Public Invite Number 1 for the Exhibit I shall be in



And click here to see a photo that didn't make into the exhibit (i like this one better)
Click Here, then click on "Flatbush"

Also, that same picture was featured in Positive Focus' latest newsletter

My Birthplace (Montreal) connection - Andy and Lindsay

As summer progresses i am sort of enjoying it for the frist time since maybe college time. I guess cause i have been venturing out persuing stuff i like, including my personal photo essay project.

Meanwhile, i got my photo from the Day in the Life Brooklyn project framed and ready for the exhibit at Brooklyn Borough Hall in September (Details to come folks). One of my other submitted pictures is on display here .

Meanwhile, a political rival (Othniel Boaz Askew) shot and killed a popular Councilmen (James E. Davis) in City Hall yesterday. Meanwhile, i am intrigued at the ease with which the man was waved in past security, yet feeling apathetic as usual. I will read up on what happened though.

Meanwhile, second photo essay subject finally appeared today, while i shot more of my first subject yesterday, playing her viola in three hot subway stations-- Grand Central, Hunter College, and 77 St. (6 line). Anyway, freelance cultural write extraordinaire Jon Caramanica finally confirmed for me to shoot him today.

Well after much bustling around with my "twin" and Corren in the city; I missed my chance to get my check from The Source; Got much needed film for my excursion to Philly this weekend (yay!); and finally got to Jon, who was getting his car fixed by his Dad way out on the Westside.

…Which led me to a punk rock show at CBGB’s. Lots of black, lots of screaming, and it is what I expected. And my threshold of tolerating for different musical forms is quite high. Then Jon
had to go tend to his S.O.. So I will be shooting more of him as the “writer” soon.

i hope Pinky feels better so that she can hit up nuff "enemies" at paintball this weekend.

Does my car look like a Lean On Me extra?

Twice this week, i had to wave people off my car as i came back from a long day in the city. The hell. It was a bunch of teenyboopers on Monday and today...today. Some potbelly white dude chatting it up with his family and stuff is leaning all comfy on my passenger side window. I walk up to him and he looks at me like i am some weirdo. Then he asks, "Can I help you with something?" I’m looking at him like the hell is this dude’s problem. Then he is like “oh this is your car.” I say nothing and he gets off my car.

Man I tell u.

Today's song of Inspiration is (MP3 download)

"...sometimes i'm weak but i push on
push on
be strong
no win
lean on
sometimes
pray on
hold on...

...Live today like i'm gonna live forever
tomorrow paves for the rest of your life
even if we lose some along the way
it's not worth the hate
no time to hate..."

Goapele 's Daze f/ Casual and MC Zion

Ahh these weeks of free time in-between my Research gig at the Source sort of disturb me, but not really -- i do make the time productive. Yet it makes me look like i have no real job. My friend Vance said last weekend, I am like "Tommy" from Martin. And speaking of Martin, I saw Bad Boys 2 tonight and really enjoyed this sequel in a summer full of under whelming sequels.

First I will say hack director Michael Bay has learned to shoot action sequences with a little more finesse, allowing for the audience to see the impact of what is going on, on the screen. Less quick cuts so that u actually see Will Smith's bullets hit their targets – with some abuse of bullet time of course. On of the best examples of this is a shootout at a Haitian (groan) gang's hideout where Will is behind a wall and on the other side are the gang members with guns a blazing. The beauty of this scene is how the camera (virtual?) pans around both sides of the wall in a circle as the characters talk "ish" and let off their rounds. I think John Woo would be proud of Bay's progress.

Smith and Lawrence's improvised interactions make for some good comedic interruptions in the melee of violence. And this is why i care about Bad Boys. It’s an action film typical of what we expect, but like Glover and Gibson, these two have that chemistry that keeps the buddy action film genre afloat.

But one thing had me groaning quite a bit -- the Zoe Gang. They were not the main antagonist, but played an important role in leading our two cops to him. Lord, why cast actors doing bad Haitian accents, who look and sound like Rastas. In addition, the stereotypes were well in place, from voodoo set pieces in an informant’s shack (live chickens walking in the backyard), to the horrible accents (wait, I said that already). I didn’t expect much from a big Hollywood, but the film was filmed in Miami they could have gotten some authentic Haitian actors and extras down there. LOL

Yet I am digressing, I still enjoyed the movie heck Black Caribbean folks are still behind the line of “African-Americans” in getting varied portrayals in the media.

Wait a second! I got my hair done Friday. I didn't appreciate leaving my freind's house at 2 am in Brooklyn trhough. And the last time i got my hair done, Pinky was involved during Memorial Day weekend. Sheesh.

Reading, Pennsylvania was a road trip made with good intentions but left my three friends and in the midst of an ongoing family spat; searching for our missing friend who we came to surprise for his birthday; and a two hour trip that became a four-hour plus ride.

