Musique Show

Join Mike Moak and a host of Albany gods at a show tomorrow night:

Tuesday 8/19 7pm @ POINT 5 (383.5 Madison Ave, Albany, NY)

AFTER THE FALL (back from tour)
COMA (ex amazing plaid)
ECHOES OF HARPERS FERRY (from Cleveland)
AMERICAN ARMADA (from Pittsburgh)

This is one of the last shows / events at POINT 5 before it closes September 1st.

Show is free but we’ll ask for donations because we owe landlord 1200$

Please come and support the touring punk bands, the CDFI space, and come have some fun.

Sunday Music

CDFi is hosting the following artists:

The Shakes

Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt

Estrogen Highs

Please stop by and enjoy the performance at 8pm at 383.5 Madison Ave.

Capital District Secrets

Hoodnote and Tiena.

These two Yahoo Groups email lists are widely popular if you’re looking for the wonderful cultural and funky events that don’t make it to the wonderful Times Union.

Just point your browser to groups.yahoo.com and do a search for Hoodnote and for Tiena.

If you run into any issues, leave a comment on this post, and I’ll get back to you.

Boarded Up!

SAVE THE DATE
Friday September 12 at 5pm

Grand Street communityARTS invites you to a closing exhibition of the boardedUP community art project.

Friday September 12 at 5pm (silent auction begins at 6pm)

At street level, the diverse and compelling art of boardedUP is engaging and accessible to the many residents and passers-by of a busy downtown intersection.

The boardedUP exhibition has featured 40 artists across 5 months.

All works from BoardedUP were donated by the artists and will be available for silent auction. Funds raised from the auction will be used to support future communityART projects.

Friday August 1st. Enjoy the art! Celebrate the artists!
Show that you support communityARTS!

Grand Street Community Arts
Grand St. @ Madison Ave.
Albany, NY
www.grandarts.org

more on boarded up- www.grandarts.org/gsca/boardedup

The artists of Boarded Up!

alisa sikeleanos
ally kirby
barbara shema
benj gleeksman
burnest
cashu FOE
cookie
demetrius dickerson
derek revella
dwell
dylan boyce
eileen cheong
g.g. roberts
gabrielle becker
issie
james van duyn
jamie courcelle
kat peters
laura travison
lauren jacobs
liberation please
m.s.
marcus kwame anderson
mark gregory
mc3
melissa marceau
michelle legget
nicole martin
pasquale littlejohn
peter amorosa & leigh cummings
r. iannacone
radical
rebecca schoonmaker
scout + stain
slack
steven rolf kroeger
tashi palden
uneek
warren macmillan

IOUSA

–a new documentary film:

Live with Warren Buffett, Pete Peterson & Dave Walker in Exclusive One Night Event

I plan to buy tickets next week, $12.  It’s at Crossgates. If you want to attend as well, email me: jzhu(at)federationofideas(dot)net

Today: Meet the Candidates

I’ll be attending. If you want to car-pool, please give me a call at 845 558 4443

Democratic candidates for McNulty’s seat Phil Steck, Paul Tonko, Darius Shahinfar, Joseph Sullivan and Tacey Brooks will be meeting at the Islamic Center of the Capital District 21 N. Lansing Dr. Colonie,  NY this coming Sat, August 9th at 5:00 PM for a Meet the Candidates Event. (Repulican candidates will be invited on another occasion) All are welcome and encoraged to come out and meeting them.

Sponsered by ARISE , Fatima Center and Islamic Center of the Capital District.
For more info call:

Deb Baumes
1923 Jerome Ave.
Schenectady, N.Y. 12306
Office (518)210-8254

Fax (518)346-2451

Web Site-www.homeinteriors.com/DebbieBaumes
debsdynamos@yahoo.com

Is CDFi Necessary?

There’s always a start-up cost to most things in life.  The start-up cost to compete against the likes of Boeing or Airbus is damningly daunting.  Note that both Airbus and Boeing require heavy government subsidies and that Airbus was until the past few years, a joint venture between several European governments.

