Grace Grace Grace – I have always LOVED THIS ARTIST!

The Grace Jones story is coming out soon. Holy hip chick alert! Take a look at the cover!

This much-anticipated memoir, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs, publishes Sept. 29 from Gallery Books. Jones explained the title, “I wrote a song called Art Groupie. First line said ‘I’ll never write my memoirs’ — that was a long time ago. Since then, I thought, if I don’t do it, somebody else will.” The Jamaican-born Jones came to the U.S. as a teenager and signed to work as a model at seventeen. She modeled in Paris for Yves Saint-Lauren, roomed with Jerry Hall and had sleepovers with Jessica Lange.  She returned to New York, released three disco albums, collaborated with Andy Warhol and became a Studio 54 fixture. Jones had a third career as an actress, appearing in Conan the Destroyer (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and A View to a Kill, Roger Moore’s last James Bond film.

Grace Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. She was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica and raised by her grandparents. At 13 she moved with her siblings to their parents’ home in Syracuse, New York. Jones started out as a model, initially in New York state, then in Paris, working for Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada, and appearing on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer. Her relationship with her father was strained; he was strict and felt forced to disassociate himself from her because the church refused to make him a bishop as long as he was associated with his daughter.  So, he distanced himself and became a bishop.

Grace’s mother, Marjorie, always supported Jones’ career (she sings on “Williams’ Blood” and “My Jamaican Guy“) but could not be publicly associated with her music.  Marjorie’s father, William, was also a musician, and played with Nat King Cole.

In 1977 Jones secured a record deal with Island Records; she moved into dance and new wave music, often collaborating with the Compass Point All Stars.  She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with “Pull Up to the Bumper“, “I’ve Seen That Face Before“, “Private Life“, “Slave to the Rhythm” and “I’m Not Perfect“.  Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985).

check out this interview with Joan Rivers:

 

She appeared in some low-budget films in the U.S. during the 1970s and early 1980s. Her first mainstream film was the 1984 fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill. In 1986 she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang.  She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl.

 

here is the CLASSIC LA VIE EN ROSE!

 

In 1983, Jones’s One Man Show was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.  In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1‘s 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award.  Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Björk, Madonna, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx.

 

Dig it dig her! Get the book! PEACE PEREZ

Hip Chick Alert puts the spotlight on Postmodern Jukebox -its super fab and clever- and great tunes covers by several artist!

Scott Bradlee is a piano player and formed Postmodern Jukebox.  In looking for creative inspiration, Bradlee began reworking popular music as an exercise. Hip Chick Alert respects this guy’s creativity and I love all the hip ladies that he features on the tracks -ladies like Morgan James- Haley Reinhart, Robyn Adele, Kate Davis, Ariana Savalas & Sarah Reich and many more- I need to give kudos to the male singers featured as well – Scott your a hip cat! In 2009, he released “Hello My Ragtime ’80s”, which incorporated ragtime-style piano into popular music from the 1980s.  After playing and experimenting on stage at his regular gig at Robert Restaurant, he released the compilation Mashups by Candlelight.  Bradlee gained popularity in 2012 with A Motown Tribute to Nickelback, a collaboration with local musicians which arranged Nickelback‘s songs in the style of 1960s style R&B music.

In 2013, Bradlee began to work more seriously on forming Postmodern Jukebox, a rotating group of musicians producing covers of pop songs in the styles of jazz, ragtime, and swing. The group burst onto the public radar with their doo-wop cover of Miley Cyrus‘s “We Can’t Stop“, featuring vocal group The Tee-Tones. As the viral surge grew, Bradlee was interviewed by news outlets such as NPR and also performed live on Good Morning America and Fuse. The group visited Cosmopolitan Magazine‘s New York office for a year-end review of their work and popular songs from the year.

Several artists have publicly noted their appreciation for the group’s work. Among the group’s prominent guest musicians are Dave Koz, who collaborated with them in a jazz covers of “Careless Whisper” and the Game of Thrones theme music, and Niia, who joined them for a “space jazz” version of “The End of the World“.  Postmodern Jukebox’s October 2013 collaboration with Puddles Pity Party on a cover of Lorde‘s “Royals” generated particularly strong interest; as of September 2014, this video remained the second most popular on Bradlee’s YouTube channel with over 8.7 million hits.  Dig that! Dig it- I do!

