A Random Moment with TastyKeish

TastyKeish, media personality, professional hobbyist

 

When I was invited to participate in A Monthly Bondfire's Ladies Night in 2009, I met her backstage to go over my place in the line-up and the pronunciation of my name. I remember she was wearing "sexy time pants". Since then we've become fast friends over boot camps and rum cake and gchat brainstorming sessions. She still amazes me with the extent of her DIY life. No stranger to the interview, TK!, as I affectionately call her, sat down with me after a Rise Up Radio show on a Friday night. Then we hit the streets.

~   ~   ~

My name is TastyKeish, also known as my regular name, Keisha Dutes. My craft… media personality, professional hobbyist. I have lots of hobbies that I enjoy and I also enjoy making money off of them. So radio, video, web and all hobbies that don’t fit into that circle.

A Random Moment with Gregory Mulkern

Gregory Mulkern, lead vocalist, banjo, Sold Only As Curio

Saturday night. LES, NYC. I ventured to Pianos for a friend's gig. Second on the bill was who I described on sight as a "lean gypsy". He proceeded to wow us with Turkish songs and The Wire. Solo. On September 12, I had the opportunity to experience the entire band at Jalopy. Before they hit the stage, I sat down with the lead vocalist for this interview.

~   ~   ~

My name is Gregory Mulkern. I’m from Portland, Oregon and I play banjo and sing with the band, Sold Only As Curio.

Another Random Moment with Tom Hatton

Tom Hatton interviews Julianne Moore for the Red Carpet Premiere of Game Change

In June, I met up with Tom Hatton before his gig at LIC Bar with the band Gandhi in our first Random Moment. We focused primarily on his music and inspirations during that conversation. However, Tom Hatton is also an actor, TV host and New Media pioneer who has worked with major media brands and outlets Sony, Sky TV and Warner Bros. Read on to find out more about this multifaceted talent.

~   ~   ~

What is your definition of "New Media"?

New media refers to on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device. For example web, broadcast, mobile and console devices.


How do you prepare for an audition?

It depends what it is for. If I am playing a character like I did by hosting the Harry Potter YouTube Channel, I primarily make sure I know my lines really well. If I am playing myself such as with hosting for Sky TV or for Sony's In the Qube, then I focus more on grounding myself in the material to be covered. For example, although not an audition, when I interviewed Julianne Moore I did a lot of research on her role in the movie. Then it's all about connecting person to person.

Tom Hatton hosts the Harry Potter YouTube Channel

Masturbating To The Thought Of You

"I'm gonna take some alone time before work...taking you with me ;)"  I received that text yesterday. I asked if he was texting with one hand. After a long break he said he was, that "I did quite well" and sent visual documentation of proof of work.


Without even being physically present, the thought of me aroused a man to the point of erection, masturbation, orgasm and ejaculation. We kid that anything can get a man to that point, but it's something else when he tells you it's you.


I'm currently reading Sex, Sin and Zen by Brad Warner. Beyond the adolescent footnotes about sex there's something to learn about how modern-day Western Buddhists view sex, relationships and the concept of sin (there is none for sin is a Christian thing). Warner tells of a time when he dated a born-again Christian who believed masturbation was a form of cheating because of the Bible quote "that to lust in your heart is the same as committing adultery."


Good Lord.

Michelle Obama and My Teeth

The day after Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention, I was in the dentist's chair at NYU College of Dentistry. Once the student dentist completed my examination she informed me that she'd bring in a faculty member (any one that she could find that was free) so they could examine me and determine whether or not they agreed with her course of action.


My student dentist is a young Nigerian woman. The faculty member she found is a Black woman of about 50. The DDS lowered my chair, and reclined the back, so now I was practically lying flat on my back. She examined my tooth in question and the rest of my teeth -- commenting that I have nice teeth and I obviously take care of them -- and agreed with the student dentist's findings and treatment plan and signed off on it.

Porn(ification) The Way I Like It Redux

Whether for visual appeal, study or elements that receive the most arousal points, there are certain things I like about porn. Last year on this blog, I shared how I like my porn. I participated in VICE magazine's Pornification series where I discussed what I like and what I've learned from porn.

Watch the video after the break~

A Random Moment with Maya Azucena

Maya Azucena, artist, humanitarian, entrepreneur

A few years ago, she was the feature performer at Symponics Live at Bowery Poetry Club. I was moved enough by her music to chat with her after the show. I fell in love with her music because it is emotionally charged. I love her stage presence and, of course, her hair. When I attended a later show; she remembered me, always had a warm, welcoming energy.  Last week between a recording session and before her guest DJ gig at the Nu Hotel she sat down with me for this interview.

~   ~   ~

Hi, I’m Maya Azucena, I am from Brooklyn, New York—that always comes immediately after every description of myself—I am an artist, a humanitarian and an entrepreneur. Business woman, basically.

