ArtsQuest: The Blog

Free

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:14:01 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

One of the coolest parts about SteelStacks, that we probably don’t talk about enough, is the large amount of activities that are either free or don’t cost much at at all.

Check out this quick snapshot of some of the free things we’ve got going on…

6.11 - Flag Day is this Saturday!

Daily - FREE parking. Enough said.

Daily - FREE Wi-Fi. Also enough said.

Free concerts… more than 400 this year alone.

Wednesdays, 12:15-12:45 pm… FREE Tai Chi.

Saturdays, 11 am - noon… FREE family hour, with varying entertainment.

Thursdays, starting 6.16… FREE music & film trivia night.

And that list is nowhere near complete. We’ve got some more free programming coming up, including the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks and a ladies night out!

From Hawaii with love

Fri, 27 May 2011 11:49:20 -0400

-posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

Well, I think its safe to say that no one saw this coming. The ukulele is scorching hot right now… its like Lady Gaga, but smaller, not alive, and… well, its really nothing like Lady GaGa, except for the fact that both seem to be everywhere at the moment.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, its ok… I’m here to help. You don’t have to admit it, just read the following excerpt from Wikipedia to get caught up. Everyone else, skip ahead.

The ukulele, sometimes abbreviated to uke, is a chordophone classified as a plucked lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings.

~ Source: Wikipedia

I am not going to pretend I have any clue as to the reasons behind the sudden rise in popularity of this beloved instrument. In fact I, along with another local blogger/colleague, was recently compelled to purchase one. I have no idea why, other than the fact that there is something inherently cool about the uke.

Don’t take my word for it…

Jake Shimabukuro

In addition to having the most challenging last name to spell ever, Jake is a ukulele virtuoso. What does that entail? Well, it makes him awesome. Dude can throw down some impressive licks… Case in point- he covers Bohemian Rhapsody.

You can see him live at the Musikfest Cafe on July 6.

Eddie Vedder

Eddie Vedder is about to release his second, full-length solo album. Yeah, he’s playing the uke. The album is even called “Ukulele Songs.” You can listen to the whole thing, for free, here (NPR).

Foxfur

Mike Doughty brought this duo in to the Musikfest Cafe to open for him. Despite the fact that I don’t actually have a picture of them with a uke, they rocked out on one. Keep an eye out for this Brooklyn-based duo.

Amanda Palmer

She’s the lead singer of The Dresden Dolls. She’s an accomplished (and epically amazing) solo performer. She rocks out on the uke. Check out the album above.

Ingrid Michaelson

Ingrid Michaelson is one of my favorite performers of right now. She’s a brilliant songwriter… her tunes have been featured in countless TV commercials. You may not know her by name yet, but you probably already know her music.

And, you guessed it, she plays the uke. And we love her for it.

A series of random photos of John Oliver and your chance to win tickets.

Wed, 25 May 2011 11:25:07 -0400

-posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager.

John Oliver (from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) is an extremely funny man.

Here’s a completely random series of pictures of him, followed by a link to a contest we’re having (where you can score tickets to his show at the Musikfest Cafe presented by Yuengling on 6.3).

THIS is the aforementioned link to the ticket contest.

A quick, shameless plug

Mon, 23 May 2011 08:30:38 -0400

posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

The SteelStacks arts & cultural campus has been open for a few weeks now. To all of you who have come down to explore the exciting new facilities, thanks!

Whether you’ve checked out the new awesomeness, or haven’t quite had a chance to come down yet, let me introduce you to a hand-dandy little .PDF file that will make it super easy for you to find out what’s going on:

It’s a snap shot of what’s going on, at SteelStacks and The Banana Factory, 7-days at a time.

You can always pick up your own copy at the Banana Factory or at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks -or- download a copy at www.artsquest.org (in the right hand column).

Enjoy!

Seeing is believing

Thu, 12 May 2011 08:09:04 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

I possess a unique ability to be simultaneously a morning person and a night owl.

Don’t get me wrong, I love sleeping; it’s one of my favorite hobbies. But, depending on situation, I’m down with getting up at the crack of dawn or staying up into the wee-hours of the morning.