Therefore, the amount of capital–in all its forms–needed to enter the highly technical and specialized aerospace industry guarantees few if any new participants.  However, even this “extreme” example of start-up cost is not so apt anymore.  With the creation of “venture funds” such as X-Prize in the aerospace field, some aspects of the cost are lowered–if just enough for more participants.

The same start-up costs must be dealt with in non-profit work as well.  Now to reiterate the question: Why doesn’t CDFi just volunteer for other local non-profits?  Why bother to organize and host yet another non-profit?  To state an extreme position, why doesn’t everyone just volunteer for a single non-profit, one called “Venti Volunteer Venues?”

We took the time to obtain our 501(c)3 status because we provided a forum for events and ideas that other groups did not offer.  These ideas and events have not been of interest to some, but the multiple group formations that collective action can sustain does not necessitate an end battered by inter-group rivalries seen amongst gangs.

CDFi is not out to compete in the manner of Boeing and Airbus or of Latin Kings and Crypts. Furthermore without the need to pay a rent, our focus on community and our aspirations for collective action can get the focus it needs.  Money always seems to be a constricting factor–in aerospace, in film, in music, etc.  There’s only so much foundation money or grant money that can be doled out; there’s only so much in the national treasury.  Money may be one way to organize goods and behavior, but it’s not the only value affecting our minds and hearts.  Bill Gates has termed it “creative capitalism.”  I don’t want to critique that term in this entry, but I do offer a challenge to the community:

Note your and your friends’ complaints about Albany (or their life if you’re ambitious), and then leave CDFi a video report (via Youtube) or just leave a reply to this post.  We can match your interests in change to those of our other members and then provide the formal introductions.

To start us off, here’s what I’m thinking about and working on:

1. Get together for local college pride groups and local pride non-profits.  The more students are pushed to break the feet dragging walk between bed, class, and cafeteria the better their education.
2. Monthly “Kraft Derby” at the Albany Art Room–akin to “Queen Bee.”

New Weekly Meeting Location

With the closing of 383.5 Madison this month, CDFi is temporarily hosting its weekly meetings at The Good Leaf. It’s located at 274 Lark Street.  The starting time is still 7:30.

View Larger Map

CDFi might rotate the meeting locale from time to time as part of our effort to highlight wonderful local businesses. Of course, we’ll provide advance notice.

Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed.

How to receive blog update notifications

Everyone has a multiple websites that they visit regularly, and it’s not efficient to manually visit the site every day (or hour).  Here are two easy ways to receive update notifications.

Method 1: RSS

Here’s a primer on this preferred method.

CDFi has two main RSS feeds:

1) blog updates

2) calendar updates

Method 2: Email

Email is still a good way to receive updates if you don’t use or need a RSS reader.  RSS readers are excellent if you follow many websites.

I know people who subscribe to upwards of several dozen feeds*.

CDFi has two email subscription choices:

1) blog updates

2) calendar updates

*not recommended

SUNY Student Art Exhibition: A Review

For Today’s avdenture Thom and I walked down to the NYS Museum to behold the wonders of the 2008 Best of SUNY Student Art Exhibition. I urge you to check it out, even if for only 15 minutes, it will be time well spent. This well-deserved showcase of talent includes a number of medias, including medias that I had not seen much of, such as gouache, collograph, and sculptures constructed from anything from aluminum to limetone. I was impressed with the sheer variety of pieces that hung and stood about the spacious exhibition hall.

I was particularly drawn to a number of large paintings that employed color to great effect. Tanya Gadbaw’s Disappearing Generation (oil) and Patricia Gaeta’s Monday (oil on canvas) made use of bold, interesting colors. I was also really attracted to Lacey McKinney’s Jesse, (mixed media and oil on canvas) a huge close-up portrait that was vibrant and expressive. I found the use of mixed media to create interesting textures on this piece. I also want to mention a digital collage by Ruby Merritt called Space, a great juxtaposition of images, and Paul Howe’s Blowin’ Wax, a steel and vinyl structure that was simple but made a statement about technology in our ever-changing world.

Basically, there’s too much to write about here. You must go see it for yourselves.