I’m Board 4 – Interview with Chad Landenberger from Thought & Theory on Vimeo.

I understand quite a few people have seen this video, so re-posting here is just to close the loop of people who will be interested to see it, but haven’t.

This is part of new interview series for Urban Jacksonville so keep an eye out for more. We’re taking recommendations for who to interview next if you have suggestions.

Dennis Eusebio came to me a couple months ago with an idea to shoot a series of videos for Urban Jacksonville. This aligned perfectly with my assertion that 2010 would be the year Jacksonville moved beyond text and branched out into audio and video.

We moved this trend along with the Urban Jacksonville Weekly podcast so I was excited to have Dennis work on this video interview series.

This piece stands by itself as a testament to everything that is fun and good in the city. I would love to see Downtown Vision or the Jacksonville Convention and Visitors Bureau use this video as a promotional tool for promoting city life.

Please enjoy the hi-res versions on Vimeo or Facebook and share with a friend next time they say Jacksonville is boring, lame, uninteresting, etc.

Filmed and Edited by: Dennis Eusebio and Varick Rosete. Thanks to Chad Landenberger, 229 North Hogan with music by Holy Ghost “Hold On”.

Reclaiming Capitalism – The Upton Sinclair Socialist Reading Room by Jon Bosworth

According to Brennan Hamill, owner of The Sinclair, in 1906 the structure at 521 W Forsyth Street was a slaughterhouse and had been for almost a year. That same year, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle. Arguably an inspiration for the entire “creative nonfiction” genre, the fictional novel acted as a sort of expose` presenting the inhumane practices of the meat industry, from immigrant labor forced to work in slave-like conditions for almost no pay to the corruption that infected American communities in the early 20th century.

Sinclair had difficulty getting the book published, but when Doubleday finally did it was an instant success and has since come to be known as a social and literary masterpiece. The literary irony of a place’s name is not exactly something you think about when picking the bar you want to go to on a Saturday night, but The Sinclair is just that sort of place; it’s a literary irony sort of bar.

I recently responded to one of those cheap, tedious, time-wasting Facebook surveys about favorite places to read, and I have to imagine that my responses were unusual; my favorite places to read are on a city bus and in bars. Try going into most bars and sitting in a corner with a book, and you’ll get an array of strange looks and even some marveling drunks who will approach you like a strange but harmless creature that they just can’t understand.

It’s hard to find a good reading bar in Jacksonville. When you enter The Sinclair, portraits of Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, and Upton himself grace the walls. In fact, Hamill’s original full name for the bar was going to be the Upton Sinclair Socialist Reading Room (The USSR Room), and indeed he hopes it will foster a similar community to the socialist activist communities Upton Sinclair was a part of in the early 20th century. I found my reading bar.

This location has gone through many transformations since its slaughterhouse days. Your grandfather might remember it as a brothel, but you probably visited it as The Voodoo Lounge back in the early 2000s. The classic walnut wood-trimmed bar only has occupancy for 80 people and that is precisely what Hamill wants.

“When a place is this small, 20 people can come out for a show and it feels like a good night. 50 people could come out and it feels sold out.”

You may know Brennan Hamill from such local hits as the bands Lackawanna Carriage Works and (formerly) Dang!, or you may know him from when he was booking Yesterday’s, Avondale’s rather redneck bar (which Hamill almost turned into the CBGBs of Jax, except the forces of redneck were too strong to be opposed and too drunk to be reasoned with), or you may have simply seen a large redheaded man with a posh red beard driving a bitchin’ 70s red camaro around Riverside and downtown. On the other hand, you may not know him at all.

I recently heard him described as “austere” (of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor), which isn’t altogether fair. He’s funny, but he does take his ideas very seriously. And anyone that visits The Sinclair will be glad for that, because taking a building that has hosted everything from the slaughtering of animals to rival gang knife-fights over the past 100 years and turning it into a venue welcoming musical theater and alt country bands takes a firm hand at the rudder.

Although the beer and wine bar is already open for business Thursday through Sunday nights, his grand opening is planned for August and that is when we will start to see local bands taking the stage. The opening night will feature local alt country acts Pine and Bone and Hamill’s own band Lackawanna Carriage Works.

After that kickoff Hamill assures visitors that the live bands he puts on stage will be the best original music that Jacksonville has to offer. He won’t overstuff shows or pair opposite bands with one another, shows at The Sinclair will be carefully constructed quality events sure to please locals looking for a discriminating venue.

Hamill’s intellectually ironic bar will also be a haven for neo-socialists and a business that is always more interested in art and music than in turning an enormous profit. That doesn’t mean he intends to be one of the many downtown spots that throw bad art onto the walls to be a part of Art Walk (although he intends to be open for Art Walks), but rather he hopes to bring new dynamics of art to the Jacksonville social scene, including live theater, radio dramas, on-stage talk shows, and any ideas that he thinks fit the vibe. His primary goal is to support the art community, the entire art community – not just painters and musicians – and provide a venue where creative people can find an audience for their work.