My point?

Well as I’ve “grown up,” I find myself waking up pretty darn early during the week. And you know what? MTV and VH1 play music videos in the AM. I know, I know… shocking, right?

We all love to rag on Music Television for never playing music. But, if you dare tune in around 6 AM, on most mornings you can see videos. All sorts of random stuff is thrown in too. Intertwined between the pop tunes of today they’ll occasionally string together what is presumably leftover programming from 120 Minutes (RIP).

(Side note, it is rumored that 120 Minutes is coming back this year on MTV 2).

Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself.

B is for Broussard, and that's good enough for me.

Tue, 10 May 2011 07:56:48 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

Um, so I was going to write a long post today, but then the following awesomeness happened:

MARC BROUSSARD IS PLAYING THE MUSIKFEST CAFE PRESENTED BY YUENGLING ON JULY 20!

Tickets on sale Friday (ArtsQuest Member pre-sale Tues. & Wed.)!

Photos from Steve Miller Band opening the Musikfest Cafe presented by Yuengling

Wed, 04 May 2011 11:50:00 -0400

The SteelJam (9.2-9.5 at SteelStacks) lineup has arrived!

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:52:29 -0400

The SteelJam (9.2-9.5 at SteelStacks) lineup has arrived!

Pottholes in Paris

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:26:00 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

Even Paris, city of love, is victim to the dreaded pothole.

Leave it to Parisians to find beauty in road damage. Local artists have taken to the streets, filing potholes with colorful fabric. While I doubt this is on the Champs-Élysées, it’s awesome nonetheless.

Check it out: http://laughingsquid.com/the-decorative-fabric-filled-potholes-of-paris/

Become a cool kid in two easy steps: read this post, go to this show

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:40:00 -0400

- Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager and music snob

Dr. Dog.

Greater west Philadelphia-based folk-indie rock ensemble of what I believe to be epic-proportions.

They played Musikfest a few years back, and it was perfect. One of those amazing nights that defines a summer. Wonderful weather, jaw-droppingly awesome performance, good friends, ‘fest. Heaven.

So, when I heard they are playing the Musikfest Cafe in the venue’s opening week, I just about peed myself out of sheer joy. Quasi-gross imagery aside, I’m here to tell you that you need to check these guys out.

To take a cue from my favorite local indie zine, Wink Magazine, if you like any of the following things, you MUST go to the Dr. Dog show on May 6:

Arcade Fire
Wes Anderson movies
The Decemberists
Playing 8-bit video games ironically
Farmers markets
Yuengling lager
Into The Wild
Listening to records (those circular vinyl things)
Hipster Ariel
Mumford & Sons
Vintage clothing
WXPN
Catcher in the Rye, Slaughterhouse V and/or Walden
Wink Magazine

Also, watch this video of tour footage set to their song “I Only Wear Blue.”

Super Win Win

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:26:27 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

Dear ArtsQuest: The Blog readers,

I am happy to report, the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks is finally open!

And, I acknowledge that leading up to the center’s opening, I’ve really been hyping up the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at SteelStacks. So, it only seemed fair that in the cinemas’ opening weekend that I check out both flicks playing: Win Win and Super.

Well, that I did and, my role as marketing manager aside, they were both pretty darn good. I highly recommend you check out both.

But I gotta say, Super isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s rather dark, and if realistic on-screen violence isn’t your thing, well… then you should see Win Win instead (but note, both are very well done films, if I do say so myself).

You should go see these films. You’ll be glad you did. Also, in the very near future, I promise to once again blog about topics other than films playing at SteelStacks!

Much love,

-Jon

When traveling to SteelStacks...

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:36:12 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

Since some of the streets at SteelStacks are being opened to the public for the first time, not all of them appear in all GPS/online map services.

So, to help get you where you need to go, we’ve prepared the following:

More details at http://www.artsquest.org/directions

SteelStacks opens Friday at 4pm

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:22:06 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’ Marketing Manager

Yep, the long wait will finally be over.

The ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks opens THIS FRIDAY at 4pm. Check out the opening week of films and free concerts.

The ArtsQuest Center opens next week!

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:29:00 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager

Things are moving at lightning-speed here at ArtsQuest, as we prepare to open the doors of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks to the public next Friday!

With that in mind, and in case you didn’t already hear, meet the first two feature films that will open the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas (on 4.15):

In addition to the features, we’ll be running some cool film programs, including:

Tuesday Film Discussion series
Thursday RockDocs
Revenge of the Late Night Horror Film (Fri & Sat)
Soundtrack Comes Alive (live bands in front of films)

Check it all out at http://www.artsquest.org/film

His dumb two cents

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:15:26 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager and film nerd.

A few week’s back we held a contest to win film passes for the entire year, for the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas (at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks).

We asked people to pick the Oscar winner for ten categories. Out of 700+ responses, only one person got all 10 right (that’s him below).

Now, with the opening of SteelStacks right around the corner, and armed with a year’s worth of free film passes, our contest winner is blogging about movies.

Check it: http://mydumbtwocents.com/

Cage the Elephant covers Adele... enough said

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 08:38:55 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager and CTE fan.

As a follow up to yesterday’s post, here’s another cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” This time by Cage the Elephant:

http://soundcloud.com/somekindofawesome/cage-the-elephant-rolling-in

John Legend covers Adele... enough said

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:07:00 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager and Adele fan

John Legend + Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” I have nothing to say (in a good way). Stop what you’re doing and listen to it:

John Legend - Rolling in the Deep (Adele Cover) by johnlegend

Why intern Jess likes country music

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:16:32 -0400

Posted by Jess Kasza, ArtsQuest’s marketing intern and proud country fan

Country Music.

I have come to find that those two words have the tendency to make people cringe. Others, such as myself, get excited to when they hear anyone talking about country music.

The thing is, country music isn’t shallow club music or something created solely by a computer. When you listen to Lady Gaga or Ke$ha (don’t get me wrong, I like me some Gaga now and then) it is just the same thing over and over again to beats created on garage band or something.

What I like about country is that for the most part the songs have heart and a purpose. Gags and Ke$h may play to the intoxicated college kid but country music applies to real life people and problems. And, despite common belief, not all country music is going to lull you to sleep with slow melodies and painful tunes.

So next time instead of turning on Bruno Mars or the newly revamped Black Eyed Peas (my ears even hurt during the Super bowl and I’m 20, I can’t imagine what poor John Madden was thinking) try some Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert or Steve Azar (5.4 at the Musikfest Cafe) instead!

Test your inner film geek.

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:50:09 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager and Netflix champion… whatever that means.

We’re opening a cinema at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks… next month. To celebrate, I’ve been delving into my inner film geek.

So, with that in mind, in today’s post I’m not going to try to be profound. I’m not going to try to be funny. I’m only going to share with you what is bound to be your new favorite obsession: Famous Objects From Classic Films.

http://famousobjectsfromclassicmovies.com/

The following post has been approved for all audiences

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:16:17 -0400

-Posted by Jon Lunger, ArtsQuest’s Marketing Manager and hater of burnt popcorn

FACT: I love those crazy, new-fangled motion pictures.

It’s true. Given the luxury of no responsibilities and unlimited resources, I like to think I would see every film released. Ever.

So, you can imagine my glee that the SteelStacks project involves a new home for independent, documentary, foreign and scientific film- The Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas (at the ArtsQuest Center).

I have it on great authority that in addition to regular feature-film programming, the cinemas are going to play home to some wicked cool special programming on a weekly basis. More on that to come very soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to share the following film geek-ery with you:

Meet “If You Watch it Backwards,” a blog dedicated to explaining what movies (tv shows and other things) would be like if you watched them backwards. Example:

“If you watch The King’s Speech backwards, it’s about a speech therapist who teaches King George how to stammer uncontrollably while speaking in public.” - Source, “If You Watch it Backwards”

If you read this blog backwards, it doesn’t make much sense. Also, you probably have too much time on your hands.