Do you blend a lot of your humanitarian work into your music? Is that the message behind your music?

My social activism work is extremely integrated into my music. I think it all started with feeling that my songwriting was a way that I could help people. I have very strong convictions about injustices in the world and my heart just goes out to those that struggle. I’ve had my own struggles. I think what followed writing songs that had cultural and socially relevant themes was representing those themes at benefit events and branding it in a way where it’s me as an artist meshed with me as a humanitarian.

The Wow Factor of Synchronicity

I finished reading What a Coincidence about 10 days ago. I decided to take some time to process it while continuing to notice a lot of synchronicity in my life and the ways my intuition leads me. I take that as a sign that I'm on the right path. Some moments of coincidence and synchronicity are truly "wow" moments. Also like Watkins, solutions are dropped into my lap if I make a definitive statement but don't dwell on it; once an intention is set, the pieces fall into place!


Recent examples of synchronicity and coincidence:

I want to include Faye in my interview series and made a mental note to send her an email about it. The next morning on my way to the dentist, I get off one train and cross the platform to wait for the next one. Seconds later, Faye appears on the platform from behind one of the sets of stairs at the West 4th station! I actually stand in shock for a while then gather myself and go over to say "hello". We chat for a while and it turns out we're both on our way to the dentist!

The Power of the Ball

What started out as a question about my outfit turned into a discussion about the Olympics. I miss the Olympics. A lot. They should be extended to a month-long event. But like my other lover who only returns every 4 years, both the World Cup and Olympics last a  mere 2-weeks. I've learned to adapt.


Almost 2 months before the Olympics, I started reading The Ball: Discovering the Object of the Game by John Fox. I'd received a copy for The L Magazine Literary Upstart event. Fox travels through time and around the world to answer the question his son asked him 4 years prior to completing the book -- Why do we play ball?


Why do we play ball? What is it about football and football, baseball, cricket, basketball, tennis, water polo, lacrosse, rugby, handball et al. that enthralls us? What is it about the ball that leads to endless hours of practice and play and bouncing? Balls of all sizes and shapes are the center of drama and wars, form alliances and create enemies, decades-long bragging rights, hand-eye coordination, speed, agility, power, strength...


Alas, like the Olympics, The Ball is "over". It was an enjoyable and entertaining read. A documentary based on the book is in the works. Now I have yet another reason why I want to visit Brazil - Altinha.

*   *   *

A Random Moment with Jay White

Jay White, DJ

I can never blame anything on the alcohol. It was the music. It took his sets for me to learn who Adele is, choose a Franki Valli song for my burlesque routine and discover The Supermen Lovers. Always an hospitable host, I had to get up with him for a interview even though he claims he's not as cool as everybody thinks he is. DUMBO. Halcyon. He rolled up on his motorized scooter and we got to it.

~   ~   ~

My name is Jay White. Brooklyn. I am in the hospitality industry. I’m also a student and a DJ.

A DJ. That’s why I chose you, that’s how I met you… but what do you do in the hospitality industry?

I’m a maître d' at Apothéke, in Chinatown. I was also a general manager for the same owner's previous business, The Wall Street Burger Shoppe and was a hospitality specialist during my college years at Starbucks—that’s where the hospitality background comes from.

Ok, with the DJ’ing, what was your first gig, your first break?

My first gig, DJing, believe it or not, was at the Chelsea Hotel. I was nervous, I was sweating, I didn’t know what to play next. I had a friend who was trying to mentor me through the DJ process, Richie Beretta, and he was telling me, “play this next, play that next” – my set was like an hour but it felt like the whole night to me. But that’s when I realized I wanna do it, everything clicked.

Subjectified: Nine Young Women Talk about Sex -- Giveaway

Subjectified: Nine Young Women Talk about Sex Trailer May 2012 from Melissa Tapper Goldman on Vimeo.

Women have sex. But, why? How? Why do they choose the partners they choose?

Subjectified is a documentary that asks the question that is often answered by everyone else but the women in question. Women are often sexually objectified for men or by their standards. As a result other women develop their own views on the sex and sexuality of their sisters. Real expressions of female sexuality are few and far between -- now here's Subjectified.

"While our culture is saturated with images of female sexuality, the real voices of women themselves are frequently missing.  Through in-depth interviews, Subjectified lets women do the talking, trading easy answers and stereotypes for brutal honesty.  The stories may sound familiar: young moms, abstinent Christians, lesbians, survivors of assaults and STD’s.  But outside the world of reality TV and sound bites, women approach their lives in complex and unexpected ways: sometimes hilarious, sometimes sobering, and always heartfelt.  Subjectified will change the way you think about female sexuality. "

A Random Moment with Ijeoma Iheanacho

Ijeoma Iheanacho, fine art photographer

I answered her casting call that was posted on SocietyHAE. We've kept each other abreast on our shutterbuggery. Last spring, her series, "Faces of the Great Recession", was a featured in the Faces of the Economy show held at the Art for Change Gallery. I finally made it to the Bronx, where she was gracious enough to grant this interview.