Come to The Sinclair now to enjoy eclectic DJs playing music that you’ve never heard, but will want to hear again. From Nancy Sinatra to Velvet Underground to Belle & Sebastian, you’re likely to hear new favorites by groups and from eras you thought you had already mastered. Then look to August for The New Art to take the stage. When you check The Sinclair out for yourself, bring a good book and order a Lillet on the rocks. Tell the bartender Urban Jax sent you.

For more information you can check out Joey Marchy’s post on The Sinclair – Jacksonville’s Downtown Drink House

If you have’t listened yet, Urban Jacksonville Weekly Episode #6 is a good place to start. This is the best episode we’ve recorded to date in my opinion. An “Um” free episode!

Episode #6 topics

• Mayoral race and possible candidates
• First Wednesday Art Walk project
• Springfield development boom

The best way to experience the show

Audio Subscribe with iTunes or Listen Online

There are quite a few ways you can watch, listen to and keep up with with the show. The best way to experience the show is listening to the audio version, period. My vision for the show was always to produce a weekly audio podcast. I wanted people to listen in their cars, while they are running or whenever they have time. The audio levels are good and the whole show is produced by Jonathan Bennett who adds a little ginger to each episode. Plus we have sweet intro and outro music from Batsauce.

Video http://ustream.tv/channel/urban-jacksonville-weekly
I think there is a misconception that we’re trying to do a video podcast and that is not the case. The Ustream feed is a novelty that we offer as a bonus for anyone who wants to watch. Tune in at 5:30 Tuesday night to watch the show live. The audio is shitty, the video is grainy, but hey, this is the future!

If you’ve hung around this long then you are really interested so I’ll also let you know we’ve changed up the topic format a bit. In the past I’ve picked all the topics, but going forward each host will pick a topic. We tried it last week with Tony choosing two topics and I think the results were pretty awesome.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please let me know. I’m interested to hear them.

The way Art Walk information is distributed is about to change. The current way information is distributed is neither timely or incomplete, it’s never been a good system You can get the information on a PDF, but you have to download it. Once you do, it’s limited to a subset of “official” events.

The other way is to pogostick from blog to blog in search of information. JaxScene does a good job, but again, it’s limited. These sources are very valuable, but there has to be a better way right?

So I created First Wednesday. First Wednesday aims to gather Art Walk events into one place. It’s decentralized, open to the community and definitely unofficial. It allows anyone; artists, vendors, retailers, etc; to list and promote Art Walk events for free.

This site is by no means comprehensive, but has the potential to be. I’ve opened the First Wednesday platform to the City and it’s artists, retailers and businesses to make it what they want. So please help me spread the word and let’s build this thing.

First Wednesday: Homepage

The homepage features a link to download the official Art Walk flyer and a link to the Art Walk website. Each event listed below has a short description, map to the venue and any extras associated with the event like free booze or bands.

That’s pretty much it. The site doesn’t have many features and doesn’t need many. I wanted to see what I could create quickly to improve the process of finding and promoting Art Walk events. The whole site took me 2 weeks from concept to completion.

Mobile Access

iPhone users can really reap the benefits of this website with Google Maps and your phone’s GPS. Let’s say you go to First Wednesday and find an event you like. Clicking the map link opens Google Maps on your phone and drops a pin on the location. Now get walking directions from where you are to where you want to go, in less than 2 minutes. Google Maps double true!

Here are two other applications. Before you head to Art Walk you can use your phone to drop pins on locations you want to visit and bookmark them. Then when you get downtown you can check out all the spots you want to hit.

Finally you can broadcast your location. Say you’re checking out Surrealville – Super Funtastic Extraordinaire at The Library and want to tell a friend where you are. Just share your location and your iPhone send an email with a map to your location. Boom!

First Wednesday: Event Detail Page

On the event detail page you’ll see a link to map the location, event extras, a full description, a flyer (if any) and a visual map. I’m not sure how much value the embedded map brings, but we’ll see. Instead of adding features like event editing and duplication detection, wanted to build something quick and then enhance it once I found out what people wanted or needed.

First Wednesday: Add Event

The great thing about First Wednesday is being able to add Art Walk events any time. You can even add events for future Art Walks. Let’s say you miss the deadline for getting on the official venue list, no worries! First Wednesday lets you add events all the way up to the day of Art Walk. Currently, I only allow people to add events for the next three Art Walks, but I’ll open it up so you can go at least 6 months in the future.

Also, there is no waiting for the official flyer to come out or approval process. You can add your event and start promoting it to people right away. I do receive an email each time an event is created so I can screen them and make edits if needed.

Wrapping Up

I hope both artists and people who attend Art Walk find this site useful. I’m not sure what will happen once I open this up to the community, but it is definitely something the City and Art Walk needed in a bad way. Please tell your friends and add your own events.

The November Art Walk will be the 5-Year Anniversary of Downtown Jacksonville’s biggest monthly party. Last month I counted 5 live bands playing at venues around Downtown including The Burrito Gallery, London Bridge, The Library, Cafe 331 and Partisan the Sea.

To celebrate the anniversary and to get back into the Art Walk loop, TSI is holding a 12×12 show on Wednesday November 5th.

