Organizers Reveal Lineup, Programming for Ninth Annual O+ Kingston

The lineup for the ninth annual O+ Kingston (Oct. 5-7, 2018) is the art, music and wellness festival’s most diverse, experimental and inclusive to date. Confirmed acts for the 3-day weekend include: The Comedy Resistance Presents Janeane Garofalo and Friends; Evan Dando of ’90s alt-rock band The Lemonheads, Woodstock-based pianist Marco Benevento (psych rock and dance); Balún (Brooklyn by way of San Juan, Puerto Rico, dance/electronic);  Nous featuring experimental jazz icon Karl Berger (Woodstock / Germany) in collaboration with ambient composer Christopher Bono and percussionist Billy Martin (of Medeski, Martin and Wood); Malian guitar genius Mamadou Kelly (world/West African); Willy Mason and the Pandemorium (folk singer-songwriter, Massachusetts); nerdcore rapper MC Chris (collaborator with Talib Kweli, Andrew WK, Cee-Lo, Childish Gambino and Gwar); and indie rock band Pete International Airport (featuring Peter G. Holmström of The Dandy Warhols) of Portland, Ore. In addition, composer Michael Hollis of New Paltz will debut “The Edge of the Hill,” an ensemble piece featuring electronic elements based around the Ulster County environment and what its citizens do to preserve and protect it.

The rest of the confirmed lineup includes:

100 Strings (santoor & tabla, Walden); Adrian Aardvark (freak folk, Plattsburgh); The Beautiful Bastards (rock, Kingston); Blood & Stomach Pills (garage rock, Kingston); The Bobby Lees (punk blues, Woodstock); The Bottoms Up Dixieland Jazz Band (Dixieland jazz, Hudson Valley); Justin Bush (hip hop, Poughkeepsie); Danger*Cakes (rockabilly, Austin); Alyssa Dann (folk, Woodstock); Driftwood Soldier (roots / blues, Philadelphia); Duane Mark trio (Americana / folk, Texas); Rhys Ellis (multi-instrumentalist, Tillson); Ian Flanigan (soulful pop acoustic, Saugerties); The Forefathers (funk/soul and R&B, Kingston); Daniel Frankhuizen (cello, Poughkeepsie); Fraternal Twin (indie rock, Kingston); Full Walrus (indie rock, O+ Poughkeepsie alumni); Garth. (R&B / pop, Queens); Globelamp (indie rock, Kingston); The Golden Grass (heavy-country-funk-boogie and progressive-psychedelic-freakbeat, Brooklyn); Hairbag (punkadelic, Kingston); Hiding Behind Sound (indie rock, Red Hook); The Hipstones (indie rock duo, Kingston); Key of Q (vocal ensemble, Kingston); Kulton The Maker (hip hop, Hudson); Treya Lam (piano-based pop, Queens); Mark Marshall (rock, Kingston); Marlon DuBois (hip hop, Woodstock); Morricone Youth (live scoring Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent classic, “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog,” Queens); Keenan O’Meara (singer-songwriter, Olivebridge); Lorkin O’Reilly (acoustic songwriter, Catskill); a place both wonderful and strange (occult dance music, Queens); Orphan Jane (cabaret, Queens); Denzil Porter (hip hop / rap, Bronx); Qing (Catskill, pop); Billy Rogan (solo guitar instrumentals, Woodstock); The Sad Voice Sings Clare and The Reasons and others (with chamber ensemble, Kingston); Schmave (lo-fi jazz, New Paltz); Shadow Witch (heavy psychedelic / grunge, Kingston); Spliffs (psychedelic space jazz pop, Woodstock); The Star Sisters (folk, Rosendale); Stranger Cat (electronic indie pop, Brooklyn); Sun Voyager (stoner rock, Hudson Valley & NYC); Toebow (math-style indie rock, Brooklyn); TOP Nachos (garage / punk, New Paltz); Tygersounds (synth-pop/new wave, Beacon); JK Vanderbilt (indie rock, O+ Poughkeepsie alumnus, Kingston); Wah Together (indie rock, NYC); and Yolanda Yolanda (indie rock, West Hurley).

Check out our O+ Festival Kingston 2018 Spotify playlist that highlights some of this year’s bands, solo artists and ensembles.

