As we make an effort to try and kick up this blogging thing a notch or two (we hear it’s the next big thing), we’re also attempting to make a return to our As the Crow Flies bit, where we give you a quick run-down of things to come (see the left sidebar legend there). Thus, this.
So,NUMERO UNO!
Who’s that guy up there? That’s Jasper, the moon bear. Jasper is one of the many bears in Asia who was once part of a ‘bear farm,’ where these gentle, intelligent creates are locked within cages as farm workers drain their bile for traditional eastern medicinal purposes, granting farm owners a wealthy income and confining the bears to a lifetime of pain and cruelty. The non-profit, Animals Asia, is working to rescue moon bears across Asia and end the practice world-wide. Tomorrow, one of our favorite clients, MooShoes, is holding a ‘MoonShoes for Moon Bears’ event, donating 10% of the days sales to Animals Asia and hosting staff and volunteers who can tell you more about AA’s work in person. Can’t be there but want to shop for the cause? All online sales tomorrow will also contribute 10% of the proceeds to AA. Find out more on the event’s Facebook page and, if you’re in the area, stop by tomorrow (78 Orchard in SoHo).
Next week, partially out of fairness to the skilled artists who create them and partially out of fairness to the capacity of our server, we’ll be purging ourselves of some past songs on the blog, so GET ‘EM WHILE YOU CAN! Along with next Monday’s The Song, we’ll be getting rid of all pre-April song posts, so, Memoryhouse and before, including our crazy array of twenty-some songs from SXSW bands.
By way of a quick preview of posts next week, we’ll be coming at you with a brand new band we’re super-psyched about that, yes, is probably from Brooklyn or Canada; hitting you up with a lovely Find; and giving you a lovely new recipe for a killer of an eggplant-tomatillo summer stew, an adaptation of a traditional South American dish that we’ve been loving lately.
Finally, and sadly, we’ve had far too many losses in the world of the arts in recent days. First, the shocking (for us) death of Adam Yauch—AKA MCA—of the Beastie Boys, and band we both grew up with and never felt that far from in age or culture or even personally or geographically, living here in Brooklyn. And then, just days ago, award-winning author and illustrator Maurice Sendack died at 83 years of age. Not only has he moved and inspired us from very early on with Where the Wild Things Are, but, in more recent times, we’ve been touched by his words and life through interviews we’ve heard with the very interesting, very direct and bold man. We urge you to listen to Terry Gross’s montage of interviews she’s done on Fresh Air with Mr. Sendack. The last one, conducted just last year, is especially poignant.