I must say i could never live in Reading-- the indistinguishable houses in the neighborhood my freind lives with his wife and daughter did nothing to help. But then he moved there to afford to live in a home. And it's an hour away from Philly (*thumbs down* for me).

Mental note: these friends are what i consider a part of my college contingent (friends I made in college).

Why did we end up looking for our friend at the movie theater and finding him there, since he left his house to avoid the bad blood between his sis and wife (TMI). But still his reaction was priceless, when my friend’s twin sat down next to him in the theatre and then seeing us straggle out from different parts of the hallway.

From there, we went to a bar where it seemed like all the drinks i tried tasted like cough syrup. By the end of the night, my friend was agitated even more by a raid of 10+ cops to check out if any underage drinking was going on. As a result of his 23-year old sister not having her ID, she was detained in the back. Meanwhile, my friend was going off on some of the cops for being all up in the bar, and not where all the drug dealers were. We really had to calm him down to keep his sister from being effed with some more. But sheesh! there were so many at the bar that night

After that it was home sweet home, to mess with Destiny, his daughter, some more who is a 2-year-old crying machine; video games and TV watching.

Sunday, on our way back, we stopped at a McDonald's where some white boy working there made a comment about my "Pinky" hat being nice. I paid him no mind really until the girl serving me said to ignore him. Ahh Ignorance is bliss. Yes there were wiggers (no disrespect to that group) in my friend's neighborhood.

First i found a cool searchable bible online. And u can search verses by keywords. Religion and spirituality will be discussed another time. But i grew up within a family of Christian Baptists, who are feverent yet not fanatics.

Photo Essay Subject #1 Recap

Miss Maryam Blacksher was a joy to hang with this past Wednesday. However, I do regret not catching her play at Grand Central Station, which was supposed to be my first sequence of documenting this dope viola player. It was a simple day of her just siitign in front of a cafe she used to work at chillign with her other artist "friends", including an "amazing" musician, accordign to her, who is also a needle popper.

Then we walked to Tompkins Park in the East Village and just chilled so more, and she pulled out her viola and played some classical selections, before passing her instrument to me. It felt cool sliding the bow across the viola, almost tempting me to want to purchase one. I am still deliberating on what instrument i want to learn.

After that, we went to her man's crib and met his two roomates, one who was the main character (Telly) in the movie Kids, and a drummer and aspring producer. The artists community is so small in New York City.


To hear some of Maryam's work listen to this

So I got this Mark Ronson CD Here Comes the Fuzz. One of my friends went to something in DC and bought it back for me. It's hella cool because he has alot of Hip Hop guest on his cd and the mixing, scratching and blending is tight. But i was watching The Wire last night and thought: How often are you frustrated with people and things? Then I thought about pinned up aggression and finding a release for it when it happens. My train of thought is very left field and sporatic...

I dedicate these songs to Aisha, Mrs. Roche, Pinky, solofabztract, and anyone else who could use it.

These songs are from one of my favorite contemporary artists, Stephen Simmonds. His songwriting is just so well done, with hints at sprirituality, love, and self examination. I hope these sonsg inspire like they have inspired me, and get u through whatever u may be going through (even if u aren't going through anything, just take it as i am thinking of u). MP3 format of course.

For Father

All the People

My friend and his tat dedicated to his Dad

Well, my friend's mother passed away from breast cancer last week. I know she had told me she was going back home to the West Coast to be with her in the "final stage". i am not sure what's worse -- her having to go through this before which led to her mom going into remission or it coming back in full force.

I plan on calling her to see what is up. She wil probably have that calm, "stong" tone she usually has when it comes to her mother. She is over there now and i don't know when she will be back in DC. I know she has been frustrated about how her family has been dramatic about the whole affair. I believ teh whole "everyone wants to have a say as to who is doing what for her mother, but aint acting on it" deal.

But that was before, so i don't know what new drama she is dealing with right now. The worse thing is family fighting in the midst of death. My thoughts are with her. :/

*invades blog* Oh...Richie you didn't THINK I COULD didya? *vanishes*

todya is, hopefully, my first subject for my photo essay project -- Miss Maryam Blacksher

Why not encouragement from me? Your asshole edge is gone with me...So you can come down off ya HoleHorse. :) Anyway stranger....How goes life?

I kind of don't need any cheerleaders, especially for things like this. Not u anyway. It's just weird.
*Asshole bell goes off*

A new friend..eh..get em Rich !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight/This morning my friend was telling me how her ex all of a sudden was calling her.
but when they were together he was distant a lot. This was flustering her somewhat.
It's something i observe a lot. People sometimes are on someone who may not be showing the same level interest (maybe have a wall) but when things get flipped, they back off. Why is that?(c) KRS-One
IS it a matter of being in control of the situation or just not being completely sure what u want.

