Even When "I'm a Mess", I Put On a Vest With an 'S' on My Chest

There's something highly comical and just refreshing about putting your mess where people can see it.

That's exactly what artist Natalie Osborne did in a room adjacent to the Corridor Gallery's main foyer, as part of the newly opened exhibit "Strictly Regulated". The group show highlights the work of six emerging female artists and runs concurrent with the exhibit "Brooklyn Influence".

Osborne's video series and installation "I'm a Mess: Finding My Pace" (wall detail, above) confronts the notion of the black superwoman: a towering pile of shirts, shoes, and frocks is thrown into a corner of the gallery. Kinda looked like my bedroom on a Monday morning, lol.

You have to see the entire piece for yourself, but from now on when the kryptonite's got me down if you ask me how I'm doin', I'm just gonna say, I'm a mess, and finding my pace. So much more liberating, don't you think? [Laughs]

(Hey DJ) Hard Hittin Harry, Play That Song That Kept Me Dancin All Night Long

Recently swept into Deity. It was night, and it was hot. Feeling flushed, I slipped into the ladies' lounge to dab the dew from my lip. At the door, I found the reverential spirit in which the place had been named, no christened, extended to the loos, which were appropriately marked "gods" and "goddesses."

And although it was Sunday, the only laying on of hands happening at this Downtown Brooklyn boite was between the women and the men. Did I mention that it was hot? Well... It was many things...

Presiding over this mass of undulating brown bodies gathered on two floors was DJ Hard Hittin Harry. Part DJ - part beat minister, the Brick City, N.J., native (by way of Port-au-Prince, Haiti) had even those of us who'd bypassed the rum punch feeling punch-drunk off his unimpeachable set list.

Helpless to shake the sounds from my step, I went in search of DJ HHH. "Before any party you can usually catch me in front of my computer downloading music and organizing my playlists for the night," said the DJ (below, c.Stella Magloire), who wears his considerable soul, reggae, hip hop, and rock stripes without pretentiousness.

I asked him to create a playlist for BGNB comprised of the 10 songs he'd play if he could only go with a dime. The veteran selecta, who counts turntable icons Kool DJ Red Alert, Mr. Magic & Marley Marl, and Frankie Crocker among his influences, did not disappoint:

DJ HARD HITTIN HARRY UNITY SOUND PLAYLIST

Win Some - Courtney John
Time To Win - Half Pint
King Pharo - Everton Blender
Why Can't We - Jah Cure
Many Things - Seun Kuti (pictured, top) & Fela's Egypt 80
Amour De Nombakele - Pamelo Mounk'a
Premier Gaou - Magic System
K'em Pa Sote - Boukman Eksperyans
Love You No More - Shabba Ranks, featuring Mavado
Mama's Love - Mavado

For more, tune into the DJ's weekly online TV mixshow, The Global Jam Session, Tuesdays, 2-5 p.m., www.axiomonline.tv. (Peace to Coup D'Etat Brooklyn.)