Video: Batala DC

The Batala DC percussion group always impresses and yesterday was no different. The all-women drum group was founded in 2007 and is often seen in parades, festivals, or just drumming up a rhythmic storm at your local park or plaza. They played for quite a bit at Adams Morgan Day, but I only recorded about 2 minutes worth, not doing them any justice to be honest. Check out their events calendar for the next chance to see them live. Enjoy!

Friday Fun Post: Best Time Lapse Ever

The most elaborate, amazing, painstakingly produced, time lapse video art I have ever seen. And I went to an art school. So I know. I've seen some bad ones, too. But, this is amazing. Each frame was hand painted or arranged. Think about that. EACH FRAME. Even if you don't have 10 minutes to watch this in its entirety, watch whatever you can.

Video: Dance Back the Night Benefit in Adams Morgan

Very cool fundraiser last night in Adams Morgan. A benefit was held for the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project. Teams of dancers showed off their skillzzz in a dance-off right on the BB&T plaza at 18th and Columbia NW. It wasn't really a dance-off. The competition was just for fun. There were some sweet dance moves though. And sweet outfits.

The video below is actually of random audience members dancing a routine they just learned, like 1 minute prior. I was impressed! I forgot the first step by the time the instructor was teaching the last step, so good thing I was behind the camera for this one.

Anyway, A/PI DVRP is such a worthy cause and is in a financial pinch like may other area non profits. They just happen to do life saving work. So please consider visiting the website, learn a bit about the work they do, and consider contributing, even if not in dollars. Have a great weekend everyone.

Dance Back the Night: A Benefit for A/PI DVRP from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.

Video: snOMG 2010 Snowball Fight

Saturday at Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park at about 3:00pm. There were dozens (hundreds?) of people in the park during the day Saturday. Football games on the green, dogs running in the show, sledding down snow covered staircases, and this. A not-so-massive snowball fight, but a fun one. Not a mean-natured person there. For the most part if you weren't holding a snowball, you were off limits, although I did get hit with an errant snowball while trying to jump off the stage and go home. Whatever! A fun day walking around the car-free streets.

Malcolm X Park Snowball Fight Take 2 from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.

Cool Parkour Video

Year's ago, at the end of MTVs heyday I saw a "news" story on what was then knows as "freestyle walking." This was maybe, 10 years ago? Little did I know that it has grown into a full blown genre of activity called parkour, or freerunning. Essentially, its the free and efficient movement of humans over around under, and through obstacles the built environment. Using the world around you and changing it's purpose by how you interact with it.

Parkour is sort of hard to explain in words, but luckily there are lots of videos like the one below that show off people doing it. It mostly happens in urban settings. I've seen people engaging in it at Malcolm X-Meridian Hill Park and other places, but I don't know if there is a dedicated group here in DC. Probably so, as there is a dedicated group for almost every societal sub culture somewhere in the DC area, however small. The video is a preview of the movie, My Playground, by Danish film maker Kaspar Astrup Schröder. Enjoy.

MY PLAYGROUND - PREVIEW from KASPARWORKS on Vimeo.

Video: Zombie Walk in Mount Pleasant

The Lamont Street Halloween Festival was well attended this year, but not quite at the levels of the last two or three years. The rain and a Saturday holiday kept those away who on a weekday may have seen this as the "main event." Many came early and there was still a decent crowd into the night. A puppet-shadowbox show with live music accompaniment was awesome. Both players and the audience of young and old paid no attention to the smattering of drizzle. Good time had by all.

About halfway through the night a gaggle of zombie walkers came through; a yearly tradition at this point. This year they departed from the usual moaning and groaning to perform a choreographed piece, to Micheal Jackson's Thriller, natürlich. You may have to use your imagination on the video; the sounds of Thriller wane in and out as the only speaker provided was from a small boombox being carried around. I think you know the words.

This is one of the funnest yearly events in the neighborhood and here's to next year. Cheers.

Zombie March on Lamont Street from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.

Video: Yula Be'eri in Adams Morgan

This show was just a lot of fun. I went on a recommendation of a friend and a quick myspace.com site check. I enjoyed the 30 seconds or so I heard of Yula Be'eri online and decided to head over to Asylum on Wednesday night to see for myself. This Brooklyn-based band took the stage shortly after 10:30pm, succeeding a DC band, Punch Drunk Poets. PDP played acoustic and I really dug them as well.

But Yula was amazing. Very much like a stripped down Gogol Bordello. Yula and her mates were only 3 strong, but switched instruments several times and had good stage presence and banter. Picked up a CD and left the bar in a tune. Doesn't happen often. Here's to better shows on the 42 bus route. If you know of a good upcoming show, please pass along the details to the42bus at gmail dot com.

Yula Be'eri and the Extended Family playing at Asylum from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.

Video: Watching the HBO Cube

HBO, the cable movie channel, promoted itself by creating several free, two minute films to be shown in public. The films were shown on each wall of a 16x16 cube. When watched in sequence they came together to form a longer, nuanced story. Viewers had to walk around the cube several times to view different scenes the stories, which played continuously all night, not necessarily in order.

The experience was pretty neat. After each two minute clip you had to rotate around the cube to essentially see the exact same story played out from a different angle or point of view. After watching the same story through three or four viewpoints, you get to piece together what actually transpired, although there are still questions which remain. Perhaps that's supposed to drive you to the HBO website or to the channel itself. Pretty cool, even for an advertisement. If you don't want to or can't go to Adams Morgan to see this thing, you can watch online at HBO Imagine.

Here's video of people watching the cube: yes a video of people watching a video. Early Thursday night. The corner of 18th St and Columbia Rd NW.

The HBO Cube in Adams Morgan from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.

Video: Crafty Bastards Breakdance Battle--The Finals

The b boy break dance battle has become quite the tradition at Crafty Bastards, the arts sale-fair in Adams Morgan. The fair itself was on point featuring many vendors who I've begun to recognize for their original work over the years. I thought there were more clothing and accessory options for men this time around, something I've lamented before. We like style, too! Hopefully there were more buyers than window shoppers.

Well, the break dance battle was held on the pit of an old play area of Marie Reed School. There was a bracketed elimination style tourney set up and the dancers were from all over the mid Atlantic; DC, Phila, VA Beach. This is the video of the final match up between two teams.

In related news The 42 Bus has just started a Vimeo video channel, where I'll be posting various videos. I'm still trying to figure out how else to be creative with it, so if you have ideas throw them my way. Thanks and enjoy the first video from The 42 Bus.

Crafty Bastards B Boy Battle '09: The Finals from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.