offManhattan

The man who made Barack Obama an even more dazzling candidate for President with his “Hope” “Change” and “Progress” posters, has been busy with a campaign of his own. Shepard Fairey’s latest street piece, “Providence Industrial”, is located on Aborn between Washington and Westminster. Although the notorious artist took a commission of $5,000, raising money for AS220, a non-profit, grassroots community arts space, is the impetus behind the design.

oM exchanged emails with the Rhode Island School of Design graduate about his new 38-foot-by-80-foot mural, his old stomping grounds in the “Creative Capital,” what he plans to paint next—and if his hands will make a return to the walls of NYC.

Joel Harrington has covered a lot of ground since his days as a teenage fry cook at a family-owned restaurant in Vermont. The Chef de Cuisine at Core Kitchen and Wine Bar of The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain in Arizona, has spent time in New York, California and Texas—earning praise and nominations along the way from the likes of the James Beard Foundation, Zagat, and Esquire—but seems to have settled nicely at his new location, tucked away in the high Sonoran Desert outside Tucson. Harrington incorporates the bold, diverse flavors of the Southwest, while also bringing his passion for seafood and coastal cuisine inland. He has been instrumental in establishing all aspects of the restaurant, arriving a year early to peruse local farmers markets and meet various purveyors, while creating the overall ambiance at Core.

At a well-attended demonstration of his adventurous cooking at the French Culinary Institute this past weekend, the mohawked, mountain biking chef divulged his passion for learning about and incorporating local produce in his restaurant, and sat down afterward to discuss the ways in which his past experiences have shaped his new position at Core.

The warm evening air at an estate in Watermill, NY pulsed with the beat of DJ Tyger Lilly, as guests munched on hors d’oeuvres, sipped summer cocktails and chatted about summer plans. The Social Life Magazine Memorial Day kickoff event drew an elite gathering of Hampton locals and those in for the weekend festivities, including featured celebs Matt Lanter of the new 90210 series and Sara Canning of Vampire Diaries. Among the memorably dressed guests, one young man draped in a sequin-encrusted floor-length jacket, topped it all off with some serious neck bling and sunglasses worn even in the fading light.

Read on to get a sense–from the tanned and tippled partygoers—of the green movement in the Hamptons.

The Queens-based band Freelance Whales is a group of musical hustlers on a mobile mission, panhandling for listening ears by any means necessary. They recently sold out the Bell House, overtook the Williamsburg Bedford stop on the L-train for an impromptu platform concert, and played 11 shows at SXSW, before returning to Boston where they will join the Shout Out Louds for a tour in May, and on the heels of a brand new album.

Whether on stage or atop an underground subway platform, Freelance Whales is spreading the gospel of experimental sound by pop-crooning over cellos, hammering glockenspiels, and synthesizing melodies with microKorgs. While knitting a scarf on the way to a gig with Cymbals Eat Guitar and Bear in Heaven, Doris Cellar, the only girl member of FW, took a moment to speak to us—about what’s good in Queens, inspiring dreams from Delaware, and wanting more hands—from Nashville, Tennessee.

Merrill Garbus—the one woman powerhouse behind tUnEyArDs–spent the last month preparing for her sold out Sounds Like Brooklyn show this weekend, a European tour this month, and an upcoming spring tour with experimental band, Xiu Xiu. She’s a human tuner whose vocal fretwork of soulful howls has the spontaneous tenets of imaginative artists like Kaki King, Jamie Lidell, and Animal Collective. The Oakland-based performer discusses how she feels about being the industry’s current D.I.Y star, what she intends to do with her music muscle, and why her voice is the instrument she plays best.

As President Obama takes off tonight for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, we turn our attention to the environmental efforts underway in New York City this week. On Tuesday evening, downtown at the Wired Holiday Pop-Up store, we celebrated the launch of SHFT, a website pedaling green products like $2,200 folding bikes, $90 recycled cassette tape ties, and $40 woolen wine racks. And so, as we follow discouraging news out of Denmark and reports that there will need to be “seismic shifts to really close a deal” we have found some reassurance in Adrian Grenier’s latest project. Along with producer Peter Glatzer and founding partner Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg, the star of Entourage has developed a refined, down to earth vehicle through which people can easily “shift their lifestyle, shift outlooks” for the good of the planet.

She bikes, she lives in Brooklyn, and her roller derby name is Green Eggs and Slam. In 2010, Samantha Brown celebrates 10 years as a host on the Travel Channel. And no, she’s not leaving the best gig in the world anytime soon. (Trust us, we asked—twice.)

From home base in Park Slope, the star of Great Weekends spoke candidly with us on the phone about her time off camera, what’s planned for the big anniversary, and where we should head for our next weekend getaway near New York City.

oM: We recently started following you on Twitter. What is the most remote place you’ve ever Tweeted?
SB: I Tweeted in Vietnam, in Ha Long Bay. Beautiful place on the ocean populated by 3,000 people. There are these striking limestone cliffs, like something out of a movie, maybe Lord of the Rings. I was just waiting for the dragons to appear.

oM: Sounds like you just answered our second question; Where was the last place you felt truly inspired by your surroundings?
SB: Same place. Something I never knew that existed. You felt you had been transported to a fantasy land where sorcerers lived. We’re usually very focused when we’re filming, but all of us, even Will the camera man, had to pause to take it in. Really the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen. It’s a floating fishing village, people live on the water, children go to school on the water. There are about 200 communities, all protected by the limestone cliffs.

Although the travel industry has hardly escaped being marred by bad economic times, a new website meant to motivate “heritage- and culture-rich experiences” thinks this is a great moment to launch. Gozaic.com (go-zay-ik) offers insights and guided tours on destinations around the world—from the Maya Ruins to San Francisco to the Cape of Good Hope.

With beach bumming behind us for now, we met up with Gozaic’s Amtrak-roving president and CEO John Williams for his top winter recommendations on public transit accessible “places that matter” near NYC.