CHICAGO, IL. (Top40 Charts/ Western Publicity) - Street-level New Orleans dance-party hip-hop arrives at SXSW 2010 with an official showcase and a groundbreaking multimedia exhibition. The New Orleans Block Party bounce package tour has partnered up with the 'Where They At' photo-documentary exhibit at SXSW to unleash a full weekend of ass-shaking action NOLA-style. Bounce music is raw, irresistible hip-hop dance music born in the streets of New Orleans with deep roots in that city's Mardi Gras Indian and brass band traditions. The New Orleans Block Party is a cavalcade of 7 pioneering New Orleans bounce artists, produced a by a crew of local DJs and promoters making their first appearances as SXSW after careers that top ten years rocking the streets and clubs of New Orleans. Learn more at https://www.wheretheyatnola.com/
Featured artists at SXSW: Ms Tee, Magnolia Shorty, Katey Red, Vockah Redu, Partners-N-Crime, DJ Jubilee, Big Freedia
NEW ORLEANS BLOCK PARTY OFFICIAL BOUNCE SHOWCASE
8pm-1am Saturday, March 20
Submerged, 333 E. 2d St., Austin, TX
DAY PARTY in conjunction with 'Where They At'
1-5 pm Saturday, March 20
Birdhouse Gallery, 1304 E. Cesar Chavez, Austin, TX
About Where They At: A Multi-Media Archive of New Orleans Bounce Documenting the Latest Indigenous Musical Genre To Arise From the Streets of New Orleans
A Collaboration between Aubrey Edwards and Alison Fensterstock
March 5 - March 21st at the Birdhouse Gallery, Austin, TX
'Where They At' is an exhibition that portrays the founders, architects, and players in New Orleans hip-hop and the uniquely regional rap known as bounce music, a phenomenon that evolved from the communities based in the city's housing projects. Photographs, audio recordings, oral histories, tapes, records and video footage compiled by photographer Aubrey Edwards and journalist Alison Fensterstock document the passing of seminal beats from New Orleans music traditions to a new generation in the late 1980's, and the creation of this new voice in Southern roots music. This multi-media archive draws a line to the present-day diaspora, as Hurricane Katrina has scattered a once tight-knit bounce and hip-hop community whose music only existed at home - a home that has been redefined physically and culturally.
The selection of portraits on view at the Birdhouse Gallery in Austin in March is culled from the larger collection, which will debut in full on April 22 at the Smithsonian-affiliated Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans on April 22, 2010, on the eve of the first Jazz Fest weekend.
Portraits featured in the Birdhouse Gallery show represent the seven pioneering bounce artists appearing at the first official SXSW showcase of bounce music, New Orleans Block party, taking place from 8pm-1am Saturday, March 20 at Submerged, 333 E. 2d St. in Austin.
'Where They At' is the title of a song generally recognized as the first bounce release, recorded by DJ Jimi Payton in 1992 for producer Isaac Bolden's Avenue Records. (The song was recorded earlier the same year as a homemade cassette-only release by rapper T.T. Tucker, with the late DJ Irv.)To all accounts, these recordings marked the point in time at which New Orleans rap found its own voice in the raw, celebratory, infectious block-party sound that would go on to influence artists at the top of the game - like Rihanna, whose current hit 'Hard' features the unmistakable 'where they at' chant at its end.
Alison Fensterstock is a New Orleans-based music journalist. From 2006-2009, she wrote an award-winning music column for the city's alt-weekly, The Gambit. Her writing on roots music and New Orleans rap has appeared in MOJO, Vibe, Q, Paste, Spin and the Oxford American Music Issue. Recently, she wrote the text for 'Unsung Heroes: The Secret History of Louisiana Rock n' Roll,' an exhibit currently on display at the Louisiana State Museum. She is the programming director for the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation. Her Gambit cover story on gay and transgendered bounce artists in New Orleans, 'Sissy Strut,' was selected for an honorable mention in Da Capo Press's Best Music Writing 2009.
Aubrey Edwards is a Brooklyn- and New Orleans-based music photographer and educator. Edwards was the primary music photographer for the alt-weekly Austin Chronicle from 2004-2008; her present client list includes the United Nations, Magnolia Pictures, Playboy, SPIN and Comedy Central. She teaches photography and videography in Brooklyn schools, as well as with continuing adult education. Her recent work in New Orleans includes guest lecturing with the University of New Orleans photo department and conducting workshops with the New Orleans Kid Camera Project.
'WHERE THEY AT' EVENTS
February 11 - 27, 2010: Selection from the full archive on view at the Abrons Art Center/ Henry Street Settlement
466 Grand Street (on the Lower East Side), New York, NY ?212.598.0400?Trains: J/M/Z or F to Delancey/Essex; B/D to Grand St.
March 16-21, 2010: South by Southwest events
Day Party/Closing party at the Birdhouse Gallery
1304 E. Cesar Chavez, Austin, TX
April 22, 2010: Full archive opening at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
900 Camp St., New Orleans LA
April 23, 2010: Partial exhibition opening on the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in the Grandstand.
Ongoing programming at the Ogden Museum, including performances, live interviews and screenings, will continue through July 2010 - dates TBD.
