Category: Blog Post 6

Like so many nights out in New York, this one started on Instagram. Scrolling through stories, my feed was a steady stream of friends hosting or DJing across the city. Ome specific post caught my attention; a close friend of mine was spinning a set at Elsewhere in Brooklyn for a Latinx queer party. I slid into their DM’s to get on the guest list and made my way out to Bushwick.

My night almost ended before it began. After making longest commute from the Bronx to Bushwick, I realized I had forgotten my ID at home. Elsewhere i notoriously strict regarding their Id policy, so I began to lose hope after pleading with three security guards back-to-back. After explaining to them that I was on the list and promising them it won’t happen again, they finally let me through.

Inside, the atmosphere instantly shifted. My friend met me near the door, handed me a drink ticket, and I made my way toward the bar. The main room was flashing lights in neon pink and light blue, in sync with the hyperpop beats that filled the room. The music was fast, energetic, and slightly bubbly.

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After getting my drink I headed over to my friend at the DJ booth and was able to get a better view of everyone’s outfits. It was a reflection of the rave aesthetic mixed with the relentless heat of NYC: deconstructed pieces. bold makeup, ans akin-forward looks designed for dancing in a crowded room. Bright nenon colors, body glitter, and vibrant textures signaled a subculture rooted in joy, self-expression, and queer Latinx pride. Everyone contributed to the vibe of the room with their energy and style.

I was curious about how the rest of the venue felt, so I hopped around it. I walked through the other rooms and met so many people that were just so nice and easy to talk to, something that is so common in these spaces: you walk in alone and leave with tens of people’s instagrams. The outside space is where usually all of the socializing happens, where the music isn’t muffling everyone’s voices. I actually really love when clubs have outside spaces, socializing is what makes the night the most memorable. After talking to a few people and catching up with some of my friends, I headed into the other rooms.

The contrast was immediate. Though the lights were flashing similar colors, the larger room hosting a more mainstream event had more muted fashions. It leaned into standard nightlife streetwear and understated tones. While people were having a great time, the visual dialogues were different; the expression felt more passive compared to the vibrant subculture in the first room.

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Comparing these two spaces highlighted how deeply music and community shape an environment. The music itself is the baseline, but the crowd’s shared identity turns the beat into a subculture. Being in the first room surrounded by familiar faces, high tempo, hyperpop, and uninhibited expression offered a genuine connection to a distinct community that knows how to claim space and celebrate itself.

On July 31st, I went to Pacha New York, which is a night club in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, surrounded by warehouses. Which can be a little scary, especially for women. So, I would recommend taking an Uber to the site or carpooling with friends. What is important is that whatever you do, you must not walk to the site from the train. Just don’t! Don’t trust my advice? Look up people that have gone missing around Brooklyn Mirage (which is the same place as Pacha New York; it just got renovated). Please follow my advice. 

I saw Artbat, which is a group of two deejays and producers from Ukraine, Kyiv. I wasn’t familiar with their music, and it was last minute side quest because my older sibling had an extra ticket. My oldest sibling is 38, and I’m 21, so I thought the crowd would pull towards the older side, but to my surprise it was a very mixed community from people across all ages. I saw many faces as I was waiting on the line to get inside the site, and I could distinguish between the recent high school graduate who is worried about being caught with its fake ID while trying to get inside (the place is 21+) and the married couple in their 40s enjoying a night off from being parents. The display of diversity extended beyond age groups, and it fully bloomed for the outfits people were wearing. Some people were wearing black leather outfits and knee-high boots, almost a vampire aesthetic in the middle of NYC summer, or others rocked the simple jeans or shorts, going out in tops and white sneakers, very characteristic of the nightlife in Lower Manhattan. As well as sequins and neon outfits, more experimental and with the purpose of being exotic or sensual. I would say the majority of the cool outfits I saw were from women and queer people; they had a purpose to “deliver” that night, and they executed the task exquisitely. Nonetheless, all these outfits had one thing in common: black sunglasses. I thought it was mainly for aesthetic purposes, but my brother told me that a lot of people take edibles or do substances that alter the appearance of their eyes and thus use black sunglasses to cover their effect. Plus the site does not allow the comsuption of substances inside the venue.

