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As the long hours add up in the last hours before our event, some locals have been taking notice, both in print and online:
Thrillist
City Paper
Philadelphia Weekly (page 23!)
Daily Candy
See you all tomorrow!
(or roll, or jam, we got you covered)...
We Salute You!
As previously mentioned, there will be live music performed at two spots along the Avenue on Saturday, basically on either end of the action. Just outside of the Megawords display in 2621 Girard will be a line-up curated by local beat-cop and musician Officer Bryant, featuring:
Sinister: R&B group with a funk and soul sound.
David "Bluesman" Blossom: Blues signer and guitarist.
TKO: Funk and R&B singer with full band.
The Illusions: Oldies R&B group with Temptations style song and dance.
Voices For Christ: Gospel
At the other end, just outside of the Home + Craft space will be on 2943 Girard. This grouping was organized by James Coughlin, who is not only a musician himself but a painter as well:
Rob Dingman- Tape loops, synth, and xylophone
Tadoma minimalist experimental
Arc in Roundindie experimental ambient
Lo Power Plane Indie rock
Busses indie rock
from the gallery on 2819 Girard is Endustre on 2826, a boutique where me met Hamid Holloman-a talented and absolutely charming designer. The ensembles in the window display were sharp as tacks, too.
Hamid is constantly drawing inspiration from a myriad of sources and shared his findings on line at several sites:
Meezan Art Couture
MESE Design Studio and the online shop, Shop Meezan Online.
Even more exciting? It just so happens that Endustre will be sponsoring some live painting outside the shop this very Saturday, coinciding with Art+Soul Food! Not to be missed, people...
With just over a week until Art+Soul Food ,the labor pains are kicking in and this colorful bundle of joy is making its presence known. Read up on a couple of our favorite blogs!
Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
UWISHUNU
The Art Blog
Did this whet your appetite? More links to follow.
Stay hungry!
On Saturday us curators met up to see for ourselves how the spaces are progressing, and lay out our plans for just how we intend to display all the artwork we expect to be inundated with this coming weekend when the artists begin dropping it all off. 
This space is 2819 Girard; it will house the works of our Puddle Painters and various sculptors/potters. The contractors were actually working on the floor when we came, and explained to us the differences in the floor surface. Some of the wood you see in this floor is over 100 years old! Isn't it beautiful? Just a few months ago it was covered up in many year's worth of linoleum and such.
And don't even get me started on the walls...
Towards the back there will be a keg and Butter's will be set up as well, dishing out mouth-watering morsels.
Some of the ceiling remains the same, with the exposed wooden beams overhead. That's Mr. Roller of MM partners admiring them.
Down the street at 2711 Girard, progress is evident but not quite as far as 2819. There's Sarah Peoples, peering at her reflection in the freshly sealed brick wall.
Around the edges of the original parquet wood floor, new hard wood has been installed. I found the exact edges,perfectly negotiated around all the pipes and uneven edges, to be quite impressive.
From here you can see the rest of the brick wall. This space will house sculpture, jewelry design and illustration. Just squint your eyes and imagine a row of pedestals down the middle with gorgeous drawing running up the wall...
More brick.
Towards the back of the space is more wall, and also room for where we'll be serving wine. Deborah's Kitchen will be set up closer to the front, serving delicious samples off their menu.
We then headed over to what will be the craft space on 2943 Girard. While it basically looks the same as it did when we were over there painting pedestals last week, we discovered a forest of weeds growing back in the patio area which will need to be addressed this week. Aside from that, everything is looking all aces and we're very excited to curate this space.
Perhaps the most exciting news of the day is that our buddies over at Ritas will be serving up a special, one-time batch of Art+Soul Food themed water ice, flavored like sweet potato!
As many were kicking off the holiday weekend with cocktails and BBQ prep, a few of us Art+Soul Foodies met up for some white hot pedestal painting action at the storefront which will serve as the Craft gallery when the show commences. Here you see team members Beth Smallwood and Jacob Roller hard at work, applying layer after layer of paint on our treasured pedestals.
