Food carts. We love ‘em. And here in Portland they’re practically a way of urban life. There are even blogs out there like Food Carts Portland that are dedicated to carts throughout the city…telling people what’s new and where the best food is located. There are even sites that map out the location of the carts and link to each one’s website. It’s a great way to activate a street or enliven the edge of a parking lot and provide affordable lunch time eats for the downtown professionals.
Now, there is a new site that has popped up here in Portland that wants to help give a personal spin on the carts. The site is iheartfoodcarts.com and while it is located in Portland, the site hopes to extend beyond the Oregon borders to encompass the entire food cart culture. The site is calling for food cart stories and pictures to publish a type of magazine, something based solely around the love for urban carts. So you have thoughts to share, check it out. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Saturday July 25th 2009, 8:13 am
Filed under: Reads
Seattle is facing a huge dilemna right now…what to do about the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
What will become of the 1.7 mile deep-boring tunnel project that is expected to cost at least 4.2 billion dollars that the voters of Seattle voted down, only to be ignored. Amongst the major protest regarding the tunnel an interesting site has emerged called tunnelfacts.com. In addition to trying to point out the reasons for the tunnel being the wrong decision for the city in dealing with the viaduct, it has a very compelling page that displays graphically what can be done with the money being used for the tunnel.
Music has a way of reaching into ones soul. It can heighten the senses to be more vulnerable to surrounding experiences and visual stimulation. Music also has a way of bringing people together and crossing cultural borders.
In São Paulo, Rodrigo Maceira has started a music label called “Si No Puedo Bailar, No Es Mi Revolución” that seeks to use music and art as a force to bring together all Latin American cultures from Mexico to Argentina to Brazil. He hopes that the efforts will not only showcase their talent within, but hopefully will spread beyond Latin America to touch other cultures and express the beauty being produced throughout all of these countries.
In Rodrigo’s words, “Si no puedo bailar, no es mi revolución is a Brazilian plural collective focused on Latin independent cultural experiences. Essentially dedicated to music, the project, based in Rio and São Paulo, aims to spread its presence over the literature, the fine arts, the cinema and the graphic design made in the continent. In spite of being an initiative for Latin America marginal art integration, we have precious collaboration from people in Spain and Germany, for example. Our revolution won’t have frontiers.”
He has so far released two compilation albums, both of which are lovely, with long names and stuffed with as many tracks as will fit on one album; “Porque este océano es el tuya, es el mío” and “Pero ese olor en el cuarto de piano fue el primer perfume que necesitó en su vida“. The first release features independant artists with music ranging from indie rock to folktronic. The latest release with the title translate as “But that smell in the piano’s room was the first perfume he needed in his life” is described as an imaginary soundtrack to a book and again features artists from all throughout Latin America as well as Spain. Each album also features art from a Brazilian illustrator, Gustavo Gialuca.
images via Gustavo Gialuca
I first met Rodrigo with the release of his first album and have since learned about his many other endeavors that continue along the lines of art integration to defy borders. One of his projects he calls “La Joven Guardia” which he described to me as “a trilogy that is thought of as a ‘trip’ through the new music in Spanish – from Uruguay to Spain, crossing Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Puerto Rico”. These are videos that feel very intimate in nature as if you’re just chillin’ out in a room with the artists and the first episode has so far been completed. I like this clip that of two songs that integrates artists Franny Glass of Uruguay and Hidrocor of Brazil using only voice and an acoustic guitar in “wondering about the meaning of having a common language” which is kind of fun, see video below…
Another project is the newly released Cuadernos Cecilia, a beautifully done online magazine (cover art at the top of this post) dedicated to new ideas in Latin America through the arts. It incorporates beautiful artistic imagary, photography and information about up and coming musicians like the lovely Jóvenes y Sexys. With the first issue released this is only the beginning of independant artists of Latin America making an impression through art and music in their effort to break borders, meet and better understand, not only the rest of their continent, but the rest of the world.
