In a post to his blog, Emilio had this to say:

“In conjunction with the World Basketball Festival, Nike Sportswear is connecting the Five Boroughs of New York City in a celebration of its iconic Air Force 1 sneaker.

Nike Sportswear has chosen five ambassadors from each of the five boroughs. The Five Borough ambassadors include rapper, songwriter and producer Theophillus London from Brooklyn; up and coming rapper Miss Banks from Harlem; Rapper and Young Money record artist Corey Gunz from the Bronx; Format, a BMX lifestyle store and crew led by Nigel Sylvester, from Queens; and from Staten Island— host of the longest running show on WSIA in New York, Emilio Sparks.

Each ambassador will document his or her memories of growing up in each borough in unique pieces of content. (Via EmilioSparks.com)”

The Trailer for this project can be seen below.

“The Van Duzer-Beach Street district in Stapleton is home to a thriving and growing community of more than a thousand artists. Recognized as the counter-cultural center of Staten Island, it has become a notable hub for live music and an incubator for new bands and innovative projects. The neighborhood attracts visual and performance artists, photographers, film makers, literati, and everything in between.”

(via VanDuzerDays site)

This Saturday marks the second-annual Van Duzer Days festival. A summer full of Saturday festivities including music, dancing, demonstrations, arts, crafts, food, and anything and everything creative that this curiously creative stretch of land has to offer.

The complete summer schedule is as follows:

The Delay are a local Indie-Rock band that have released five EPs, a remastered Best-Of, and are currently working on a new LP. Prolific as they are, this is one band that has the chops to pull it off.

With a style constantly in-flux, there’s something for everybody to like about The Delay.

Members include John Biscuti (guitar), Mike Parascandola (drums), Nick Noto (vocals, guitar), Dave Stagno (bass), and A.J. Parascandola (guitar).

On The Rough Draft EP, the band are in their most-accessible form. The crunchy guitars at their most streamlined. Melodies akin the mid-2000’s Bloc Party fare.

On The Loose Keys EP, you can hear the band at their rawest. They come off like the local garage band that draws a crowd; easy to get into yet surprisingly complex in song structure.

On The Maroose EP, the band is at their most-creative thus far; working to blend their raw sound with sharper melodies than before. While not AS accessible as The Rough Draft EP, it serves as a perfect sampler to guage your willingness to dig deeper into their catalog.

On The Loose Ends EP, the band breaks into a tinge of Dance-Rock territory, ala local band Paragraph, with some funky guitar work meshing with the drum beats like some kind-of musical soft-serve for your ears.

Finally, The Bloom EP sets the tone for a more-acoustic affair. Showing the listener the range this band has come to possess, making the future prospects of the aforementioned LP that much more exciting.

Hearing all of these EPs or taking the fast track and downloading their Best-Of album, “Unpopular Culture” should give you a sense of how far this band has come in the past five years and how much expectation there should be surrounding their forthcoming LP.

All EPs can be downloaded for FREE at TheDelayMusic.com

The veteran Saturday Night Live actor is set to be interviewed as part of local talk show host Jay Miller’s “Mid Evenings” show tonight at Snug Harbor’s VMH Playhouse.

Forte (no relation) joins NYC comic staple Nick Turner as well as national headliner Kevin Brennan (Letterman, Conan) for a show especially-heavy on the laughs.

Best head over HERE and grab your tickets fast. This will arguably be the best Mid-Evenings show so far and hopefully lead to bigger-profile names, as the program has been attaining since it’s inception in the Summer of 2008 with writers from SNL, Late Night, and Colbert, among the ranks alongside local legends such as Phil from Gino’s and the Puerto Rican Van guy.

From performing in the back of Martini Red, to the rooftops of Van Duzer, and now it’s current home at Snug Harbor, I wouldn’t be surprised if Miller and Co. were soon seen holding court on the regular at UCB Theater in Manhattan.

Some bands fit into their niche in the musical world like a glove. Others make a hard-left and rebel against their perceived type. The Seconds land somewhere in that sweet middle spot.

To many different people, The Seconds could be many different things.