RadioHeads Creep Cover ft. Haley Reinhart Post Modern Jukebox Style!

 

In 2013, Bradlee found interest from the video game industry, gaining a composer credit for 2K Games‘ BioShock Infinite soundtrack, which features four of his stylized arrangements: a piano cover of Tears for Fears‘ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (piano and vocals), a jazzy ragtime cover of Gloria Jones‘ “Tainted Love” (arrangement, piano), and covers of R.E.M.‘s “Shiny Happy People” (arrangement and piano) and “After You’ve Gone” (arrangement, piano).Clever man!

In early September 2014, Bradlee uploaded a 1940s jazz interpretation of “All About That Bass” called “All About That (Upright) Bass”, featuring Kate Davis singing solo while playing double bass, with Bradlee on piano and Dave Tedeschi on drums. The video received 8 million hits in three months. Also in 2014, Bradlee’s YouTube Channel “Postmodern Jukebox” was listed as #42 on NewMediaRockstars‘ “Top 100 Channels”.

Here is a very hip All About The BASS!

 

In late 2014 to 2015, his band was to tour America and Europe!  This is really hip sxxt! Enjoy! visit their website- http://postmodernjukebox.com/

oh yea! Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel (Morgan James cover)

 

Peace Perez

Hip Chick Alert puts the spotlight on Jessica Lehrman, a Brooklyn-based photographer best known for her raw visual documentation of contemporary underground movements.

From protests and social revolutions to the belly of hip hop’s underground community and its emerging artists. Her work has been featured in publications such as Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Billboard, VICE and more.  Like Holy Talented Hip Chick!

Vimeo:

 

My dear friend editor and photographer Jeffrey Henson Scales turned me on to this hip one- He works at the New York Times and is exposed to amazing talent on a regular basis – but she stood out!  – so please take a look and she what she is up to.  See more of Jessica’s work at jessicalehrman.com.

For InFrame Series updates and announcements follow:

Facebook:   facebook.com/useformat

Twitter:   twitter.com/useformat

Peace Perez

Hip Chick Alert puts the spotlight on Brandee Younger!

A recent Brooklynite– turned Harlemite. Brandee was born and raised in Hempstead, Long Island.

“Younger taps into the spiritual well that fueled the art of both Ashby and Coltrane, yet she remains ever-cognizant of the time in which she lives and plays.” – All About Jazz

A versatile artist who has been proven to defy genres and labels, this young harpist has created a unique niche in both traditional and non-traditional harp arenas.  I just love her!  In addition to expressively interpreting traditional harp repertoire, this young harpist plays in a style reminiscent of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, yet has developed a beautiful and fresh sound all her own.  She is most recognized for working with Jazz royalty as well as Grammy winning Hip-Hop producers and artists.  Her ability to feature the harp in genres of music where the instrument is often absent is a testament of her love for the instrument, and her cross-reaching ability as a musician.

A New York native, Brandee Younger is classically trained, yet has made her mark as a groundbreaking artist having worked with jazz royalty Ravi Coltrane, Jack Dejohnette, Reggie Workman, Charlie Haden, Bill Lee and Butch Morris amongst others.  In popular music, she has worked with Hip -Hop & R&B producers and artists such as Common, Lauryn Hill, Ryan Leslie, John Legend, Drake and Ski Beatz. Most recently, she was featured on the Grammy Award nominated album “New York: A Love Story” by R&B newcomer, Mack Wilds.

Here is Brandee and Dezron playing at one of my house concerts –

Ms. Younger earned her bachelor’s degree in Harp Performance and Music Management from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford and her Master’s degree in Harp Performance and Composition at New York University.  She is the leader of the Brandee Younger Jazz Harp Quartet and Afro Harping: A Tribute to Dorothy Ashby, in honor of the great, late jazz harp pioneer.  Younger is featured artist on the upcoming Bluenote Records/Revive Music release, “Supreme Sonacy”, set to be released in August, 2015.  When not touring with her groups, she teaches educational workshops and also teaches harp lessons at the Greenwich House Music School in the West Village and has a private teaching studio on Long Island.  Real Hip Chick!

