Origivation – 6/08 – Vol. 7 – Issue 4

“The Acorn,” pgs 30-32, Origivation – 6/08 -Vol. 7 – Issue 4*

Note: The article was credited with the wrong name. A retraction was published in the 7/08 issue.

origivation_2008061

Music: Sound Advice…080808

Electronic/festival

080808

While most of the world will be glued to the tube for Olympics opening night, Liberty Lands Park will gather some of the most daring athletes from the world of 8-bit noise-making. At the 080808 fest in Northern Liberties, 8GB, Animal Style, Auto Da Fe, Nullsleep, Cheap Dinosaurs and MinusBaby will pound out crafty digital beats using retro and obsolete video game consoles from your childhood and call it music. It’s topped off with visual stimulations provided by No Carrier and the Hacktory’s resident artist, VBLANK.

-Annamarya Scaccia

Fri., Aug 8, 7-11 p.m., free, Liberty Lands Park, Third and Poplar streets, no-carrier.com.

Art Picks: Visual Arts: 13 and 30

13 and 30

Opening reception Sat., Aug. 9, 6-9 p.m., free, exhibit runs through Aug. 31, Artists’ Gallery, 32 Coryell St., Lambertville, N.J., 609-397-4588, lambertvillearts.com.

by Annamarya Scaccia

Tom Cochrane might have said it best back in 1991: Life is a highway. It’s a statement that rings true for the many people living along U.S. Routes 13 and 30, the old “Lincoln Highway,” where remnants of the past, like diners, neon business signs and dilapidated houses, stand amid corporate vitalization.

The two highways are also the inspiration behind “13 and 30,” opening this Friday at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, N.J. The exhibit is a collection of nearly 30 original watercolors by local artists Rich Harrington and Gail Bracegirdle that capture the many “relics of the past” found on the two routes.

For Harrington, Route 13 (the north-south road running from Philadelphia to North Carolina) and Route 30 (which runs east to west from New Jersey to California) symbolize the obsolete — like his painting of a ‘32 Ford settling into the ground behind a barn — which he views as survivors in a transitory world. “There is a certain corporate architecture and blandness taking over our landscapes, with Starbucks, Wal-Marts and Applebee’s that are nearly identical being built all over,” he says. “However, it does make an original shiny aluminum diner stand out ever more as a survivor. These survivors deserve to be preserved in paint.”

In other words, don’t take your local greasy spoon for granted.

Opening reception Sat., Aug. 9, 6-9 p.m., free, exhibit runs through Aug. 31, Artists’ Gallery, 32 Coryell St., Lambertville, N.J., 609-397-4588, lambertvillearts.com.