O+ will expand its music offerings for the entire family, adding children’s programming (Esther Crow, interactive singing with puppets) and Kinder Disco with DJ Ali. Friday and Saturday nights The Beverly will feature performances from emerging bands from the local DIY scene.

This year’s conference at the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center features three moderated panel discussions with a focus on topics pertinent to today’s independent artist, musician and community member. And  The Comedy Resistance, which pairs headlining comedians with voter registration, to bring an evening of laughter and activism to festival audiences.

This year’s 27 participating artists and artist-collectives will respond to the theme of Shadow.

“The art committee is thrilled to highlight art projects interpreting the theme both literally and conceptually, as shadow implicates the existence of a duality,” says O+ Director of Art Denise Orzo. “No light, no shadow. Our focus this year is predominantly on locally based artists. We are excited to offer interactive and participatory projects as well as murals, light and shadow projections, and surprising temporal site-specific installations throughout the city of Kingston.”

They are: Nashville-based Bhalvin Prince, whose artwork illustrates his time spent in immigration detention in Orange County Jail in Goshen, (postcards workshop); illustrator Marker Snyder aka Redsharkboy of Kingston (gallery installation); mixed media collage artist, photographer and poet Delilah Jones of New Paltz (collage workshop); Poetry Barn literary center based in the Catskills (interactive); Allison Braun aka Smell the Damn Roses (Exquisite Corpse Cafe workshop); Ana Azzue Gallira of California and Ori Alon of Beacon (Hidden Fortune Wheel interactive installation); Callie Jayne of Kingston and Ocean Lofgren of Rosendale (experimental video highlighting the stories of those directly impacted by the criminal justice system); Annie Poon of New York City (stop-motion animation video that explores mental illness); Evan Pachón of Irvington (large-scale projection); Cagil Harmander of Istanbul (animation video); Glass Eye Shadow Pictures of Highland (shadow and light performance); Andrew Shirley of Kingston (Wastedland 2 post-apocalyptic graffiti wonderland installation); Emily Vail of Kingston (Tannery Brook site-specific installation); and Jessica Gaddis of New Paltz (temporary site-specific installation that draws attention to Kingston’s historic buildings). Braun, Lofgren and Poon are O+ alumni.

The mural art roster includes: Samantha French / Aaron Hauck(Kingston), Will Lytle aka Thorneater Comics (West Hurley, O+ Kingston alumnus), La Morena (Arizona), Lindsey Wolkowicz (Kingston), Dina Kravtsov / Mat Schulze (Kingston) and boogieREZ (Poughkeepsie, O+ Poughkeepsie alumnus). Tani Ikeda and O+ Kingston alumni Jess X. Snow and Layqa Nuna Yawar will create an installment of their nationwide project and augmented reality mural, “Survivor Love Letter,” a call to survivors of sexual assault and their loved ones to publicly celebrate their lives.

O+ artists and musicians receive health and wellness care in an Artists’ Clinic staffed by volunteer providers and in local dentist offices as a thank you for their creative gifts to festival audiences and the Kingston community. O+ calls this exchange: the art of medicine for the medicine of art.

A red O+ wristband serves as an all-access pass to the art happenings and concerts, as well as wellness offerings, which include cycling events in a variety of distances and terrain — including a mural-to-mural slow ride for all, an EXPO+ curated that highlights locally available health and wellness services and EXPLO+RE classes in yoga, meditation, dance, sound healing and more.

O+ Kingston is sponsored by WMCHealth/HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, Golden Artist Colors, Lagunitas and Ryan & Ryan Insurance.

Second Annual O+ Poughkeepsie to Feature 3 Mural Artists, 20 Bands

Three mural artists and approximately 20 bands and solo musicians will participate in the second annual O+ Poughkeepsie festival of art, music and wellness, which takes place Aug. 3-4.

Legendary graffiti and mural artist Lady Pink of Gardiner (who made a mural for O+ Kingston in 2016), Newburgh-based mural artist and graphic designer Joe Pimentel and muralist and educator Sam Meyerson of New York City will make large-scale artworks in response to the theme “Shadow.”