Here is her site, enjoy!

http://brandeeyounger.com/

Peace Perez

Hip chick alert puts the spotlight on Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Canadian-American Cree singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Throughout her career in all of these areas, her work has focused on issues of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire also includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism. In 1962, in her early twenties, Sainte-Marie was touring alone, developing her craft and performing in various concert halls, folk music festivals and Native Americans reservations across the United States, Canada and abroad.  I love her tone – her feeling and the way she put across a song-she lives them – each and every one of them!

She spent a considerable amount of time in the coffeehouses of downtown Toronto’s old Yorkville district, and New York City’s Greenwich Village as part of the early to mid-1960s folk scene, often alongside other emerging Canadian contemporaries, such as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell  (she also introduced Joni to Elliot Roberts, who became Joni’s manager).   She quickly earned a reputation as a gifted songwriter, and many of her earliest songs were covered, and often turned into chart-topping hits, by other artists including Chet Atkins, Janis Joplin and Taj Mahal.

One of her most popular songs, “Until It’s Time for You to Go“, has been recorded by artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Michael Nesmith, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, Roberta Flack, Françoise Hardy, Cher, Maureen McGovern, and Bobby Darin, while “Piney Wood Hills” was made into a country music hit by Bobby Bare. Her vocal style features a frequently recurring, insistent, unusually sustained vibrato, (common to flamenco and powwow singers, and the chanteuse Edith Piaf) one more prominent than can be found in the music of any other well-known North American pop music performer.

In 1997 she founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project, an educational curriculum devoted to better understanding Native Americans. She has won recognition and many awards and honors for both her music and her work in education and social activism. This year 2015, Buffy Sainte-Marie released the album, Power in the Blood . The album is connected to True North Records.  Have a listen!

Please go to her website here, she is a hip chick!

Hip Chick Alert put the spot light on Jennifer Hartswick! Jennifer is one of the most exciting performers in music today.  On the road all the time! She inspires audiences all over the world with her powerful voice and commanding trumpet playing.  Jennifer’s live performances are renowned as spontaneous, joyful and contagious. And glad to say she is a friend of mine- True Hip Chick she is!

Her natural charisma and sincerity shines through, and each performance is a celebration of musical collaboration. And whether she is wailing on the trumpet or singing an intimate vocal solo, her performance is all part of a single seamless instrument, one that is played not only with astounding technical proficiency, but also with sensitivity, conviction and heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybPG22ja_Zo

Here is Jennifer singing ‘’Soul Shadows’’at my house concert in my home in Brooklyn with Dezron Douglas and Nicky Cassarino.

Hartswick has shared the stage and studio with many musical titans, including Trey Anastasio, Carlos Santana, Bruce Hornsby, The Rolling Stones, Phish, Herbie Hancock and Christian McBride- super hip acts all- keep a watchful eye out for her!

Here are her upcoming gigs!

Peace Perez

HIP CHICK ALERT PUTS THE SPOTLIGHT ON SAM COOK!

Fifty years ago this week, Sam Cooke strolled into a recording studio, put on a pair of headphones, and laid down the tracks for one of the most important songs of the civil rights era!  A Change is Gonna come.

Sam was an American recording artist and singer-songwriter, generally considered among the greatest of all time. Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like “You Send Me“, “A Change Is Gonna Come“, “Chain Gang“, “Wonderful World“, and “Twistin’ the Night Away” are some of his most popular songs. Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.  I am a big fan of all singer-songwriters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbO2_077ixs

 

Rolling Stone now calls “A Change Is Gonna Come” one of the greatest songs of all time, but in 1964 its political message was a risky maneuver. Cooke had worked hard to be accepted as a crossover artist after building a sizable following on the gospel circuit. And the first thing to know about the song, Cooke biographer Peter Guralnick says, is that it’s unlike anything the singer had ever recorded.