 

~   ~  ~

My name is Ijeoma Iheanacho. I am a fine art photographer.

How long have you been doing photography?

I’ve been doing photography since college. Graduated high school in 1996 so… ’96 to 2012… 15 years? I’m trained as an architect, I don’t do math [laughs].

Great Finds from bookbook

 

 Went to a bookstore today and bought 3 books. Topics: travel, food and sex. Hey, you love what you love.

I tweeted that on Saturday evening.


It felt good to be in a bookstore, to see the covers, to read the blurbs, to flip through the pages. I was at bookbook on Bleecker. These are the 3 titles I walked away with.

Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a rogue travel writer by Chuck Thompson

The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain

Bonk: The curious coupling of science and sex by Mary Roach

A Random Moment with The Hired Gun

The Hired Gun, Hip Hop MC, writer, critic, arts educator

We totally dated ourselves when we realized we knew each other since the heydays of Myspace. Yes, that Myspace. Since then we've been connected through the music and poetry circles and the occasional hot button race issue. At the Ace Hotel, on a Saturday afternoon we discovered we were neighbors in Brooklyn, kindred in the artist lifestyle.

 ~  ~  ~

My name is Mikal Amin Lee AKA The Hired Gun, Fresh Roots Music, Nomadic Wax, Urban Word. I am a Hip Hop MC, artist, writer, cultural critic and arts educator. I’ve been based in New York City now for the last 13 years—born and raised in New Jersey—been reppin’ Brooklyn since 2000, officially. Unofficially, I’ve been reppin’ Brooklyn since Big Daddy Kane in 19- [muffles his voice] I’m not gonna say when cause I look very young.

As an MC and artist, what is the message behind your music?

My influences have been people like Chuck D, KRS-One, Brother Jay, The Native Tongues, Freestyle Fellowship and regardless of the political message or the artistic message, the thing that I took from them and what I try to carry on is I want you to think. I want you to ask questions. That’s what my music is—it’s to inspire thought, it’s to provoke thought—what’s going on with you, what’s going on with the community around you, what’s going on with the world around you, why are things the way they are, where do you fit in all of that. So that’s really what my music’s about regardless of what the topic or the concept or the theme is ... I’m not afraid to say I love Black people, so I try to celebrate us as much as possible in my music and I try to show a different angle because I’m not what this country or what people think are stereotypical of us so I try to represent that as well in my music.

A Random Moment with Terry Castro

Castro, jewelry designer, creator of dreams

He scored points simply for being at my favorite restaurant, 2 years ago. Once I struck up conversation, I noticed the bear claw around his neck; he told me about his jewelry, I told him about my "dirty" writing, we discussed race. Since then there were run-ins in SoHo and the LES when he wasn't in Europe or Asia racking up buyers or in Paris (le sigh) for Fashion Week. A few blocks away from the Art For Change Gallery, we met at his studio for this interview.

~   ~   ~

My name is Castro, like Fidel Castro, like Cuba. I’m a creator, a creator of dreams. At this point in my dreams I’m creating jewelry, leather accessories—whatever comes to my mind. Before that, I did clothing, women’s clothing.

A Random Moment with Damali Abrams

Damali Abrams, interdisciplinary artist

We met at the opening reception of her exhibit at A.I.R. Gallery in DUMBO. In person she was quiet and humble, on the video screens we viewed 365 of her characters. Summer of 2011, I watched a video she exhibited addressing the hot button issue at that time - unattractive Black women destined for lifelong singlehood - at an event at Bluestockings book store organized by her sister, Abiola Abrams. On July 18, Columbus Circle was under the deluge of a summer thunderstorm storm so we took refuge in the Time Warner Center for this interview.

~   ~   ~

My name is Damali Abrams. I’m an interdisciplinary artist but I work mostly right now in video and performance but I also do collage and mixed media.

How long have you been involved in the arts?

Well, I’ve pretty much been involved in the arts all my life; I studied dance growing up, I’ve written poetry since I was a little girl and then I started getting into more visual art as I got older.

A Random Moment with Robin Glasser

Robin Glasser, author

We were both on the bill for a literary reading event in 2010. She enjoyed my excerpt on fellatio, I was sucked into her excerpt on being seduced in Paris. She informed me about Word Up bookshop the opportunity to have copies of my book sold there and we later shared the stage at an event she organized. Then along came a nude young man and my camera. On a sultry Saturday, we met in Chinatown while passersby listening in on our conversation.