To me it's the emotional vs. rational/ what u need vs. what u want argument that fits into these situations. Humans are very fleeting with emotions, especially women. But let me not put my foot in my mouth right now.

In the other news my new "friend" is a tight designer. Check out this old site of hers.

AND PLEASE READ THE MRS. ROCHE ENTRY

Mrs. Roche/Another engagement/stuff




Both taken two weeks ago by Richard Louissaint

This is Mrs. Roche, mother of four (two in their twenties, two under the age of 10), friend to my parents, and extremely positive and spiritual person. She is a first time Grandmother of a premature little girl who is doing well, but will be in the hospital until middle of August. She is moving to Georgia this summer. But recently, she discovered she had a cancerous tumor in her breast and had her first surgery.

Mom says she cries every night . Mom is really worried. Mom told me this changed the whole timetable for the Roche family to move down South. Mom can't fool me, she hasn't been sleeping at night. She is up at midnight doing "nothing" in the kitchen.

I care about the Roches'. The youngest Roche is my God brother, Sammy. I am my usual quiet, contemplative self. I believe her chances are better than others, since she detected it so early. I wonder how i would deal with one of my parents having cancer. I worked with a cancer survivor at my last freelance gig at essence. I have a childhood friend who lost his father to cancer in 1996. I have another friend whose mother is in her "ffinal stage" (read: miracles are needed at this point). I just don't know.

BREAK!

Well I saw my friends Neil and Dawnie last Friday. We chilled, we drank, listened to music, and they told me of their trip London and France. And surprise, Neil proposed to her in Paris (ringing cliché bell) and she said no....
naw it was "yes". Almost four years of being each other's best friend, it was bound to happen. so dammit i will need a new suit for next year. Two certain weddings, and one possible wedding. At least the pressure hasn't become hardcore for a Haitian male such as myself, yet. Aside from the "Haven't you met anyone yet?" comments from Mom.

"There are bikes in the way, the sound system sucks." That's what Rich Medina said to us at the onset of an after party he was DJing along with DJ Language. It was for a new art exhibit on Fela Kuti at the new museum which i plan to check out sooner or later. and on top of that no dancing was really allowed (curses to NYC cabaret laws), so it felt more like a "industry" shindig more than anything.

Anyhow i met up with her , and bumped into DJ 4sight (sp) and his wife (the Ivy League academics). While we waited for my "twin" to show up, i bumped into the usual magazine, music people -- some i hadn't seen in ages like Alexandra (Haiti in the house).

Much to my surprise when, my twin finally showed up -- two hours later-- he came with one of his new roommates (He is pulling a John Ritter, living with two sisters, but he is not gay). And yummy... i hugged her and she just stared at me. Cause she claimed she saw me before and we just literally pressed our foreheads against each other (me being slick of course, LOL) until my friend reminded her that she saw my website (it actually does help me sometimes).

Anyhow, we stayed till 2 ish, and i went home. I must say i tire of seeing the same boho, "extra" crowd, this pretension is a .... Especially that girl at the bar who was giving me fake smiles all night and was being an ass while writing the alphabet in patterns on a napkin. Just cause i am chatting with u doesn't mean i am trying to kick it to u. She wasn't all that in the first place and she was so see-through, especially after chatting with her friend who was hella cool. Screw NYC nightlife. LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GYEAH THE BIG 28. WANNA SEND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO ALL THOSE THAT LOVE AND KNOW ME !!!!!!!!!!! I'LL HOLLA :)

Random quotes from today
by people or things

After eating fortune cookie read this:
"To be beautiful externally is like a glass rose; one false move it can crack."

From my supervisor/friend/hair person:

"Don't you know love, liking, relationships are all bullshit. ... and no I am not bitter Rich"

From friend in Cali:

"Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best "

It means you're coming to the dark side. Really I don't know. But i was tripping because whle I was at the club some chick tried to holla but i was kept it moving....But for some reason a lesbian is always trying to get me. I was not a social butterfly in this situation.

And I just realized i have dealt with three Cancers in a row.
What does it all mean?

New crushes and lyrics on my mind



I saw the cover of the new San Francisco Magazine and my heart *beat*. I really dig her album and my boy said she was pretty in person. But I never paid much mind to her pictures cause there were very few good photos of Goapele lying around. Yum




And all i will say is this is newbie model Jessica White - Double yum

So yeah like My weekend was okay...ahahahah
But yours sounded very well...Glad to hear that Giant.
I'll write more later.

A Weekend in the life of a Haitian Eclectic


circa 1998

All day today i spent some brainpower thinking about how creative I could be in recapping my weekend. So I decided on the "A Weekend in the life of a Haitian Eclectic" theme. And yes, my tenses are all screwy.

Note: times are estimated and anyplace you see this -- souri -- that means I was thinking of Her. But the word means something else.