We worked until about ten at night; and had the opportunity to meet some of the residents walking along the Avenue who poked their heads in out of curiosity. The local support for this project is touching, and it fuels us to pour every ounce we've got into making this the best event it can possibly be.
That said, I think it's time I caught up with all the Memorial Day revelers and had a glass of Sangria already.
Oh, and Happy Birthday to A+SF-er Maria Eife!!!
Fortunately Lenyon Whitaker was on hand snapping away and gave us permission to use some of his images on our site. He really has a knack for catching the emotion of the specific moment he's focusing on.
Sarah painstakingly makes sure that each of Natalie Hope McDonald's photos are on the level.
Josh Harmony's pottery was too irresistible to leave in the box. Wait until you see the mini-cups! Perfect for drinking sake out of...
We were up to our necks in pedestals and paint for shelves...
It wasn't all fun and games though. Co-curator Beth Smallwood has some pretty unconventional methods when it comes to directing...
Pearl Bell brought the family over along with her work-that's husband Matt and daughter Ava.
Unfortunately she took Ava with her...but we're happy to have her plates!
We all treated ourselves to some Rita's-Ava got Cherry, I splurged for a soft-serve with jimmies. (sprinkles?)
John Blanchet dropping off his work and papers at the space on 2819 Girard...
Along with the puddles painters will be a digital video installation by Ira Blanchard, inside this secret room:
We have our work cut out for us, as you can see.
Rob Sutherland dropped off his work at the space on 2943 and then came down to 2819 to check out the progress. 
Then we all peeked in 2711 to see the newly rehabbed floor. That's Maria Eife to the left. Note the Rita's cone in her hand. We're turning into junkies here...I can't wait to get back to work again today so I can have more water ice!
Where water ice leaves off, beer picks up-and we plopped our sweaty butts down for a few at Era after the day was done. Look! Our coasters!
Unfortunately we missed all of the big bike race action of the day, but a couple enthusiasts were kind enough to give us a recap.
Era was flexing its artistic muscles with a show of its own. We spoke with Luke Haggerty, the photographer you see below. Work it, Luke.
And the lovely Paula Pardo shows us her lemons from behind the bar. 
On our side of the bar, her photos can be seen:
At some point we all made it home in time to catch a disco nap or two and now it's time for me to get my act together and gear up for another busy day.
Look for these at a bar near you starting NOW! If you happen to receive your tall frosty one on an Art+Soul Food coaster, leave a comment on this blog telling us where you were, what you drank, time of day, and what you were wearing. We'll give you a prize.
This space is 2819 Girard; it will house the works of our Puddle Painters and various sculptors/potters. The contractors were actually working on the floor when we came, and explained to us the differences in the floor surface. Some of the wood you see in this floor is over 100 years old! Isn't it beautiful? Just a few months ago it was covered up in many year's worth of linoleum and such.
Towards the back there will be a keg and Butter's will be set up as well, dishing out mouth-watering morsels.
Down the street at 2711 Girard, progress is evident but not quite as far as 2819. There's Sarah Peoples, peering at her reflection in the freshly sealed brick wall.
Around the edges of the original parquet wood floor, new hard wood has been installed. I found the exact edges,perfectly negotiated around all the pipes and uneven edges, to be quite impressive.
From here you can see the rest of the brick wall. This space will house sculpture, jewelry design and illustration. Just squint your eyes and imagine a row of pedestals down the middle with gorgeous drawing running up the wall...
More brick.
Towards the back of the space is more wall, and also room for where we'll be serving wine. Deborah's Kitchen will be set up closer to the front, serving delicious samples off their menu.
We then headed over to what will be the craft space on 2943 Girard. While it basically looks the same as it did when we were over there painting pedestals last week, we discovered a forest of weeds growing back in the patio area which will need to be addressed this week. Aside from that, everything is looking all aces and we're very excited to curate this space.
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