Touch the Sound

At Pizza and a Movie last night High 5 screened a documentary about Evelyn Glennie, a very famous and profoundly DEAF percussionist.

How can that be, you ask?

In her words: "Hearing is basically a specialized form of touch. Sound is simply vibrating air which the ear picks up and converts to electrical signals, which are then interpreted by the brain. The sense of hearing is not the only sense that can do this, touch can do this too. If you are standing by the road and a large truck goes by, do you hear or feel the vibration? The answer is both. With very low frequency vibration the ear starts becoming inefficient and the rest of the body's sense of touch starts to take over. For some reason we tend to make a distinction between hearing a sound and feeling a vibration, in reality they are the same thing. It is interesting to note that in the Italian language this distinction does not exist. The verb 'sentire' means to hear and the same verb in the reflexive form 'sentirsi' means to feel. Deafness does not mean that you can't hear, only that there is something wrong with the ears. Even someone who is totally deaf can still hear/feel sounds."

TOUCH THE SOUND, directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, explores the relationship of our senses, both visually and sonically.

In this clip (not from the movie) you can watch Evelyn discuss her ideas about sound and how that informs her as a musician. See also plays a beautiful piece on the xylophone at 27:22 so you can just skip ahead if you like. Enjoy!

Pizza + Movies = Good Life

Pizza.
A Movie.
(It's a surprise.)
Free tickets to the NYC theater, dance, music and art scene.
Good people.
Good times.

It's what you call the Good Life.

Don't miss Pizza & a Movie Night, Tuesday, Nov. 18th @ 5:00 p.m. Meet and mix with other High 5'ers, debate the finer points of cinema and score free tix to the best theater, dance and music NYC's got to offer. November's Pizza & a Movie Night will feature another great surprise film carefully chosen by moi and the illustrious Kevin Kilroy, High 5's Directors of Film & Pizza, new friends coming together, old friends uniting again, and, of course, pizza. Lots and lots of pizza. And juice.

What could better?

DIRECTIONS: Take the E/V to 5th avenue. Exit from the 5th Avenue exit (NOT the Madison Ave exit). Enter under the Dragon. He rests above the doors of 1 East 53rd Street.

SUGGESTED DONATION: $3 (and it's really only a suggestion....)

BE THERE OR BE A SQUARE SLICE.

High 5 promotion video....dig it

Let's see some art!

Fall TRaC has officially begun! Make sure to check out all the TRaC blogs below to stay up-to-date with what's going on in every art discipline all over New York City....

Ferris J. Bueller, Sloane Peterson and Cameron Frye strike a pose at the Art Institute of Chicago on Ferris's famous "day off." (John Hughes, 1986).

THEATER TRaC

DANCE TRaC

VISUAL ARTS TRaC

MUSIC TRaC

MULTI TRaC

The TRaC Review Compendium '07-08

It's here!

The first ever Teen Reviewers and Critics REVIEW COMPENDIUM, with collected writings and reviews from 40 of High 5's Teen Critics.

Click the image to take a look inside....

July Pizza and a Movie

Date: Wednesday, July 16

Time: 5pm - 7:30pm

Place: High 5 HQ, 1 East 53rd Street (between 5th Ave and Madison)

People: the Teen Reviewers and Critics, High 5ers, anyone between 13 and 18 who loves movies, pizza, and wants to meet our special guest, Ronnie Porto, a screen-writer and freelancer working in the TV and movie business. Find out how to break in!

Suggested donation: $3

RSVP: eric at eost@high5tix.org

Be there!

June Pizza and a Movie

Now, every month, High 5 will be hosting our already famous Pizza and a Movie Nights.

Next up: Tuesday, June 17th! (5pm-7:30pm)

Come Tuesday at 5pm for hot pizzzzza and a movie chosen for its proven ability to blow minds. More often that not, it'll be something you've never seen before. Which is nice.

As always, we'll be meeting up at High 5 HQ - that theater in the back of the lobby.

Our address is 1 East 53rd Street (between 5th and Madison). Look for the giant dragon above our door - you can see it through the glass facade!

The movie is, of course, a surprise.
:)

~eric,
director of pizza and movies

wall-painted animation by graffi-artist BLU

Take 7 minutes and check this out.
Done in Buenos Aires....