O+ Poughkeepsie will feature bands and solo musicians from the Hudson Valley and beyond with an emphasis on busker-style street performance. Genres include hip-hop, reggae/dub, indie rock, folk/bluegrass, electronic and spoken word.

Music highlights include Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones (rockabilly), Bright Dog Red (improvisational) and J.A.H.G (rap).

The full music lineup and the locations of the murals will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

What sets O+ apart from other festivals? The participating musicians and artists will receive complimentary health and wellness care in the O+ Artists’ Clinic, which is staffed by volunteer providers.

In addition to all the art and music, festival attendees will also experience a wellness EXPO+ that highlights health and wellness services locally available and have the opportunity to take EXPLO+RE classes in yoga, dance, meditation and more.

Admission is pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $10.

In the weeks leading up to the festival weekend, O+ Poughkeepsie alumna Risa Tochigi aka boogieREZ will paint a mural at the Poughkeepsie Gateway, which is the Route 9 underpass on Main Street. That project is a partnership between Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie Alliance and O+.

SWAK Bike Rack Combines Public Art, Wellness

Cyclists riding along Kingston’s Cornell Street can now park and lock their bikes on a piece of public art at The Lace Mill.

Writer, artist and aerobics teacher Buddy Valentine in collaboration with Pioneer Agency was the winning designer of a 2017 bike rack competition made possible through a grant from APA NY Metro as part of the Plan4Health program.

This art-meets-wellness project is a partnership between City of Kingston / Live Well Kingston, Bike-Friendly Kingston, Kingston Greenline / The Kingston Land Trust and O+.

“Buddy Valentine’s bike rack, which references the designer’s pair of O+ murals that kiss across town, adds a new element of functional public art to Cornell Street,” said Aimee Gardner, O+ director of operations. “It’s a seamless blending of art and wellness.”

Two more of Buddy Valentine’s SWAK bike racks will be installed along Cornell Street soon!

“When I was a kid in the suburbs of Chicago and we’d drive into the big city, there was this giant sign shaped as a pair of red lips,” said Buddy Valentine. “It was along the highway as you approached the urban areas, for me a beacon of big, big dreams. My dream for the SWAK murals I’ve been fortunate to create with O+ and now this exciting bike rack project is that they’ll ignite excitement and big dreams in the same way, intriguing kids and adults alike about Kingston’s awesomeness.”

The bike racks were purchased through a Main Street Revitalization Program grant funded by Central Hudson.

O+ Hosts Opioid Panel, Forum, Narcan Training in Newburgh

O+ presents “Trends in Opioid Use, Treatment and Harm Reduction,” Thursday, May 31 at 5:15 p.m. at Grit Works, 115 Broadway in Newburgh. The free Educate & Activate panel and community forum focuses on opioid use trends in the Hudson Valley, plus harm reduction, treatment, first-person perspectives, and advocacy for harm reduction practices. A training for the opioid overdose prevention drug Narcan will also be provided.

“This life-affirming panel and forum aims to empower community members to take action and advocate for progressive drug policy and access to harm reduction means and treatment,” said Shannon Light, O+ nurse and director of the O+ Artists’ Clinic.

Listen to Shannon Light’s interview with Radio Woodstock’s Greg Gattine here:

 

Panelists include Dr. Maya Hambright, medical director of Samaritan Daytop Village’s Cape Road Residential Treatment Program in Ellenville, physician at Health Quest Medical Practice — Woodstock and a volunteer provider in the O+ Artists’ Clinic; Sean Tonner, outreach coordinator of Hudson Valley Community Services Syringe Exchange Program (SEP); Deb Greene, program director of RECAP’s New Life Manor; and Kathleen F. Morgan, chief operations officer of HONOR (Helping Others Needing Our Resources). Daniel Maughan, vice president of Transformation for St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital, is the moderator.

HVCS and Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange and Sullivan will provide Narcan training and kits.

Refreshments will be served.

Partners for the May 31 event include RECAP, Hudson Valley Community Services and St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital.

Educate & Activate is a yearround O+ series of forums that brings together panels of health providers, non-profit organizations, local government leaders, educators and activists to discuss national health issues, their impact on local communities, and to convene community task forces to address them. It is sponsored by Health Quest.

 

Spring Gala Auction Raises $50K

The sold out O+ Spring Gala Auction on April 14 at The Beverly in Kingston raised more than $50K for O+.

