all the stories are that interesting.
Instead, every so often, I’m going to post my favorite stories here. They’ll be tagged as 47 so they can all be found using the search bar (hopefully).
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(poor representation of what’s to come, but a representation nonetheless)
Before I get into my little spiel, let me just tell you that the picture above is a close up of a sweater I am knitting.
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There are two types of stitches in knitting: the knit and the purl. Using a combination of the two, a lot of fancy things can be created.
I first learned how to knit when I was 13. Just knit, not purl. I always struggled learning the skill from a book and I hadn’t discovered the magic of internet videos yet, so I spent five years making things using the knit stitch. What did I learn during those five years? A lot of things. The biggest thing is that items can be made if broken down into rectangles. I made two sweaters using the rectangle system by the time I was a freshman in college.
Thing about my rectangle system sweaters were that they were ill-fitting. When the measurement system involves the guess and check method, you can understand why mistakes might happen. The first sweater was too short and the arms were tight. The second one (a button down cardigan) was still too short and had really large arms.
This time though, I think I’ve got it. I’ve learned a few more skills since the first two sweaters (including how to purl and how to read patterns) and even though I’m still using the rectangle system for this new sweater, I have higher hopes.
If it fits, it could be the ugliest sweater on earth. I’m using 10 different colors/types of yarn (purple and yellow hues only though because, you know, artistic pride or whatever) and arranging them in this patchwork type of thing.
Thank goodness I go to art school because if this works out, it will still not be the craziest thing I’ve seen someone wear to class. Also even if I refuse to wear it, I could always give it to a thrift store. Hipsters love to wear this type of stuff.
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Public vs. Private
I started using Tumblr in early 2009. Later that year, once I started college, I set up this blog as a way to get my work out there. Ever since then I’ve struggled to figure out the best way to share my ideas, work and personality without putting too much into the world.
I was thinking about it earlier about how hard it is living in a time where social networking exists. There are so many ways to express yourself, which is great, but thanks to sites like Twitter, Facebook and the internet in general, mistakes are that much harder to erase. One has to be careful what they put out there because everyone is watching and the world wide web never forgets.
Even though I have accounts on various social networking sites, I still consider myself a private person. I don’t like having my personal business out there but considering I have to put myself into my work, something’s gotta give.
After careful consideration and observation, I decided to re configure my social networking lifestyle in effort to fully take advantage of the age we live in, but not regret anything in the process.
My Twitter feed is now public, meaning everyone can see my updates. I’m going to refocus and just use it for sharing thoughts and not conversing with people in my inner circle as much.
Instead of having multiple blogs, I’ll post stories of the concerts I go to and the things I see, here.
Essentially, I’m going to be more internet social. I’ll re-blog more (seriously this time) and post things that I am willing to stand by.
Fear has been holding me back and although it has been keeping me from posting things that I would’ve regretted (nothing crazy, just unprofessional), it’s prevented me from expanding the Deepa brand as far as I think it should go.
It’s going to be an interesting summer, folks. Wish me luck.
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Journey To Oprah Money
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I'm a graphic designer who plans to change the world.
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