7.21.2011

Someone You Should Know.

I'm pretty nondiscriminatory when it comes to my friends; I think they're all brilliant. Of course each person in my life has their own interests and talents, but I am constantly reminding myself what a fantastic crowd I am surrounded by (both near and far).
However, I have one friend in particular, that you may not know that I think you should: Jon Oliver.


I met Jon a couple years ago through common friends, and he immediately became one of my favorite people because of his gentle manner, his kind eyes and his sly sense of humor. He also happens to be my neighbor, so he quickly became my designated walker/subway buddy when our friends would end up out late on any given night. He has never, since I've known him let me walk to my door solo if he could accompany me.
Anyway, back to why YOU should know him :)
Well as if his kindness and consideration weren't enough, Jon is also one of the most talented people I know, and someone I'm sure you'll be checking out from now on too (now that the secrets out :).
He is perhaps best known as a DJ extraordinaire in the NYC community. He is a unique DJ on his own, but he has been teaming with some other awesome NY talent for a few years at "I Love Vinyl" parties. What's an "I Love Vinyl" party you may ask? Well, the 2 year anniversary party was recently written up in Time Out New York, and this is how it was described:
A shot from "I Love Vinyl", always ends up in dancing all night long!
"From the elevated DJ booth to the entryway of the Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge, lovers of seamlessly mixed hip-hop, deep funk, afrobeat, disco and house made the dance floor nearly impenetrable at this birthday bash. The brainchild of DJ Scribe, I Love Vinyl is led by a posse of soulful DJs known as “The Dream Team,” who utilize their own massive record collections to “cater to the people,” ...The result feels like equal parts underground dance-off, college party and spiritual revival. The crowd, consisting mostly of couples dancing close and groups of women with boundless energy, responded to every new record with their hands high in the air as they mouthed the words"

If you live in the NY area or you're going to be visiting, you should check out the party dates by friending I Love Vinyl (the party) on facebook. You'll find details on all Vinyl events, including the upcoming one this Saturday night at Le Poisson Rouge!

Jon also hosts a radio show every Tuesday night where he plays International, underground, beats and soul on East Village Radio.The show runs from 12-2am and it's called The Main Ingredient.
Now I know 12-2 are often not my best hours for radio listening, so I tend to check out his website later in the week where you can easily play back his radio show for your listening enjoyment at any time! It's one of the few ways I feel like I really learn about new and old (good) music these days.

And FINALLY (even though I really could go on forever about Jon), he is also an amazing photographer. Now I've been called out before for throwing around the term "amazing", but in this case, it is actually appropriate. Both professionally and personally, he has captured some of the best moments, and I am constantly blown away by his eye for seeing humanity in the ordinary.
In 2008 & 2009 he took on an awesome photo documentary project called "Across 110th Street" where he walked across every block on 110th Street in Manhattan and documented the amazing people he met along the way. Here are some of my favorite photos of the project:


Central Park West

Central Park West
Lenox Ave (my block!)


So if you don't already know about my incredible Jon, now you do. I hope you'll check out his website where you can find links to his DJ schedule, his photo project(s) and his radio shows.
It's rare to find someone with such true, unpretentious talent in the art world. I feel so lucky to know him and I hope if you haven't met him yet, you get the pleasure soon too.




























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