iMoondo Blog

Distractions specializes in “psychedelic goodies”. For over thirty years, Jim Siegel, the owner, has provided San Francisco with the best quality glass pipes, clothing, and anything to help your inner hippie emerge. Jim also gives a brief history of Haight/Ashbury. I was truly amazed by the stories Jim told the camera. I really felt like I was recording something important. What do you think? I think its pretty amazing.

by Marc

Ladies and gentlemen, a Press Release courtesy of Montanaro Gallery…iMoondo Live presents Montanaro Galley who presents:

Montanaro Gallery Hosts Grand Opening in New Location:
Japanoramic, Featuring Asian Inspiration by Two Local Artists

Michael Montanaro (owner)
(401)741-8101 (Gallery)
(860)227-5067 (Cell)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montanaro Gallery will host its grand opening at its new location at 18 Franklin Street in Newport, RI, on Friday, March 7, 2008, from 6-10pm. The opening show, Japanoramic, will highlight the contemporary works of two local artists, Justin
“Skr!bner” Pilotte and Elizabeth Montanaro. This fun, friendly, artistic, and insightful event is open to the public and free of charge. Here’s their listing:

http://www.imoondo.com/play/2046

Justin “Skr!bner” Pilotte has created a brand new body of work in his signature style. Skr!bner’s art is graphically oriented and clean-edged with a colorful touch. His surface of choice is plywood, which adds a warm, organic undertone and hints at something natural underneath all of the superficiality the Japanese “super flat” movement implies. The aesthetic leans towards the asymmetrical, and the subject matter can range from political to social; environmental commentary to simple visual charm. Expect to see numerous large scale paintings, small sketches, and wood assemblages by Skr!bner.

Elizabeth Montanaro is represented in Japanoramic with a new series of Asian inspired acrylic paintings on canvas and intricate pen and ink drawings on paper. A Zen-like quality befalls her works in its complex simplicity. Thick, colorful brush strokes and bold outlines assemble her subjects of nature, life, and harmony with a distinct feminine touch. Her pen and inks detail the unadorned aesthetics of Asian landscapes and the natural world.

“Elizabeth Montanaro and Justin ‘Skr!bner’ Pilotte’s artistic creations are a great match. Both artists have created wonderful works for this show with distinct styles that perfectly compliment each other and cover a wide spectrum of visual subject matter. Everyone who views this show is sure to find something they love with such a universal collection of works. We are pleased to open our new gallery with these two local talents.”
-Michael Montanaro (Owner)

Check out www.montanarogallery.com for more information about this show as well as other shows, artists, details, and artworks. If you are unable to attend Japanoramic, log on to the website and look for the streaming link, during the opening reception hours, to view a live web broadcast courtesy of our friends at iMoondo.com, enhancing the experience of online classifieds through the power of video.

MONTANARO GALLERY
18 Franklin Street
Newport, RI 02840
(401)741-8101
www.montanarogallery.com
montanarogallery@gmail.com

***End Release***

There it is, folks, from our pals at Montanaro Gallery - perpetrators of the World’s First Streamcast Art Exhibit…that we knew of, in any case. Grab some toasted brie, a good wine, and partake! I consulted with iMoondo’s own culinerary consultant, Edwin the Reluctant Foodie, as to what wine would pair ideally with toasted brie. He authoritatively replied, “You mean baked brie? Um….well….umm……I don’t know. Ummm…yeah - I don’t know. I’m not really great at pairing wine. I guess, it’s sort of milky…so a white wine. I’d say a bodied California white wine…like a……something fruity, citrusy, something like that…” Can’t argue with that expertise! So I called iMoondo’s 2nd culinary consultant, Denise the Designer, who promptly responded, “Oh I don’t know….I’m TERRIBLE at pairing wines. I guess a fruity red…..maybe a chewy caaa….oh I don’t know….sorry. I just have noooo idea…you should call Edwin…”

In that I personally lean in favor of beer and porkrinds - spicy, of course - the matter isn’t of consequence to me. But seeing as how many of you are indeed particular about what should accompany your baked brie for this event and are hinging on iMoondo’s recommendation…iMoondo is taking suggestions:

Write to me at marc@iMoondo.com with your recommendations, and your suggestions will be posted Thursday evening in order to give everyone proper time to acquire said wine. I would say keep it realistic. I’ll deprive the Wine Hacks of their jollies and get the boxed wine and Two-Buck-Chuck ones out of the way right now…sorry guys.