While I was observing the event, the biggest two connections the audience had to the music were the visuals being displayed on the screen and the dancing. First, the visuals were out of this world and impossible to not look at. In the first 20 minutes of the show, I was genuinely terrified of how good the graphics of the visuals were. While admiring the visuals, I started to notice the people around me and how they were dancing. They were moving as if no one was watching, very similar to dancing alone in your room. I was witnessing how attendees completely disconnected from the tangible world and reached their flow state. The combination between visuals and dancing created the perfect atmosphere for people to enjoy and connect fully with the music. In my perspective, there is too much going on at the same time that there is no chance to be self-aware about your moves, outfits, or expressions. Techno music and its scene will drag you to disconnect from the outside world no matter what.

The music is definitely attached to or inspired by the techno, house, and electronic music subculture. Not sure if it’s necessarily EDM because I believe that’s more commercial. I’m not familiar with the subcultures of music, but I believe the event I attended is in the spot between commercial and underground/unknown because it doesn’t pull towards pop like Charli XCX does, but it’s also not music you would release on SoundCloud. Also, Artbat and many other techno artists fill festivals and venues to the brim, so what their music is has to definitely be well-known within people who like electronic music.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed their show and slowly started to dance when I could not resist the temptation of going with the rhythm. It was pleasant to give my ears something new to hear, as I can be repetitive with the songs I listed. However, after three hours of electronic music, I started to understand why people do substances during these events; it can get a little boring after a while if you are not really into the music. Lucky for me, the visuals were enough to keep me on my feet the whole night and engaging with the artist. Lastly, I don’t think that being there helped me feel connected to a community, as everyone was in their respective groups and would interact with others on a few occasions. In my perspective, people are there to simply dance, and enjoy a good show, not really to make a community. However, this event brought me even closer to my older brother, and we shared a quality time together, so it did helped me feel connected to someone from my community. Overall, it was a great show, and it might be attending more events like this in the future 🙂

This last 1st of August I went to see two of my favorite argentine rappers (Trueno and Milo J), the community was mostly hispanic with the majority being argentine. I don’t know how to describe it but people were dressed to go to a concert, almost like if the outfit could reflect the energy.  Even non-spanish speakers seemed to have a blast. I talked with this person who told me that she didn’t understand spanish, therefore I asked if she was liking the concert despite the fact that she wasn’t understanding what they were saying. She told me that even though she couldn’t understand the lyrics, she could feel the energy.

I think that that was the biggest thing of the concert: The energy. It was so cool to be around people who were dancing, jumping and overall excited to be around the artist they listen to. I feel that being there made me a bigger fan of their work. I even obtained this poster that I pasted in my room.

For the past three years, I have always walked past the Summer Stage in Harlem events but I never stopped by to check it out. This event comes every summer and it happens just a few blogs away from my home. I always thought it was interesting and wanted to check it out some times. However, Assignment #6 provided the perfect opportunity to finally learn what the event is all about. 

I attended SummerStage in Harlem’s Gospel Night last Thursday, and the event  featured TJ Reddick & Chosen and Anthony Evans with the Harlem Praise Singers. I expected to simply listen to live gospel music. I love gospel music. I was ready to have a great time. However there was more to the event: the songs, performances, and Audiences seemed to be perfectly aligned. I felt a strong sense of community that extended far beyond the stage.

The audience reflected Harlem’s diversity. There were older adults, families, young people, and visitors from different backgrounds, etc.. What stood out most were the visual signs of their connection to the music. The performers dressed in a way that reminded me of traditional church services, showing the event’s connection to black gospel culture and faith. People raised their hands, sang along with the performers, clapped to the rhythm, and swayed together. They appeared completely immersed in the music. It was interesting to watch. 

The music was clearly attached to the gospel subculture, but it also felt welcoming to people who were not necessarily part of that tradition. Especially when they sang the famous supergroup USA for Africa charity single “We Are The World“, the crowd went crazy! Then, it felt less like a concert and more like a shared experience. They sent out messages of hope that created an atmosphere that made everyone participate, regardless of their background.