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Blu's blog is here. His website is here.

If you like this, you've got to take a look at Czech filmaker Jan Švankmajer's short films, which we watched at the Kick-Off for TRaC in the fall of 2007. (You HAVE to watch MEAT LOVE. It's the best!)

Neo-Futurism at High 5 World HQ

No, we're not done yet....

How about 15 plays in 30 minutes to blow out the spring and usher in the summer?

Next Wednesday, May 21st, starting at 5pm, High 5 welcomes the NEW YORK NEO-FUTURISTS to our world HQ for our first ever in-house production.

In their signature show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, the Neo-Futurists, a wild bunch of performers/writers/directors, bring you a theater experience that is "a fusion of sport, poetry, and living-newspaper." At the Krane Theater in the East Village every Friday and Saturday night at 10:30, people roll the dice to determine how much they pay, a new name is slapped on their shirt and they enter the world of neo-futurism. With a "menu" of 30 plays in hand, every 2 minutes you shout and scream for the title of the play you'd like to see. Some are serious, some funny, sometimes people get sprayed with water. And at the end, if all 30 plays are completed before the timer runs out.... pizza for everyone. Isn't that beautiful??

What is neo-futurism, you ask? In a nutshell:

• You are who you are.
• You are where you are.
• You are doing what you are doing.
• The time is now.

I have no idea what that means. But believe me, it's going to be cool. 15 plays in 30 minutes!

There'll be food, of course. We'll bring the pizza. You bring yourself. Friends and family are welcome, too, if you want to bring'em. We'll also bring you the High 5 battleplan for the summer - Pizza and Movie Nights, Summer TRaC, FUZE events..... lots to jump into. All FREE.

Email ERIC if you are coming to the FINALE! Let me know approximately how many guests will be tagging along. (I need to plan for pizza.)

Officially, summer is about to begin......
5pm
Wed.
May 21
High 5 HQ
1 East 53rd Street

Be There!

FUZE this Friday

Opportunity strikes. And the dancers might, too.

High 5 hosts a FUZE event this Friday with STREB S.L.A.M. Show. What that means: Bring a friend, see the show, meet the choreographer. Here's a clip from one of their previous shows....



Dance and Multi TRaC have already been. Check out their blogs for info and pictures. If anyone wants a ticket, I have a few available.

7pm in Williamsburg. Brooklyn, baby.

Just email me.

~eric

Pizza & a movie at High 5 - Update!

heyo!

Next Tuesday, April 22nd, High 5 is hosting a gathering of movie lovers from 5pm - 7:30 p.m. to watch a film, break it down, talk about it, argue about it AND get some free eats. Come on out for....

PIZZA & a MOVIE Night at High 5

It's spring break, the weather is beautiful and I've got an awesome film on my desk. Figured you might be down to watch it. (If you're not vacationing in the Bahamas or something....)

Bring friends along if you want. Come solo. Wear flips flops. Whatever.

Email me if you're gonna make it! Let me know how many people you might bring so I know how much pizzzzzzzza we need.

Oh, and the movie will be.....a surprise. :)

UPDATE: The movie was Rivers and Tides -(here's a clip)- a documentary about the artist Andy Goldsworthy. I highly recommend adding it to your Netflix queue or picking it up from the library. He's an earth sculptor, I'd say. Check out some of his works:

Make your connection!

pictured at right: James Baldwin, Harlem, 1963. Photo by Steve Shapiro.

Interviewer: Earlier, Jim, you mentioned that for a national policy to be straightened out, the private policies, these private, individual lives must be, too. You spoke of your job as a writer, and of how you've got to write. In that chapter on Bergman, "The Northern Protestant," is a beautiful comment: "All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story, to vomit the anguish up."

James Baldwin: Art has to be a kind of confession. I don't mean a true confession in the sense of that dreary magazine. The effort, it seems to me, is: if you can examine and face your life, you can discover the terms with which you are connected to other lives, and they can discover, too, the terms with which they are connected to other people.

This has happened to everyone of us, I'm sure. You read something which you though only happened to you, and you discovered it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important. Art would not be important if life were not important, and life is important.

