Web Safe 2k16

May 23, 2021 Ben Sisto

2/16/16 — 9/18/16

HTML Version - Twitter

“Web Safe 2k16 is a literary/graphic project exploring our memories of the pre-broadband Internet and related technologies. The project uses Lynda Weinman’s Web Safe color palette as a field of reference constraining a large and heterogeneous archive of personal recollections: 216 authors write 216 words each, inspired by a specific color in the web safe range.” - Jo Livingston

BenSisto · Web Safe 2k16, Live, Brooklyn Book Festival, 2016

Live Events:

Web Safe 2k16 at 64 Bits, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, 30 March - 21 April 2017

Web Safe 2k16 Live in London, 21 March 2017, Ace Hotel, Shoreditch

Web Safe 2k16 Live in Boston, November 19, 2016, PRX Podcast Garage

Web Safe 2k16 Live in New York, September 18, 2016, Brooklyn Book Festival

Bingo

May 22, 2021 Ben Sisto

Ben and Lee Sisto at Russell Janis in Brooklyn, New York. The exhibit features a handful of works on paper, mostly made with bingo markers and crayons. Ben is 40, Lee is 2.5. Reception June 26, 2020 from 11am - 12pm.

Smash the 'Stache!

December 26, 2020 Ben Sisto

Information related to Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson of Massachusetts.

Silent Partners

July 8, 2020 Ben Sisto

Silent Partners provides monthly $1,000 grants to Black Brooklyn-based artists & Movement workers. Funds are donated by anonymous white partners, and all top-level decisions are made by a panel of Black leaders.

Free SVG 12”

March 25, 2020 Ben Sisto

Free SVG 12” is a one-off record I pressed featuring music from James Corrigan and Adrian Michna. It was produced based on a prompt from Bait / Switch, a Boston-based arts publication with an exquisite-corpse style of offering prompts and assignments. The final work is the record’s listing page on discogs.com

Sans Neutrality

February 24, 2020 Ben Sisto

Sans Neutrality is a set of two fonts, NetNeu Sans & NetNeu Serif. They are fairly standard except that the letters A, E, I, K, L, N, O, R, T, U, W, and Y—those used to spell “Network Neutrality”—have been removed.

Sans Neutrality was produced by an anonymous font-world friend, and the respective versions are based on Adobe Source Sans Pro, designed by Paul D. Hunt, and Source Serif Pro, designed by Frank Grießhammer. The text up top is by poet and NEA fellow Danniel Schoonebeek.

Click here to download NetNeu Sans

Click here to download NetNeu Serif

Like the free font? Consider making a donation in any amount to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Dual 56k

January 28, 2020 Ben Sisto

In 2009, Dual 56k (Matt Boch and Ben Sisto) were commissioned by Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA to create a DJ / VJ performance for one of their outdoor program afterparties. At that time, a new series of Sol LeWitt works had just been installed so we thought to use them in our video. Wearing chroma-key suits, we spent a few hours recording video of “performance art like movements” in front of LeWitt pieces, much to the confusion and amusement of unsuspecting museum guests. Later, I DJ’d and Matt worked our clips into a video montage projected above the dance floor. Maybe not a critical moment in high-art discourse, but it was a super fun, playful day.

Some of these photos / video were shot by Natalie LaChall. The song playing in the video’s by U.V. Protection.

Material Works

December 16, 2019 Ben Sisto

Material Works was a draft of an idea—sort of a way to imagine new works of art by repurposing audio recordings describing those which already exist. This was back in 2009 and I was starting to think about generative art; future AIs rendering works, etc. I noticed that MoMA had audio recordings of many works from their collection up on their website for the benefit of the visually impaired, and at the time the mp3s were freely downloadable. Because the narrators speak in a clear, deliberate tone and at a slower pace, the files are very easy to chop up and paste back together as you’d like. Two examples:

I like these little projects because they are free to make and allow new works to exist without actually using much in the way of physical resources. I do consider the final audio pieces to be sculptures / installations of sorts. Here’d a demo I made with Audacity, which is free.

Where to Find Source Audio:

I last checked (12/16/19) and it seems the descriptions for many works are still online via MoMA’s site. The player itself no longer allows for a fast right-click style download but if you just open up the page source they are pretty easy to find. If you have no idea what that means, it’s not complicated. In Chrome click View / Developer / View Source. In the new tab that pops up, just search for “mp3” and you should find a link you can right-click on to save the audio. I haven’t checked other major arts institutions but I bet a lot are out there.

Rights & Usage

The original audio here is the property of MoMA. I am making a modest Fair Use claim given the following. First, the resulting works have no negative impact on MoMA’s finances or reputation. From each recording I am using a relatively small portion of the whole, and regarding Substantiality I'd say none of them are at the heart of a given recording. Regarding the transformative nature of the work: I may not be using the audio in completely new or unexpected ways, but am modifying them enough to be considered distinct from the originals. If / when you make your own Material Works, consider all this and from where you want to download source audio. I am not maintaining any (C) or anything on this idea, title, etc. Material Works is a suggestion.

If you make your own, please email me as I’d love to hear them!

Header image of MoMA's interior by Wikipedia user Ingfbruno. Added on April 36, 2013, CC-BY-SA

Punk Rock Flea Market

April 16, 2019 Ben Sisto

Punk Rock Flea Market started with about 20 vendors in the Mass Art gym in 2002. Over the next 6 years I’d organize ten of these, growing to about 80 vendors and with turnouts of about 800 at peak. We usually charged $1 to get in and have the money to a local cause or 501c3. Vendors rented tables more or less at-cost and everyone would pitch in to help set up, break down and it sort of just ran itself. People sold clothing, records, crafts, snacks and sometimes actual trash.

Above: The first PRFM’s took place in the Mass Art gym

Above: Truth Serum Productions sold gender-queered vintage.

Above: Vendor Seth Davis with VHS tapes, art supplies, amps and more.

Above: Mark from Neptune on the DJ decks

Some of the vendors from the last two PRFMs:

Action Geek Comics, Alex Dakoulas Design, Anna Gurowsky, Apenest, Beautiful World Syndicate, Birdhead Design, Boomerangs, Boomerangs (Kris 2), brandwashed, Child of the 80s, corleone records, Country Records, Crusty Tim's World of Sketch, Distro.y Clothing, DIY BDSM, Eric Shaw Design, Evil Design, Galactic Fractures, Good Vintage, Hope Through Health, Jaffney Jaynes Take Away The Pain, Julie A Designs, Kendra Smith, Athena, Lindsay Crudel (Split), Kevin Driscoll, Kris P (personal table), KTT Shirts, Lady Cougars Art Gang, Laurel Kirtz, Lindsay (Adrian), Little Flower Designs, Lucy Parsons Center, Manimal, Poppycock Design, Rachel Small, Regeneration Records, Repeat Clothing, Replacement for James, Roslin Rags, S. Knitty Designs, Seth Davis, Shut Up Clothing, Sibling Rivalry, Sticks and Stones, Tater Print, Teenage Disco Bloodbath, The BLCC, Trash Art!, Truth Serum Productions, Vaya Bags, Velocicrafter, What Cheer?!