Some might hear the everyman musical daydreams of Bruce Springsteen, while others a tinge of Country, while still others might detect an 80’s Underground-Replacements-by-way-of-New-Wave vibe.

All of those people would be right.

On their upcoming debut full-length “Slip Away,” the title track itself is a prime example of this band’s ability to seamlessly adhere musical convergence with a continual flow of familiarity. Bringing you into their world expecting one thing and then twisting it just enough to satisfy you in ways similar bands wouldn’t bother to try, yet never overcooking any of their original formula.

The Seconds consist of local singer/songwriter The John on vocals and acoustic guitar, Joe Pecora on electric guitar, Joe Patches on drums and glockenspiel, and Mike McDonnell on Bass.

The extremely detailed and lush production was handled by Pecora at his own Red Room Studio on Forest ave. An on-the-rise production facility created by him and quickly rising in stature as other local acts such as the Wahoo Skiffle Crazies and Les Vinyl have recently had professional-grade albums produced, mixed, and mastered there, all by the same guy.

On their new release, no moment is wasted. Everyone gets their time to shine and the production captures all of it in just the right doses.

The Seconds are a band quickly rising to the top and you’d be wise to follow them in the coming weeks when their debut album is released for the masses to finally get a sharp first look at The Seconds.

This Friday night, local rock outfit Altered Perception will be celebrating the release of their first studio-recorded EP by playing Rhythm & Brews at 10pm.

According to their Myspace:

“[Altered Perception are a band] with a radio friendly sound, not typical of most local original bands.”

Talk about throwing-down the gauntlet. While select local bands revel in being abstract and experimental, Altered Perception seem absolutely giddy about having a more easy-to-digest sound.

Call them the anti-anti-mainstream, if you will.

A band surrounded by roads of twists and turns, albeit intriguing ones, banking on people wanting something straightforward and catchy to the ears.

Red Hot Chili Peppers front-man Anthony Kiedis once described the making of a good album as a “concise, straight-to-the-point, old-fashioned Beatles kind of record–eleven songs that you can enjoy during your lunch break.”

This band has five songs (snack break?).

For the past few months, local artists Brendan Coyle and Amanda Curtis have literally opened their home to the public once a month to present art showcases and bring awareness of the monthly art-walk they helped create.

“Second Saturdays” was created by the pair of fledgling local artists as a happening in it’s purest state. A reason, as it were, for tourists coming from off the ferry to stick around, just as much as it is also an excuse for native Islanders to get out and experience a multitude of artistic exposure in a manner not seen on Staten Island in a long while.

The day-long event, in it’s simplest explanation, consists of several local locales (listed below) playing host to a multitude of artists, painters, poets, musicians, and filmmakers showcasing their goods for the public eye and, in many cases, their interaction.

What started as a humble art display with few locations participating has grown in six short months into an event involving 19 different locations and dozens of presenters, curators, artists, etc.

Word is that NYCTV will even be on hand to film the festivities.

Any time someone from SI can get NYC press to take notice is a good time indeed.

June 9th Second Saturday Listings:

Doorway

Musical Acts: Artankers Convoy (Brooklyn, Social Registry),Aerosols (San Francisco), Ron Wax (The Liars, Mercy Rule, No Things)

The Laundromat Project

Against Da Grill

33Cent

mandymachine/ Mandy Morrison

Curator: Mandy Morrison

100 Stuyvesant Pl. 1G (next to entrance)

Installation by Irina Danilova of Project 59, Brooklyn

6-9PM

Atelier De Merz

This week, the SI Film Festival wrapped up and presented it’s awards for various categories including Best Director, Short, Cinematography, and Local Film.

According to the SI Advance:

For several of the filmmakers, last night was a clear sign that they should keeping following their dreams. Gabriella Loutfi of Richmond won the award for Best New Filmmaker for her short, “Apartment 7.” The 22-year-old enrolled in the New York Film Academy after graduating from Fordham University.

“I was a little scared to go into film because I knew there’s sacrifices. But I went ahead 500 percent and look at me now,” she said, beaming. “This is like out of this world for me.”

