Pow Wow! is a lo-fi pop duo consisting of brothers Edward and Jeff Nazareno of Brooklyn. After three years of writing songs together one thing is clear, they have an infatuation with Britpop. Pow Wow! cleverly infuses The Kinks, The Smiths, The Pastels, and even Burt Bacharach into music that often sounds both cheerful and cynical at the same time. “My House Your House Mine” is a stand-out track centered on a laid back yet catchy guitar riff and sugar-sweet melody that almost forces you to hit repeat. And the best part is, Pow Wow! is offering their complete discography as a free download through their blog. Download your copies quick before this up and coming band is signed by a top notch label and their music ends up on the overpriced soundtrack of a style over substance indie film starring Natalie Portman.

Pow Wow! blog
Pow Wow! myspace

posted by: Harold Johns III

New Brow, Pop Surrealism, the New American Art Movement, whichever term you choose will ultimately lack the depth needed to describe the contemporary art scene in America. More of a populist movement than an aesthetic, New Brow artists rarely share similarities in their work yet the artists are still very much connected.  The connections come from the influences they share: punk music, skate/surf culture, hot rod street culture, graffiti, street art, graphic design, tattoo culture, and the general DIY attitude artists need to build a following without the aide of the established art world.

Humble Pictures in association with the Shooting Gallery expose you to first hand accounts from those artists, galleries, and collectors that started the New American Art Movement in the film “New Brow: The Rise of Underground Art.”

And although the film was denied entrance by the acceptance committee for South by Southwest, thanks to the DIY attitude of all involved in the film you can still view “New Brow” and the coinciding artwork in Austin, TX during the festivities.

Artists included in the exhibition are: Eric Joyner, Charles Krafft, Shawn Barber, Travis Louie, Anthony Ausgang, Ron English, Mike Giant, Isabel Samaras, Camille Rose Garcia, Van Arno, Shepard Fairey, Liz McGrath, Henry Lewis, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Glenn Barr, Kill Pixie, Niagara, Sas & Colin Christian, Erik Foss, Yumiko Kayukawa, Natalia Fabia, Paul Chatem, Sylvia Ji, Helen Garber, Joshua Petker, Mike Maxwell, Greg Gossel, and Francesco LoCastro.

Film Screening Times in Austin, TX

Tuesday March 17th, 2009
What: Single screening of New Brow
When: 6pm
Where: The Independent at 501 Studios
501 N. IH-35
Corner of E. 5th and Brushy
501stageandscreen.com
180 seats

Wednesday March 18th, 2009
What: Double feature at Cafe Mundi
When: 8pm New Brow & 9:45pm Abraham Obama
Where: Outdoor screening, 1704 East Fifth Street, 512-236-8634

Thursday Mrch 18th, 2009
What: Artist Reception at 602 West 7th #A
Where: Formerly Gallery Lombardi

Saturday March 21st, 2009
What: Double feature
When: 1pm New Brow & 3pm Abraham Obama
Where: The Independent at 501 Studios
501 N. IH-35
Corner of E. 5th and Brushy
501stageandscreen.com
180 seats

posted by: Harold Johns III

Just because you make mistakes does not mean you learn from them, and just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’re wise. That’s why Jonah Lehrer sings the praises of metacognition (thinking about the way you think). Challenging the long held philosophy that humans should perpetually strive to be rational creatures, Lehrer states a case, with the help of psychological experiments and fMRI machines, that neuroscience has discovered the importance of our emotional and rational minds acting in concert. Some of the information in Lehrer’s book can be found amongst various TED talks and on WNYC’s brilliant Radiolab. The facts in this book are rich and the writing digestible. You don’t have to be a neuroscientist to read ‘How We Decide’ and some of the information may even seem intuitive, but the studies Lehrer has comprised reveal the interesting desires and patterns of our neural pathways. Lehrer’s over-arching objective is to make the populous aware of the cognitive process within oneself, which he sets out to prove will in turn lead to understanding. This cognitive awareness can be used to shed a light on everything from credit card debt and overwhelming shopping decisions to standardized tests and life threatening situations. Lehrer has received considerable praise for ‘How We Decide’ and was even featured in an interview on the Colbert Report.

posted by: Scott Starrett

Seen on the streets of Lawrence, KS courtesy of b. d. eek

photos by: Tricia Rock
posted by: Brent Carter

In this economy all of us could use some help cooking on a budget.

Enter Clara, a 91 year old grandma and the prefect tutor. She grew up in the Great Depression helping her mother prepare inexpensive yet delicious meals during one of the most difficult times in American History. Over the years while sharing her experiences from the depression, Clara re-created those meals for her grandchildren who were deeply affected by both elements.

To help impart her wisdom, stories, and recipes Clara teamed with filmmaker Christopher Cannucciari to create her own online cooking show through YouTube aptly titled “Great Depression Cooking With Clara.” In this episode Clara cooks up a tasty meal she calls “pasta with peas.”

See all of Clara’s episodes here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Since the 1960′s the United States has steadily increased its imports from developing nations like China and India because, to put it simply, those nations can do it for cheap. Meanwhile manufacturing sectors in the United States have virtually vanished and the ones that have survived (i.e. the auto industry) are in need of assistance.

A secondary consequence of this trade imbalance is that American consumers are disconnected from those who actually manufacture at least a component of nearly every product they buy. Which is to say, Americans have little conception of how these products come to be and are unaware of the affects the work has upon the labor force of those nations who produce them.

Alan Taylor in his on-going, photo-based column for Boston.com “The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs” recently collected 45 stunning images pulled from the news wire capturing humans at work. And since most of the photos were taken in either China or India they provide an excellent opportunity to glance into the lives of those who make so much of what we can take for granted.

See all the images here

posted by: Harold Johns III