“His first success came with the song ‘You Send Me.’ I mean, this was his first crossover number under his own name, and it went to No. 1 on the pop charts, which was just unheard of,” Guralnick says. ”  As he evolved as a pop singer, he brought more and more of his gospel background into his music, as well as his social awareness, which was keen. But really, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ was a real departure for him, in the sense that it was undoubtedly the first time that he addressed social problems in a direct and explicit way.”

Dig it dig him!

 

Hip Chick Alert puts the spotlight on Bruce Jenner – aka- Caitlyn Jenner ! Ok the big bloody elephant in the room Caitlyn Jenner –really you been married three times and never thought – maybe I should come clean sooner.

No let me live a full life as a husband and become a father several times and marry 3 different women –then get rid of my balls and get a pussy and a makeup artist !

William Bruce Jenner, October 28, 1949 is an American television personality and former track and field athlete

Bruce had been married three times. His first marriage was to Chrystie Scott (née Crownover) from 1972 to 1981. They have two children, son Burton and daughter Cassandra, known as Burt and Casey.Jenner and Scott’s divorce was finalized the first week of January 1981.

The same week, let me repeat -the same week, on January 5, 1981, Jenner married actress Linda Thompson, in Hawaii. By February 1986, Jenner and Thompson had separated, and they subsequently divorced. They have two sons together, Brandon and Sam Brody, known as Brody.

A former college football player, Jenner came to international attention as a decathlete, winning the gold medal in the men’s decathlon event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and setting a world record not beaten until 1980. With the unofficial title of “world’s greatest athlete” for the Olympic decathlon win, she was also an American cult hero winning an event dominated by Soviet Union athletes during the Cold War. He leveraged himself celebrity status to endorse products and subsequently starred in numerous movies and television specials including several made-for-TV movies, and was briefly Erik Estrada‘s replacement on the TV series CHiPs.

Jenner was married for 23 years to Kris Jenner his third wife -(née Houghton; formerly Kardashian); the couple and their children appeared beginning in 2007 on the television reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Was a good husband and for what I could see a great father – on the show Chris was sometimes painted as a bitch – controlling woman–controlling Bruce – well my heart goes out to her .

My first marriage ended when my husband wanted to sleep with men – which the devastation for me was real and it took years for me to get over – trusting again. Enough about me back to Bruce.

Following Bruce and Chris’s divorce in 2015, Jenner came out in a television interview as a trans woman, initially preferring masculine pronouns until her transition was more complete. In June 2015, Jenner revealed her new name, Caitlyn, and a preference for being referred to using feminine pronouns. Many news sources have described her as the most famous openly transgender person in the world.

ok well glad that Caitlyn is happy and after so many years of lying to loved ones is out and about – my opinion this should have done it way sooner .

After my experience with my first husband I asked the men I dated 3 questions.

1 are you seeing any one else

2 are you tending anyone’s garden (you all know what that means – do you have a fuxx buddy)

3 are you attracted to men

Question 3 took some of my dates by surprise but I got my answers truthfully and let to the conversation as to why my first marriage ended – and I talked about it openly.

I am now in my second and last marriage – to an amazing man- so ladies please ask questions – all good if a man wants other flavors in life –

just don’t become someone’s 3^rdwife – have wonderful life with him – only to be alone at a time of your life when you should be enjoying the kids gone – new adventures in your marriage- dig it – Bruce shame on you for waiting so long – oh yea Caitlyn – welcome to your new world! Peace Perez

This week HIP CHICK ALERT puts the spotlight on Alison Wedding.

With one foot standing in the jazz tradition and one in the realm of the modern singer-songwriter this lady Alison Wedding is taking female vocals in a direction that is truly unique! I have seen her singing her original material and its moving and fresh. Her approach to the American Songbook is the top – clean – heartfelt and has her stamp on it – I would confidently say that Alison Wedding is one of the best vocalist musician’s educators out there today!