~   ~   ~

My name is Robin Glasser, like Batman and Robin, R-O-B-I-N, I’m not fancy, and I’m a writer. I’m an author. I have one book called Men At Work, which is fully illustrated and it actually comes with a guarantee to put twinkles in your eyes and sparkles in your pants. Somebody gave me a video camera to make little movies and I put them on YouTube and the very first poem they have now taken off so I’m at war with YouTube. My other book is My Life as a Concubine which is actually a roman à clef—I lived in Paris for 3 years—I changed the names to protect the guilty. Besides a love story, there’s recipes, there’s tips of France and great places to visit. I’ve just finished my third book, The Brain Exchange, which I call a "Sex-Fi" and the punchline is, “If you could walk in someone else’s shoes, would they fit?” It takes place in the not-too-distant future and the latest thing is instead of taking a vacation to an exotic land you can actually exchange brains and take a vacation in someone else’s body. And the whole plot revolves around a bodybuilder and a super plus size woman and what ensues.

A Random Moment with Mecca Woods

Mecca Woods, writer, filmmaker, astrologer

We met at A Monthly Bondfire in 2009 during the annual Ladies Night Event. She rocked the mic with powerful poetry about life and love. That same night she announced she was making a short film. Sure enough, it came to fruition. I attended a screening of the film, lived vicariously through her as she touched down on French soil and recently she read my natal chart keeping me on the right path. This past Friday, the 13th, despite Mercury Retrograde energy looming, we met in SoHo for Batidas and lots of laughter.

~   ~   ~

My name is Mecca Woods AKA The Meccanism. I am a writer, filmmaker and astrologer.

How long have you been a writer?

I wanna say it’s one of the things that has been with me all of my life. It’s funny ‘cause my Dad actually has laminated stories that I wrote back when I was like 7 years old. People would always ask me what I wanted to be when I grow up and at that time I would tell them I wanna be an author, that was my big word for it. As time went on, it was one of the things that stuck with me no matter what I did. There was a brief time when I thought I wanted to go into science but I suck at math so I ended up going back to what I always knew best and that was writing.

A Random Moment with Michael Cinquino

Michael Cinquino, photographer

Within minutes of meeting one another, we were naked. He's the photographer for the upcoming book, Asana Exposed by ISIS Phoenix. I love the images we created, and it was only a test shoot -- that's saying a lot. I appreciate his feedback on the development of my male nude series, we've shared self-portraits and are overdue for a Hapkido class. It was hot and humid day and thankfully his Williamsburg studio was air-conditioned when we got together on Friday.

~   ~   ~

I’m Michael Cinquino, I’m a photographer here in New York. I live in Brooklyn. I shoot just about anything with people. The frequency I would say is headshots first, then fashion, portraits and then also events and weddings. I work mostly in the consumer market. I’ve started to move more towards editorial and publications in the last 6 months to a year.

How many years have you been doing this?

It’ll be 3 years July 7 or something like that.

Do you have an image that you’ve captured or one that you saw that let you know,  "I want to be a photographer"?

I don’t know if there was a single image. I will say though that I’m most attracted to the face. I love doing actor headshots. Even with models or whomever, I’m most attracted to the face because there’s so much to it. I like to make and like to see compelling images; images that I look at and I instantly have some sort of visceral response to.

A Random Moment with StarPower

StarPower, hip hop artist

I had a crush on him in 7th grade. He was a bad boy with too much brainpower for his own good. A few years ago when I reconnected with many old junior high school friends, I learned he stuck with hip hop and was also a teacher. I went to a few of his shows and was sold on his in-your-face lyrics. I added him to my "Men of May" UrbanErotika lineup. Now he's taking those skills to teach in Qatar. We fueled up with burgers and soccer at Bill's Bar and Burger then headed over to The High Line to discuss.

~   ~   ~

Introduce yourself and tell us about art, your discipline.

Rod, R-O-D. I always spell it out because I went to a workshop one time and the guy told me I don’t enunciate well enough he said, “It sounds like you’re saying ‘Roz’” so I always say, Rod – R-O-D. Yeah, Rod AKA StarPower. My art is hip hop – writing and performing. My discipline is discipline; discipline’s changed my life, discipline has made me the person I am ‘cause I had none of it and now it’s an addiction. So yeah, that’s me.

So, you’re a hip hop artist. Is there a message to your music?

Yeah, definitely. The message is to be an individual. A lot of hip hop used to be dangerous, it used to be about “I don’t give a fuck” but it was not give a fuck for a reason. Now they’re not even trying to not give a fuck anymore so I’m not gonna give a fuck for all of us. My message is you’re here once, don’t leave anything on the table, don’t regret anything. There’s a million things that you could be rapping about but they don’t do it. And if you’re in a position, like in my position, I’m just a no-name rapper somewhere, I can say what the hell I want and I’m gonna rap about it. My message is just you’re beautiful, the world is beautiful, it’s also ugly and disgusting and you need to speak about all of it, in detail, that’s how I feel.