We got wind of Justin Long’s blatant grinding and appropriate attraction to the crowd on W 4th St. here in NYC through these pictures.  Taken by a West Village passer by? Nope. We wish.

These photos are hot off the TerrysDiary.com press.  Thanks, Terry Richardson, for catching Justin Long’s crotch in action.

Via TerrysDiary.com

Thursday night October 29^th the legendary group “Blondie” will be performing at the opening of Brooklyn Museum’s photography exhibition, “Who Shot Rock and Roll.” 

The private concert and preview viewing is for members only—but memberships start at only $55!

Tina Turner by Henry Diltz

The exhibit, the first major museum exhibition devoted exclusively to rock and roll photographers, will be open for the public from October 30^th to January 31^st.

Courtney Love by Shawn Mortensen

The photos span over five decades featuring 175 works by 105 photographers.  The images span not only time, but also genres, with photos of Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, and Lil Kim.  The photographers are as varied as Linda McCartney, Annie Leibovitz, Woodstock photographer Barry Feinstein, Diane Arbus, and actor Dennis Hopper.

Whether you’re looking for something different to do for a date (cultured, but not stuffy)—or even a day to share with your parents over the holiday season—with two for one admissions with your metro card in November and December this is truly a one size fits all gift. 

Bow Wow Wow by Andy Earl

But think about giving yourself a gift first—become a member and see BLONDIE!!!

It’s not often that you meet a really great artist in NYC.  There are a lot of people that pretend to be artists, or actually are artists (albeit shitty ones), or people that don’t know what the hell they are and just sort of fit into the hipster scene.  Then there’s Juliana Beasley: a legit visionary in the world of photography.  I say that with a lot of emphasis, because I’m self-admittedly no expert on the subject, but I know that’s it is pretty damn rare for a photographer’s work to move me enough to actually crave a piece to put on a wall.

And that’s exactly how I feel about Ms. Beasley’s latest collection, “Eyes of Salamanca,” which is being exhibited at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in Chelsea.  This collection of photos is an almost trippy glimpse of a world that seems impossibly surreal to Manhattanites like myself: Mennonites on the Yucatan Peninsula. The work is incredible, and somehow made me wish that Juliana would decide to collaborate with a film crew to make a documentary that I’d be able to watch over and over again until I got my fill of the Amish-esque people that fill her photos.  A natural at immersing herself in closed communities, in 2009, Beasley plans to live with and photograph a group of immigrant Mennonite farmers relocated from Belize to southern Mexico. The project is entitled “Eyes of Salamanca” after the piercing eyes of the people who live unprotected from the burning sun.  Her photo titled “On the Fence” even made me consider dating a Mennonite (although I think Jewish girls with babies aren’t exactly their scene).

Beasley began her photographic career as a printer for Annie Leibovitz, later freelancing for the Village Voice covering the New York City nightlife.  Her acclaimed work from her four year project on exotic dancers culminated in the book “Lap Dancer” (PowerHouse, 2003). Work from Lapdancer and a new long-term project, “Last Stop: Rockaway Park” about a forgotten and impoverished white community of the institutionalized and mentally ill patients and the alcoholics whom frequent the local Irish pubs has been shown in the United States and abroad.

This lovely lady is also the winner of various awards including the prestigious Aaron Siskind Fellowship (go get ‘em girl!), and the New Jersey Council of the Arts, both in 2009. In 2007, she was nominated for the prestigious International Center of Photography (ICP) Infinity Awards. Her work is the collection of both the Victoria & Albert in London and Le Musee de La Photographie in Charleroi, Belgium.

She’s basically the “it” girl of photography (move over, Annie), but keeps it real with her dogs Moishe and Howard at her apartment in Jersey City.  Curiously, I wonder if her dogs were named after branches of my family tree.

Times like these call for cutting back. Maybe you don’t dine out as often; maybe you’ve skipped making a credit card payment. Or maybe, you’ve had to postpone that trip you’ve been dying to take. While Italy will still be here when the economic crisis subsides (we hope), there’s no need to deprive yourself of its culture. While you’re at it, you can check out Germany, Morocco, and Tibet, too.

Border Hopping, which launched yesterday, is a collective effort to capture the beauty of foreign countries; constructed by the people who have experienced them. Through photography and writing; these citizens of the world bring a unique taste of distant lands to your computer screen.

Singapore, Jason Hui

 I had a chance to sit down with Jacqueline Colozzi, who conceptualized Border Hopping:

TLS: What inspired you to start Border Hopping?

JC: There is an actual time and place to mark the inspiration. Well, two times and places. First: I was in the Casablanca Tea Room in SoHo with some friends, and although we had never been to the real city, we all felt tremendously transported by the venue’s decor and atmosphere. Suddenly I had this vision of a city guide dedicated only to “border hopping” locales – where to find authentic foreign food, cafes that will make you feel like you are in Paris, how to dress tip-to-toe in Indian garbs straight from India. Of course, the Tea Room is nothing like the real Casablanca, I later found out (more like a vintage Hollywood vision) – but the idea, that was real. Second: I was sitting at a table having Illy with some new and very creative friends I met studying in Florence. Living in Florence had the effect of artistically reawakening me – I hadn’t picked up a paintbrush or written creatively in years – and as we discussed plans for starting a photography club, I suggested using this Border Hopping website I had already started as an outlet for our photos. And thus I decided to refocus the project into a website devoted to photography and writing. Fine art, video, music and other media will be coming along later.

TLS: What does Border Hopping offer its readers?

JC: I like to call it “traveling on a budget”. Since we can’t always afford the time or expense to travel, Border Hopping is there to provide a digital form of escape – similar to what National Geographic and Conde Nast have been doing for generations. What is different about Border Hopping is that it is entirely web-based, so there is the built-in ability to search through the archive based on the precise places or subjects you want to read about. As we gather more content, this capability will of course get better and better. For now we just have what we have.

Italy, Brett Adamek

TLS: You have several contributors. What do each of them represent?

JC: For this launch, we have a neat group of contributing artists stretching from local NYC-based photographers and writers to individuals all the way out in Singapore, the Netherlands and Thailand. And all with vastly different styles – from the very specific photography niche of sepia film botanicals to the more avant garde and urban; from raw journal note taking to heart-wrenching poetry. Not all of our contributors are professionals, and we don’t want them to be – to have natural photos and writing accounts, the sort you would snap or scribble while on your own vacation – this just adds to the authenticity. So there is a mixture of high brow and low brow, and I think that paints a more accurate picture of the world.

Tibet, Adam Ruszkowski

TLS: What sorts of submissions does Border Hopping accept?

JC: We are really open to anything. Currently the website only supports writing and photography, but once we take it to the next level of functionality, music and video will be added. Fine art and venue reviews will also be added as soon as we have enough content. And there are no rules or guidelines when it comes to content. Authenticity is really the key word, when it comes to both the borders and to the artist. I believe that honest work always speaks for itself.

TLS: What do you hope the site will become once users gain more opportunities to become interactive?

JC: There isn’t an overall solidified goal, just several ideas for the future currently being batted around – e.g. printable city guides, print books or zines, content licensing and other methods of compensating the artists. And finding ways to compensate the artists is the first goal on my plate. I love how the site is currently simple, clean and gallery-style; the focus is on the content. But incorporating some kind of social network will probably be on the horizon at some point, and I’m certainly open to the possibility. Right now I’m just trying to take it one day at a time. One new batch of photos, one new article. I guess I will see how it goes, and what people are thinking, feeling, wanting. Border Hopping will ultimately be shaped by the needs and wants of the viewers and artists, since they are the travelers after all.