Above: Classic sidewalk scene. Nokia phone and all.

Above: Jonah from Teenage Disco Bloodbath Records

When I decided to close up shop, Lindsay Metiver took the idea and ran with it organizing an offshoot called Mass Market, and I believe this turned into Black Market with Dan Shea’s Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts project. A lot of the vendors have gone on to be successful artists, tattoo artists, musicians, shop owners and small business operators too. Maybe one of my favorite events I’ve done.

nationalportraitgallery.us

April 15, 2019 Ben Sisto

12.19.10, NYC – Protestors demonstrating against the Smithsonian’s decision.

In November of 2010, G. Wayne Clough of the Smithsonian bowed to pressure from the conservative right and anti-gay groups and removed a video piece (A Fire in My Belly) by artist David Wojnarowicz from the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition Hide/Seek. The decision drew sharp criticism form other museums, The New York Times, artists, LGBTQ groups and their allies and museum patrons.

On Christmas day a few weeks later, I got a gift of $100. I turned and gave it to my brother, a skilled computer programmer, and asked him to replicate the National Portrait Gallery’s website as closely as possible and host it on two domains I’d just bought, nationalportraitgallery.net and nationalportraitgallery.us.

The sites were identical … membership and donation links, museum info, the works … except that I’d placed the censored A Fire in My Belly video front and center, along with a list of resources about related protests, response works and so on. The site was live on December 27th and the following press release was issued on January 1st, 2011:

Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery
Eighth and F Streets, NW, D.C., 20001
(202) 633-8300

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

01/01/11

Dear Valued Patron,

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is proud to present a special online-only screening of A Fire In My Belly by David Wojnarowicz. This presentation of the original 13-minute silent version has been made possible by the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York.
A Fire in My Belly is a surrealistic video collage filmed in Mexico which expresses the suffering, marginalization and physical decay of those afflicted with AIDS. Wojnarowicz uses religious imagery in the tradition of art that uses such imagery to universalize human suffering.
A Fire In My Belly will not return to the Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibition itself. The Secretary of the Smithsonian, The Secretary for History, Art and Culture and The National Portrait Gallery Director in collaboration with exhibition curators have taken great time to consider the requests of both supporters and opponents of the work's display, and feel this compromise is fair.

Please be warned that the video may be considered graphic or offensive to some viewers.

To view A Fire in My Belly, please visit our website:
http://www.nationalportraitgallery.us

For further information, please contact the National Portrait Gallery:
natportgal@gmail.com

The project got some traction, mainly on art-fan blogs but did break through a few more mainstream outlets:

“After outraging the art world, several of its funders, and a giant chunk of its constituency with its fatal decision to remove David Wojnarowicz’s “Fire in My Belly” from the National Portrait Gallery’s “Hide/Seek” show, the Smithsonian has chosen to respond to its critics in a dramatic, and rather odd, fashion: instead of returning the work to the exhibition, the institution has turned the National Portrait Gallery’s Web site into an all-Wojnarowicz-all-the-time resource center, complete with a “special online-only screening” of the original 13-minute long version of “Fire in My Belly.” - BLOUIN ARTINFO

Huffington Post reported on my website, but later corrected the article. The updated story is on view here.

I can’t find an archived link, but Jerry Saltz also wrote on a blog somewhere that he thought the museum’s decision to show the video on their website didn’t go far enough.

Here are some of the related articles my site collected:

David Wojnarowicz's A Fire in My Belly Comes to L.A.

...Potentially unconstitutional censorship by the Smithsonian

Video Art Removed From Smithsonian Is Showing In Hartford

Hide/Seek Protest in New York

New Yorkers Protest Smithsonian Censorship

Press Release for ICA Boston Screeening

Hundreds Attend Wojnarowicz Censorship Protest in Manhattan

Smithsonian censorship yields solidarity in Chicago

Museums Jump In to Show Video Removed by Smithsonian

Canadian Museum Backs Smithsonian Protest

Portrait Gallery censorship: Mapplethorpe pulls funding, Bronson's art will stay

International Center for Photography (screening notes)

Offensive? ICA lets the public decide

Large crowd of Houston art lovers protest Smithsonian censorship...

Religion and art collide: 'Fire in my belly' at Smithsonian Institution

Fire in their belly

[Warhol] Foundation Says It’s Ending Smithsonian Support

Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian

'Fire' man: Wojnarowicz, censored by Smithsonian, sounded an alarm in dire times

Hammer Museum at UCLA (screening notes)

New Museum Installs Controversial Wojnarowicz Video...

Leaked Letter Shows Internal Tensions Over Smithsonian Censorship

A Fire in Her Belly: Penny Starr, the Conservative Activist Who Punked the Smithsonian

Bullying and Censorship

Smithsonian Institution Fails to Stand Up to Anti-gay Bullies

Video: Protesters Detained After Screening 'A Fire In My Belly' Inside National Portrait Gallery

Art Fag City coverage

Smithsonian Under Fire For Gay Portraiture Exhibit

...Banned From Smithsonian, Now Playing At The New Museum

Ant-covered Jesus video removed from Smithsonian after Catholic League complains

Press Release from PPOW Gallery

GOP Reps Blast Smithsonian Exhibit ...

National Portrait Gallery Bows to Censors...

U.S. Representative John Boehner Is Now a Curator

of Bits

April 15, 2019 Ben Sisto

Of Bits, PDF, 24” x 36” inkjet print on bond, 2010

In Marcus Boon’s In Praise of Copying, the author recalls a conversation with new-media theorist Julian Dibbell, who says:

“We tend to think of bits as these sort of atomic, on-or-off monads, but they are usually represented as two different voltage levels—1 being thus-and-such a voltage, 0 being another. And since there’s usually a gap between the levels, and large numbers of electrons involved in determining a given voltage, there’s lots of room for physical difference at the electron level between two digitally equivalent bits. Digital information really is nothing more or less than a form of writing. Just about any question you ask about bits can be illuminated by asking it about script, I find. So: “How different can two electronically coded 1’s be?” is sort of like asking how different two 1’s written on a page can be. The answer to the latter is: very different indeed, as the disciplines of typography, calligraphy, and handwriting analysis attest. The “invisibility” of electronic code makes it sort of opaque to these disciplines. But is it impossible to imagine that there might one day be a sort of calligraphy of the bit?”

