Month: December 2017
The 1950s and 1960s was a monumental time for rock-n-roll. Stunning guitar riffs, powerful vocals, and magical piano notes became the basis for all kinds of different rock music, like alternative rock, soft and hard rock. In the 1960s, Sir Raymond Douglas "Ray" Davies, also known as Ray Davies, emerged as one of England’s alternative rock stars. Davies can play the guitar, piano, and harmonica, and he sings. He was the lead singer for his band, The Kinks, and has done solo work on the side. The musician is well into his seventies but he keeps on rockin and rollin.
Davies started his music journey and career in the 1960s after discovering his love for music while attending art school in England. In 1964, Ray Davies and his brother, Dave, started The Kinks and gained their first record label the same year. They quickly became known for their psychedelic, alternative rock music with guitar riffs and cool chords. The brother’s interest in England’s sociopolitical issues heavily influenced their word choice, and they became known for making struggles into music.
Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs are home to some of the most amazing talents in the world. Visual artist and illustrator, Jurell Cayetano, is just another name to add to the ever-growing list up talented artist in Atlanta.
Hailing from Lithonia, Georgia by way of Brooklyn, New York, Jurell study illustration at The School for Visual Arts in NYC. What has the art industry talking about him now is his post- impressionist portraits. He has taken his love of black culture and drawing skills and has made masterpieces.
Serendipity.
Serendipity is defined as an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident or good fortune and luck. It is can be a chance meeting of love, wealth or opportunity. 21-year old model Slick Woods had a serendipitous meeting of her own at a Los Angeles bus stop in 2016 when she was discovered by British male model Ash Stymest. The meeting was completely random but it changed her life. "It was literally the luck of the Universe. My energy, my positive energy pulling things towards me. I'm on Law of Attraction. I just feel like I definitely did that for myself. When I was hungry, nobody fed me. I definitely just lucked up. I just do this to show people that luck is a real thing. It really is," Woods said in an Urban Outfitters blog interview.
The limelight is intense. It is all-encompassing and blinding for the celebrities that live within its confines. Although, their children live extremely privileged lives, they face a unique set of growing pains in comparison to others. Their lives are documented and watched by the entire world. They often have to grapple with identity issues, public criticism and invasions of privacy. While Jasmine Jordan, daughter of basketball player Michael Jordan, faced some of these difficult circumstances while growing up in the public sphere, she has conquered them all. Jordan has created an identity alongside her father's brand without losing herself by creating her own identity. She told lifestyle blog BeGeorgeous, “The fame, fortune, legacy and list of accomplishments are my father’s. Those accolades don’t define me nor are they mine to claim. My father is Michael Jordan. I am simply Jasmine Jordan.”
I really did not expect a sixteen year old girl to pop up when I googled #BreakingTheSterotype. She is a professional dancer, actress and an advocate for body positivity for all kinds of people. Amanda LaCount started dancing at the age of two, and acting locally at the age of five. Her upbeat spirit and dance moves have landed her in pop-star Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish” music video, on reality television shows like “Dancing With the Stars,” and “The Voice.” The young fiery girl is trained in a variety of dance styles like hip-hop, contemporary, ballet and even tap.
#BreakingTheSterotype is Amanda’s trending hashtag on social media. It was created due to the negativity the passionate dancer has received due to her body size. The hashtag encourages people to break the stereotype imposed on dancers by society. Just like models, most believe dancers should be thin and have a “cookie cutter” body type. Stereotypes take many forms, and mostly negative, but the teen’s hashtag is meant to break this concept in the dancing world. In an interview with Amy Poehler, creator of Amy’s Smart Girls, a platform for young women to live up to their true self, Amanda daringly replied when asked about her hashtag:
“Anyone can be a dancer if they are passionate about it and work hard. It doesn’t matter if you are tall or short, what color you are, what sexual orientation you are, male or female, age, height, thick or thin body type, hair color, how much money you have, if you are blind or deaf, paralyzed, or even if you can walk or not. Anyone can dance if they want to.”