60 12″ by 12″ frames are available to anyone interested in participating. Pieces will be displayed at TSI all through artwalk, and for an indefinite amount of time thereafter. Submissions are due November 1st! Following ArtWalk is a live Performance from Sleeping in the Aviary and Lazerstar.

So artists, get your work in. You can even pick up a frame at TSI while supplies last. Pickup from 10am-3pm on weekdays and 9-2 every night. I’m assuming drop-off hours are the same.

The first person who leaves a comment tell me who’s pictured above gets two free tickets to Pecha Kucha night at MOCA this Wednesday. Or give me a really good reason why you want the tickets.

I hear this Art Walk is going to be the biggest yet. Don’t forget to visit Biggie’s Igloo at the Burrito Gallery for $2 tall boys.

Come what may the History Center and Maritime Museum will be ready for their first Art Walk tomorrow evening. There will be jazz on the Center and Blue Grass at the Museum. Bottled water will be our refreshments for the evening.

So what is Pecha Kucha night? Here’s a video of me presenting at the first Pecha Kucha night. It’s good stuff and they normally fill up quickly.

This is a sneak preview of the Jacksonville Monster Show. You can catch the show tonight at Art Walk (August 6).

The Jax Monster Show is an annual show of vampires, zombies, blobs, ghosts, demons and probably creatures that you have never heard of. It is an open entry art show for anyone that wants to submit. The only restriction is that the piece must be a monster.

LOCATION: The basement of the Haydon Burns Library
122 N Ocean St, Jacksonville, FL, 32202

This will be a massive show. Not only do these bands kick ass, it’s right after Art Walk. I missed seeing The DeathSet four times at SXSW. It sucked. Wednesday should make up for that. Bring your fun pants, it should be a wild one.

Buy Tickets Online

Oh! I have two guest list spots. If you want to be on the guest list, leave a comment or contact me and tell me why you deserve it. The best answers by end of day Tuesday will get on the guest list.

Bonde Do Role

The DeathSet

Heavy Flow

P.S. sorry about the animated gif! I should have told Brendon no animation, but I kinda like it so it stays. It will only be there for three days anyway.

…are like peanut butter and jelly. They go great together between two pieces of bread, or two beers. My sister-in-law just returned home from 3 years in Chicago and this is going to be her first Art Walk. Ever! Luckily for her it’s going to be a good one. The weather is going to be in the high 70s tomorrow night and there’s no sign of rain in sight.

Two of the best Art Walk events will be re:CHARGE08 related. You’ll remember, prior to the best April Fools Day prank in the city, I posted on re:CHARGE08, an AIGA sponsored design conference here in Downtown Jacksonville.

re:CHARGE will be hosting events at two Art Walk venues. These shows will be free and open to the public. First is Circuits, a digital art show at the Burrito Gallery (map)

Circuits is twelve 20″ Apple iMacs, two 30″ Cinema Displays and two 12 foot projections. The large projection features examples from all the artists with full sound. Each of the smaller screens is dedicated to a single artist or collective and continually loops their work.

Artists include PES, We Work For Them, MOOVlab, ©ause Collective, Jeff Boortz, Eric Dyer, and others. Experience 16 moving screens of this fascinating emerging genre. Curated by Doug Grimmett, Primal Screen.

I saw Doug Grimmett speak at the last re:CHARGE and I am very excited to see any show he has curated. Check out the Primal Screen website for the quality of work you can expect at Circuits.

The next show I recommend is the “Get Out the Vote” poster show project at the Opaq Gallery above TSI. This is going to be the last time you can go to an Art Walk show at Opaq without sweating through your shirt, so you better get down there. The winning poster is pictured above.

Discover Design, paired local high school students interested in design with professionals from the local design community. Over the course of three months, the group met for six sessions at the Jacksonville Main Library to create original Get Out the Vote posters that focus on the 2008 Presidential Election.

Hmm, that sounds like a good idea for an art show.

Here are all your Art Walk related links and other best bets:
New Stuff
The Urban Core – Art Walk! Ahhhhhhh

Stuff you already read
The Art Center Presents – MOSAIC
Skull Bunny’s + UAW + Jax = Awesome!

In case you hadn’t heard, there is free parking during the Art Walk at the Downtown Garage on the Clay St. between Adams St. and Forsyth St. (Apr 2 from 5- 9pm)

Official Art Walk site
JaxScene: (SOME OF) ART WALK THIS WEDNESDAY
Nicky G’s Pizza has artist Tommy Armageddon
Jacksonville Confidential staff meeting at Burrito Gallery
Art Center Presents:One image of our city, 16 artists, 16 styles

I don’t have a lot of time to hit Art Walk tonight, but one show I’ll definitely go to is Squid Dust at Cafe 331 on Forsyth (next door to Thee Imperial). Squid Dust, if you remember, kicked off the Urban Jacksonville Mixtape Artist Series.

I can’t find an address anywhere for Cafe 331, but I am assuming it is 331 West Forsyth.

More
Info from Squid Dust site on Art Walk
Info on show from JaxCAL

The Jacksonville Confidential staff meeting is also at Cafe 331 tonight. They will be writing a review on the food, so look for that on their site tomorrow.