April 2010 Archives

As many may know, Broad Street Studio is now working on a new album which is set to drop this summer. Some might think that this is a little soon seeing that we just released the "Handle It or be Defeated" album. But the Delgado contains an abundant source of music that never stops coming in and is getting better and better with every session.

Another motivator for this new album is to make sure that BSS artists are continually motivated and challenged. If not, there's a risk that their art might remain on the same level, never reaching the heights of its true potential. So we keep it as fresh as possible to keep them interested.

One way of doing this is by bringing in guest artists. This past week, 3rd Eye's Youth program from New Bedford, MA, came to collaborate with our MC Writing Class. This class is run by Plan B, but today Anjel helped out with the big crowd of teens. They split into 2 groups and created 2 new tracks for the album. It was impressive how easily they collaborated with each other. Jerimiah B. produced both tracks. Over all, it went really well! Pretty soon we'll be taking a BSS contingent across state lines to finish up the recording, so stay tuned for the next sneak peek of the many good things to come!!

Hip Hop Dance kicked off the spring term with nothing but raw energy, sweat pants and wall shattering volume. With a consistent class size of 14 students, Hip Hop dance is rolling bigger, badder and stronger than ever. To jump off this term, the class selected the song "Hey Daddy" written and performed by one of ATL's finest- Usher, and the song stays bumping repeatedly up in the thrid floor dance studio of Perishable Theater.

The class began by breaking down into two groups. Lead by Josh Vega, the boys choreographed their own intro routine. People like Brian Mello, Randolph Placide and Andrew Clay helped Vega come up with some of these dope moves. On the other side of the floor, the girl's team, lead by Anjel and Amber, choreographed their own piece. Angela Daluz took what's hot and what's hotter into her own hands. As soon as the track came on, she began to bang out sassy but solid moves that would later leave the girls looking UFO fly.

Hip Hop dance has many more songs, moves and swagg coming down the pipes. Def don't want to give away all the goods in one entry so untill next time roger that and I'm out!!!!

Anjel

Gerry Figueroa says he finds inspiration in many things: hope, loss, life, his subconscious mind, religious themes, the way he thinks, women and past loves. Phew! That's a lot, but there is clearly is so much present in his paintings, most of which he gives away after completion, keeping only the truly personal ones for himself. "I have been doing this all of my life," he says.

Gerry says this painting here, 'Cranial Deflowering,' represents romantic themes and his illness. "It's something I've dealt with for past couple years as it progressed, changed, morphed and became more serious. The medication would dull my creativity." When asked how the romance manifests itself, he says it comes from within his illness, an actual love for it as a part of himself. "Ultimately, I hope to influence people and show them how I think, like how I think in my mind, straight to the canvas."

Last week students in the creative writing class looked at some of Richard Brautigan's one-of-a-kind short style poems. Then after discussing the use of brevity as a tool to convey emotion, humor, politics, etc, everybody put pen to paper and came up with some of their own! Here are some of the fantastic results:

I think flying would be like riding
a motor cycle through the air.
Free like a car with no doors,
without wings.
Lifted up into the free space,
I wonder if I'd get the same reaction
if I pooped on people's windshields.

                     -Imani Walters

More poetry full of humor and the human heart after the jump!