The Apollo

WHERE STARS ARE BORN AND LEGENDS ARE MADE! That's me on stage at the legendary Apollo Theater fervently wishing upon Harlem's Tree of Hope!



Steve Wonder (at age 12!)


Ruth Brown


Patti Labelle, Little Richard, Rev. Al Green, Mavis Staples


Rev. Al Green




Gorillaz

Earth Day

The chick and I received a lovely gift of a Dietz Lil' Wizard Lantern recently and what I had thought was going to be a for-emergency-when-zombies-attack device has now become a lovely little way to light our home and hang out peacefully for a short bit.

It started with our participating in Earth Hour one Saturday night, and since then, we occasionally turn off most of the electrical stuff in our urban apartment and light the lantern (with Klean-Heat). Everything goes quiet and the flicker of small fire casts an interesting range of emotions in us, from silly, to serious, to thoughtful, to happy.

This is what respecting our place on Earth means to me. And Earth Day is my religious holiday where I spend a little extra time thinking about this respect and how I can improve and do better in The Green Age.

People often ask me about 'living green' and how to do it-- is it recycling, buying local, changing to CF light-bulbs or what? It's all of those thing, of course, but in my opinion, living green is just trying to live sustainably, in balance, with our natural resources.

It also doesn't mean going back to the stone age, it's merely adjusting, altering, and looking for alternatives to the oil-based status quo by asking curious questions about what we consume, from the essentials to the frivolous, about our food, playthings, trash: what is it? where did it come from? where is it going to go?

We have an abundance of knowledge and resources to meet the demands of our culture, to simply help our planet, it all just takes silly, serious, thoughtful, and happy minds and hands.

Love and Peace,

--christine

SKETCH : The Teds

Last night's warm-up drawing in a the ol' moleskine. It's a study composed via a photograph from the book The Teds:

"East of Barking, in the Summer of Fifty-four, on a late-night train from Southend to London, someone pulled the communication cord. The train ground to a halt. Light bulbs were smashed. When the train eventually reached Barking, police arrested a gang dressed in Edwardian suits.

In March of that year, a sixteen-year-old youth had been convicted at Dartford Magistrate's Court of robbing a woman 'by putting her in fear'. Said the Chairman of the Magistrates:

'There are a lot of things and so-called pleasures of the world which demand a lot of money. You tried to get hold of money to pay for ridiculous things like Edwardian suits. They are ridiculous in the eyes of ordinary people. They are flashy, cheap and nasty, and stamp the wearer as a particularly undesirable type.'"

Record Store Day

Well, you know how I love a little vinyl! So you know I'll be out for a bit to support my local vinyl peddlers tomorrow... Rebel Rebel, Bleecker Street Records, and Bleecker Bob's for some sweet singles, long long-plays, and hip two-disc collections!

RECORD STORE DAY | SATURDAY APRIL 18

Saturday is Record Store Day, a chance for the increasingly rare indie retailers to self-promote with new releases and rare performances.

Stop by Other Music for events including a Bob Dylan breakfast listening party, afternoon D.J. sets by Telepathe, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Grizzly Bear, as well as a live show by Bill Callahan.

Get in the D.I.Y. spirit on Friday night by catching ****** Jeans at Market Hotel. The Pennsylvania group with the salty name “makes an ungodly racket,” writes Amanda Petrusich. “But there’s a force behind its pummeling: the frontman, Matt Korvette, sings funny, ennui-laden songs about the banalities of contemporary living.”

Like the fact that there are fewer and fewer record stores.

-- MELENA RYZIK, The New York Times' Urban Eye Weekend

This fantastic holiday is not limited to New York either, you can find out if your area is participating by going to RECORD STORE DAY / venues.

Happy weekend, much love and peace!

--c.

Women Rule

About a week ago, I was fortunate enough to attend the screening of Frontrunner: The Afghan Woman Who Surprised the World, a documentary film about Dr. Massouda Jalal. A woman who ran for president. In Afghanistan.

Needless to say, though you know I must, it was a tremendous story. This woman's certainty and bravery took her from war-torn impovershed towns to another, to campaign for and amazingly claim voting bids from tribal blocks, inspiring individuals and communities to speak and advocate for basic rights. This, in a culture that concludes that women should not be allowed to hold any kind of power, let alone political strength.

