PAPERMAG: WORD UP!

Cobrasnake Yard Sales 4-Ever

2010-04-27T20:57:28Z

Nothing announces the arrival of spring quite like selling a bunch of old crap on your lawn, and no one does it better than Mark the Cobrasnake Hunter. His yard sales are notoriously epic feasts of decadence, good music and genuinely fantastic thrift store pieces. Neighborhood cool kids and familiar faces such as Johnny Makeup, Steve Aoki, Atlanta de Cadenet Taylor and Paper's own Beautiful Person AJ English all showed up at Hunter's sale this weekend to indulge in boatloads of free Tiger beer, popsicles, sunshine, and piles of internationally scrounged vintage pieces. Yard sales 4ever!

Photos by Mark Hunter

Sandwich of the Week: DBGB's Piggie

2010-04-27T20:30:38Z

Perhaps the complete opposite of last week's Sandwich of the Week, Fatty Crab's understated yet blissful Fatty Slider, is the meat-on-meat spectacle The Piggie ($19) at Daniel Boulud's Bowery meat mecca DBGB. After recently enjoying the "Menage a Trois" burger sampler there with some fellow sandwich enthusiasts, I can declare with confidence that the Piggie is hands down the best burger on their menu.

The patty is six ounces, a moderate weight in the age of Double Downs. But fear not, burger lovers: Resting atop the divinely cooked beef is a generous pile of Daisy May's pulled pork. Who this Daisy May is, we may never know, but the girl knows her red meat. The sweet and tangy pork marinade mixes with the smokey char of the burger and a kicky jalapeño mayo to create a harmonious blend of flavor that would make the barbecue gods proud. Mustard vinegar slaw and Boston lettuce act as pallet-cooling elements for the hot and heavy dish, but steer clear of the jalapeño garnish. Unless you're enticed by the thought of eating pickled fire. All of this sits delicately atop a cheddar bun, and with a generous side of golden-brown shoestring fries there's really no need to see a dessert menu. (That said, asking your dining partner to order the chocolate-chocolate sundae and requesting an extra spoon certainly couldn't hurt).

DBGB

299 Bowery, Between Houston and 1st St

212.933.5300

(Photo by Thomas Schauer)

Lemon Sun Premiere Their New Music Video on PAPERMAG!

2010-04-27T20:14:56Z

L.A. rock band Lemon Sun's new video for "Touch The Lightning" is all stop-motion and features a pesky suitcase that crawls into singer Rob Kolar's bed when he is away. The suitcase happens to be full of lightning and sucks him into a swirly warp upon his return. Directed by Emily Wilder, the video features no extra special effects. It consists entirely of photographs, so it took hours of Kolar moving one hair at a time to create. The singer says, "The scene with the photographs moving, we actually peeled each page and animated it like a flip book. To get sucked into the suitcase, I had to physically do a headstand in the suitcase and contort my body inch by inch so that it looked like I was going in!" The song itself, "Touch The Lightning," is inspired by Graham Hancock's book, Supernatural. "He argues that the use of psychedelics in a spiritual fashion can enhance your development as a human being," Kolar says. "The lyrics are about breaking from conformity and a disillusioned sense of reality to step into something that may seem dangerous but may be more fulfilling." Much like squeezing a 6 foot 2 body into a suitcase.

Stage Coach Festival: Two Days, Two Keiths, So Fun

2010-04-27T19:45:02Z

Country music's answer to Coachella, Stagecoach, brought over 120,000 cowboys and girls to Indio, California this weekend for a two-day festival of all things twangy. The noon to dusk outdoor concert had four stages that featured heavy hitters like Sugarland, Keith Urban (rumor has it Nicole was back stage), Brooks & Dunn (who say this is there final tour together after 20 years), Toby Keith, the Oak Ridge Boys, and Merle Haggard. The highlight of the event, however, had to be Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles' rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies", complete with a full "Put a Ring on it" dance that would put even the most talented YouTube impersonators to shame. And, judge not snobs. Though the hoe-down might conjure images of the shirtless and drunk (of whom there were plenty), the scene was filled with a surprisingly lrge amount of urban-hipsters country fans. Or maybe they were just looking for any excuse to slip into a pair tight jeans and throw on a cowboy hat. Regardless, check out the crowd in the above gallery.

Eight Items Or Less: 'Remember the Upstairs Lounge' & Stay the Night in Armani

2010-04-27T19:14:25Z

1. No Longer Empty -- the arts organization that put together the incredible "fantasy version" of Tower Records -- has now recreated a New Orleans' gay bar called the Upstairs Lounge. In 1973 an arsonist set fire to the French Quarter bar killing 32 people, but no one was ever charged. Artist Skylar Fein's installation in New York City "Remember the Upstairs Lounge" opens tomorrow, April 28, at 447 W.16th St.,from 6 to 9 p.m. and runs through May 29th. Go here for more info.