I loved this ending phrase and began thinking of what a work titled Of Bits might look like. I decided on a study on the variations of period (.) symbols across all the fonts that came pre-loaded with the then-curren version of Open Office.

Burger Time

April 14, 2019 Ben Sisto

Playlab, Inc. asked me

to consider the burger for a burger-themed exhibition at A/D/O in Brooklyn. I produced a simple cypher in which English alphabet letters were represented by burger toppings. I was imagining a dystopian future where an underground resistance-type organization communicated in secret by creating complex custom burger orders at fast-food restaurants. One would get a burger with say the toppings Pepper, Applesauce and A1 sauce which represent the letters R, U and N and would be interpreted as a signal. I sent Playlab an email explaining all this and the turned it into a nice poster available for take-away from mobile wooden carts.

Additional Copy

LETTUCE APPLESAUCE PEPPER MUSTARD ONION PEPPER AVOCADO LATKE BACON ONION

LETTUCE APPLESAUCE PEPPER MUSTARD ONION PEPPER AVOCADO LATKE BACON ONION LATKE JALAPENO BUN 1982 BUN PEPPER CHEESE BUN TOMATO ONION MUSTARD BUN BACON ONION CHEESE PEPPER ONION BUN AVOCADO ONION TOMATO LETTUCE CHILI TOMATO BUN AVOCADO BUN ONION BUN JALAPENO AVOCADO LATKE A1 LATKE AVOCADO LATKE BUN AIOLI AIOLI CHILI KETCHUP PICKLE PEPPER LATKE AVOCADO JALAPENO TOMATO ONION CHEESE PICKLE CHEESE BUN JALAPENO JALAPENO ONION AVOCADO AVOCADO ONION JALAPENO CHILI JALAPENO AVOCADO ONION BACON AVOCADO MAYO ONION PATTY AIOLI BUN CHILI ONION PEPPER LATKE JALAPENO CHEESE MAYO ONION KETCHUP PATTY ONION AVOCADO ONION PEPPER PATTY ONION PATTY PATTY ONION PEPPER PESTO MAYO PICKLE BACON APPLESAUCE JALAPENO AVOCADO PESTO BUN AIOLI MUSHROOM PICKLE PINEAPPLE ONION PEPPER MAYO BUN BACON LETTUCE APPLESAUCE PEPPER MUSTARD ONION PEPPER LATKE A1 MUSTARD PEPPER ONION TOMATO LATKE ONION A1 AVOCADO JALAPENO AIOLI PICKLES CHEESE BUN AVOCADO ONION TOMATO BUN CHEESE PEPPER PICKLES JALAPENO JALAPENO BUN BACON BUN 1000 ISLAND ONION PICKLES KETCHUP PATTY AIOLI BUN AVOCADO KETCHUP PICKLE PEPPER BACON JALAPENO PESTO MAYO LATKE AIOLI ONION BUN PINEAPPLE PICKLE LATKE TOMATO LATKE A1 MUSTARD PATTY APPLESAUCE PEPPER JALAPENO APPLESAUCE LATKE A1 MUSTARD CHEESE MAYO BUN PEPPER BUN CHEESE AVOCADO ONION PEPPER JALAPENO AVOCADO MAYO ONION MUSTARD BUN BACON ONION JALAPENO PICKLE PEPPER LATKE MUSTARD LATKE A1 BUN AIOLI EGG BUN PATTY BUN A1 ONION JALAPENO ONION AVOCADO LATKE AVOCADO AIOLI ONION MAYO BUN BACON LETTUCE APPLESAUCE PEPPER MUSTARD ONION PEPPER PESTO BUN JALAPENO CHEESE MAYO BUN A1 MUSTARD ONION TOMATO AVOCADO PICKLE LETTUCE APPLESAUCE PEPPER MUSTARD ONION PEPPER AVOCADO LATKE BACON ONION LETTUCE ONION KETCHUP PICKLE PEPPER ONION LATKE AVOCADO JALAPENO LATKE A1 AVOCADO PEPPER PICKLE TOMATO APPLESAUCE CHEESE AVOCADO LATKE PICKLE A1 AVOCADO PICKLE AVOCADO MAYO ONION APPLESAUCE A1 LATKE AVOCADO ONION TOMATO JALAPENO AVOCADO BUN AVOCADO ONION JALAPENO

PESTO LATKE MUSHROOM LATKE PATTY ONION TOMATO LATKE BUN TOMATO PICKLE AVOCADO PICKLE PEPPER MUSTARD JALAPENO AIOLI BUN JALAPENO MAYO PESTO LATKE MUSHROOM LATKE JALAPENO AIOLI BUN JALAPENO MAYO LETTUCE APPLESAUCE PEPPER MUSTARD ONION PEPPER AVOCADO LATKE BACON ONION

LETTUCE ONION A1 JALAPENO LATKE JALAPENO AVOCADO PICKLE
PICKLE CHEESE ONION BUN A1 JALAPENO LATKE TOMATO ONION PICKLE PEPPER ONION MUSTARD PICKLE A1
BUN PATTY PEPPER LATKE AIOLI 2017

This project was commissioned by PLAYLAB, INC for A/D/O. Images taken from the PLAYLAB, INC website.

O.K.

April 14, 2019 Ben Sisto

O.K., Solo Show, Graduate School Gallery, Brooklyn, 2009

The show consisted of works I’d made while in Boston, most of which were informed by ideas around Creative Commons, the copy-left, hacking and word games. If I recall, I moved to NYC in 2008 and this show happened shortly after in 2009.

Above: Screwed Time, produced with Matt Boch. LCD display, Arduino board, cassette tape case. This was a clock that ran at half speed and every now and then ticked back one second. Made in tribute to DJ Screw.

Above: 20 One Copies. Spray-painted USB drives, ball-chain necklaces, mp3 files. I made twenty copies of the song One by Metallica and loaded them on to USB-drive necklaces and let people take them away.

Above: Take Two (versions). Take Two is a game I’d invented to produced novel two-word phrases / concepts based on lists of the most frequently occurring words in contemporary film and television. There have been a bunch of versions over the years but this was the first public showing.