This excerpt is from an interview conducted for the Studs Terkel program "Almanac," aired on WFMT in Chicago on December 29th, 1961. They are talking about the core of Baldwin's art, his vision. What art means, what it's for.

We have to make connections. Keep our senses alert and hearts open for "The Real" (see Passing Strange note below!) to flood in, even if we're not ready. We never are.

Keep discussing, writing and creating!
And happy Week 4 of TRaC!

quick note: If you haven't seen Passing Strange on Broadway (starring one of our Fall TRaC instructors, Eisa Davis), or would like to see it again, anyone under 25 years old can get a $25 ticket. Available day of, at the box office only.

You can learn more about James Baldwin here.

start your filmmaking career this summer!

All future film-makers listen up!

The Ghetto Film School Fellows Program is now accepting applications for their 2008-2009 program. The Fellows Program is designed for people from 14 to 21 years of age, and will run from July 2008 to September 2009. The deadline is April 18th.

If you are serious about pursing a film career - or looking to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime experience that introduces you to the movie industry and artistic process - I can't recommend this program enough. More information and the online application is available at www.ghettofilm.org (oh, and by the way, incredible directors like Jim Jarmusch, Spike Jonze and David O. Russell are all involved with this organization!)


Please EMAIL ME ASAP with any questions about the Ghetto Film School. I will put you in touch with the the Fellows Program coordinator.

If makin' movies is your dream, don't wait!!! Jump on this!!!

~eric

The Kick-Off films

heyo. Below I've posted clips of the shorts we watched at the All TRaC Kick-Off last Wednesday, for your viewing pleasure. Both clips are incomplete because YouTube only allows 10 minutes of footage, but you'll get an idea.

The first: AMELIA, choreographed/produced by the Canadian company La La La Human Steps, and directed by Edouard Lock.


The second: Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, directed by Les Blank. Yes, the man ate his shoe! If you want to see the extent of Herzog's determination and drive, rent Burden of Dreams, a full-length documentary about the making Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo. He pulls a ship over a mountain. Really. It's crazy!


BONUS!
At the first TRaC Meet in the Fall of 2007, we watched three of my favorite short films by the Czech filmaker Jan Švankmajer. All three are stop-motion films done solely by the filmaker, and took years to make. We all loved the third, called MEAT LOVE. Amalia (Theater TRaC) asked about it at the Kick-Off so I thought I'd drop the link for y'all. Check them out by clicking here.

~eric

Welcome to TRaC! Do what you can't.

Sounds wacky, doesn't it? Do what you can't. But it ain't that crazy. We've got to start somewhere.

Two ingredients necessary for this semester of TRaC and life: Curiosity and Passion. They drive us to try things we've never tried before. And hopefully, when we get to the Unknown, we're ready - we're OPEN - to whatever comes our way. It's a crazy world. Get ready for some crazy art.

Here's a mantra for those of us who love diving into what we don't know:

CELEBRATE YOUR AMATEURNESS.
I am best at what I can't do.
It has become my ability to feel strong and confident in these situations. I feel free to move, to listen to my heart, to learn, to act even if that means I will make mistakes.
If you want a creative life, do what you can't and experience the beauty of the mistakes you make.

-Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

Do what you can't. Do it well.
To all of High 5's newest Teen Reviewers and Critics: Welcome to TRaC.
~eric

TRaC Applications due by Monday, March 3!

If you are going to apply to for TRaC this spring, or know a friend who is thinking about it, there is still time to get your applications in!

Just send me an email and let me know which TRaC you'd like to take. All your materials should be in by early next week. The deadline is flexible for those who let me know....

eost@high5tix.org

To get an application go to the TRaC homepage.

I can't wait for TRaC to start!
~eric

Looking for an afterschool job?

A job posting sent to me to post to you!
Let me know if you're interested.
~eric

We are seeking an enthusiastic high school student to support the staff of a fast-growing and innovative software company. (To learn more about PatronTechnology and what we do, check out our website: www.patrontechnology.com)

If you’re organized, detail-obsessed, and love to Google, this position is for you. Our ideal candidate will be able to pick up procedures pretty quickly and have an interest in the arts. We’d really like to find someone who’s going to care about the work they do for us.

Most of the time, you'll work with our Account Development Team, tidying up our database, researching and developing lists for outreach, and helping to analyze responses to our outbound marketing campaigns. There will be times when you will be asked to work with our office manager on filing and general administrative projects as well, but the majority of time will be spent on the computer.

