First Friday in Beech Grove: August

Beech Grove, Indiana (July 21, 2019) - In March of this year, a local pub called D's Taps along with the local Artist Sam Posthumus and Artist Claire Dillehay hosted Beech Grove's first ever First Friday event. Cheerie Joy, of Cherrie Joy Designs, a well-established artist in the community, also displayed her work at the event.

In recent years, First Friday events have been growing in Indianapolis, along with events in and around Irvington, Fountain Square and now Beech Grove.

Fast forward to August, D's Taps is closed and Scarlet Grove Public House moved in its place. On August 2nd, many local shops that support the arts will have extended hours all along Main Street. What started as a simple conversation on social media between Sam and Claire, has led to where we they are now.

Organized by the Beech Grove Artist Collective, Main Street in Beech Grove will once again come alive with artists showing and selling their artwork throughout the evening. Musicians will be playing in a few shops and some may even spill out on the sidewalks. The First Friday In Beech Grove event will have more than 20 artist showing in over 10 locations

A few retailers along Main Street will offer craft classes while some will have some sort of First Friday discount deal.

Food choices will be plentiful as a few restaurants will be open later than usual and food carts and food trucks will park along Main Street.

PARTICIPATING BUSINESS:

Beech Bank Brewing Company
Scarlet Grove Public House
Beech Grove Clay Works
Relics ReDesigned
Y Shop Vintage and More
Lori’s Folded Book Art
Rustic Root
Treasure Trove in the Grove
The Vault
Skull 518 Thrift Shop

More businesses to be announced

ARTIST: 

Claire Dillehay will be at Scarlet Grove Public House
Greg Potter will be at Beech Bank Brewing Company
Posthumus Paint By The Foot will be at Beech Bank Brewing Company
Jodie Wilson Buckallew will be at Treasure Trove in the Grove

A great piece by Posthumus Art By The Foot

MUSIC:

The Scofflaws will be performing at Y Shop Vintage and More at 609 Main Street
A bluegrass guitarist will be performing outside Relics ReDesigned at 623 Main Street.

The Scofflaws performing at the Y Shop, May 5th on Main Street in Beech Grove 

More music To Be Announced

FOOD:

Rustic Root will be open for evening dining at 626 Main Street.
A gourmet hot dog trailer will be in front of Accurate PC and Relics ReDesigned at 623 Main Street.

Hot Dogs and Sausages hot off the grill during the July First Friday

More food items to be announced

Posted by Wood Whomp Coffee on Sunday, July 21, 2019

In Closing 

If you are into local First Friday events and have visited Fountain Square and Irvington during theirs, be sure and put Beech Grove on your list of places to visit. The Beech Grove First Friday event starts at 5:30 PM and runs until 10:00 PM., look for the party.

IRV First Friday: Student Artists

Irvington, Indianapolis (July 16, 2019) - IRV is hosting their First Friday event, August 2nd from 6:00 PM until 10:00 PM at Hampton Designs Studio and Shop. They are excited to showcase student artists: Sophia Angbao and her unique dolls, creature earrings, and other art. Colleen Gross is an amazing sculptor, and Sydney Price is a talented 14 year old painter and artist.

Hampton Designs Studio and Shop are located at 5515 East Washington Street. Suite A in Irvington. Complimentary after school snacks and will be served. They look forward to you all joining us at this celebration of student artists.


About Hampton Design

In 2011, Adam Hampton began designing professionally. In the spring of 2014, Adam opened Hampton Designs Boutique, a shop in "Old Downtown" Irvington.

Adam lives in Irvington, just east of Downtown Indianapolis, where he is on the Board of Directors of the Historic Benton House.

He consecutively coordinated two of Irvington's Tour of Homes, as well as designed two show homes for the 2013 and 2014 Irvington Tour of Homes. Adam's own home was featured on the Tour of Homes in 2011. In 2015, Adam designed a lower level space in the St. Margaret's Guild Decorators' Show House where his design work was featured in the Indianapolis Star, Weekly View, Fox 59 and Indianapolis Monthly magazine. In August 2018, Adam opened Hampton Designs Studio & Shop.

Irvington First Friday: Delta Duo

Irvington, Indianapolis (July 15, 2019) - The Irving Theater is hosting Delta Duo, Bryce E. Taylor, Julia Mundell along with Dna on the outdoor deck. This First Friday event is completely free, music starts at 7:00 PM and continues until 10:00 PM.

About Delta Duo

Pre-WWII Mississippi Delta blues with an Eastern European flair. The Delta Duo—JJ Stenzoski and Irina Povarova—marries the raw tone of a National resonator slide guitar to the sweet purity of the classical Russian violin.