^ Posters:Yearbook (2004), Typing Game (2004), Neutrality Sans (early version); photocopy prints on bond at 24” x 36”. Yearbook is a collection of signatures found in the first few years of Google Images / Image search; Typing Game is a game where you type “I typed this with my [body part of your choice];” Neutrality Sans is an alphabet set and font that’s standard except that it lacks the letters A, E, I, K, L, N, O, R, T, U, W and Y.

I also had some digital works running on a monitor including an early demo of 1x1x216.

Used Books

April 14, 2019 Ben Sisto

Used Books, Solo Show, Good Work Gallery, Brooklyn, 2014

Curated by Joshua Caleb Weibley. Works included were Doubles, Doublespace, Interaction of Interaction of Color, It’s the Ghost, Let’s Be Frank and Typo. There was an interview around the show via Electric Literature.

Taking nods from Conceptualism, and with a fondness for free culture and secondary markets, Ben Sisto’s work cuts —sometimes literally— through years of canonical figures from art history up to the present. The punningly descriptive title Used Books explains both the collected works’ methodology and sources: all materials on display have been purchased second-hand via online retailers (Albris, Abe Books, etc) and local shops (The Strand, Book Thug Nation, Spoonbill & Sugartown, etc).

While he is pleased to consider monetary offers for the works on display in this exhibition, Sisto insists they be viewed primarily as versions of affordable art anyone can collect and create.

Among the works in this exhibition, two address a Cagean non-static conception of repetition:

In the ongoing work Interaction of Interaction of Color Sisto seeks out all 28 print-runs of the 1979 revised edition of Joseph Albers’ seminal Interaction of Color (Yale). Presenting the copies collected thus far calls attention to minor discrepancies in the back-cover’s layout (a collage designed by Eva Hesse) which, along with the different copies’ yellowing and wear, constitute the piece’s titular “interaction.”

With Pair, Sisto playfully applies the same treatment to two copies of a Roni Horn exhibition catalog. When offset slightly (vertically), Horn’s original apparently near-identical sculptures intended for exhibition in separate rooms now appear in the same expanded space.

The public is invited to view these works and others at a reception for the artist March 7th from 7-10pm.

Joshua Caleb Weibley
Brooklyn, NY 2014

Pressure Burns

April 14, 2019 Ben Sisto

Pressure Burns is a collection of papers used for books that were initially bleached for whiteness. As decades pass, lignin, the natural binder in the wood pulp, oxidizes changing the color of the page from white to yellow or brown. These selections bring attention to random pressure marks created by years of stacking or shelving the books.

Dynasty

April 13, 2019 Ben Sisto

Dynasty was an indie dance party I threw over the span of maybe two years in the early 2000s. It started as a one-off party at The Milky Way with DJs Joseph Colbourne and John Anderson and had decorations from the Dearraindrop collective. The Dynasty logo is a modification of type on the cover of Janet Jackson’s Nasty 12”. Over it’s run there were a handfull of DJs: Andrew Gaspar, Comfortable Matt, Just Luke and some guests like Tommy and Knife from Marinate. Bands included Chromeo, Boyskout, UV Protection, Squids, Chinese Stars, Noxagt, Mahi Mahi, SPF Alot and San Serac. It was super freeform with DJs going from boogie to indie to Aftobeat to garage rock to Italo – but all from the 70s and 80s.

Above: Some of Dynasty’s photocopy handbills and newspaper ads.

Above: Some more silk-screen posters. Local artists would often ask to make artwork for the night.

From top left: DJ Andrew G, Laurel the Baton Twirler, DJ Comfortable Matt, Mahi Mahi, a turntable, Squids, DJ Joseph Colbourne and partygoer Evan, SPF ALOT and a shot from a NYE party:

Color

April 9, 2019 Ben Sisto

In early 2000s Boston, Joseph Colbourne and I worked on an indie dance party together for a bit called Dynasty. Towards the end, he was digging more into Italo, disco, funk, soul and boogie and wanted to have a more explicitly queer/friendly space, so we transitioned into a new project called COLOR. Short-lived but super fun, at The Milky Way in Jamaica Plain.

Some of Joseph’s promo mixes for COLOR:

Coco 66

April 8, 2019 Ben Sisto

I ran Coco 66—a bar and venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn—for a super short time in 2010, but in that time had a lot of fun. As this was the first venue I full-on ran myself, I started by forming an advisory board of new friends who were helping me learn the NYC ropes:

Carlos Giffoni (No Fun Productions)
Diane Haines (BRIC Arts, Celebrate Brooklyn)
Tammy Hart (Sound Fix Records, Rooftop Films)
Nick Hallett (Composter, performer, curator)
Maria Porcaro (Freelance event producer)
Matt Thornley (LCD Soundsystem)

Below are some posters and shows from the nights I had the most fun at:

02.06.10 - These Are Powers (Record Release) w/ Bird Names
02.10.10 - Swamp Tease. Ancestral Diet, Ambergris, Swamp Tease
02.21.10 - Soft Circle, Keepaway
02.26.10 - Drop the Lime
02.28.10 - Sun Araw, No Fun Acid, Human Teenager, Oneohtrix Point Never
03.17.10 - Cinema 16
03.18.10 - Nautical Almanac
03.23.10 - Josh Slater: It Never Changed (zine release)
03.25.10 - The Netherlands
03.26.10 - Gatekeeper, Mirror Mirror, Blondes
03.27.10 - Heavy Hands, Organs, The Men
03.28.10 - Upstairs CD-R Showcase (Autre Ne Veut + others)
04.02.10 - Honey Spundsystem
04.03.10 - CHERYL
04.06.10 - Growing (Record Release), Eric Copeland
04.08.10 - Supershow
04.09.10 - Maluca, Miho Hatori, Turbotax DJs, The Captain
04.23.10 - No Fun presents Ikue Mori, Leslie Keffer, Noveller, Okyyung Lee and MV Carbon, Mi and Or the Pedestals
04.25.10 - Upstairs CD-R night
04.26.10 - Delorean (secret late show)
04.29.10 - Death Unit, Northampton Wools, Regression, Spykes, Dog Lady
04.29.10 - Bizarre Evil (party w/ Todd Pendu, Lauren Dillard, 20Jazzfunkgreats)
04.30.10 - No Fun Acid
05.01.10 - Bad Credit No Credit
05.07.10 - Sleigh Bells, Mr. Dream, DJ Rezound (presented by Seva and Tammy)
05.14.10 - Ghostly International Party
05.16.10 - Silver Apples, Burning Star Core
05.20.10 - Debo Band
05.29.10 - CLONE Records party

Some audio. Not all the best quality, but nice for memories if you were there:

A bunch of people also did DJ sets in the front / bar room. Among them are Bryce Hackford (above, left) and Cassie Ramone (right) who did the nights 45sON33 and Surf’s Up. Matt Thornley from LCD Soundsystem did Friday nights, and I know Bobbi Lupo, Alex Pirroiz, Sarah Richardson, James Corrigan, Joe B, Dan and Dana (PONY) and Thomas S all had nights but I can’t recall when.

