Kelis was in the Green House!
What an awesome night at Joburg’s best new venue, the temporary Dome at Constitution Hill or “ConHill” as we fondly call it. Represent’s home is just next door – so we could hear the bands warming up in the afternoon and see the green glow as the evening approached – it was to be a night that would be hard to forget. See the photies here. The gorgeous architectural lines of the urban setting were junglefied and turned to green as Heineken made their mark as the first event in the awesome dome. At first the crowd was reluctant to go inside to dance to Lady Leah – everyone was cosy in the plush outside bar and lounge area soaking up the magnificent urban panorama. Sexy aluminium (we think) Heineken bottles clinked as old friends reunited – it was certainly the hip crowd of Jozi with everybody who’s somebody snacking on the abundant food on offer. We’re not talking about two-bit celebs, leaches or wannabes, we’re talking about the creme de la artists, comedians, musicians, film makers, creatives, journalists, event organisers, PR peeps, paparazzi, IT heads… the place to be! Certainly an inspiring diverse and happening crowd. The Hillbrow tower watched over us as revellers bopped to the poppy electro tunes of Tamara Dey and her band Flash Republic, eagerly waiting for the suprise performer. It was none other than Kelis who’s performance blew us away and had the crowds chanting for more. She picked us up, shook us around a bit and left us dazzled by not only her gold attire but her fantastic talent and stage presence. It was one of those parties that ended in the inevitable dancing circles to the sounds of our old favourite DJ Monde – good to see him back on the decks – it’s been a while! Even Editorista gave a bash at some tsipa’ring but her twalatsa stole the show. Thing is, it’s been a long time since we’ve been to an event that had us excited, the mystery around the international act had a “Lucky Strike” underground feel to it and the buzz of the crowds was electric. Congrats to Sam, Melanie, Lebo and the rest of the team from Speakers Corner for yet another outstanding event. Big Ups to Heineken. You know you guys know what’s going on. We can’t wait for the next one. Hope you keen suprising us – that was your...
Exciting! City experts in Jozi to plan future
Thanks to one of our favourite local sites, Joburg.org, for always keeping us in touch with what’s happening in our city. Apparently a whole lot of urban planning honcho’s are here at the moment helping city developers plan the future of Johannesburg – it’s so exciting living in such a time of change – particularly in a city with such incredible potential. Appropriately, the conference is taking place at the Civic theatre in Braamies and will focus on the inner city transformation, drawing from actual success stories and existing examples of cities that have cinderella’d like Birmingham, Vancouver and Paris. More from the City of Johannesburg website here – George Matlala reports: Foreign experts have been invited to discuss their cities’ urban planning challenges and successes, so that Joburg can learn from their experiences. URBAN planners from some of the world’s largest and most successful cities are expected to attend a four-day conference to discuss turning Johannesburg into a world-class city. Nine representatives from cities such as New York, Paris, Vancouver and Birmingham, will be in Johannesburg to participate in its International Conference on Planning, running from Sunday, 17 June to Wednesday, 20 June. It is being held at the Civic Theatre in Braamfontein. According to Phillip Harrison, the executive director in the City’s department of development planning and urban management, the main aim of the conference is to learn how other big cities have handled the challenges of development. “We want to learn what has made their cities so successful.” The team comprises of urban planners, academics and representatives of the city council of Birmingham, England and a regional planning agency in Paris, France. They will share their experience in inner city regeneration, precinct development and sustainability, and strategic planning of projects. The conference will explore practical ways of rejuvenating the Joburg inner city. From Joburg, there will be members of City departments and agencies, including the Johannesburg Development Agency, and representatives from the University of the Witwatersrand’ s school of architecture and the South African Cities Network. Inner city regeneration On Monday, there will be a case study looking at how Birmingham and Vancouver, in Canada successfully developed their inner cities, Harrison says, noting that it will give delegates an opportunity to learn more about the development of Joburg’s inner city. The following day delegates will split into working teams that will tour the inner city to check development progress and problems. With work on sports stadiums and Gautrain stations steaming ahead, the City hopes to learn how the French handled and sustained developments related to the 1998 Fifa World Cup™, held in that country. Harrison says it is important...
