by Kat Pongrace
In what seems to be the vanguard color of Gen-Z, a woman with electric green hair bounded onstage at Baby’s All Right last week (October 30) to open Category is: Sonic Synesthesia. The event was my first encounter with Pink Boot, an independent media outlet dedicated to celebrating women and femmes of color, and the line up for Sonic Synesthesia in no way came up short.

Brooklyn R&B songstress Alex Mali warmed up the crowd with songs from her recent EP Sweet + Sour, including her new track “Fighting Words.” Her intimate performance eschewed Baby's normally bejeweled backdrop in favor of a projection of the moon and clouds emblazoned with her name and her silhouette. For an opening act, she seemed to be highly anticipated, and from what I heard had been the primary attraction for many in the crowd attending. 

Following Mali, Los Angeles-based Mila J brought her signature girl group appeal with a side of some serious Scorpio energy. Mila, a former dancer and girl group singer (including an appearance in Prince's "Diamonds and Pearls"), exhibited a number of well-choreographed routines that avoided feeling overproduced. After recording a pair of EPs with Motown and recording with such artists as Jodeci and Timbaland, Mila is currently working on her debut studio album.

by Steven Pisano

(All photos by Steven Pisano.)

Consider, if you will, the following partial description of an object in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which ended this past weekend:

Archtop with F-holes and Venetian cutaway; laminated maple body and neck, rosewood fingerboard; 23½ in. scale; natural finish with white & black double binding, set neck with mother-of-pearl split parallelogram inlays and white binding to fingerboard; mother-of-pearl Gibson headstock logo with crown inlay; two PAF humbucking pickups,...

Sounds pretty fancy, doesn't it? Maybe a rare piece of furniture from a Renaissance craftsman, or a priceless treasure from a European estate?

Hell no! This is how the catalog begins the description of the Gibson ES-350T (ca. 1958) that Chuck Berry strutted on stage with in the late 1950s and early 1960s, playing hits like "Johnny B. Goode."

It's up in the mid-80's today in NYC, which has got me thinking about my favorite time of year: summer, when all sorts of amazing music heads outdoors. In addition to some of our old faves - Celebrate Brooklyn, Summerstage, Warm Up - there are some exciting new additions this summer, such as Industry City's new Summer Series. Sadly, there are also several casualties this year, including Williamsburg's Northside Festival and Panorama. R.I.P.