Some photos I took of Coco after we moved the sound booth, cleaned up, etc:

A batch of drawings was purchased from illustrator Suzy Coady to be used on the venue’s website, eFlyers, etc but we never really had the chance. One is up top here.

Et cetera

April 3, 2019 Ben Sisto

Et cetera (2012) was a week of arm wrestling, robot sex, feminist critiques, drones, queer librarians, conceptual and non-conceptual art, journalism, book readings, bands and parties at Public Assembly in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I’d been programming the venue as to be very centered on bands, DJs and typical nightclub stuff—this was a way to mix it up.

Asahi Beer gave us a LOT of free beer. The L Magazine was our media partner.
Time Out New York (article), Brooklyn Vegan (preview post)

These images are quite poor, sorry! But if you squint you will see Emma Straub, Stephin Merritt, Ira Glass and others on stage together. Maybe Rachel Dratch somewhere, too!

Et Cetera Events:

Click on any event to read the original description.

Presented by Tumblr & Moleskin
Sunday Sept 16th 2012, 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM, Front Room, All Ages, Free
eatsleepdraw.com, tumblr.com, moleskineus.com
EatSleepDraw was created on December 7th, 2007, and has become the largest user submitted blog on Tumblr. EatSleepDraw believes in quality over quantity and doesn’t think of itself as a blog, it’s more than that. It’s a finely curated art gallery. They publish art about once every hour, 24 hours a day, Everyday. So come on our and celebrate the numbers with us (200,000+ followers, 500,000+ page-views monthly), grab some paper, and get drawing.
Sean McBride and Liz Wendelbo
Plus a DJ set from ARP

Presented by LQQK
Sunday September 16th 2012, 8:00 PM, Back Room, All Ages, Free
xenoandoaklander.com
LQQK.org
studioalexisgeorgopoulos.com
Sean McBride (Martial Canterel) and Liz Wendelbo are in the band Xeno & Oaklander. They are a Brooklyn based minimal electronics girl/boy duo, and began in 2004. They play analogue synthesizers exclusively. In this lecture they talk about the analogue synthesizer as the new folk instrument. The lecture is followed by a gear demo that shows that there is freedom in the minimum.
Alexis Georgopoulos is a NYC-based composer & artist. As ARP, he makes liminal, minimal music, often with analog synthesizers. He’s a member of the groups THE ALPS (Type/Mexican Summer) and Q&A (DFA), has performed internationally, and has been presented by CHANEL, The Kitchen, PS1, Goethe–Institut, Deitch Projects, MoMA (SF), New Museum, White Columns, etc.
With Tumblr, Electric Literature, The New Inquiry, The Los Angeles Review of Books
Monday September 17th 2012, 7:00 PM, Front Room, 21+, Free