My overall impression of the event was positive. I realized the sense of unity it created among strangers. Everybody clapped, sang, and responded together, showing the power of live music in community building.

I felt connected to a community, shared the same experience with others, and responded to the music together even though I was there as a first-time visitor. I loved it!

 

This week I attended BTS Arirang Tour Day 2 at MetLife Stadium. The tour marks their return after completing their military service, and six years since they last went on tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic. BTS is a K-pop boy group that has achieved worldwide success and sold out stadiums across the globe.

 

At K-pop concerts, most fans do not arrive just an hour before the show begins. Instead, many arrive early in the morning to buy merchandise and interact with other fans. One of the most special parts of K-pop concerts is the tradition of freebies. Freebies are small keepsakes that fans make and give away to other fans to celebrate the concert. They usually include photocards of the group members, which are printed selfies of the members, but they can also include stickers, keychains, decorated hairpins, bracelets, fans, and many other handmade gifts. Fans hand out these items without expecting anything in return, creating an atmosphere of generosity and kindness.

Another tradition that makes K-pop concerts unique is fan projects. Fans create banners with heartfelt messages for the artists and distribute them throughout the venue. During the concert, everyone holds up their banners at the same time so the artists can read them from the stage. K-pop groups also have official lightsticks that are unique to each fandom. BTS’s lightstick is called the ARMY Bomb, and their fans are known as ARMY.

At the concert, many fans dressed in red, white, and black because those are the colors of BTS’s newest album, Arirang. Others wore sailor-inspired outfits because of the title track, “Swim.” Many people also decorated their ARMY Bombs with bows, charms, and rhinestones to match their outfits. K-pop concerts have often been described as mini fashion shows because fans put so much creativity and effort into expressing their love for the group through their clothing and accessories.

Throughout the performance, fans chanted the members’ names in rhythm with the music. BTS’s fan chant is: “Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, Jeon Jungkook, BTS!” K-pop fan chants always begin with the group’s leader and continue from the oldest member to the youngest, also known as the maknae. During a short intermission, fans’ signs were displayed on the stadium screens. One sign read, “Latinas Love BTS,” and the entire stadium erupted into cheers, showing how many people related to the message. Throughout the concert, everyone sang, danced, and jumped together while also looking out for one another. At one point, I bent down to grab my water bottle, and the ARMY standing next to me immediately reached out because she thought I had fainted from excitement. After I told her I was okay, several other fans nearby also checked on me. Even though we were complete strangers, everyone genuinely cared about one another.

Being able to be witness this concert brought me overwhelming amounts of happiness. I have been a fan of BTS since I was nine years old, so finally seeing my childhood idols in person at the age of twenty felt like a full-circle moment. I knew every single song they performed, and I was so excited that, five minutes before the concert started, I began feeling nauseous, almost as if I were the one about to perform. When BTS finally appeared on stage, I immediately started crying and yelling, “They’re real! They’re real! It’s BTS! It’s BTS, ARMY!” After waiting more than a decade to see them and to hear their music live was emotional in a way that is difficult for me to describe. At points I stopped screaming and just watched them in awe. It felt unreal. Every song reminded me of different moments of my life and how I had grown up listening to their music. Even though thousands of strangers were around me, it felt like everyone was connected through the same shared love for BTS and their music.

Being at a K-pop concert makes me feel connected to a community in a way that other concerts have not. I have attended concerts by artists such as J Balvin and Shakira, but the sense of community at BTS concerts feels different. It does not feel like you are surrounded by strangers, instead it feels like you are surrounded by friends. The Arirang albumn also pays tribute to BTS’s Korean roots, yet the audience reflected people from all over the world. There were young children, older adults, men, women, and people from many different cultures and backgrounds. Seeing so many diverse people come together to celebrate the same music reminded me that music can connect people regardless of language, age, or where they come from. Walking away from the concert, I felt like I had experienced more than just a performance, I had experienced a community.

