Award-winning writer and filmmaker Richard Stratton reads from his new book, "Smuggler's Blues", at Swift's Hibernian Lounge in the East Village. Stratton was a pot and hash smuggler of legendary proportions;  was there at the founding of High Times magazine (and edited it as well in later years); got busted for smuggling and spent eight years behind bars; was good friends with Norman Mailer (and refused to rat him out); was married to Kim Wozencraft ("Rush"); and became an award-winning TV and Film producer.  

"Smuggler's Blues" is now available via e-serialization at Quiet Lunch.

Presented by Bodega de la Haba, Quiet Lunch magazine, and Big House, Inc.

Pipes and papers graciously provided by Sunflower Pipes.

      +++Matt Dillon was not harmed in the making of this video+++

              For the full, uncut interview, go to Richard Stratton Uncut

Got a Minute? Lauren Boyle, of DIS Magazine, chats about "DISown", a show that combines art, design, retail, and more, at Red Bull Studios, near the Highline in NYC. Thru April 6th.

Tristan Fitch "Before Intersections" at Rekover Projects in Greenpoint

Got a Minute? Guerrilla outfit the International Fine Arts Consortium presents amazing artists Colette, Robert Petrick, and Frank Shifreen, at their new headquarters on Delancey St., the Lower East Side.  Curated by Gregory de la Haba and Lee Wells.

Write of Passage, presented by Mass Appeal and Red Bull Studios, explores graffiti culture from its infancy in NYC and Philly, where "writers" covered subway cars and walls; to its breakout moment of today, where artists like Banksy receive worldwide media coverage.  Curator Sacha Jenkins explains the origins of graffiti, and its place in the world today.

Artist Nils Karsten's painstakingly hand-created wood blocks and prints highlight Bushwick Open Studios.

Miami's Octavio Campos previews his amazing new work for a select audience at Baryshnikov Art Center, NYC, where he has been an artist-in-residence this spring.

Joey Ficalora, founder of the Bushwick Collective, on loss, redemption, and urban street art.

T. J. English, author of "Whitey's Payback", talks about gangsters, Matt Dillon, and the captivating lure of New York City.  The book launch took place at the TriBeCa Grand Hotel, presented by Bodega de la Haba.

Natalie White munches ice cream and contemplates her role as muse, artist, and general naked person.  At Rox Gallery, where the show "Who Shot Natalie White?", curated by Gregory de la Haba, was a breakout success.

Rox Gallery Director Emerald Fitzgerald chats about "Who Shot Natalie White?", a wide-ranging show of works focusing on Natalie White: muse, siren, artiste.  Artists participating include Peter Beard, Will Cotton, Spencer Tunick, and Ms. White herself. Curated by Gregory de la Haba.  

Artists Thomas Broadbent and Stephen Mallon at Front Room Gallery's booth at cutlog contemporary art fair, LES, nyc.  Daniel Aycock, Director.

Edward Cutler Gallery at cutlog art fair, LES, nyc

New York artist Karl Kotas at Fountain Art Fair NYC 2013

Artist Chris 'Smitty' Smith, of Greenpoint's GSpot Gallery, at Fountain Art Fair NYC 2013

Agni Zotis at Fountain Art Fair NYC 2013

Artist Agni Zotis's series of paintings , “Fire Walker”, was inspired by walking barefoot over hot coals. “I walked on fire last May, and this inspired a whole collection,” said Ms. Zotis. Was there any pain involved? “There was no pain,” said Ms. Zotis. “It was mind over matter.” Ms. Zotis’s work captures a bright flash in the brain that exists when one’s expected sense of pain is disconnected and etherealized, in a sense spiritualizing the function of physical discomfort. Ms. Zotis likens it to “transcending space, matter, self, and concept.” A kinesthesia of the soul, if you will.

Ms. Zotis, whose paintings were hanging at the Creamhotel booth, has created an elegant follow-up to her most recent show, “Bathroom Confessions”, at Fountain during Miami Basel in December. She half-jokingly offered that her next body of work would be a study of Buck Rogers, the Saturday morning cartoon hero space-traveler. So fire, water, and air, all the elements molded into one powerful trajectory, heading straight into our planet’s future.

Andy Warhol was a dick

"He was a nice person, he was likable, but he's given credit for having done things that he NEVER, EVER, did." -Paul Morrissey