tumblr.com, electricliterature.com, thenewinquiry.com, lareviewofbooks.org, brooklynbookfestival.org
Read them everywhere, meet them in Brooklyn! Three top web-based literary publications (and Tumblr super-users) invite you to meet your internet friends in person for chatting, drinking, and dancing to kick off the most bookish week in Brooklyn. Guest DJs and free drink specials enhance the East Coast vs. West Coast faceoff, and everybody wins!
The Brooklyn Book Festival is the largest free literary event in New York City, presenting an array of national and international literary stars and emerging authors. One of America’s premier book festivals, this hip, smart diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages to enjoy authors and the festival’s lively literary marketplace.
Presented by PACS Gallery
Sunday Sept 16th 2012, 7:30 PM, PACS Gallery, 21+, Free
presentationpartynight.com, pacsnyc.com
Presentation Party Night is a monthly lecture series combining a love of community and education with a taste for beer. Based in Bushwick, Brooklyn, they meet on the 3rd Sunday of each month to share and discuss various topics spanning history, pop culture, current events, and the utterly indescribable. Aesthetically, PPN is a bit closer to a DIY loft party than it is say, Ignite or TED talks. Presenters range from local pro’s to first-timers and there’s a healthy mix of laughing, factoids, and open-ended Q&A. Limited complimentary beers from our good friends at Asahi.
- Shannon Coffey - Mystery
- Ryder Ripps - How to Design an e-Commerce Website
- Erik Bergstrom - The French
- Melissa J Frost - Architecture Out of Order
Presented by PACS Gallery
Monday September 17th 2012, 7:00 PM - 12:00, PACS (Floor 2), 21+, Free
pacsnyc.com, seanmicka.com
Christine is a character based in New York City. She sets up situations that invite viewers to contemplate, interrogate and/or negotiate various ways in which art and finance function within a political economy. For better or for worse, her work focuses its attention on auctions, examining artworks, antiques and precious jewels i.e., as objects of financial speculation. She also is frequently concerned with the phenomena of “the contemporary” as an ambiguously defined idea in modern art, i.e., periodization of the present. Christine is frequent collaborator with artist Sean Micka.
Tuesday September 18th 2012, 7:30 PM, Front Room, 21+, Free
vol1brooklyn.com
We’re buying lots and lots of books in preparation for winter, like squirrels in a bloodthirsty frenzy. And just in time for our shopping trips, the Brooklyn Book Festival is here! Right around the corner, actually. The very idea fills us with glee, so we’re (Vol. 1) putting together an event of our own to join the party. Not just any event though: on September 18th, we present to you the Greatest 3-Minute Book Stories Ever. Like, ever. Stories about good books and bad ones. Love in the library and hatred of beloved classics. Selling books and buying books. Notes in the margin and overdue fees. (Also, this just happens to be the Vol. 1 Brooklyn 3rd birthday party, so we’ve invited some of our favorite people around.Our amazing readers will be:
- Maris Kreizman (Slaughterhouse 90210)
- Kathleen Alcott (The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets)
- Alexander Chee (Edinburgh and the forthcoming The Queen of the Night)
- Matt Dojny (The Festival of Earthly Delights)
- Rachel Fershleiser (Tumblr, Six-Word Memoirs)
- Jacob Silverman (journalist, critic, and three-day Jeopardy! champion)
- Dan Wilbur (bookseller at Community bookstore, author of How Not to Read)
- Christopher Beha (What Happened to Sophie Wilder)
- Karolina Waclawiak (How To Get Into the Twin Palms, Deputy Editor at The Believer)
- Paula Bomer (Baby and Nine Months)
- Elissa Schappell (Blueprints for Building Better Girls)
- Nick Moran (social media editor for The Millions)
Founded in 2009, Volume 1 Brooklyn is a multimedia project hell-bent on bridging any and all gaps between various forms of high, middle and low culture.
Tuesday September 18th 2012, 7:00 PM, Back Room, 21+, Free
The Bad Feminist Readings, produced by Sarah Gentile and Sarah Giovanniello, is a feminist reading of not-so-feminist material. Gentile is an archivist, feminist, and ardent believer in the democracy of culture. She works over at the Brooklyn Museum. Giovanniello is a writer, curator, and researcher. She works as Research Assistant in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. She holds an MA in Performance Studies from NYU and a BA from Bryn Mawr College. Come and see readers lampooning bad advice written for women and men from the last 100 years. Bring your critical eye and your party hat. And who’s reading? These fine folks:
- Sasheer Zamata
- Eleanor Whitney
- Bennett Madison
- Emily Gould
- Lisa Goldstein
- Charlotte Cooper
- Victoria Cho
Tuesday September 18th 2012, 9:00 PM, Back Room, 21+, Free
adhoc.fm, thefader.com, pellytwins.blogspot.com, pitchfork.com, imposemagazine.com, stadiumsandshrines.com
The editors behind the Brooklyn-based music publication Ad Hoc bring together a panel of music journalists and self-publishers to discuss building your own music blog from the bottom up, developing a distinct curatorial identity, and growing and sustaining a loyal readership. Ad Hoc was started with a Kickstarter campaign that garnered over 1,000 unique donors, and it’s been put to good use! Crucial DIY-leaning blogs such as 20 Jazz Funk Greats, International Tapes, and No Fear of Pop are part of their community; come with questions!
Panelists
- Emilie Friedlander (Ad Hoc, The Fader)
- Jenn Pelly (pellytwins blog, Pitchfork)
- Jeremy Krinsley (Impose)
- Dave Sutton (Stadiums & Shrines)
Presented by PACS Gallery
Tuesday September 18th 2012, 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM, PACS (Floor 2), 21+, Free
http://eeikeler.com
Drawing on the history of abstraction within Western Modernism, Brooklyn-based artist E.E. Ikeler’s work, as exemplified with KISS/KIZZ, inserts feminist and queer content through nontraditional materials while maintaining a level abstraction. It’s a task that the artist feels has often been assumed to lack legibility in mainstream art criticism. In response, various experimental strategies assert that form and content are not discrete characteristics of art works, but rather, like our minds and bodies, are one in the same.
Wednesday September 19th 2012, Front Room, 7:00 PM, 21+, Free
facebook.com/hergirlfriday
In an evening dedicated to hard-hitting investigations, Her Girl Friday brings you a behind-the-scenes look at several award-winning pieces from some of today’s leading investigative reporters. We’re thrilled to present very special guests ProPublica senior reporter Dafna Linzer, former MTV True Life producer Roopa Vasudevan, Habiba Nosheen, (Frontline, NPR), andPamela Yates (filmmaker and Guggenheim fellow). And, in typical Her Girl Friday fashion, stick around after the panel for a boozy mixer, with DJ Raichous on the ones and twos. People of all genders welcome and encouraged to attend.
Her Girl Friday is a Brooklyn-based group of female journalists and non fiction storytellers that produces fun and engaging events with concrete takeaways for women in journalism across mediums. And a heads up, HGF is popular with a capital P - 1st come / serve.
Presented by The Desk Set
Wednesday September 19th 2012, Back Room, 7:00 PM, 21+, Free
thedeskset.org, thegloc.net
Glennis McCarthy, of the Gorgeous Ladies of Comedy (G.L.O.C), will moderate a panel discussion with women navigating the worlds of both comedy and literature. Panelists include
- Rachel Dratch (SNL)
- Elna Baker (The Moth, This American Life, Studio 360, Radiolab)
- Kambri Crews (Ochi’s Lounge / Comix)
- Karen Bergreen, a self described comedian, author, and stressed-out mom.
Presented by I Love Bad Movies & The Flop House
Wednesday September 19th 2012, Back Room, 9:00 PM, 21+, Free
ilovebadmovies.com, flophousepodcast.com
“Experts” from I Love Bad Movies and The Flop House discuss the strange appeal of enjoyably bad films. What can we learn from facepalm-worthy gems like The Room, Cool as Ice, Gigli, Return to Oz, and Old Dogs? What do these junky turds say about us? Also featuring movie clips, interactive bits, & irrelevant tangents.