Represent Recommends: Sanza’s Soweto Map
Yesterday we bumped into our Swazi brother and fast-talking YFm morning breakfast host Sanza da Fanatik…He told us all about his gorgeous “Underground Jozi and Map of Soweto”. Having lost the original Jozi underground map that we acquired years ago, we immediately bought two! Great presents for friends, family and loved ones overseas. You can buy them at Exclusives or Xarra books in Newtown – ours were R30 each – what a bargain guys! Congrats to Sanza and his partners Andrew and Tamiko for creating such a brilliant labour of love for our province of Gauteng. Hope you sell millions. Lucille Davie of the (wonderful) Johannesburg City Website gives us more info: OFI, cheri, tymer, hoezit, hola, ntwana, sharp, born frees, malume, mtshanas . . . are just some of the terms you will learn to prepare for a trip to Soweto, clutching your Underground Jozi map tightly. The latest map in the series features South Africa’s most famous township, Soweto, equipping the visitor and resident with knowledge of taxi hand signals, different hairstyles and their names, stylish shoes, greetings, hand-shaking Soweto style, and other local customs. You’ll learn about places and people who have made Soweto famous, like Hector Pieterson; the Regina Mundi Catholic Church; Vilakazi Street and its two famous residents, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Avalon Cemetery; the Credo Mutwa Park; and boxer Baby Jake Matlala. You’ll also learn about “cellphone cultcha”, and that “no self-respecting Sowetan would be seen without one”. This colourful map is drawn by artist and gallery owner Andrew Lindsay. His partners in Underground Jozi are Sanza Tshabalala, DJ and cook, and Tamiko Sher, who has done the research for the map. Read all about it...
Call for interest – Newtown Diwali Festival
After a triumphant event last year, organisers of the Newtown Diwali Festival are proud to announce that preparations are underway for the Newtown Diwali Festival 2007 which will take place on the 27th of October 2007, in the Newtown Cultural Precinct. After logging a record attendance of over 40 000 festival-goers last year, coordinators of the Newtown Diwali Festival 2007 are now calling on all cultural and community organisations to submit expressions of interest to participate in their cultural programme which will take centre stage at the festival. Last year’s cultural programme showcased a high caliber of local talent, resulting in a dazzling programme of music, song and dance. Interested organisations should contact Festival Programme Coordinator, Ravi Naidoo on ravi@newtowndiwalifestival.co.za . Please cc all mail to r.naidoo@telkomsa.net. Submissions must include: the name of the organisation, contact person, all contact details, the category of participation (ie. music, song or dance), genre of item (ie. classical, semi-classical, fusion, modern), a brief description of the item and the approximate duration. The closing date for all submissions is Friday, 28 July 2007. For additional information, Ravi Naidoo may be contacted on 082 923 5622. The Newtown Diwali Festival 2007 takes place in the Newtown Cultural Precinct on Saturday, the 27th of October from 10am to late. Entrance is...
Represent Review: 12 Naked Men
Our citizen journo AmorAmor popped into the new kid on the Rosebank art block for the opening of the gallery and a photographic exhibition. We were thinking, the city should consider naming the greater Rosebank towards Parkhurst area “Art Precinct”. It’s brimming with galleries that are filled with fascinating local and international artists… and all for mahala…Go Go Go. It does wonders for the artist in you. See pics here. 13th June – July 6th David Brown Fine Art 39 Keyes Avenue Rosebank Johannesburg (011) 788 4435 Gallery Gallery hours Mon-Fri 9am – 6pm and Saturdays 9am – 1pm The provocatively titled opening exhibition at the David Brown Gallery Rosebank is as deceptive as the gallery owner and artist in question. I dropped into the new David Brown Gallery, 39 Keyes Avenue, Rosebank, early yesterday morning. It was the best decision I made that day. Walking into the quiet and minimalist space you realize that this gallery is a work of heart. The austerity of the space makes it absolutely clear that this is where art is the focus, not ego or image. If, like me, you looked at the title of the exhibition and expected to see another photographic glorification of the (hu)man form, you could be a little disappointed. I was not. On the contrary, I was wonderfully surprised by how wrong an assumption could be. I guess I did have forewarning. The picture on the invitation is Michael Meyersfelds’ ‘Custom’, No. 6 in his series of twelve. This was not another Da Vincian “Universal Man” study, nor was it a Jean Paul Gaultier ad campaign. This was different; as Michael explained, “These twelve images were made to depict and convey the conditioning of man”. Michael’s pictures bear such titles as ‘Born’, ‘Repentance’, ‘Bewildered’, ‘Deceit’ and ‘Acceptance’. Each picture portrays the title, within the context of man’s conditioning, in wonderfully surprising and enlightening ways. From the attention to detail in the composition of each photograph to the variety and uniqueness of the models he chose, each piece shows you man/men in ways that are completely familiar and utterly new. The unfettered clarity of ‘Born’ and the stark reality of ‘Fear’ strike a chord of recognition somewhere in the region of your belly button. You feel a silence descend as you move from picture to picture that is somehow enhanced by the soundtrack that fills the room like smoke. The play of light in ‘Entitled’ and ‘Greed’ focuses your attention on the subjects so completely that it takes you a moment to realize there is a bigger picture both in and outside the frame. Perhaps that is the beauty of Michael’s work: its...
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