And the complete list of winners is:

Best Picture: “The Crimson Mask”;
Audience Choice Feature: “Cropsey”;
Audience Choice Short: “Waiting for…Budd”;
Best Director: Elizabeth Page for “The Pilgrim”;
Best Actress: Maria Rusolo in “Withdrawl”;
Best Actor: Trevor St. John in “The Art of Getting Over It”;
Best Suspense and Thriller: “Mourning on Charlotte Street”;
Best Comedic Feature: “Randal and Simon’s Big Damn Movie”;
Best Documentary Feature: “Warrior Champions”;
Best Dramatic Feature: “Friends and Lovers”;
Best New Filmmaker: Gabriella Loutfi for “Apartment 7″;
Best Documentary Short: “M.U.R.A.L.”;
Best Comedic Short: “Me, Myself and Your Husband”;
Best Dramatic Short: “The Happy High Laughter Club”;
Best Short: “The New True, Charlie Wu”;
Best Staten Island Local Film: “17 to Midnight”;
Best Short Screenplay: “Chase Thompson, A Film by Chase Thompson”;
Best Feature Screenplay: “The Scientist”;
Best Cinematography “Chase Thompson, A Film by Chase Thompson” and
Best Film Editing: “The Crimson Mask.”

The event overall was the highest-attended year for the film festival, securing it’s place as a future Island staple for years to come.

Even NY1 gave the festival some press, with a profile of the winners for “Best Local Film,” “17 To Midnight.”

Ciick the pic to watch:

According to their Myspace:

“Formed out of the boredom of St. John’s University, Burnt Youth’s sound is the creative genius of Tony, Chaps, Schnapps, and Parmo. Together they have created catchy songs that will both rock you and entertain you. From the witty songs of a beach side “get-a-way” to the melodic songs of revenge of past lovers, they offer a variety of musical styles to be embraced.”

A pretty accurate summation of their sound and attitude.

Burnt Youth are a band constantly in musical flux. In a good way. Always moving, creating, and using their imaginations.

A tactic that lesser bands would go crazy with and tread into Weird Al territory of silliness, Burnt Youth are fun, yet restrained. They revel in adding to a party atmosphere (see: “Beer Pong Battleship”) while at the same time having the musical chops to create catchy hook-driven Pop-Rock songs (see: “Girl Down The Hall”).

Others have taken notice too. The band has recently garnered airplay on 101.9 WRXP via DJ Rich Russo, who himself has interesting ties to the SI music scene.

Burnt Youth will be performing this Saturday night at Dock Street along with Last Minute, starting at 10pm, doors open at 9, admission is $10 (with a $25 Open Bar that gets you in for free). It will be a prime chance to see this band in action and get a real sense of how technically great they are at instrumentation while enjoying their intriguing and atmosphere-catalyzing lyrics.

Listen: Myspace.com/BurntYouth18

June 5, 6, 12, and 13 mark the third annual Art By The Ferry grass roots festival.

The festival presents Visual Arts, Live Music, Performance Art, Street Performances, Crafts, Literary Readings, Children’s Workshops, Circus Performances,  and more.

Here are all the details you need to know:

“VISUAL ARTS VENUES” Building 11 at The Lighthouse Plaza (enter at 1 Bay Street), ART at Bay Gallery at 70 Bay St., Fishs Eddy at 139 Bay St., E.T.G Café at 208 Bay St.

“MUSIC VENUES”: Main Stage at Lighthouse Plaza (enter at 1 Bay Street), Overlook Stage by 911 Memorial Monument (near the SI Yankee’s Ball Field), ART at Bay Gallery – Soloists

“PERFORMANCE & WORKSHOP VENUES” Lighthouse Plaza enter at 1 Bay Street, Overlook at the 911 Memorial Monument near the SI Yankee’s Ball Field, Fishs Eddy at 139 Bay Street, E.T.G Cafe at 208 Bay Street, On the grass by the 911 Memorial (Bank Street), Show Gallery at 156 Stuyvesant Place.

Festival Admission is free,  donations are encouraged. Workshops are $5 per person.

For complete info, go to http://www.statenislandcreativecommunity.org