Panel Members
- Matt Carman
- Kseniya Yarosh
- Dan McCoy
- Stuart Wellington
- and Elliott Kalan
Presented by PACS Gallery
Curated by Ben Sisto (PACS) and Denise Kupferschmidt
Wednesday September 19th 2012, 7:00 PM - 12:00, PACS (Floor 2), 21+, Free
pacsnyc.com, papermountains.net
Artists come to own work by other artists in a myriad of ways. Sometimes it’s bought, often it’s in trade, as payment for general labor, and here and there it’s rescued from a trash can. Tonight, we’re exhibiting works from our friends’ homes that they have bought and found, saved and loved.
Works by:
- Roberta Allen
- Patrick Brennan
- CHERYL
- Bridget Donahue & Jory Rabinovitz
- Joanne Greenbaum
- Kenya Hanley
- Kimberly Hennessy
- E.E. Ikeler
- Chris Martin
- Sam Moyer
- Nick Parker
- Michael Pellew
- Joshua Smith
- Unknown
- Joshua Caleb Weibley
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery presents: How Beer Changed Everything
with Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), Patrick McGovern, and Greg Boustead
Thursday September 20th, 7:00 PM, Front Room, 21+, Free
dogfish.com, penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/
Brewing is humankind’s earliest example of biotechnology, representing our first attempt to harness the power of living organisms. The craft dates back to 9000 BC, inspiring the cultivation of barley and wheat. Beer changed hunter-gatherers into farmers, and fueled the building of monumental structures, like the pyramids, whose workers received five liters of beer per day as compensation. In a one-of-kind interactive session, we’ll explore this colorful history and the modern craft of what is perhaps humanity’s most celebrated beverage. Guided by the madcap brewer Sam Calagione and molecular archeologist Patrick McGovern, you’ll get to drink as the ancients did—including a bright, honeyed facsimile of the brew buried with King Midas; a rice-based beer made after the first known fermented beverage (unearthed from 9,000-year-old Chinese tombs and dwellings); and a sneak-taste of a yet-unrelased experimental pre-Roman Etruscan beverage from around 800 BC, spiked with ground hazelnuts, pomegranate, and myrrh, and made brewed from wild-harvested, native Egyptian yeast deposited by the legs of fruit flies on sweet traps made from crushed dates. Seriously.
with Special Guests Dr. Peter Asaro, Jace Clayton, Tim Nilson, and Brian Anderson
Thursday September 20th, 9:00 PM, Front Room, 21+, Free
motherboard.vice.com
The drones are overhead, and far away, buzzing in the distance like a coming swarm. And now they’re coming closer. Bzzz. Motherboard takes a dive into the strange, uncanny and exciting world of the robotic vehicle to understand how it’s transforming our world, from how we kill to how we waste an afternoon. A little chat about our robot past, present and future, with detours into Peruvian archeology, Marilyn Monroe, taco delivery and more. With live demos of a video drone and an innovative drone machine – all set to luscious drone music. With more music, dancing, and human-to-human interaction to follow.
Dr. Asaro is a media theorist whose work examines the interfaces between social relations, human minds and bodies, and digital media. His research is also informed by his involvement in digital media design projects with the Virtual Environments Group at the National Center for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA), the Advanced and Interactive Displays Lab at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and the natural language interface design team for the Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine (winner of the 2010 SXSW Web Interactive Award for Technical Achievement).
Jace Clayton (dj / rupture) is an interdisciplinary artist living in Brooklyn. Clayton’s practice has evolved out of his work as a DJ, built around core concerns for how sound, technology use in low-income communities, and public space interact, with an emphasis on Latin America, Africa, and the Arab world. Clayton is currently writing a nonfiction book on music at the dawn of the digital century to be published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Tim Nilson is an unmanned systems hobbyist and the manufacturer of the QAV500, a purpose-built “first person view” quadcopter that can carry three cameras at a time. He also runs FPVmanuals.com, a top source of information for the FPV drone video community, and the drone marketplace getFPV.com. During the day, he is a chief technology officer at Sony Music.
Brian Anderson –Brian Anderson is a writer, editor and producer at Motherboard. He spends a lot of time thinking about very large and very small unmanned systems, and is currently producing a short film aiming in some small way to clear the air on domestic drone use. He also does research for a joint NASA-Nike start-up incubator. A graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, he now lives in Brooklyn, but is from Chicago. Not to be confused with the skateboarder. Thinks he can play drums
Thursday September 20th 2012, 7:00 PM, Back Room, 21+, Free
themoonshow.com, @themoonshow, thechrisgethardshow.com
- Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death)
- Chris Gethard (Chris Gethard Show)
- Todd Hanson (The Onion)
The Moon, which has for years produced one of the most original ongoing comedy events in NYC, presents a special literary-themed edition of their popular variety show. Two dapper hosts and a cast of characters will ride the rainbow of reading with appearances by New York’s best acts. The Onion AV Club says, “The Moon is one of New York City’s finest comedy nights… a variety show that rarely fails to please.”
Tonight, our special guest Jonathan Ames, an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs. He was a columnist for the New York Press for several years, and became known for self-deprecating tales of his sexual misadventures. In 2009, he created the HBO television series Bored to Death. Chris Gethard (that guy who booked Diddy via Twitter a little while back) reads from his book A Bad Idea I’m About to Do. Todd Hanson is a writer & voice actor who’s worked on The Onion, Space Ghost, Squidbillies, and appeared as himself in the The Aristocrats (2005).
Thursday September 20th 2012, 9:00 PM, Back Room, 21+, Free
bikeshortfilms.com

Bike Shorts is a competitive short film screening. All of the films have something to do with a bike, and the audience gets to choose the winner. Over a dozen professional and amateur short films from New York City & beyond will be shown, and the winner takes home a $100 cash prize! The best film of the night wins $100! (submit here)
Presented by PACS Gallery
Thursday September 20th 2012, 7:00 PM - 12:00, PACS (Floor 2), 21+, Free
artypes.org.uk, pacsnyc.com
Artypes is a series of Art Salons. For each Salon, a variety of contemporary artists are asked to make work prompted by a type of art. Salon No. 3 will include “Portraits” by well over 60 artists, which will be Artypes’ largest Art Salon to date. Art Salons are free to the public. Art can be purchased from the Artists, and Drinks from the Bar.
Participating Artists: Aiden Koch, Alex Mctigue, Ana Benaroya, Anders Nilsen, Andrew Kenney, Andy C. Jenkins, Anni Altshuler, Ashitha Nagesh, Barry Bruner, Ben Sisto, Benny Merris, Chris Bernsten, Chris Thompson, Corbin Keech, Damien Correll, Dave Franzese, David Giordano, Drew Heffron, Eric Losh, Erica Jacobson, Garrett Morin, Greg Broerman, Greg Rubin, Haik Avanian, Howard Fonda, J Bell, Jack Hogan, Jacob Jones, James Moore, Jan Wilker, Jason Sapan, Jenny Mortsell, John Amelchenko, Jon Burgerman, Jordan Bruner, Josh Cochran, Justin Whiteford, Kevin Kunstadt, Lanya Snyder, Madeline Donahue, Mark Miller, Mathias Vestergaard, Matt Huynh, Matt Leines, Matthew J. Giordano, Melissa Cullens, Nabiha Khan, Nicholas Fortier, Otto Milo, Paul Hanger, Peter Larson, Racecar, Sam Weber, Sarah Maltais, Sean Yeaton, Shane Neufeld, Simon Massey di Vallazza, Suzy Coady, Tom Stanley, Wyeth Hansen & You Jung Byun
Presented by Bandshell
Friday September 21st 2012, 9:00 PM, Front Room, 21+, $20 adv / $22 dos
Gang Gang Dance, a group of individuals with strong ties to the local art community and almost boundless creative energy, come together for this musical collaboration whose direction is as unpredictable as it is focused, as relatable as it is experimental, and as fun as it is challenging. They are one of the best bands to come out of NYC in the past decade. (says us). Jon Pareles, writing for The New York Times, described Sun Araw’s music as “a happy jungle of electronic repetition and live playing. Loops and echoes reconfigured reggae, funk and Afrobeat in dizzying ways; the music cackled and hopped, ready to trip up dancers or just get trippy in decidedly 21st-century grooves.”
DJs MNDR, Ghostdad
Friday September 21st 2012, Midnight-4:00* Front Room, 21+, Free
Party will start right when Gang Gang Dance wraps up
10% of after-party bar sales will be donated to Housing Works
mndr.com, djghostdad.com, housingworks.org
Friday September 21st in the Back Room, 8:00, 21+, $8, Free after 12:00 AM
One of our favorite promoters, Kristina Alaniesse, has teamed up My Social List to present this killer lineup:

