Around Billyburg

Mad Hot!

If when I say that today I saw American Ballroom Theater's Dancing Classrooms of the Rainbow Team Match and you know what I mean, then you've seen Mad Hot Ballroom. If you don't, then you are missing out and must rent it immediately. For the tenth year in a row, 5th graders all over New York spent ten weeks learning ballroom dance. Today they competed in the finals and one team (congrats Emerald team from Brooklyn!) took home the massive Challenge Trophy. The kids are delightful and the program has been a big success - it will soon go national. Seriously, rent the movie.

Mythbusters

Mythbusters - in which urban myths are scientifically tested - is one of my favorite shows. You can catch it on the Discovery Channel on Wednesday nights. I happened upon a video clip of what I think is the best moment from the whole series. The myth is that when a cement truck gets a coating of dried cement on the interior of the chamber, instead of removing it by hand, you can hang a stick of dynamite inside and the blast will shake off the cement. A generous fan donated an old cement mixer for the test. Trouble is, someone forgot to start the barrel spinning when they poured in the cement. The result was a truck half full of solid cement that resisted all conventional efforts at removal. Because the Mythbusters, Adam and Jamie, like to make things go boom, they decided that they'd have some fun by packing the whole thing with dynamite and seeing what would happen. See for yourself.

Podcast Fame!

If you haven't caught on already, I've gotten into a cappella music lately. There are currently two podcasts devoted to a cappella music and my name has now been mentioned in both of them! Most recently, Chad Bergeron kindly played a request for me (Seven Bridges Road) on Episode 10. If you're in a hurry, it's just past the 13 minute mark. Before that, during his listener mail segment in Episode 7 Joey C read an email I wrote to him. Impatient? FF to 21:35.

Thanks guys, you rock.

Extreme Mentos

You may have already seen viral videos in which bottles of diet Coke are made to erupt rather spectacularly with the addition of some Mentos. These guys have taken it to a whole new level . . .

Best Grease recreation EVER!

If you need to smile, watch this. You will not be sorry. For more info on this unique, um, artform(?) go here.

Save the date: Peace Out East

I saw Pick Up the Mic on Thursday and enjoyed it thoroughly. It's nicely put together. The good news is that it will be coming back to New York this fall in conjunction with Peace Out East (10/12 - 10/15). Mark your calendars.

Pick Up The Mic!

Newfest, New York's very own queer film festival, has rolled into town and brought with it a documentary feature called Pick Up The Mic about the rise and development of queer hip-hop. This is an exciting project because it shows off the talents of my good buddy Dutchboy who was one of the founding members of the pioneering homohop group, Rainbow Flava. Also included is his super-awesome collaborator Paradigm - I've had the pleasure of seeing them perform together as B.Q.E. Check out clips from the movie here. If you're in town, check it out Thursday, 6/8.