See you Thursday.

Feedback: marc@imoondo.com

The first Real Time Art Exhibit we know of, in any case. I just spoke with Mike Montanaro, New England artist and gallery owner, about their recent art exhibit featured on iMoondo Live previewing new works by their 2008 lineup of artists:

Jesse Reno, Julie Goldstein, Ty Williams, Skr!bner, Andy Davis, Elizabeth Montanaro, Easton Davy and Mikey Welsh - ex-bassist for the rock band Weezer.

Exhibit, which took place last Friday and Saturday before last Saturday, went extremely well, and was a good Last Hurrah for Montanaro Gallery’s Thames Street location. Montanaro is in the process of moving to their new, larger location at 18 Franklin Street, in Newport, Rhode Island, and was very pleased that clients who could not make it to the exhibit, the last event of that location, could still take part via iMoondo Live real time.

Montanaro Gallery will have the Opening Exhibition of their 18 Franklin Street location on March 7th, and that opening will be featured, of course, on iMoondo Live.

Mike and I talked about the possibilities of how the gallery, the artists, and iMoondo could work together. His brain had been going about it, I could tell. You know that feeling where your mind is going, and your heart is up in your throat about the possibilities. And your brain is struggling to maintain a decent conversational level - like his was. That’s what I heard in Mike over the phone. Regarding the opening, I ran a few suggestions by him. Just a few, tiny little things-nothing big-just enough to taunt him. It was fun. His brain did the rest…

I think something new is about to happen in the Art World. And I am not going to tell you what it is.

You will just have to stay tuned-will keep you posted.

I wasn’t really blogging when this happened, but have to mention that before there was Sunhee Moon on iMoondo Live – there was Skates on Haight. I walked into Skates because I was looking for shops that would work well on iMoondo Live. Skates being an institution, and boards being the art they are, I figured it was an obvious shot to take, getting them signed up. I spoke with quite a few shop owners in SF, actually – more managers than owners, and I catch up with Carol there one day in mid December. Skates on Haight is Her House. She opened the place 30 years ago…this is no TechBoom or Post-TechBoom transplant. She’s curious what I’m up to. So Carol stands there and just listens to what I have to say. This in itself makes it a positive experience. Mind you, the staff had been cool up to that moment with me. I laid it out for a few of them, “We slap a webcam on that rig over there, set you up with a profile, people go to your listing on our site, call you up, ask to see something, and you show them live over the internet.”

I got a pretty good reaction from the young skaters there who generally aren’t impressed with much. “That’s a good idea,” one guy remarks. “We get calls from Europe cuz we have Old School boards that are hard to find…” Perfect…because they have the internet in Europe.

So I catch Carol, and being the dyed-in-the-wool San Franciscan she is, she gives me her attention on the matter. She stands there after I tell her what iMoondo Live is, thinks about it, and says, “Yeah …let’s do it.. sounds fun!” That was more or less it. There…done. Boom. There was no, “Who else is doing this?” or “We already have a website,”…none of that. She saw that this was different, easy, and could just flat out help her.

She then checked, “Any contract?”

“No.”

“So if I want to stop doing it, then…” she says.

“Then you stop doing it.” I’m not huge on BS myself.

And the ensuing weeks were spent getting through the holidays and catching up with her tech. guy.

Skateboards are art. I’ve seen enough to know that. In fact, Mikey Welsh - the ex-bassist for Weezer who showed at Montanaro Gallery last week, (they hosted a streamcast. Don’t worry, we’re streaming their opening on March 7th. I’ll blog more about that soon,) has a new line with Burton boards. So this isn’t a figure of speech - THEY ARE ART. They also have lines, designs, and moving parts. So that put together makes skateboards work for this new medium. It wasn’t hard to figure that out.