 

 

Alison Wedding is an American singer and composer that has lived around the world! Originally from Texas -She has lived in NYC – Australia and is about to put the moves on Chicago! You go girl! She has performed with jazz musicians Gerry Mulligan, Dianne Reeves, Joe Chindamo, Bob Sedergreen, and Peter Knight. She has also recorded with pop artists, notably Andy Summers, formerly of The Police. Before moving to New York in 2007, Wedding was based in Melbourne from 2001 to 2007 where she performed and recorded throughout Australia. She is currently an assistant professor in the voice department at the Berklee College of Music. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas. Her latest album, This Dance was produced by Micheal League of Snarky Puppy and features special guests Lionel Loueke, Chris Potter, and Theo Bleckmann.Hendrik Meurkens.She is a winner of the Australian Jazz Bell Award– and I see more awards coming her way in the future – so hip cats please go to her website – follow this artist – go see her live – buy a cd or 2.

www.alisonwedding.com

PEACE PEREZ

Hip Chick Alert screams Yoko Ono at MOMA in NYC! One Woman Show, 1960–1971 May 17–September 7, 2015

The Museum of Modern Art presents its first exhibition dedicated exclusively to the work of Yoko Ono, taking as its point of departure the artist’s unofficial MoMA debut in late 1971. At that time, Ono advertised her “one woman show,” titled Museum of Modern [F]art. However, when visitors arrived at the Museum there was little evidence of her work. According to a sign outside the entrance, Ono had released flies on the Museum grounds, and the public was invited to track them as they dispersed across the city. Now, over 40 years later, Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960–1971 surveys the decisive decade that led up to Ono’s unauthorized exhibition at MoMA, bringing together approximately 125 of her early objects, works on paper, installations, performances, audio recordings, and films, alongside rarely seen archival materials. A number of works invite interaction, including Painting to Be Stepped On (1960/1961) and Ono’s groundbreaking performance, Bag Piece (1964). The exhibition draws upon the 2008 acquisition of the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, which added approximately 100 of Ono’s artworks and related ephemera to the Museum’s holdings.

 

During the first 11 years of her extensive career, Ono moved among New York, Tokyo, and London, serving a pioneering role in the international development of Conceptual art, experimental film, and performance art. Her earliest works were often based on instructions that Ono communicated to viewers in verbal or written form. Painting to Be Stepped On (1960/1961), for example, invited viewers to tread upon a piece of canvas placed directly on the floor. Though easily overlooked, the work radically questioned the division between art and the everyday by asking viewers to participate in its completion. At times poetic, humorous, sinister, and idealistic, Ono’s early text-based works anticipated the objects that she presented throughout the decade, including Grapefruit (1964), her influential book of instructions; Apple (1966), a solitary piece of fruit placed on a Plexiglas pedestal; and Half-A-Room (1967), an installation of bisected domestic objects.

The exhibition also explores Ono’s seminal performances and films, including Cut Piece (1964) and Film No. 4 (1966/1967). In Cut Piece, Ono confronted issues of gender, class, and cultural identity by asking viewers to cut away pieces of her clothing as she sat quietly on stage. Two years later Ono made Film No. 4, which again centered on the body, though to much different effect. The film—a sequence of naked, moving buttocks—signaled Ono’s desire to break down class hierarchies by focusing on a universally shared feature. At the end of the decade, Ono’s collaborations with John Lennon, including Bed-In (1969) and the WAR IS OVER! if you want it (1969–) campaign, boldly communicated her commitment to promoting world peace. Upon returning to New York in the early 1970s, Ono—like the flies purportedly released at MoMA—had infiltrated the public realm; her artwork appeared on billboards and in newspapers and she performed internationally with her Plastic Ono Band.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, featuring three newly commissioned essays that evaluate the cultural context of Ono’s early years, and five sections reflecting her geographic locations during this period and the corresponding evolution of her artistic practice. Each chapter includes an introduction by a guest scholar, artwork descriptions, primary documents culled from newspapers and magazines, and a selection by the artist of her texts and drawings.

HOLY HIP CHICK ALERT! THIS IS A GREAT SHOW! GO GO SEE IT!

PEACE PEREZ

Museum of Modern Art