    This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a J Cole Concert as part of his Fall Off Tour in Madison Square Garden. To provide a bit of background, J Cole is a hip-hop artist that incorporates lots of wordplay and storytelling within his music. Personally, I am a fan of the instrumentals that J Cole uses in a lot of his early music and early albums. The instrumentals set ithe tempo and mood in the beginning of any song and are fundamental to the structure of the music. I was influenced growing up by my older brothers who were into his music so I naturally began listening to J Cole and similar artists. At the concert, I enjoyed the music and my impression was pretty much the same as it always has been since I have grown up listening to the music. It was a great time to listen to one of my favorite artists perform and be able to have the chance to share that moment with so many of his fans at the legendary Madison Square Garden. 

     When it comes to visual signals at the concert, there was no shortage of past tour shirts and ‘Dreamville’ merch in support of the artist. It was easy to see that J Cole has a loyal fan base that has been with him since the start of his career. There were fans I had seen and spoken to who have been following J Cole for years and knew his entire discography from start to finish. The audience was very well connected to the music by knowing the lyrics and singing along to the songs and nodding their heads to the music to appreciate the lyricism and storytelling that was going on. Personally, it was surreal to go and see one of my favorite artists perform with all these fellow fans and community of supporters.

    Being that J Cole is originally from North Carolina, there is a subculture in that community and identity that he has in his home town. People of his hometown will celebrate his achievements and continue to support him as he continues to succeed. To the people of his hometown, J Cole is an icon that has changed the lives of millions through his music. There also was representation of these people from North Carolina here at the concert whom J Cole shouted out and gave thanks to during his performance. In regards to the community, I believe that being at the concert does definitely connected me with the community of people who enjoy the music. We all are connected by the music and it brings us together in more ways than one. Just by being a fan alone and at the concert, I was able to strike up conversations with fellow fans and feel that sense of community when conversing. It was interesting to interact and hear the stories of people who traveled miles and miles to come see the performance and relate to one another in how J Cole’s music has impacted our lives. Overall, I enjoyed the concert and am glad to have done this assignment as part of the experience.

When I first arrived at the American Folk Art Museum I learned that the current exhibition was titled Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists. This exhibit was meant to highlight artists that were outside of the traditional professional or academic art scene. This appreciation for self taught DIY art was similar to the ethos of the early punk music scene. Thus, I believe that every work associated with this exhibit was inherently some degree of punk. Some pieces required more raw talent whereas others looked more rudimentary. When thinking of how members of the punk scene often had discourse of what it means to be punk, I thought about how they would likely argue that some works were too polished or perfect. 

For my first piece I selected Joe Coleman’s “Sunday Go to Meetin”. Initially upon viewing this vest covered in pins, pendants, and personal memorabilia I thought that this looked reminiscent of the expressionist clothing frequently worn by many members of the punk scene. Upon further investigation of the objects adorning the vest you will notice that there are some pretty absurd items. Some examples include the artist’s taxidermied cat paw, locks of his wife’s hair, a devil, a pin of Lenin, and two guillotines. These items closely align with punk iconography so I think it would be fair to assume that Joe himself was a punk. It is worth noting that this vest was never meant to be worn out but rather to be a collection of memorabilia. Considering the question of whether or not it was intended to come across as punk I say no, for the simple reason that I don’t think it was “meant” to come across as anything. This piece is more akin to a photo album depicting one’s life, and in the case of Joe Coleman his life happened to be punk. 

For my second piece I chose two untitled drawings from Eddie Owens Martin, also known as St. Eom. These two pieces depict Eddie Owens in many different physical forms and outfits, painting the picture of an individual exploring their own identity. The level of exploration ranges from simple changes in clothing, all the way to futuristic surreal representations of themselves. When reading the placard you learn that Owens fled their home in Georgia at just 14, moving to New York City where they worked as a fortune teller, drag queen, and sex worker all while exploring the art and culture offered by the city. Owens rebelled against their upbringing, explored and expressed their identity, and worked in taboo industries, all while enjoying the arts. Therefore, I find this individual and their art to be incredibly synonymous with the punk movement. I don’t believe that they intended to come across as punk, in part because “punk” didn’t exist yet, but rather they simply expressed themselves to the fullest, which is inherently very punk.