Live:
- Total Slacker
- Indian Jewelry
- Black Marble
- Plastic Flowers
- DJ Heavenly Beat
DJ Sets:
- Pictureplane
- Creep
- The Death Set
- Le Sphinxx
blackmarble.bandcamp.com, totalslackertyhme.bandcamp.com, facebook.com/heavenlybeat, swarmofangels.com, plasticflowers.bandcamp.com, thedeathset.com, officialcreep.com, soundcloud.com/lesphinxx, soundcloud.com/pictureplane, mysocialist.com
Saturday September 22nd 2012, 4:00 PM, Front Room, All Ages!
Spreading from TV screens to laptops, smart phones and facebook feeds; spilling into classrooms, diy music venues, and major museum exhibitions- we are currently witnessing the rise of the digital game. Yet as the number of contemporary women gamers grows nearly equal to that of male gamers, gender bias in games and in the industry and culture that surround them, seem slow to die. Hey Girl (Gamer) presents a panel of distinguished developers, artists, researchers, and students from the field to share their work and offer insights as to what gives and what’s at stake for ladies in this continually evolving media form.
Moderated by Sarah Schoemann, Graduate Research Assistant in the Game Innovation Lab at NYU’s Polytechnic Institute; and featuring Ida Benedetto, co-founder of Antidote Games and member the indie arcade collective, Babycastles. Jessy Jo Gomez, Design and Technology student at Parsons The New School of Design and former youth game designer with Global Kids. Kaho Abe, Former Eyebeam fellow and current artist in residence at NYU Poly’s Game Innovation Lab. Julia Deter, Award winning game artist and developer at Arkadium games.
Presented by WORD Bookstore
Saturday September 22nd 2012, 7:00 PM, Front Room, 21+, $26.95 (includes book)
wordbrooklyn.com, emmastraub.net
Conversations, live music, and more with Emma Straub, plus
- Andrew McCarthy
- Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields)
- Maris Kreizman
- Ira Glass(This American Life)
Saturday September 22nd 2012, Back Room, 7:00 PM, 21+, Free
lauragduncan.tumblr.com, kellybourdet.com
An inspired look at connection and attraction in the digital era. Sex researcher Laura Duncan and Future Sex columnist Kelly Bourdet explore the world of sexual robotics, teledildonics, pornography, sex in sci-fi, and carnal technology.
Kelly Bourdet writes about the philosophy of technology as it applies to sex, relationships, and living online, and is author of the Future Sex column on Motherboard/VICE. She lives in Brooklyn. Laura G. Duncan is a sexual health researcher currently studying issues of stigma within healthcare as well as the intersections of technology, sexuality and the body. She has taught sexual health education in a variety of academic, non-profit and community venues and currently serves as a full-spectrum doula. She is, disappointingly, not a robot.
Saturday September 22nd 2012, Back Room, 10:30 PM, 21+
$5 Suggested Donation benefits Brooklyn Community Pride
5blaw.org
Their Mission: Empower women and strengthen local communities through theater, arm wrestling, and philanthropy. The 5 Borough Ladies Arm Wrestling walks the line between pro wrestling antics, theatrics, and pure strength competitive sport. Women wrestlers, each with their own character theme and wrestling moniker, compete - flanked by entourage, cheered by audience, judged by celebrities, introduced by emcee and flagged by referees. Tournament style. It is crazy. People go F'ing nuts. Do not miss it.
Saturday September 22nd 2012, Front Room, 11:00 PM, 21+
queeryparty.org

DJs Average Jo, Patrick Robbins, and Larry Sparkman
Special live performance from People at Parties!
Raffle prizes, gogos, drinks, and nerdy queers dancing until the wee hours
Suggested donation. All proceeds benefit the Lesbian Herstory Archives
Via all sorts of parties and events, Que(e)ry brings attention and support to hidden queer collections, and provides a fun social space for queer nerds and those who love them. Librarians, archivists, metadata specialists, students, museum professionals, educators, scholars, artists, illustrators, comics fans, technophiles, historians, writers, publicists, documentarians, and bibliophiles of all genders and orientations have made their way out, dancing all-night long to great guest DJs. Tonight, QUE(E)RY’s providing the after party; file under awesome.
People At Parties is a synth driven, darkwave, bicoastal collaboration based in both Brooklyn and SF. Their first release was a melodic synth-pop Flexi-Disc EP on Project Infinity Records and combines an early goth undertone with heavy hitting hip-pop quality.

Audio Recordings

Love During Wartime

April 3, 2019 Ben Sisto

Bone Zone saluting their crying cop during LDWT 2.

Love During Wartime was a party that happened twice. I booked a dozen or so DJs, some VJs, some hosts and some community partners who—in addition to performin—formed a voting panel for an arts grant. Guests paid $10 at the door to get in and, on their way out were given an application for $1000 in funding (the party’s net profits). Each party took place at The Paradise in Boston, and we held one grant-issuing micro-party at Great Scott. These were a lot of fun.

LDWT 1, Lissa Rivera, 2006

Grant Winner Lissa Rivera, who needed funds to continue her photography career, and she went on to great things.
Attendance: 400+. Named one of the year’s top 10 parties by the Boston Phoenix.

LDWT 2, Jeff Czekaj, 2008

DJs: Lone Wolf (Gold Chain) with Bone Zone (live), Etan (Basstown), Claude Money (Soul Touch), Dan Shea (Bodies of Water Arts & Crafts), Matt Sisto (Lemmingtrail), Chris Devlin (Spank Rock), Joseph Colbourne (Color), Baltimoroder (Hearthrob), Dafna / Stella (Gross Anatomy), Mark Pearson (Neptune). Video: Morgan (Hearthrob), Matt Boch (Dust Bunnies), Robotkid, Sue (U.V. Protection).

Grant Winner: Jeff Czekaj, who wanted to turn a bus into a mobile DIY venue.
Photos: Ben Sisto, Kris Ireland

Screen Shot 2019-04-02 at 11.14.25 PM.png

LDTW 2 Audio:

When digging through some archives I found these MP3s which, appear to be a line-out from the DJ booth. Thanks to whoever recorded these and got them to me; I don’t have any memory of doing it myself. Also included here is a LDWT promo mix that Chris Devlin made to hype the party.

LDWT 2 Grant Issuing Party: 2008

DJs: Certified Bananas, Lonewolf, Mistaker
Video: Robotkid