In An Arts Essence~ Off of Jamaica Ave.

On Tuesday, as the moon gradually crept from behind the clouds, the artistic New York City community sparkled of ‘Art, Food and Soul’. A nice crew of artists gathered for an open mic in the heart of downtown Jamaica, Queens. The event featured vocalist, spoken word and visual artists, and host Henry ‘Distinguish’. Humorously, he introduced talents to the stool.

 ‘Spit Fiya’, presented by Samantha Inniss and Jessie ‘Cypha’ Bowers was held at a petite art gallery. Cypha, curator a Gallery 161, measured it up as being the “forefront of the community.” The venue, shadowed by menageries of commercial, wholesale, retail and front rented structures, regularly acts as an outlet of creative expression for the arts. 

Outside of the gallery there was a convergence of enthusiasts chitchatting up aural ingredients from “back in the days” to “sugar loaded cereal boxes” which included enticing toys. Polite tones echoed “to lure children into a lifestyle of poor eating habits,” from a dread brother supporting a cased instrument on his back. As his wise, geeky pitch subconsciously rose to compete with the passing car vibrations of Rick Ross, we laughed. “Child stuffing McDonald’s fries,” he commented, made no ‘picture perfect’ sense but witted those listening.

On the inside, colorful trays of fruit, vegetables, and little pinwheel sandwiches were sold for donation prices. Water, wine, and a sparkling beverage called ‘Izze’ balanced the ambiance; adding to the nature of the night. Attire was casual and more or less your trendy, ‘Urban Outfitter’ with a shot of extra soul. Hip-hop cultured high-top ‘Gumby’s’, locks, ‘fro-hawks’, and low-fades flavored the artists personalities.

African-American modern-folk art colored the white spaces of the illumined wall. The artist, Kareem ‘Inf’ Hayes showcased his paintings depicting faces, bodies, earth, wind, flames, graves, skeletons and serpents. In the midst of a rich, black, grave background stood a rich dark brown Soul mother carrying implicit notice.  ‘Inf’ did not attend but visually his statement was silently telling.
 Poets and lyricists with bars and beats, left the audience fully “plugged in and tuned out,” as in one of the hooks of closing feature performer and artist ‘Sosoon’.

19 year old Taylor Pickett-Stokes introduced a spontaneous stage name ‘Soulful T’, upon her unexpected opening performance. She kicked two acapella verses of Jill Scott’s ‘A Long Walk’ before an unanticipated poem fluidly drew listeners closer to her emotions.


           

“Who I used to be… caused me to go blind every day,” Soulful T harmoniously expressed.  The man portrayed in the framed portrait on the wall sat right to the rear peripheral of her vocal release.  The audience faced the flames of passion that abstracted the anonymous man in the relative painting.
Feature performer, Element an Apollo Finalist, poet and artist with the Nuyorican Poet’s Café “went in”. His polished lines were as clean as his sharp cut, suited look. However, he got dirty when he spoke of the ‘South Jamaica Aphrodisiac’, where he referred to HIV and himself as “a condom in reverse.”  With sex ad’s avidly running wild and cigarettes being New York City’s new expressive assault, his poem promoting safe sex lit on a topic that momentarily has become a 'V', for “vintage” faction.

“Support and show love,” Cypha urged the attendees to continue supporting the creative arts and music in Jamaica, Queens. He brought notice to its going through a commercial metamorphosis’. Applebee’s may be the first sign of this “new and improved” downtown tang. However, “we are the geniuses,” he stated, “realize that they come into the hood to copy write our styles.” On Thursday, June 9, 2011 ‘Private Beauty’, by Jocelyn M. Goode, “a new series of nudes on paper” will be premiered at Gallery 161.  

Poet, Chris Slaughter asked in one of his poems, “when is it ever okay to live invisible?” His prose in perpetual motion led to the direction of responding “never!” Staying involved with the children, creative expression and the community is always a good way to penetrate positive social awareness.