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April 30th 2007

Coachella: TRASHed

Filed under: art, festivals, green and famous — rebecca @ 2:57 pm

This post was contributed by Dino Malvone. Learn how you can become part of the Ecorazzi team.

If you’ve ever been to an outdoor music festival, you know that each one, in its own right, evokes a nostalgic vibe: alive with the scent of the unbathed and spilled beer - the scent of both enhanced by temperatures soaring above 100°F. Each festival has had its share of problems: Woodstock ’69 plagued with heavy rains and mud abound, Woodstock ’99 with roaring fires and rioting, and even past Coachella events, cursed with financial woes. But all these events have one thing in common, and that’s: what to do with all that trash?

But this year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the three-day long music festival held annually at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, decided to do things a little differently. With a crowd of over 60,000 people for each day, why not incentivize them to recycle? So, Coachella introduced their, “10 for 1 Bottle Recycling Centers” program, where you bring them 10 empty water bottles and redeem them for 1 free new bottle of water. Score! Beats paying $4 for a bottle of water, right? With socially aware acts such as Rage Against the Machine and Willie Nelson on the bill, I bet this push to recycle was a welcomed addition to the Festival’s lineup.

Last year, at the 2006 festival, TRASHed represented with 35 recycling/trash stations around the main festival grounds and back stage. TRASHed was a year long trash education program developed by Fashion Peace that redefined the way people and businesses viewed recycling and trash collection. Each station was equipped with signage directing people to the trash or recycling bins. The recycling bins were designed by talented artists all along the west coast.

The 2007 festivities came to a close last night, featuring such acts as Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine. For information about next year’s event, visit the official Coachella website.

Via - Boing Boing

March 28th 2007

Art Exhibit Gets Help From Bollywood Celebs

Filed under: art, campaigns — lynn @ 2:05 pm

Speaking of artwork going to a good cause, Bollywood stars were recently seen lending a hand at an art exhibit. Sanjay Dutt, Pooja Bedi, and Vinod Khanna all pitched in to raise funds for Plan India, a group dedicated to helping kids in need.

IBNLive reports that “The foundation conducted an art exhibition to raise funds with many Bollywood actors including Plan India brand Ambassador Anil Kapoor in attendance.”

Seems to me that Pooja (pictured here) is a little cocky about her influence on fans, though. While the other actors say they’re involved because they want to help out the children, the article quotes her as saying “When a film star says I drive this car, a million follow; I eat this chocolate, a million follow; am sure if they say that I do charity, a million will follow suit.”

March 22nd 2007

T-Shirt Watch: Heather Mills, Applegate Get The Word Out

Filed under: animals, art, fashion — michael @ 3:18 pm

You wouldn’t think a blog devoted to T-Shirts — and the stars wearing them — would be all that interesting. However, I’m addicted to this cool site and I think the angle is perfect for a time when t-shirts and interesting messages seem to be back in style. If you haven’t visited threadless.com yet — and are a big fan of cool tees — you’re missing out on one of the best ideas for user-generated designs on the web. But I digress…

Both Heather Mills and Christina Applegate were spotted wearing their passions on their shirts by the blog T-Shirt Watch. There isn’t anything particularly amazing about this post, but in the interest of serving up more photos, take a look below!

February 16th 2007

Joni Mitchell’s Message in Motion

Filed under: art — rebecca @ 6:33 am

Post contributed by Elizabeth Doyle.  Learn more about how to become an Ecorazzi contributor.

We didn’t know folk music could be so sexy. For years, Canadian singer Joni Mitchell has been crooning about the pitfalls of “paving paradise to put up a parking lot.” (Yup, that’s where the Counting Crows and Bob Dylan got the lyrics). Now she’s brought her folksy tunes to the Alberta Ballet to create Dancing Joni & Other Works. The performance highlights her life-long concerns about environmental neglect and humanity’s warring nature.

“As an artist creating today, quite frankly, I can see no other subject matter that is of more importance now. We need people to awaken to this reality,” said Mitchell. Dancing Joni & Other Works has just wrapped up in Calgary and will be performed at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium today and tomorrow, February16 - 17, 2007. Good news: the performance special will be recorded to television in high-definition and produced for CHUM/Bravo by Calgary-based Joe Media Group.

December 8th 2006

Art Basel Miami Brings Celebrities, Benefits

Filed under: art, donations, events: miami — rebecca @ 10:18 am

Just in time for Miami’s Art Basel, Nicky Hilton will host the Gift a Lift for Paralysis benefit event on prestigious Star Island on Saturday. It’s a for what seems like a great local organization that helps children and adults with growth related disorders. It’s also the “first look” at Nicky’s highly anticipated and delayed hotel and condo, Nicky O. The delay, in fact, has caused Nicky to lose her rights to the key to the City…until the hotel opens - now scheduled for April 2007. She’ll donate 10% of condo sales that are made during the event to the Danielle DeMarzo Foundation. But you’ll have to pay the $1500 ticket price to get into the party before you can sign on the dotted line. But that will be no problem for Pamela Anderson, Gloria Estefan, and Shaquille O’Neal, who are already on the guest list for the benefit.

Art Basel brings lots of celebs into town, so Nicky shouldn’t have a hard time filling the chairs at this benefit. Lindsay Lohan, Al Gore’s buddy, won’t be in attendance, though. She’s got her own event at Mynt to deal with. There will be lots of famous faces in the art world, too. To help you recognize them, New York Magazine even published a cheat sheet to help you know who’s who when wandering around this weekend. Though I doubt you wouldn’t recognize Yoko Ono.

 

September 11th 2006

Andy Warhol and Wildlife?

Filed under: art — rebecca @ 12:27 pm

The name Andy Warhol probably brings images of Marilyn Monroe to mind. What about wildlife and endangered species? Doesn’t seem like a fit for the pop artist? Maybe it should.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming has been featuring the Warhol exhibition, Silent Spring: Andy Warhol’s Endangered Species and Vanishing Animals, since June. The crowds have been “wowed” so far. If you want to see it, you’ll have to hurry - it leaves the Museum on September 24th.

The museum curator tells a little more about the series:

Warhol published the “Endangered Species” prints in 1983, four years before his death, and collaborated on the 1986 book “Vanishing Animals” with naturalist Kurt Benirschke “to raise awareness about the plight of animals in danger of becoming extinct,” said Adam Harris, the museum’s curator of art.

Warhol was also influenced by Rachel Carson, another Pittsburgh native, whose 1962 book “Silent Spring,” sparked the modern environmental movement in the United States.