The election took place in 2004 and Dr. Jalal did not win the election, of course, Hamid Karzai did. However, it's important to note that despite a "mishap" in the voting process (what should have been semi-permanent inks used to mark a voter's thumb proved to be immediately washable and removable) Dr. Jalal placed sixth out of sixteen in the final tally.

This is a great achievement for her country and societies everywhere in that women must not only have the right to sit at the political table, but should be absolutely present. That is the point and fundamental message from WOMEN RULE, an incredible advocacy group led by the incomparable Virgina Williams, who produced and brought the film to life. Support also comes from VITAL VOICES, investors in celebrating the leadership and contributions of women.

There was a discussion at the end of the film and it was remarkable to hear Dr. Jalal converse among colleagues about the topics affecting women and Afghanistan. Two particular points that made an impression on me... One, she stated that the Afghani people welcome President Obama and are grateful for the additional troops being sent as they provide much needed security and construction in much of the rebuilding that needs to be done.

Two, she spoke of her fearlessness in activism which is rooted in her desire to have a meaningful death, in other words, to live a meaningful life. The question was posed during the Q&A portion of the event and put forth by none other than SuperForest's Jackson Nash... which you can read in it's entirety here--> SuperForest Celebrity: Dr. Massouda Jalal

Thanks to SuperForest in providing access for me to attend the event at the incredible Paley Center for Media, but also the great opportunity to shake hands with Dr. Massouda Jalal. I will never forget that I got to be in the presence of her and her powerful words, she who is the former Minister of Women's Affairs for Afghanistan, a woman holding a doctorate in two medical fields, and a wife and mother of three.

Earth Hour

Turn Your Lights Down Low

EARTH HOUR is tomorrow, from 8:30-9:30pm. Turn your lights off for an hour to conserve, preserve, and think about our lives on this planet...

Happy Weekend!

Peace and love,

--christine

Stand By Me

Musicians across the world singing together via Playing for Peace


All-boys choir at Albert Hall via the BBC


John Lennon in New York

Today, I woke up and made a cup of coffee. I took a little stroll through the internet, and as per usual, I took a right at SuperForest. There I discovered a new blog and took a left at Gems Sty. A recent post featured an amazing video that really brightened my morning, as did the unexpected snow shower on this day, The First Day of Spring!

Well, I left my apartment and took many rights and left on an early errand thinking about the song... the Ben E. King classic Stand By Me. Beautiful rhythm, upliftng lyrics, excellent song right? How wonderful that it can endure and transform so many!

From "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music" featuring musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travels the globe, to The BBC series The Choir's 100 strong, all boys choir at the Royal Albert Hall (I extra-love that they have incorporated Sean Kingston's excellent mash-up/remix Beautiful Girl). And, of course, John Lennon's version from his excellent 1975 album of covers Rock 'n' Roll which I had recently been listening to a lot.

Happy weekend!

Love and peace,

--christine


PS. For those of you who are as traumatized as I am from the use of Leonard Coehen's Hallelujah in WATCHMEN, may I offer an antidote... the song played to clips from the incredibly fine film STAND BY ME. Trust me, it helps.

WATCHMEN sample it, loop it

Crazy old tune from Pop Will Eat Itself. A tribute to Alan Moore, comics, music, film, and all kinds of nerdery... and an amazing Obama/WATCHMEN poster art/remix I spotted on my way home at the West 4th Street subway.

(click to view larger)

And, big thank you to iFanboy for adding me to their comprehensive Twitter Comic Book Master List! You can go there and check out all the slick amazing comics artists and writers who are sending out their 140-word missives. And, if you would like to follow my silliness and updatery I am http://twitter.com/christinenorrie

Happy weekend!

Peace and Love,

xo, christine

NYC GRAPHIC

Love and Style: Christine Norrie on Romance and New York City
by Christopher Irving, photos by Seth Kusher

Christine Norrie sits at a long table in her studio in Manhattan’s Fashion District, a petite Eurasian woman in a gray shirt with white stars printed on it, a maroon scarf wrapped around her neck, her black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and points out a pair of sneakers hanging from a light fixture.

“That’s one of my studio mate’s,” Christine says as she then points to piles of shoeboxes stacked on a wooden shelf hanging from the ceiling. “We have, maybe, 300 pairs of Adidas, Reebok, or the original Air Jordans right here.”

And that’s how the interview starts, as a conversation of pop culture and music (Norrie counts The National as one of her favorite bands) that evolves into a chat about comics, motherhood, love, and life in general…

Continue reading...