Ok- I found out over the weekend that I’m a Culture Bandit- that’s really the best way to describe my up bringing and my lifestyle and experiences.   Thanks to Vanessa Hidary Hebrew Mamita

Vanessa is a very talented writer/performance artist.  She and Maya Azucena bumped into each other along the way of each other’s journeys and decided to mesh together- build on their art and bring it to the stage in one setting/one audience- 2 voices with a lot of parallels and many commonalities.

Culture Bandit Soul II over the weekend at The Zipper Factory was a full house.  This was the 2nd show due to an overwhelming response from the performance at Joe’s Pub last year.

Culture Bandit Soul takes you through all emotions so  bringing a box of kleenex is a great idea…For crying and laughing your butts off.

Vanessa Hidary is super talented.  Her writing style and the way she expresses herself is comic, prolific, sexy, serious and light all in one.   The combination of Vanessa along with Maya is perfect as Maya has that comic light hearted joking sense about her and it comes out massively in her stage presence.

The chemistry between both these artists comes to life on stage and Culture Bandit Soul has you practically falling off your seat.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Culture Bandit Soul  becomes a long running production.  Stay tuned.

We had a lovely string ensemble backing the artists and playing gorgeous music.  A violin, cello and of course Maya’s bandmates Christian on guitar and Iv-09 on drums…

The host was Kashi Johnson -an equity actress, director,  producer  and associate professor  of Theatre at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA where she teaches courses in acting, African American Theatre and Hip Hop Theatre.
There was some great art pieces hanging as a back drop on stage and all around the bar/foyer of the theatre.   The painter  is JOSANA BLUE  She’s also a clothing designer  and a life long  artist with many gifts.    Josana’s paintings  display feminine  lines and cool  colors in  sweeping abstract  canvases.    Her portraits of such  artists as Jimi Hendrix are silk screened  onto uniquely designed tee shirts.   Her dress designs are playful and combine elegance  with the Bohemian.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm and is filed under EVENTS, Music, NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.