World-class Russian violinist Irina Povarova was formally trained in classical violin at the Kazan musical conservatory in Tatarstan, Russia. She has toured throughout Europe with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Radio and TV Company of Belarus and more recently has performed stateside with the Carmel Symphony Orchestra and her chamber music quartet in venues across central Indiana, including Carmel’s new Palladium. Offstage, Irina is a highly-respected instructor of violin, viola, and piano.


Born and raised in Chicago, blues guitarist JJ Stenzoski is currently a lecturer in creative writing and English composition at Indiana University in Indianapolis. He is a devotee and scholar of early acoustic blues and brings his passion for these musical roots to each performance. JJ studied under the personal tutelage of world-renown artists Stefan Grossman, Woody Mann, and acoustic blues master Rory Block.

Next Irvington First Friday is Friday, September 6.

Free First Friday August Feat

Fountain Square, IN (July 15, 2019) - Night Moves new album, Can You Really Find Me, pulsates and glows with the same sublime energy that radiated from breakout single “Carl Sagan” in 2016, however in the intervening years, John Pelant and Micky Alfano have grown up. The songwriting, while still steeped in super-catchy, velvety riffs and pure pop glaze, feels more sophisticated and modern.

Since the pair met in high school, awestruck by such ear-candy wizards as Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, they set off to craft their version of what sophisticated, emotional modern pop music can and should sound like. 2016’s Pennied Days was a breakthrough, and set a new bar for the members of Night Moves. After spending the subsequent two years on Can You Really Find Me, they’ve scaled new heights, where the sounds are still just as sweet, but now smarter, more evocative, and perfectly designed for a summer release.

So how did something that feels so warm and breezy – like the perfect summer soundtrack – emerge from the dead of a bleak and frigid Minneapolis winter? Pelant and Alfano sequestered themselves, dreaming their way out of the cold by writing songs like “Coconut Grove,” a whirly psychedelic love song, and “Ribboned Skies,” a blazing ode to guitars and syncopation. Minneapolis has always played a part in the creative process for these dyed-in-the-wool locals. Long heralded as local hot shots in the cold, desolate, land of Prince, Westerberg and Dylan, John and Micky have still never stopped working the grind; in donut shops, bakeries and restaurants, toiling to make ends meet yet trying find beauty in the mundanity, and in the tranquil midnights.

Pelant, as a writer, thrives in the gloom of isolation; a cold void, “I think it’s this type of environment that helps me feel focused. Zero distractions. Focused in a way where I can tap into certain emotions. I think some of the best music transports you to a place in time where your memories become potent visualizations. When writing closed off like this, you can see the images easily and your brain will pick the right chords and tones and guide you where you ought to go. I think being alone during that type of hibernation season is a great space in which to create.”


Once they emerged from their creative cocoon, it was down to the warmth and mythical allure of Austin, TX to bring the album to life. If Minneapolis was about hunkering down in cold isolation, Austin was about heat and life, working with producer Jim Eno (founding member and drummer of Spoon) out of Public Hi-Fi Studios, alongside live band members Mark Hanson and Chuck Murlowski, to record the ten tracks that make up Can You Really Find Me.

The tunefulness of this collection is not by accident. As Pelant deadpans, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could make a record that sounded like it has a lot of singles on it?” Whether it’s the infinitely hooky “Strands Align,” the up-tempo synth flourishes of “Recollections,” or the buttery soul of “Saving the Dark,” each song so adeptly sticks to the album premise of feeling “single-like” that you wonder how they will even choose any.

In the grab bag of modern pop genres, from neo-psychedelia to shoe-gaze, ambient pop to cosmic country, Night Moves dream big on Can You Really Find Me and deliver a genuinely sparkling set that corrals all of these styles into one cohesive collection.

Reflecting once more on the new album, Pelant feels it functions in part as a rumination on aging; a period piece denoting his last 3 years, “I told myself at 18 I wanted to dedicate my 20’s to music and if nothing came of it, I would move on. So now closing out my 20’s, I feel there is still ground left to cover, I’m not quite satisfied yet. Our last album saw us hit a lot of hurdles; despite the successes we had, we parted ways with our management and lost a founding member of the band. While it’s proven to be a bumpy ride, I feel it just may be worth the trouble. I think I’m more comfortable now in my skin than I was at 24.”

You must be 21+ years old to attend this show.

Making A Mark

Garfield Park, Indianapolis (July 14, 2019) - In Making a Mark, explore drawing, illustration, cartoon, and comic art by local artists. View a variety of drawing techniques and learn how artists represent characters and stories through illustrations and sequential artwork.