We’re looking for someone who can work with us for 5-10 hrs a week, but we’re flexible—we can work around your class schedule. Our office hours are M-Th 9-6pm and Friday, 9am-5pm.

Please send a resume (feel free to include volunteer and school involvement as well as any employment history that you might have) and letter of interest to allison@patrontechnology.com. This position pays $8/hr. Applicants may be asked to provide teacher references.

sunday (feb 24) at the theater...

Liberty City: a place where people of the African Diaspora have settled; where urban and island cultures rub up against each other, and the site of Miami's infamous 1980 riots. Enter April Yvette Thompson--a child of children of the 60's, the daughter of a Bahamian and Cuban father and an African American mother: free thinkers, young radicals and movement people. As the hope of the 60's and 70's gave way to the disillusionment and disintegration of the 80's, April's family struggled to survive and stay together. Part history, part imagination, Liberty City is her personal story that illuminates the lives of one family through the context of social, cultural, and political events.

All TRaC Alum can get free tickets for themselves and friends!

High 5 gives you the access. This show will feature an exclusive post-show talkback with star and co-author April Yvette Thompson, along with director and co-author Jessica Blank, immediately following the performance. Don't miss this unique behind-the-scenes look just for High 5-ers!

Email eric for tickets.
Sunday, Feb 24, 2008 2:00 PM EST
at New York Theatre Workshop

Attention Film Buffs

If you are interested in seeing an advanced screening of this with a director Q&A (dir. of Eternal Sunshine), shoot me an email ASAP! Availability is limited. Time is running out........

Starring Jack Black and Mos Def

Thursday, February 21 , 2007

Reception at 5:30 PM
Screening at 6:00 PM

A SPECIAL Q & A SESSION WITH DIRECTOR MICHEL GONDRY WILL IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THE SCREENING.

Time Warner Center
Screening Room,
One Time Warner
Center, 10th Floor

Columbus Circle (entrance on 58th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue)

Open House help for Free BLUE MAN tix?

Hey'all,

Next week at our Spring TRaC Open House -- that's Wednesday, Feb. 13, 4:30-5:30 -- High 5 is going to be hosting students, parents, teachers, funders and anyone else who wants to know what TRaC is all about. I would love to have some volunteers, as many of you as possible, to answer questions, chat up some kids from all over NYC and show some High 5 love.

As an added bonus, anyone who comes to the Open House - your friends included if they want to find out about the program - will get TWO free tickets to BLUE MAN GROUP on Wednesday, February 20th @ 5pm. Take anyone you like. Now, that's a hot High 5 deal.

I hope you can make it!
Shoot me an email if you're interested. eost@high5tix.org


check out the Blue Men here.

afro-latin jazz....FEEL it on Jan 25

An opportunity for everyone to come together and shake it the way the Lord made it before January ends....

THE AFRO-LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Friday, Jan 25th, pre-show "improv chat" with Arturo O'Farrill kicks-off @ 6:30pm
Bring as many friends/family as you like - FREE!

Arturo O'Farrill, the conductor, is a long-time friend of the famous New Orleans Jazz Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. The Afro-Jazz Orchestra had its home at Jazz @ Lincoln Center for the past five years and has just moved to its new home at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side. Their music is the most modern fusion of African Beats, Latin Rhythms and Delta Jazz - truly "world" music. And it moves! Arturo has teamed up with High 5 for this special event because of his profound belief that young people will be changed by this music. You'll be meeting him before the show and are invited to a reception with food and drink afterwards... it's a hot deal. And it's FREE.

Check out the link to the performance on High 5's Event Calendar for more information and directions.

To get your tickets, just email me and let me know how many tickets you need. I'll send you a voucher. REPEAT: You can have as many as you like!

Hope to see you there....

~eric

Images from the December TRaC Finale

They were good times....

But don't worry! They're far from over!

The Spring TRaC Application is now available. Download one on the TRaC Homepage at www.high5tix.org and send it in to reserve your spot. Take the same TRaC, or try a different one.

If you can volunteer to be at the TRaC Open House in February, contact me and let me know. Can't wait to get started again!

~eric