2. The Armani Hotel in Dubai's "world's tallest building" opened yesterday.

3. A British band named Exit Through the Gift Shop changed their name to Brace Yourself after Banksy gave them a painting worth $300,000.

4. New York's premier same-sex wedding event, The Illegal Wedding Fair, will take place on Sunday, June 6, from noon to 4 p.m. at 632 On Hudson (Hudson St. & Horatio St.).

5. The East Coast finals of the 2010 DMC DJ Battle hits NYC on May 15 at Santos (96 Lafayette Street) from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. All ages admitted and tickets are $15 in advance.

6. PAPER fotog Torkil Gudnason's photo exhibit "Hot House" is opening in San Francisco at Glory Chen Gallery (134 Maiden Lane) on April 29.

Peter Davis' Status Update: Maggie Rizer on the Photo That Spawned a Thousand 'FREE TAVI' Tweets

2010-04-27T18:12:20Z

Fourteen-year-old Tavi Gevinson's blog, The Style Rookie, was shut down by Google's Blogger after Tavi posted a photo on April 22nd, her birthday, of a naked Maggie Rizer, circled by party ribbons, from a 1998 Yohji Yamamoto ad.

PD can relate to Tavi. I posted an image of a nude Rick Owens sculpture on Facebook and suddenly a few hours later, my account was canceled. My Facebook dismissal got blogged about on Fashionista.com and Racked.com and then suddenly my account was up and running. Phew! (Note to self: only PG-13 fashion photos for Facebook -- sorry Terry Richardson and Olivier Zahm).

Google claims they took down Tavi's site by mistake. Yeah, right. remember: Big Blogger Brother sees all. After the jump, check out the photograph of Maggie Rizer that caused all the fuss. I asked my pal Maggie about that Yohji shoot, which took place over a decade ago. "Imagine shutting down a site over such an innocent photo," Maggie told me. "I remember thinking during that photo how cool I thought the boots were and how confused I was that I was naked with streamers. In my mind it would have made so much more sense if I was naked and looking sexy, than looking like I was in my birthday suit for real. Inez and Vinhoodh took it literally I guess. At any rate, I still have the boots -- Yohji gave me a few pairs in a couple of styles. They're pretty beaten up now, just about perfect." She adds, "They painted my nipples hot pink! How funny, huh?" ]]> First photo of Maggie Rizer from patrickmcmullan.com

Giveaway, Giveaway! Tickets to the Shepard Fairey "May Day" After-Party

2010-04-27T17:29:14Z

Deitch Projects will likely be running a tight door for the opening of Shepard Fairey's "May Day" exhibition Saturday, but, fret not, we've got the next best thing for you: two tickets to the show's after-party at Chinatown's 88 Palace, featuring DJ sets from A-Trak (Fool's Gold), Diabetic (a/k/a Shepard Fairey) and, um, DJ Pubes. First person to email us at wordup@papermag.com gets them! Hurry hurry!

Things I Like About Being Stranded in Belgrade: Camo Mini-Tanks at the Fortress

2010-04-27T16:59:04Z

Mr. Mickey is always anti-war, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love a nice camo print! Check out these little tanks on display at the Belgrade Fortress. The yellowish one is Italian and tiny like a Fiat 500! I don't even think MM could squeeze his paunchy carcass into the little bugger!!

Peter Davis' Status Update: Liam McMullan Doesn't Like Suckers

2010-04-27T16:29:08Z

If you're legendary scene photographer Patrick McMullan's son, there is no way you're not going to inherit the party gene. Liam McMullan is hosting a bash this Thursday at The Anchor Bar. The invitation reads: "Liam McMullan Will be Holding it Down." Expect to see Liam's sexy fiancee Aesha Waks, his proud papa Patrick and more hipsters than the L train on a Friday night. Liam (who is also an actor and plays a flamboyant gay in Joel Schumacher's rich-kids-on-dope movie Twelve) added this to the Facebook page for his party, at which he will also DJ: "Everyone who is cool will be there. Everyone who sucks is not invited. Please do not suck."

¡Tequila Takedown in SoHo! Tanteo's "Mexican Standoff"

2010-04-27T15:59:04Z

Tequila purveyors Tanteo hosted the third installment of its "Mexican Standoff" series last night at its Soho offices. As the tequila lover's answer to "Iron Chef," the event pits two expert mixologists against each other in a best-out-of-three match to see who can create the tastiest concoction from a secret ingredient and designated tequila flavor. While Geisha's Cedric Hosy and Ella's James Frankhouse dueled over pairings of papaya, cocount and chocolate, the crowd of models, artists, and tequila enthusiasts sampled from the brand's stable of cocktail recipes (we regrettably had one too many jalapeno margueritas). The night finished up with Hosy taking home the crown with his coupling of bacon jam with jalapeno Tanteo. Looks like there's a new Tequila Jefe in town, folks.

We Love This Napkin!