Krik Krak!

Friday July 4th: 10 am to 2pm
Souri I began testing out my…I mean the DVD player I bought for the house. The heat was already in full swing and I was plotting out who would be riding with me to this BBQ for this man’s bornday. After much back and forth phone tagging. My academic twin (above photo, to the right) confirmed his attendance with younger brother in tow. Then it was on to re-watching my DVDS on a big screen TV as opposed to the damn computer monitor. Amelie (my father inbetween snores replying “This movie is long!”), Buena Vista Social Club documentary (Grandma vibing away on the music), and my Bjork music video DVDS.

4 pmish: Farentz and brother show up and my parents are happy to finally meet the legendary man, who is moving back to NY this week, and is one year away from being a PHD graduate. We go to Westbury. Food, liquor, lemon drops Oh my! I mean I wasn’t exactly buzzed but Farentz drove is back to Queens. It truly is bizarre to be the passenger in your own car. And I was a bit disturbed at my friend’s preoccupation with my speedometer not functioning. Heck I drove to DC in that condition.

Saturday 8am to 11am: trying to fall back asleep and switching CDS while napping. Souri
11 am to 2pmish: Shower, bsing., wrapping wedding gift, and rushing to post office to mail it out. I call my hair person who sounds out of it as usual and ask if we are still on for roller-skating. I believe we are, but anything can happen. Then Stevie calls with news of his friend’s BBQ and subsequent Brute Force tournament. The video game part doesn’t give me a rise but another BBQ does.

2:30ish: make a dope omelet with turkey sausages, tomatoes and onions. BS some more. Then I head out to the aforementioned BBQ with my A1 and medium format camera in tow (abuse of the word).

4pm to 11pm: This time was spent shooting folks playing on a pool table at the BBQ which took up two houses and consisted of a whole lot of black folks. I also shot a chess game or two. Met two cute sister, who were cool but there wasn’t an incentive for me to try to kick it. I ain’t good at it anyway.

By the time it hit 8 I was contemplating if I still wanted to go to Brooklyn to skate. Back at home, I washed my face, again, and called up Kim who claimed she still wanted to skate, but still sounded out of it. Upon my return to the BBQ, heads was watching Equilibrium upstairs. I sat, I watched, was under whelmed, but will watch it again in a more quiet environment.


kim

Midnight to 4 am: Skating

Souri I made to Brooklyn by Midnight. Kim and her friend were upstairs watching cable, and Kim was still out of it. "Where is the breeze", is what she kept saying out loud. Her friend said she drank a glass of wine, and then i snickered. Finally, after watching Smilez and Southstar perform their one hit plus some song that we will never care about on Showtime at the Apollo, we stepped.

I must say, in skating rinks the booty quotient is so there. It's like the women/girls come out wearing jeans that accentuate that great feature. And actually i took this shot at the rink we went to:



The veterans scare me, and I despise all the tall skinny guys who skate because they crazy! I am by far no seasoned skater; but when them crazies start slicing through the crowd of skaters and nearly make you fall, it makes you grumble. We were both tired but managed to stay at the rink till closing.
Souri

Sunday, July 6th: Souri Church, falling asleep during inflated sermon, walking out afterwards to make some purchases on the Ave.

mid-afternoon: I journeyed to Uniondale, Long Island to see my adoptive aunt who just had her first surgery for a cancerous tumor in her breast. She seemed in okay spirits smiling and chatting it up at her son's house where she and her family are staying until they permanently make their move to ATL this summer. Plus, she is the proud grandmother of her first grandchild who is doing well despite being a premature baby.

She told me she is going in for some treatments, maybe kemo, maybe radiation. She is leaving it in God's hands. I hope she gets to be a survivor. And i felt compelled to take two of my cameras and finish off my film at their home.

Afterwards...
Grocery shopping, made some turkey burgers, and I am now writing this long-ass blog entry. Ciao!
Souri

Ps: I should tell Her that She can call me whenever my after 11 pm rule is null and void. If Stevie can abuse me and call after midnight, so can She. I miss those random calls at weirdest times of the night or day -- on the bus to work or en route to a nightspot. Let's just hope this does not come off like “sweating”. LOL TMI. Souri

I think i have been breaking my personal life rule on this web journal lately. Damn She, but not really except for sounding like a sap part.

It's hot

i still need sleep and i won't be happening just yet

the weekend was long but fun...will explain later on

I'm stepping out!

It seems many people I know are down in the dumps, literally and figuratively. The storm will pass and this particular faze of not knowing will come and go. Until then live for today and don't worry about tomorrow because if it is meant to be..it will happen. Very insightful entry into ya blog Rich.....Almost tender (do i dare say it?) This woman is lucky to have someone as thoughtful as you to have in her corner. And wear her hat regardless of when the other is coming in. Punk !!