Skates on Haight has been there 30 years and has long boards, regular boards, Old School boards, parts, clothes, and they build boards custom. When I say Old School, I’m talking Santa Cruz, and Powell and Peralta Steve Caballero boards, Alva Skates…I even saw an Alva Skates hoodie. I won’t pretend I’m covering what they have, so here:

www.skatesonhaight.com

Have a look and call them up any time during business hours and they can show you what they have, not just a front and back picture but the board itself, and will talk shop with you. All their contact information is on their iMoondo Live listing. They ship all over the world, and take phone, online, and faxed in orders. They were going to do a show, ran into a wimpy tech problem, fixed it, and hopefully have something in store for us soon. We’ll keep you posted if they do…

Ladies and gentlemen, as iMoondo Live gets more participants, signing on for iMoondo Live becomes an easier thing for people to decide on. But signing onto something that has no external validation from others’ participation – ie. PIONEERING something – is a different story. But then, the timid don’t open skate shops on Haight Street in 1976 and keep them going.

So rejoice all you Hill Hellions, all you Brokers of Balance, you Conquistadors of Concrete, you Savants of the Street, you Wretched Souls…your Streamcast Saviors are here.

Skate On…

Feedback: marc@imoondo.com

Tired of staring at each other yet? Was that kind of thing not for you in the first place? Good. iMoondo Live provides an actual purpose for streaming. We give you Reason to Stream. Are you surprised that we did? Well, I guess that’s flattery, but really – we’ve done this sort of thing before.

Videos: we said “running into each other with mattresses is nice. Now take DIY video, use it for what you do or sell, and upload it to our community based website where people will seek it out and find it. Grab a video camera, shoot a video how you want it shot, and post it. Be funny, creative, in depth, HONEST, whatever you please. Don’t worry about perfect – people don’t care about perfect. They care about what you do or sell. Get better ideas for your video later? Then you shoot another and swap out your old one …doesn’t cost anything. It’s not a commercial – it isn’t 40 seconds long and doesn’t go away after it’s aired, or come down after a month a la Craigslist. (This is NOT, I repeat NOT a criticism of Craigslist.) This is a classified and it is permanent until you delete or improve upon it. Now show everybody what the video classified is: the de-commercialization of exposure. Exposure on YOUR terms…” We made video into exposure of the people, for the people (and what they do and have), by the people…Marketing/Advertising/Media industries be darned. BTW – video classifieds work. Don’t take my word for it:

Note: Horror Business sells via iMoondo Live. Lab Boston will be going Real Time very soon…

Now iMoondo is doing it with streaming video. Real Time infancy is over…it is now in its grown up stage. Of course we honor our roots. There is Craig…the man, the master, the Big Daddy - He who created the Internet Bulletin Board, made it easy, made it simple, and greatest of all…KEPT it that way. We honor YouTube, the Great Bringer of Do-It-Yourself video. Silly as some videos are – and plenty aren’t - it doesn’t matter. A voice for people is a voice for people. We honor the original streamers, whoever they may be…that basically took TV, both one and two way – creating the latter, and brought it to the internet. They give everyone power to broadcast and interact. And there is technology giving us the webcam that gives you an excellent, clear motion picture for a whopping $80, (specifically speaking of Logitech’s Pro 9000. No, I don’t work for Logitech or have any affiliation with them.) We, actually John, then said, “Use this for what you do, have, need, or want.” Then the rest of us more or less chimed in with our, “They can….and then they can….and they could…”

So real time video is now being applied to business. No longer are you restrained to what a store has on their website. (Store’s websites seldom have everything they carry.) No longer are you restrained by pictures and canned descriptions – you get to see the design and flow/presence of an item in Real Time, getting attendance and a description from an actual sales associate that applies DIRECTLY to your tastes and needs. No longer are you stuck with your ability to shop a store reduced to only Saturday and Sunday – your weekend. Nope! The entire store and its staff are now available to you all 7 (or 6 depending on the establishment) days a week, through your computer, wherever you live or work. Your store and staff access just went from the weekend, 16 hours a week, to all week, 48-56 hours. That access has been made available to you through your computer and phone. Most people having both, we’ve made real shopping a bit more convenient. We also expanded your capability from shopping your local stores and businesses to any in the world with broadband internet.

Any of your favorite stores, talents, venues, or businesses can participate in iMoondo Live – as long as they have broadband internet, a PC or Mac, a webcam, and a telephone line. For streamcasting of events, you can skip the phone line. These are neither high nor difficult barriers for participation.

That said, we give you and your favorite stores, venues, and businesses reason to Stream. And we at iMoondo are happy to do so…

Feedback: marc@imoondo.com