2010-04-27T15:04:10Z

Last night, Whitney and I braved the rain and headed to the Bowery Hotel to celebrate Bushmills Irish Whiskey's "Since Way Back" campaign -- a new initiative all about the brotherly love between New York musicians/DJs/producers Chromeo; Kai Regan; DustLaRock, A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs of Fool's Gold; Jonathan Galkin and Justin Miller of DFA; and Chris Isenberg of No Mas. In the spirit of said brotherly love, we ogled various scraggly musicians while sipping on our yummy Bushmills and ginger-ale cocktails. The best part of the evening? This Dave-1 from Chromeo napkin! What should we do with it? Frame it? Sell it on eBay? Nothing?

Things I Like About Being Stranded in Belgrade: My Room at Design Hotel Mr. President

2010-04-27T14:14:17Z

As I enter my 10th day in Belgrade I've really come to appreciate my room at the adorable boutique hotel Mr. President. When I first came to the Serb capital I was shacked up at the super luxe Hyatt Regency which is a classic fancy-pants-five-star-spot and was the headquarters for the royal birthday festivities that brought me here. But once the birthday brouhaha was over MM needed something within a working girl's budget. Mr. President is a wallet-friendly 85 Euros a night and includes free breakfast, dinner, Internet and international phone calls! Hello, one-stop shopping! The hotel is cute and fun and each room features a famous President. Mine is Turkey's legendary Moustafa Kemal a/k.a Ataturk who's one of MM's favorites. Here's a shot of the portrait of Ataturk over MM's bed.

The Fugitive Kind On Criterion DVD!

2010-04-27T13:30:33Z

Out on DVD is The Fugitive Kind (http://www.criterion.com/). Once again Criterion has done a bang-up job of restoring the lustrous black and white cinematography by Boris Kaufman to Sidney Lumet's fascinating 1960 interpretation of a Tennessee Williams play. And what a cast -- Marlon Brando is at his most beautiful playing the restless drifter Val Xavier. Wearing a snakeskin jacket and carrying a guitar, Xavier lands in a menacing redneck southern town and stirs up trouble with the women. The ladies include a wealthy degenerate Carol (a mesmerizing Joanne Woodward), a lonely married artist (Maureen Stapleton) and storekeeper Lady Torrence (the staggering Anna Magnani) -- who vainly attempts to open up her garden restaurant under the baleful eyes of her invalid, monstrous, husband (Victor Jory). Williams resurrected this play under different titles like Battle Of Angels and Orpheus Descending and it never quite works. Lumet's direction and this phenomenal cast , however, brings the hothouse atmosphere to life in mysterious ways. I love this movie and the extras on the disc are just amazing -- there's a one-hour TV presentation Lumet directed of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams starring such actors as Ben Gazarra and Lee Grant. "Wild things leave skins behind them...and these are tokens passed from one to another so that the fugitive kind can always follow their kind...."

Fashionably Conscious: Rebuilding Haiti's Maranatha Orphanage

2010-04-26T21:30:27Z

The effects of the 7.0 earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince Haiti in January can still be seen in the one million civilians requiring shelter and the basic supplies that continue to run low. In an ongoing effort to provide the crippled country with support, the brains behind Life for the World and FilmsonArtists put together Art for Haiti, a benefit auction and exhibition to rebuild the demolished Maranatha Orphanage and Primary School located in Source Matales. The orphanage, founded in 2000, clothed, fed and educated 160 children and had become an essential part of its community. The show, debuting with a benefit event on April 27th at Rogue Space Gallery, features art created by the the school's pupils to be auctioned off. Works will be open to the public for an exclusive four-day engagement and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to rebuilding the damaged orphanage. Other donations, of course, are also welcomed. For more information please visit roguespacechelsea.com/Haiti.

Wiz Khalifa, Ghostface Killah, and Of Montreal Hold It Down Uptown at Columbia's Bacchanal

2010-04-26T20:45:29Z

This weekend, Columbia University held its annual spring concert for Bacchanal, the "get out of the library and meet some people," weekend-long festival. Students, alumni, neighboring families (with kids?!) and other people who happened to catch wind of the line-up -- which is kept under wraps until a few days beforehand -- came out to see Wiz Khalifa, Ghostface Killah, and Of Montreal perform. (Watching Columbia students twist their fingers into Ws during Ghostface's medley of Wu-Tang songs, including "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" and "C.R.E.A.M," was almost as entertaining as his set). Headliners Of Montreal hit the stage after nightfall and lit things up, as usual, with some colorful stage antics. (Someone dressed in a Chewbacca suit filmed the crowd as the footage played on a screen behind the band). Somehow, however, this was not the strangest part of the evening. Later, three Columbia students came onstage in diapers and bras to writhe around, while Chewbacca bought some sort of pig person on stage right before the encore, "The Past is a Grotesque Animal." Notably missing from the setlist was, "A Wraith Pinned to the Mist," but considering Chewbaca's literal interpretations of song titles, we worry about what 'mist' would have entailed.