The event was hosted by the O+ Board of Directors and Spring Gala Auction Committee and sponsored by Hurley Avenue Family Medicine, Michael Pisacane, David Ping Group, HealthAlliance Hospital and the Columbia family — Sarah, Edward and Stephen.

Artists (including Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Gaia, Jeffrey Milstein, Kevin Paulsen and Giselle Potter), small business owners and fellow nonprofits donated auction items. Supporters participated in mobile bidding for the silent auction items and live bidding with auctioneer Jay Werbalowsky. DJ Ali spun “swanky cocktail tunes” for the 125 guests throughout the evening.

Poughkeepsie Gateway Curators Reveal Five Finalists

The selection committee for the Poughkeepsie Gateway, an art intervention at the Route 9 underpass on Main Street, has selected 5 finalist mural proposals from the following artists: Julia Whitney Barnes, Risa Tochigi aka Boogie, Peter Daverington, Layqa Nuna Yawar and Justus Roe.

The public is invited to meet the artists, ask questions, and leave feedback Friday, April 6 from 5-7 p.m. at the Poughkeepsie Public Safety Building, 505 Main St.

The Poughkeepsie Gateway is a commissioned mural project that is a partnership between Poughkeepsie Alliance, Arts Mid-Hudson and O+ Poughkeepsie.

The images below are partial mural studies for the Poughkeepsie Gateway (with the exception of the Justus Roe image, which is an example of previous work.) To see more details of the proposed murals, please attend the April 6 session!

 

Julia Whitney Barnes:

 

Boogie:

 

 

Peter Daverington:

 

Layqa Nuna Yawar:

 

 

Justus Roe:

O+ Radio Hour Launches on Radio Kingston

The O+ Radio Hour on Radio Kingston is a weekly conversation about art, music, wellness and activism at the intersection of community brought to you by O+.

Every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST we’ll feature compelling interviews with creatives, health and wellness tips from providers, and music curated by different members of the O+ team.

And once a month we’ll deep dive into the music and bring in O+ alumni bands for in-studio performances. We hope you’ll join the conversation as we make the case for localizing our country’s health and wellness system — one town at a time!

You can listen locally at AM 1490 or anywhere in the world at radiokingston.org

Video: Amanda Palmer In Conversation at O+ Kingston

Singer-songwriter, “The Art of Asking” author and Catskills resident Amanda Palmer set the community-centered, revolutionary tone of the eighth annual O+ weekend Oct. 6-8, 2017 with a performance (featuring her dad Jack Palmer) and conversation with Radio Kingston‘s Jimmy Buff and O+ Executive Director Joe Concra (with a cameo by O+ dentist Dr. Bruce Milner) at BSP Kingston.

“Every day it gets a little weirder and a little worse, and I feel like I’m living in a movie. Then I come out and I see things like this; stark reminders of sanity and stark reminders that actually the vast majority of people — and people in this country — are good and will help each other, and do want to be connected and do want to care for each other. We just need so much more of this, and more of what we are doing tonight; not just as a special event, but as a daily occurrence.” — Amanda Palmer at BSP Kingston

Watch the video of the inspiring conversation (warning: joyful swearing!) here.

Thank you to O+ volunteer Front Row Dave for the videography and editing.

 

O+ Poughkeepsie Gifts City With Six Murals

A number of visual artists invigorated the Main Street corridor of downtown Poughkeepsie in August 2017 by transforming walls in underutilized spaces. All six of the inaugural O+ Poughkeepsie murals were made by artists living and working in New York State who were inspired by the 2017 theme of HO+ME.

Participating Poughkeepsie-based artists were John Breiner, the duo BoogieREZ and a collective from Queen City Tattoo. They were joined by O+ alumnus Eugene Stetz of High Falls (who made two murals) and Mr. Prvrt aka Justin Suarez of Rochester.

The participating underinsured artists received health and wellness care in exchange for their creative gifts: the art of medicine for the medicine of art.

Top l-r Mr. Prvrt, BoogieREZ, Eugene Stetz; bottom l-r John Breiner, Eugene Stetz, and Alex Thomassen, Mike Boyce & Kaoticstudios “Rugged”