View artists’ interpretation of life through line, gesture, and form in this unique and imaginative exhibition! Visit our website for more information on each month’s exhibit theme.

Join us on First Friday for the opening reception of our latest exhibition, Making a Mark. Mingle with local artists, enjoy light appetizers, and a wine & beer bar by. Enjoy live music by local musician John R Gilmore Music.

The beer & wine bar is run in partnership with local neighborhood brewery, Garfield Brewery. Beers courtesy of Garfield Brewery and wines generously donated by Easley Winery.

Free First Fridays at HI-FI

Fountain Square, IN (July 14, 2019) - HI-FI First Fridays featuring up and coming local, regional and national acts. Come early for the music and stay late for Back To The Future Dance Party after the show. While you are here, you can bounce around to all the different events and activities happening throughout the building. LO-FI Lounge (upstairs, above HI-FI) features free live music and an visual art installation from a local artist every First Friday.

ABOUT ILLITERATE LIGHT

Formed in the summer of 2015, Illiterate Light transcend expectations of typical rock music through their limitations as a duo. Jeff Gorman elevates his gritty guitar melodies and honest lyricism by stomping out thunderous synth bass with his feet as Jake Cochran layers lush vocal harmony and explodes with body convulsing energy around his minimalist standing drum kit. Gorman and Cochran’s incessant writing, commanding live performance, and constant touring promise a bright future as they finish their debut album with Vance Powell (Jack White, Kings of Leon, Chris Stapleton) and Adrian Olsen (Foxygen, Natalie Prass). “Better Than I Used To” is the first taste of what’s to come from Illiterate Light.

Spanning the better part of a decade, the creative evolution between Gorman and Cochran is far from ordinary. The duo has run an organic farm in the Shenandoah Valley, toured the mid-Atlantic in bands by bicycle, and lived in small communities while pursuing modes of alternative education. Their eclectic background is mirrored in their sound and lyricism, floating between postmodern confusion and vibrant optimism. Though shaped by the DIY music scene of their hometown Harrisonburg VA, the duo has grown immensely through immersion in the thriving communities of both Richmond, VA and Nashville, TN.

ABOUT THE PRESSURE KIDS

Nashville-based indie rock band the pressure kids have been together long enough to see some shit. since forming as college freshmen in the fall of 2013, they’ve survived lineup changes, deceptive ex-managers, sexist industry advisors. seen each other through breakups, makeups, promotions, graduation dinners. through every up & down, every moment of triumph & turmoil that inevitably comes with the coming of age, Nick, Allan, Katy, Justin & Zach have always connected over their love of songs that make you feel something. melodies that score the moment you fall apart at the party, then piece yourself together on the drive home.

It’s 2019, and the pressure kids have closed their collegiate chapter, landing fully in the throes of young adulthood. after releasing two well-received singles in 2018 - the rowdier “team” in October & the tender “fever” in July, the latter of which was featured on Spotify’s new music Friday playlist - the pressure kids have sprinted into the new year with a new music video (one that would make the late, great John Hughes proud, according to flood magazine), new single "and another one," and self-titled debut EP. the six-song offering includes those three singles, along with three new tracks, one of which was played in its earliest iteration at the first show of the band’s career (at an abandoned laundromat turned DIY space, no less). its closing track, however, was written just before new year’s & recorded in January 2019, making the EP as a whole a uniquely definitive statement, one that reveals exactly where the pressure kids have been, and exactly where they’re going.

The pressure kids showcases a young band at the height of creativity and determination, pairing evocative melodies with rich instrumental textures, altogether handcrafted and highlighted by the kind of wise-beyond-your-years youthfulness that only strikes when you really are twenty-three or twenty-four years old. listening feels like forever scoring an invite to the party, and never wanting to leave. and why would you? Nick, Allan, Katy, Justin & Zach really hope you’ll stay.

First Friday in Indianapolis

For those not in the know, First Friday is an art tour inviting the general public to enjoy galleries, open studios, alternative spaces and much more for free. It truly is a premiere cultural event for the Indianapolis area as it connects the burgeoning arts scene to introduce itself with Indy.

First Friday in Fountain Square, Indianapolis

Obviously one can gather from the name that the event happens the first Friday of each month. If you have never experiences this type of art tour, please do so each and every month.

It is great to see Indianapolis have such a strong, yet still fairly unknown, arts scene. The culture of Indy has a strong underground movement that its citizens should be very proud of having in this fine city. Let’s continue supporting the arts in Indy!